I was robbed. Please don't get robbed.

You might get robbed.  I’m not saying that you WILL, I’m saying that you might. 

I know that I tend to have behavior that errs on the side of assuming the worst is going to happen but hoping for the best, as I've described before here in this blog, but also in just my regular behavior.  For example, checking under the beds and basically doing a sweep of a room when entering unknown territory.  (Kate hates it when I do this when we are in hotels, just because it makes her nervous.)  

I also tend to lock doors everywhere, even when visiting folks in places that have no massive crime rates, like when I visit family who live in more remote places, or in Forks, WA (“Why did you lock the door?? Does anyone even OWN a house key to this place?”  You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.) 

I am usually just a hyper-aware person, and don’t be offended when I request that you walk in front of me, or when I ask you to hold your purse closer to your body.  I can’t help myself.  I’m ready to sucker punch anyone at almost any given point. 

One time I was walking through downtown Philadelphia very late at night (I had drifted away from my group because I am a slow walker) when some man came too close to me (I knew he was behind me for a few blocks) and he went to lay a hand on me, and I turned around and swung and nailed him.  He fell behind and crossed the street to get away from me, and it caused such a commotion that I was okay after that.  But perhaps since I have so many stories like this, that is why I am the way I am.

So, because I care about you so much, I have been thinking about you and your safety.  I am WELL aware that I am at an extreme end of the spectrum, so I probably think about these things more than you do (or should have to), but I hope that you’ll listen to what I have to say.
 

I don’t know if you know this, but my house was robbed about 14 months ago.  I didn’t tell everyone about it.  I don’t share major, major news with everyone until it has lonnng past (i.e. this entry), if ever.  I had a roommate at the time, and thankfully, the burglar did not even go up to her lair.  He did, however, get a lot of my stuff, like my laptop, a lot of jewelry including my dad’s wedding band, my Kindle, my camera, my passport and credit cards.  It sucked.

It sucks losing “stuff”, but it also sucks knowing that some dirty stranger just walked through your safety zone; the place you go to cuddle on the sofa with soup when you are not feeling well, where you play cards and watch TV and drink wine with your friends and family and cats.

Coming home that day, after the police left, what was louder than the loss of things and the work to be done logistically was the work to be done inside of both me and my roommate.  There is no amount of washing the bed linens and scrubbing away the fingerprinting powder (which was on literally everything) that will clean off the image of some thief running their grimy fingers on all of your stuff.

When the one place you should feel absolute refuge has been violated in the worst way, it changes something in you.  Something more than my laptop and my things were stolen that day from me. 

I have since purchased a maahhhhsive fancy security system, which video records and then sends me a message if anyone even so much as walks near my fence.  I also get about 30 notifications per day, with video clips of the cats walking all around the house. 

But this morning whilst I was brushing my teeth, I was worrying about you.  And I was thinking of what little things you could do to create a barrier of safety for yourself and your things.

While it really was awful that I was robbed, there are a few things that went to my benefit.  Because of my natural behaviors described above, it could have been a lot worse than it was.  I want to share some things with you about what I did right, and what I would change.

First of All, Put Yourself On The Map

Introduce yourself to your neighbors, or at the very least, be on waving-in-the-morning terms with them.  I know that in this day and age, we have grown to be very uncomfortable with actual face to face time with people we don’t know.  Listen, I’m not here to tell you how to interact with humans, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure that other humans know that you exist, and that you are on their “radar.” 

When my ex-long-term-boyfriend moved out of the house a few years back, one of the first things I did was go over to the neighbor’s house (he is a retired Baltimore city cop) and told him of the situation.  I told him that I am a single female, and that I need him to watch over me.  I told him, “If something looks wrong, it IS wrong.”  If anyone is ever creeping around my house, or if there are unknown people in my yard – call the cops.   He was very understanding, and I tell you what – he has looked out for me, all of these years. 

It goes both ways – if there is someone going around the neighborhood knocking on doors, I call him, just to make sure everything is okay, and he’ll tell me what the deal is, or he’ll run outside and ask.  If someone parks in front of my house and starts creeping around my house, even if they have a house key, he either calls me within seconds, or he runs out and is writing down their license plate number and car description.  I got a call once from my friend who was entering my house with their baby while I wasn’t home, and he was like, “Um.. your neighbor is taking down my license plate number…” and within seconds, the neighbor called me. 

