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APRIL 2026
AMERICAN-ALARMS.COM
(515) 266-9888
Spring in Iowa always pushes me outside. I like walking the trails or heading out by the lake and just watching everything turn from brown to green again. It’s a simple thing, but it feels like a fresh start every year. The plants get another chance, and so do we. Somewhere along the way, I started looking at American Alarms the same way. It’s not a machine that runs on its own; it’s ground I am responsible for. You pay attention to what you put in the soil, see what takes off, and pull a few weeds every once in a while so the rest can keep growing. A few years back, we noticed that some of our long-time vendors were not aligning with where we wanted to go. New products would come out, and we could tell they weren’t what our customers needed for the future. Support wasn’t great. Our technicians were spending extra time trying to make things work in the field. At some point, you either live with it or you start changing it. We chose to change it. We talked with customers about what they wanted to see next. We brought in gear from other manufacturers to try in working buildings. For a while, it just felt like digging and testing the soil. You might see a tiny sprout but not much more than that. Still, we kept going. Over about two years, we changed our main fire alarm line, access control, and camera systems. It was a lot of work, but now our people have better tools, our partners are more responsive, and our customers are set up for where the industry is heading, not where it’s been. After you change what you plant, you usually end up changing what you pull out, too. We have had to do that at American Alarms. Sometimes, it’s a product line that creates more headaches than it solves. Sometimes, it is even a customer. Not long ago, we walked away from a large account because the property became a place I didn’t feel good about sending our people to. It was not an easy decision, but I would rather lose the revenue than risk someone getting hurt on a call. Tending the Ground at American Alarms HOW WE’RE GROWING A STRONGER COMPANY
Most of the “weeding,” though, happens in smaller ways. Every week, we have leadership and departmental meetings. They only last as long as they need to, but we use that time to bring up anything that’s not working. It might be a device that takes twice as long to install as it should. It might be a process that keeps causing confusion. We look at those and fix what we can so the same problem doesn’t drag on for months. Big changes still happen once in a while, but I have learned that constant big swings usually just wear people out. At the same time, we keep planting. We are testing additional product lines to see which ones really fit our customers. We are refining how we go to market so building owners can choose us directly, rather than hoping our systems survive a lengthy bid process. We switched to a monitoring partner that runs two fully redundant call centers, one on each end of the country, because our customers deserve that level of reliability.
When I look at the company today, I like to think of it as a garden where all the plants grow well together. Our people, our customers, and our vendors all need space, light, and attention. My job is to keep tending it.
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THE GREAT PIXEL PURGE Practical Tips for Faster Devices
We’ve gathered a group of friends for an all-important selfie that turns into a series of five blurry photos followed by the perfect one. You’ve captured the moment beautifully, but what about all those bad takes? Well, if they’re still sitting in your phone six months (or two years) later, it’s time to do some long-overdue digital housekeeping. Whether your smartphone is in desperate need of space or your laptop is taking forever to load, here are some helpful tips for freeing your most-used devices of unnecessary clutter. Commit to cyber cleaning. Here’s the most significant reason why our digital devices fill up so quickly: For as much as we use them, they’re among the least critical things in our daily lives. Sure, we depend on them for virtually everything, but how often do we skip past the mounds of spam in our inbox to get to a new email that actually matters? But just like our cars, our computers and phones can break down if we don’t perform routine maintenance. Set a date each month to delete unneeded emails, photos, and apps that could be clogging your device’s functionality. Do you really need that massive entertainment app you haven’t touched in months? If you commit to reviewing the contents of your phone or computer on a set day and time (and stick to it), you may
be surprised to see how quickly junk accumulates … and how much of it you can remove without even noticing a difference. If
you’re worried about losing something valuable you may need later, consider investing in an external hard drive for secure storage and quick retrieval. Redecorate your desktop.
If your laptop screen resembles an icon explosion, take a moment to organize your necessary files into individual folders (“Photos,” “Tax Documents,” “Work Stuff,” etc.). Regularly going through this process will help you better identify duplicate files. Stick with it, and you’ll soon reach a point where your computer home screen is aesthetically pleasing and less like a room full of six months’ worth of unfolded laundry. With a few new habits and a little consistency, a tech reset can turn chaos into clarity.
Taming Those Late-Night Alarm Calls SMALL FIXES THAT SAVE BIG HEADACHES
If you manage a building long enough, you eventually get a 2 a.m. call. The phone rings, you wake up confused, and someone from the alarm monitoring center starts talking about a trouble signal or a low battery. By the time you sort out that there is no fire or water running through sprinkler pipes, you are wide awake and frustrated. If a call like this is rare, it’s usually just a nuisance. But when they begin happening more often, you are probably going to start ignoring those calls. That’s a problem because it puts your building and anyone inside at risk. On the fire alarm side, we see a few common causes for these alarms. Sometimes, it’s environmental. Condensation can collect in detectors, or small insects can get inside. Dust and fumes from certain manufacturing processes can also cause issues, especially in places that aren’t cleaned often enough.
