Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was at work, minding my own business, when my cell phone started ringing innocently. I answered the phone with my usual jubilant attitude and was met with the sobbing voice of my wife, who was trying to tell me we had been robbed. She had left the house for less than an hour and a half, and upon returning, she noticed that there was a mess in the hallway, and Taco, our chihuahua, was sitting on top of it, smiling and waiting for his master. Upon further scrutiny,she saw everything we owned laying upon the floor of our house. Every drawer, cupboard, pantry, all of our entertainment center belongings, bathroom cabinets, all of it, out and on the floor.
Yes we had been very professionally burgled.
The burglars had gotten exactly what they wanted. Mostly, all of my wifes jewelry, and I mean all of it. Her stuff, her mothers stuff, her grandmothers stuff, and her great grandmothers stuff. Stuff her friends had given her when her kids were born. You get the picture. These boys decided they needed something to carry this booty in so they took my X-Box 360 case, with well over 1,000.00 dollars worth of games,and controllers,and also made off with my PSP(with all my games, carrying case and memory card), my digital camera, and an old Toshiba satellite laptop I had inherited from my wife.(luckily, my X-box was up on the entertainment center, hooked up, so i don't think they saw it right off).
Well long story short, I decided to just replace my laptop so I picked up one of these.

I just wanted something I could run HL2 on, and compose with the editor at work. Came to 1299.00(US) after rebates(not counting tax, a new case, a laptop cooler, and an extended warranty). I looked at alienware, Dell and all the others, but the truth is, to get a top of the line machine you have to seriously bend over. Even more so than with desktops. This machine offered enough firepower for now and is upgradeable later on so I thought it looked good for me. So from my tragedy comes a nice shiny new laptop.
Meh!, life is funny.(and insurance companies have you by the balls!)

Would'nt you agree Orph?

God Juim.

I'm sorry bud. You lost way more stuff than I did.

I dunno what I could do but if you need anything, a shoulder or whatever, gimme a yell.

I still gots your phone number. I don't use them to bother people with, hence my not calling you previously, but if you need to gab...

---

The best things in life, aren't things.

tough getting robbed and all.

That new laptop is very nice though.

i'm really sorry to hear this, Juim. best wishes to you and your wife in dealing with the grief.

---

i eat paint

Well, you know, grief is a powerfull word. I would say it applies mostly to my wife. I'm a bit more pragmatic about possesions. She did lose many un-replacable memories. As a male, accustomed to life as a human, I kind of plan most of my lifes events and posessions with the possibility of loss or failure. I do thank you for the condolences though.

Still here, and kicking. Thats my take on the subject.

Geez I don't know. If someone took that much stuff from me, I don't think I'd be able to shake it off so much as you. At least you're not pursuing a personal vendetta against 'em...

Getting robbed sucks, I can only assume much moreso when you lose irreplaceable stuff. Glad to hear neither you nor your family were harmed.

---

o

Thank you very much. I guess that we figured out that my wife came home and interrupted their crime while in progress. I am truly greatfull that nothing worse came of it. As far as vengeance and anger goes, I don't see the point. The stuff is untraceable and irreplaceable(a lesson about weighing the difference bewtween a costly insurance rider and a floor safe). It's like trying to find certain snowflakes in a snowstorm. They're gone. My wife has a much harder time accepting this, but she is tenacious in many of lifes adventures. She is slowly accepting this reality though.

...could you just fix that link in your first post? The margins here are killing me...

While I sympathize with you, while still being glad that you have the attitude that someone should have after this situation, the margins are a killer.
The only reason I didn't post an image macro about how God does terrible things to kittens every time you stretch the page is because of your situation.

Stadric = 2 parts sympathy, 1 part anal retentiveness.

---

Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

Juim, that's terrible. Must be really tough, especially for your wife. Hope everything goes well for you, and with your positive attitude it probably will. :smile:

---

What the Snarkpitters listen to!

My condolences to you mate, and my respect for how well you are taking it. Best of luck getting everything sorted out.

---

[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Man, that really, really sucks. Imagining those people having their fingers everywhere, in your own home, just taking the things you compiled over half a lifetime... brrr

I don't know whether this helps or not but I believe there is generally nothing you can do to prevent being burgled. It happened to me, most family members, neighbors, friends... at least once in a lifetime. And that in a city famous for it's super-low crime rates. I think in such situations you often wonder why from all the people in the world they chose you, if there was something you could have done to prevent it ect, ect... I don't think there is. I think it's no use to waste too much thought on this (while buying that security door might make your wife feel a bit saver :wink: ). I admire your attitude. I think, I couldn't have stayed so calm myself, although it's certainly the best thing you can do.