That day when my house was broken into, he was the one who called me.  He gave me a whole log of the day’s activities; how his wife mentioned that something was weird around 10 AM, and then my front door was open around 11 AM, and he knew that we were at work.   He ran out to the store, and when he returned home around 1 PM, he saw my cat outside, and he knew something was very wrong, so he called me right away and asked if I was okay, told me about what he had seen.  He then ran over to my property to let the cat in, and he looked around the house to confirm that the window was broken, and that I had been robbed.

The other neighbors had a pretty big response to my burglary, and it was a big wake up call to them.  So, put yourself on the map.  Care for each other.  Look out for each other.  You don’t even have to like one another, but make sure that you are looking out for your brethren.

This goes for everything, not just your home.  When we go camping, Kake used to get kind of awkward (now she knows why I do it) when I would make a point to engage our camping neighbors in even the briefest of conversations.  On hiking trails, if we pass humans in the wild, I make a point to say hello – anything to put US on other people’s radar.  That way, if we go missing, there can be a good timetable given by witnesses.  Be aware of your surroundings.  Make an impression – be on the radar.  Hold other people on your radar.

Keep Things In Separate Places

I don’t know why I started doing this, but I do.  It’s another thing that just comes to me.  The burglar went through my kitchen window, went in my bedroom, and went to work on my drawers, under my bed, my closet, and my jewelry box.  Do you have a jewelry box?  Listen to what I am about to say. 

I do not keep all of my jewelry in one place.  Honestly, I don’t even remember where a lot of it is, so don’t try to rob me (not that I have anything left.)  But one thing that saved a couple of precious pieces that day is that I kept some very special things in other places.  Yes, the only really expensive jewelry I owned was in the jewelry box, and he got that.   But fortunately, for some stuff that is not worth very much money, but has a lot of sentimental value, I keep that in various places.  If I had kept it all in my jewelry box, he might have seen it, thought it was worth $20, and pocketed it – not knowing that to me, the value of that same item was actually priceless because it belonged to my Grandmother.  You know? 

Think about how you can dampen the loss around your house.  Store things separately.  Put things in cupboards,  split up your jewelry box.  Keep really fancy stuff that you never wear someplace different than stuff you wear every day.

Lock Your Computer and Other Assets

I often used to think to myself, “Why do I have a lock on my own computer?  No one else even lives here!  It’s such a pain to log-in every single time, why do I do this to myself?”  Well, there’s your answer.    Good luck getting into that computer – I set the restrictions pretty clad. 

The “Don’t store everything in one place” rule applies here, too.  Even if they CAN get into that laptop, I have almost nothing sensitive on it, just about 4k photos, and some other documents.  But nothing like my social security number, tax documents, or anything like that was saved to the computer.  If it’s in digital form, it lives “in the cloud.”  Which, of course, has its own security threats, but hey, the laptop was stolen, and I changed all of my passwords to everything immediately.  So, again, “dampening the loss.”

Also, I called Amazon about my Kindle, and I can’t say enough nice things about the customer service.  She was very understanding, and she said, “Is it gone?  REALLY gone?  Like, you’ll never get it back?”  And I said it was REALLY gone.  She said, “Okay, then I will disable everything – no one will ever be able to log into that Kindle again – whoever owns it now owns a very expensive glass stone.”   She was also able to provide to me every single detail I needed to know about that device, which leads me to…

Keep All Serial Numbers For Everything

I know, it’s a pain.  But here’s the easy solution – take a photo of the serial tag for everything – your computer, your camera, your receipts when you buy either of those things, your TV, EVERYTHING.  Just take a picture with your phone, and send it to yourself, with a detailed description in the email, so that you can easily search for it, should you ever need to submit these things to the police.  The police will then check local pawn shops to make sure that no one has it, and then pawn shops will not buy your stuff from the thief.

Do You Have Insurance?

