Comedy of Errors, Calgary-style

So, yesterday I was supposed to have a teleconference for work^*. After re-confirming 16 times that Pacific Time is one hour behind Mountain Time, not after it^**, and sorting out the whole issue that Justin doesn't actually have a landline (i.e., borrowing his cell phone instead and being very apologetic for using up all his minutes), I skipped out at the end of lunch just before 4 pm^*** (the scheduled time of the call), leaving Sarah, Dave and Justin in the restaurant to go sit in Justin's car with the cell phone to make my call. There was only one slight problem with this plan - the car was gone. Apparently we had parked at ~3 pm on a street where there is no parking between 3:30-6:30 pm. We'd parked at a meter and none of us had noticed the sign informing us of this salient fact. So I go running back up the street to tell S, D & J that the car is gone and that I would be across the street in the coffee shop doing my teleconference. I managed to call into the conference line and, fortunately, despite calling in at 4:02 pm, no one else was yet there^****. When the first person logs in, she informs me that the cell phone is totally breaking up and that I should really get on a landline. I inform her that the person I'm staying with doesn't have one, but I could go outside to the pay phone. Yes, outside in the -10 degree weather for what could potentially be an hour long conference call. So outside I go, forced to abandon the $2 coffee I'd just bought so that I could stay in the coffee shop^*****. However, by the time I got outside and across the road, we discovered that half the people on the call didn't, for various reasons, have the materials I'd couriered to them before I left, so we need to re-schedule the meeting for next week. Of course, I was secretly glad for this, because I really didn't relish the idea of staying outside on a payphone for an hour in the freakin' snow (!), although it does mean that I'll have to do some emailing to re-arrange the meeting. But at least I will be able to call in from the comfort of my own office, where it is warm and toasty and I have a view of the beautiful mountains and there is no snow^******. By the time I got off the call, Justin had confirmed that his car had, in fact, been towed and he and Dave were going to make the trek to the impound lot, while Sarah and I would trek back to Justin's apartment. I, without my touque, which I had left in the now impounded car, was not terribly happy about this development. However, we made it back, and Justin got his car out of impound^******* and then all was right with the world. And later on in the night, at a bar on the Red Mile, we watched the Flames lose to the San Jose Sharks and all was even more right with the world. Except for the lack of hot boys in this city. Every second girl you see in this city looks like a model, every guy appears to be 5 ft 1 or shorter. I did see one hot boy at The Mynt^******** last night, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't from here.

Also, check out Dave's blog to learn "More Things You Didn't Know About Calgary"

^*Yes, I'm working on my vacation. I'm *that* dedicated. Wait, I'm taking vacation one month into my new job... OK, maybe not so dedicated after all.

^**On the plane ride her, I switched my watch back an hour instead of forward an hour and couldn't figure out why it was so dark at 7:30 p.m. when we were landing.

^***Yes, we have lunch at 3 pm. So?

^****Since I was the one coordinating the meeting, I didn't want to be late.

^*****As I'd left my travel mug in the now towed car, I'd got my coffee in a to-stay mug and didn't think they'd appreciate if I took it out of the shop.

^******in my office. There will probably still be snow on the mountains.

^********Not to be mistaken for Gay Mynt Belfast, starring Titti von Tramp. Because I'm pretty sure that's illegal here in Cal-gary.