Neglect makes all of that worse. Heat and smoke detectors that haven’t been tested or regularly checked usually accumulate dirt, bugs, and other debris that clog sensors.
sneak inside. Even a ceiling decoration can trigger an alarm if it starts to sway when the furnace kicks on. Systems that were never set up quite right or that no one has looked at in years tend to cause the most issues. If you are getting a lot of nuisance calls, you can do a couple of things. First, you can have the monitoring center hold calls until business hours for signals that are really just maintenance issues, like low batteries and certain trouble alerts. They will still treat an actual fire or burglar alarm as urgent and call right away. Second, make sure the system gets regular attention. Fire alarms are required by code to be tested at least once a year, and all systems benefit from a periodic checkup. By taking care of a few details during the day, you’ll have a working system that’s far less likely to wake you up for the wrong reasons at night.
On the security side, the usual suspects look a little different. A loose door or window with a sensor on it can move just enough in a storm to trip the alarm. Motion detectors can pick up pets and critters that
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Buds Conservation Diamond Easter Lily Planting Refund Regrowth
Shower Sweets Taxes Volunteer
A lot of building managers end up with a drawer full of keys, a box of fobs, and a handful of garage clickers that no one can quite account for. Every move-in, move-out, or staff change adds another layer to that pile. At some point, managing who can get through each door starts to feel like its own part-time job. Traditional tools don’t make it easy. Hard keys get copied and never turned in. PIN codes get passed around, and after a while, you have no idea who knows what. I have seen big downtown properties with 30 or 40 individual garage door remotes to track, charge, and replace. Even in smaller buildings, property managers and owners end up spending a lot of time just trying to keep up with who has access. That is one reason we have leaned so hard into modern access control and cloud-based management. Instead of a big box of plastic cards and fobs, we can issue mobile passes that live on a smart device people already carry every day. With those, there’s no extra gadget to keep track of. The pass can sit in a simple app, or Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and your phone becomes your key. Most people aren’t going to hand their phone to someone else the way they might loan out a hard key, so it cuts down on sharing, too. On the back end, it is much easier to stay organized. If a tenant moves out or an employee leaves, you can suspend their pass right away, without trying to chase down a card or fob. The same cloud platform works for one door or hundreds of doors, so it fits small retail spaces, apartment buildings, and even places like salons where each person has their own suite. Since it was built from the start with cybersecurity in mind, it also gives owners some peace of mind. When we work with building owners and managers, our goal is simple. We want to make it easy for you to give the right people access and keep the key drawer from taking over your life. Reach out to us to learn more about simplifying access control in your building. TAMING KEYS IN A BUSY BUILDING MODERN ACCESS CONTROL WITHOUT EXTRA HASSLE
Crab Rangoon Mac and Cheese • 1/2 lb elbow pasta • 8 oz Jack cheese, grated • 8 oz cream cheese • 1 bunch scallions, chopped • 1/2 cup pickled jalapeños, chopped (optional) • 2 tbsp soy sauce • 1/4 cup milk • 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes • 1/2 lb lump crab • 12 wonton wrappers INGREDIENTS
1. Bring water to a boil for the pasta and preheat the oven to 350 F. 2. Drop pasta into boiling water. 3. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except pasta and wonton wrappers; stir well. 4. Just before the pasta is ready, add about 1/2 cup of pasta water to the cheese mixture; stir well. 5. Strain pasta and add to cheese mixture. Stir, then place it in a baking dish or individual ramekins. 6. Bake for 25–30 minutes until bubbly and creamy. 7. While baking, cut wontons into triangles and fry batches in oil until crispy. 8. Drain wontons and season with salt. 9. Serve pasta with the crispy wonton wrappers. DIRECTIONS
Inspired by TheFoodInMyBeard.com
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Complete Fire Alarm and Security Service In Iowa And The Midwest, By A Local Veteran-Owned Company American-Alarms.com (515) 266-9888
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
1659 E Euclid Ave, Ste. B Des Moines, Iowa 50313
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1. Spring Lessons in Growth and Renewal 2. Time for a Tech Reset 2. When False Alarms Become a Problem 3. A Simpler Way to Control Every Door 3. Crab Rangoon Mac and Cheese 4. The Science of Sunlight and Smiles
Radiance and Resilience The Sun’s Motivating Effect on Mood
If you’re feeling more mentally clear and optimistic this month than you have at previous times so far this year, the sun above you may have a lot to do with it. Scientists have long acknowledged the connection between natural light and positive mental health. However, studies have only recently uncovered the exact extent of this partnership’s impact on our overall well-being. Landmark research published in 2023 examined the effects of low light on 787 operating-room nurses in Shandong, China, who typically worked lengthy shifts in high-stress environments without regular access to natural light. The results showed an association between lower sunlight exposure and poorer self-reported mental health. Here are five other interesting facts and findings about sunlight exposure and our health: • Research shows that light therapy may provide benefits to individuals experiencing nonseasonal depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
• A study of hospitalized patients with mental health disorders found that those who had stayed in a room with better sunlight generally experienced shorter hospital stays. • A study in Taiwan suggested that moderate levels of ultraviolet sun rays may have contributed to lower symptoms of depression. • Additional research suggests that rates of self-reported suicidal thoughts were lower in areas where residents experienced higher and longer sunlight exposure. • Sunlight positively affects our circadian rhythms, helping reduce fatigue during time changes. The final takeaway? If you’re feeling down, spend time in the sun. Depending on your particular medical circumstances, you may be surprised by how readily nature provides us with ways to heal our minds.
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