PREAMBLE: Here's the plan: load all the recycling into the truck
(paper products in the cab, everything else in the bed), throw my bike
on top, go recycle at the Caltech recycling center, work in my Caltech
office a few hours, and finally bike and bus to where I teach
Princeton Review in the evening.  I'm very proud of myself for having
the foresight to bring my bike, so I can stay in the office longer and
get more work done.

BAD: After recycling, while circling Caltech twice looking for
parking, I notice the Car Co-op Log Book, which had been on the bench
seat, has gone missing.  I wonder if I recycled it.

BAD: In my office, when I get ready to go buy some lunch, I discover
my wallet is missing.  I spend my pocket change on a Snickers bar and
Frito Flavor Twists.

BAD: I realize I did not have the foresight to bring my Big Bag of
Princeton Review, plus I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be there at
7:00 for class, or 6:00 for office hour.  I decide to leave the office
at 4:30, which will give me time to look for the log book, get home
and find my wallet, and still catch the 5:00 bus if I have to be there
by 6:00.

BAD: I take my Caltech Credit Union ATM card, which I keep in my
office, to the Caltech ATM and ask for $20.  It replies that my card
is out of date.

GOOD: By balancing like a see-saw on the side of the recycling
dumpster, with my stomach as the pivot point, I can just barely reach
down enough to unearth the log book and retrieve it with the tips of
my fingers.  Things are looking up!

BAD: I can't find my wallet at home.  And I'm supposed to be at office
hour at 6:00.  I decide to drive, rather than bus.

GOOD: I call the bus company (the last time I'm sure I had the wallet
was getting on a bus last night) and they say they have my wallet.

EVEN BETTER: The bus company office is just five minutes from where I
teach.  I decide to leave immediately; maybe I'll barely have time to
get the wallet and make it to office hour on time.

BAD: Now I can't find my truck key, which had been in my hand just
five minutes before.  I check my pockets about five different times
(you know, the way you do in that situation), and search all the flat
surfaces in the house -- the exact places where I had failed to find
my wallet.

GOOD: One of my Car Co-op neighbors is home, and I borrow his truck
key.  But now I am leaving about ten minutes later than I should.
Driving away, my head has that feeling it gets when I have days like
this.  I concentrate on my breathing.

BAD: Traffic is a little worse than the merely "bad" traffic I had
anticipated.  Plus when I get to the bus headquarters, the guy can't
find my wallet.  We go to a back room and rummage through boxes of
wallets.  After about 15 minutes (I am already missing office hour),
he says, "You didn't have any money in it, did you?", as if only crazy
people carry money in their wallets.  After he learns it was one of
those wallets with money in it, he realizes he should be looking in
different places.

GOOD: Finally, after 25 minutes, he finds it about 3 feet from where
we started.

GOOD: My credit cards and driver's license are intact.

BAD: But all the money is gone.

GOOD, AND YET EXTREMELY ANNOYING: Some time during class, I reach into
my pocket and find my truck key, right where it belongs.

BAD: On the way home, I stop at a drive-through for supper.  After
ordering, I have to unorder because I *still* don't have any money.

GOOD: After backing out of the drive-through, I check the ashtray and
find enough money for my 99-cent Buffalo Chicken Burger.  I drive back
in and reorder.

So the story has a happy ending after all!