Thursday, January 05, 2006

Too Much Excitement

I don't know who I think I am, but I am a big, fat liar. The scarf I wore yesterday was not made of Angora, as I alluded when I copied, pasted, and properly credited the original entry about someone's Angora sweater. I don't know what my scarf is made of, but it is not fur nor is it real. Maybe it's real. It is fuzzy, though. And furthermore, I have scarves made out of fuzzy yarn that shed more on my black wool jacket than the fuzzy, white, I-don't-know-what-it's-made-of-but-it-sure-is-fuzzy scarf.

I just wanted to clear that up.

It's hard to get back into the swing of regular life after a vacation. Yesterday was fairly ordinary, spending time catching up on emails, voicemail, and some actual work. I'll have the vacation details with pictures soon.

Last night I went to pick up OC from school. When we got to the parking garage, the doors were down. This was not unusual as the garage closes at 5:30 pm, after which you need a code to open the door. OC punched in the code but nothing happened. I thought she didn't push the buttons hard enough, so I punched in the code - several times - and it still didn't work. A car was idling on the other side of the doors. A woman got out and came over to talk to us. She was loud. She said she had been there for 15 minutes, and that the garage doors wouldn't open. She used her cell phone to call the parking company and got their answering service, where she left a message and was expecting a call back anytime. I told her she should call the fire department. She asked, loudly, "What's the number to the fire department?" I told her, "911." but I was thinking, "Um, seriously?! What a moron!"

(Disclaimer, which is in no way a placation: This woman annoyed me because she talked obnoxiously loudly, acted kind of drunk, and when she didn't know the number to the fire department, that was the last straw and I felt obligated to call her a moron.)

I went next door to the business that was still open and asked to use their phone, where I called the fire department (9-1-1!) and asked for non-emergency dispatch. I talked to a very nice lady and told her the problem, who said a crew would be by shortly, and could I please wait on the curb to flag them down? Yes, absolutely! The Obnoxiously Loud Moron then walked by us on the sidewalk (how did she get out?) and said the owner would be by in 20 minutes to open the doors. She walked off before I could tell her the fire department was on its way. I did not feel bad about this.

The fire department got there soon after, and set to work. If you've never seen firemen in action, it is kind of cool. There was no fire, and yet they were moving about quickly, all over the place, looking for alternate entrances or for a place to get in from the roof or a side door. It turned out that the garage could be opened manually. The Obnoxiously Loud Moron had told me she tried the automatic door openers, which didn't work, but she didn't try the chains that open the door. They pulled on the chains and got the door open, but had to open the second door because OLM had left her car parked in the front, blocking the first door and was still nowhere to be found. (I still don't know how she got out!)

We got our car and were on our way. Yay, firefighters!

P.S. OC said she was scared, and wanted to go home but she did a great job holding her shit together. I told her this too - only without using the word "shit". As we left the garage I rolled down her window so she could thank the firefighters. She was very relieved to be out of there. As was I.

We're parked there again today. I hope the doors will work this time. I forgot to bring my cell phone again.

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