I don't know why I took so long to post this.
I wanted to update yesterday about the day I had, but by the time I got home, I just wasn't up for it. Then I wanted to post sometime earlier today, but I just kept putting it off. I'm making myself do it now. (This is an abridged version.)
OMG U GAIZ! Monday was the worst day I've had in a while. Nothing was going my way. First off, I had a Dr.'s appointment. It was only to fill out some paperwork I need for my SSI hearing, but it needed done. Since the Dr.s in the clinic don't have office time, you have to make an appointment and have them fill out the paperwork while you sit there. Anyway, my appt. was at 9:45am. I woke up at 9:05am. It takes about 40 minutes, taking the quick route, to get to the office. See, a couple weeks ago my brother went and picked up my clock radio. Well, I tested the alarm out on Saturday just to make sure it still worked. (I've had this alarm clock since I started Junior High, so it's about 18 years old in about a month.) It was fine. So, I set my alarm for 7:30am. All I had to do was get up, get dressed, brush my hair, brush my teeth, grab my stuff and head out the door. It didn't go off. Well, being at least 30 minutes behind by the time I woke up, I jumped up, dressed and grabbed my stuff. Luckily, my hair wasn't too messy. I could fix that in the car. I called and told them I'd be really late and they said since it was only a paperwork appt., that was alright, but get there as quick as I could. I ended up being about 25 minutes late. We got everything done and I went out to the car. And that's where everything went BAD. See, Paul's car has this REALLY STUPID security system. It's the factory system and I have no idea why any company would use this system. I really hope Toyota got rid of it. Okay, when you lock the doors, to get back in you have to unlock the car from the PASSENGER SIDE. If you try the driver door, the alarm goes off and it doesn't unlock. If you do that on accident and go around to the other side, it will shut off the alarm and open. Anyway, I went to unlock the car and just as I go to stick the key in the lock, I notice that the whole tumbler on the passenger side is missing. I tried the driver door just in case, but it wouldn't work. After the alarm quit, I went back over to the other side to see if I could at least see the tumbler. Some woman stopped and let me use her cell since mine was locked in the car with an almost dead battery. I called my brother and asked, "Did you know that the lock on your passenger side is missing?" He told me, "Oh, yeah. That happened Saturday night." I said that I wished he'd told me so I wouldn't have locked the car. He told me he'd forgotten about it. He also said I should be ale to fish it out with something. I looked in is trunk, but he'd just cleaned it out, so there was nothing I could use in there. Well, the woman had to go in, but since I was kind of far from the door and didn't think I could make it back in, she sent the security guard out with some of the lockout tools. I sat out in the blazing heat with the sun beating down on me for at least another 30 minutes (maybe longer) while he tried to get into the car. We discovered that even if you trigger the lock from the inside of the passenger door, it automatically re-locks. Just like the driver door. But at least only the driver side sets off the alarm. Anyway, after a while, he went in and got a slim jim (This flat piece of metal with a little hook-like cutout on the end.) and tried that. Nothing. I mentioned trying to fish out the tumbler and he went and got me a hanger. I thought I hooked it once, but it was the bar for the door handle. The hanger got stuck and wouldn't go down far enough to reach the wire for the tumbler. By then, I'd been sitting in the heat for about an hour. I hadn't had time to eat anything, so I was starting to get dizzy and felt like I was going to pas out. (I guess if you're going to pass out, the parking lot of a Doctors office across the way from a hospital is as good a place as any. lol) The security guard went in and got me a wheel chair so I wouldn't have to try and hobble up to the building.
