All effing burglars must effing DIE, DIE, DIE!

@ruouttaurmind Dude!!! That’s some serious insult to injury.
Hopefully, your PD will be more responsive than ours. My friend had his iPad and Macbook stolen from his car while he was checking in on his premie son in Neonatal ICU.
He located his iPad, but Seattle PD wouldn’t move on it. His livelihood is tech support and selling Mac apps online. A likewise double whammy.

Best of luck on recovering your gear.

@Sisyphean No doubt the theft sucked, but I’m hoping everything worked out good for his son?

@ruouttaurmind Thanks for asking. Their son spent almost a year in a NICU, before moving to an intermediate care unit at another facility. This left him being used to a feeding tube, so he didn’t actually eat for 4 years - the last year of this he’d accept food in his mouth but didn’t know what to do with it. Across the 5 years of his life, he is prone to respiratory infections which often require hospitalizations.
Through all of this, he’s an amazingly happy and active kid.
I’ll have to scroll down to see the outcome of your event.

@PlacidPenguin Yup. Find my iPhone will locate my iPad… if it’s connected to Wifi somewhere. The very first thing I tried… but realized no burglar is going to connect the two iPads to the interwebs for my convenience of finding the thieving bastards.

@therealjrn Thanks. Ya, my roomie is already setting up Craig’s List and Let it go searches for the stuff. I don’t have a SN for my iPad, but with the iCloud security system, at least nobody else is going to be able to use it for anything more than parts. I think maybe I can get the serial number from Apple iCloud, but not sure.

Once my brain settles in I’m going to script some automated Craig’s Backpage and eBay searches looking for the stuff.

@ruouttaurmind
Notify the police, your items may show up in pawn shops.

@f00l I called the police to the house. They checked for finger prints, did a cursory investigation, then gave me a form to fill out to list my losses with serial numbers. Once I submit that they will have their pawn shop group list the items in the database which gets verified against pawn shop transactions (a state law). My best bet will be if the stuff gets pawned. I’ll get it back. The pawn shop will be out of luck (probably insured for this though).

Police suggest watching Craig’s List, LetItGo, Backpage, etc, then calling them if anything shows up.

@ruouttaurmind If you have iCloud stuff, is there any chance the video was synced?
(not apple guy but hoping this helps)

@caffeine_dude No, but that would be a pretty cool feature. Have the iPad work sort of like a car dash cam… take snapshots every few seconds and upload them to iCloud, then start overwriting the oldest ones once it reaches whatever the threshold is determined to be. 100 photos, 100MB, 1GB, whatever. Then at least I’d have photos of whoever had it in their possession when it was taken out of range of wifi.

@f00l I thought nothing of it, but there was a empty car parked across the street from my house for the last couple of days. My neighbor said he actually saw someone sitting in the car this morning when he left for work at 6am. by 7:45am when I left for work, I didn’t notice anyone in the car, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there… I was just focusing on my commute. This afternoon when I discovered the burglary, the mystery car was gone. Very likely a coincidence… but also a strong possibility they were just waiting for me to leave for work.

I’m obsessive about keeping original product boxes (which often have the SN on the box), so I was able to quickly locate the SN on a handful of more expensive items. Since the iPad Pro was purchased used, I didn’t have the box and serial number for it. But I’m hopeful I’ll be able to retrieve that from Apple once I chill my jets for a bit.

@ruouttaurmind if you log into icloud.com and check your devices under “icloud settings” (click your name/username/friendly name in the upper right corner of the webpage) it will give you the last 5 alphanumerics of the serial number, should be plenty of proof in the case of it being recovered.

@thismyusername Thanks! I just discovered that early this morning. I was hoping to have the full SN so the police could enter it into their stolen goods tracking database, but Apple refused to provide the full SN.

The stolen iPads are a two sided coin. On one hand, it’s good to know whoever stole them won’t be able to use them, or access my, and my roommate’s personal information. On the other hand, because they can’t use them, the best they can hope for is to sell them for a coupe hundred dollars in parts, and I’ll be making payments on mine for the next six months.

@thismyusername For posterity… turns out if you login to id.apple.com you can retrieve the full serial number of Apple devices associated with your AppleID! I was able to get my full serial number and IMEI for the iPad Pro, and since I sold the iPad Air to my roommate, I was even able to retrieve that full serial number!

@mellain, uh… if you know who did it, go to the police?

@haydesigner I did. They can’t do anything. They had my key. I thought they were friends. It was a husband and wife. My kids went to pre school together. I gave him the key to my house when I had back surgery and was gone for 2 weeks.

