I’ve mentioned, oh, three or four dozen times how much I despise talking on cell phones. On any phone, for that matter. And, as you’ve read recently, I am not a fan of people dropping by my house: college kids earning beer money by pedaling household cleaners, Girl Scouts hawking heroin-like cookies, religious fanatics bent on saving my soul. Over the years, I’ve commented numerous times how I wish there were “Caller ID” for front doors. Man, how I could use that!
Sure, there’s always the old-fashioned peep hole but when you’re trailed everywhere by a 7-year old kid who has no concept of how to “tip toe,” people figure out rather quickly that you’re behind that door staring at them so they keep knocking. Over and over. Meanwhile, my boy shouts from the other side “Mommy said to tell you we’re not here!”
Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?
We spend the majority of our day in our basement family room: me on the computer, my son on his or playing PlayStation. The home doorbell doesn’t ring loudly enough to be heard down here, so we added one of those plug-in doorbells with a remote speaker downstairs. That’s no help when it comes to avoiding drop-ins or folks trying to sell me stuff, though. The instant my son hears the doorbell he’s off and running. I need a way to short-circuit that.
So, I’m thinking what we really need is to add a hidden camera near our door. Something nice and unobtrusive: maybe one that looks like a peephole. With the monitor downstairs, I could unplug that remote doorbell and prevent my son from racing up to find out who’s standing outside our door.
Meanwhile, I would know. I just wouldn’t have to deal with them.
Besides, my homeowners’ association nixed my idea of a barracuda-filled moat.
Thursday, July 12th, 2007, 3:19 pm | 
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July 12, 2007 at 4:43 pm
The house I bought is already wired for that. Every room, the back and front of the house, and probably the garage are wired for sound and video. There’s also a full set of cable wiring to each room and central vacuuming.
The guy that was the first owner of this house was both a little paranoid and big on electronics. It’s a weird feeling.
July 12, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I think he sounds like a freakin’ genius!
July 12, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Somewhere recently I saw an ad for one that could be tied to your computer so that when some one rang the bell it popped open so you can see who it is. I say don’t disguise it. Let them know they’re being monitored.
July 12, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Since our ground floor is literally two full floors above street level, what I want is a camera that shows me who it is, an intercom to talk to them if I want, a remote for the front door, and a trapdoor for salespeople that leads to a pit of ravenous gophers.
Er…yeah. Right.
July 12, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Letting them know they’re being monitored would put me in a touchy situation if, say, a friend dropped by and I just didn’t feel like answering the door. (This happens more than I like.)
July 12, 2007 at 10:51 pm
You could put a giant head up that says, “WHO DISTUBS THE GREAT OZ????”. I mean, Kansas and all that….