Public Service Announcement

This morning I woke up at 5:20 a.m. to the chirping of my smoke dectector. I'd already experienced the piercing noise with the detector in my room (it took my housemate and I a full half hour to figure out how to make it be quiet). Having gone through this before, I knew removing the battery would not help. I had to put in a fresh one. Unfortunately, I did not have the necessary battery.

I went to my basement and tried to sleep on the couch, but I could still hear the annoying sound. Finally, at 6, I got dressed and drove to Wal-Mart. The associate looked at me strangely as I purchased my package of batteries. I returned to the house, changed the battery and went back to sleep.

Word to the wise: When they say you should change the batteries in your smoke detectors once a year, they mean it. Only YOU can prevent 6 a.m. battery runs.