@mellaine Are you describing having children? Because it sounds like you are describing having children.

You story sounds… challenging. I don’t understand it.

@mellaine I’m so sorry. I know how I feel right now… helpless, angry, worried, confused… I can only guess how you must feel after going through this for months.

I wish I could offer more than my sympathy…

@G1 I have 2 children who went to pre-school with the robbers kids about 12 years ago I thought the parents were my friends. My story is very confusing. I just want to catch them stealing and put them in jail.

@haydesigner thanks. I did not know that.

@mellaine I could write a book on how awful this has been. They pretended it was a ghost. Moved paintings crooked put hand prints with powder around my house to make me look crazy. So so much. I feel bad for my kids seeing me in tears everyday. I don’t know how they hacked my cameras. I found photos on my phone they somehow got through the wifi. All my passwords were stolen.

@haydesigner About a year ago I was able to successfully collect on a credit card insurance claim. The item was damaged catastrophically within a few days of purchasing it on my Discover credit card. Within about 10 days I had a check for the full purchase price of my item.

Unfortunately the iPad Pro was purchased from eBay, paid for with PayPal Credit. I don’t think they offer any such coverage. I haven’t even made the first payment on the silly thing yet! I’ll be paying for six months on an iPad I got to use for 8 days. It’s maddening. Worse still, the iPad Air i replaced with the Pro was sold to my roommate, who hasn’t paid for it yet. He’s assured me it was HIS loss, not mine and he still plans to pay for it. I’m conflicted about letting him pay for it. I have no theft coverage, so I won’t recover a dime of any of the losses, but somehow it doesn’t seem fair to take his money for something he only had for less than a week.

@ruouttaurmind that freshly sold iPad Air thing is a challenge. Not sure what I’d do - do you stop the shit from rolling down hill (and add more shit to your pile) or not?

@ruouttaurmind keep checking your find my I thing I had someone steal my phone and his dumbass started using it

@djslack I am going to try. Trying for jail. He was remodeling my bathroom for 6 months. I could not walk because of my back that is when he started. In my basement and loaded his dumpster with everything in my basement. He knew I did not go in the basement.

@djslack Only one 2nd amend item stolen from me, thankfully (in a locked closet, but no room in the safe). My roommate had three stolen, including a very, very costly custom AK. I can’t imagine why he doesn’t have a safe to lock that stuff up.

If I had a choice between getting all my stuff back, and sending the perps to prison for five or ten years… I’d gleefully go about the process of replacing my stuff, thrilled in the knowledge that justice has been done and the perpetrators were suffering every single day. Of course… that’s very uncommon in burglaries in a large metropolitan city.

Right now I’m struggling with the emotional side of the experience. I’m afraid to go to work tomorrow knowing someone has been in here and they are well aware of what they left behind, plus I’m sure a strong suspicion of what they can find if the look/try harder (based on the stuff they got today).

@ruouttaurmind I just got a alarm. That stopped them. If you call around you might be able to find someone to put it in tomorrow it will be worth the peace of mind. Sorry to include my awful experience I hope you catch them.

@mellaine Thank you. Of course my experience doesn’t compare to yours, but know my thoughts are with you. I hope you’ve put an end to your ordeal!

@ruouttaurmind for relatively short money products like these are available: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simple-Home-Smart-Door-Window-Sensor-XHS7-1003/206890580

If someone opens a door or window during an odd hour that nobody should be home you can call roommate, if it isn’t him you might be able to get the cops to send a patrol by, who knows you might nab the bastards.

@jbartus Interesting. I’m going to look into that Smart Home system universe and see what they offer. I kinda like the idea of being able to go down to the corner Home Depot to exchange a defective component, or to add additional capability to the system.

Thanks for the tip!

@ruouttaurmind Sorry to read about your horror! Fuck those bastards!

I just got into the Home Depot world. You can return anything within a year, no questions asked, if you use a Home Depot card.

@ruouttaurmind if you do not want to go the wifi route, I got a alarm system from live watch. It was $129 with 10 door sensors. They gave me a motion detector to try for free. You can also connect it to your wifi if you choose. It is the same type of sensors hime depot sells plus you get a base. I hope they all go to hell and die.

@G1 I am dead end and my neighbor is never home.

@G1 Similar to @mellanie, I live in a working class neighborhood. I’d say 90% of the neighbors (including all my close neighbors) work daytime hours. I checked with everyone close, hoping maybe someone has a surveillance camera system that might have seen something… but no soap.

