adamjr
New member
I woke up this morning like many of you. I got up and went to the bathroom. I jumped in the shower to cleanse my body, wash my hair, and shave my face. While showering I thought about the lovely condition the roads would be in thanks to last nights ice storm.
While shaving my wife knocked on the bathroom door and came in. "I went out to start your car," She began. She leaves before me and it's just the nice kind of person she is. She starts my car when it's real cold out to let the engine warm up so I have an easier time cleaning my windows when they are frosted. It's one of the thousands of little things that make up the giant reason I love her.
"Thank you." I said, not intentionally, but rudely cutting her off.
"Well," She continued, "I was going to start your car..."
At this point I figured she was going to tell me I needed a new battery since we just replaced her battery a month ago and I expected mine would take a dump soon.
"There was all kinds of powdery stuff on the passenger seat like you had a big hot pretzel.." She's never been a quick story teller. "Anyway, so I looked out the passenger side and it was way to clear considering the ice storm. Your passenger window was smashed in and your satellite radio is gone."
"That's a great way to start the week. Anything else visibly missing?"
She went and took another look. Nothing obviously missing. Later I realized that the (12 letter expletive insinuating an un-natural mother-son relationship) also stole my charger for my phone and a 2 into one cigarette lighter adapter. What they didn't get had they looked over my visor was a active checkbook for my business account. Not much money in it but writing bad checks on that account would have caused me a hassle. Also my registration for my car, insurance info, and my social security number which are necessary for me to get onto Great Lakes naval base to do service work there.
In the center console were 2 checkbooks for accounts that I closed a couple of months ago which once again would have caused me a major hassle if someone cashed checks on my closed account. I also had a ring of keys including my non-running van in which, until this morning I kept a lot of tools because it was convenient for me. There was also a wallet which is no longer kept in my hip pocket because of sciatic nerve issues which included a couple of expired credit cards, 2 expired CMAS membership cards, and a whole lot of miscellaneous stuff chock full of personal information that along with my aforementioned social security number would have made it really easy for someone to steal my identity.
So the police made a report. I got the regular disclaimer that the chances my items will ever be returned are somewhere near my chances of piloting the space shuttle. Fortunately the Sirius receiver will be covered by my insurance since the antenna was a permanent installation and my comp is a zero deductible. I have an appointment to get the window installed tomorrow since the installer got caught up elsewhere and couldn't get here today.
All in all it could have been worse and the insurance agent and the police officer were both as helpful as they could be under the circumstances. I'll have to eat the cost of the phone charger and the adapter but together that's about $25.00 so I'll live.
A couple of months ago when gas was near $4.50 a gallon someone siphoned my gas tank dry which forced me to buy locking gas caps and to be late for work.
About 3:00 this morning my smaller dog needed to go outside and my wife, not wanting me to be awakened (I have a problem with my shoulder which limits my sleep to a couple of hours a night) got up and let the dogs out. When they came in the little one was freaking out and barking at the side door and out the front window and was impossible to control. I was awakened by that but he's a chihuahua (my avatar) and didn't give it any thought until this mornings revelations.
It's the personal violation that angers me the most. Like most folks, I get my behind out of bed, shower, and face the day abiding the laws of the land. I make a living, struggle to pay my bills, I keep my dogs, fish, and family fed. Sometimes well and sometimes not so much. It angers me that there are people out there that have no regard for what other people have to do inorder to earn their living and purchase things either for themselves or as gifts for others.
So for this reason I am, for the first time in my adult life, considering the purchase of a hand gun. I know and am fully aware of the statistics with regard to having a gun in the home. With my wife and I being empty nesters and the dogs sleeping beside our bed that significantly reduces the risk. No, I would not shoot someone for stealing personal property. Property is not worth a life. However what would have happened had my wife startled the dirtbag and he attacked her? My two dogs, totalling 25 pounds together, offer no protection to speak of. From this point forward, I told my wife this morning, if the dogs need to go out and I don't hear them to wake me and I'll take them out. I'm not taking any chances with her safety or theirs.
I'm no Bernard Goetz but I am sick and tired of the direction this neighborhood and this country's population are headed. The police can't be everywhere and they don't have a psychic that can tell them when and where to be. I understand that I can not take the law into my own hands but my personal safety and the safety of my family is my responsibility and my home defense is going to be increased by a couple of notches.
