Sigh...

R

Rich Silfver

Guest
8:30am this morning. About to get into my car and drive to work...sigh...

Lost CD player, two windows, one laptop (broken) and a Olympus 35EC in the glove compartment.

Sigh...
 
Crappy luck Richard. What a way to start the day. Hope insurance will cover most of what you lost. At least you have your other Oly's for comfort. Just once it would be nice if the police caught the little darlings in the act, wouldn't it?
 
Yeah bummer of a day... 3rd time in 18 months. Getting used to it. 500 deductible + the cost of a rental next week.

Then again..'this too shall pass...'

Atleast they left my 39 dollar tripod in the backseat...
 
I had a new car broken into when I lived in Hartford a long time ago when I was single. They broke the smallest window on the rear door, carefully removed the stereo, took my darts and a couple dollars of change. If they had a vacuum I think they would have cleaned the glass from the back seat for me before leaving they were so neat.

I missed the darts.

A friend of mine lost a Pentax K-1000 to a break-in at a golf course. We never golfed at that course again, and he didn't get another SLR until my family bought him a Canon Rebel 2000, and lens as a wedding gift. I couldn't send him on his honeymoon to Europe with disposable cameras.
 
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Not sure if this qualifies as 'nice work'. Plus the window glass cant be put in until the frame is repaired as its all bent...and lots of scratches on the door, etc.

Just a big 'sigh'...
 
my heart goes out to you richard!
having been in the same situation a couple times, i know that sinking feeling all too well.
yes, it would be nice if the police caught the little bastards that did but that's highy unlikely.
i had a jeep stolen a few years back, they gutted it and what they did leave behind they cut up into shreds. the car was a write off.
lucky for some we're not allowed to carry guns here in canada.

joe
 
Bloody heck! I know the feeling too. I had an EOS-500 go walking once. Left it in the car for half an hour, with my old jacket over the bag, still it went with several of my university textbooks. Still to this date I'm trying to work out what a petty thief would do with books like Conceptual Physics, Modern Meteorological Formula, Applied Algebra 4 and a US Geological Survey of Wyoming.

Although on a different note, a friend and fellow Hasselblad owner had his car broken into, stereo, expensive gear shift knob and steering wheel taken out... but they left the 'blad behind!

Stu :)
 
Truly heartbroken, Richard. I had my car broken into in Guatemala three times. It doesn't matter how many times it happens, you still have murderous thoughts and a really awful feeling of powerlessness that knows no match.

Truly, very truly sorry, Richard. Was the Oly gone your last acquisition? I hope not your favorite... :(
 
Very sorry to see this, Richard

Very sorry to see this, Richard

I hurt for you, bud. That just sucks. I know the feeling - you feel so violated. It's almost a grieving process.

I had a Toyota truck broken into many years ago - they got the Alpine stereo and the amps that I had bolted to the floorboards under the front seat - I was young, no comprehensive insurance, liability only. I've also been burglarized, it just sucks to come home and see your front door hanging open.

I hate to say this, but the bad guys have won. You know I travel for a living - my car stays mostly parked at the airport. I have a 1996 Chevy Lumina, a white 4-door, with an AM radio. Nobody is going to steal it, no one wants to break into it. I won't put a stereo in a car again.

I also have a Jeep Cherokee with a nice stereo, but it stays in the garage - only take it out when I'm going offroad.

Man, that just sucks. I'm very sorry for your losses!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Thanks all.

Well, I'm getting "used" to it. Twice last year and once - so far - this year.

In the end it's material possessions - health, friends and the ability to wake up to a sunny morning are all still worth so much more than any car window and paint scratches.

Just hard to remember that when you see the damn thing.... :)
 
As I live in NYC I am used to seeing this. Sometimes there is just a heap of broken glass on the sidewalk as the car owner has already left. Fortunately, this has never happened to me as for years I owned a '75 Chrysler Newport (I still own it, but it is parked in the driveway of my summer home) and no one would ever think of breaking into it with only a basic AM radio. I am lucky to have a rented garage space (you could buy an M-6 with the yearly rent) and I rarely drive and park in the city. Perhaps an alarm would help. Anyway, though it is inconvenient, I would advise you to never leave anything of value in the car. If you have homeowner or apartment insurance you may be able to make a claim as theft from an auto is covered in some policies. Still if you lose a treasured object money is a poor consolation.
You have my sympathy and may the perpetrators get hit by a truck.
Kurt M.
 
