Dropped Car Keys in Ski Slopes
We went to Mount Seymour with Steve and his kids Josh (soccer club teammate) and Jaime to go skiing and snowboarding during the first week of January 2019. There wasn't a lot of snow that day and didn't get to zero degrees until we got to the top of the hill. It was raining I remember which would have been perfect conditions for locating the worst thing one could lose at the ski hills - car keys. It must have fallen off my jacket at the bottom of the Lodge Chair Lift because that's where Steve got the keys from the chair lift attendant. Some kind soul must have found it on the snow before it got buried in it and turned it in. I panicked and started retracing my snowboarding path on foot down the hill. I must have looked pathetic combing through the snow that a few people asked if I was ok. I even check the rental desk and ticket office if anyone turned them in but was told it might be until late in the day at which point I was already thinking about how I would keep my kids warm while I had car towed and the expenses that would incur. It was the only car key I had and there was no other option to me so you can imagine the huge sigh of relief when Steve shouted out over the chair lift that he may have found my car keys. So grateful. I purchased this Tile Mate for $30 at London Drugs to make sure this doesn’t happen again. It’s coverage is 45 meters and pairs with my iPhone using its location services to indicate where on a map it was last seen.
iPhone Cell Phone Misplaced?
The same week in January 2019, we went to Cloverdale Skating rink to celebrate with Brian and Monique. Many rounds around the skating rink later, my wife says that she couldn't find her iPhone. She had our friend Teresa call her cell phone but they couldn't hear it in the vicinity and no one was picking up if someone had picked it up. I had this happen multiple times already where she would misplace her phone and so I immediately launched the "Find iPhone" app on my own iPhone to try and triangulate the whereabouts of my wife's iPhone. I was very surprised that it showed up a few kilometres away at the Boston Pizza restaurant in Fraser Hwy and 160th Ave Surrey. I used the send alarm function of the mobile app to remotely trigger an alarm on my wife's phone. After doing that I called the phone number and funny enough someone picked up. The other persons explained that her husband thought it was for someone who worked at Boston Pizza because of a calendar pop up on my wife's phone about our upcoming dinner at another Boston Pizza location later that night. I arranged to come and pick up the phone. This was another major headache that was avoided because my wife carries her driver's license, gym cards, and other cards on her cell phone case so we would have to go through cancellations and get the various cards re-issued. Crisis averted.
Teeth Braces Lost in Compost Bin at Food Court
We spent the boxing-week walking around Tsawwassen Mills Shopping Outlet Mall early one morning to avoid the crowds. It was our down time and also our workout as we must have circled the mall multiple times. After working up an appetite, the kids and I headed over to the food court for some lunch. My son has the habit of wrapping his teeth braces in a napkin and placing it alongside his plate while he ate. I got a text to meet up with my wife at a store so we quickly finished up and handed the food tray to one of the food court custodians to trash or compost the food tray contents. After meeting up with my wife and walking around some more, my son asks for his braces to which I of course adamantly said I didn't have. We retraced our steps and he said he remembers wrapping it in a napkin at the food court earlier. We ran over to the food court to try and find the garbage bin and the compost bin where they may have disposed of the wrapped braces. The custodians said they just emptied the garbage bins in the area where we remember dropping off the food tray. Our only other option was the compost bin. I offered to go through the compost bin to weed through all the napkins to look for the braces but the nice custodian said she would do it and proceeded to put on gloves to get to this dirty business. We must have been close to the bottom of the bin when we hit jackpot and found my son's braces still wrapped in the napkin. I was so relieved and we gave her what we had in our wallet worth $25 for her trouble. My son got a harsh scolding that day and am sure he will be more mindful of where he leaves his teeth braces from now on.
Missing Clothes in Gym Locker
One of favourite gyms is the Steve Nash Sports Club downtown on Georgia and Dunsmuir Street. I enjoy lounging in the steam and sauna rooms there, after a hard workout at one of the group fitness classes. I just wish I can afford the monthly membership fees as I already have a family membership at YMCA and can't see myself holding two gym memberships. However, I can never say no to free 7 or 14 day passes and take every opportunity to go during my lunch breaks. I freaked out on one of these visits when I came out to my locker to change back to my work clothes but found an empty locker. I was so sure someone had stolen my things so I ran to the front desk in nothing but a towel around my waist to declare a robbery. They sent someone to the men's change room with a master key to try and unlock neighbouring lockers. I was so sure it was my locker that was emptied because it was locked when I got to it initially and opened when I put in my 4-digit password. My previous landlord Sam was there too and was willing to lend me a shirt to help with my predicament. I said what I needed was a pair of pants and said thank you. Nevertheless, the staff with master keys must have had this happen to members multiple times because he went ahead and opened the locker next to what I thought was my emptied locker. I was so relieved to see my clothes, my shoes, and my backpack there after he opened the neighboring locker. I felt so stupid for having forgotten the locker number and the staff just smiled saying this happens a lot. I was already picturing in my head that I would take the skytrain home in towels because my wallet was also missing and that I had to cancel all my cards when I go home. Another crisis averted but got me thinking that I need to inventory the cards in my wallet now to ensure I can easily cancel those cards.
These are just some of the more noteworthy lost-and-found instances that I remember recently where I had lost something but thankfully was reunited with the said lost items. How about you, can you beat my list?