@RedOak Thanks. I replied to @G1 above… I checked with my immediate neighbors. No luck there. Great suggestion in this day and age though. I actually HAD a camera system installed. They tracked the wires and nabbed the DVR! They also disabled my DSL line by yanking the cabled out of the back of the router.

@ruouttaurmind i just found out about the cameras you put in trees for deer hunting. That might work

@mellaine Not a bad suggestion, actually. Walmart carries them, and there is a 24 hour Walmart down the street. I’ll consider picking up a couple of them tonight so at least I might find piece of mind enough to go to work in the morning.

@ruouttaurmind sounds like they had more than half a brain. Perhaps not drug addicts. Might indicate they’ll also not be stupid about fencing goods in an easy to track way.

(Sorry if I’ve missed other info commented above.)

Are you in a fairly high density area? And does it appear others were not broken into? That might hint it was someone who already knew a lot about your place.

Not that it helps history, but back when I was renting, I recall renters insurance being fairly cheap. The insurance company doesn’t have to cover the building or basic liability.

@RedOak I’m in the suburbs of a very large metropolitan city. I asked the police about other burglaries, but their response was “we have taken a dozen other reports this week… that’s very typical”. The local police publish a statistic indicating they take about 35,000 burglary reports each year. Based on that, and the population density, it’ll be hard to establish any kind of suspicions in my case.

@ruouttaurmind since this is a repeat experience (wow that truly sucks!) in addition to grabbing some renters insurance, when you get a new security camera system, consider having it email you photos when it senses motion (hopefully the dogs don’t trigger it). High resolution cameras preferred.

I’d also immediately print up some professional-looking signs to post at bottom of outside doors (print on yellow paper if you really want them to stand out). Saying something like:

“Property monitored by cellular-backup, internet connected, offsite stored video security.”

And install dummy camera domes at the front and back of the house if you’re not going to put real ones there.

Won’t stop idiots and drug addicts but the idea is to get them to target someone else.

Takes guts to rob a place with dogs. Our dog barks up a storm even when the mail gets delivered.

@RedOak I actually own the house, but opted out of theft coverage based on the giant deductibles and huge premiums in my city. I’ve been burglarized three times, and three times from my vehicles in the driveway, and I’m still ahead of the game when I compare my losses to the savings on my insurance premiums.

As far as the dogs… I’m pretty sure the little one kept trying to play ball with the burglar, and the big one… well, she’s my watch dog… not because she protects the house, but because she always knows when it suppertime.

@ruouttaurmind Aha, I must be mixing your situation up with the other theft victim above. (Renter)

burglarized three times, and three times from my vehicles in the driveway

So six times? Wow again! We also live in a suburb of a large metro area (26 years) where the core city has very high theft rates. The closest we’ve had was an attempt to break into our Routan parked in the driveway (had the same high theft rate nav unit as Chrysler). They threw a rock at the side window several times, and it rolled around the A-pillar, gouging both the A-pillar and windshield. Didn’t get in but did $1,800 damage to the van!

1. Your neighborhood (or house) must have high theft rates. Can’t imagine how the premiums to add theft vs. basic coverage are so high that you came out ahead. (I do agree it doesn’t make sense to insure something you can afford to replace.)
2. Might be time to move.

I believe homeowners insurance claims get tagged to the house, not just the homeowner. So the insurance premium rate for two identical homes next to each other can be very different. We learned it is important to have your insurance agent check the insurance industry clearing house early in the process once you’ve found a home you like.

@RedOak Yup, six times! I’d rather have people say “there goes that guy who won the lottery six times” though.

It’s so infuriating when thieves do so much more damage TRYING to steal something than the value of the item the actually get (or don’t get). One of my incidents in the driveway was a smashed car window in an attempt to steal the factory radio from my Dodge Neon. It was a base model Neon and didn’t even have a CD player! LMAO! They bent the A pillar and window frame, broke the window, shattered the trim around the radio and broke the dashboard in half trying to pry it out. Since they didn’t get the radio they grabbed anything else that was loose in the car… cheap sunglasses, a $5 phone charger, a $3 plastic flashlight, etc. Total property loss was about $30. Total property damage was about $600. Even if they HAD gotten the radio… maybe $50 value there??

You are correct in the assumption I live in a high theft area. My state overall has a high theft rate, but in particular, my city. I live in Arizona and there is a very high volume of undocumented traffic between Mexico and the rest of the US. We are sort of the last stop on the Mexican underground railroad I guess you could say. I am in no way suggesting “all illegals are thieves”. What I am suggesting is the ease with which goods, vehicles and firearms can be taken from Arizona back into Mexico where it’s origin is generally unquestioned. Goods get sold in gray market to unsuspecting Mexican consumers, vehicles get new identities or are sold, along with the firearms, to the cartels in northern Mexico, and the burglary network thrives.

