If it had a tongue, it would have licked me......

......that sounds so much better than saying if it had teeth it would bite me. I am not in a kinky mood today.

Anyway, when I went away to the Rothbury Festival at the beginning of July, I left my car in my office's parking garage from that Thursday to Monday, as it is supposed to be safe there so long as I tell the security people that I am doing it. Well, when I came back from said festival, I came to find my car completely devoid of any battery life. This was strange seeing as the battery was relatively new and I made sure that nothing was left on that would cause such a thing to happen.

I found a nice gentleman to assist me in getting a jump, and upon getting some juice to the car I quickly realized what happened: my car alarm went off for so long that it drained the battery. Sweet. I checked everything and found that the car had not been broken into, nothing was damaged and nothing was missing. I have no idea how it happened, but at that point I didn't care because I just wanted to get home.

I got in the car, started her up and made my way out. However, when I went to turn on the stereo, I got some weird ERROR message and then it asked for a security code. I pulled over, pulled out the manual from the glove compartment and read that if the alarm is triggered for a certain amount of time and/or if the power to the car is drained, the security feature on the stereo locks it up until a 5-digit code is entered. While I think that it's a great idea, I have a 2004 Honda Civic. The stereo in there is probably worth $10.75 + applicable taxes. No one is stealing that thing. I don't remember ever receiving a code, nor do I remember programming it, so I tried a few likely combinations just in case I did happen to program it when I got it. No luck. After 5 incorrect entries, the whole damn thing locks up for an hour until you can try again.

Fast forward to yesterday, September 21, 2008. More than 60 days after I found the car in that state. I've been riding around in my car without a stereo since that fateful day. Being the music lover, nay, addict, it has been a very painful experience. The manual states that I need to contact the dealership and bring it in so they can re-program it. The dealership is about 4 miles from my apartment, but I have been so busy [read: lazy] I have not had the chance to take it in. But, yesterday things changed. I was in the parking lot of my gym, talking to a friend on the phone and just playing around with the various buttons and whatnot on the dashboard while conversing. Underneath my stereo, there is a sort of "mini-glove compartment" that you probably put your sunglasses or wallet or whatever in. I was flipping the lid open and closed and fiddling around inside with all the pens I keep in there. Lo and behold, my hand glances acros something that feels like a business card. I pull it out, and it's the security card for the stereo that came with it, 5-digit code and all. In mid-conversation I blurted out "I FOUND IT" and scared my friend on the other line half to death.

5-digit code entered.

Stereo works.

I thought I looked everywhere. Apparently I didn't.

I am a free man again.

Hallelujah.