This entry retracts a lot of the bad things I said about my iPod, while introducing new bad things to say about the Weiser Smartkey system, my former deadbolt.
Today, my wife and I held a garage sale to get rid of a bunch of things in for an incoming move. We held it at my father’s house, and before leaving to run the garage sale, I emptied everything from my wallet except for the $40 I keep stashed in a relatively hidden part of the wallet. We locked up our condo as usual that morning, but when we came home, we had troubles unlocking our door. The key would go in the deadbolt, but it would not turn. It was like the key was not the right one for the deadbolt.
Now this deadbolt was a Weiser Smartkey deadbolt, where the deadbolt could be reconfigured to open with a new key by simply using a special tool and a working copy. My first thoughts were that someone had rekeyed the lock while we were at the garage sale, or they damaged the deadbolt trying to break through it. I had thoughts of someone being in our place right then and there, doing who-knows-what.
A week ago, I had set up an IP camera to watch our bunnies when we were not at home. The idea was to bring a smile to my wife and my face when we were away, and see how the girls were doing. In this situation, the IP cam was our only eyes to the inside of our place, and it was staring at our most valuable possessions.
While standing outside, I fired up my iPod, which had become a staple of my everyday life for simple tasks like checking email or managing to-do lists. In this situation, I used it to check the IP cam. Once the iPod was running, the wireless easily connected to my router. That gave a first good sign that the computer and router was not compromised. Next, I brought up a browser to the IP cam, and saw an updated shot of the girls, all fine in their pen. Bonnie looked a bit curious about all the ruckus at the front door, but otherwise they looked normal. Knowing the girls were safe, we began to feel a little less panicked.
I called several locksmiths that I found by googling from the iPod. Eventually one locksmith actually answered their “24 hour emergency line”. The previous calls told me to leave a message, which I still have yet to get a callback for. When I explained the situation to the locksmith, he said that he practically gets calls daily for these Weiser Smartkey locks. This made me a little more relieved, thinking that the deadbolt problem was due to simple device failure, rather than tampering or re-keying. There was no signs of forceful tampering, and the only person with a spare key was the condo residence manager, who hopefully keeps it in a secure place. Unless someone went to the trouble of picking it and rekeying it, I did not think it was rekeyed.
My father drilled out the lock, and we were inside in about 10 minutes. I cautiously scoured the place, turning on every light and brandishing a mallet, on the odd chance that my initial suspicions were right. The place was secure, and we headed out to get a new deadbolt. Once we arrived at Home Depot, we picked up a Schlage that had a close colour match for the rest of the door hardware. When I went to pay, I realized I forgot my credit card at home. My father left his wallet at home, and the best we could do is scrape together about $46 dollars, including my emergency $40. The cashier must have seen the desperation on my face, and discounted it so we could afford it. After a quick installation, our place was once again secure.
So after a good hour of panic, and having to beg a Home Depot cashier for some reprieve for not having enough cash to pay for the replacement deadbolt, we have switched to a more conventional deadbolt. In this whole scenario, our deadbolt was the cause of the problem, an the iPod was part of the solution. Being able to hop on my router from outdoors gave us peace of mind to see our little girls safe, and allowed us to shop around and find a locksmith for advice.
Although I’m still not happy with the way a lot of things work on the iPod, and I can directly attest that Apple does not make glorious, infallible technology, it served a great purpose in this situation.