Your second point about moving may have some merit. Although if I choose to say in this city I won’t be able to escape the looming threat of theft, I now live in a corner house (on the intersection of two streets) which is many times more likely to be burglarized than a non-corner house. I believe much of my “luck” in being burglarized/vandalized is directly attributable to my convenient corner location. Although it’s a residential neighborhood with relatively low traffic, the street that borders the side of my lot is a primary feeder route for this neighborhood. Except for the persistent theft, I love my neighborhood. But it may be time to consider moving to a house with neighbors on both sides and behind.

Regarding insurance… full disclosure: I actually cancelled my homeowners policy several years ago and have not carried any coverage since. It’s a calculated risk to be sure. Shortly after I purchased the house I had a pipe rupture in the ceiling (reference “PB plumbing lawsuit”) which caused significant damage to the house. My insurance company (Nationwide) rejected the claim based on some bit of legalese that appeared on page 248, section 5, subpara 36, item 9 about “inadequate construction and materials” or some such thing. They rejected my claim and explained “since PB plumbing has been found in federal court to be in appropriate or inadequate for it’s installed purpose, the plumbing installer and material manufacturer is liable”. They recommended I sue the home builder and plumbing manufacturer. Of course they tagged my claim in the database of reasons to charge higher premiums and raised my rates.

Fast forward a few years. New insurance company. I obviously fired Nationwide and switched to Farmers. Though I still had the priveledge of paying higher rates because of the PB pumbing incident with Nationwide, I was committed to not giving Nationwide another dime of my hard earned money. 75 foot Eucalyptus tree in my back yard. Arizona monsoon season, lots of rain, ground gets saturated, just the right amount of wind comes along and blows the tree onto the house, smashing through a skylight, knocking the A/C unit off it’s mounting and damaging the roof.

Claim denied. Act of nature, flood, whatever. I tried to break up with Farmers and start dating other insurance companies, but because of the PB incident with Nationwide, and now the tree in my roof incident with Farmers, my annual premiums were going to jump by nearly double.

I fired Farmers and have not carried homeowners coverage since. Yes, it’s a calculated risk. No, I do not intend to do this forever. In fact, this may be the straw… it’s time at least to shop out policies. Possibly the black cloud in the insurance risk database has subsided a bit. If I calculate all the premium cost I’ve saved, and subtract my losses (not counting the early denied claims of course) I’d say I’m still a little ahead of the game. Of course a fire would change that assessment pretty quickly.

@ruouttaurmind
If you are serious about moving to a less obvious thief-target house, your insurance rates may subside to something rational.

I pretty much hate insurance cos tho.

@f00l I guess property and auto insurance is one of those shared sacrifice deals I heard about from that “Hope and Change” guy. The many pay in so that when the few need BIG help it’s there. With homeowners coverage I weigh my risk. With Auto… there’s just too many possible pitfalls NOT to have it.

@f00l
Doesn’t the mortgage co require it?

consider having it email you photos when it senses motion (hopefully the dogs don’t trigger it). High resolution cameras preferred.

@RedOak Wonder if meh has any more of those cheap-o Foscams? I haven’t set it up, but they’ll apparently email via gmail (at least; there are a few other options). Actually had mine on with a remote Mac saving screenshots of it every two seconds during the hurricane while we were gone. Better than nothing.

(Actually the Foscam would crap out every so often, and I’d have to “refresh video” to get it back. Tempted by these sorts of stories to grab a Nest cam, not that they necessarily get you a conviction any faster…)

@ruouttaurmind Ugh, maybe get bars and security doors? Big investment, might be worth it. Is your house much nicer looking than the others in the neighborhood? What is attracting these clowns?

@givemeyoursoul Actually I just replied in the thread below… I HATE bars, but yes, I think it’s time to go that route.

It’s a reasonably nice neighborhood. Modestly upper-middle working class. Mine is probably one of the LEAST attractive in the neighborhood. LOL! But my house is on a corner. Easy access to the back yard from the side street. Hop over a block wall and you’ve got relative privacy from prying eyes. Plenty of time to break in. Also, there’s tons of foot traffic to a high school half a mile away and a middle school/junior high 3/4 mile away. If I had to guess… I’d guess that perfect storm.

