ezekiel's chariot - 張敦楷 ([info]pjammer) wrote,
@ 2006-11-13 15:02:00
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Current location:Long Beach, CA
Current mood: working
Current music:The Terms - Big City Concrete Wildflowers
Entry tags:life, plug

I Hate SF
Why I Hate San Francisco, #29112.

Last Thursday, went to SF for drinks with [info]madkiwi & company as well as a wine dinner party with Jason Korman from the early evening until around 11pm, only to return to my car and discover an odd breeze when I sat in my car; looking right, I noticed the passenger windshield smashed, and a ski jacket and other items stolen from the back seat of my car.

It's one of the most awful emotions to experience - that feeling of violation that some jerk decided to help himself to your belongings - to hell with your sense of security or respecting the sanctity of your space.

Apparantly, property crimes like this are so frequent that SFPD considers it a "low priority incident" and refused to send an officer to photograph the scene; I was told to file a police report online.

*Grumble* *Grumble*

Window has since been fixed, but the feeling of violation remains.

In happier news, was able to enjoy [info]madbard's superbly sublime "The Charmed Life" at the Secret Rose Theater Saturday and spending a few relaxing days here before I return to SF.

Regular programming to return shortly. In the meantime ...

KIWI!


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[info]madbard
2006-11-13 11:04 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much for coming! (Not to mention serving as our ersatz DP.)

As long as I'm here... sadly, I don't think I can make the movie tonight after all. Lots of work that I've been blowing off to do this musical has piled up rather precipitously, and I need to lock myself in the Tower of Music tonight.

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[info]radiantsun
2006-11-13 11:07 pm UTC (link)
I'm sorry to hear about your car. It really is an awful feeling.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:29 am UTC (link)
Yah. Horrible. The reaction of SFPD was the worst I think. "Whatever dude. This is not even worth sending an officer out to deal with."

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[info]choiceful
2006-11-13 11:13 pm UTC (link)
I had a similar experience in Oceanside. I looked at the seat and wondered how it was that ice had gotten there. (the idea of broken glass was apparently even more foriegn to my brain at first glance ;) When I lived in SF I used to sometimes hear windows getting smashed at night, but then again, I was living in the Tenderloin ;)

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:31 am UTC (link)
I remember oceanside being kinda ghetto-y. It's depressing this stuff happens so frequently.

In amusing news, the guy who fixed my car was telling me how he used to live in SF and had spark plugs in his motorcycle stolen every week - apparantly, the porcelain section of the plug was an excellent makeshift crack bowl and crackheads kept horking it to smoke their hits. He was buying spark plugs in dozen-packs because of all the stolen spark plugs he lost to crackheads.

Good gravey.

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[info]labrat2
2006-11-13 11:32 pm UTC (link)
Man, it was not a good night for you. Maybe you could get something for your Treo out of it. It could have been smashed when they broke the window of your car *wink wink*.

I had a bunch of Christmas presents stolen out of my trunk some years back. It was so weird to open the trunk and not find the stuff I'd bought. I really couldn't fathom it.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:32 am UTC (link)
Ha ... nah, I just need to suck it up as a bad evening and move on.

Awful feeling, yeah to have your stuff jacked. Was your Xmas shopping close enough to allow time for you to repurchase your gifts?

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[info]labrat2
2006-11-16 04:07 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I think it was. It was back in about 1989 or so. I think what attracted them was the beer that was in with the presents.

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[info]singinporcupine
2006-11-13 11:32 pm UTC (link)
I remember when I saw my little corolla broken into, the window smashed and they pull out the little plastic tab thing. It really made me feel like someone could have just destroyed my car when I was insight and I was paranold for a while.

the second time it happened I got comprehensive insurance and had an alarm installed, those two were not cheap. Right now I keep the alarm on and hopes no one is stupid enough to do anything to my car, that's 6 months ago and it's been decent so far. Among having to fight for parking and not having as much "room" with all the people here and downtown traffic, I do feel the squeeze of being in a big city. People in San Jose never understood my obsession to make sure there is parking.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:33 am UTC (link)
This is precisely why I do not live in SF. :P Sadly, most people don't really care about alarms so even having one is not much of a deterrent against theft. :P

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SF
[info]cazzy123
2006-11-13 11:38 pm UTC (link)
Now now Kai, don't get too aggressive with your anti SF rhetoric. I fear Chris Yeh has had too large an influence on you!

Sucks about your car!

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Re: SF
(Anonymous)
2006-11-14 11:34 pm UTC (link)
This Chris Yeh sounds like a very sensible fellow to me. He's probably also freakishly intelligent, stunningly handsome, and smells like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

And if you think Chris Yeh wrote this last paragraph, well, you need to stop being so cynical, Ben!

