We have a 212 area code for our office in Minnetonka. This happens to be a New York area code as we have a small office in Manhattan that I’ll never see, because only the CFO and a couple other people work there that have nothing to do with day to day operations. In any case when people call us, the ones who recognize the area code think we’re in New York and tend to treat me in a certain way. Kind of a “You’re in the big city so you must be smart, sophisticated, cultured, etc.” Now what do you suppose their reaction is when I tell them that we’re actually located in a suburb of Minneapolis? I’m pretty sure their image of me switches from young, urban hipster on top of the world to middle-aged hick on top of my John Deere.
Like many Americans I enjoy watching police drama shows like “Law and Order,” and ”NCIS.” Recently I’ve started looking around my house and wondering what a law enforcement officer would make of some of the items in my house without benefit of my explanation.
A couple months ago my sister and brother-in-law gave me their old set of three cordless phones when they bought an updated version. I do have local phone service, but never use it as I prefer to use my cell phone. Still, networks do go down, so in a pinch I figured having the phones as a backup wouldn’t be a bad idea. Currently the three phones are sitting on my desk in my living room all plugged into their chargers. Keep in mind that I am renting a tiny, one bedroom house with around 500 square feet of living space. What’s that, one for the living room, one for the bedroom and one for the bathroom? Not sure what the police would think about that, but seems like something that might “bump” for them.
I’ve been on a new diet for the last 3 1/2 weeks now which basically entails eating as little processed food as possible. I never actually knew what the technical definition of processed food was. I had always figured it meant Oreos, Moon Pies, and the like, but turns out it’s everything that’s not in its natural state so that’s everything canned, packaged, and frozen, etc. Now, I haven’t gone completely off the deep end so I do have some processed items that don’t seem to have much in the way of added chemicals, but for the most part my cupboards and refrigerator/freezer are pretty bare as I buy fresh produce every few days. Still, an outsider looking in might surmise that I’m on the verge of starvation or perhaps I’ve abandoned my home in a hurry.
I’ve always been somewhat of a packrat, so while tossing something away of mine is tough enough, doing the same for with someone else’s is almost impossible. The guy who lived in the house before me left some interesting items. There were a couple of florescent lights, still in their packaging in the storage closet that I had seen, but didn’t give much thought to. My landlords had made a comment when I moved in about this guy smoking a lot of pot, but at the time I didn’t think the two were connected. The other day I’m looking at my ceiling and noticed a series of holes that probably had some sort of bracket attached at one point or another. I took another look at the lights in the closet and sure enough, they are grow lights for plants! Wonder what you could do with grow lights and brackets in the ceiling…
Now I’m not sure why the police would be searching my home, but you never know. I only hope I’m present to fill in some of the missing details.