 I mean, do you?  I hope you do.  Don’t go around thinking nothing will ever happen.   Things can and will happen.  A tree is going to fall on your house or your car.  You will one day have back up flooding from your toilets, or pipes will break – you need flood insurance.  You need to have all of the insurance, including renters insurance. 

Do you have fine jewelry?  Please make sure that you have 1) taken pictures of the jewelry, and follow the same procedures as the serial numbers above and 2) see if you have jewelry insurance worked into your home insurance.  Maybe you need to raise your limits. 

 Don’t Assume Implausibility

We were really good about locking windows and doors.  You know how the robber got in?  He took a chair, the only chair in the back  yard, brought it over to my tiny kitchen window, about 18 feet off the ground, and jumped from the chair to climb into my tiny kitchen window.  We had left it cracked that morning, because it was so unlikely that anyone would even notice that it was cracked.  Even if my roommate STOOD ON MY SHOULDERS, she wouldn’t be able to reach the window.  That’s how high up this window is.  This guy really was an amazing climber. 

Don’t assume that you are safe just because it’s so unlikely that something could happen.  It can happen, it will happen, and it did happen to me.

Okay, well, that’s what I thought about whilst brushing my teeth this morning (hey, I have an electric toothbrush – a lot goes on in my mind in two minutes.)

 

Please be safe.  Take better care of yourself.  Watch your back, and protect your neighbor. 

Turn Down For What

I feel like this note of instruction which came written on these chopsticks should also have been printed on my forehead at birth.

I feel that it is important for me to tell you about this, more so for your own safety rather than just randomly spouted pontifications (a.k.a.about 90% of this entire blog site.)  

(Except for the part about Sue eating your food.  I was not joking about that – that is an issue to be taken seriously.  Look at what happened to my milkshake this past weekend.  Even AFTER I threw my body over top of it.)

Her feelings were only slightly hurt when I moved all of my food and my milkshake to literally the furthest point on the table from her.

I have always had very hyper-acoustics.  Years and years ago, I went to a show that was way too loud, and it blew out my ear (which was painful for a couple of years, but now I'm used to it), and I had to get an earpiece after that.  (I owned that earpiece for about two weeks before my boyfriend-at-the-time’s Rottweiler found it on the coffee table and ate it.  I never replaced it.)

So, when I am someplace very noisy (and it’s worse if it is enclosed,) I can’t hear a darn thing, because all I hear is static, like when you turn up your car radio too loud and all you hear is static.   So places like noisy restaurants, concerts, sporting events, and even in cars, I have trouble hearing if there is too much noise.  

I usually then have no idea what is going on around me, and will need to hold your hand.  For those who have become accustomed to going in public with me, you have learned to just hold my wallet (because I will lose whatever is in my hands due to all the confusion) and push and prod me in the direction in which we are supposed to be heading.

You might not even notice how much noise you are actually hearing at any given point in your daily life, but I am aware of white noise (i.e. air conditioning), far-off noises, and things like people breathing loudly, people chewing gum, and music played in restaurants which is turned down so low that most people aren’t even aware it is playing.  

If you’ve ever spent a great deal of time with me, you know this, as I will start breaking out in song/dance to whatever is playing, and you will stare at my like I am a crazy person until you also hear the music.

While I am usually a very patient person, I lose my s*%$ about sounds.  You might not know it, but I am usually dying inside if someone next to us has been stirring their icy drink for absolutely no reason at all for the past 5 minutes.  

If someone is chewing ice, I am dying inside, and THEN you also add the element of wanting to yell at them about grinding their teeth down on ice.  Too much noise + lack of concern over dental wellness = It's just too much.

Okay, so now I have laid out one of my greatest vulnerabilities for all to know, I can tell you this next part with you now having an understanding on why this issue is a big deal to me, though it may seem like small potatoes to you.

I have become increasingly less patient about noise recently, and I am genuinely sorry about it.  It is due to two reasons:

1)   A colleague who will not stop clicking his/her pen because s/he knows that it bothers me to the ultimate level.  The clicking.  It is about 3 hours a day of just clicking – it’s gotten worse. It’s like a game to him/her.  And perhaps s/he is reading this blog right now, and I don’t even care, because I need you to know that it’s serious, and I’m fixin’ to go to HR about it, as previously mentioned.  Seriously.  It’s not funny.

