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I was Burglarized
Sam
Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
Came home from work today to discover my house had been broken into.
They tried to pry every window until they seemed to given up and just broke the bedroom window.
Every room drawer, box pouch, bag, etc had been gone through. They were there for awhile.
Went into my photo room, every camera bag, lens bag, etc had been gone through.
The unbelievable.............they didn't take any of the camera stuff! They looked at my 357 Colt Python, and left it!
I had about $300 in quarters, ( I put my change in buckets and every once in awhile I go to Reno), they took about $135 or so, and left the rest!
Harley still in the garage, with a ton of tools.
No vandalism to the inside of the house.
Computer, TV etc, still there.
Still not sure of everything they took, (did take my SSI card, some jewlery, watches) but they didn't even make an effort to take the big item I listed here.
Very strange......................
Tomorrow the work starts, getting the window replaced, calling the insurance company, calling the bank, SSI, etc. :cry :cry :cry
Sam
They tried to pry every window until they seemed to given up and just broke the bedroom window.
Every room drawer, box pouch, bag, etc had been gone through. They were there for awhile.
Went into my photo room, every camera bag, lens bag, etc had been gone through.
The unbelievable.............they didn't take any of the camera stuff! They looked at my 357 Colt Python, and left it!
I had about $300 in quarters, ( I put my change in buckets and every once in awhile I go to Reno), they took about $135 or so, and left the rest!
Harley still in the garage, with a ton of tools.
No vandalism to the inside of the house.
Computer, TV etc, still there.
Still not sure of everything they took, (did take my SSI card, some jewlery, watches) but they didn't even make an effort to take the big item I listed here.
Very strange......................
Tomorrow the work starts, getting the window replaced, calling the insurance company, calling the bank, SSI, etc. :cry :cry :cry
Sam
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I got done over a just before i went to yosemite ..it was the 1st time ever & this is what i learnt. Keep looking as i only discovered 2 weeks ago that ALL my fishing gear was missing...didnt look for it until spring. Insurance said no worries but it takes a while for you to go & grab something that you normally dont use all the time..to realise that its not there.
Mate they didnt take the camera....that was a good thing.
Gus
Maybe it was the 357 that sent them away...
Really sorry to hear what you must be going through ... terrible experience I'm sure.
I installed an alarm system and employ a huge, ferocious guard dog...
Nir Alon
images of my thoughts
It almost sounds like they were looking for something and either found
it or not.
Ian
My house was broken into, a car window broken and you know, it's just no fun at all.
I can't believe they'd go through so much stuff in your house and only take what they took. Very odd indeed. Almost sounds like a very young person or people did this. You are fortunate you were away when this happened and that it wasn't much worse.
Doesn't help with all the clean up and aggravation you have to go through though.
Our office was burglarized not once, not twice but three or four times, and they were different offices. We even had an alarm one time and that didn't help as they climbed in thru the ceiling from a vacant office next to us. This was a well organized gang after computer equipment. The officers reporting to the scene said they were in and out in two minutes! They finally caught them, and we were able to retrieve some of our CUPs and some floppies and zip disks.
It's so important to have a photographic or list of your stuff with serial numbers, etc. stored off-site for cases just like this. Helps with the insurance and with your memory.
I hope the insurance company doesn't give you too much grief with the settlement.
Again, sorry to hear about this.
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Hopefully they didn't take the good stuff because like most criminals they didn't really know what was there. However....
Sometimes they will make second or third trips. I'd deffinatley get an alarm, and a big dog (I love big dogs). Something like a mastiff, great dane, dalmation (they are strong as hell), etc. Make sure if they do come back they wet themselves when they see "bruno" on the other side of the window.
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http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
I'm so sorry to hear this. It is a horrible feeling of invasion isn't it! Your thieves were looking for money for a fix, plain and simple. Our business has been burglarized a few times, most recently by a former employee 3 times in a month. Caught on web cam. 16 year old with an addiction problem. Always and only took cash.
Our home was broken into 20 years ago - it was bizarre in that they took some jewellery but left the really good stuff, took stereo speakers but left hundreds of dollars in cds, took our slr and we got to replace it with a really good one. The really bad part of that break in was that they decided to break our aquarium - killed all but one of our fish and ruined our hardwood floors.
Those guys (4 of them) got caught too by wearing the jewellery they took!
Keep looking for missing items, it takes a long time to figure out what is gone.
And I am glad that they did no vandalism and left your camera gear!
ann
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James.
http://www.jamesjweg.com
It sucks...:cry I had my car burglarized while on Yosemite trip, and that was a nasty experience. I cannot imagine what does it feel when something like that happens to one's house..:-(
Wish you have no "followup" visits...
So sorry to hear about this burglary. What a violation and total lack of respect.
Keep your spirits high.
Michal
Thank you all for your well wishes, and kind thoughts.
I got the window, and wood gate repaired. Glass all cleaned up.
I am still nor sure of everything that might be missing, but they took a black zippered nylon compact flash card wallet with 2 one Gig cards and 3 256 MB cards. Yet left a single one Gig card???
Looks like total loss might come in under $1000. Insurance in wortless at this level. $500 deductable, and if I make any claims no mater how small I loose the no claim deduction, $135 a year for 6 years. So in essence I really have a $1100 deductable policy.
I have one bid for a home security sytem and one more due tomorrow.
