June 2007
Monthly Archive
Ah ha!
Posted by Shaun on 21 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Burglars
Burglar update: The television news mentions got us 17 tips, and 15 were identifying the same person. The police got him to as much as admit guilt over the phone, but he lawyered-up afterwards.
Who knows what will happen, but it’s pretty much the city/county/state’s problem now (hat tip to law enforcement).
Now maybe we can get back to the business of saving the planet and selling earrings.
Who knows what will happen, but it’s pretty much the city/county/state’s problem now (hat tip to law enforcement).
Now maybe we can get back to the business of saving the planet and selling earrings.
The Burglar — Story so far
Posted by Shaun on 12 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Burglars
So here’s the story in brief:
I own a 24×7 laundromat. There is an office that we lock up at night. The laundromat has security cameras that are hooked to a time-lapse VCR.
My laundromat has got a burglar the way some people get in-laws. He’s annoying, he keeps coming back, and we can’t get rid of him. He isn’t THAT bad, but he does enough damage that you want to slap him and spit in his eye.
— January –
— April –
Have you seen this man? — June –
So I have this lovely picture of my burglar-nuisance. I give it to the nice policepersons and they put it all over the nightly news (got both the Fox and NBC versions on my Tivo). I wonder if anyone is going to recognize him and turn him in. If not: I’m still thinking T-shirts and wanted posters.
Oh yea, I re-upgraded the security system. It’s even better now.*** No more false alarms and extra-neat-o new features.
*Ok, there were no sharks.
**Should have had sharks.
***Still no sharks, must obtain sharks.
I own a 24×7 laundromat. There is an office that we lock up at night. The laundromat has security cameras that are hooked to a time-lapse VCR.
My laundromat has got a burglar the way some people get in-laws. He’s annoying, he keeps coming back, and we can’t get rid of him. He isn’t THAT bad, but he does enough damage that you want to slap him and spit in his eye.
— January –
- Burglarized: he took our cash drawer ($sigh)!
- Call Cops.
- Review tape: Yep, there he is. But we couldn’t see his face. Look at him go.
- Fix window ($90). Order new cash drawer ($45).
- Downplay it to all the customers watching me fix the window.
— April –
- Burglarized: he got the cash drawer again ($sigh)!
- Call Cops.
- Review tape: Yep, there he is. But we couldn’t see his face. Look at him go.
- Hey! That’s the same guy!
- Fix window ($90). Order new cash drawer ($45).
- Downplay it to all the customers watching me fix the window.
- Grumble
- Install home-made security system with motion-detecto cameras and shark pit.*
- Buy safe ($75). Install safe. Put money in every night.
Have you seen this man? — June –
- Motion sensor goes off, I mistake it for a false alarm, but drive over to the laundromat just to be sure.
- Oh, he did break in. Call Cops.
- Review tape: Yep, there he is. But we couldn’t see his face. Look at him go.
- Ha! He couldn’t get the safe open… but he messed up my screwdriver trying to pry it open ($10).
- Oh, he took the super secret camera ($80).**
- And he took the coin tray. He stole my nickles and pennies…($2).
- Fix window ($90). Replace coin tray with duct-tape-and-cardboard mockup ($2).
- Downplay it to all the customers watching me fix the window.
- Retrieve security footage from super secret motion-detecto camera I installed.
- YES! he looked right into it while holding it! What a moron!
So I have this lovely picture of my burglar-nuisance. I give it to the nice policepersons and they put it all over the nightly news (got both the Fox and NBC versions on my Tivo). I wonder if anyone is going to recognize him and turn him in. If not: I’m still thinking T-shirts and wanted posters.
Oh yea, I re-upgraded the security system. It’s even better now.*** No more false alarms and extra-neat-o new features.
*Ok, there were no sharks.
**Should have had sharks.
***Still no sharks, must obtain sharks.
Bicycles and Burglars
Posted by Shaun on 04 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Electric Bicycle, Burglars
I rode my shiny new electric bike to work for the first time. It looks like this is going to be a viable way for me to get to work, but there are some pretty useful things to know…
The Good The Bad The Interesting
Notice I didn’t mention the weather. I’m not concerned about the rain as I have the option of riding the bus when it rains. Easy.
I did get pretty sore and tired (18 miles total with some good hills in there). This was mostly due to my exuberance, I really went for it on the way home.
Later that night…
The short version: I run a laundromat. It was burglarized at 1:18 AM.
This same guy has hit us 3 times. We have security camera footage of all 3 robberies. After the second robbery I set up an extra hidden camera. I rigged it to detect motion and to page me in the event that any motion was detected when/where it shouldn’t be. It worked. Sort of. He got away.
He stole the camera — I’m pretty sure that he heard on the grape vine that I had installed it.
I spent all night dealing with the break-in, and all day the next day fixing the damage he did breaking in. I got 2 hours of sleep and was completely exhausted. Many people may not realize that if you design your business well the physical damage is the worst part of getting burglarized. He didn’t get much (hardly any) money.
But the best part: He looked directly into the camera while he was stealing it. I have some perfect pictures of his face from 1-2 feet away from the camera looking straight into it. I’d post the photos here, but the police have not seen them yet. (I have a meeting on Wed to give them this new evidence.) I promise that I will post the photos here, but you will have to wait a few days
If the police know the guy: we will arrest him. If they don’t know who it is: I’m going to hang it on every telephone pole for 50 miles with the police phone number written on it.
We are thinking about making t-shirts.
- I got a lot of exercise.
- I passed ponds, parks and horses.
- It was enjoyable, as opposed to driving, which is frequently enraging.
- Arriving at work sweaty: This is actually less due to the exercise and more due to the ambient temperature.
- It takes longer. (Car: 20 min, Bus: 55 min, Bike: 55 min)
- Number of near-accidents witnessed: 1
- Number of cars abandoned in traffic: 1
Notice I didn’t mention the weather. I’m not concerned about the rain as I have the option of riding the bus when it rains. Easy.
I did get pretty sore and tired (18 miles total with some good hills in there). This was mostly due to my exuberance, I really went for it on the way home.
The short version: I run a laundromat. It was burglarized at 1:18 AM.
This same guy has hit us 3 times. We have security camera footage of all 3 robberies. After the second robbery I set up an extra hidden camera. I rigged it to detect motion and to page me in the event that any motion was detected when/where it shouldn’t be. It worked. Sort of. He got away.
He stole the camera — I’m pretty sure that he heard on the grape vine that I had installed it.
I spent all night dealing with the break-in, and all day the next day fixing the damage he did breaking in. I got 2 hours of sleep and was completely exhausted. Many people may not realize that if you design your business well the physical damage is the worst part of getting burglarized. He didn’t get much (hardly any) money.
But the best part: He looked directly into the camera while he was stealing it. I have some perfect pictures of his face from 1-2 feet away from the camera looking straight into it. I’d post the photos here, but the police have not seen them yet. (I have a meeting on Wed to give them this new evidence.) I promise that I will post the photos here, but you will have to wait a few days
If the police know the guy: we will arrest him. If they don’t know who it is: I’m going to hang it on every telephone pole for 50 miles with the police phone number written on it. We are thinking about making t-shirts.