But I Had a Great Vacation...

[MacGyver]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

Her voice is a mix of R2D2 and a donkey...

Robo-A$$.
Done.
You're welcome.

[toedtoes]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

Robo-A$$.
Done.
You're welcome.

I told her your suggestion. She was NOT amused.

[MacGyver]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

I told her your suggestion. She was NOT amused.

You should get a bird with a better sense of humor. (Humour if it's British)

[toedtoes]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

She's Amazonian. So it would be humor in Portuguese or Spanish...

[Malamute]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

Gads, what a horrible thing to come home to. Glad you at least had a good trip and good experiences getting life back on track.

Id have been taking pictures upon entering and finding them there, id also have been sorely temped to wait for them to be sure they were apprehended. Glad ti went as well as it did all things considered. Dont be surprised if not much happens to them.

[toedtoes]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

They pled out. Silent man got 3 years misdemeanor probation. There was no proof that he had been involved with the actual theft.

Straw-haired Lady got 5 years felont probation as she had been seen on the property by the police the day before I returned home AND she had used her email (with her name) to access my kohls account to purchase a $300 gift card with my kohls charge - that meant she had access into my stolen computer to get my account password.

Due to the stay at home orders, the sentencing was done via zoom. Silent Man sat facing the judge and made eye contact throughout. Straw-haired Lady sat sideways and stared at a blank wall throughout. All in all I'm satisfied with the outcome.

I did write a victim's impact statement that the DA read. The judge thanked me for it and the DA pointed that out to me afterwards - apparently they were impressed with it.

Both perps have a "stay away" order - if they come near me or my home, they violate their probations and go straight to jail.

When I called 911, I did remain in my driveway and took photos of them walking away. I watched where they went and told the operator as they went. The biggest issue was that at this point, all things worth stealing were already stolen, so I could only state they were going through my papers.

[Malamute]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

Being the highly untrusting and suspicious type, I keep all important papers locked up in a safe or safe deposit box and never leave passwords to anything on my computer, I clear all history and cookies every time I shut off my computer, only allow site cookies, no third party, and never let sites log me in automatically, even forums. I clear history and cookies several times a day if on very long. Email isnt bookmarked, just the providers main site, and still try not to have anything particularly sensitive in email storage. I manually disconnect and connect to my service provider, and physically unplug the modem cable if a wired connection.....a friend was involved in computer work and security at a university, he told many tales of security issues, people not taking enough caution and picking up bugs, sometimes their computer would turn on in the middle of the night and transfer whatever data about them they could find, load more bugs, then shut off, and the people generally never knew it happened. Sometimes their computers were highjacked and used as remote servers so stuff looked like it came from them even though they had no idea there computer was compromised and used as a remote server. I was surprised to hear many people simply leave their computer turned on and connected to the net all the time whether using it or not.

My friend also told me to be sure to always use good reputable virus protection and backup bug finder types that can help find bugs.

I keep an old school address book with passwords, and keep it in a safe place, the sites and passwords are in shorthand and code also, stuff that I understand and can decipher but wouldnt make sense or help anyone else.

Door hardware can be upgraded with longer (usually 3" drywall or gold torx hardened) screws, it makes it MUCH harder to kick a door in. The commonly used screws are an inch or less long and only go into the thin cheap jamb material rather than the framing. Replacing both the latch plate and deadbolt screws and the hinge screws can help. I also put them in the door side of all previously mentioned locations. It may require about 2" screws right by the door latch bolt into the door so the screws dont protrude into the latch cavity in the door and prevent proper handle operation. Theres film available to reduce the ability to break windows out.

Using the crossbar security brackets (that utilize a 2x4 across the door) can seriously upgrade the ability of doors to resist entry, doors unseen from the street when away would be good to so secure, and on the main door when home and the casual summer riot season is upon us. All the longer screws can be installed with a drill and proper tips.

[toedtoes]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

Yeah, we replaced the old wood back door with a new steel door and frame. The front door has always been steel and I have a security door on it. They tried to prybar it open, but couldn't. The back door had been the weak point, but it was an odd size door so I never got around to switching it out.

I am getting a storm door with pet gate for the back door. That way, when I am home, I can open the main door and let the dog go in and out as she wishes, while being able to close the steel door and have full security still.

Once I get the motorhome back - they just approved the final repairs - I will move all the camping gear back in and clean out my back room and install a safe. Then everything will get locked up - including camera equipment, etc.

[Malamute]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

Good to hear. Im glad you are upgrading doors, the next miscreants may not be as passive. Sad that we have to consider such things, but there exist people that have no qualms about crossing those lines most of us respect.

Keep in mind the longer screws, even with the improved doors. The actual jamb isnt often well secured to the framing on both latch and hinge side.

This was one of the search results on youtube, it illustrates the hinge side weakness as well as the latch side when short hardware is used, and shows that door construction type, with the wood panels, is not very strong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-3iIlDM1M

My mom has a security storm door, I think Ill move it with her to the new house and get another one for the back door to the garage. It has a higher security latch, strong grill work, and metal frame that screws to the door frame.

[toedtoes]

Re: But I Had a Great Vacation...

We did use long screws. The guy who installed it said to run a pipe through the jam into the wall for the latches.