So when we got inside, he wheeled me over to the phone so I could call someone. Luckily, they have phones you don't have to pay to use. They're supposed to be to call to one of the departments, but they didn't seem to have a problem with it, so... I called Paul back and told him what was going on. He said there had to be a way around the system. ("Did you try the locks on the inside of the back door? Maybe that's the 'back door', as they say, into the security system.") I agreed. I hung up so he could Google it and call my dad (he didn't answer for me) to find out if anyone knew how to get in. I called him back about 15 minutes later. Dad had said he'd gotten the driver door to open once. Paul then suggested we try the back door, or try to pop the hood and unhook the battery, maybe that would reset the computer and I could unlock the door then. Well, by then it was lunch time, so I waited a while until the security guard was done eating. I really didn't want to bother him, so I sat around for a little while longer while I got up the courage. After he helped someone else, I finally talked to him. I asked about the back doors and he agreed with me that they'd re-lock themselves like the other doors and then we talked about popping the hood and he said the rod wasn't long enough to reach the lever and be able to pull it with enough force. I kind of figured that. After a little bit longer I called back to the house and told them about talking to the security guard and told them they were going to have to come get me. Paul was NOT happy about that since his other car is a Tahoe and it had no gas in it. He'd have to use the credit card to put gas in. I told him I'd pay him back, long as that might take. He and a couple of the kids had to take quick showers before they could leave, so I told them I'd call them back in about 20 minutes to see if they'd left yet. When I called back they said that they had a tornado warning and couldn't leave yet, but they would when it was over. It was up in a few minutes. I told them I'd call them back in 15 minutes. When I called back 20 minutes later, they didn't answer, so I figured they'd left. That was about 3pm. I went out front to the entrance way so I could see them and I was still in the air conditioning. They got there about 4:30. The kids got out and played in the grass while Corie and the dog and I sat there waiting for him to figure out what to do. He tried fishing the tumbler out, and got it up, but it was backwards. When he tried to turn it around it fell back inside the door. He couldn't find it after that. He decided to try the driver door, even though I'd tried it 3 times. It finally came open, but the alarm went off. Since he had the door open, he popped the hood and unhooked the battery. Hooked it back up a few minutes later and the alarm was still working, so he unhooked it again. He got the passenger door open from inside and decided he'd have to take the inside the of the door off to get to the tumbler. While he did that, the rest of us moved off into the shade. He finally got to it and unlocked the door from there. When he hooked up the battery the alarm didn't go off. He popped the door back together and started it. YAY! By now it was at least 4:30, maybe 4:45. I had Corie ride home with me because I was afraid with the day i was having I'd get pulled over or hit by a truck if I was by myself. We stopped at Sonic on the way back and got Lemon-berry Slushes and I also got a Large Pineapple Milkshake. We'd missed Happy Hour by about 10 minutes, so I had to pay full price for the Slushes, but after my day, I didn't care. I had just enough for all the stuff. Actually, I was .08 short, but there was change in the car. We actually got home before Paul and the kids!
The rest of my day was spent in an exhausted haze.
Wow. That ended up much longer than I expected.
tl;dr - My alarm didn't go off, I was half an hour late to the Dr., I was locked out of the WITH the keys and it took 6 more hours for me to leave.
OMG U GAIZ! Monday was the worst day I've had in a while. Nothing was going my way. First off, I had a Dr.'s appointment. It was only to fill out some paperwork I need for my SSI hearing, but it needed done. Since the Dr.s in the clinic don't have office time, you have to make an appointment and have them fill out the paperwork while you sit there. Anyway, my appt. was at 9:45am. I woke up at 9:05am. It takes about 40 minutes, taking the quick route, to get to the office. See, a couple weeks ago my brother went and picked up my clock radio. Well, I tested the alarm out on Saturday just to make sure it still worked. (I've had this alarm clock since I started Junior High, so it's about 18 years old in about a month.) It was fine. So, I set my alarm for 7:30am. All I had to do was get up, get dressed, brush my hair, brush my teeth, grab my stuff and head out the door. It didn't go off. Well, being at least 30 minutes behind by the time I woke up, I jumped up, dressed and grabbed my stuff. Luckily, my hair wasn't too messy. I could fix that in the car. I called and told them I'd be really late and they said since it was only a paperwork appt., that was alright, but get there as quick as I could. I ended up being about 25 minutes late. We got everything done and I went out to the car. And that's where everything went BAD. See, Paul's car has this REALLY STUPID security system. It's the factory system and I have no idea why any company would use this system. I really hope Toyota got rid of it. Okay, when you lock the doors, to get back in you have to unlock the car from the PASSENGER SIDE. If you try the driver door, the alarm goes off and it doesn't unlock. If you do that on accident and go around to the other side, it will shut off the alarm and open. Anyway, I went to unlock the car and just as I go to stick the key in the lock, I notice that the whole tumbler on the passenger side is missing. I tried the driver door just in case, but it wouldn't work. After the alarm quit, I went back over to the other side to see if I could at least see the tumbler. Some woman stopped and let me use her cell since mine was locked in the car with an almost dead battery. I called my brother and asked, "Did you know that the lock on your passenger side is missing?" He told me, "Oh, yeah. That happened Saturday night." I said that I wished he'd told me so I wouldn't have locked the car. He told me he'd forgotten about it. He also said I should be ale to fish it out with something. I looked in is trunk, but he'd just cleaned it out, so there was nothing I could use in there. Well, the woman had to go in, but since I was kind of far from the door and didn't think I could make it back in, she sent the security guard out with some of the lockout tools. I sat out in the blazing heat with the sun beating down on me for at least another 30 minutes (maybe longer) while he tried to get into the car. We discovered that even if you trigger the lock from the inside of the passenger door, it automatically re-locks. Just like the driver door. But at least only the driver side sets off the alarm. Anyway, after a while, he went in and got a slim jim (This flat piece of metal with a little hook-like cutout on the end.) and tried that. Nothing. I mentioned trying to fish out the tumbler and he went and got me a hanger. I thought I hooked it once, but it was the bar for the door handle. The hanger got stuck and wouldn't go down far enough to reach the wire for the tumbler. By then, I'd been sitting in the heat for about an hour. I hadn't had time to eat anything, so I was starting to get dizzy and felt like I was going to pas out. (I guess if you're going to pass out, the parking lot of a Doctors office across the way from a hospital is as good a place as any. lol) The security guard went in and got me a wheel chair so I wouldn't have to try and hobble up to the building.
