Thursday, November 03, 2005
Stolen
Last December, the day before my trip to Pasadena, my house was broken into. That was my first experience with Tucson's infamously high property crime rates. They didn't get much, but the things they did get were annoying to replace. The total value of stolen goods was less than the deductable on my home insurance, so it wasn't worth making a claim. Plus, making a claim would increase my rates, making it a dumb move. In general, making small claims on insurance of any kind isn't smart. Insurance is for big stuff. It's for when your house burns down, and you're out $150,000. Or when your car is stolen. Or when you're diagnosed with cancer and facing years of chemo and radiation treatments. Insurance doesn't make much sense for small stuff because the insurance companies will, on average, charge you more than you'll ever get in benefits. This occurs for two reasons. First, insurance companies have overhead to run their businesses (employees, buildings, phone bills). Second, you can lower your risk below that calculated by the insurance company. In this way, over the long term, you'll save money -- even if you get some things stolen. The money you save from not paying insurance premiums makes up for that.
I've taken some security measures to make my house safer. No more break-ins so far.
Two weeks ago I came home from work and parked my car in my carport. I had my road bike on the back, on a hitch rack. When I drive to work (rarely), I park about 1/2 mile from campus, so I ride my bike from the parking spot to save time. So my bike was on my bike rack. I've always figured my front yard is a pretty safe place, especially when I'm at home. The yard is flanked by high walls, so anyone coming into the yard has to make a frontal approach, and is greeted by automatic motion-sensor floodlights. I parked my car, went inside and worked on my computer. I left my bike on the rack. An hour or so later I went outside and the bike was gone. I stared in disbelief. The thief had to waltz into my front yard under the glare of the floodlights and spend probably 60-120 seconds unhooking the bike from the rack (it was held on with an awkward screw mechanism). In addition, my front door was open and my two dogs were "on patrol" in the living room, about 4 feet from my bike as the... fly flies. Now that takes guts. Breaking into someone's house while they're at work isn't too risky. But stealing a bike while they're home... that's a different sort of crime.
To top it off, I went into my back yard to do some yard work last weekend. I looked high and low, but couldn't locate my aluminum step ladder. It's no longer located in my backyard, so it, too, has been stolen.
Sometimes I really hate this town.
I've taken some security measures to make my house safer. No more break-ins so far.
Two weeks ago I came home from work and parked my car in my carport. I had my road bike on the back, on a hitch rack. When I drive to work (rarely), I park about 1/2 mile from campus, so I ride my bike from the parking spot to save time. So my bike was on my bike rack. I've always figured my front yard is a pretty safe place, especially when I'm at home. The yard is flanked by high walls, so anyone coming into the yard has to make a frontal approach, and is greeted by automatic motion-sensor floodlights. I parked my car, went inside and worked on my computer. I left my bike on the rack. An hour or so later I went outside and the bike was gone. I stared in disbelief. The thief had to waltz into my front yard under the glare of the floodlights and spend probably 60-120 seconds unhooking the bike from the rack (it was held on with an awkward screw mechanism). In addition, my front door was open and my two dogs were "on patrol" in the living room, about 4 feet from my bike as the... fly flies. Now that takes guts. Breaking into someone's house while they're at work isn't too risky. But stealing a bike while they're home... that's a different sort of crime.
To top it off, I went into my back yard to do some yard work last weekend. I looked high and low, but couldn't locate my aluminum step ladder. It's no longer located in my backyard, so it, too, has been stolen.
Sometimes I really hate this town.
# posted by stratovolcano @ 9:15 PM 
