Car Key Adventure

My car has a safety feature that is supposed to keep you from locking your keys in. That is, you're not supposed to be able to lock the door while it's open. And so for the first little while that I owned my car, I ignorantly waited until I was out of the car, then locked it with the key. (They also didn't give my automatic locks with the little button keychain contraption, which was a major disappointment, but that's another story.)

However, it wasn't too long before I noticed that sometimes the door would manage to lock before I closed the door, and soon realized it was when I was still holding the handle open from the inside. That is, if I pressed down the lock at the same time as I had the handle out for opening the door, it locked, so I didn't have to use the key. Once I figured that out, I have been locking the door without the key--for the past five and a half years. Never once have I locked my car keys in the car.

Until Thursday.

I went to the BYU Management Society luncheon in DC in the morning (it started at 12:00. I left in the morning). For some reason I felt I really needed to go, though I'm not sure why exactly. I mean it was good--perhaps worthy of another post. But anyway, since I was running late, I decided to drive to the metro station closest to DC where I could park, which was Pentagon City. It also has the highest parking fee. But since it's in a mall garage, once I realized I could validate parking, I figured it was worth it. It's Christmas season, after all. Surely there must be something I could buy.

But I was selfish, bought something for myself, and something that even contradicts my personal standards. (I've deleted the post that indicates what this personal standard is, but for those of you who remember, it has to do with clothes and has nothing to do with modesty.) And so I was punished. Maybe.

On my way home from the mall, I stopped at a gas station in Alexandria city, kind of near a place I used to live, so I was familiar with the area, and it also had the cheapest gas I'd seen around --at $1.63. Not bad, huh? (Across the street it was $1.64, but when I came back later in the evening, they'd dropped to $1.61. I suppose you never can keep up.)

I'd been pretty warm in the mall, and I'd gotten a sweet parking spot--the closest possible to Macy's in the covered parking. So my coat was off, laying on the passenger seat. But I could really feel the cold once I started the gas pumping so I was going to just sit back in my car and wait, when Wait! I can't open the door. What? I locked the door, and there on top of my coat sat my purse, which had my cell phone and every phone number I could possibly need, and my keys. Yikes.

So I ran into the the gas station and told them the dilemma. The nice manager, an Indian man in his 60s or 70s teased me a bit. "You have a spare key in your house? It will cost $100 or more to get a locksmith." Eesh.

"Yes, I think I know I have a spare key, and I think I know where it is."

"Do you want to call someone?"

"I have two roommates, but their phone numbers are in my phone. I don't know them."

"You don't know your roommates' phone numbers?" He was surprised. "Do you have a house phone? You could yell at the answering machine for someone to pick up."

"We have a house phone, but I don't know that number either. It's my roommate's, so I don't give it out."

"You don't know your house phone number?"

Luckily a man checking out defended me, "I don't know my wife's phone number. I just scroll to it and pop. Push the button."

"Oh, so that's how it works these days. Nobody knows their friends' numbers."

I guess he didn't have a cell phone. Some people, I suppose are not as connected. This digital world isn't quite as completely digital as we sometimes like to convince ourselves, perhaps.

"Do you have a job?"

"No. I'm looking."

"Oh, no no. No job. Looking for a husband, too, right?"

"Of course." I smiled and laughed.

"Maybe God wanted you to lock your keys in your car, so we could meet?" (He was kind of a funny guy, at least.) "Well, if you can't get a hold of anyone, you can come sleep at my house--don't worry, I have a separate bed."

Ha ha. But seriously, he told me later he would have taken me all the way to my house, which was a few miles away and since it was kind of close to rush hour, it would have been a long haul. But since my house key was also on my key chain, he figured that wouldn't have worked so well.

I didn't think the Sonoco would have the internet, but I knew the internet would have my friends' numbers. So I asked if they knew anywhere nearby that might have it. They looked stumped, so I decided just to wander around, over to the outdoor mall just a few yards away. Someone had to have some means to the internet.

