Today’s Awesome Thing:

Yes, this is what it looks like: a machine that lets you copy a key in about a minute without human intervention.  No more wandering around OSH for half an hour trying to find an employee to help me copy a key!  I found this at a local Fry’s Electronics, a few days after I’d locked myself out of my apartment.  I’ve always been fascinated by the way keys get copied, and because of the lockout, I had the perfect excuse to use it.

It’s really simple: you stick your key in a locking mechanism, insert a card to pay for the copy, and wait.  In a minute, you have a new key!  And if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can get keys with patterns on them.  I opted for the basic model, which cost about $4.  It’s sort of expensive by hardware store standards, but I considered it cheap for the convenience factor and the novelty.

The machine emailed me a receipt, and I had a new key that works perfectly in my door.  Pretty Darn Awesome!  Plus, this means that if I ever find myself wandering around outside my apartment in a pair of boxers, a t-shirt, a trench-coat, ballet flats and nothing else again, I won’t have to sit in my car for two hours waiting for MB to get home.  (At least I had a book to read while I waited!)