security

transition... transition. I keep hearing this word in my head to the tune of "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof. And I like to think that mine would be just a little easier if I had some Jewish grandma's nagging me or a joyful Papa in the barn. Alas.

So I am now in Durham, as of 9 days ago. I am in a beautiful old house, built in 1907 my new roommate tells me, in what I might describe as a "transitional" neighborhood. Prior to my arrival my roommate had a security system installed after a shooting at the nearby library freaked her out. (Um.. guys - you can put the guns down - the books are FREE) This thing is rapidly becoming the bane of my existence. This morning for instance, I came downstairs and squared my shoulders with the little meter on the wall and just stared at it. Is it OFF + code? Do I type the code first? If I pick the wrong one, will I get another chance to disarm or will the cops come? Should I wake my roommate up to ask her this? I finally decide the "safe" solution is to turn the thing off, and then turn it back on again so I can leave. Wrong option - I got out okay but when Clare got up, she set it off - doh!

At my old house, we had a tv, dvd player, dvr, xbox, and a wii all set up on an (I'm told) elegant and easy system with one remote for everything. You could watch regular tv, watch a recorded show, pull a Netflix movie up, play a video game, and access someone's computer files all using one remote, and while sitting on the couch with your feet up. Or at least that was the IDEA. For me, I nearly always had a problem with it. For example, there were three (3!!) seperate ways to turn up the volume (which was never loud enough for me... we Brandeses like it loud!). These were the tv volume, cable volume, and "auxilary" volume. Having lived with this system for over a year and having been trained on its use 20+ times, I admit I don't know how to turn up auxilary volume. Of course all of this hassle would only happen if I could actually find the remote. When I couldn't, I would throw an honest-to-god, if-this-ever-got-out-on-youtube-i'd-lose-all-my-friends tantrum while I tore apart the living room looking for it. Am I alone in this? NOTHING gets me fired up so fast, and so explosively like a missing remote - I suspect there are those of you out there who would admit the same.

So what's up with these buttons that leaves me so stumped? Have I become so used to having a little "answer bubble" pop up every time I see a button that they have lost meaning outside that context? Maybe it's button-overload. I like to think it's just that I'm a "people person", but I suspect it's that the buttons and codes just don't have enough tangible meaning for me to bother remembering them.