Happy Birthday America and How to Fix a Doorbell

Techincally 4th of July is over. But I JUST remembered that this is the anniversary of the night my first apartment that I lived in on my own was broken in to. While I was home. It happened at 1:30am on 4th of July (well, 5th of July by then). I wish I hadn't remembered this. I've been sleeping fantastically and until tonight, hadn't had a single night of being scared or anxious.

How to Fix a Doorbell
But enough of that. Today I figured out how to fix my broken doorbell. It's wireless and I figured the batteries in the receiver were dead, so I took a quick trip to target to buy some C batteries (and hangers and contact paper). I love that I now live close to things! I can get to Target in 4 minutes and I don't have to deal with all the stupid traffic that I used to have to endure when I wanted to go to the one in Mission Valley.

So I get home with my batteries and swap them out then carry then try the doorbell. No sound. So of course I push the doorbell about 20 more times. Still no sound. I pull the back of the receiver again and stare at the wiring and circuit board because if I started at it long enough, I thought I'd magically understand how it worked. I didn't. But it did occur to me to check the actual doorbell button.

I found my flathead screwdriver and pried the button off the door jab. A small task, but I'm always proud of myself whenever I figure out how to do anything that requires a tool. Turns out the doorbell button has the tiniest battery I've ever seen (23A). The C's in the receiver were dated 2004, so it's safe to bet this one was that old too. So I called the Radio Shack that's also about 3 minutes away to confirm they were open and had that battery, then picked it up, came home and installed it and ta-da! Working doorbell.

I also unpacked the kitchen and organized the garage a little today. Still have a long way to go, but now all my surfboards are somewhere safe AND easy to access, I can move around the garage, all my planting pots are organized, and I labeled all my Christmas and Halloween storage bins.

I didn't do anything for the 4th today bbq or fireworks-wise. Just spent the day alone alternately organizing and working on mock ups of a web site I'm designing for my friend. And napping. Now I'm watching Rosanne - it's such a good show. It really was an accurate depiction of working class families. I was going to go to bed, but I've made myself anxious about the break-in anniversary. Grrr....

Yesterday I met two of the guys who live in the house across the street. I'd seen the garage open earlier in the day and saw they had a bunch of surfboards. Then when I was in the front yard getting my board together while I waited for a friend to pick me up to go surf, one of them came over and talked toe me about surfing. I met Brian and Ben but didn't get to talk for more than a mintue before my ride showed up, they seem nice though. So far, all my neighbors get a thumbs up!