Well, dear readers, I was rudely awakened after only six hours of sleep by the beeping of the alarm system. Five beeps, silence for a minute, five beeps and on and on. I thought we’d solved the problem with the tech person the night before, especially as it hadn’t beeped all night. Then I finally took out the instruction booklet and read about the beeps and how they don’t beep from ten at night to eight in the morning, which is very thoughtful of the beeps. So, I got up and armed and disarmed the system again, as we’d done the night before, and that stopped it. But I kept looking at the little star that was blinking next to the day and date and time. I’d asked about it the night before and no one could tell me whether it was normal for it to be doing that or not – it seemed odd to me as I didn’t remember the star ever being there before. Remember that, as we proceed.
About five hours later, beep beep, again with the damn beeps. Before I decided to arm and disarm again and just keep have this happening, I called the company again and they said they couldn’t get anyone out here until Monday, but that they’d have another tech call me. Meanwhile, I called the first tech and told him again what was happening. I asked him about the blinking star and again he said he didn’t know what it meant. He determined that it had to be the back-up battery and he had me go to the closet and open the panel – I did, but I was not about to replace that battery, which is huge and heavy, by myself. He said he might be able to squeeze me in late in the afternoon today and that it would cost about $125. Just as I was thinking about it, I got a call from the other tech. I got off the phone and told the new tech what was going on. He had me do something a little different and we got it to stop beeping. I read him some stuff from the instruction booklet. His first thought was that there was a station open, like a window or door, but I assured him there was not. Then I told him about the blinking star and he said that didn’t sound right to him. So, I read him from the booklet that by pressing the star symbol on the keypad it was supposed to tell you what the problem had been. I hadn’t wanted to do that without someone on the phone, so he said to go ahead and try that. I did and a message came up that there’d been a power outage. As soon as I exited that, guess what happened? The blinking star disappeared, the system was reset and all was well and I haven’t heard a damn beep beep since. So, now we know what to do in the future and I don’t have to replace a battery that’s supposed to have a shelf life of five years (this new system is only two years old). Beep beep indeed.
Otherwise, aside from not getting enough sleep, the day was rather a pleasant one as pleasant days go. We got book orders in and I printed those out, had a bunch of back and forth with the publisher and I think everything is actually moving along more quickly than usual – it was a little bumpy at first due to the publisher’s being on PCs rather than Macs (sending files via Hightail from a Mac and trying to open them on a PC asks for a password, even though we didn’t click the password box, which means no password necessary. I finally just sent them all eight files via e-mail and those they got just fine. After all that, I went and had a cup of soup and a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich for my meal o’ the day. Then I came home and did a little work at the piano and a little work at the computer and had a little telephonic conversation with composer Paul Glass, who is over the moon about the Ethan CD. Then it was finally time to mosey on over to the Catalina Bar and Grill to see Sue Raney’s show.
I met up with Doug Haverty, who was attending with me. We got seated and I ordered a bite-sized lettuce wedge – it was mediocre. And we shared some tasty fries that weren’t all that tasty – I only ate a handful. Then some nice woman sitting nearby bought me a dessert. Go know. So, Doug and I split this chocolate cake/chocolate mousse thing – we both had a few bites, but left a little less than half of it, so hopefully not too much damage, calorie-wise.
Then Miss Raney took the stage and entertained the almost sold out crowd for about eighty minutes or so. Sue Raney is the real deal. They don’t make ‘em like Sue Raney anymore. We’ve been blessed to have her do two of our Kritzerland shows. She knows her way around a lyric, has amazing phrasing and her voice is like velvet and she can still hit them high notes with ease. She did all the songs from her new CD, Late in Life. It’s title tune is by Shelly Markham, her musical director, with lyrics by Adryan Russ. Otherwise it was pretty much standards with some interesting stuff thrown in, like a song from The Producers. It was lots of fun and my only nitpick is the show went on just a bit too long. The five-piece band was great. I, however, really don’t like that club at all.
After that, I came home to no beeping, which was very good news. I answered e-mails and stuff and that was that.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a beepless night of good sleep. Then I shall eat something light and airy, hopefully pick up some packages, have a little meeting at the theater where we did Inside Out, and then I’m seeing a musical called Serrano, in which Barry Pearl plays several roles. I’m sure we’ll go out after the show.
Tomorrow, I have a work session at ten-thirty that will probably go till noon. Then I have stuff to do, and then I’m meeting Karen Staitman for dinner and then seeing Sami in A Chorus Line at her high school. Sunday, Sandy is having a house-warming party and I’ll probably go to that. And then we begin our very busy Kritzerland week. I made huge changes in the show order earlier and had to cut and paste and move around the commentary so that it matches the new order – but I’m much happier with this order.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, eat, hopefully pick up packages, have a little meeting, see a show, and go out after. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, who knows? Blu and Ray, next up is Two for the Road. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hopefully not dream of beeps.