The Break-In

And I’m back! Insurance check arrived and I am much happier now that I have a new fabulous laptop and an Ipad Mini. So, I guess I should recap the experience so I don’t forget.

I have loved my apartment since I found it when I moved back to Ctown in 2010. I have the entire top floor of a house that was built back in the 1940s. Two bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, dining room and kitchen. Lots of storage, 10 minute drive from campus with a lovely fireplace and hardwood floors. I loved it and it was perfect for me. The only downside was the driveway sucked, it wasn’t the best insulated and there was an overgrown lot/swamp thing next door. But I felt safe and it was just adorable for me. But then the first week of January came.

So, it is the first full week in January and I went to get my haircut after work. I chopped off about six inches, it was way overdue and I was so happy because it just looked so cute. So I get back to my apartment and I am all happy as I go in the back. Through three doors, with three deadbolts, up to my apartment. I walk into my living room, turn on the lights and bend over the coffee table to turn on the laptop (the laptop that was like a year old). But the laptop is not there. I stand up straight and look around, thinking to myself, “Did I put it up last night? Or, did I take it to work with me today?” I stand in place and look around… my completely normal and clean apartment. Then the fact that it is missing dawns on me and I freak. I check the front door that I don’t use and the glass had been broken in.

So like any sane person I call 911 and head out to the front door to wait. Complete with phone in one hand and pink can of mace in the other. While I am waiting I call the Bestie, who freaks out with me until one of the young women who lives downstairs came out to wait with me. We waited for an hour and a half before they showed up. One hour and thirty minutes. Ridiculous. After a search it turns out they got my laptop that was loaded down with software, my Kindle, my BlackBerry and a lot of really good jewelry (all gold with gems). They got a few things of sentimental value, like a cuff bracelet that had belonged to Sal my great-grandmother and a gold charm bracelet full of charms that my Grandma had given me. I had renters insurance though, so that covered a good portion of things and I was able to replace the laptop and Kindle.

I think the thing that frustrated me the very most is that I think it could have been prevented. Mine was broken into on a Wednesday night, the Monday before that the girls in the unit downstairs had been broken into and lost a laptop and TV. It pisses me off because the property company didn’t notify me and didn’t take any steps to secure any of the property after it. The little one bedroom unit out back was broken into over Thanksgiving. Had they done any security upgrades I feel it could have been prevented, or at least I could have barricaded the front door! Finding out all of this back story was the only good thing about having to wait so long for the cops t show up!

Oh, but wait. This tale gets even freakier. I have been super careful about going into my apartment since this drama and very careful of making sure everything is secure. So after a month of always calling someone when I walk into my apartment, I had convinced myself that I didn’t need to do it when I got home from work at 7pm a week ago. I was wrong. As I turned around at my apartment door after putting the key in, I looked behind me and in the lot/swamp area on the side of the house is a man standing watching me go into my apartment. Once I got inside he turned and walked into the woods. So another call to 911 and a twenty minute wait I met cop and he did a search while I packed a bag.

I haven’t slept in that apartment since and don’t plan to. I am unsure whether they will let me out of my lease or not, but I am moving out regardless. I just need to sleep and feel safe. So I am moving on and taking every security precaution imaginable. Not really fun, but it works.

So, that is the reason for the big hiatus. Stay tuned for more blog entries soon! Including one about fire ants. I hate those damn things. But I will take those oven encounters with criminals!