I’m starting to get the feeling that it is impossible for me to buy a piece of hardware and have it work the first time out. For example, most of the time when I ask Seth Dillingham to upgrade this web server, inevitably the product comes from the warehouse defective or the wrong type, etc.
This jinx extends to pretty much everything I buy myself as well. For example, I was just playing around with a new toy I received via FedEx yesterday, and it took me less than 24 hours to create a problem which the technical support people at the company that produces the gadet say they’ve never seen before. They were nice enough about arranging for me to return it, but when I talk to tech support people who obviously know what they’re talking about and start off with, “that’s not supposed to happen…”, I start gettig a complex about being jinxed.