@f00l I was very fortunate through the 90’s. I started a business in 1989 that did reasonably well through the 90’s. I worked so much I never had time to spend money, so i bought a house on a short note and paid it off in relatively short order. I’ve faced some difficult times since then, but I’ve stood firm on my resolve to never pay a home note again and rejected any idea that involved borrowing against my house.

@stinks I’m going to try one of those Ring video doorbell systems. I’ve heard they are much more reliable than the Foscam and similar. I’ll be installing it tomorrow. I wasn’t loving it at first, but after reading through the Ring website and watching some of their customer videos, I’m kind of looking forward to it now. The system alerts to motion, or to a press of the doorbell, then permits two-way conversation with whoever is at the door.

If the doorbell works well, they also offer very expensive, but highly rated wifi cameras as well. I had a couple of Foscam products, but they require too much maintenance… constantly dropping off wifi and needing to be completely reset before they’d rejoin.

@ruouttaurmind I think I saw those Ring video doorbell models just show up at our local Costco for $189. It did look very interesting.

@ruouttaurmind RE homeowners insurance and no mortgage…

None of us envy your security issues but we sure do envy the lack of a mortgage if we’re homeowners! Count your blessings. And that you and your dogs are safe!

The challenge of expensive insurance rates vs a very expensive item to be protected is a conundrum. If the rates are just plain unaffordable it is a monster.

We don’t insure anything we can afford to replace unless for some odd reason the insurance cost is inexplicitly cheap relative to the likihood of an event (It can happen with appliance extended warranties).

For a home tho - that’s a big piece of pie. What if rather than a tree falling on it, a fire takes the entire place down? I suppose you’ve concluded you’d simply rent or start over?

Having already started your own business, you have a higher than average tolerance for risk.

I suppose we should cherish our somewhat reasonable $750/yr insurance rate.

@ruouttaurmind I am glad they did not hurt your dogs.

@ruouttaurmind too bad you can’t have a guard dog with your sweet friendly dogs. I have sweet dogs that love people. Too bad you could not have put a sleeping pill in the beer they drank and found them knocked out when you got home.

@ruouttaurmind they have a bunch of cheap camera systems at tiger direct that have cloud backup

@Kidsandliz agreed - the invasion is almost as bad.

I recall the first time one of our credit cards was stolen - way back when they mailed them already activated. $3,800 in purchases.

We felt so invaded that we plotted all the purchase locations on a map. The locations and times/dates looked like a commute map back and forth between a neighborhood and the US Post Office!

Now - in spite of being cautious and dedicating one card to online purchases - it seems we have fraud on one or two cards per year. The experience has become routine and numb - inconvenience of being without that card for 2-5 days.

@daveinwarsh See, stuff like that just creeps me out. Like going through my house last night surveying damage and listing missing items… I realized whoever was in my house was IN my house. EVERYWHERE in my house. They took beer from the fridge, they pulled my sheets from my bed and even poked around under the mattress and rifled through the pockets in my coats in the closet. It’s just creepy.

Took all I had to force myself to leave the house this morning to come to work. Whoever was in there knows what my schedule is, knows what I have and knows what they left behind that’s still worth stealing.

@ruouttaurmind Pockets of your clothes??? OMG. Glad they didn’t take a knife to your mattress and pillows. Hope it was just your outdoor coats and not everything like suit jackets. I’d almost be tempted to leave disgusting things in my pockets in the future when I left the house just for the thief. Not to scare you but I have read that occasionally a few robbers wait until you have replaced everything and then come back so you might want beef up security for not just for your current mental health but for that reason too.

Also since you own the home they make drawers that go where the floorboard kick space that is under kitchen and bathroom cabinets that usually no one realizes are drawers. That would perhaps give a sort of “safer” hiding place for some stuff.

@Kidsandliz HA! I never thought of that. That would be hi-freakin’-larious! Stick a hand in a pocket looking for goodies and pull out goo.

I’ve been contemplating the best option for making the house more secure. Both from a monitoring perspective as well as deterrents to entry. I absolutely HATE barred windows, but I may have to acquiesce and put bars over the windows. I guess I’d rather look through this every day than to experience the feeling of violation and loss I have right now:

My back door is a sliding glass door… notoriously difficult to secure. I’m thinking I’ll wind up with a steel security door on the side that opens, and a non-swinging panel over the side with the fixed glass. Maybe something like this, but in a more neutral color:

I’m hoping if I do enough to deter entry, I can still live a reasonably normal lifestyle inside my home without feeling like I have to lock everything in a safe before I leave the house every day.