Bummer! Sorry you had to go through that again Richard. I have had my car windows smashed twice and a burglar in my house once, but over a longer period of 25 years. As others have said, such experiences leave you feeling violated. I would love to catch one of these jerks in the act.
 
Very sorry to hear of the breakin, Richard. Catching the crooks is satisfying, but unfortunately it's not so easy to get a guilty verdict and jail time.

Seattle/Tacoma airport is prime area for car theft. We learned that even if the thief is caught, and convicted, it takes about 7 convictions to get any jail time out of it. Then there's early release and parole, not much deterrent.

We had no cameras or other gear taken, but our new Ford Ranger pickup was stolen from a SeaTac park'n'fly lot. We think the lot operator's son's slimy friends cultivated him as a source of info on how long certain vehicles would be left there. It seems they knew ours would not be reported stolen for the two weeks we were gone. It had 2400 additional miles on the odo, enough for a drug run to southern or central California and back. Never caught, but the rig was abandoned in the same area weeks later.

I think Bill has a good answer; make your vehicle an unattractive unrewarding target. Certainly never leave any tempting-looking stuff visible, like camera bags. We've had a couple tenants' cars broken into with cell phones and purses taken.
 
it's such a shame that the world has become the kind of place that we need to think in terms of deterents.

life in western canada used to be simpler but now we have to worry about not leaving things in our cars too. home invasions seem to be a popular passtime also.
gangs are growing and drugs are big business.

joe
 
No, Kurt, may the perps be hit by a train, and then rain falls on their remains...

That's how I felt when my car was broken into.

Soon I learned a weird law of probabilities: if I left items inside the car, but hidden under the companion seat, they were safe; anything I left in the trunk was basically lost.

After my second radio was stolen, I started thinking about some kind of mean way to get back to the thieves... like making sure the stuff they stole would give them some weird, painful disease or turn their skin green or make them sick for weeks on end.

I hope by now you're feeling a little better, Richard. After all, as you said, your skill to make great images (I remember very clearly the one that made the cover of a classical CD) is still with you and will stay there for a looong time yet. :D
 
Sorry to hear that you have encountered such outrage! It is a good thing you did lose not more valuable things. Do you have security alarm in the car? Maybe a neighbourhood watch campaign could reduce break-ins and theft. :(
 
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Here's a useful tip that might help. Many of us on Auckland's North Shore love our cars and the monstrous entertainment systems we drop into them. A couple years ago a group of us decided to start mounting our head units (the actual bit most people call the stereo) into the glove box of our cars and putting a cheap push-button style AM unit in the dash. Since that date none of use have had a break in.
Also if you're going to do this, make sure the unit comes with some from of remote control (like Alpine or Sony), so you don't have to literally dive over the other side of the car just to turn down the volume.


Stu :)
 
Years ago I had a Yashica MAT 124G and an Olympus rangefinder stolen from my car in Korea. Really made me mad. About 4 years ago, our home was broken into. Fortunately, our burglar alarm ran them away.

Interesting how many mentioned feeling violated. Many people don't know, but that is a very normal feeling. Most people can't indentify it, but just feel really bad, strange or whatever. After all, home is supposed to be safe; our castle. Some people have a really hard time getting over it, and find themselves wanting to move. For those of you who have been able to deal with it, good for you. For those how have or may not: first, talk about it with your family members and friends. If necessary, seek counseling. I have seen many have problems dealing with this and it doesn't have to be that way.

OK, somebody else's turn on the soapbox. I'm stepping down.
 
Good point about the sense of violation, oftheherd! When we went to recover our stolen pickup where it had been abandoned, we caught a fresh set of thieves at that moment trying to disconnect and steal the airbags, and they were arrested.

Several friends assumed we'd replace the vehicle right away, as they would, due to that sense of violation. We were not inclined to; in fact I felt sympathy for the pickup, as if it had a personality that had been violated too! Dumping it would add insult, maybe a little like divorcing one's wife after she's raped. We stood by our well-liked pickup, while we all "recovered" together. :)

It took a lot of painting, cleaning and repairs to get back to normal, and now 5 years later it still gives fine service. Grateful, maybe? LOL...
 
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