4:37 p.m. - 2004-11-15
pass codes and passwords
OK, for the forseeable future, my travels have come to a halt. Note to everyone: If the opportunity strikes, you should definitely take a road trip to see various pockets of friends scattered throughout any given part of the country. I got to see people in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Hoboken (which is in Jersey), NYC, Pittsburgh again, Athens, Detroit again, and now I'm back.
I have a job interview on Wednesday, which is probably pretty important. Pray for me, keep your fingers crossed, send good vibes, whatever your pleasure...do that thing you do when someone you like is about to do something kind of scary and exciting and daunting.
I came home today to find the house alarm system making a beeping noise which instantly threw me into "Oh crap" mode. See, about 6 or 7 weeks ago, when Jen was giving me the "you live here now" tour of the Baird home, which involved things like giving me a key, showing me how to lock and unlock things...and of course, the alarm system. Well, the alarm system has not been used much during my stay here, because as you know, I stay in the house for most of the day, making a daytime alarm kind of unneccessary. But I've been gone for two and a half weeks, and it seems, the alarm has been in use. Durin gmy tour I was given instruction and information such as pass codes, passwords in case the alarm system people call, etc. Well, as I realize with the beeping sound getting more urgent that there was no way I was going to be able to set my stuff down, hurry over to where the box thingie is and remember everything. So what did I do? I stood there, motionless for about ten seconds, wishing the alarm would not come on. Well of course that did not work. Now the insistent beeping has turned into a deafening blaring sound. The dog is looking at me like I'm a real idiot and of course, my phone battery had just died on the way home. I take a deep breath and spring into action. I find my phone charger, plug my phone into it, and try to stretch it so it reaches out the door where the noise is slightly less loud. Pop. Just as I'm dialing Jen's number, the cord pops out of the phone and it goes dead. As I begin the process over again, the house phone starts ringing. Answer the phone or call Jen? Answer the phone of call Jen? Somehow, I decide to do both. I have one phone on each ear, not able to hear anything because of the blaring alarm sound. I discern that Jen's voicemail has picked up and I toss the phone onto the floor. I discern that the caller on the house phone is the alarm system people. They are asking for the password. I have no idea. I begin "Well, it's funny, I don't remember the password." The lady cuts me off "Are you the owner of the house?" I reply "No, but..."
Click.
Arghghghghghgg! First of all, if I were a burgler, in the middle of the day, in a house with the alarm blasting and blaring and honking and what have you, WOULD I ANSWER THE PHONE AND TRY TO EXPLAIN MYSELF???
I mean I understand that these people have policies and procedures and whatever....but what I'm remembering now is that if I recall correctly, the policy and/or procedure is that the police are called and sent to the house. Ummmm.
What do I do? Seriously, what do I do?? I don't have Brian's number and Jen isn't answering her phone.
I call Collin. He calls Brian who is not answering his phone. Great. Jen is in jury duty and Brian is in class. The police are coming to arrest me and there's nothing I can do. Eventually Collin remembers the pass code and talks me through at least getting the noise to stop. That doesn't help my situation with the police, but I can only assume that there is some policy or procedure in place that will prevent me from being read my Miranda rights and shoved into the back of a police cruiser. Turns out there is. They get ahold of Brian who tells them I'm allowed to be there. OK. Shelby the dog and I collapse in relief on the couch.
Knock knock.
Hello police officer at the door.
I answer the door to a middle aged policeman. Apparently, they send someone out anyway, just to make sure everything is ok. Fortunately, he wasn't too suspicious of me, perhaps because the dog was barking at him, not me. I just had to give him my name and the name of the home owner and he took down my license plate. With my luck, the paperwork will get screwed up and the next time an employer does a background check on me, "Breaking and Entering" will pop up on my record.