Tomorrow I’ll be taking the first step by installing a Ring video doorbell system. I’ll spend the weekend shopping out steel security doors and <shudder> bars for the windows. Next step is probably a monitored security system like SimpliSafe or similar self monitored system. I’ve already ordered a refurbished DVR for my Samsung video surveillance system to replace the one that was stolen, so I’ll also have that back online this week, and I’m looking into cloud storage options for the video feed, and I will break out the welder this weekend and build some kind of cage to secure the DVR from theft this time.

Piece of mind is very important right now… the feeling that I’m actually doing something constructive to avoid this situation in the future. But also, as you say, a sense of security must go hand-in-hand with ACTUAL security to ensure it truly WON’T happen again. This house doesn’t have to be an impenetrable fortress, it only has to be sufficiently secure that it’ll be easier for criminals to move on to an easier target.

@ruouttaurmind

break out the welder this weekend and build some kind of cage to secure the DVR from theft this time

Haha! That sounds like something I’d attempt. Amazing what you can do with a welder. MIG or plain stick… or the good ol warm and fuzzy oxy-acetylene?

@Kidsandliz @ruouttaurmind I might have seen this in one of those old time b&w comedy shorts but you can always put a mouse trap in a few pockets!

@ruouttaurmind

Have you considered “upgrading” (not sure that is the right word) your dogs to a Doberman or German Shepherd model? (More politically correct than the dogs that have a fighting reputation like PB and Rottweiler. )

That alone + a carefully placed sign for daylight attempts might do the job.

@RedOak I just have a little Lincoln 120v MIG, but it’s well suited for this task I’m sure. I used it to build the chassis for my 1923 Ford roadster and it did quite well with the .125" rect tubing I used for that. I’ll probably use something a bit thinner for this task.

@fjp999 Mousetraps! That’d be way too funny!

Of course, I’d forget, and the first time I threw on my winter coat I’d stick my hand in the pocket and get a fistfull of broken knuckles. LOL!

@RedOak The funny thing about the current dogs… they are very protective of the property when I’m home. If someone so much as walks the sidewalk in front of the house they’re on alert and barking their heads off.

I’ve seen Miss Belle (a 65 pound Lab) do some pretty fierce snarling and barking when someone comes to the front door. And little Zoe Monster (a 5 pound Papillon mix) acts like she’s a 80 pound Rott. She’s always the first one into the charge when someone comes to the door. I’m flummoxxed at why they didn’t persuade the intruder(s) to select a different target.

@ruouttaurmind so your dogs are doing what wonderful dogs do - protecting their family. Those other two breeds can be trained to be good friends and protect property as well.

@ruouttaurmind wow - that’s a beautiful project car, beautifully executed!

I learned to weld from my grandfather (maintained those huge mining trucks) and uncle (a master self-sufficient fabricator) several decades ago using oxy-acetylene. Back then only dirty no-shielding gas electric stick was an option for non-industrial use. Getting the proper feel to drag a steady arc was a challenge for me.

Getting back into it to do some prototyping and sculpture. Have the oxy-acetylene setup because that is what my muscle memory knows.

Have been eyeing that new dual voltage Miller 214(?) MIG welder. Have an artist friend who does commissions around the country and happens to prefer Miller. But I’ve heard they’re both fine.

@RedOak Thank you! It’s been a project in the making for over 10 years now. Not much progress since those pics. I’ve got the body (fiberglass) all reinforced and a floor installed and glassed in, but no seating structure built yet. I have a crate engine in the garage, and a rebuilt trans there, so I’ve got all the really spendy parts taken care of. Now it’s all the small, annoying projects like running electrical and plumbing brake and trans cooler lines.

I first learned to weld on an old stick from my step dad. He was big into dirt track stock car racing back in the 60’s and 70’s. Back then the bodies were all steel and it was common (expected?) to bump and grind around the track. Every Saturday night was racing, every Sunday morning was welding up the broken bits and getting ready for the next weekend.

I started MIG with one of those silly little $80 Harbor Freight wire feed jobbers. I noticed immediately how, even as crappy as it welded, it was so much more controllable than a stick. It didn’t take me long to move on from that to a name brand MIG, recognizing my power flow would be much more stable with better quality internals. And I was right. Immediately I was laying beads like a real welder, and after a few months I could knock out some seams that a pro would be proud of. I’d like to take credit, but the truth is the equipment does all the hard work and requires only a little skill on my part. With a stick you really have to be into the weld. Just about anyone can lay a decent bead with the MIG. I even had my exes 10 year old son doing some decent work on his first day.

@RedOak Agree with @RedOak. When you are home, you are their pack, and they will protect you and the home. When you’re not there, it’s just a building. Burglars are aware of the difference between companion dogs and property guard dogs.

