SRS Offline

Subject: SRS Offline
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 04:39 AM

Silly River Sage posted this to MOAB. This is for all you sensible people who don't open that megathread. Lets hope the computers get recovered.

Joe, please put this in BS, as it's not music.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage - PM
Date: 18 Feb 05 - 11:07 PM

About four minutes after I posted that at work I received a call from the county sheriff--from my home--to tell me that I had been burgled. Both computers, a tv, other small electronics. Amazing, a neighbor spotted this, stood on her brakes, backed into the neighbor's driveway and got the license #. My cats are okay, and I wasn't home, so no home invasion. That's good. But everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is on my computer, little of it behind even a password. So I may be shit out of luck and fighting a credit and id battle for a while.

Here is the boilerplate message I sent to friends just now:


      Hi-

      This note has been composed on my old laptop computer and sent to a few folks to let you know that I'm offline for now. The house was burgled this morning (2-18-05) and both computers were stolen, along with all of the peripherals. This is a problem since a lot of financial information was in them, and because I work at home and many of my files are gone. Hopefully the computers will be returned, because a neighbor interrupted the burglary and got the license number and description of the car and three young burglars.

      Of course, all of my email that was downloaded is gone along with all of my addresses, etc. (if they find my computer I will be so relieved--it even has my latest tax return in PDF form in the files). I'm sending this via web mail to addresses in that address book.

      I am going to have to replace two computers, their peripherals, a tv, and a broken turntable pretty quickly, but it won't be instantaneous. Meanwhile, the kids are okay, the cats, who were in the house at the time are okay, and thankfully I wasn't at home, though I usually work at home on Fridays. The burglars evidently knocked on the door first (footprints in the grass from where they parked) and with no response, broke in. I wonder, if I'd answered the door, if they'd have pushed their way in. So, if it was going to happen, better to not be at home, and the cats hid like all cats should. (Beth, who called it in, said the sheriffs were kind of cute, because they kept telling each other "shut the door--the cats have to stay in!") At another juncture, the sheriff on duty took the crime scene guy through the house. They got to my bedroom and he told the CSI guy "they ransacked this one good." To which I had to reply, "actually, they didn't touch this one. It's my mess." Really funny--but here is where I keep my dismantled antiques, and I'd dumped a load of clean laundry on my bed this morning, planning to fold and put it away tonight.

      The contractor who worked on my house when I moved in is coming over tomorrow to look at the door, and we'll see about not only repairing but reinforcing it.

      I'll send this now, and in the next couple of days I'll try to check my mail once or twice a day, but don't expect to hear from me much for a week or so. I'm going to be on the phone a lot to make sure that I track the credit information and block any accounts that might have been compromised. I've already arranged to close my checking account and rearrange direct deposits and withdrawals.

      It sure would be easier if I had my computer to do all of this work. . .



Amos has my email address, but I think he has one that is blocked. So ask Amos for my address if you want to write and don't mind that I won't see it right away--but instead of the stillyriversage part, use dwy5812syc@ Put that in front of the other part that Amos has and you can reach me.

This is the pits, by the way. Everything was backed up--but they got the backup drive. Little shits dropped and broke a perfectly good turntable, too. Cassette cases strewn on the floor like leaves on the strand (isn't that a poem or song?)

I'll recover, I'm mostly just pissed off at all of the lost papers (my book chapter, my thesis, several MS level papers) and photos and such.

SRS

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: gnu
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 08:24 AM

SOB. My deepest sympathies.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 09:36 AM

How awful, SRS! Really glad that you and the cats are okay. It sounds as though you've got some good clues to them being caught. I cannot imagine how such a violation must feel. Makes one want to armour plate the doors, etc!

Be safe and good luck on recovering all of your stuff.

kat

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Feb 05 - 09:38 AM

Been there, a home invasion. All they got that time was my wife's purse, and all they ended up taking was money.

We, too, were did not feel violated, but pissed off.

At least a neighbor got the goods on 'em. And I'll betcha that the cops find that the little punks have been at this game for quite a while.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: open mike
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 01:27 AM

not just off line, but ripped off!
so sorry to hear this..hoping for
a good outcome...recovery for you
and punishment for them!!
best of luck!!