      2)  A different colleague who is the worst chewer in all of the land.  Listen, I usually can do a lot of self-talk to get myself to calm down in these situations, but with this particular person, it is not just me.  Every single person on the team now owns ear buds, and it is a mad dash to put in the ear buds when said colleague comes back to their desk with food.   I am not joking when I say that the sound of it makes me want to vomit. 

A different colleague recently moved into our little neighborhood here.  On his/her first day, s/he sent me a message that said, “Do I hear… chewing?”  I had to give her the low down.  The same thing has happened to two more people who have moved in.  

It's so serious, that we even try to sound a (silent) alarm.

IM convo:

4:10 PM Other Colleague

lots of chewing.  I heard it over my telephone convo

4:10 PM Veronica

I heard it coming in; I’m in earbuds

4:11 PM Other Colleague

thanks for the heads up :-\

4:12 PM Veronica

I just got situated!!!!!!  The rule is that you place the mask over your head and secure it, pull on the tube to start the flow of oxygen, breathe normally, and THEN help others.

4:12 PM Other Colleague

you didn’t even follow through, I brought it to your attention!

Even my boss, who is against earbuds, walked over to my desk one day, and was standing there talking when she suddenly was given a large dose of the chewing, and had to excuse herself due to becoming nauseated.

I know, this all seems quite trivial, and it is.  But it is driving me insane, and it’s making me very snappy in life outside of work, as well.  So, I kind of have written this whole section by way of apology.   If I suddenly remove your pen from your hand, or pick the gum out of your mouth unexpectidly, I am sorry.  I just am very sensitive to sound in this time in my life.

If one or the other (pen clicking or the chewing) would cease, then I could handle one or the other, but I can’t handle both.  It’s like Chinese water torture.  The struggle is real.

Generally speaking, the group I work with is very heads-down, and respects the sanctity of silence.  In fact, that is our motto - "Respect the sanctity of pin-drop silence."  We have a logo and everything.  

Any time someone comes over and starts talking about/inquiring others about their weekend, the weather, next weekend, etc., prolonged conversation is generally discouraged.

Okay, well have a good (and quiet) week. Drive safely in this cold weather - ice is not your friend when it comes to driving.  OH that reminds me to post more Ice Queen jokes from work.  They are always coming in, and I forget to tell you about them.  Here is one:  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Colleague

To: Miglin, Veronica

That’s the spirit….  Are you still drinking the eggnog over there?

To: Colleague

From: Miglin, Veronica

:: Gasp ::  You just brought to my attention that I did not consume a single drop of eggnog this entire holiday season.

:: hangs head in shame. ::

From: Colleague

To: Miglin, Veronica
Don’t worry, you were busy freezing Vegas, LA, and the west coast.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Too true, too true. 

I leave you with Smidgen's reaction to a new clock that I hung.  He was not fond of the loud tic-toc sound, but he is too kind to mention his annoyance with the sound.  He does not inherit that trait from me.

Tinder Part III, Photos, Disney

Hello.  I'm just going to jump right into the treasures I have found on Tinder lately.

What happens more often than not is that I totally forget to Tinder, especially when I am OUT, like, that whole trip to the west I just took.  I bet I could have found some real gems in Vegas.  Alas, I never remember.

Oh man, that phone, tho.  He is obviously wealthy and an amazing catch, made clear by the new technology and his P bling, etc.

There are an astounding number of photos posted like these two: 

See what they did there?  I'm pretty mad about Brandon though, because he has about 4 other photos like that, except I accidently zoomed out and swiped left, and once you left-swipe someone, you can never get them back.  Believe me, I tried on this one.

And then there are the guys who have these ridiculous fitness photos:

This is the best:

Women can not relate to these photos, unless you are the chick in the above photo, second from left.

Do you know what kind of profile to which women CAN relate?

Pizzacake.  That's who.

This may just be personal preference, but I swipe left to car selfies.

Especially people who are clearly DRIVING AND CAR SELFIE-ING:

And then there are a lot of guys who post who are clearly married.  With almost all of them, I swipe left so quickly because I have never understood their angle (or, perhaps, I understand it all too well.)  However, on this one, I decided to swipe right, to see exactly the game plan here.

