I pulled out of the driveway early today. Nice! I can get the bus at the Park & Ride! Turned up the street, and… What the hell is up with the Jeep? I know I didn’t park it that way! I position the car’s headlights broadside to it. Big dent in the left passenger door. Someone had hit it, and pushed it two feet over. Knocked over part of my fence, too. No idea when it happened. I didn’t notice it yesterday. I was working from home, but since I was working I didn’t go out. I didn’t hear anything. I was gone for a couple of hours last evening, but I came from a different direction and didn’t drive past the Jeep. I think I would have noticed though. So either I didn’t notice, or else I slept through the collision.
sigh :rolleyes:
[ul][li]A year ago someone stole the wiper arm off the driver’s side.[/li][li]A little over a year ago I was rear-ended in the Prius twice in one week as I was stopped in traffic.[/li][li]A few months ago someone trashed my motorcycle[/li][li]Now this[/ul][/li]I called the Sheriff’s office to report a hit-and-run. They’ll call me back eventually, and might come out to look at it. My insurance company isn’t open yet, so I’ll have to call them later. Now I’m running late and I’ll have to drive all the way to the office instead of taking the bus the last 10 miles.
That’s about when it’s time to get a wireless webcam and have it recording to your computer 24/7. Next time someone messes with your stuff, you’ll have evidence of who did it and when so the cops can maybe track the bastage down and give him a little what-for.
Or, build a scale-model radio-controlled ED-209 and place him in the driveway.
I hate those assholes who have absolutely no respect for others’ cars. Somebody just did $300 worth of paint damage to the side of mine. Is it okay if I take your $300 iPod and throw it on the street? No? Then why is it okay to do that much damage to my car out of carelessness? People just don’t give a fuck, and it pisses me off.
All you’d need is the wireless webcam (about $100 or so) and a router, which most people have anyway, but even if you don’t, you can pick up a relatively inexpensive one for $50 or so. It’ll just stream images at a set frame rate and record them wirelessly to your hard drive. As long as you leave the computer on you’ll get 24/7 security recordings.
Now, if you want to go all out with night vision and remote monitoring it’ll cost you a fair bit more (you’re getting into higher end stuff billed specifically as home security) but the options are out there, and you could still build a pretty decent all-round home security setup for under $500.
Oh:
[ul][li]A few months ago someone broke the lower-rear window on the Prius.[/ul][/li]I’ve been wanting to put up surveillance, especially after the bike episode, but there are cashflow problems. Expenses keep popping up. I was just thinking about surveillance the other day, and that I could get a system as soon as I buy a microphone from a friend.
Be careful with the mic. A lot of places take videoing people without their knowledge a lot better than recording them without their knowledge. I’m assuming here that the mic is to be part of the security system.
The camera wouldn’t always help, either. When our car got hit-and-ran on the street a couple of years ago, we were home. We ran outside to see what was going on, and saw the truck that hit our car back up and drive away - with his license plate covered with snow. Man, just typing that now has my blood pressure going up again. :mad:
Short answer - you can’t have nice things because of all the assholes in the world. The hit-and-run drivers, the bus stop glass smashers, the graffitiers, the litterers, the jerks who just find a way to make the world a slightly worse place.
[ul]
[li]A little over a year ago I was rear-ended in the Prius twice in one week as I was stopped in traffic.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
I was rear-ended twice in one accident once. Woman was trying to follow me out into traffic and apparently assumed that staying nailed to my rear bumper would get her into whatever gap I was merging into. When I had to stop on the ramp (someone who had been in the left lane came into the right lane, filling the hole I was planning to merge into) she was busy looking over her left shoulder for the gap. She rear-ended me with her foot on the accelerator, bounced off, hit the ground with wheels still spinning, and, failing to take her foot off the accelerator, peeled out and hit me a second time.
i too had a near non-stop run of bad luck (if you can call vandalism and rear-endings bad luck) on my last car–seemed like at least once every three months or so over a four year period. i started considering taking it personally after a while.
i will attmept to pray your bad luck streak to an end, starting right now!
This is why I built a garage. Not only is my car off the street but the garage is a fortress unto itself. I built the windows from scratch with bullet proof plastic panes and the steel door sits in a reinforced frame. You aren’t breaking in without the entire block knowing it.