Have you ever done something so incredibly dumb, if you didn't know it was you that did it, you wouldn't believe it was possible?
The house next door is a rental. Over the years we've had some good neighbors and some not so good neighbors. Our house was burglarized around 2001, we suspected the kid next door. Unfortunately potential thieves
have more rights than victims. We were never able to prove he did it. Hell, the cops wouldn't even question him.
After the violation we had a home alarm system installed. We are connected to a central station for fire and theft. It's peace of mind, especially when we're on vacation.
The alarm system monitors eight windows and two doors. It also has one motion and two fire detectors. It has a key pad, a metal box with a lot of wires, a cellular call box, a back up battery, and two wall plugs for power. That's a whole lot of equipment that has worked well for over ten years. There have been a few issues but I've fixed them myself. Friday, the alarm wouldn't set. I couldn't find the problem so I called the service desk.
This brings us to my point.
We have a cordless phone. The main base and one phone is on the desk in the computer room. The second phone is in the family room. I picked up the family room phone and called the alarm company. (You need to use a little imagination now) So, I'm on hold listening to music and I walked into the computer room. I glanced over at the main base and saw the in-use light was on. I thought, Why is the red in-use light on? Who's on the phone?
So I have one phone in my hand, actually up at my ear, and I pick up the other phone to see if someone is on it. I have one phone at my ear and a second phone in my hand.
Now, my big brain decides the alarm won't set because there's something wrong with the phone system. Even though the phone system has NOTHING TO DO with the alarm. Just as they answer the call with, "SSD, how can I help you?" I'm disconnecting the call using the phone in my hand because a) I want to see if the in-use light goes out and b) I'm sure I've discovered the alarm problem. But, the call won't terminate and I hear, "Hello, hello, hello?" Then it hit me; I was the one on the phone.
And I said, "Oh, sorry. I'm having phone problems AND alarm problems. Can you transfer me to the service department?" A nice young man spent about thirty minutes on the phone telling me to try this and try that. Pop the cover, replace the battery, push this code, push that code, nothing worked. Finally he asked me how early we were up and could they send someone out at 8:30 AM, Monday.
It now Monday; it's 9:15, I thought they would be here at 8:30. I'm going to call them now. This time I'll know it's me on the phone.
After thirteen minutes on hold, thank goodness for speaker phones, I disconnected and called back. The second call got me through only to discover the nice young man I talked to Friday, forgot to put the service order in. Is it me and Wanda? WTF? I'm rushing in the bathroom this morning because it's 8:20 AM and I don't want to miss the guy. Now I guess I can get back in the shower and get the parts I skipped.
Now the plan is for a service call this afternoon. The inside tech said she would call me as soon as the outside tech called in to schedule to job. I'm giving 2-1 odds against, anyone care to bet?
Today is "Cyber Monday" which is "Black Friday" for agoraphobics.
Younger Daughter Rebecca went out Thursday evening. Her Aunt Sandy loves to bargain shop so they hit Wal Mart. They waited out the initial rush before going in. She said the store was bringing out pallets of merchandise at certain times and crowds were told what and where. Rebecca didn't need anything so she went to get a GPS device while Aunt Sandy went elsewhere. Standing in the background when the 10 PM GPS pallet was delivered Rebecca said, "You would think it was raw meat delivered to a pack of starving dogs." The entire episode disgusted her. Needless to say, Santa will not be bringing a GPS from Wal Mart.
It's getting worse every year, and so am I.
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