The Great Lockout II of 2008
Many of you recall the time I got locked out of Meg's apartment at 7 AM. This here post will be the telling of the time I got locked out of my own apartment at 2 AM. For over two days.
We begin on Saturday the 6th, mid-day. I received a call from my friend BuffaloJen (aka JenLev), a middle school friend, informing me that I could hitch a ride that night to her annual holiday party, in Buffalo, with friends of hers who were definitely driving themselves from Rochester & coming back that evening. This saved me the hassle of driving myself, spending the night, and schlepping myself back in the morning. IMPORTANT: I have many keychains. One is my "important" keys: office, car, house. But it's the back of the house that's on that chain, the back of the house that I only ever use when I'm driving. If I'm just going out the front door, I take my keys that are just for the front of the house. When I headed over to Pete's house to catch a ride to Buffalo, I exited my front door and took just my front door keys. SPOILER ALERT: THIS WAS A MISTAKE.
Pete & I got a ride from Ryan & Steph(?), all UB friends of Jen. I had not met them before, or if I had, none of us remembered it. We drove, chatting about Pete's GPS unit, fractal design of antennas, GM cars, and other light topics. We weren't sure what food Jen would have, so we stopped at Elmwood Taco & Subs for Tacos. This was a delicious plan. Then off to Jen's, where we caroused through the evening. I met a large man who was very pleased to make my acquaintance and talk my ear off about EVERYTHING, a curly-haired young lady who wanted to hear all about my research, Jen's boyfriend, and a variety of other characters. This lasted until around midnight, when we left for Rochester. I fell asleep in the car as Ryan carefully navigated white-out conditions. I woke up about 3 blocks from home. Ryan dropped me off, I toddled up my porch, and unlocked the door. But then it wouldn't open. I wrestled it for a good ten minutes. Stared at my phone's clock: 2:30 am. Bars were closed, everything was closed, I was NOT going to call my landlady, and I didn't feel like ringing my neighbor's doorbell. (I have no way of contacting her other than within the building. I should correct that. Yes, there is only one other person who lives behind my front door. It's kind of weird, when I think about it.) I knew laurelannlucy was awake & hanging out with people, from earlier text communication. I called her, asked to crash on her couch for the night, and started walking over. Somewhere on Clinton, a cab stopped for me, and over to Laurel's I went! People were fresh back from the bar and still wide awake, ready for hanging out. My nap had rejuvenated me sufficiently to be game for socializing. We hung out there until 3:30 am or so, when I made the decision to crash at Suzanne's place instead. I wasn't sure my allergies would tolerate a cat all night; history suggests not so much. Suzanne's boyfriend gave us a ride back to her place, and they set me up in her house's (indoor) hammock, because the living room couch was occupied by her video-game-playing roommate. We were able to cobble together supplies to store my contacts, which I'd just started using that evening. After two hours of poor sleep in the hammock, I checked to see if the LR was free. It was. I gathered my bedding from the hammock and managed to get a few hours of sleep.
In the morning, I woke up to somebody's phone right next to me, going off with various alarms every 45 minutes or so. I told it to kindly stop. Then I texted jisalynn to see if she wanted to help me attempt my house again. We did. We failed. Hard. I called my landlady's cell phone. No answer, so I left a voicemail. We rang my neighbor's doorbell. No answer. I checked the parking lot: she wasn't home. We went back to jisalynn's so she could get ready for curling. I was due at Doug's family's house for a tree-trimming party at 2 pm. It was 1 pm. Patty had to leave for curling by 3. I couldn't even drive myself up to Doug's, because my car keys were locked inside my house. Good thing I had my wallet and could chill at Boulder, drinking coffee, reading Men's Health, and trying & retrying my landlady! I left notes on my front & back door for the neighbor, hoping she'd call me to say she'd returned home & could try to help me. One of those notes blew away. The other was on the front door, which she rarely uses. Around 4pm, I talked to Doug, who offered to pick me up from Boulder and rescue me. I took him up on it, being sick of waiting and getting no answer from my landlady. Almost an hour later, he & Crimmins picked me up and we went to Williamson, where I showered and.. put my Saturday clothes right back on. Awesome. His parents had invited their priest, a middle-aged Kenyan man, to dinner. My clothes were scented with "eau de yesterday's party". Sweet. Part way through dinner, the power went out. Luckily, we had a ton of candles lit. Father Symon gave us dispensation to burn the other two (unlit) Advent wreath candles if we needed to. Thanks, Father! We finished dinner then hung out in the living room by the fireplace as we waited for Andy to return from apple-storage-checking-duties (power outages can apparently be really bad for the apple storage, the details of which escape me) and for our dinners to digest. The outage lasted for nearly two hours, by which time Andy had returned and we'd started in on dessert. After Father Symon left, Sarah threw a load of laundry in and graciously included my outfit. I put on some of Doug's old clothes for pajamas. We watched Dude, Where's My Car? which maintains its greatness with repeated viewings! Then, solo, I watched a cheesy Hallmark movie about Tourette's Syndrome while I tried to fall asleep, despite being filled with rage at my landlady. I threw out my contacts.
