One last time for the money...

Today... a couple of noteworthy 'so I was in my truck and...' moments.

The first was a great twist on the old panhandler pain. Now, normally, when a street-type person approaches me for cash, I very often clean out my pockets or at least apologize sincerely for having no cash on me. This guy, who can't be far away from seeing a pension cheque if he's not already there, didn't ask for cash. Instead, he asked for visa, mastercard, american express (not diner's card, though...man, does anybody want that one?), certified cheque, money order, stocks, bonds, but not stocks in Enron (or a few others, including Martha Stewart). It was such a change - so witty and intelligent that I wished I'd had more to offer. I cleaned my spare change ash tray out to load him up - at least enough for coffee. He thanked me politely and pointed out that it's harder to get folks to donate when the temperature goes up, as everyone assumes that a few degrees above freezing makes life easier on the street. All I knew was that creativity like his needed to be rewarded - he didn't attempt to sell me a parking pass or ask me for mine and he didn't use a hackneyed request for change for a coffee/bus pass/whatever.

I was still tickled by the encounter when I headed to Mr. Lube for a long overdue ... lube job? Tee hee... that sounds dirty when I say it. Anyway, I was getting an oil change and struck up a conversation with the grease monkey. Get this: he's from Medicine Hat (okay, that's not the cool part), plays in a band, and his name is Kalan. What are the odds? After the girl in the next car stalked him around my SUV trying to take his picture, I asked him about the odds. Pretty good, he said - he knows at least 4 Kalans, including Mr. Canadian Idol himself, Kalan Porter, with whom he claims to have played (although greasy Kalan plays in a punk band whose name he told me twice and I still forget - Screaming Innocence? - and knows Big Ugly Jim of Johnny Incognito fame. For those who aren't immediately connecting the dots: Jim is a coworker and all around mensch). Anyway, it was one of those surreal moments: is he the real Kalan Porter, and if so, why is he working at Mr. Lube? He took my questioning in good humour and we commiserated over the abysmal skills of big-city drivers.

All-in-all, a good way to end a long day.