Volume 124 Issue 101
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY ZANGA
PAGE 18
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014
Keep your keys in check, or be locked out
ANNA WENNER
awenner@kansan.com
Perhaps the most exciting moment of getting your first apartment is holding the key in your hand and knowing that it opens the door to your very own home. In the beginning, it's exciting just to lock and unlock the door, but soon your key becomes an afterthought. It's not that you don't need it. On the contrary, you definitely do. It's just that the key tends to lose out to shinier, more exciting parts of apartment life.
Unfortunately, taking your key for granted can cost an exorbitant amount of time, money and embarrassment.
"The last time [I locked myself out] it was really inconvenient," said Kate Moneymaker, a graduate student from Emporia. "I had to get my extra key from my boyfriend and then go back and was almost late to class. Worse than that, the first day of freshman year I went to take a shower and got locked out. I had to go down to the desk in a towel."
Most of us, even the wisest of us, have left our key in some mysterious nook of our apartment only to find it after an extensive, time consuming search. Similarly, losing your key can result in fines to replace it. To avoid the hassle of lost keys, follow these two bits of advice.
Find your key a home
If your key is not attached to anything, it is very easy to drop it somewhere, lose it in your pocket and forget about it until you need it. It can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours of searching to find a lost key inside of your apartment, especially if you aren't sure when or where you had it last. Dropping your key somewhere can cost a lot more than time. Based on information from local apartment complexes, including Campus Court Student Apartments, the Reserve on 31st Street and Legends, replacing an apartment key in Lawrence can cost anywhere from $5 to $50.
To avoid this problem, find a place that is just inside the door where you can easily set down your keys after entering. This place can be some sort of container like a bowl or a drawer, or you can place hooks on your wall for your keys to hang on. To make the location of your keys extra memorable, put some effort into making the perfect nook. One creative idea for a key hook was posted by blogger Sam Biddle on Gizmodo.com. He suggested hanging a wide lego block on the wall, then attaching smaller legos to your key ring so that when you come inside, all you have to do is stick the legs together to hang your keys up.
Once you have a home for your keys inside the
apartment, find a way to keep track of them when you are outside of the house. One of the easiest ways to do this is to attach a large, awkward, or brightly colored key chain to your keys. This can keep your keys from getting lost in the sea of junk in a large purse or falling between the couch cushions at home. Some people even wear their keys by attaching them to lanyards or bracelets. If you have an electronic key card, place it in a wallet or wristlet with your KU ID and your driver's license so you will never leave home without the essentials. Also, many wallets and purses have key rings or clips attached to themso you don't have to dig to find your keys.
Know what to do if you are locked out
For most apartment complexes if you are locked out, it is ideal to have it happen during regular office hours. At the Reserve you can get a temporary key that will last until midnight if
Getting locked out of your apartment is one of those events in life that is only funny when it happens to someone else. Although everyone hopes it won't happen to them, every day students get locked out of their homes and have to seek help to get back in. While some apartment complexes say they have only a few lockouts each week, Trista Hageman, Senior Community Assistant at the Reserve on 31st Street, says that many tenants regularly lock themselves out of their apartments, "at least like 50 per week."
you are locked out during office hours, but after hours you have to pay a $25 fee because someone must be called to make a new card. The good news is that most student apartment complexes do have someone on call at all hours to deal with lockouts. However, apartment complexes rarely have the same system.
This is why it is important to find out what the policy is for your apartment when you first move in. If there is a number to call in case of a lockout, make sure you program it in your phone. Alternatively, Rent.com suggests that if your apartment or place of residence does not have a lockout procedure, make sure that you have the number of one person who has a key (such as the superintendent), the number for a locksmith, and the number of the police in cases of emergency. In addition, if you have or are allowed to make a spare key, leave one with a close friend or family member rather than a hiding spot. At apartments there are few places to hide a key outside, and a potential burglar will check them all.
While it's good to know all of these procedures, what's most important is doing your best not to get locked out in the first place. If you make an effort to always lock your door upon leaving, having your keys in tow will become second nature. If you continue to forget, stick a reminder, such as a post-it note, on the door at eye level With these suggestions in mind, you might never get locked out again.
am.
Hertz has designated parking spots in lots 16 and 102 on campus for its rental cars. Sturents, staff and faculty can rent a car for $8 per hour. Cars can be租为less than 15 minutes or as long as a day.
Edited by Amanda Gage
The KU Bookstore recognizes that some professors and publishing companies are pushing for ebook usage and are trying to do their best to keep up. Kyle Whitley is a supervisor in the textbooks department and said the store is adjusting to the transition to digital.
"Mostly what we are doing is providing anything the instructor adopts and working with the publisher to get that in the store," Whitley said. "We have less control over what it is — a book versus an ebook — that is all dependent on the instructor who adopts it. What we are doing is trying our best to get that product in the store at a competitive price."
STE/KANSAN in the fifth
CHRIS NEAL/KANSAN
Interested drivers register for the Hertz
partment now offers a solution for students without cars like Reames. Last month, it introduced a car sharing program that allows cars to be rented for a minimum of 15 minutes or as long as a day.
Students had been requesting the program for years, said Margretta de Vries, administrative specialist for the department.
De Vries said the car sharing program would be helpful to students, staff and faculty who struggle to arrange rides for appointments or errands and might
ignited spaces when drivers are done.
on demand program on the company's website and must provide credit card information for future rental use, although registering
IAVON SCHAKELFORD junior from Salina
come as a relief for prospective students as well.
"There are a lot of students who come from far away and only bring a car because they don't think they'll be able
to get to anything," said de Vries. Since the program started, 126 people have signed up for membership. In February, the cars
have been driven for 129 hours. The department goal is for the cars to be driven around 200 hours per month, de Vries said.
Javon Shackelford, a junior from Salina, was interested to hear that the program would be coming to the University right around the time he would need to start applying for internships.
to get to anything," said de Vries.
He tries to use the cars strategically, renting them on weekdays when the prices are lower than the standard $8 per hour. Schakelford also evaluates whether or not he really needs the car to go somewhere or if
"I use it to go to interviews in Kansas City, which has been really helpful," Shackelford said.
driving would simply be easier than walking since the rental fees can add up quickly.
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 4
"If you're not careful, you can definitely drive yourself into the poor house," Schakelford said.
Edited by Bre Roach
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 4
Don't forget
Today's Weather
Brazilian Week is going on now. Brazilian movie night is tonight at Ellsworth at 7 p.m.
all contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Mostly sunny with west-
wings up at 10-15 mph,
gusting up to 20 mph
V
'Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away
35
食