So someone broke into my car last night

[Spikesoldier]

so you dont have any rough drafts or even like a rough outline of any of your papers? you failed to leave the "master" copy of these on your pc or dont have any handwritten notes about them?

its fine, worst case scenario you have a small amount of residual information in your mind about those papers you know, content, and organization of those final-draft papers that were on your thumb drive with no backups anywhere.

talk to your professors and tell them your plight. professors have much more flexibility and discretion over what flies and what fails compared to high school.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Originally posted by: Captante
Wow that totally sucks!

Rather then post the reward offer on here, why not print up some signs & post them in the area the car was parked in?

(Obviously if you get any responses you'll need to be very careful about how you handle meeting up with the perp to avoid getting robbed again)

I posted some signs up in the area, but no calls yet. I also asked permission to tape some of them in the nearby restaurants, so that may help prevent that from happening again to someone else.

Originally posted by: jagec
Then it was just bad luck. If you'd been leaving your valuables in the car all the time, I might get on your case, but EVERYONE leaves some stuff in their car for a few hours at an event...and it sounds like you covered it up as best you could.

I rarely keep anything of value in my car. I took my bag because I had class today and I wanted to get some of my work done at my brother's house. I almost left my cell phone in my car just because I didn't need it during the concert - you can't hear anything in there anyways. Good thing I kept it with me.

 

[BarneyFife]

Its not the end of the world. I'm sure your college career will be just fine.

 

[altonb1]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
Its not the end of the world. I'm sure your college career will be just fine.

Coming from BarneyFife, I'm not sure that is so encouraging...

That sucks, OP. Good luck with your professors. And tghe suggestion to check local dumpsters, etc is a good one.

 

[tomywishbone]

The concert ended at 10:30pm? OK then...

Rock n' Roll:music::beer:

Bloodsimple They sound good.

Suicidal Tendencies wed night @ House of Blues, Sunset Strip. If you can make it, we've got an extra ticket.:beer:

 

[Stg-Flame]

Offer is appreciated and I would love nothing more than to get away from all of this drama for a bit. Unfortunately, I am going to be busy every day of the week trying to get everything caught up.

 

[SsupernovaE]

Thank God I'm paranoid. I backup everything to at least my hard drive, flash drive, then to online places.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I had all of it saved to the school's computers, but they recently had a "massive technical error" (their words) that erased all of the student log-on information... including most files. They said that there is a chance that the files can be retrieved, but we were informed not to rely on them getting the files to work. And my PC at my house has been undergoing repairs. I guess when something bad is going to happen, it will happen at the worst possible moment.

As for the dumpster idea, I am going to head back into town with a shovel and go digging through them. If I can find even one folder it will help immensely.

 

[upsciLLion]

That is super shitty. Sorry for your loss, and good luck getting things back on track.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Thanks to everyone with the support. I am still trying to track down my last two professors that were unable to meet with me today at college. I have to run to town because a friend told me that he has a spare car window that I can have. If anything, I can just mount it into the tracks for a temporary window until I can get a new window (his is quite old) and install it properly. I probably won't be able to post again tonight and with my meetings tomorrow, I probably won't be able to post again until late tomorrow.

Thanks again.

 

[RESmonkey]

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
[ATOT] Too bad you didn't catch them in the act so you could shoot them in the stomach and then poke out their eye with a pen and then pee in the socket and give them AIDS [/ATOT]

Nice.

I would have stuck them up if I had a handgun. Which I don't. Because I"m 17. Grr...

 

[MyThirdEye]

Sucks. sorry to hear about that.

 

[marvdmartian]

Originally posted by: sheemone00

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
hasnt anyone ever told you to keep your valuables in the trunk?

If they smashed the window, couldn't they have just popped the trunk and looked for valuables in there too?

Two reasons to put valuables in your trunk:
1. Theft coverage on your car insurance will only cover things bolted down (stereo, etc), and anything locked in the trunk. The backpack in your backseat isn't covered. The backpack in your trunk is. I know, it's stupid, but it's the way it was explained to me 20+ years ago, when I was in the same boat.
2. Many cars have remote trunk openers next to the driver's seat, but many trunks have a way to defeat that function, just for this reason. Then the only way they're going to get into your trunk is to have the key, pry the trunk lid open, or remove the back seat. Since the window was broken, it's obvious they didn't have the key, and the other 2 would've taken too long &/or made too much noise.

