 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: jenna
Date: 2001-09-26 01:15
Tonight was the second tie I have locked my keys in my car. Both times have been as I was arriving at a job, trying to grab my stuff out of the backseat while putting my cell phone back into it's place. I drop the keys, shut the door, and generally say a not so nice word. Tonight an 80 year old trombone player used a hanger to jimmy the lock, last time my mom had to come drop off her spare. (it doesn't help that my spare is in Piscataway with my usual companion). Tonight 3 people in my band locked their keys in their vehicles.
Anyone think we're more prone to this type of thing when we're juggling instruments, equiptment, and personal items?
(yeh.. it's random and pointless.. but sometimes that makes a fun thread)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Robert Small
Date: 2001-09-26 02:03
Carry an extra key in your wallet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jenna
Date: 2001-09-26 02:26
Good thought.. except both times i've locked my keys in the car I've locked my purse in with'em. My friend Auggie (the trombonist) is going to show me how to wire a key under a bumper or something at the next rehersal.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Kinder
Date: 2001-09-26 03:03
What about one of those super strong magnet cases that hold spare keys under your wheel well?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-26 03:10
how about being LESS rushed, taking a bit more time, not "strangling yourself". taking a moment & reflect & take an inventory .
maybe develop a "special task" where you (physically) must place the keys in your left pocket (or whatever) & FEEL them before you allow yourself to exit your vehicle. make it an "automatic" reaction by constant following the same series. remember "brake, brake, neutral" ?
best,
mw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jim lande
Date: 2001-09-26 03:59
Well, that reminds me..... I was in college and delivering mail as a summer job. In those days, you could use your own car instead of a mail truck (and you got $3.25 per day for gas money, which in 1970 could buy most of a tank of gas.) At some point in the afternoon I dropped my keys in the trunk, right next to the mail, and then shut the trunk. It was 1 O'clock, and my mom was usually home by 3 O'clock, so I walked to a store and planned to wait. This being my first real job, I called the post office to explain that I would be back a little late. .As it happens, I was more than two hours late. After that, all the regulars would ask "Are you going to get your Mom to help with the mail today" and such.
After that, I did what the regulars did. I got put my keys on a chain and kept the chain attached to my belt. The only problem with the chain is that it wears out the pants pockets. That is now my second set of keys, wrapped in a sock and buried in my pants pocket. I still attach it to my belt when I am traveling, etc.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-09-26 04:00
Wait until you are 60 plus and then you can call it a senior moment. i'm lucky if I can remember where i parked the car.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Rob
Date: 2001-09-26 04:12
In college I missed a rehearsal because I locked my clarinet in the car. Lately, I have become so absent minded that one morning, I was over an hour late for work because I couldn't find my keys. I searched my house high and low. The entire time I was doing this the keys were in my hand. I think I was only 35 or 36 at the time, but as my 81 year old mother has often told me "senility has nothing to do with age".
I finally gave up on trying to remember everything. Now I keep a key to my house on a chain around my neck (under my clothes) and another in my wallet and another in my briefcase and a full set at work and a full set at the neighbor's house and another set at someone else's house across town and best of all, another set at my sister's house in Parsippany NJ - even though I live in Minneapolis. I did that because once on my way to visit her, I left my keys on the plane and had to have a locksmith meet me on my return home. As for the one around my neck. when someone asks what it's for I just tell them it's the key to closet where all the bodies are hidden and they never ask again.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jessica
Date: 2001-09-26 04:27
I keep my keys in my clarinet case and don't have to worry about losing it... after losing about fifteen sets of keys, I finally got smart.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: willie
Date: 2001-09-26 04:31
Get your self a really ugly old pickup truck like mine. I never lock it. I leave the wind wings open so everyone knows its unlocked. It's so ugly I can park it in downtown Houston with the keys in it and NO ONE has ever tried to steal it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-09-26 06:08
Willie has the right idea, it works for me. I can't lock my junker truck. I leave the keys in the ignition and no one bothers it. I never have a problem with losing stuff like clarinets because I keep them all in a duffel bag (big one with wheels) and just take it with me whenever I leave the car.
<img src="http://www.jps.net/horlick/tpics/rusty-2000.jpg" border="6">
Another plus is that as you drive everyone waves, and uses all their fingers! I have no radio so I can't listen to clarinet music while I drive, and I don't have to fumble with a cell phone because I don't use one while driving (you shouldn't either). I play in the local college orchestra and I have to buy a $1 parking pass every rehearsal day. You are supposed to put it onto the dash board and lock up your car. I can't do that (no dash board) so I end up tucking it under the edge of the gas tank cover or under the windshield wiper blade. I keep expecting someone to swipe the parking pass and I will end up with a citation... but no one messes with it!
On the other hand, if you have to have a locking car you can put a chain from the handle of your clarinet to the keys... no one could forget and lock the clarinet inside a car could they?
Terry
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-26 06:20
Yeah right, try it in downtown Detroit or Newark I'd give it 2 hours in Miami, and 30 minutes in Brooklyn!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Roger
Date: 2001-09-26 13:21
I have locked my car keys in the car three times in my 54 years (once with the motor running). I suspect it is because I am absent minded. I loose my keys and glasses at home at lease twice a night.
