02 March 2010

to our neighbors...about the car alarm...

so this very Sunday past, I had opportunity to meet a beloved friend for coffee. As per the usual, I went to start my car. As per not so usual, I turned the key to hear a not so welcome clicking noise, accompanied by an even more unwelcome chirp. My car alarm began to signal to all and every neighbor within well, the whole town, actually, that I was stealing my own car.

B rushed from the house with that "are you so silly, hit the panic button" look on his face to add just a little more excitement to my moment.

Um, yeah, about that panic button. I don't have a remote-unlock-panic-button-key-thingy.

If my husband looked confused before, trust me, my response regarding the absence of a remote key thingy, put him over the edge.

To get the full picture of this story, let me rewind a few years. I purchased my lovely lil' Honda from the owner who had installed an after factory remote opener with panic button, etc. I used such remote happily, cheerfully, responsibly, (mostly). Until one day, I visited my friend Beth at her very work, while they were cleaning up after an event. In my foolishness, I set my key thingy on a table. And it was thrown away. We scrounged through the trash looking for it, but to no avail. When I called an alarm company about replacing the remote feature, I was informed that my system really doesn't exist without the remote piece so I would need to pay $100+ for a new system, which would then include the new remote. Tempting as it was, I said no to the expense. My bad. I lost the remote.
Rejoining "the real-time moment" I have to admit, that advice seems a bit off, considering, the very alarm my car did not possess, was in fact blaringly (new word, anyone?) revealing its existence.
And it went off.
For ever.
It is still ringing in my head, honestly.

The bad news is (all the other up there= good news!) that the alarm is connected to the ignition so we couldn't even take the car somewhere to receive expert advice. And the only way I could "trick" the car and silence the alarm was to perform some try to start the car antics and crawl duke style out of the window. (Yes, that was a scream of another sort.) Fortunately, B saved the day and could figure out a way to permanently silence the beast. Unfortunately (we are so sorry neighbors and city!!), it could not be done without the door open which means the alarm continued for nearly an hour, without any decrease in volume I might add. But the best news of course is that after silencing it, and jump starting the battery, it is now running, sans alarm. Phew.

Have I mentioned how much I miss the Metro in Seattle? Public transport does have its benefits! Sigh.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

aaaaaahhhhaaaaaa! i am just imagining you doing all crazy stunts trying to trick your car! :)
karla