Thank goodness for CAA

[mousme]

I have officially won the prize for Biggest Idiot Ever™ today. I sauntered into work fifteen minutes early, preening because I didn't have to rush or anything similarly undignified. At 11pm (eight hours and fifteen minutes later) I put on my coat to leave, reached into my pocket for my car keys... and didn't find them.

"Damn," thought I to myself. "I must have locked them in the car. How stupid and annoying. I may have to leave the car here overnight and get the spare keys from my parents tomorrow. Blast."

Is anything in my life ever that simple? Seriously, what are the odds? I went out into the parking lot and, sure enough, my keys were in the ignition. The catch? The car was still running. Yessir, I left the car on for eight hours and never noticed.

>_<

I put in a call to CAA, and within about twenty minutes a nice man came in a truck and opened the door for me. It took some doing, too, because the car's locks are all electronically operated. The old coat-hanger trick didn't work, nor did his slim jim. In the end he had to literally pry the door partway open and slip a long wire inside the car to trigger the "unlock" button, while I held the flashlight for him.

Still, after about ten minutes, the door was opened. I also miraculously did not run out of gas (it barely used any at all, I was surprised to see) and did not fubar the engine.

All in all, a happy ending for what was essentially a colossally stupid act.


In happier news, I had a lovely lunch with owldaughter, ashforestwalker, fearsclave and meallanmouse at Arahova. Hadn't had souvlaki in a few weeks, and Arahova is one of the best places for it, especially the original restaurant in the chain which is on St. Viateur. I arrived late because of two separate accidents causing major traffic jams, but luckily they waited for me, and we had a thoroughly pleasant time.

After lunch I headed off to Réno Dépot to check out flooring prices. I mentioned that the dining-room floor has died a cat-induced death, and ashforestwalker is confident he can fix it for me. I was pleased to note that flooring is not quite as expensive as I'd feared. While this doesn't look like it's going to be a cheap job, per se, it also doesn't look as though it'll bankrupt me. Prices are in the $13.50 for 10 s.f., which means about $200 worth of materials (a little extra flooring just in case, and the adhesive, plus taxes).

HRH (aka ashforestwalker for those of you unfamiliar with the abbreviation) will be coming by on the last Saturday of this month to view the damage and give me an idea of what I'll be looking at. With any luck, there will also be new paint on my walls! I am excited about this. Things are starting to come together in terms of what I'd like this place to be like. Perhaps I shall make a post waxing eloquent about all the Big Plans I have in mind.

Must remember to send an email to ai731 about bringing in the bed.


Apart from that, my voice is at about 90% right now. I have no doubt it will give out again tomorrow morning, but since it seems to be improving mildly from day to day, I think I shall be cautiously optimistic that I'm seeing the end of this cold.

Comments

[julienne64.livejournal.com]

Oh my dear, don't be embarrassed. About a month ago I left my car running for 1.5 hours with the DOORS UNLOCKED and the LIGHTS ON on the side of a Montreal street. Anyone could have just gotten into the car and driven away. I think the only two things that saved my car is that it's 13 years old and it was parked near a Tim Horton's which means people probably thought the idiot driver was at Timmy's and would be right back.

When I relayed this story to another mother the other day, she said that she had left the car running for an entire 8 hour work shift too. She had to call her husband to come with the spare set of keys. I think our multi-tasking brains take on too many tasks at times and this type of occurrence is more common than we think.

Jean-Michel teased his mummy about it for a couple of days though. Thanks a lot, kid. :-)

[grnladybug.livejournal.com]

I ran across you through tcaptain's lj. We share some of the same interest and I found through reading your posts so far, that you have a great sense of humor....

Care to be lj friends??

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Hi!

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I have a brain like a sieve these days. Welcome aboard!

[grnladybug.livejournal.com]

I've been out of town so I will add you back now! :)

make not to self...

[kayakman.livejournal.com]

do NOT drive after smoking and drinking.. DO NOT

:)

MojoELvis=MELvis

Re: make NOTE to self...

[kayakman.livejournal.com]

NOTE... why can't LJ have a friggin' spell checker?

Re: make NOTE to self...

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

Don't you hate that? But actually LJ does have a spellchecker. To the right of "post comment" and "more options" it has a box you can check that says "check spelling and preview" (not that I ever do...)

If you aren't seeing it maybe you can adjust some settings on you LJ friends page?

Re: make NOTE to self...

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

oh that's "your friends page" ...I told you I never use it! LOL

been there, done that...too!

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

I've done that - not for 8 hours mind you - but in a loading zone!

Also I once left my keys in our door all night when we lived on a busy street with more than a few drug dealers and customers. We had a double spotlight that lit up the whole porch and so it was shining on the keys all night. My theory is it must have looked like a trap to would-be robbers and other evil doers!

[tcaptain.livejournal.com]

I did the same thing 2 weeks ago (although I didn't have the car running...). I was all in a rush to just "pop in" and buy some trinket of little importance and upon returning to my car, found the keys sitting there in the ignition.

Had to wait about an hour in the rain while my friend brought me my spare key.