slow down and THINK!!!

When locking two bikes together in Amsterdam, it is a good idea not to leave the key chain of one of them in the lock.
When we came out of the Melkweg after an amazing Arctic Monkeys concert, I padded my jacket pockets for my keys. It dawned on me that I might have left them hanging in the lock. When we got to where we had parked the bikes, lo and behold, only my bf’s bike was there. The thief had used my own keys to open the big lock that kept the bikes together and set off with my trusty steed.
After more than ten years in the Netherlands, this was the first time I had a bike stolen, and it was even my own fault.
It’s only little comfort to know that the chain falls off all the time. I hope the thief and his customer will break their necks and rot in hell, though. If there weren’t people buying stolen bikes, bikes would not get stolen.

Excerpt from the “Apology Song” by the Decemberists

I meant her no harm
When I left her unlocked
Outside the Orange Street Food Farm
I was just running in
Didn’t think I’d be that long
I came out, she was gone
And all that was there was some bored old dog
Leashed up to the place where your bicycle had been
Guess we’ll never see poor Madeleine again

Let this be consolation, Steven
That all the while you were in England
I treated her with care and respect
And have her lots of love
And I was usually pretty good ‘bout locking her up_

Where has she gone?
Well, I bet she’s on the bottom of a Frenchtown pond
Rudely abused on some hescher’s joyride
So I wrote you this song
In the hope that you’d forgive me
Even though it was wrong
Being so careless with a thing so great
And taking your poor Madeleine away, away

Go to your test lab, look for the CD ROM rewriter and decide that since it’s not where it should be, it is gone.
Look again. Look in all places. Decide it really is gone.
Go to the IT Helpdesk and copy the ROMs you need there.
When you come back, get told by your boss that it was standing two meters further on the left.
OK, our lab is messy, full of computers, cables and the likes, but had I opened my eyes, I could have saved me the embarrassment of having my boss talk to me like my mom, back in the day. Nice. Really nice, 2 weeks before evaluation day.
Aaaaaaaaaargh!

Bought a scales today, what with the new year and resolutions and all, and it was only ten quid.
So I went to the shop and bought the thing, came home and it wouldn’t work. Even though it had a battery. Bf played around with it, but it just wouldn’t show anything on its display.
So I took it, re-packed it and brought it back to the shop (meanwhile, it had started raining). Where the sales girl simply removed the battery and pulled out the plastic sheet between it and the contact, which protects the battery from running empty before the scales is sold.
Had I looked better, I had found it myself and kept myself from the embarrassement.

DEC-31-06:
Entered incorrect PIN code into mobile phone, three times in a row. Need PUK code to unblock phone. Need to request PUK code from service provider. It’s Sunday. No service until JAN-02-07. No New Year’s wishes (or party details) to send or receive from anybody until Tuesday. (Abi: I got your crimbo SMS, thank you!!!)
Feeling like a complete idiot, and enraged with my stupidity.
I know my code, now. Too late.

This kind of thing always happens to me. The thing is: it’s not that it happens to me, I happen to me. I always do things too fast and then have to suffer the consequences.

Tips on how to do this are appreciated.