Criminal Masterminds in Dalhousie

[jamesq]

My car was broken into. Not sure precisely when, but it was likely last night. I opened the door to get in to find that both glove boxes where emptied and everything was strewn around the front seats. Either I left the doors unlocked, or they slim jimmed their way in. The windows weren't busted. Me leaving the doors unlocked is possible, I guess, but unlikely. Locking the doors is more-or-less muscle memory for me - I do it reflexively. Of course, I also generally park it in the garage (But not this week because I'm drying out my rain-soaked canvas tent), so maybe I was off my routine.

Anyway, As I sorted through the debris, I managed to figure out what was taken. Short answer, not much - and what was taken was not valuable.

First up: The ibuprofen I keep in the glove box. There were other drugs there too - antihistamines and a small collection of old prescription drugs from the last time I threw my back out. Only the ibuprofen was taken, even though the old prescription meds probably would have gotten you pretty high. Given their relative size, this should have been simply a jam into pocket maneuver. But clearly someone had time to open the ibuprofen and empty the contents of the tube.

(aside: Realizing just how old those meds are, I'm going to just dispose of them. I've got some CFL bulbs to get rid of too. I think I'll just throw the whole mess into a bag and take it to the local fire hall, because I'm a good citizen.)

Last up: My solar battery for recharging my gadgets. I got this from Thinkgeek about five years ago and some of you may have seen/used it at events. This was likely the attractive goody that attracted the thief's attention. It was plugged in to the lighter to charge it up for Dragonslayer and I had never bothered unplugging it. The cable to charge it was missing too.

Here are some things that weren't taken:

• The change in my tiny-thing-collection-area.
  
• The $10 gift card for Nellies that I'm never going to use.
  
• The book of Banff Hot Springs passes.
  
• The multi-tool/knife set I got for being garething's best man. It's really nice!
  
• The twenty dollar bill that was clearly visible with my insurance and registration, which had been pawed through. Seriously, WTF?
  
• The cables that make the solar battery useful.

Conclusion: The thief was either in a hurry, or not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'm going to go with all of the above.

Anyway, not sure how I feel about all this. I have a newer, better, in-the-box solar battery in the house. Ibuprofen is cheap. The car doesn't appear to be damaged in any way. Aside from some minor inconvenience and the knowledge that some of my neighbours are assholes, this hasn't really affected me at all. And frankly, I already knew that some of my neighbours were assholes (nosarious' car has been broken into in the past, to similar penny-ante effect).

In the end, stuff is just stuff.

--- Late addition ---

I spoke too soon - my GPS got stolen too. Now I'm pissed off.

Comments

[ishansonofbrand.livejournal.com]

I had my car broken into about four years ago ish. It was a smash and grab, they smashed my window and grabbed my iPod and the fm tuner. It wasn't a great loss, but that was the best fm tuner I had ever come across and even more expensive current ones were crap compared. The iPod, well it was old and was still in good condition. What astounded me about everything was the apathy and complete lack of empathy from the CPS about this.

That is the funny thing and some people have realized this. If the crime is minor enough the police just don't care. So if you find something like car prowlings and make good money off of it, there is no one to stop you. Yay!

[rectangularcat]

Sucks mightily.

Which solar charger did you get recently? Looking for one now and wonder if you have advice? Just looking to charge phones and tablet.