What a day. I started out with a nice swim with fellow L.A Tri Clubber and L.A. Legger Frank Deese. We went probably a little less than a mile at a fairly easy pace. It was a nice swim and a good start to the day. The plan was to get in a quick bike ride after the swim and then head off to church. After church I was going to do about 40 miles on the bike.
As we were walking towards the showers, I felt for my car key in side my wetsuit. I couldn't feel it. I took the wetsuit off and it wasn't there. I realized that I didn't remember actually putting it in the wetsuit. I retraced my steps the best I could, but the chances are that I dropped it in the sand somewhere between the car an almost a mile down the beach. My key was lost.
Oh, well. I have AAA, I would call them to open the car. I also called The Great Magnetic Wife to come meet me. I borrowed Frank's cell phone and made the necessary calls. I drive a company car, and I knew that there was an extra key at the office. I would get my stuff out of the car, have The Great Magnetic Wife drive me to the office, pick up the extra key, and if all went as planned, I could still get to church by the time the sermon started.
I was parked in the short-term parking lot, so I only had two hours. After the AAA guy opened the car, The Great Magnetic Wife arrived, we bought a new two hour parking ticket and set off for the office.
I called the Saturn dealer to see if they could make a new key from the VIN, and they could, but service was closed on Sunday, so it couldn't be done until Monday morning. I couldn't just leave the car there, it would be ticketed and towed.
In the old days, I knew where the key was hidden to the office that has the master key box. It was not there. I called our receptionist on her cell phone to ask her about it and she told me she now takes the keys home. Probably a smart idea, but gosh this put a crimp in the plan. I called Brett, whose office contains the master key box, but he did not answer. Stacey, our receptionist, had offered to drive to work to give me the key, so I called her back and said that we could meet half-way. She lives in Palmdale, about 50 mile away.
We met in the parking lot of a Jack-In-The-Box in Santa Clarita. I paid her for her troubles, even though she said it was not necessary. But I figured anyone who would just take off on a Sunday morning and drive 50 miles to meet me at a fast food parking lot to give me a key, should definitely be compensated.
I finally got back to work, got into the office with the master key box and found that there was not an extra set. I looked at each set of keys in there very carefully three to four times. Oh no! I called The Great Magnetic Wife and she said she would call AAA again and have them send a locksmith.
AAA covers the first $60.00, but the estimate for this job was $235.00. At this point it didn't matter. I drove back to Santa Monica and got there shortly before the locksmith. He was a great guy, but did say something like, "if I am able to make this key it will be a miracle."
He worked on it very hard. It took him almost an hour, but he did finally get the key made and he also made a duplicate.
It was now past 1:00 pm. I started my swim at 7:00. I was in not mood to go on a bike ride. I was in a mood to go home on watch The Tour De France on TV.
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