Great planning, lousy facts

Several days ago, I had to have my car brake pads changed in Salt Lake City and since that work takes time, I thought it would be cool to stop by the Social Security office there, where I had something to check. After that, we'd return to Park City in order to attend a public meeting, and then we planned to have dinner at our favorite restaurant.

Things look terrific on paper and deep inside me, I was proud to be such an exacting planner. Reality would prove a lot different... Getting to the garage was easy, my appointment had been booked for 1 pm and the job would take about two and a half hour.

That left us plenty of time to hop in the garage's shuttle and visit with the Social Security office in downtown Salt Lake. When we got there, to my dismay, I saw a notice saying that office would be closed that Wednesday afternoon. Sure, it was opened every day a week from 9 am to 5 pm, but for some reason was shut down when we needed to go there.

With plenty of time ahead of us, we walked back to the garage under a 94 degrees heat! Since our car was ready on time, we returned home and waited till 4:45 pm to drive to the Park City public library where the hearing was scheduled. Upon getting there, I discovered that the meeting had taken place the night before. I simply had entered the wrong date on my calendar!

To cheer ourselves up we returned home for a well deserved drink, and while we were enjoying a cool one in the shade, I had the intelligent idea to call the restaurant, just in case, only to learn that it was only opened on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, during the late spring season.

Bottom line:

My planning was stunning, yet the checks and balances were terrible. I only got 25% of what I had planned. Another good lesson learned; next time, I'll call before going anywhere!