Serendipitous Stuff

Everything happens for a reason.  I believe it.  Sometimes it's little stuff, sometimes bigger.  The other day the pool light wouldn't come on.  So I went out and tested the switches but they were OK.  That meant changing the bulb.  It's not hard but it is underwater and a little tricky.  After determining that was the problem (and not having a bulb handy to install), I kicked back to hang out by the pool and tried to turn the radio on.  But it wouldn't come on.  We had some real heavy rain and the outdoor GFI outlet tripped.  So I re-set it.  Later that night I looked out and the pool light was on!  (I have it set to come on every night from 8-10 just because it looks cool.)  Anyway, it turns out the pool light is on the GFI circuit and re-setting the outlet fixed the light.  Good one.

Recently,my online email address book was hacked.  Twice actually.  It makes no sense to me but whoever hacked me sent out stupid links to pharmaceutical companies, foreign web hosting sites, etc.  Stupid stuff, but harmless.  And annoying to everyone in my address book.  So I changed my password and that shouldn't happen again.  (But it did happen to a lot of people who have an online Comcast address book.  It was a hack on their side - not my PC.).  Anyway, there was one good thing that came out of it:  a friend of mine from grad school, whom I had not heard from for over 20 years, replied to the spam email.  We worked in the Dean's Office together during the day at Northeasternand went to classes at night.  Right after we graduated she was in a skiing accident that left her in a coma with severe injuries.  She is now in a wheelchair but full of energy and has a great job with the State of Massachusetts.  So what one person(s) intended for harm turned out to be good.

The other day Capital One entered into an agreement to buy my employer, ING DIRECT.  It's a complicated story about Dutch loans and bailout money and payback but the deal will be finalized later this year.  Of course there is a lot of uncertainty at all levels right now and no one is sure of anything.  But one thing I am sure of is that God brought me to this job and He will bring me to another (if that is necessary).  And God has a funny way of letting me/us know He hasn't forgotten about me/us.  When the word came out, a friend of mine texted me and said that Stevenson University was looking for a Security Director.  That would be the same Stevenson University where Ashleigh is going in the fall...  Turns out they are looking for a retired policeman type but it made me smile that nothing is out of control...