I'm going to Montreal in October for the Canadian Science Policy Conference, last week I booked my train and hotel tickets and paid my registration fee. I have been a Habs fan my entire life, and this is the first time I will be in Montreal during hockey season. Obviously I had to get tickets, and this is the tape-delayed live blog of my quest to buy a ticket on September 11th
9:30am - the waiting room opens (prices require amputation of body parts by Dr Nick Riviera)
9:35am - I arrive at the waiting room. I was late because we got up at 8am, and someone was a little slow getting ready so we got to Culbert's (best donuts in Goderich, or anywhere) five minutes late (and 35 minutes after opening), and we weren't able to make up those five minutes at the farmer's market or Zehrs. We even got sidetracked in Zehrs when we decided we wanted to concoct a trail mix from bulk bin items after we'd already got to the far side of the store ...
9:36am - after waiting for my place in line to be randomly assigned by the waiting room I find the game I want to attend from the list and then realize that the purchase price falls into the category of "major purchase - consult with wife or apologize later with flowers."
9:37am - we've already decided we're trying to be smarter with our money so that we can buy a house before the end of time, so I meet the wife in the kitchen to discuss the pricing options. She's finished serving my breakfast; life is good!
9:38am - finished licking donut glazing from fingers after inhaling three donuts (seriously the best things you can get your hands on in Goderich). Pricing approved for seats behind the opposition net, being thrifty and wanting to save five bucks I pick the section behind the Habs net, since I grew up a Patrick Roy fan. Maybe one day Price will discover the secret to King Patrick's success ... hopefully before the fans drive him out of town. Since I'm looking at the Habs vs Devils game, I'm thinking the brilliant goaltending might be from the photographer's son at the other end of the rink; I can probably only stomach the brilliance for a period up close. Sometimes thriftiness pays off!
9:39am - enter credit card information while I wait. I hate going through a ticket purchase and not being able to enter my credit card information before the 5 seconds is up. I like this innovation. It also gives me something to do while I wait for the ticket queue to start at 10am. Optimistically I estimate that I'll be buying my tickets by 10:30am.
9:50am - I figure I can waste time waiting for my spot in line to come up by checking my Gmail, and then Facebook, so I open Gmail. Exploder crashes. I swear at the computer.
9:51am - I say yes to allowing Exploder to restore previous session (so I don't lose my spot in line). It crashes again.
9:52am - I say yes to allowing Exploder to restore previous session and manage to close the Gmail window before it loads and crashes a third time.
9:53am - I re-enter my game and ticket selection and then credit card information. I curse again that I may have lost my place in line because of Microsoft.
10:01am - waiting room message changes from "ticket queue is not yet open; it will open at 10am" to "ticket queue is now open, please wait for turn, apply local anesthetic if you have any, otherwise chomp on the nearest bit." It was a nervous minute waiting for the message to change - if you crashed again, Exploder, I will install Firefox!
10:30am - wife and older nephew appear so that he can show me his Iron Man hand. It lights up, makes a lot of noises and shoots a couple of darts. I really wanted things like this when I was a kid and never got any of them. I didn't even get a racetrack until I was in university. Sometimes my parents were right that I didn't need 99% of the toys I wanted, and 75% of the toys that they caved and bought me.
10:31am - I finish explaining what happened with Exploder from 9:50am to 9:53am. Apparently nephew was paying attention, because he recounted this story to his mom later in the day. Yes, sis, Exploder is terrible, just install Firefox already.
11:15am - both nephews and wife come upstairs. Younger nephew wants to show me the darts from the Spider Man hand. Good thing they showed up, I was starting to fall asleep, because I hadn't opened any other windows or tabs in Exploder. We'd reached a delicate arrangement and I didn't want to renege on the deal.
11:20am - nephews are breakdancing on the bed. Their dad is cool; I bet their mom would never let them do this ... he's probably in trouble if she reads this!
11:30am - breakdancing session is over, now they are climbing all over the unused car bed in the corner, including a special move that involves a high probability of older nephew squashing on younger nephew. I check back at the computer and the house remains silent. I assume neither nephew is hurt (24 hours later is a different story - sorry bud!).
11:45am - a message appears that my turn has arrived in the ticket queue. The message involves links to legal fine print. I ignore them because I'm afraid my turn might end before I even get a chance to do anything.
11:46am - I select ticket number as 1, and confirm that it's still on the game and seats I want. I press search for tickets and cross my fingers that there are still tickets available in that section (or alternatively that my turn in line will last long enough that I can search again and actually find something - my predetermined search pattern was to escalate in price until I found something, rather than looking in the nosebleeds - I hate upper deck vertigo).
11:47am - I confirm my order without really knowing what I'm agreeing to. I know the drop-down menu gave me the option of email or regular mail delivery, and somehow email was cheaper, but still expensive. I wonder if the exorbitant user fee also gets added to stamping envelopes?
11:48am - I finish printing my order receipt and close the Exploder window after confirming four times that I'm really done (and counting my blessings that it didn't crash, again).
11:49am - the hectic adrenaline rush wears off, and I start wonder whether I'll be able to regrow the limb that I'm missing. Never mind that, I'm hungry and its nearly lunchtime!
11:50am - I read the receipt several times in disbelief. I'm going to a Habs game. In Montreal. It's actually the game I wanted to go to, and the seat is what I thought I might want. I probably won't need that limb anyway, as the haze has worn off and I'm not convinced that it won't grow back ...
Noon - chow down on fresh bread from the farmer's market - thank you Bayfield Berry Farm for the 25 cent discount on the two delicious loaves - as well as cheese and meat from Zehrs and some fruit from the market.
No comments:
Post a Comment