Yesterday we drove to a suburb 30 minutes west of Ottawa to celebrate my uncle’s 60th birthday. All in all a good 6 hours of driving. He made it clear this would mean a lot to him so we made the choice to go. Overall it was fun, definitely a nice excursion out of the city.
He said something to me that really blew me away. My uncle was dumbfounded by all the things I do and couldn’t fathom how I managed to move all my projects forward. He was being really sincere, the way I live and the things I’ve accomplished inspired him.
Meanwhile I find the way he treats strangers inspiring. He’s the kind of guy who says hi to every stranger he can. He grew up with different values than I did. As I write this though, I have not slept. My gassed up self spent the night doing Uber. My original plan for Saturday was to Uber. I had to make up for lost money making time.
Driving in awful conditions
Given you are reading this, I survived my drive through big rains and slushy snows. On the way back to Montreal the rain was serious. It was nearly impossible to see the road.
While the driving was bad, most people were cool about it. This one dude risked an accident driving the speed limit in the fast lane on the 40. He was too scared to move behind a truck but I swear several folk almost hit him. If you wanna drive slow, go in the lane people can pass you. Don’t clog up the fast lane where cars going 20 KM/HR faster than you are racing up your rear end.
Also my high beams have a censor in them where when other cars appear they just turn off. So the super dark highways of Ontario were stressful. The high beams going on and off every 15 seconds. Once Ubering in the rain, I stayed in the well lit Montreal and it felt like paradise. Then around 3:00 AM (the time shifted in my face) the snow fell. Within an hour it was everywhere, this thick, sticky snow that was unploughed.
Now I had to cross the Mercier Bridge and head over to Chateauguay to drop off a lady. This normally smooth road was now thick hard to navigate through snow. Then, the next trip told me to drive to St. Constant. That took me like 25 minutes easily. The car kept getting stuck, slip sliding all over. To go uphill I could barely hit 15 km/hr. It was actually pretty fun for how intense it was. Thankfully that last trip had me from St. Constant to Cote St. Luc (and we picked up a baby in the middle).
The rest of the day was pretty okay. Though at one point I nearly lost control on the 20, the girl in the Uber made a joke asking if I was trying to kill her. I assured her I was not. She tipped me 3$ after safely getting her to the south shore again. I got a trip to the airport after that, dodged some traffic and the driving just got better.
Shout Out the snow ploughs and sun combination of dealing with snow.
It was a really enjoyable Uber run
I think I was just in a good mood, but it felt like I was vibing with everyone. The extreme weather makes people appreciative of the Uber, warming up to you faster. I found the conversations delightful and it really made the time pass.
I started Ubering around midnight. I got home around 6 AM (this is actually 5 hours later) and took a break. Then I was back on the road after seeing how busy Uber was. Let me tell you something, if Uber is hott, don’t let up. The day after could be real cold and nothing in life is certain. I ran that Uber grind until about 11 AM.
That is a lot of driving with no sleep. But I definitely made more this weekend than I was expecting. This is cool, I did a good thing and was rewarded for it immediately after. Either way, the lack of snow was making me worried about Uber in general. Then I remembered the rain. There are going to be many rainy, busy Uber days to come.
One of the standout moments of my night was this young Quebecois guy. He and I spoke in French and he was so blown away by my anglo-Quebecor-self willing to speak French. I think I touched his drunk soul with my crusty accent. It was really nice.
There was also this great moment where I had a ride with a social worker at the ER in the Jewish. The second I dropped her off, the next ride was right there. Normally when that happens I wait 5 minutes because no one expects the Uber to come so quickly. This woman was in my car within a minute of accepting the trip. She was an ER person also and the central theme of both chats was homelessness in Montreal. Both of them tipped and it was very appreciated.
I sold baked goods at a bake sale
After Uber I had a fundraiser to attend. I’m part of the board of directors for Notre Dame Des Arts. Looks like I’m going to be the social media/communications person. That’s fun, because I get to go do a bunch of stuff and show off my wins down the line. Volunteering your skills to a Not For Profit is a good way to get some valuable expertise in.
Anyway we had this disco dance party thing. It quickly turned into a Taylor Swift party. Then there were random songs like The Offspring or Gorillaz. Weirdly the little ones gave 0 fucks what music got played. Once they started being high energy, it did not stop. They jumped and frolicked and danced.
At the back of this dance party was a bake sale table. Turned out I was the one selling bake sale stuff. I had to pour the drinks for the kids and collect the money. I sat there for 3 hours selling some baked goods. These gluten-free cookies this one nice lady made were really tasty. I learned a lot about bake sales. They make additional money is the main thing. Plus people just donate baked goods to sell. This world of moms is very fascinating to me.
Scott Galloway said to go do service somewhere. I guess this is a somewhere. I think we’ll do more dance parties. They are low overhead fundraising moves that let parents meet parents and kids meet kids. I think we can get 200 people in the room if we build it nice. I spent pretty much the entire event at the back watching. It’s pretty wonderful to see people minging and having fun at something you helped put together.
I still haven’t slept and it’s 6:23 PM as I finish the first draft of this. I am going to be like Drake when he took half a Xan and slept through the flight. But in my case, the night.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone