Boo:

Saturday was one of THOSE days!

The Masters swim program I work out with is about 25 minutes away.  I knew something was amiss upon entering the locker room that morning since no one was there.  Upon checking the club bulletin board, sure enough, that Saturday practice had been cancelled.  Either I missed the email notification (probable) or it missed me.

Argh! 

On to Plan B.  I returned home, donned my hiking boots and headed for the Pismo Preserve.  This very accessible path meanders above the town of Pismo Beach with breathtaking Pacific Ocean views.  I’d never hiked it and was eager to get in my 7,000 (+!!) steps and capture several images from my trek.

About a half mile into the hike, I approached a young woman and two dogs (on leash as required) working their way down to the trailhead.  As is my wont, I greeted them, “Hey, Guys!”, and was rewarded by the nearest dog (pit bull) biting my left wrist.  Not badly and boy was I glad to have had long sleeves on, but her bite was enough to break the skin through the shirt.  No doubt, I’ll nurse a bruise for two weeks and eventually a scar.

Ugh. Not shaping up to be a great day, but that’s OK.

Plan Next.  I needed a new printer.  After cleaning and dressing my arm, off to the STAPLES office supply store I went.  I don’t do that much printing, so was looking for a low-volume, inexpensive option and ended up selecting a CANON model.

I’ve always been amazed at how easy setting up printers has become. One can usually scan a QR code to find a step-by-step video or access a specific URL for a tutorial, and voila, you have a working printer.  Not this time!  I could not get to any of the steps, since there was a malfunction on the very first one – the machine would not allow me to select a preferred language.  It defaulted to English but would not accept “OK” and I could not proceed.

Now, try and get a human customer service representative at CANON (or any provider) and things go downhill pretty quickly.  Certainly, ain’t gonna happen on a weekend, right?!

Two days later I talked to someone (offshore) and got authorization to return the machine for a full credit and went with another manufacturer.

I burden you with this Saturday “tale of woe” to personalize one of the oldest lessons ever…

…Life is not for you or against you.  Good things happen.  Bad things happen.  There are, and will forever be, unexpected setbacks or challenges.  Fortunately, the world occasionally tosses us delightful surprises, too!  I’m betting (and this’d be a healthy wager) most readers find the good far outweighs the bad.

Regardless, it’s the choices you make and the attitude you adopt after life has reared its head.  Those decisions are TOTALLY your call.

C-h-o-o-s-e

W-i-s-e-l-y!