To increase your odds of selling a story, make other plans for it.

The ideal morning to forget it's trash day is not the morning you were supposed to have broken down a bunch of trash from last week's home improvement project...

How does the telephone know I'm watching something for homework that cannot be easily paused?

It doesn't matter how often you back up. The computer will die just after you've finished a massive project that hasn't synced yet.

Of course I can go a few days without a washing machine. But, tell me, when is a washing machine ever going to break when you don't need to do laundry?

And just when you've adjusted to the new, tighter budget, the washing machine dies.

Murphy's Law + pets = poop-covered dog running through Thanksgiving dinner.

That extra hour of sleep we were supposed to get last night? Murphy wins.

Apparently, cold viruses know who all the soloists are.

How do the cold viruses know when I've got a concert?