I thought I vaguely remembered that maybe an old friend's dad owned a store in the corner, so I headed to that corner, but that store wasn't there. Ah. No, that was another outdoor mall near another place where I used to live. Yeah, I've lived in too many places. But aha! In that corner, there was a Kodak place. And lo and behold, they even had a computer with internet access right there in their lobby.

Answers to prayers!

I sent an email to my roommates, then found a phone number, and ran back to the Sonoco to call. Then waited and waited. Maybe I should have gotten the other roommate's number, too. Though Angelee was more likely to be home around the 4:00 hour when this was taking place, she had lost her phone last I heard. So I ran back to the Kodak place to get a few more phone numbers. And then, just as I had written them down, I turned to find the nice Indian face standing beside me. He'd come to get me so I didn't have to walk back in the cold. Ah. what a nice man.

Back at the Sonoco, I placed a few more calls, left a few messages, and chatted with the nice man for awhile. He had never married, had no children, but did have a few brothers and they had children. He liked being a good uncle, particularly to his one brother's daughter, but she'd decided to go out with a boy he didn't approve of so she wasn't speaking to him. Very sad. But he did have other brothers to spend time with. He was very close to his mother, but she'd passed away a few years ago. So now it was just him. He seemed to have a really positive attitude about everything, though. Very upbeat. Nice to meet new people, see the world through other people's eyes for a brief time. Maybe God did want me to lock my keys in my car so I could meet him.

Then I remembered some other people who might have keys to my house and might be home, so the nice Indian man (I never did get his name) drove me back to the Kodak place where they welcomed me warmly again. All kinds of friends to be made, huh? Then he drove me back and I made a few more calls. Finally, yeah! I got a hold of Carrie, my wonderful, sweet roommate. She hadn't found the spare where I thought it was, but she was coming to get me.

I knew she had something going on that night so I was so grateful she was able to come. And it had been awhile since we'd talked with all of our comings and goings. And in answer to prayers, again, I found my spare shortly after I got home. Carrie had to go out, as I'd thought, but when she came back, she was so kind to take me back and get my car. Everything worked out just fine. And really, it was all in answer to other prayers that I get a little exercise (which I did, running back and forth between Kodak and Sonoco places, as well as earlier that day to get to the BYU luncheon), that I have things to do outside my apartment and visit with people.

I didn't quite get a job out of it, but I guess I can't have everything. Still, it wasn't such a bad punishment for my selfish purchase, after all.

Another Inadvertent Advertisement

Since it seems the big publishers in Utah like to have full paper copies of your manuscript for consideration, and since the last time I printed the whole thing I ran out of black ink and had to print about 100 pages in color (sorry Hillary!) for my thesis advisor, I decided to look into printing it at a shop. This would also save me from nursing the printer since I can only print like 20 pages at a time from my little baby.

Yeah. I called Kinko's. The guy said it would be $25 for my 252 pages. Eesh. I guess it makes sense. And even thinking about the competition of myself doing it, I realized that it wouldn't be that much less for the paper and the ink cartridges I'd go through. But eesh. Eager for a sale, he continued "if you print multiple copies, you might get a discount." "Okay, how about five?" "[numbers, numbers, numbers, calculation words, numberes] comes to about $99--that's 40% off!" Eesh. Do I really want five copies? Is simultaneous submission really worth $100?

When money's tight, I have a hard time justifying that. He concluded by telling me they price matched, so if I found it cheaper anywhere else, they'd match the price. Well, that's nice, I thought. Thanks. But eesh was still running through my brain. Maybe I'll try to publish on the national market where I'd only have to worry about the first three chapters.

So I know there's one Utah/unofficial LDS publisher that accepts emailed ms's, but their Author Questionnaire kind of indicated they wanted any sequels to be ready within a year. That's another eesh. (Though if you're reading this, sorry. I might still try you :). I have even gone ahead and started writing the sequel.)