In the morning, I put on my clean clothes, had breakfast, and got a ride to campus with Doug. I could not see much at all. It was going to be an interesting day, what with my 11am meeting with Dick revolving around the data I could remember off the top of my head. (Yep, thumb drive was in my house too. What, you take yours to parties? C'mon now.) Just before 10 am, my landlady called me. "I assume you were able to get in somehow?" Well, no, lady, I didn't break in and I don't have magical powers. Your door is really BROKEN, which is what I mean when I call three times in one day and leave you a message telling you I'm completely locked out because
you didn't fix the door a month ago when I asked you to. "Oh, dear, well, my phone was on silent yesterday for some reason, and I just noticed it now... My husband can come let you in later today." Through the exchanges with her that day, I now have three phone numbers to reach her or her husband at. Her husband let me in shortly after noon, via the back door. I checked the front door from the inside. It's broken to the point that, unlocked, even from the inside, it doesn't open. I can't even describe what's wrong with it, other than that it's permanently shut. Awesome!
Now I carry my back door keys with me all the time, if only because my front door keys are friggin' worthless. Yes, that door is still broken. Maybe I should call my landlady repeatedly...
We begin on Saturday the 6th, mid-day. I received a call from my friend BuffaloJen (aka JenLev), a middle school friend, informing me that I could hitch a ride that night to her annual holiday party, in Buffalo, with friends of hers who were definitely driving themselves from Rochester & coming back that evening. This saved me the hassle of driving myself, spending the night, and schlepping myself back in the morning. IMPORTANT: I have many keychains. One is my "important" keys: office, car, house. But it's the back of the house that's on that chain, the back of the house that I only ever use when I'm driving. If I'm just going out the front door, I take my keys that are just for the front of the house. When I headed over to Pete's house to catch a ride to Buffalo, I exited my front door and took just my front door keys. SPOILER ALERT: THIS WAS A MISTAKE.
Pete & I got a ride from Ryan & Steph(?), all UB friends of Jen. I had not met them before, or if I had, none of us remembered it. We drove, chatting about Pete's GPS unit, fractal design of antennas, GM cars, and other light topics. We weren't sure what food Jen would have, so we stopped at Elmwood Taco & Subs for Tacos. This was a delicious plan. Then off to Jen's, where we caroused through the evening. I met a large man who was very pleased to make my acquaintance and talk my ear off about EVERYTHING, a curly-haired young lady who wanted to hear all about my research, Jen's boyfriend, and a variety of other characters. This lasted until around midnight, when we left for Rochester. I fell asleep in the car as Ryan carefully navigated white-out conditions. I woke up about 3 blocks from home. Ryan dropped me off, I toddled up my porch, and unlocked the door. But then it wouldn't open. I wrestled it for a good ten minutes. Stared at my phone's clock: 2:30 am. Bars were closed, everything was closed, I was NOT going to call my landlady, and I didn't feel like ringing my neighbor's doorbell. (I have no way of contacting her other than within the building. I should correct that. Yes, there is only one other person who lives behind my front door. It's kind of weird, when I think about it.) I knew laurelannlucy was awake & hanging out with people, from earlier text communication. I called her, asked to crash on her couch for the night, and started walking over. Somewhere on Clinton, a cab stopped for me, and over to Laurel's I went! People were fresh back from the bar and still wide awake, ready for hanging out. My nap had rejuvenated me sufficiently to be game for socializing. We hung out there until 3:30 am or so, when I made the decision to crash at Suzanne's place instead. I wasn't sure my allergies would tolerate a cat all night; history suggests not so much. Suzanne's boyfriend gave us a ride back to her place, and they set me up in her house's (indoor) hammock, because the living room couch was occupied by her video-game-playing roommate. We were able to cobble together supplies to store my contacts, which I'd just started using that evening. After two hours of poor sleep in the hammock, I checked to see if the LR was free. It was. I gathered my bedding from the hammock and managed to get a few hours of sleep.
