List of items

Having seen an item in the local paper that the city police had arrested several juveniles involved in a string of recent burglaries and had recovered stolen items, I pulled together the list of major identifiable items that were take from our home four weeks ago (including the dead laptop, though heaven knows why I would want to recover that one.) I have serial numbers for some of them, pictures of others.

We are not in the jurisdiction of the local city police, as we live in the county. In fact, as we live on County Line Road, we are more or less in one jurisdicton but butted up agains three others--the nearest city in our county (6 miles), the next county (across the street), and the nearest city in that county (technically the city limits recently extended to about a quarter of a mile down our road, but in reality a couple of miles). It was the latter who had been reported to have made the arrests.

Our sheriff's deputies had not given much hope on recovering anything--make that no hope. But then again, how well these four entities communicate among each other is sometimes questionable. Sometimes good, sometimes non-existent. Did the constabulary of our nearby city have our stuff in the recovery? I doubt we would find out through our sheriff.

The dispatcher took a copy of the list and my information to pass on to the detective who is handling the case.

We'll see.

Another laugh on the burglars

Earlier I said we would notice things that had been taken for the next six months. I was thinking of little things and things we don'e use regularly.

On the way home from church tonight I was thinking about how differently I am using my laptop without having the desktop.

Then I started laughing out loud.

I realized another thing the burglars took.

My dead laptop.

It was sitting on a table in the front room. I hadn't figured out what to do about it--other than replacing it a few months ago when it quit altogether.

Reconstructing my address book

Among the things lost in our burglary was my desktop computer. On it resided my e-mail address book. I doubt that anyone is getting e-mail messages from our burglar--of course, if you are, let me know as the sheriff might find the source interesting--but you are not getting any e-mail from me either. And you won't, because the address list is gone.

So if you should be in my address book, please e-mail me so I can add your address.

The LinkedWithin "You might also like..." links are always a bit weird on posts like this one. I wish they could be turned off on an individual basis.

Some of the thoroughly bizarre things you have to do to prove you are you

So the bank sends me this letter (hubby didn't get one) about my having updated my address. They send it to your previous address. We did not update our address. We changed all of our accounts.

It's probably part of that, but getting such a letter after a home invasion is a bit unnerving and I am starting to crack. It has reached a piece of me that is not believing the "It's just stuff It's just stuff" mantra.

So they send you online and since I've not accessed this account online before, part of the process is sending an identity code to your phone number. The three numbers listed are way outdated. I choose none of the above. Clicking next brings me to the same page. The explanation says I can change it later but I have to choose one of these.

Hubby and I discuss at length and decide that before anything else happens they will let me change the number, so I choose an old work number and click Next.

They sent the code to that number. Naturally, I cannot proceed because they have sent this code to a number I have not had access to for a number of years.

So I call.

"In order to proceed we will  have to verify your identity using information from your public record not associated with your account." (Where did they get this public information--the same place that says I am in my twenties and have lived here with a roommate for three years?--BTW I am in my 60s and have lived with my husband for 43 years--35 of them in this house.)

Which of these three names are someone you have known? Three names are listed and I recognize none of them.

Which of these three vehicles have you owned or leased? Three vehicles I have never owned are listed and I tell the nice Indian gentleman this (no offense meant--he was A team).

So three more vehicles that I have not owned are offered and I tell him so.

"I am sorry ma'am, but I cannot verify your identity. Please go into your local bank branch to verify this."

I will go into my local bank on Monday, and they will get an earful.

a brief break while I sort out the house

We returned from a lovely workshop at the National Park to find that the house had been burgled--totally ransacked. I must admit that one might have looked before and thought it to have been ransacked already, but there is a definite difference between one's normal mess and having every drawer upended--even drawers we did not remember we had.

We've decided on a motel for the night. It will take hours just to put the bedroom to rights.

And now the good news:
I never take the laptop camping. Guess what? I took the laptop camping. I had some stuff to finish up. Heehee.
They apparently were not geek enough to recognize what an external hard drive is. It is there on my desk--ready to hook up to the laptop.
Heehee.
They did not seem to have any use for a sewing machine. All my machines are present and accounted for.

And all the things they DID take can be replaced.

And I thought the flat tire we had on Friday was annoying! A well.

I'll be back to Wales and London when I have sorted things out.