Sean and Charlene, I'd like to add my condolences about what must have been an awful experience and a very scary shock when you came home. For me, reading that whoever did this was walking around your house with a big knife is really scary. Thank goodness you weren't home, in a way.
We had an experience with someone trying to get into the house through the dining room window. The dining room is in the alleyway and he was coming through the screen. What saved us was we had someone staying here who was on the first floor and one of my roomie's cats saw this man and starting meowing really loud. This woke our friend up who stumbled into the dining room to see what was going on. Found a man halfway in the window! She scared him away. Bars went up very soon after that. I am a big supporter of having bars on your first floor or any windows that someone can gain access to. If you don't want to have them mounted on the house, get the indoor ones that you can put up yourself, put a lock on them and keep the key to the lock somewhere close enough that you can get to it if you need to get out quickly, but not so close that someone could try to reach in to get it. I also agree with the not having shrubs/bushes that are so large they can hide someone lurking. That is a big safety issue to me. I'd rather cut the shrubs back and have them look kind of bare until they get to fill out than worry about someone using the cover to get into the house or there just waiting for someone coming home. I'm glad you all are physically ok. I'm sure you're sick over the pictures being gone, along with your dissertation. Backing up is always a good idea, but it's one that I have to admit I don't do as often as I should. Besides changing the locks, keep the alarm armed, canceling your credit cards, get in touch with any online banking/financial services (like paypal), shopping and perhaps your email accounts. If they got your computers and know or have someone who knows, and you've used the computers for such things, they can get your info. Were the police helpful? Again, I'm so sorry you had to go through this. Wendy On 5/29/07, Stephen Fisher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Sean and Charlene, I'm really, really sorry about your loss! That really sucks. I also appreciate that you shared your story and your lessons learned with the lists. > 8) Finally, back up all data on your computers, often. I would like to add one point to #8. Keep a copy of the data backup outside of your house. If you can, copy your valuable data to a CD or DVD and leave a copy at work or elsewhere. Best of luck with recovering what you can, Stephen Sean and Charlene McGrew wrote: Dear Neighbors, We live on the 4700 block of Osage Avenue and our house was broken into on Saturday night between 4:30 and 8 pm. The burglar cut the screen on the open window and climbed into the house. He (?) went through the entire house and took several items, including 2 laptops, 2 iPods, a digital camera, cell phone, house key, and some other random things.... We also found that he took one of our large kitchen knives around the house with him and left it in the basement. We have lived in this area for 5 years, and we do know better than to leave our house wide open for theft. Any urban environment would require some effort in home protection. So while you are surely already aware of precautions you can take, we'd like to offer some friendly reminders (and lessons learned!): 1) Keep the area around your house well lit 2) Trim the bushes that may obstruct views to windows. The tree and bushes in front of our house covered much of the view to the front windows. The burglar was able to climb into the window undetected. 3) Arm your alarm if you have one. We went out for a few hours and did not bother, but it probably would have scared the burglar away. 4) Don't leave your keys in the deadbolts. Our burglar let himself out and took the key(s) with him. 5) Lock all your windows 6) Leave a light on when you're not home 7) Put blinds on your windows 8) Finally, back up all data on your computers, often. All of my disseration research and all of my son's baby pictures are gone because it's been over a year since I backed up my data. I hope this helps. Do not get complacent, as we had! Sean and Charlene McGrew ------------------------------ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today!<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48517/*http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7> ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see .