So when we got inside, he wheeled me over to the phone so I could call someone. Luckily, they have phones you don't have to pay to use. They're supposed to be to call to one of the departments, but they didn't seem to have a problem with it, so... I called Paul back and told him what was going on. He said there had to be a way around the system. ("Did you try the locks on the inside of the back door? Maybe that's the 'back door', as they say, into the security system.") I agreed. I hung up so he could Google it and call my dad (he didn't answer for me) to find out if anyone knew how to get in. I called him back about 15 minutes later. Dad had said he'd gotten the driver door to open once. Paul then suggested we try the back door, or try to pop the hood and unhook the battery, maybe that would reset the computer and I could unlock the door then. Well, by then it was lunch time, so I waited a while until the security guard was done eating. I really didn't want to bother him, so I sat around for a little while longer while I got up the courage. After he helped someone else, I finally talked to him. I asked about the back doors and he agreed with me that they'd re-lock themselves like the other doors and then we talked about popping the hood and he said the rod wasn't long enough to reach the lever and be able to pull it with enough force. I kind of figured that. After a little bit longer I called back to the house and told them about talking to the security guard and told them they were going to have to come get me. Paul was NOT happy about that since his other car is a Tahoe and it had no gas in it. He'd have to use the credit card to put gas in. I told him I'd pay him back, long as that might take. He and a couple of the kids had to take quick showers before they could leave, so I told them I'd call them back in about 20 minutes to see if they'd left yet. When I called back they said that they had a tornado warning and couldn't leave yet, but they would when it was over. It was up in a few minutes. I told them I'd call them back in 15 minutes. When I called back 20 minutes later, they didn't answer, so I figured they'd left. That was about 3pm. I went out front to the entrance way so I could see them and I was still in the air conditioning. They got there about 4:30. The kids got out and played in the grass while Corie and the dog and I sat there waiting for him to figure out what to do. He tried fishing the tumbler out, and got it up, but it was backwards. When he tried to turn it around it fell back inside the door. He couldn't find it after that. He decided to try the driver door, even though I'd tried it 3 times. It finally came open, but the alarm went off. Since he had the door open, he popped the hood and unhooked the battery. Hooked it back up a few minutes later and the alarm was still working, so he unhooked it again. He got the passenger door open from inside and decided he'd have to take the inside the of the door off to get to the tumbler. While he did that, the rest of us moved off into the shade. He finally got to it and unlocked the door from there. When he hooked up the battery the alarm didn't go off. He popped the door back together and started it. YAY! By now it was at least 4:30, maybe 4:45. I had Corie ride home with me because I was afraid with the day i was having I'd get pulled over or hit by a truck if I was by myself. We stopped at Sonic on the way back and got Lemon-berry Slushes and I also got a Large Pineapple Milkshake. We'd missed Happy Hour by about 10 minutes, so I had to pay full price for the Slushes, but after my day, I didn't care. I had just enough for all the stuff. Actually, I was .08 short, but there was change in the car. We actually got home before Paul and the kids!
The rest of my day was spent in an exhausted haze.
Wow. That ended up much longer than I expected.
tl;dr - My alarm didn't go off, I was half an hour late to the Dr., I was locked out of the WITH the keys and it took 6 more hours for me to leave.