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 01:31 AM

Good regarding offline.

Bad about the ripoff.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Amos
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 10:26 AM

You are an irresponsible ass and a guttersnipe, Guest.

A

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: mg
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 12:41 PM

bad bummer...I sure hope you recover what you need.The rest of us should take heed about backing up the backups. One way to back up important files is to email them to another computer in another location, plus have backups somewhere else. Also, every now and then print paper copies of your most important stuff, and send those copies of your most precious photos to family members etc. in other locations. mg

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 12:56 PM

So sorry to hear this - you will be missed on the Mudcat. Hope you get back on soon. I haven't forgotten the help and advice that you gave me last year and I appreciated that very much.

"May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the crotch of a person who screws up your day and may their arms be too short to scratch...' - A Friendship Prayer recently sent to me, and which I feel fits this situation!

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Peace
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 03:35 PM

Do you have hard copy of your thesis or backups somewhere? I hope so.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: fat B****rd
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 03:38 PM

Bastards.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 01:51 AM

I just found this thread. Thanks for posting it. (And what would a Mudcat thread be without occasional guest pot shots?)

No news on the investigation. Seems the criminal investigation folks take the weekend off, and we had a bank holiday on Monday that they also observed. That probably spells doom for my hard drive. All said and done, I think I prefer that someone format it than they spread the account information around. Speculation is that they won't sell to a pawn shop because they're regularly questioned regarding stolen property, that computers are instead formatted and resold. It is a great loss. Years of work that was imperfectly backed up. I'll get another external hard drive, and this sucker is going someplace totally out of the way when it isn't being written to.

I spoke to the investigator today, and he was surprised to learn that there was information about the theives (because he hadn't read the report yet). You'd think if there was a chance of catching people, like in, there were witnesses, that they might try a little harder to act quickly. "If she recognises them in a line up then there is a good chance of prosecution," he said of my neighbor's role in this. Heck with the "prosecution," the criminal justice system in Texas is a joke. Where are my computer hard drives?

This is turning out to be the February from Hell. Both kids have had the flu (not concurrently), one cat had to go to the vet for an expensive checkup, and now the computers and the house repairs. And guess what--since I telecommute for my university work from home--Allstate caps what I can claim on equipment used for work at $2500! No reason why the limit, it just is there. So now we're doing the dance of what was and wasn't used for work. Everything else is paid for at a "replacement" value (but they want to replace old stuff at the old levels--so there will be a lot of arguing about what comes standard on computers today versus a few years ago, and the relative prices involved). Tons of software went out the door, easily equalling the value of the hardware. I was very efficient, even if my house is messy. I had all of the disks in a shoe box next to the computer, so on those occasions when something had to be reinstalled, it was handy.

There is an essay or two in this.

SRS

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Mudlark
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 02:23 AM

SRS....So sorry to hear of this...gad, just a computer disaster, with disappearing data, bad enough, but to lose everything. Doesn't bear thinking about. Just hope you had thesis, etc. backed up with paper. I bought a 2nd hard drive 2 months ago and have yet to use it. Uh, think I'll do it right now. Hope you have luck in reclaiming your stolen goods.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Morticia
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 04:41 AM

that's really crap news, SRS,I'm so sorry.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 05:00 AM

Really sorry to hear, and sadder still to learn of the hiatus in the investigation, I mean if they have a licence plate number they can trace the car owner, and/or put out an APB straightaway. Sad fact is that the longer it takes to catch these kids, the less chance there is of recovering your property. I have a spare keyboard, and a working tower, plus lots of software, gimme a shout if I can help.
Giok

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 04:37 PM

Thanks for the offer--I'm building up the supply of essentials now, and I fully intend to document every speck of software that disappeared. For example, it's bad enough that they got my new version of the Dreamweaver MX suite, but they got my OLD version also! So those are both being counted as lost. And that's easily $400 there, bought at academic prices. But I can only buy them each once at the university, so I'll have to list their replacement value as coming from a commercial source, at two to three times the price.

