Getting Things Started

Hmm, what to write about first. Maybe a funny story that relates to the title of this blog might be good to break the ice.... This is a true story. Last spring, I was en route to a far away land where I would spend the next two and a half months living. After buzzing across the Atlantic, we landed in Shannon, Ireland for a couple of hours to refuel our plane. Our "group" was taken inside a passenger terminal to chill out in the meantime. To entertain myself, I decided to grab a couple of things: my travel guitar, a book I was in the middle of, and my laptop that had been donated to me for this very trip by my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, I didn't have the correct electrical adapter required to plug in the laptop. So, upon seeing a duty free shop across the way that had what I needed, I naturally headed in that direction. Since I was carrying a fair amount of gear, I decided not to take the bulk with me, but rather tuck them safely under the seat I had claimed...afterall, my comrades and I seemed to be the only ones in the terminal.

Fast forward five minutes. Having succeeded in the store, I returned to my previous spot ready to overcome my electrical obstacle, when I discovered a new dilemma. "Hmm, I could have sworn this is the seat I put my stuff under. Maybe it was over here. Nope. Oh boy. Five minutes in a foreign country and I'm already getting robbed. Not good."

Trying to maintain a calm disposition, I quickly scanned the terminal for anyone who looked like they had some authority. Across the way, I spotted two guys who fit the description talking to one of the leaders of my group. I headed over and was able to get the attention of the sidekick of the two without interrupting the ongoing conversation. I briefly explained my predicament and got a rather unexpected reaction. He simply turned to his partner, interrupting him with a light smack on the shoulder, and said, "Hey, we found him." Uh oh. I was quickly taken to a back room, where I was padded down and asked several questions as to where I had been and what I had been doing for the past 10 minutes. After filling them in and assuring them that this was all just a misunderstanding, they had one last test. They wanted me to describe the items I was "missing". Easy, right? Well, let's just say had I not been in the middle of reading a book entitled "The Taliban" with a huge token picture of a scary bearded man on the cover that I had stuffed in my laptop case, I might not have wet myself. Yep....all just a misunderstanding.

But, it's all good--after all, here I am alive and well almost a year later. And, more than just a funny story, it does give some food for thought for this inaugural post. In hindsight, what choice was my biggest mistake? Well, I don't know what you think, but I'd say it's a tough call between leaving my luggage unattended in a passenger terminal, OR failing to realize a much more efficient option: instead of checking email first, pull out the guitar, make some friends, and use their tip money to finance the purchase, while THEY watch my stuff for me.

Oh well, it's like my wife always says, "Hindsight is 50/50".