L-B-C, BAAABY!

Unless you want to pay an extra $25 to get your race packet shipped to you, that is.  All in all, it’s just part of the experience and I REALLY DON’T MIND!  I mean, if I had the packet shipped to me I would have missed out on:

• Entering the directions to the parking-structure I pre-paid for into my GPS navigation only to have it lead me to a dead-end alleyway-looking area and proudly proclaiming ‘You have reached your destination!’  Having to then search for the NAME of the parking structure and finding that it’s actually around the block.
• Parking in the same parking-structure I got lost in LAST year because of the confusing numbering system ONLY TO FIND that they FIXED the confusion by COMPLETELY REMOVING THE NUMBERS!  I had to count the number of landings I went down to get to the ground-floor since there were NO FLOOR NUMBERS.  (Yes, I realize that they painted the pillars a different color for each floor. . .but would it kill them to have a number on the landings in the stairwells?)
• Finding out that since they decided to NOT assign Bib Numbers before people actually picked their race packets up it meant that I had the pleasure of standing in ONE line to get my Bib Number so I could THEN STAND in ANOTHER line to get my STICKER that said I was eligible for the Beach Cities Challenge award (this will be my 3rd out of 3 necessary races, meaning I get the 2018 Shark Trophy, inspired by a Happy Meal Toy.  I actually think it looks kind of cool now that I’ve seen it in person, but still.)
• Returning to the parking-structure and counting the landings on the way up, then promptly WALKING RIGHT BY my car because. . .I have no idea why. . .just because. . .
• Remembering that this parking-structure now required me to PRE-PAY my parking stub at a ‘convenient’ automated-machine, and the only one I remembered seeing was BACK ON THE GROUND-FLOOR!
• Returning to the ground-floor to find that the ‘convenient’ automated-machine was NOT IN SERVICE!
• Returning to my cars level and finding another ‘convenient’ automated-machine on the complete opposite side of where I was parked. . .feeding it the discounted ticket that I had received in the Expo and having the machine jokingly tell me to ‘Insert Ticket’.  Staring blankly at the machine for a while as people lined up behind me. . .eject my discounted ticket and re-insert it for the same funny Joke.  ‘Insert Ticket’.  After letting several people try their ticket only to see them be successful, I tried again, only to be served with the same FUNNY joke as the machine pretended that I was a moron.
• Reading my discounted ticket and coming to the realization that the machine was CORRECT.  It clearly stated that I needed to put my ORIGINAL ticket stub in first and THEN this discounted stub.  I WAS a moron.  More importantly. . .I was a moron who MAY HAVE THROWN OUT his original ticket stub when he got handed this discounted one!
• Returning to my car to THANKFULLY find that I had simply tossed my original ticket into one of my bags at the Expo.
• Returning to the ‘convenient’ automated-machine to FINALLY be successful and be rewarded with the opportunity to pay $3 so I could finally leave the parking-structure I’d come to love. . .and then park on the freeway!