Meet Rob:

Okay, so far, I would have been looking for an explaination of, "girl in pic is my sister," or something. That happens a lot.  But then...

Ummmmm....

But wait, there's more!...

  

That's it.  Those are all of Rob's photos.  So, I swipe right.

Within seconds, he's chatting with me:

This went on for another few minutes... just meaningless nothing conversation.  But then, I got distracted, and forgot to check for a few hours, and by the time I came back to Tinder, he was gone.  Sorry, you guys.  :-(

Well, that's all the Tinder there is for now.

And now to clear out my phone of other photos:

Remember how I told you about my step dad wanting a thermal engineer thing for Christmas?  I forgot to show you this picture.  After he unwrapped it, he was pointing it at stuff to take temperatures of things, including my cats.  It turned into just playing with the red laser dot.  This was very entertaining for him.

I had lunch the other day with some ex-colleagues.  One of them, every time I see him, he tells me that he loves his office.  Pimping out his office was one of the final projects I took on before leaving that job (part of my job was facilities.)  Because our ongoing jokes there were all Anchorman related, I pimped out his new office in mahogany furnishings, since he was becoming a big deal (moving from a cube to an office.)  I mean, I really pimped out his office.  Mahogany-lined white board, desk furnishings, paperclip holder, everything.  Now, every time we have lunch or whatever, he says, "No, like, legit - I love lamp.  I love, love lamp.  I love carpet, I love lamp, I love chair, I love everything."  It's very funny.

Food

First of all, is this real life?  People feed children this garbage?? 

Next, if you don't already know, I come from a group of folks whom share everything at the table.  If you are ordering a meal, and you actually want to eat it, you need to literally throw your body over top of it, otherwise, other forks are going to land in your food.  Especially if Sue is there.  I'm telling you this in the interest of warning you, however, many of you probably already know this.  Feel free to share your stories and sad tales (Meg.)

 

This is my favorite thing I make for myself: mini bagel covered in veggi creamcheese, an inch of spinach, over-medium egg, salt & pepper.  Just FYI. 

Okay, I'll have actual stuff to talk to you about next time, not just a bunch of random photos. Maybe.

Also, I have not seen the following Disney movies, and I am ashamed:

• Pocahontas
• Sleeping Beauty
• Peter Pan
• Robin Hood

Okay, laters babe.

I left work 10 minutes early yesterday to make sure I caught this sunset.  When I told my colleague this, she scoffed.  Well... some people just don't understand the important things in life. 

Trip Out West

Okay, so I’ve been home from vacation for almost a week and a half and I have not posted a blog.  I’m the worst, I know.

Vacation was a lot of fun and had a lot of ups and downs.  It’s the same trip I took a couple of years ago at Christmas. 

I’ve never liked the desert.  I know that this doesn’t surprise you.  I don’t like it simply because I am a creature of the forest and I die without it.  I can, however, appreciate the desert.  I appreciate the beauty of the colors throughout the day. 

I respect the desert in the way that one respects the ocean; it is unpredictable and wild, and when you are in the desert, you mind your manners and respect what is around you, and understand that you are temporarily there, and you will be moving along, or else you will perish.  You are on borrowed time in the desert, just the same as you are when in the ocean.  Of course, I’m talking about the actual desert; not the cities, or the areas around water, but the actual desert. 

Like the ocean, it’s something to be admired from afar, visited briefly, and left how you found it.  To me, the desert reeks of ancient and unfounded history; the people who inhabit it are like early American pioneers; tough and a bit wily, just like the land.

I’ll preface this next part by saying that I am not the person who is usually trying to make conversation with folks in public. 

On the flight out, when boarding the plane, the guys in front of me were talking about their bows, because they could see them being loaded onto the plane.  So, of course, I had to ask them about it.  They said they were on their way to Utah to hunt for wild cats.  Which is a good thing, because I heard that they are running low on those :: insert heavy sarcasm. ::

All I have to say to that is Ew.

I was knocked out the first few hours of the flight, since it was a 7 AM flight, but I was awake the last hour or so.  When I woke up, we were approaching the desert.  I always have a window seat, so I had been looking out the window for a while, when the very tall Asian man sitting next to me leaned over and said, “What is that??”  I said, “It’s the desert.”  He said, “I don’t understand… why are there no trees or anything?!”  He could not comprehend. 

