>I spend much of my time it seems, dropping things, trying to get hardware on my PC to work, waiting at lights where I've just missed the yellow, spilling something on my suit just before a meeting, getting disconnected after waiting 30 minutes to talk to customer service, finding out that the 40% coupon at Best Buy expired yesterday, etc. Small stuff to be sure, and probably puts me somewhere in the middle-left of the Bell Curve of Life. This implies to me, that somewhere there is the Anti-Jay who goes through their day with hardly any quiet-desperation moments like dropping the car keys (again) and watching them bounce off the deck rail into the (full) trash can. My money is on Jimmy Buffet being that person, but statistically, there must be someone out there like that. Right? What about the extremes? The poor shmuck at the far left has a painful, horrible life from the start, so there must be someone at the other end who's life is complete bliss at every moment.

I didn't believe in any sort of fate. At least, if it existed, I figured anything I do would be included in it from the outset, so I felt free to change whatever I thought was in my powers.

So I switched the side of the curve. Last time I locked my keys in the car was three years ago. Last time I dropped my keys into an inaccessible place was... can't remember. Haven't hit my thumb with a hammer in years. Haven't spilled anything on my pants since, I think, 1990 or so. Not that I'm wearing anything but jeans most of the time :). Experience (about my own faults and what to watch for) and practice did it.

I even turned one Murphy's law to my advantage: whenever I wait for a bus, I immediately light a cigarette. By Murphy, the bus will arrive immediately (good) and I'll have to drop more than a half of the cigarette (who cares). Or, the bus will be late - so what, having a smoke undisturbed is just cool and makes waiting easier. A win-win (except when the bus doesn't come after three cigarettes and I walk - but then, hey, I like walking).

And yes, I still get hit with random rubbish like Windows acting out, third-party data to import changing columns on me without notice (and this is the third job where this sort of import is on my shoulders), the only two shows on TV that we watch being replaced with a sports event (yecch), not to mention all sorts of installations around the house being done in the most stupid but cheap way and need to be fixed, etc etc. I've learned long ago that while hair, nails and skin keep growing and regenerating, neural cells don't. You got what you got, and whatever you waste won't grow back. So I learned not to worry and love... Murphy. Smile, curse, but don't get upset. In cosmic proportions, it's all insignificant. Take them one at a time.

Consequence: as a programer, I don't have a panic mode. Stay cool and think, that's your job. A programmer in panic mode produces more reasons for panic, don't want to do that. Vent if you want. Cynism helps.