Remember, all you generally have to do is slow a thief down 30 seconds, and he'll pick an easier target. Shoot, find someone to build you a simple circuit with a blinking red light, and mount it in your dash to simulate a car alarm, and you'd be amazed how many thieves will pass your car up for another one!

OP, sorry for your loss. Been there, done that, wore out the t-shirt. Always a bummer, seldom comes out well for the victim. Hopefully you have the serial/model numbers for anything of value, and maybe you'll get lucky and get back your more expensive items. If you don't have it already, look into getting renter's insurance.......it'll cover what your car insurance doesn't.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Well, I have met with all but my Russian professor and am getting caught back up. I have been given an extension on my English Final Portfolio which can now be turned in on the 11th, rather than the 5th which is when we get out of college.

My Sociology professor just told me to do the best as I can to get here at 7:30 in the morning to start my final on the 3rd of December.

Psychology shouldn't be a problem as I only have one Student Project (oddly enough, it's a Stress Scales Test...) and then the final which I should have no problem with.

As for Russian... I don't think I will be able to get that done so easily. Most of it was memorization; and with the recent events, my mind is scattered right now. But I shall find out what she wants me to do about the final when I meet with her today.

 

[wheresmybacon]

I learned this lesson once when I was your age OP and never had to learn it again. Never, and I mean never, leave anything in plain view inside a car you don't want stolen.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: sheemone00

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
hasnt anyone ever told you to keep your valuables in the trunk?

If they smashed the window, couldn't they have just popped the trunk and looked for valuables in there too?

As an ex car thief/ juvenile delinquent, i can tell you that there are rarely times we would bother with trunks unless we specifically saw someone put something valuable in it. usually it was a walk by and look in, if there was a bag/ light stuff to grab it was a done deal. rarely will you find those kinds of people randomly bashing in windows unless they see something worth the risk to grab. trunks arent as easily popped as a window also, and it looks way more criminal to onlookers to bust into your trunk. at least people will think you left your keys in your car if youre messing about the windows.

i got caught once, did my time and stopped my life of thievery at age 17. the skillz have come in handy more than a few times over the past 2 decades since then however, so i dont regret it at all.



edit:

just read you had your stuff pretty well out of sight. sounds like it may have been someone watching you get out of your car to me. not an odd hit at all, and definitely bad luck for you.

Originally posted by: marvdmartian

Originally posted by: sheemone00

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
hasnt anyone ever told you to keep your valuables in the trunk?

If they smashed the window, couldn't they have just popped the trunk and looked for valuables in there too?

Two reasons to put valuables in your trunk:
1. Theft coverage on your car insurance will only cover things bolted down (stereo, etc), and anything locked in the trunk.
2. Many cars have remote trunk openers next to the driver's seat, but many trunks have a way to defeat that function, just for this reason.

ed zachary

 

[Stg-Flame]

UPDATE: Well, the cops caught some kids that had broken into quite a few cars this passed week. Tons of stolen stuff was recovered but unfortunately, none of it was mine. They did admit to selling a lot of stuff to friends and accomplices, so I assume my stuff was sold or tossed. I have acquired all of the necessary papers I need to complete my finals so I think I am going to make it this Semester. Trying to memorize a new presentation for my Russian Final won't be easy as well as rewriting my Argument Paper.

Thanks again for all the support. I won't post again unless my items are found and returned to me... which I doubt will happen.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

This is why I never leave anything of value in my car.

 

[JulesMaximus]

That sucks. Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold out much hope that they'll find the perps. There's about a one in a million chance of that happening.

 

[OdiN]

I guess that will teach you not to leave valuable, important, and irreplacable information/items in your vehicle.

 

[HannibalX]

This is why I don't leave valuable things in my car.

 

[jandrews]

wtf they have honors courses at a community college??? I have never heard of such. Anyway, yeah it hurts, I had the same thing happen to me minus the books. I wasnt really angry at all though just dissapointed. When the cop came I told him I wasnt even going to bother calling them because it is a complete excersize in futility and I know they wont do anything and I will never see my stuff again.

The real kicker is when you try to put a claim on your insurance and they tell you that if it isnt bolted down to the car it isnt covered and thats with full coverage, that made me mad.