I got to talking to him for a while, and it turns out that he is on some sort of bucket-list quest (I didn’t press for details.)  He is from China, and he said he was on his way to the desert to ride ATVs through the desert.  He would see out of the window a few scattered trailers, and he asked what they were.  

When I tried to explain that people lived there, he could not wrap his mind around it.  “Why would they live in the middle of nowhere?  There are no trees – no life!”  I told him I didn’t understand it either, but some people just like that sort of thing.  Anyway, it was nice to talk to someone who was experiencing such things for the first time.  I hope he had a good time.

I flew into Vegas, and my darlingest preciousness dearest friend picked me up from the airport.  We then proceeded directly to In-N-Out Burger, as first order of business.

I want to take a minute to just express how very sad I am for you folks whom have never been to an In-N-Out Burger.  Frankly, I don’t know how you get by in life.  It’s a staple in the lives of everyone west of the Rockies.  It’s a block in the path of my life’s journey – a fond memory all through my childhood. 

Anyway, then we went to The Celine Store in Caesar’s Palace, to browse and otherwise pay our respects to The Queen.

Then I got my rental car and was on my way.

I spent a few wonderful days with my sister.  We went fishing and shopping and sheeping.

Feeshing

Sheeping

The lambs were just running back and forth, so cute!!

And, of course, the ol' family videos came out.

Me and my sister at Disney World 1k years ago.

My sister is one of the funniest people I know.  (It’s a family trait.)   For example, we were in the shopping mall in Laughlin, and I innocently proposed the idea of stopping by to visit a store which had several varieties of candy apples on display – caramel apples, snickers covered apples, M&Ms covered apples, rocky road apples – you name it, they had it.  We did our shopping first, and then stopped in the store on our way out.  Listen, we simply could not agree on an apple to split.  I don’t really like nuts in my food, and she only wanted the kinds that had nuts.  So, I kind of mentioned that we don’t really NEED one, we can just leave the store…  So we leave. 

We’re walking through the mall, and all of a sudden, I notice that my sister had been saying stuff under her breath for a while.  I take a listen, and I hear, very quiet, and very slow, “asssssssssssssshhhhooollllllllllee….”  

GASP!  How long had she been saying that?!   I kindly asked her if she was trying to say something.  She exploded, “I was just trying to have some FRUIT!  I was just trying to have some of my daily nutritional value, serving of fruits & veggies, and you ruined EVERYTHING! Assssshooooollllllee…”  

And this continued, the entire way back to the truck.  And then in the truck.  And then she called her wife and told on me.  I didn’t know what to say; I never had a justification.  

I later told my sister's wife, “We Miglins are very funny people!”  She said, without skipping a beat and without looking up, “That’s because you are all crazy people, and you can’t help yourselves.”   Touché.

So, the apple situation came up again about every 15-20 minutes for the rest of my trip.  I can still hear it at night whilst I slumber… “Assssssshoooolllllllle.”

Anyway, then I decided to bring the snow as I departed, and I brought the snow all the way to California. 

My sister said I am a snow fairy, and when I got back to the office, my colleagues were relentless in the Ice Queen jokes.  I can’t even deny it anymore. 

I got to L.A. to my other sister’s house, and we went out for New Year’s Eve to The Ivy in L.A..  

It was a very lovely meal, and I had never been there, so it was very nice.  Also it was fun to see all the cars worth twice as much $$ as my house costs roll up to the restaurant.  

I love that scene.  Given some sleep and night cream, and proper makeup and hair, I could really work that scene.

We went to the Rose Parade the next morning, and even though it was chilly, it was really so much fun. 

Then I hopped in the car and went to visit my niece in Long Beach overnight, followed by a very lovely brunch.  Afterwards, I went back to L.A. to meet my mother and stepdad at the Warner Brother’s studios, and did a tour, which included the Friends Central Perk set and a Harry Potter exhibit.

 So, that was my trip out West.  I don’t know what other vacations I will be planning this year.  What kind of journeys will you be making this year?