A friend told me about the loss of a bunch of stuff last year (he is building a house in a very rural area of West Texas, and is going the solar power energy efficient route. He's a retired engineer who is a HAM radio operator, among other things. Here is some of his advice:

When my utility trailer was
robbed a few years ago the insurance folks said I had "replacement cost"
insurance, ha. They first devaluated everything I had based on the purchase
date given, then said we will pay up to that devaluated amount when you buy
the replacement item, and send us the receipt, creeps. They will use an
online database to try to match up what you lost todetermine the price to
devaluate, so you will need to fight them on their equivalents which are
cheapest thing they can find in most cases. You are sure to lose out on the
computers as they depreciate so fast. You will want to provide as much
information as possible, possibly overwhelm them with line items. Do not
provide a quick list as they will try to keep you from adding to the
original list.
The insurance guys tried to say that my deluxe $600 ham radio was a
$29 "talk about" walki talky, ha. If you say you lost a super-computer they
will match that to a super deal on a computer as a replacement.

I'm working on that list now!

SRS

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Alba
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 05:16 PM

Really pissed to hear of this SRS. I don't know how I missed this sad news.
Turns the stomach.
If I can assist you any way please do not hesitate to let me know.
I have a very large Music Library and would be only too happy to help you replace some of your lost Tunes if I have them. On Tape or CD whatever you wish.
Now if I was a private Detective I would seek out the little Bastards and show then what it's like to wear (literally) a sizeable Boot up their ass requiring surgical removal but alas I am but me... so if there is anything....just let me know.
Let's just hope that the Police get a break and perhaps recover some of your Loss.
You are in my Thoughts
Best of Wishes
Jude

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 07:30 PM

That is sound advice about the insurance companies. When Night Owl's hosue burnt to the ground, it took her over a year, if I remember rightly, to document everything she'd owned and lost, with as much detail as possible. They devalued everything based on original price, date of purchase, etc. just as your friend has told you. The insurance company fought payout every step of the way. This after she and her family had been loyal customers for many decades. Good luck.

It used to be in WY one could call the DMV with a license number and find out who it was registered to. If that's possible, I think I would, then go directly to the DA and see if you could light a fire under them to get the cops in gear. Just a thought.:-)

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 07:57 PM

Lord, Maggie! What a rotten break!!

There's a cautionary tale here. And it's got me off my duff.

I back up stuff I write every day, usually on floppies, which I keep near the computer. But at one time, in addition to that, I backed up all my essential stuff about once every week or so, and Barbara took it with her when she went to work at the library and stowed it in her locker. The following week, I would give her a new set of back-ups which she would take to her locker, and bring the previous disks home for the next back-up. That way, if we got burglarized or if our apartment building got hit by a six-ton meteorite, we were covered. Then I got lazy. Haven't done that for a long time, and lately I've been thinking that it wouldn't be too dumb an idea to reinstitute the plan.

But I've been slow getting started because of a lot of general all-around crap that has accumulated on my hard disk. You know the drill:   the usual accumulation of downloaded articles that you plan to read later (like the five stacks of magazines under the bed), old e-mail (like the piles of old mail with the rubber bands around them that you want to go through before you toss out), the virtual boxes under the desk, and the pile of newspapers containing the comics you never got around to reading, the usual detritus that one accretes through daily living or warping through cyberspace. Not wanting to send Barbara to work with a nine-inch stack of CD-RWs containing a lot of unsorted debris, we've been gleaning through the hard disk trying to get it down to a reasonable level of what we probably want to keep before I start burning CDs.

Right now, if some footpad slithered through a window and slunk off with the tower under his arm, we'd be SOL!

Back up now! Sort later!

Now where did I put that box of CD-RWs!?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 11:17 AM

The UPS man just rang the bell, delivering my new DSL modem. This will offer some much needed relief. Once I post this I'll turn off the system and install the modem.

Don, have you been here in my house? You described exactly the piles of magazines I haven't read yet (or cut out The New Yorker cartoons). And the funny pages from the newspapers, piled in a bin next to the recycling. And the . . . well, anyway, you were right. And it's time to get out a shovel and the recycle bin, I think.

On another thread Geoff the Duck reminded me that DVDs hold a lot more data than CDs, and Don, I saw a brand-name DVD burner last week at Fry's Electronics for $99. It did the - and + and double layer stuff and all of the permutations of these. If I didn't have one already in the new computer (bought on Monday) I'd go get one of those. I'll be using Ghost (and as we discussed on yet another thread, will be testing it after I run a backup, not just assuming it worked) and the DVD-R and hopefully cut down on the number of disks needed for a backup like that. And I'll be replacing the external hard drive.

