It’s that time of year again, and the snow is beginning to fly. Dreams of pristine and untouched vertical powder runs begin to fill my mind. The change in seasons always stimulates me. To kill the seemingly endless time between the 1st snow and opening day, I have no choice but give in to an overwhelming urge to start planning an annual ski pilgrimage to some remote and magnificent location.

Like an avalanche, my urges are somewhat unpredictable and once they start, they are always unstoppable. Last year it was the wilds of Wyoming’s Grand Teton Mountains. This year, the ranges of southern Colorado might just do the trick. I love living in the intermountain west.

You might be asking yourself, what does all of this have to do with security systems? To put it simply, I can go skiing for a week without worry because I enjoy the piece of mind and freedom that my security systems provide.

I am confident and assured because I know that my security systems are on-guard and I am free to go on vacation completely liberated from the anxiety or worry. I appreciate the fact that my office and its contents are safe from intrusions and I am comforted to know that I can use my laptop computer to check in on my employees or my home from just about anywhere on the planet.

I tell you, living the connected life in 2006 is pretty darn cool. I can arm or disarm my home alarm from anywhere. If I am out of town and my kids are not home on time, my security system will call me to alert me that they are late. Our teenage children wouldn’t exactly throw a wild party knowing that we could be watching them on live cameras from our hotel room.

My home security system evens allows me to turn on or off lights and appliances through a telephone interface. Last year on my way back from Wyoming, I called the house and turned on the Jacuzzi so that it was all toasty and warmed up when we arrived. Pretty nice after a week of hard skiing and a long 6 hour drive.

As for my business; since I have a comprehensive security system at the office I don’t need to worry that a preoccupied employee hurriedly planning his Friday night, is going to walk away and leave the security system un-armed. It automatically arms itself.

Wondering if that large shipment arrived in time to restock your inventory? Got that covered with the warehouse camera. Concerned if the sidewalks got cleared after the last big snow? Call up the outside pan tilt camera and have a look. Want to know if you employees arrived on time or left early. It is as simple as checking the entry logs from the access control system.

After reading this, you probably think that I have some enormous state of the art security system that costs tens of thousands of dollars. The truth is that every one of the features I described is available as a low cost option on just about every security system offered on the market.

Security systems these days are extremely sophisticated, yet simple to use. Although the basic features of modern security alarm systems meet most people’s needs, there are some simple options and upgrades that can make your system really cool and much more useful than a simple burglar alarm.

Many of these advanced features are built right into the control panel and only require some programming changes to enable them. Other options might require the addition of some hardware, software, wiring, relays or even an increase in your monthly monitoring fees.

The great Benjamin Franklin once said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of”. It seems that the closer we get to the end of this race we call life, time becomes increasingly valuable. If you are like me, somewhere in the middle of the race with very little free time, you probably don’t want to spend your vacation time worrying about things at home or in the office. Especially if you would rather be dreaming of first tracks……..

Roy Stephenson is a Security Consultant with over 21 Years Experience Designing and Installing High End Integrated Security Systems. He is currently the VP of Marketing at http://www.Security-Kits.Com

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