A Break from Mortgages Thanks to General Motors

Lately I’ve been hanging out on Twitter and meeting some amazing ladies in some very amazing jobs.  So when the delightful @AdriaMacKenzie from General Motors announced the Cruze City Challenge, the words, “I’m in” were out of my mouth before a thought went through my head. 

With the forms filled out, the date assigned and the co-driver chosen I finally hit the panic button.  I thought I should at least know something about this car.  I looked it up on the website.  I liked the price, $15,000, and suited my budget.  Good gas mileage, 10 air bags, and it comes in red.  I was good to go. 

I arrived at the Challenge very nervous about the next few hours.  I knew I would have an iPad with my instruction (no clue how that worked) and all I had to do was pick the challenges I thought I could finish in my allotted time.  The first thing I heard when I arrived was “wow, someone close to my age” from the clearly middle age guy in charge of the cars.  Okay, this was going to be trouble.  I went inside and got my very cool jacket, instructions on the iPad and the key to my.... yes...wait for it.... RED CAR!!!

I headed out with my driving partner, a friend who knew the city well and we started knocking off the challenges.  We tweeted the challenges and people helped us out.  We need to wash a window, we tweeted, and someone tweeted back where they saw a window washer.  We rushed over and helped them out.  We need a postal code, we tweeted, and we got it.  We needed a newspaper, we tweeted, and we got it.  We needed to answer a trivia question, we googled, we tweeted and we got it.  All the time I had my head buried in the technology Mr. Helper played with the Stereo, the buttons, revved the engine, all the things you would expect an engineer to do.  (Do you know you can’t open the trunk when the car is moving?  Just Sayin)

The one challenge I had written off was the lurking request to go into a coffee shop and convince the staff to let me make a cappuccino for a stranger. Oh and the Chevrolet Logo had to be in the foam.  Yea right!  With nothing left on the list and ½ hour to spare I decided to tackle the video challenge.  Of course I picked the coolest coffee place in the heart of Scott Pilgrim territory, The Aroma Cafe, at Bathurst and Bloor.  The delightful staff was so much fun.  They let me make a cappuccino and even came up with some inventive methods for putting the logo in the foam.

So here’s to all the fab tweets, @LoireTaylor, @mcpolitics, @those2girls, @RobynConnolly, @jcmortgages and all the rest that stuck with me for 2 hours last night.  Thank you @AdriaMcKenzie and @GMCanda for all the fun.  The tasks were managable, we won, and the car was red!!