Meanwhile, it is occuring to me just how much must be documented in this claim. I had to pick up a cable to install the floppy since the new computer doesn't come with one (but I still have a lot of those around and will be putting them onto CDs ASAP) and I realized that I also needed to replace a printer cable. The fact that I had a spare USB cable in a drawer to connect the printer (USB or parallel) which might have meant that I didn't ask for the $20 to replace the parallel cable that I was using with the other printer. Since they're going to try to nickle and dime me, I have to mention every single old bit and furbellow, and every single software program and even the multiple versions I lost (that's a lot). For example, I bought Endnote several years ago, and then I upgraded it for the same price. Both disks were in the box that dispeared, so in effect, two Endnote programs are now gone (what's worse, I lost several hundred bibliographic entries from the last 10 years--with this realization I am as depressed as can be at the thought of reproducing that work.) The insurance company has placed an arbitrary upper limit of $2500 on what they will replace on my computer since I use it for work (the bastards!) so it is extremely fortunate that I had installed some of this software on my children's computer for their use. The cost will have to be recovered from what was on their machine. In this instance, I can count my blessings that I have bright, inquisitive children, and it was easier to install my software on their machine for them to practice web design and flash programming and such than to let them tie up my machine with the practice.

SRS

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 11:36 AM

Success! I'm once again on DSL! Now I can do all of the searching on components and programs that were lost.

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 11:57 AM

Good on ya gal, remember lots of us got lots of bits and pieces stashed away on a 'just in case I need it' basis. My Mother always used to say, "Keep a thing 7 years and you'll find a good use for it" so I've got plenty bits, don't forget!
Giok

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 04:19 PM

Yes, and thanks, but to begin with I'm expecting my insurance company, into which I have paid thousands of dollars over the years, to do their bit.

Just had a call from the detective working this case. I have the car description and license number (I could have gotten those from the neighbor, but I couldn't see much point at the time, thinking thieves would be long gone) and it leads to a house where the original car owner no longer lives, apparently.

Last night as I was driving home from the grocery store I noticed a big cadillac parked under the freeway a few blocks from the house, and remarked to the kids that this was the kind of car that supposedly was driven by the burglars. I thought they'd be incredibly stupid to be in an area where they'd be seen, but I mentioned it to the detective. Since I had no tag numbers to go by and would have had to make a big detour to get back to take another look, I had shrugged it off as coincidence. But I'll keep this information in the pickup and do a little driving around the neighborhoods north of here. Who knows? How many cream colored 1992 Cadillac DeVilles with a maroon rag top are in this part of town, do you suppose? (And damn, they could have lugged off half of my house in a car that big! I'm lucky the neighbor saw them when she did or my couch might have been in there also!)

He also said that since Pawn Shops are regulated and must keep track of stuff they take in, that local flea markets are much more likely to be where the computers will turn up. I've printed up a list of the markets in this county. There's one down the hill a couple of miles from here. I think I'll drop in this weekend. He said if I see any of my stuff to call the patrol officer number and they'd impound it.

Hell. I may just have to do this myself. Sounds like he's not planning to do any more with this until next week.

SRS

Subject: RE: SRS Offline
From: Don Firth
Date: 25 Feb 05 - 06:33 PM

Some years ago, I went out to my car to go to work and found the small back window broken. Opening the door on the driver's side, I saw a hole and some dangling wires where my stereo used to be. Called work to tell them I'd be late, then called the police.

Fortunately, I had written down the serial number of the stereo. Seven o'clock that evening, I got a call from the police. They wanted me to verify the number, then said that they had caught the little son of a bitch. He had five car stereos in his possession when they caught him, and had been busted for the same thing a number of times before. He apparently was in the business of taking orders for car stereos, which he got from "midnight auto supply." He was fourteen years old.   

They were preparing to lock the kid up and throw away the key when he and his mother moved out of town to parts unknown.

I was fairly lucky that time. Let's hope you have similar luck.

Don Firth