Ah crud! I've been burgled!

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So yes, I got burglarized yesterday while I was at work. It’s a pretty easy guess on who did it: punk kids. It’s always punk kids. It was someone who spends a lot of time ‘round my house and who knows they’re likely to be able to get in through the garage, who knows that the secret to Mr. Fish is to throw a ball, who knows it’s just me living here and that I have a regular work schedule. And it was someone who chose the gimme pawn-able goods rather than bulkier things of value.

In part, they took a laptop, my PS2, two Nintendo 64’s, all our video games (and I had something like five dozen N64 games), three watches, my beloved Star Blazers DVDs, camera, cash, backpack, DVDs, and ALL MY DDR GAMES!

Etc etc etc.

They did not take a pair of tickets to the Seattle Shakespeare Festival that were right next to the cash. Nor any of my classical or opera CDs, including a beautiful box set of Der Ring des Nibelungen that I prize. All my chess boards are still present. They took the laptop, but didn’t take the wifi card or the power cord (!).

Looking back as I lay in bed last night, I had to admit that I could not find a single disturbance in the force all day long. There was no moment where I suddenly felt lightheaded and knew that something was very wrong in the world.

In fact, I was home for several minutes before I noticed anything was wrong. I saw that the kitchen door was open, and I was berating myself for letting the dog into the upstairs. Then I noticed the clock Jon gave me was not under the piano cover, and I thought, “oh, isn’t that pretty!” And then a minute later it finally registered that I was seeing the music stand but not the laptop on the music stand.

The tip-off should have been how much cleaner and uncluttered my house looked. That sure wasn’t right. Ah well.

So, things I’ve learned include: invest in big stuff. They only took my small valuables. The downstairs and den computers were still right in place. The TV was there. The keyboard was still there.

You already know you’re supposed to have photos, serial numbers, etc of all your stuff. No news there. Wish I had done it. Man, I even wish I had just archived a CD of images of all my stuff.

Stupid stuff was missed. CD players. The awesomest clock radio ever created. Boomboxes. CDs.

The police report was easy. They dusted for fingerprints that I doubt are going to go anywhere. It sounds, however, like the homeowner’s claim might be a pain in the neck. I called and got it started today, but how am I going to document ownership of all my stuff? I’ll be lucky if I can find pictures with half of it. Serial numbers and boxes? Sheesh. Maybe one in ten things.

Will Allstate be warm and loving and help me out, or will they be pushing to minimize my claim? Will they get me capital to start getting stuff again right away, or will this drag on for a month? I am generally keen to get everything squared away and put the whole thing behind me, but is that going to be possible?