Foot in the Door

This is a follow up to my previous post in regards to my misadventures with getting my apartment phone number entered into the building security panel.

Here I am waiting for the UPS guy with my cellphone number posted out on the front door hoping he has a cell phone. After a while I'm too tired to keep working at the computer and decide I want to do some reading (still working through The Da Vinci Code) since I hadn't done any reading for a couple days. I opened the blinds up more to let in more light for reading and hunker down to read.

After a bit, it dawns on me that the building courtyard has some benches in it and I could keep an eye on the front door for the UPS guy while reading. I felt dumb for not thinking of it sooner. By the previous delivery attempts time stamps online, I know the UPS guy was due in the area within the next 30 minutes or so. So I head downstairs and sit in the bench facing the front door and go back to reading. Damn, should'a brought my iPod with me, I thought after a minute but I'd grab it later when I finish a couple more chapters. While I'm reading a hummingbird comes down into the courtyard and I watch it feed from the bell shaped flowers. The bird only makes buzzing noises when it moves from one space to the next and reminds of the sound this one cowboy I once knew would make through his pursed mouth and nose to his horse to make it sidestep.

Time goes by and I start to get chilly and I go back to my apartment and grab my wool jacket and go back to the bench. I realize I forgot the iPod again. Doh... I justify not having the headphones on is good as I may not hear anyone at the front door if my eyes are down in the book.

Dark clouds came over head and it started to sprinkle a bit, but it wasn't that bad. I head up to my apartment to check email and see if anyone called and go back down to read more. I'd given up on the iPod idea by then, yet now that I think of it - I had my Motorola SLVR which plays music, and I have some songs saved on it. Double-doh.

Well, 8:23 pm rolls around and I know the UPS guy ain't comin' tonight. I go back to my apartment and take care of some things, such as watching an episode of South Park I downloaded. I realized I was hungry after a bit and decide to order a pizza to go pick up. When I was due to head out to pick up my order, I open my door and right there walking by is the manager. I said hello then mentioned I found the security panel manual online and downloaded it earlier. The look he gave me was like I told him he'd just won a large sum of money.

"Oh wonderful," he said, "I need to give you a key." We went to his office, I got the key, which he admitted he'd not used for three years, and he told me to keep it while I still live here since I'll be programming the thing. I drop the key off in my apartment and went to get my food. The pizza retrieved and back home, I opened the PDF I had downloaded earlier and jot down the simple stuff I'd need to enter in my apartment number and phone number, grab the panel key and go to the front door.
I scan the Post-it™ note I brought & remove the Post-it™ for the UPS guy (that won't be needed anymore), unlock the panel and swing it down to reveal it's guts so I could press the program button the PDF said was inside. Yet, what I see is not the same circuit board layout that was in the manual I downloaded, plus off to the side, in a plastic bag, was the real operating manual. I just stare at it for a couple seconds.

This... This is irony. I start giggling. All I ever needed from the manager was the damn key and I could have done this weeks ago.

I grab the plastic bad and remove the manual to compare with what I had downloaded. While I'm going through the manual the delivery man for the same pizza place I was at arrives to deliver to another apartment and I let him in. Nice.

I find the pages I need and see that: a) this version of the panel has no program button and needs a security code punched in on the keypad; and b) the number codes to give erase and enter commands is completely different from the PDF I downloaded too. So, the PDF I found was useless and I never needed it. Although finding it and telling the manager I had something led to me having the key to find the real instructions.

I reviewed the new instructions for a minute, logged into the security panel, erased the previous tenant's code and replaced it with mine. I logged out, tested it and heard my answering machine upstairs play my idiotic greeting which is barely audible and needs to be changed.

Now I can have some furniture delivered. Yay!