Need help for naming of phenomenon

What's it called when you cause something that you are actively trying to prevent? More specifically, when the action you take to prevent something actually causes that event to occur?

Example: When we first bought our Ikea rug, we really tried to keep it nice and clean (nowadays, not so much). At one point, we had some olive oil on a plate on the coffee table, for some reason. Caitlin said, "Oh, we should move this plate of olive oil to the dining table so's we don't spill it on our nice new rug. Also, I love you very much, Andyman." But in the moving of the plate of olive oil — with the sole purpose to prevent spillage onto rug — we spilled olive oil onto the rug. Hmm.

Another example: I finally got our bikes up and running after a long, cold, dark winter of bikelessness. I rode mine to school last week, and noticed my rear tire was getting a bit flat. "Oh," I said to myself, "I really oughta pump this bad boy up so's I don't get a flat tire. Also, I sure do love that girl of mine." So I broke out the handpump and succeeded in air-i-fying my tire. Good to go. But I had trouble getting the pump off, and I'm pretty sure I weakened the tube around the nozzle area. Whatever I did, the tire went flat when I hit one small bump. I'm positive that my pumping up of the tire directly caused (or at the very least, contributed to) the flattening of the tire — the very thing I was trying to prevent!

Maybe this happens more often than I realize or care to admit. Like when you swerve to avoid a car (to avoid a collision) only to hit another. Maybe this phenomenon isn't noteworthy enough for mentioning or italics or even a blog post at all. But for some reason it's been gnawing at me. How does this happen? Why? To whom? And more importantly, by what name should we call it? I have a good idea, but I'd like to hear some suggestions first. So: Please help me out in the naming of this unfortunate phenomenon. Or maybe help me come up with some more examples.

Gaelic or ultimate?

Both teams practice on Thursdays at 8 p.m. Which should I go to? It's been a tough decision for me the last few months. Any thoughts?

Going to Bologna this weekend for an ultimate tournament.

Self-deprivation

For whatever reason, I enjoy depriving myself of certain things. Not because I'm a masochist., but because I like the challenge of going without something for a certain length of time. It makes me feel like I'm in control of my life, somehow. I remember watching Oprah, and some weird guy hadn't spoken in a year. It started as a bet, but he enjoyed it, and decided he'd go a full year without speaking. And he did it. I know what you're thinking: "Andy watches Oprah?!" I don't think I'll stop speaking anytime soon (although I generally think people talk too much). Here's a list of random things I've given up: 

Driving a car

Year: 2012

Length: 5 months

Reason for stopping: Flight canceled in SFO. Had to rent a car to drive to Oregon for the holidays. I mostly remembered how to do it. 

Monetary transactions

Year: 2006

Length: 1 week

Reason for stopping: Entrance to state park

Drinking alcohol

Year: 2009

Length: 6 weeks 

Reason for stopping: Ultimate frisbee tournament

Eating meat

Year: 2008-2009

Length: 9 months

Reason for stopping: Ultimate frisbee tournament

So, yeah, maybe I should lay off the ultimate. It's bad for my self'control. 

Market for human kidneys?

No, I'm not offering my kidney for sale. (Although, if you make me an offer I can't refuse ... ) I'm starting a midterm project for my Business Ethics class about this topic. I think it's fascinating (to channel my good friend Nick Grube). I've always wondered why women can sell their eggs -- I've seen sketchy classified ads offering women $30,000 or so to sell an egg. But you're really only allowed to donate other organs. Per che? Some folks say it has to do with general societal repugnance. Which I understand. And of course there is a black market for this sort of thing. Anyway, it's gross I guess. But if anyone has input (or a kidney for sale), lemme know.

In other news, I am totally a fashionista now. Caitlin has been working her magic on me, and all of a sudden I find myself wearing Italian styles, matching shirts with pants with shoes with socks ... it's so complicated! And I'm even giving 5 minutes of thuoght to my outfit before I start putting clothes on for the day. It's nowhere near Caitlin's 45 minutes of planning time, but it's a start.

We had a lovely meal at Thomas' place last night. Caitlin braved the massive thunderstorm to join us, along with Janet and Mariacarmen. Nice evening with good friends from my MBA program. I'll miss them after this semester.

My fantasy baseball team is garbage. But maybe that's a good thing: I should be focusing on more important things, like my MBA degree, getting married, figuring out my life ... still, my team is so bad.

Ancora qui

(Still here!)

Sorry for the extended absence, dear readers. We've had quite a hectic spring here in Bella Roma. Many visitors, including both sets of parents, two pairs of aunts & uncles, and one brother crashing on our couch (with another to follow soon).

My program at ESE has really intensified, which is both annoying and weirdly fulfilling. One of my main complaints was that it wasn't very challenging or engaging, but that is improving.

Big news on the Gaelic football front: The Rome men's team made it to the finals of the tournament here last weekend. We won our pool with wins over Rovigo and Padova, then beat the Rome Aussies in the semifinals. We hung with the formidable Zurich team in the final, but they pointed us to death. We lost, but we left the pitch with our heads held high

At the tourney party, I won the Man of the Match! The captain, Chris, hinted that I'd be ni the running, but I didn't think I'd win the MVP. I mean, obviously there were more skilled players out there. On my own team, Niall and Chris are ballers. I think my non-Irish background and my lack of experience played a big role. I've only been playing for 9 months, but the Irishmen said you couldn't tell.

And, to be perfectly honest, I did play out of my mind, especially in the first two games. In fact, I scored our team's first couple of points and made some pinpoint passes up to the front lines. I didn't do a whole lot of scoring in the semi and the final, but felt pretty capable as a distributor. Of course, having the Vallergas cheer me on helped.

OK, I'm off to Thomas's house for aperitivo. Things are still busy, but we've learned to enjoy our free time as often as possible.

Pink ribbon!

We were surprised to find a pink ribbon above the front door of our apartment building today. In Italy they put a pink or blue ribbon on or above the door when a new baby arrives. So cute! 

Language Wars

In an effort to learn Italian, Andy & I have been trying to practice as much as possible. As soon as people realize that we're not native speakers, which is almost immediately, they start speaking English. That's when the language war starts. They'll speak to us in English and then we'll respond in Italian (and so on and so forth). Who usually wins? We do. We say "grazie" and "buongiornatta" as we walk out the door.