In the morning, I woke up to somebody's phone right next to me, going off with various alarms every 45 minutes or so. I told it to kindly stop. Then I texted jisalynn to see if she wanted to help me attempt my house again. We did. We failed. Hard. I called my landlady's cell phone. No answer, so I left a voicemail. We rang my neighbor's doorbell. No answer. I checked the parking lot: she wasn't home. We went back to jisalynn's so she could get ready for curling. I was due at Doug's family's house for a tree-trimming party at 2 pm. It was 1 pm. Patty had to leave for curling by 3. I couldn't even drive myself up to Doug's, because my car keys were locked inside my house. Good thing I had my wallet and could chill at Boulder, drinking coffee, reading Men's Health, and trying & retrying my landlady! I left notes on my front & back door for the neighbor, hoping she'd call me to say she'd returned home & could try to help me. One of those notes blew away. The other was on the front door, which she rarely uses. Around 4pm, I talked to Doug, who offered to pick me up from Boulder and rescue me. I took him up on it, being sick of waiting and getting no answer from my landlady. Almost an hour later, he & Crimmins picked me up and we went to Williamson, where I showered and.. put my Saturday clothes right back on. Awesome. His parents had invited their priest, a middle-aged Kenyan man, to dinner. My clothes were scented with "eau de yesterday's party". Sweet. Part way through dinner, the power went out. Luckily, we had a ton of candles lit. Father Symon gave us dispensation to burn the other two (unlit) Advent wreath candles if we needed to. Thanks, Father! We finished dinner then hung out in the living room by the fireplace as we waited for Andy to return from apple-storage-checking-duties (power outages can apparently be really bad for the apple storage, the details of which escape me) and for our dinners to digest. The outage lasted for nearly two hours, by which time Andy had returned and we'd started in on dessert. After Father Symon left, Sarah threw a load of laundry in and graciously included my outfit. I put on some of Doug's old clothes for pajamas. We watched Dude, Where's My Car? which maintains its greatness with repeated viewings! Then, solo, I watched a cheesy Hallmark movie about Tourette's Syndrome while I tried to fall asleep, despite being filled with rage at my landlady. I threw out my contacts.
In the morning, I put on my clean clothes, had breakfast, and got a ride to campus with Doug. I could not see much at all. It was going to be an interesting day, what with my 11am meeting with Dick revolving around the data I could remember off the top of my head. (Yep, thumb drive was in my house too. What, you take yours to parties? C'mon now.) Just before 10 am, my landlady called me. "I assume you were able to get in somehow?" Well, no, lady, I didn't break in and I don't have magical powers. Your door is really BROKEN, which is what I mean when I call three times in one day and leave you a message telling you I'm completely locked out because
you didn't fix the door a month ago when I asked you to. "Oh, dear, well, my phone was on silent yesterday for some reason, and I just noticed it now... My husband can come let you in later today." Through the exchanges with her that day, I now have three phone numbers to reach her or her husband at. Her husband let me in shortly after noon, via the back door. I checked the front door from the inside. It's broken to the point that, unlocked, even from the inside, it doesn't open. I can't even describe what's wrong with it, other than that it's permanently shut. Awesome!
Now I carry my back door keys with me all the time, if only because my front door keys are friggin' worthless. Yes, that door is still broken. Maybe I should call my landlady repeatedly...