The Boneheaded Move of the Year

Hello everyone! This is Abe, and I thought that I'd share the boneheaded move of the year that I've made so far (granted the year is less than a month old--work with me people :)). I'm sharing this story to show that yes, even a reasonably intelligent person such as myself can make the dumbest moves. This is also to further illustrate that I'm not perfect (imagine that?).

So I was working 8:30-5 on Wednesday because I was able to work from our downtown Chicago office (I share a cube at the downtown office with a colleague of mine). Well, work wasn't too crazy that day, so I was able to leave right around 5. I typically take the Metra train (public transportation) to and from work when I work from that location. The downtown station is about a 13-14 minute walk from my office, depending on whether I am speed walking or taking a leisurely stroll. There is a 5:15 and a 5:21 train that leaves from the train station that will get me back to Evanston--both are about 22 minute rides. I was planning on taking the 5:21 train.

Well, I leave my office at about 5:02 or so and am speed walking to the train station because it is colder than snot outside (wind chills approaching 15 below zero). There is a big digital clock right when I get to the station that says 5:13, so I figured, "What the heck? Let's go for the 5:15 train!" So now I'm really busting my butt trying to make this dang train--I look on the big board to see what track that it is--Track 6! Yay! So I bust a move and get to the train just as the doors were closing--the doors literally closed as I got in, I had to pull up my book bag because it was stuck in the door. Thinking that I am genius, I relax for a minute. One minute later an announcement comes on the intercom: "Welcome to train number XXX to Arlington Park." At this point, I'm thinking, "Whoops--I got the wrong train. That's ok, I'll just get off at the first stop--my normal train and this train share that stop." A few minutes later as we are approaching this stop--the train isn't slowing down. I think to myself, "Uh-oh. This isn't good." About a minute later, the train whizzes right by the stop and right by the train that I was supposed to take. By now I'm panicking, so I ask another passenger what the first stop is on this train. It turns out that this train runs express to Arlington Park--where the racetrack is--not close to Evanston at all, and will get there at 5:49. I got on the 5:16 express train to Arlington Park, not on the 5:15 train to Evanston. Now realizing my huge mistake, I had to figure out how to get back to Evanston. Fortunately Arlington Park is not far from where Allison works. Now feeling completely embarrassed, I proceed to call my wife at about 5:30 or so.

Allison: "Hello?"
Abe:"Hey, it's me."
Allison: "Hey! What's up?"
Abe:"Uh, I just made the boneheaded move of the year...."
Alison:"Oh. What did you do?"

From there I explain the situation and she agrees to pick me up. By now several passengers realize what happened and start laughing with me. I explain the situation to the ticket agent that swings by—he laughs too, still has to charge me for the joyride though. They were pretty nice, telling me that everyone makes mistakes. So I get to Arlington Park at about 5:47, and try to figure out what to do while I'm waiting for her. There is a McDonald's across the street, but in order to get there, I would have to either (a) climb a fence about 5 feet high, or (b) walk all the way around this stupid fence that stretches a half a mile long. By this time I'm outside and freezing again. I think to myself, "Ok, I've had enough adventure for one day; I'm going to walk around this stupid fence." So I walk around the fence and get to McDonald's, order a McFlurry, and proceed to call my mother-in-law to share my boneheaded moment. I don't think that I've ever heard Donna laugh so hard in my life. By this time it was about 6 and Allison shows up with a grin on her face.

The morale of the story: Sometimes you just need to slow down in life, otherwise you'll end up at the racetrack when you really want to be in Evanston....