Last night, the keypad used to operate our garage door openers started beeping incessantly. I assumed it was a warning that the battery was nearly depleted and removed it. I decided to wait until this morning to replace it, expecting to complete the task in a few minutes

Today, I discovered that the battery was not the problem and that the unit had basically lost its mind, the result of water ingress, I suspect. A consequence of never throwing out anything of value, I was able to locate not one, but three possible replacement units in a bin labeled “garage door components.” Two were used, not compatible with our new openers, and did not have backlit keys, making the choice easy. The third unit was brand new but did not include programming instructions. The subsequent scavenger hunt for the manual launched me on an exhaustive search and subsequent all-day re-organizing mission which included my desk, credenza, and the cabinets where I store my photo gear. Six hours later, it took all of ten minutes to install and program the new keypad using instructions I downloaded from the internet. I decided to lubricate both doors while I was at it for good measure.