@OldCatLady I say if the burglars are smart enough to figure that out, they’re surely smart enough to get a job and buy their OWN iPad!

@ruouttaurmind fiberglass work? I’ve done just a very little bit of it - enough to learn that is one messy process! That project has to be a labor of love!

I went to a pro dirt track race (including open wheelers) with a racing nut friend about 10 years ago. 1st thing that stuck me - the highly built track was located out in the middle of nowhere in some corn fields. 2nd thing - the number of hard core fans for that racing style. 3rd thing - bring full face shield (sunglasses not enough) for the sand blasting your face will endure.

Yah, same thing with oxy-gas as stick - requires skill to do pretty and strong welds. Gotta get that MIG unit.

@OldCatLady @ruouttaurmind dogs are amazing. We’ve even noticed our dog gets upset when anyone in our family argues.

@ruouttaurmind I hope they do not try and steal that too. I have a expensive dune buggy I found their car jack under it. I live at a dead end street last house and 1 neighbor who is never home with a tall fence. Try the cameras you put in trees for deer hunting.

@ruouttaurmind "Stick a hand in a pocket looking for goodies and pull out goo. " I think I’d go with a razor blade. More satisfying, plus it provides handy dna evidence. I have been burglarized several times, and the sense of invasion and vulnerability are far worse than the loss of possessions. The last time it happened, it took the police 6.5 hours to come --the main cop shop is less than 2 miles from my house. The cops had little to offer other than telling me I had a lot of nice stuff left so I should stay at home few days in case they came back. I asked if that meant he was leaving me his service revolver. He was of course shocked. I told him that he and I had a social contract. I go to work every day and pay taxes, those taxes pay his salary so he can carry a gun and protect my stuff while I am at work. If I have to stay home from work and watch my own stuff then the whole social contract is void and he might as well leave me the gun.

@cranky1950 Wisdom to live by.

@cranky1950
What happens if someday you come home and find that a thief stole your junk food? Can you survive, Twinkyless?

/giphy Twinky

@f00l I don’t think I saw that episode of Masterchef.

@f00l The only way to improve on that fine delicacy is to first deep fry the Twinky. Sheer low cal health food bountifulness on the plate.

@RedOak
Year, someone was selling deep fried Twinkies at the State Fair last Sat. I admired but did not consume.

@f00l Why I’d just shit y’kno.

@f00l Wishin’ I could double-star that one!

@f00l you can buy fried ones in a box now. They recommend you bake them for that fresh fried taste.

@f00l @therealjrn It’s the Twinkie weener sandwich from the movie UHF.

@dashcloud todays youth won’t know what uhf is… it’s all just assigned OTA channel numbers now…

@givemeyoursoul I appreciate your feedback.

Not everyone who has managed to pay off a mortgage is necessarily well off and financially secure. I got there through over 10 years of 80 hour, 7 day work weeks and living on ramen and latex bologna sammiches. Since then I’ve faced other financial challenges which left me with a need to live on a relatively tight budget. But still…

I described above, in detail, how I wound up without homeowners insurance. As far as learning my lesson… the first time I was burglarized I guess I sort of figured odds had me running free for a while. The second time… again… I thought “It’s happened twice now. Surely I’ve paid my due.” Now, the third time… definitely has me re-evaluating my situation.

That said, consider the amount I’ve saved in premiums versus the amount of my losses and offsetting for claims deductibles and premium increases for making claims. At worst I’m Even Steven. At best I’m still money ahead. It’s been a gamble. A calculated risk. I do not dispute that.

But that doesn’t make it any less upsetting when someone comes into my home and takes the stuff I’ve worked very very hard to gather. Even if this loss WAS covered by insurance, nobody had the right to do that, and it would still bother me that someone violated my castle and liberated my possessions.

@ruouttaurmind Lots of replies to lots of things going on, I read what you said further up the page after I wrote my initial reply. I get what you are saying, and if the CBA comes out in favor of the burglaries being cheaper then at least there is that benefit I suppose. As you yourself said, all that changes in a fire situation or other total loss.

I read your tale of woe from when you did have coverage, and I think “act of god” exceptions for things like fallen trees are a joke. If we are going to bring god into it, isn’t everything an act of god? Doesn’t “everything happen for a reason.”? Doesn’t “God have a plan”? Beyond that, if the company didn’t pay, I don’t see how they can legally raise your rates, especially if the damage was “act of god”. That’s total BS.

As for the bars, I think it depends on the bars. I have them on my house, and they are attractive, there are nice looking ones out there.