And on a lighter note: Congrats on the laptop, it's my dream-PC in laptop-form. :smile:

---

Why snark works.

wow, that sucks man
good luck on gettin' through that financially
hope they got caught and you get your stuff back, of course then you'd have an extra computer
as before stated, i can't imagine being this nonchalant after something like that

Whew. Keep your head up, man.

---

:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer

Obviously this isn't an adequate comment, but, that blows.

Enjoy your new stuff!

---

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I'm especially sad about the heirlooms... However, I am glad your wife was not in the house at the time of the burglary.

In my mind, I often invent tales of fantastical irony, like the theives developing a gold allergy and dying a slow painful death with your wife's belongings in their hands. However this rarely happens. People don't steal so they can roll around in the goodies, they try to sell it off. The quicker you reported it, the quicker the cops enact a "pawn watch" where the key items are put on a list to all local hawkeries so they can record/apprehend the seller.

Nice laptop.

---

I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

Well I think we also have to look at it from the robber's point of view: these people often have no jobs and no chance of getting a job.

They know a good loot when they see one. However I would like to see them have the decency to leave family hairlooms and stuff like that.

If I was a robber I would see an oppurtunity and grab it. An Xbox 360? That'll get me takeways for the whole week. A P.S.P.? that'll go towards my rent.

You see? These people are in very difficult situations. I'm with Jimmi, I don't really care for middle class couples/families getting robbed; as long as no one is hurt or nothing sentimental is taken.

They'll replace the stolen items in no time. Who I really feel sorry for are the poor people who get robbed because they don't have money to replace things.

---

Just Kidding

Just Kidding

That sucks dude, sorry to hear you got robbed. Like everyone has already mentioned, I'm impressed how well your taking it. I'd be pissed for weeks.

---

Ham and Jam Contributor
http://www.hamandjam.org

'Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!'

You could also look at it like this Flynn, "no chance of getting a job" is bulls**t, and they're certainly not putting the loot towards their kids' college funds. Why expect them to have "the decency to leave family hairlooms" if they didn't have the decency to NOT break into someone's home and steal their belongings in the first place? People who do that kind of stuff are lowlifes because of choices they made, and they're obviously not trying to better themselves by robbing innocent people who work for a living. The thief isn't the victim, the victim is.

---

o

Well I think we also have to look at it from the robber's point of view: these people often have no jobs and no chance of getting a job.
They know a good loot when they see one. However I would like to see them have the decency to leave family hairlooms and stuff like that.
If I was a robber I would see an oppurtunity and grab it. An Xbox 360? That'll get me takeways for the whole week. A P.S.P.? that'll go towards my rent.
You see? These people are in very difficult situations. I'm with Jimmi, I don't really care for middle class couples/families getting robbed; as long as no one is hurt or nothing sentimental is taken.
They'll replace the stolen items in no time. Who I really feel sorry for are the poor people who get robbed because they don't have money to replace things.

What reality to you live in man? In no way is robbery justified. Not even to survive. "Can't get Jobs" - ummm wrong. Burglers are actually extremely smart and crafty. There are thousands of jobs they can get. I think you need to re-read what you wrote, because this is a lot of BS.

Juim - theres not much I can say that would even remotely be adequate to the situation. Just know you have my condolences.

---

Posting And You

I have to disagree with you there Flynn. These guys are'nt just trying to survive. They're low life scum. They're inherently flawed human beings. Criminals.The fact that they are so thourough and good at what they do says that they have brains, but they are too lazy/or drugged up to care. Plus, they're only getting a fraction of what the stuff is worth, so I'm leaning towards junkie scum. America is not so bad off that common thievery is justified to feed your children.

And thank you to everone else for the condolences.

Um...Flynn, the reason they're poor is because the are too lazy to get a job or try to do something with their life, just because you're not making it great in life doesn't mean you should ruin someone else's sense of security, you just lost quite a bit of the respect I gave you by default when I first read your handle

While i don't agree with Flynn, i do disagree with putting everyone on
the rubbish tip for being a criminal. Crime has deep roots that
perhaps the moneyed classes can never understand.

Even so, I don't condone theft and this thread is not to discuss the
circumstance of criminals, it is to help Juim. I have a recurring dream
on confronting burgalars (and i can see their faces too, the "lowlifes"
from the local). It's good you are being strong for Mrs Juim, i'd be
distraught at someone tearing up my posessions without a care.

Insurance covers it all I hope?

Ouch -- sorry to hear about what happened, Juim. Hopefully getting things back together won't be too difficult.

Hang in there dude -- you got people pulling for ya.