Men

Male impatience drives me batty sometimes. By unhooking the car battery (to disconnect the brake lights, below) the boyfriend disabled our Honda anti-theft radio. There's a code that has to be entered to get it going again. Fortunately, we have that code. (I pity the people who've lost theirs and have to try to get it from their dealer.) It's on a laminated card that sits in a particular (semi-hidden) spot on the counter between the kitchen and dining area that serves as sort of of our office area. But instead of waiting until he read the code off the card (not having had to enter it in some time), the boyfriend convinced himself that he could remember it. So as we drove down the road the other day after our little home repair, he began punching in a 4-digit code that he was sure was the right one. No go. He tried different variations, several times.

When we finally looked at the card, it turned out it was a 5-digit code and he really hadn't been close at all. We've subsequently tried entering the correct code several times, but it still hasn't worked.

I just Googled the problem and found a solution on a message board: If you've had more than three failed attempts (written by a man who had also tried to guess the code), you must leave the radio on for ONE HOUR and then enter the correct code. No biggie, right? Except we live on a tiny island--that car hasn't been on for an hour at a time since we've owned it! It doesn't take that long to get anywhere! And it's not like we have a garage. So it means we've gotta leave the keys in the car for an hour while it's sitting up on the road (a flight of stairs above our condo). Just one more little annoyance. Men, grrrr. When will they learn?