Adam
While shaving my wife knocked on the bathroom door and came in. "I went out to start your car," She began. She leaves before me and it's just the nice kind of person she is. She starts my car when it's real cold out to let the engine warm up so I have an easier time cleaning my windows when they are frosted. It's one of the thousands of little things that make up the giant reason I love her.
"Thank you." I said, not intentionally, but rudely cutting her off.
"Well," She continued, "I was going to start your car..."
At this point I figured she was going to tell me I needed a new battery since we just replaced her battery a month ago and I expected mine would take a dump soon.
"There was all kinds of powdery stuff on the passenger seat like you had a big hot pretzel.." She's never been a quick story teller. "Anyway, so I looked out the passenger side and it was way to clear considering the ice storm. Your passenger window was smashed in and your satellite radio is gone."
"That's a great way to start the week. Anything else visibly missing?"
She went and took another look. Nothing obviously missing. Later I realized that the (12 letter expletive insinuating an un-natural mother-son relationship) also stole my charger for my phone and a 2 into one cigarette lighter adapter. What they didn't get had they looked over my visor was a active checkbook for my business account. Not much money in it but writing bad checks on that account would have caused me a hassle. Also my registration for my car, insurance info, and my social security number which are necessary for me to get onto Great Lakes naval base to do service work there.
In the center console were 2 checkbooks for accounts that I closed a couple of months ago which once again would have caused me a major hassle if someone cashed checks on my closed account. I also had a ring of keys including my non-running van in which, until this morning I kept a lot of tools because it was convenient for me. There was also a wallet which is no longer kept in my hip pocket because of sciatic nerve issues which included a couple of expired credit cards, 2 expired CMAS membership cards, and a whole lot of miscellaneous stuff chock full of personal information that along with my aforementioned social security number would have made it really easy for someone to steal my identity.
So the police made a report. I got the regular disclaimer that the chances my items will ever be returned are somewhere near my chances of piloting the space shuttle. Fortunately the Sirius receiver will be covered by my insurance since the antenna was a permanent installation and my comp is a zero deductible. I have an appointment to get the window installed tomorrow since the installer got caught up elsewhere and couldn't get here today.
All in all it could have been worse and the insurance agent and the police officer were both as helpful as they could be under the circumstances. I'll have to eat the cost of the phone charger and the adapter but together that's about $25.00 so I'll live.
A couple of months ago when gas was near $4.50 a gallon someone siphoned my gas tank dry which forced me to buy locking gas caps and to be late for work.
About 3:00 this morning my smaller dog needed to go outside and my wife, not wanting me to be awakened (I have a problem with my shoulder which limits my sleep to a couple of hours a night) got up and let the dogs out. When they came in the little one was freaking out and barking at the side door and out the front window and was impossible to control. I was awakened by that but he's a chihuahua (my avatar) and didn't give it any thought until this mornings revelations.
It's the personal violation that angers me the most. Like most folks, I get my behind out of bed, shower, and face the day abiding the laws of the land. I make a living, struggle to pay my bills, I keep my dogs, fish, and family fed. Sometimes well and sometimes not so much. It angers me that there are people out there that have no regard for what other people have to do inorder to earn their living and purchase things either for themselves or as gifts for others.
So for this reason I am, for the first time in my adult life, considering the purchase of a hand gun. I know and am fully aware of the statistics with regard to having a gun in the home. With my wife and I being empty nesters and the dogs sleeping beside our bed that significantly reduces the risk. No, I would not shoot someone for stealing personal property. Property is not worth a life. However what would have happened had my wife startled the dirtbag and he attacked her? My two dogs, totalling 25 pounds together, offer no protection to speak of. From this point forward, I told my wife this morning, if the dogs need to go out and I don't hear them to wake me and I'll take them out. I'm not taking any chances with her safety or theirs.
I'm no Bernard Goetz but I am sick and tired of the direction this neighborhood and this country's population are headed. The police can't be everywhere and they don't have a psychic that can tell them when and where to be. I understand that I can not take the law into my own hands but my personal safety and the safety of my family is my responsibility and my home defense is going to be increased by a couple of notches.
Adam