I also lost my keys at the Tulsa Airport back in 1990 or so.
To avoid locking your keys in the car, forget the automatic door locks or the ability to lock the car from the inside. Always lock your car from the outside with your key. Hopefully this will solve the problem.
And it really can be a problem.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Anji
Date: 2001-09-26 14:15
You DO know why most trombone players never lock the keys inna car before a gig, doncha?
At one point, I gawped at adults carrying a ring onna lanyard, around their necks.
After the third time forking over $50 to get back in, it dinnit look so dim.
How often do trombone players have a gig, let alone afford a car with locks?
anji
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Stephen Froehlich
Date: 2001-09-26 15:59
Many newer cars are designed such that it is actually impossible to lock your keys in. That is you cannot lock the door with it open. You might want to put this on a list of desirable features next time you go shopping.
I met a laser engineer at a conference. She had recently moved from New Zealand to Boulder, CO. She moved into a "cookie cutter" subdivision (of which there are far too many in Boulder). So one day she comes home, puts her key in the front door, and it doesnt work....
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Azzacca
Date: 2001-09-26 17:44
I have only been unlucky enough to lock my keys in my car once, 5 or so years ago. Fortunately my mom had a spare. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to get to where I was. It took her 1 hour to get someplace that should have only taken about 15 minutes. Did I mention that I was looking for the place to get my emmissions tested (MN requirement for older cars) and had gotten out to call them for directions! I had also locked my purse in the car and so had no quarter to call! I ended up calling my work place's toll free number and asked them to transfer me to mom's.
On the other hand, I'm much more likely to leave my headlights on (at least 1/year), so now I just always turn my headlights on, so that I always turn them off when I get out. This idea came after I forgot even after training myself to always turn them off, whether they were on or not.
Talk about absent minded!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jenna
Date: 2001-09-26 22:20
yeh.. i defintely need to slow down. i have my keys on a lanyard, and generally, i do throw them around my neck, or loop them around the case handle.. but for some reason, i just didn't last night.. i just kind of wrapped them around my hand.. and dropped them without realizing as i was shuffling with my other things.
(btw.. i wasn't on the phone while driving.. i never do that.. i called mother <i>after</i> i had parked and gotten out.)
i drive a neon.. so it isn't the most desirable vehincle for stealing.. but it is mine.. i bought it myself, i pay the gas, insurance. =) I'm very careful with it.
oh well.. over now, right? i just have to make sure the keys go around my neck when i get of the car at a job
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Danielle
Date: 2001-09-26 23:43
things i have lost/forgot/left in places:
my clarinet (in an auditorium after a drama club practice. ONLY TIME. but the trumpet player STILL makes fun of me. gah.)
my mouthpiece
my music
various binders
my locker combination (hehehe....our lockers were crap, so no one ever locked theirs. then, i forgot my combination. for three months)
various scripts
cds
my lyre
sweatshirts
pit music
my organizer
and they say musicians are absent-minded...
danielle
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-09-27 03:54
MW,
I feel sorry for you about being in Detroit, Newark, etc. We all choose where we will live. I wouldn't ever choose a big city, partially for the reasons you allude to. Other folks want NYC or some other awful place as they love things about it, for instance maybe they play clarinet and want to be near lots of gigs. I live out in the sticks, when I bought my house in the middle of town the seller couldn't give me a set of keys, he had lost them all ten years before and never bothered with them. If you do choose to live where you have to lock everything, then get a car which only locks from the outside, or do like I do and get one which the jerks can't steal, and which has parts worthless to anyone else!
As for the car being gone in 30 minutes, yes it is possible with most old junkers, but mine is almost immune from that. Get one as old as I pictured and the bad guys won't have the slightest idea how to start the car. If they can start it they cannot figure out how to drive it! Back when it was new 50% of the cars in the world were this type of car and almost everyone knew how to drive them. Now most people don't even know anyone who can drive a model T. (Hint, you work the transmission with your feet while you do the throttle and spark advance with your hands.)
<a href="http://www.mtfca.com/gallery/gallery11/horlick.jpg"><Img src="http://www.mtfca.com/gallery/gallery11/horlick-s.jpg" border ="3" align="rignt"></a>For those who wanted to see the picture above, my IP has now screwed up access to my website... again, second time in 2 months it cannot be accessed. If you want to see the car you should be driving to gigs click on this photo.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jim
Date: 2001-09-27 04:03
The last time I did this (about 10 years ago) my truck was on a boat ramp with the boat and trailer in the water and with the engine running and with a friend standing on the dock laughing. No problem, I've been following Robert's advice since I started driving. (Actually, then it was my Dad's advice.)
Another hint, when you buy a new vehicle, put one set of factory keys away in a safe place and never use them. Then, when you need duplicates in the future, get them made from the unused keys, not a worn set. They'll work much better.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-27 20:32
Terry, one only goes around once in a lifetime. Growing up, I had my share of $10 cars. I'll pass. Thanks. mw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: willie
Date: 2001-09-28 05:39
To mw......I have parked my truck in Brooklyn several times when up there. S. Broadway was the only place that worried me as every other building was burned out and I afraid one would come down on my truck. The locals were awstruck that it not only ran but I drove it there from Texas.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