That was a few days ago I called. But today, after this over two months of unemployment, well, let's just say I might still consider petitioning Congress on that bill. Seriously, we're in a recession. If I'd known that when I was contemplating quitting my last temp agency, maybe I would have proceeded differently. I'm still not sure though. I've run the feelings I was having at that time over and over in my mind, and I'll admit I probably made a mistake. But it might have just been time to quite anyway. Regardless, in this slump of job searching, I've of course thought that if my book sells, I might make some money, probably more than enough to cover that $25 dollars to print it. Finally today, I decided to go ahead and print it.

After making sure the latest copy was saved on my stick, ready to take to Kinko's, I had this other thought. Hm. They match prices. That must mean there are other companies. Duh, I knew that. At the job I had from February through June this year, I had to call several copy places to see if they would do a certain kind of print job and then again to see if they had a certain cartridge. Both times, I ended up walking quite a distance, once in a terrible downpour in my worst pair of shoes with a cruddy umbrella. Maybe that's why I blocked it.

But hey, it's not raining today. Thanks for unblocking me Kinko's! So, where are these, your competitors? I quickly did a Google search "copy centers near 22306," and a list pulled up. Staples. Well, that kind of makes sense. This other place on Belleview, near where I live. Interesting. I called them both--both had better deals than Kinko's. Staples had $.09 per page plus $2 handling fee. The Belleview place $.07 per page and $5 handling fee. Wow. Belleview was closer. That sounded pretty decent, even, too.

In the mean time, I had another errand to take care of in Old Town Alexandria, so I headed up there to take care of that, then was just going to stop by Belleview on the way back. But lo and behold, on my way to the building in Old Town, I see ABC printing on the corner--same building. Since I'm here, I might as well ask, I thought. Good thing I did too. $.07 per page and no handling fee. Wahoo. Now if that don't beat all.

So, of course I could get a quote from them and run it over to Kinko's. Riiight.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Yesterday I took a walk in my neighborhood. I've taken walks before, but I decided to find new paths, so I first took this path I found, from a small entrance on the side of the street into a little wooded area. I followed the path for awhile, but soon found the path seemed to have been covered over. I thought it might pick up again, especially since I thought it might connect to another path I'd been on before. I kept going, and indeed found evidences of a path. But eventually, the shrubbery came up to high and I had no choice but to turn around.

Back on the road, though a little further down the road from where I entered, I continued on my way. I hadn't been gone very long, after all.

Soon enough, I found the little wooded park (and I mean little) with the path I'd taken before. It forked right at the entrance. And since I knew, from taking it before, that going left led me quite a ways from home, I decided to take the path to the right and see how close it got me, also curious to see if it connected to the other wooded area.

They might have. But I didn't find out. A chain link fence ran along the middle of the woods on my left as I walked the whole way. And before long, another chain link fence came up on the right, separating the woods from people's yards and homes. That was fine. The pathed area got smaller. That was fine. But eventually, I got to a place where it looked like the fences merged. I kept walking though, maybe out of curiosity or maybe determination. Curiously, the fences didn't merge, and the path continued between them. The path was the whole width of the space between the fences, just a few feet, like a typical path, but it was enough. Kind of fun to explore, I thought. Kind of fun. As i continued, quite a few branches from trees hung over

But well, eventually, the path on the left folded over onto the fence on the right. I could have fit and crawled along the path below the folded over area. It didn't seem too long. But it looked as if the path narrowed significantly afterward. I stopped for a few minutes, wondering if I should try, if it was worth it. Finally I turned around and went all the way back.

But I don't regret going. It kind of felt like a Choose Your Own Adventure book I used to read when I was a kid. Of course I never gave up and stopped reading when I died: got bitten by a snake, sank in quick sand, poisoned by a comrade, or ran into a dead end. I just turned around and picked up where I left off. Perhaps, I thought as I was turning around yesterday, reading those books even gave me some courage to try new things for curiosity. If all else failed, I could just turn around and try something else.

Of course, sometimes I'm not courageous enough, but it's one example of good things books have done.