My Bad My Good

Brought to you by my generous capacity for error.

Sometimes it's nice to be wrong. Case in point: I misunderstood my Treo's voice/data plan. I thought I bought a certain number of minutes for the month and could use them either for making phone calls or for surfing the web. But no! The voice and data plans are separate! I only use up minutes when I make phone calls; I can surf the web as much as I like for the single monthly fee. Surf's up! Heck, I'm so delighted with this feature that I've even checked my e-mail from the bathroom. Oops, was that overshare?

Another instance: Last night I set out to navigate a skyway route from my office to the bus stop. Map in hand, I wended my way through four blocks' worth of the not-so-secret passages that connect downtown office buildings. Some of the buildings are quite old (by Midwestern standards, at least) and not designed around the skyway system, and while some have been renovated with thru traffic in mind, many have not. No two buildings are laid out alike, and sometimes you have to make three right turns to end up heading left.

I did all that, wandering up and down and around and through like a shoelace in a toddler's fingers, and ended up in an alley between two buildings. I was sure I'd taken a wrong turn somewhere. But when I went to the end of the alley, I found myself half a block from the bus stop, just where I meant to be. I was wrong about being wrong, and that was all right. As a bonus, my bus had just pulled up.

I've done this with people, too — been leery (but not Denis Leary) of them at first but ended up finding them really cool upon further acquaintance. No names come to mind at the moment, but I know it's happened. I also wasn't so sure about Chinese food the first time I tried it, but anyone who's ever seen me plow through a buffet knows how that one turned out.

So I guess it's never too late to challenge first impressions. I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong about that.

Today around the world: April 20 is St. George's Day in Canada.