June 26, 2008
priceless (and alarmed)
We had a security system installed yesterday, with fancy motion detectors and smoke detectors and various other bells and whistles that we are still uncertain how to operate. So far we have not set the damn thing off but it’s only a matter of time.
Our neighborhood has had somewhere between 30 and 40 break ins since the beginning of March (and of course we had our own brush with the criminal element, although there was no breaking involved in that incident, just spitting and STEALING MY STEREO AMP). We joke that we bought this house because the neighborhood was so nice, but apparently we have moved to the hood.
You know, the hood with all the big SUVs and the country club in the middle. THAT hood.
The MO for the burglaries is this: the perps (can I use that word? I can think of an alternative but this is a family-friendly blog) ring the doorbell and then when no one answers they kick the door in and rob the house. Since I’m here all day and the kids are here more of the day than I would really like, that’s a wee bit scary, or at least it was to my mother and mother-in-law, both of whom suggested that we GET AN ALARM ALREADY. So we did.
We’re good kids.
The man came yesterday and spent four hours drilling holes in various parts of my house and running wires and doing I don’t know what all to get this all hooked up. And then he tested the system and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IS THAT THING LOUD. My apologies in advance to my neighbors because when we set the alarm off — AND WE WILL — you will ALL hear it.
This morning after Wade left for work I emailed him to remind him that I had written a substantial check to the man yesterday to pay for the alarm — he likes to check our account balances on line and see how we’re doing, which is fine except that this one particular check was for a fairly big part of the current balance which meant that there’s not as much money actually available as there might appear to be. I don’t know what I thought Wade might do today that would require him to have access to the FULL balance of our checking account (buy me a diamond studded whisk, perhaps, or some mink flip flops), but I thought he ought to know.
I got this response, which is of course a paraphrase of dialog from The Simpsons (duh):
Alarm Guy: That’ll be $450.00.
Wade: WHAT?!? Are you KIDDING?!?
Alarm Guy: Sir, surely you can’t put a price on your family’s safety?
Wade: You’d like to think not … but here we are.
Posted by Susan @ 8:55 pm • everyday life
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June 26th, 2008 at 9:25 pm, Angella Says:
Oh, Susan. Thanks for the giggle. I needed that.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:42 pm, All Adither Says:
Perhaps he’d have driven home on a flashy new Vespa. For you.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:49 am, Jeanne Says:
I’m still shaking my head over here every time I think of your ‘brush with the criminal element’ (I can think of a better word for him but I won’t use it here on your nice blog).
Sorry you actually needed to have an alarm system installed (that sucks) but at least you will have a bit more peace of mind (if not actual “peace” when the darn thing goes off!)
June 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am, SoMo Says:
You will get use to the alarm and won’t set it off as much as you think.
A few tips:
Come up with a weird out there alarm code for when you do set it off and have to call the alarm company. It will give the operator a giggle and she won’t be quite as bitter.
Did your alarm guy set a special code for if someone gets in your house and forces you to turn it off. If not, I would call and ask them. Sure it sounds all movieish, but it is nice to have.
Check if your police force has a fee if they have to come out on too many false alarms. (check what their limit is) Our force doesn’t but I have heard some do.
And never give your code, seems logical, to even the police. At one point, our police wanted alarm codes to the house, so they could turn them off if no one was home. Yeah, fat chance.
Good luck with all your alarm. I hope it never gets used and you never have to experience a break in. Sorry, about all the criminal activity.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:11 am, Nina Says:
That was too funny. I hope you stay safe!
June 27th, 2008 at 10:48 am, M&Co. Says:
It could be worse, Susan, in the past couple of months we’ve had:
1) the police show up wanting to go through our trash looking for evidence of a murder;
2) on my way to work a week or ten days ago, about five blocks into my trip, by the Braums and the Homeland, there was what appeared to me to be a drug bust. Complete with the black SUV with the darkened windows, big beefy men wearing black clothing, black sunglasses and wearing black bulletproof vests. Oh yeah and they had guns drawn and one guy was standing on around with some kind of weapon that looked to be an automatic or semi-automatic weapon. You know what in our youth we would have called a machine gun.
and
3)on the way home from work the other night, the County Sheriffs had a vehicle stopped a few blocks down from the above mentioned drug bust and all the occupants handcuffed and sitting on the curb.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:51 pm, jm Says:
Wow, SW. I think you need to move to the city. We have crime here too, but the houses are closer together so we can see stuff happening and we get all feisty with strangers in the ‘hood. And we rarely have to drive anywhere so we fill up our cars once every 2 months = less gas money. And we have Thai food on every corner.
The recent crime in the ‘burbs is alarming. Tons of stories of suburban break in’s, car stealing, A/C unit stealing, meth labs, etc, etc. I wonder how/if it is related to foreclosures and the economy?
June 27th, 2008 at 10:01 pm, gorillabuns Says:
MAN!!! Who did you go through? Ours was a free installation.
and you get three false-alarms before you are fined by the cops. and be sure to get a permit or they’ll fine your ass for not having one.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:26 pm, Mark Says:
I just got an email from the Nichols Hills Police Dept. that they caught the guy they think has been doing the robberys
June 28th, 2008 at 6:28 pm, Valerie Says:
I live in an urban area that has been losing people in droves to the suburbs because of The Crime. I lived in the suburbs for years and had more problems there than I’ve had while living in the city limits. Crime is everywhere. Best to protect yourself wherever you may be.
And I know that this comment doesn’t really add anything to the discussion, but the Internet has (as a favorite blogger put it) put me in a “time out” and I haven’t been able to comment on any Wordpress blogs for a couple of months, including yours. I was able to comment on someone else’s recently, so I wanted to test things to see if I could come here and play again, too.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:29 pm, Valerie Says:
YAY!!! It works again!
June 29th, 2008 at 9:29 pm, Sunday Linky Love | The Bean Blog Says:
[…] price of a security is almost worth […]
June 30th, 2008 at 5:39 pm, She Likes Purple Says:
That snippet of dialog makes me love you and Wade even more.