Comments on: At Least He Didn’t Take It For a Joy-Ride

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 04:32:26 +0000

This actually reminds me of when Sean was driving his Focus out to Arizona when we moved. He calls me up on his second day out. It was hot that day, somewhere at a rest stop in Oklahoma or Arkansas or one of those other midwestern states on his way to Arizona and he had to use the restroom. The problem was that he had Weaver in the car and it was hot enough that he didn’t want to turn the AC off while he went to the restroom. So, Sean leaves the key in the ignition, removes the key fob and locks the door, leaving Weaver a happy kitty. Several minutes later, he comes back outside to find out that he can’t unlock the Focus with the key fob while the engine’s running. $#!)
He called me up that afternoon while he’s waiting on the AAA locksmith to show up. The locksmith eventually got the car open, with a coat hanger, not a slim jim, but not without a lot of meowing on Weaver’s part… or at least the silen meow that Weaver passes off as a real meow.
Moving out to Arizona will be a memorable experience for both of us for many, many reasons…

Besides that, I’m glad that you guys turned it into a good experience for Eli. You guys are such great parents and handle situations like this really well. I can only hope that I’m half this decent of a parent one day.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 04:05:05 +0000

Granted, I’ve called it Eggbeater Jesus in the past, but dude, look at those spiral galaxies! He’s riding a rocket…a rocket of PURE LOVE.

By: Geof F. Morris

Geof F. Morris — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 04:00:28 +0000

“Y’all suck as parents! You let your kid play with the remote keyless entry!”

Oh, sorry. Thought I was on dooce.com for a sec.

And I’m with Jeff … it’s Jesus on the Eggbeater. [Insert Baptist joke here.]

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 18:16:41 +0000

Ah. You mean eggbeater Jesus.

As for the locked door thing, I have my own funny story there, and it ties in with something previous commenter jess said.

I was about to leave Tull (Arkansas… visit to Amy and her family for those who don’t know) and head back to Tuscaloosa. Unfortunately, I had locked myself out of my ’92 Sentra. With the engine running.

Since Amy’s Dad was a memeber of the local volunteer fire department, they just drove down the road to pick up their slim jim. After quite a few minutes of trying, they just weren’t able to do anything with it.

Luckily, I had roadside assistance on my cell phone plan, so we called them, and a locksmith came out and used something very different than a slim jim to get my passenger door open in about 5 seconds. By that point it was so late that I just turned off the car and decided to stay there for one more night.

The next morning, on trying to get into the car, I found out that the driver door (the one Olen and friends had worked on with the slim jim) wouldn’t open from the outside. To make a long story shorter, when I got it fixed, I was told that the mechanism inside the door was specifically designed to fall apart if prodded too much, thus foiling a would-be thief. Nothing was broken, but the entire mechanism was lying inside the bottom of the door.

I’ve heard another story somewhere about a Porsche owner who called a locksmith after locking himself out. The locksmith said that there was nothing he could do to unlock the door. He recommended breaking a particular piece of window glass to get in, because it was the least expensive to replace. Said it was the only way.

By: Pop

Pop — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 18:10:20 +0000

Sounds like the time Daddy and I took you in his car to Howard’s and you insisted on holding the car keys. After about our fourth different stop in the store, I noticed that you were holding something other than the keys. Fortunately we managed to backtrack item by item, finding what you had exchanged at each stop until we found the keys amongst the fishing corks (bobbers). Also fortunately, we had you with us and only the vehicle was at risk.

By: jess

jess — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 17:12:24 +0000

Fewer and fewer police departments are carrying slim jims anymore. It’s a bit of a liability if, say, they bust your window or break your sophisticated electronic locks. My PD still does unlocks – and very frequently at that. There is undoubtedly the one vehicle that refuses to come open, though. The last one I dispatched that wouldn’t come open, though, was a semi trailer. Three locksmiths later, the sucker opened up.

I’m glad it had a happy ending, and that you guys made a positive experience out of it for Eli. Maybe someday he’ll vaguely recall it, or you can tell him the story when his prom date comes to visit.