As for the feelings, I don’t have that really, my parents had some stuff stolen but it didn’t effect me. My wife hated bars on several houses we looked at, and then I reminded her of how she felt when her parents house was broken into twice while she was a teenager, once in broad daylight while she was there alone. Both times the thieves KICKED DOWN THE LOCKED DOOR. I pointed out that her compulsive door locking was pointless in such a situation. When a house we really liked popped up and had bars on it, she didn’t say word one about removing them.

@givemeyoursoul At the time this all occurred I learned that insurance companies, in part, base premiums on how likely you are to have an incident. To arrive at this, they include incidents even if they didn’t pay out for them.

So, for example, if I had an automobile stolen, burglarized or vandalized in my driveway, even if the car was insured by another insurer, my homeowners carrier would look at the incident as data indicating my home is more likely to experience an incident. It’s a micro-application of the concept that certain zip codes have higher auto insurance rate because there are more traffic accidents there, or cities that have higher homeowners rates because they live in a floodplain or hurricane or earthquake zone.

@ruouttaurmind The problem is that your burglars know your address, your layout, information about you, and that they are not likely to get caught. The more often they visit you the more they know about you and your home and the easier it is for them. You need to seriously change some stuff up, put bear traps between the window and the sofa, ketamine in the beer bottles, and upgrade the pups to velociraptors. I jest (kind of) but these guys have got your number, the cops obviously don’t care, the lunatics are running the asylum and it’s time to get proactive.

@ruouttaurmind
As mentioned above:
A successful robbery way back when may have simply trained the same people to come back. They were able to judge enuf about you to know your security, and to know if you would eventually get more techie things that were attractive to steal. Then perhaps they gave you time to re-acquire. Then perhaps they moved in. Possibly; and repeat.

You may need to change your address or change something about your setup that makes your place look much more secure. Like they wanna do the next house not yours next time.

@f00l You know, it’s really surprised me how many of my friends and associates tell me they’ve NEVER had their home burglarized.

Honestly, this being the third burglary in this house, and four total in my adult life (not mentioning a handful of car burglaries) I just assumed everyone around me has experienced at least one. But with few exceptions, most are reporting “never”. As you suggest, this makes obvious the fact that something is wrong with this picture.

@sarahsandroid Wow. That was a real life nightmare. Glad you and your daughter are safe now. Let’s add a case of boils to the thief’s attributes. And sties. And pimples on the inside of his nose, and nasal polyps.

@OldCatLady i agree. Too funny. I want them to have their hands and feet cut off

@ruouttaurmind Think about how you will get out in a fire if you can’t use the doors.

@Kidsandliz There is a cable operated quick-release that attaches to the bars through the wall. In the event of fire (or zombies) you kick the lever on the baseboard, or smack down with your palm on the lever on the window sill, and the cable activates and releases the bar latch. They swing open like a gate once the steel cable has been released.

@ruouttaurmind
Are your dogs little? Do they sound little?

If so, and if you are a little techie, you could setup a noise activated “big dog barking” sound system.

Also perhaps a few cameras or dummy cameras.

Also perhaps a back door sensor and one of those devices that lets you “answer the door” when you’re not at home?

@f00l I actually got one of those Ring video doorbell thingies over the weekend. I haven’t installed it yet because the construction of my particular house is challenging me to find a creative solution. But I’m looking forward to seeing what it will do.

I had a Samsung surveillance camera system. They stole the DVR from it. No doubt to cover their tracks. I ordered a replacement refurbished DVR from Amazon. It arrived on Saturday and I got it set up, this time with email notification in case of a “motion event”. If the system detects motion it will instantly email me a still image of the very first frame of the detected motion. Like this:

The image quality is definitely useless as far as identifying who’s responsible. But it does serve two purposes: 1. It’s almost like having a self-monitored alarm; the system notifies me in the event motion is detected. 2. The image is sufficient to identify if there is something nefarious going on, or if my roommate came home from work early, or the dogs started doing living room laps, or whatever. It’s not ideal, but is surely a start. Oh, and sort of a lesser effective, but still useful benefit: The DVR starts beeping very loudly when a motion event is detected. Not as loud as a real burglar alarm, but definitely loud enough to hear throughout the house and through the front and back doors. So once I finish installing my outdoor vandal resistent dome cameras on front and back porches, the DVR will start squawking anytime someone approaches either door.

I’ve done a couple reaction time tests, and generally the system completes sending the email before I can run through the room at top speed and disconnect the router.

@DaveInSoCal That calls for a rating!