» Really!? (I could get rich off this story) [- mass konfuzion.com -]: Music, Life, etc.

Let me tell you a crazy story. I couldn’t make this up, even with my ridiculous imagination. I’m not even the main character of this story, but it’s so outlandish that I have to tell it.

On Monday, I left town for a business trip with one colleague from Chicago, and another colleague from New York. The trip was a 5-day affair, taking 3 days in Indianapolis, IN and 2 days in Shelbyville, KY. On Monday, we all traveled separately–Ms. New York and I took flights down from our respective cities, while Mr. Chicago drove his own car from Chicago to Indianapolis, because he needed to return to Chicago on Tuesday for a meeting, after which he planned to fly back down to Indy and join us. From there, we would carpool to Shelbyville, do our duties and then fly back home.

That was the plan. That’s not what happened…

What did happen deserves an Academy Award for best story. First, after spending all of Monday in Indianapolis, we discovered that Mr. Chicago had developed a slow leak at some point during the day, because he had a flat tire on his car that night. Naturally, we found this out after every tire repair shop and car rental location had closed, forcing Mr. Chicago to go to the airport, roughly 30 minutes away, to get a rental car to drive back to Chicago.

The next day, his scheduled morning meeting got pushed back to the afternoon, which prevented him from returning on the flight he planned. He ended up having to drive back to Indy in the car he rented. As if that weren’t enough, while he was in Chicago, a freak thunderstorm pelted Indianapolis with quarter-sized hail and probably put some dings in his car, which was parked in the uncovered lot outside the building. (As an aside, that same storm downed trees, destroyed windshields, and even knocked over a gazebo several miles west of where we were).

After that ordeal, he finally made it back to Indianapolis. A couple of hours later, when we decided to grab some food, Mr. Chicago noticed that his wallet was missing, much to his exasperated chagrin. That made his hotel check-in interesting, since he had no ID or credit card.

Mind you, it’s still only Tuesday in this story…

Wednesday almost restored our faith in the balance of the universe. We were able to get the flat tire repaired, return the rental car early for a reduced price, and we even had good meetings that day. Aside from Mr. Chicago not being able to drink a mojito with us at dinner, the day was the highlight of the week for him. Also, it was Ms. New York’s birthday, so she and I had a celebratory shot of something painfully minty and called it a night.

Then, Thursday happened. That morning, we had to drive out to Shelbyville, but not before our requisite intravenous caffeine injection coffee run. Somehow, Mr. Chicago misplaced his cell phone! He said he thought it happened at the coffee shop, but he didn’t find it when he went back to look for it. Add that to the fact that he still had no wallet, and therefore, no money to buy gas to drive from Indianapolis to Shelbyville (and certainly not from Shelbyville back to Chicago), that cell phone incident basically ended the week for him.

It’s unbelievable..