Freeze!

I tripped the alarm to my office building when I arrived for work early Tuesday morning.

My work site is on a busy thoroughfare near the Beverly Center, not far from the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station. As the ear-piercing "WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!" wailed over the din of traffic, I bolted to my desk and waited for squad cars to arrive and for the S.W.A.T. team to circle the building.

I expected to be dragged away in handcuffs, all because the code to override the alarm had been changed, and no one had given me the head's up. I wondered how I would respond when the officers read my Miranda rights —particularly the one that goes, "You have the right to remain silent."

The alarm was still WHOOP!ing 20 minutes later and still no one had arrived. Eventually the damn thing shut up and I was able to get some work done. Later in the day, I got the memo that revealed the new code to override the alarm, so it probably will be a long time before I experience that much excitement at the outset of the workday.

Still trying to figure out if I am truly disabled or if this speechlessness is just my way of exercising my Miranda rights.