The Ultimate Bet

Talking about the many bets that we make when we're commuting from Langley to Burnaby and back, reminds me of probably the very first bet which was made by Dan and what he said was that the yellow crane placed by the Eastern tower of the new Portmann Bridge would be torn down since it was done with whatever its job was in 2 weeks... That was about a year ago and very obviously, Dan lost that bet. But to his credit, it was most definitely the start of many other bets (most of which Dan continued to lose - hahaha) and our quest for the best drive-thru breakfast. More on this later...

But now, safely to say a year later, Dan made the exact same bet again about two weeks ago... yes, he said that the yellow crane was -this time- done, done and would be coming down by Monday (July 16). If the tear down of the yellow crane was to be visibly started by the end of Monday, Erik and I agreed, we would pay.

Earlier this week, it seemed that he was on the right track, a secondary (red) crane was seemingly attached to the top of the tower and people were walking on the "old" yellow crane and "doing something" (consider that we assess all these things while driving at 60-80 Km/Hr on the old bridge's structure). Then, mid-week, it all seemed to stop, Dan was not that confident and Erik and I thought we might win one more... The yellow crane was in a different position, but by all accounts and unless we had insider info from someone at Kiewit Construction (which Dan would love to have but we don't) the yellow crane was staying there...

And then came this morning. Glorious sunny, blue-skied summer Friday in this wonderful corner of the World and to Dan's absolute joy, the yellow crane was clearly being "disassembled" and Erik and I were happy to concede that he has won this very significant bet.

Dan even started chiming "We are the Champions" as a little victory anthem...
So it's Tim Horton's breakfast on Monday! Always happy to lose... or win.

On hair growth and hair removal...

I think it started with Erik asking Dan if he would grow a beard for the playoffs, the hockey playoffs that is, which at that point were barely starting - no heartbreak yet, the Canucks were still contenders, but I digress... and Dan said "no" and Erik said "why?" and Dan said something to the effect that it wouldn't make Kristen -his wife- too happy and then I asked Erik if he would grow a beard (Erik already has a beard - he would be too baby-face if he didn't... wait a minute, Erik, this is not bullying before you even THINK IT!... And again, I digress) so he laughed and said he had one, but I said "Maybe longer..." and Dan said "Well, would you shave it off" and I don't know which one of us said "... or wax it off...?" and that's how it started...

Erik proceeded to imagine and sort of depict what it would be like to have his beard waxed off... Ahm, not a nice picture I tell you, while I'm cringing and trying to keep my eyes on the road. I'm half-amused, half-horrified by Erik's description -with Dan's enthusiastic aid- describing how his skin would peel off and show his neck muscles and his arteries... Gross and I suspect, not very accurate anatomically... Even further, Erik completely imagined that his windpipe would end up being exposed!

This all to illustrate what chickens men are and how clearly these two have never experienced waxing of anything. I have and I don't like it, but the windpipe! Come on!

Of course, the conversation took other turns and we ended up discussing the different areas that people (namely, women) wax off. No, I will NOT go there. But then we came back to the men... and Dan asked Erik how much would it take for him to wax off his chest hair. Erik said he'd do it for anything. Dan said "You'd do it for $ 50 bucks?" (as we cross the Portmann Bridge) and Erik readily (oh and naively) says "Yes!" So I chip in and Dan and I officially offer Erik $ 50 dollars to wax off his chest hair.

Dan and I laughed our heads off while Erik scrambled to find a way out. We slightly changed the topic of conversation - I suspect this is when the "punching someone in the face" came in, but I'll have to check with the guys. So far, the offer stands however and technically, Erik agreed to it so we'll see if this blog entry reminds him or he finds some other way to wiggle his way out of this one.

Topics of conversation

So what does a gantry, "Pop Rocks", waxing and punching someone in the face have in common? These have all been random topics that have come up in conversation while we trek to and from Burnaby.

A gantry is a crane that the construction workers have been using in the Portmann Bridge project so that it would come up as a topic is somewhat normal within the parameters of regular conversations that we were already having, however the gantry had an accident a couple of months ago and collapsed, so observing the pace at which they repaired it and have put it back online has been a special focus of the conversation. This obviously sparked a bet at some point, which I lost (breakfast sandwich paid up) but it's now working and we're all happier for it. Oh, I still remember Dan's reaction when I texted him that the gantry had collapsed. He wasn't coming back home with us that evening and the texting exchange went something like this:

Me: Just drove by catastrophic collapse of yellow crane over blue crane on portmann bridge. Devastating delay on completion!
Dan: Don't tease with me. That would be worse than Canucks loosing Stanley cup...
Me: I'm afraid it is true. It's on the news!
Dan: Holy crap!
Me: It was the Italian "Deal" that perished under the weight of the yellow Kiewit crane. So sad!
Dan: Wow. Just looking at pics now online.
Me: See u need to do the blog :)

So yes, poor Dan was devastated and not even able at that point to see it with his own eyes! But here we were, Erik driving and me texting, to keep him informed and up to date. That's what car-pool buddies are for! And it finally made it on the blog!

More to come on the Pop Rocks (candy), waxing (we offered to pay $ 50 for someone to wax off his chest hair) and the punching someone in the face which unlike what you may think, was not quite hockey-related.

Ok, here it is...

Dan, Erik and I have been car-pooling together for a little over a year now. Erik and Dan used to ride together before I joined them and they have been friends for many years. Erik and I work together. Dan used to work at the company that Erik and I work at (before I started working there) and now he works at another company, just a few blocks away. So that's how the car-pool thing -sort of- happened...

Throughout this year, a major entertainment for our car pool has been the construction of the Portmann Bridge and the expansion of Highway # 1 between Langley and Burnaby. It cracks me up how excited the guys can get about the progress in this project, but I will admit, I've got pretty excited myself too. In addition to just watching things move forward is the fact that we have been "betting" on when a certain part of the project (a pedestrian overpass, a vehicle overpass, the deck on the bridge, a beam or the base of a ramp) will be completed and the "loser" of the bet pays with breakfast from Tim Horton's (though another blog entry shall be about our search for the best fast food breakfast in town!). Bottom line, nobody minds "losing" because we all win (breakfast and some extra calories in our day).

In any case, our car pool is also a source of constant amusement, laughter, political, social and sports-related conversations, many of which really need to be chronicled, not only because we find them funny or entertaining, but because we're pretty sure that there's people out there that might have a lot to say about their commutes, their car pools and stuff that you can see on the roads, from the typical women doing their makeup and the texters and cell phone users while driving, the A-Team van, the DeLorean, the man eating a gigantic sandwich while crossing the bridge... Oh, I could go on and on!

So anyway, we've talked about Dan starting a blog since he seems to be the most observant in terms of the construction progress but he hadn't gotten around to doing it and after filming a short video on last Friday's commute, I decided that I'd start it and see if we can take it somewhere. This is a first take at what our Crazy Commuters Blog could be and to properly introduce it, I will add a video now. I hope that Dan and Erik will chip in -they're both quite creative, insightful and accomplished writers on other topics- and I know they have lots to say, so here it goes...