Sam
Grrrrr that sucks. I'd rig the windows with explosives. Yeah you'd have one hell of an insurance claim, and have to buy everything new all over again. But you wouldn't have to worry bout the burglar coming back again after that. Although that may not be an option I'd deffinatley add a dog to the security system. The best security device I have ever had was my dalmation. When people saw his chain, then they saw him, even if they weren't here to try something they would step back at first. Dogs are good.
Now make sure no more camera stuff is missing. However I have a feeling they thought it was a regular wallet with cash. Didn't realize it had compact flash cards in it. Criminals are morons. Smart criminals don't pull petty theft. They run the mob (although their IQ is slipping too).
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
A couple of other things to make sure you check for are extra keys that
you may have had in the house. Keys for your garage, house, car, other
folks houses that you may have had a name with the key.
With a little luck, they got hit by a car and are in a lot of pain right now.
Good luck.
Basking in the shadows of yesterday's triumphs'.
They are not doing what they do because they are intelligent.
I forgot to mention this yesterday, The guy who came to give a quote on the alarm put his demo briefcase down next to his car and drove off witout putting it in his car. I herd two kids talking, "it's heavy, you open it, no you open it" when I went out of the house, one of them was walking off with it. When he saw me he dropped it and took off. Last words I heard were "I was gona jack it man"
In my day, we would take it to the nearest house and ask if it were thier's. I know there are still a lot of people, even kids who would try and find the owner, but I think the number of the good guys virsus the bad guys is diminishing. Even the ides of what is stealing or a crime is morphing.
A few days ago the neighbor to my left had his house broken into. After talking to him yesterday, it was clear, to me at least, the guys who hit his house were much more experienced with breaking and entering. They also knew exactly what they were after, got it and left.
Now the interesting part. He claims they took 100 guns from his roommate, (his life savings) AK 47's etc. Note: both of these guys are alcoholics. The gun owner is currently in the hospital, and not expected to make it. Prior to this he was always at home, so It seemss the burglars knew the house was unocupied.
He was very unhappy with the police. He said they wern't taking the burglary seriously, would't even try to take finger prints. They told him it wasn't a major crime.
My loss at this time appears to be realitivly small, yet the cop tried to take finger prints, and to me did the best job he could.
The point of this is perception. The neighbor is always half toasted, the house is worse (unkempt) then mine ever gets, with beer cans, and liquor bottles lining the hall ways. They just didn't take the time to take him seriously. He does work almost 7 days a week every day. He's not a bum, he just looks like one.
We have some suspects in mind. I can get thier names and even SSI numbers. I have (I think) an in to the police so thier names can be run, I think they all have a history, and at least one of them is on parole, if so, the police can walk right in and search his place anytime with out a warrent.
Sam
As for your neighbors, it seems unlikely that the cops wouldn't be interested in a theft of a lot of weapons...especially AK-47's!
I bought some chain latches with keys, one motion actvated outside light, and a stand alone motion alarm. Noise only, but for $20.00 why not?
Also bought a video servalance sysytem i have been evaluating. It can monitor up to 4 camreas. It is PC based, and can be set to only record when motion is detected.
The quality is less than our cameras, so hence the question of do I keep it. I have tried 2 different camers, and I can get one that's has better specs, but there is a cost premium for that one.
A liitle bit of work running the hard wire but once installed I can tell if any one has been in the back yard, or has tried the front door. Also may put one camera in the house.
I have a few tech questions for the manufacturer, but they are in Australia, and I think they are plus 18 hours, so I might be able to try right now.
Sam
Sam
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
The iSight is pretty good too.
I also want to second the opinion someone had that the bad guys are becoming more numerous either day. Nobody cares about stealing music, photos and movies. An actress like Wynona Rider shoplifts and we try to find excuses for her. A president has numerous extra-marital affairs and people try to say its no big deal. I removed water-marking from my site for two months (which covered four races). My web traffic went up, and my sales dropped a ton. Go figure...
There does not appear to be a sense of right and wrong any longer.
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The set up etc. was easy. The hard part is running the hard wire through the house.
I have it set in the back yard window with the wirer laid out on the floor for a test today. The motion sensor seems pretty sensitive, my cat will set it off. So wel will see how it goes.
Sam
But you are right. The concept of right and wrong seems to be dissapearing. All things are being moved from black and white to gray.
It is very sad.
Sam
Hope this never happens to you or any other fellow dgrinner again. :uhoh
Sebastian
SmugMug Support Hero
The web site indicated a user of UltraVNC software could use this to access a customers computer (IT, help desk, etc.) but that leaves me wondering:....If you had this software, could YOU / anyone access my computer?
Is there something the customer needs to do (some setting to adjust) before someone using this type of software can access my computer.
Thanks for the thought,
Sam
I consider the VNC system itself safe - it's open source and has gone a long way already. As long as you keep your password safe everything should be fine.
There are to possibilities to access your server:
1. Using vncviewer.exe which doesn't need to be installed - just copy the file on a PC and run it. It won't even touch any registry settings on the PC as far as I know it, so you can simply delete the exe without leaving any traces of it.
2. Using your web browser with installed Java (should be installed on most systems) and then simply access your PC using your IP followed by ':5800' (this is the port VNC uses for the Javaviewer access. This option has to be enabled on the server.
When you want to keep UltraVNC be sure to also install the UltraVNC Video Driver, because this uses less CPU on your server for the remote control.
If you've got any more questions feel free to ask.
Sebastian
SmugMug Support Hero