Some mornings...
So this actually starts last night, when I'm getting on my bike to come home for the evening. I've got a 5 mile trip, so when I step outside, and see no rain coming down, I figure I'm safe for the ride home. So, not bothering to weatherproof, I jump on the bike for the quick trip. One mile in, a few drops start to fall... and it proceeds to pour for the next 4 miles. When i get home, I immediately check my cell phone, since this is pretty much a replay of the last time I fried it. Fortunately, it still works.
Anyway, the next morning comes, and because I'm staying late, I'm leaving early, and am therefore the last out of the house. I gather my things, pull out of the garage, and the garage door opener doesn't work. It had also gotten wet, so I figure it either fried the circuitry or drained the battery. Fortunately, I have one of those outdoor garage-opener keypads for just such an occasion. Except for the fact that it fried itself within a month of installation. Three times. O.k. I lied; it starts like a year ago or something, but it DOES culminate in this morning... So, that's useless.
But, after trying to play with the battery, I remember that we seem to have an extra one upstairs. Not wanting to have to deal with convoluted house entry upon return, I decide to jump inside to see if I can find the battery. I rummage around in the desk, and there's one, that looks like the right size. I figure by the time I get home the opener should have dried off, and if it's the battery, I'll have a spare. So, I hit the internal garage control on the way out and hop the safety beam.
I climb back into the truck to go to work and... Where are my keys? Great! I must've put them down when I was fishing for the spare battery; let's hope that was worth it. Nope, no good. So, I'm sitting in my truck, with no keys to get to work. But that's o.k., because I'm sure they're in the house, and I can just grab the spare house key, which...
we keep...
in the garage...
But I can't get into the garage because my garage door opener doesn't work, which shouldn't be a problem because I've installed the keypad for just such an occasion, except that garage door keypads seem to want to commit suicide rather than open my garage door. The only way this could be any better is if my cell phone HAD died. I know that would make for a better story, but thankfully it didn't, because if it had, I probably would've been booting up my laptop and waiting for someone useful to get on AIM. I place a rescue call, but decide that rather than wait around for salvation, I can at least take a look at this stupid garage door opener. I pull out my multi-tool and unscrew the thing, opening it up to reveal some foamy moisture connecting some of the pins on the back of the circuit board. Ah-ha! I dry that off, and holding the battery in place, which opens the garage door like magic, on the third or fourth press.
I retrieve the key, only to find that it doesn't really operate the lock that well. It takes some finnegeling to get the door open, which I attribute to a lock in need of lubrication, so I apply some grease after retrieving my keys, only to find out that's not the problem at all; the key is miscut. Which is notable only because it wasn't before...
Anyway, that's my garage-opening Zork adventure for this morning, which turned out fine in the end, of only I can find the screw for the damn garage door opener...