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Re: SF
[info]pjammer
2006-11-14 11:38 pm UTC (link)
HAHA ... welcome, Anonymous Commentor!

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[info]ladycalliope
2006-11-13 11:42 pm UTC (link)
Ugh, that sucks. It happens near my complex all the time. Sorry it had to happen to you.

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[info]michaelduff
2006-11-13 11:46 pm UTC (link)
*cough*

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[info]darkcryst
2006-11-14 12:53 am UTC (link)
Ouch, I've learnt the hard way - never leave anything that looks even half desirable in a car. Never.

Sucks, but use it as a learning experience I guess.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:39 am UTC (link)
Yeah. Dumb me. THought it was a nice area of SF. Grumble.

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[info]darkcryst
2006-11-16 06:26 am UTC (link)
Eh, it might be a nice area, but all it takes is one asshole :(

I mean I left my car in a well lit, video taped, well travelled area - and I got two windows smashed with a hammer (one for my discman, one just for kicks).

Sucks :(

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[info]dsign
2006-11-14 02:44 am UTC (link)
Once, I had a house broken into and vandalized. A week later, the police showed up to check for fingerprints on a broom the vandal touched. After 30 seconds, the officer left with the broom.

Several weeks later and without explaination, the broom shows back up on the front porch covered in nasty black dust. I call and track down the investigating officer who tells me that too much time has passed for them to get any good prints off of the broom.

None of this made me feel any less violated.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:40 am UTC (link)
That feeling of violation is the worst part ... the $$$ part is not nearly as significant as the feeling of being jacked.

And so it goes ...

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[info]foobiwan
2006-11-14 03:27 am UTC (link)
"doctor, it hurts when i do this!"

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:33 am UTC (link)
Que?

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[info]foobiwan
2006-11-17 02:51 am UTC (link)
"well, don't do it then!"

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[info]sierra_nevada
2006-11-14 05:58 am UTC (link)
I was also the victim of a smash-and-grab in San Francisco a few years ago - lost a G4 powerbook plus everything else in the bag. Makes me wish I'd rigged the bag with a powerful explosive that could be set off, lo-jack style. Of course, the TSA would probably frown on that (though they frown on everything - it's their assigned role in the security theatre in modern America).

Or a way to broadcast the Ethernet address of the laptoy to all DHCP servers such that the next time it is seen at the edge of the Internet, the police show up to apprehend the nearby miscreants.

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[info]b_1
2006-11-14 07:42 am UTC (link)
I've had that happen in SF as well. Luckily I was driving an oldsmobile at the time. When I searched the car to see what was missing, I found that the would be criminal made off with a fucking bottle of water. At least take something useful like the stereo.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:38 am UTC (link)
Hahaa ... what a pointless gank.

And the broken glass is $200 bucks. Gargh.

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[info]a_motley_fool
2006-11-14 12:52 pm UTC (link)
Living where I do I never keep anything in my car but when I lived in RI I was robbed -- only they didn't get much. They took a car radio that didn't work and I think that was it. The funny thing for me though was that I had a valuable calculator and a bunch of cash and cheques in a large math book -- and they didn't touch them.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:36 am UTC (link)
"Wanna keep your money? Hide it in your books!"

- The great sage Chris Rock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q8LxO4wnCQ

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[info]theinimitable_l
2006-11-14 05:31 pm UTC (link)
As I wrote in [info]crasch's journal, the animation is so endearingly sweet, but leaves one worrying about the litte bird.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:34 am UTC (link)
The 'thud' at the end of the video pretty much tells you what you need to know. :)

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[info]miriammiriam
2006-11-14 05:48 pm UTC (link)
that sucks! There really never is a police officer when you need one.

Someone has continually tried to break into my unimpressive looking dirty 1989 toyota tercel a few times now, and failed, but has managed to screw up my passenger side lock since they tried to dig it in with a screwdriver.

also, someone stole my dad's car last year, joyrode it around east oakland, then stole the battery. At least we got it back...probably because it was also an unimpressive toyota.

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[info]pjammer
2006-11-16 02:34 am UTC (link)
Worse - the police WON'T EVEN SHOW UP to take a report - "Oh, just file it online."

Boo.

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[info]owyn
2006-11-17 02:54 am UTC (link)
They're too busy fighting the war on moisture!

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[info]crabbyolbastard
2006-11-21 04:24 pm UTC (link)
I find the best way to deter this type of attack is a nice block of C4 connected to a sensor system. When the window breaks the car goes boom. Of course, your mileage may vary.

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[info]bradtastic
2006-12-10 01:18 pm UTC (link)
You ain't even crediting me for my advice that night?! Such ineptitude!

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