As previously noted, my bike was stolen a couple weeks ago. Fortunately, some stories have happy endings, and it is now residing back at my house. What follows is the harrowing tale of how I got it back (note: it’s not all that harrowing).
Union Pacific has two sets of bike racks around its HQ building:
Rack 1 is positioned next to the front door of the building, and is underneath an overhang that helps protect bikes from the elements. Rack 2, newly added this year, is out next to 13th Street and affords none of the amenities of the original set. Needless to say, Rack 1 is as popular as a Homecoming queen, while Rack 2 gets rejected like a guy who just upgraded his D&D Avenger character up to level 6.
On this particular day, I was late biking into work, and all the spots in Rack 1 were taken, including several people who had double-used the rack spaces. Rather than trying to force my way in, I decided to park my bike on Rack 2, which happened to be empty when I locked it up.
Actually, “locked” is probably an inappropriate phrase. The previous week, I lost my old lock of several years on a ride home. So I went out to the Bike Rack and looked over their offerings, deciding on this particular model. Kryptonite rates its security as a “1″, which they state is appropriate “if you live in the ‘burbs and have a Rottweiler next to your bike”. A couple pieces of twine tied together probably would have offered only slightly more protection than what I was using.
If there was ever a valid time for a lock to be guilty of EPIC FAIL, this was it. On the first day of its operation, it was broken and my bike was taken sometime while I was working. The thief didn’t leave the broken lock, so I don’t know whether they cut the cable, or found some way to crack the combination, though I’m guessing they used a pair of bolt cutters to snap it.
When I realized my bike was gone, I told a few people in the building about the theft, and got a ride home from a coworker. That evening, I called the police’s theft report line and gave them a my phone number and a brief description. And of course I tweeted about it.
The next day, I got a call back from the police, and gave them more details about the theft. When the officer asked me if I had the bike’s serial number and I replied “no”, she responded with a disappointed-sounding “Oh.”
I also got some great advice from my coworkers Scott and Brady, the latter having had his own bike stolen earlier this year. Brady told me what he did to recover his bike, including handing out flyers to local businesses and pedestrians, checking in pawn shops in the area, and blogging about it. He also mentioned the best way of recovering a bike was if I had the serial number available, which made me doubly skeptical that I would ever see it again.
Then for a long time, nothing happened.
On a Sunday afternoon, about two weeks after the theft, I got a call from an officer working in the Pawn unit, saying he got a description of a bike similar to mine in an area pawn shop. Following up, I gave him some additional details about the bike (going off memory and the one photo I had available), and a few days later he sent me some photos of a bike that was 100%, definitely mine. I sent him a reply and asked him to contact me when I could pick it up.
Then for a long time, nothing happened.
A week and several voicemails later, I finally got a response from the police, who sent a letter to both me and the pawn shop, declaring that I was the rightful owner and could pick up the bike. So yesterday, I ventured downtown to the Mid City pawn shop, and paid the $35 fee needed to get my bike out of hock.
I’ve learned a lot of things through this whole ordeal, most of which are outlined in Brady’s own post about recovering his bike; so I won’t repeat them here.
But the most important part is to record your bike’s serial number. If you have a bike, do it now. I was a lucky bastard to have mine recovered without it, but everything I’ve experienced tells me that it would have made the process much easier. Pawn shops are required to file a bike’s serial number with the police before they can sell it. Without the serial number, I had to trust that the pawn shop and the police operated on the same wavelength, and would be able to identify the merchandise by my vague description: “It’s light blue. Or is it teal? Man, I wish I had more than just one picture of this thing.”
So I’m back in business! I picked up a new Kryptonite-built U-Lock from the Trek store and plan on riding into work tomorrow. No mere larceny can hold me down:
I only ask that Omaha’s thief population let me keep my bike for at least one week before attempting another swindling.
Filed under: Biking | Leave a Comment
Stolen bike – Reward Offered
Update: my bike was found at a pawn shop this weekend. I’m currently working with the police department to recover the bike.
Yesterday my bike went missing downtown; if you can find it, there’s a cash reward.
The bike was taken from the racks on the east side of the UP building in downtown Omaha. Here’s a map:
Here’s a picture of the bike (sorry that it’s upside down):
Some details on it:
- Trek 1500
- Light blue/teal frame
- Shimano-style pedals
- Drop handlebars with white grip tape
- I don’t have the serial number
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
I’m a billionaire
It’s all about the benjamins.
And by benjamins, I mean Mugabea-ns.
A coworker’s pastor was able to acquire a couple of these Zimbabwean bank notes and has been distributing them like wallpaper. Wait, I can’t use that metaphor anymore because it’s actually happening.
It’s a depressing story, but you can find cocktail chatter here. Like how the same company that printed money for the hyperinflated Weimar Republic also was pumping out Zimbabwe’s notes until last year. Or how Zimbabwe’s bank has to churn out dollars 24/7 to satisfy the wheelbarows of money it takes to even get a bus ride.
Anyway, I’m not technically a 5-billionaire because the bill expired at the beginning of the year (who makes bills that expire?!) So I’m not sure what I should do with the note. Any suggestions?
More about Zimbabwe’s history here.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Once again Blockbuster has silently changed their terms of service and removed the single greatest advantage they had over Netflix:
If you exchange your online rental for a free in-store movie rental at a participating store, that store rental will count towards the number of rentals you are allowed out for your online Total Access plan.
Thanks for at least notifying me of this bullshit, guys. I had to dig around in your unlinked-to FAQ only after realizing after a week that my next disc hadn’t shipped.
Apparently this is all part of Blockbuster’s attempt to drop customers. Seriously. CEO Jim Keyes says he wants to “prune the tree” of its least profitable consumers, so only suckers remain. Well, Mission Accomplished.
The best part about all this is that behind the scenes, apparently the driving force behind the “piss on your most loyal customers” strategy is billionaire jackass, Carl Icahn:
Blockbuster’s online program had been a source of contention within the company. Former CEO and chairman John Antioco, who led the company for a decade, saw online movie rentals as the future of the industry. Some investors and board members, led by Carl Icahn, believed management was spending too much money too fast in the online business while neglecting the core source of their income: Retail stores.
You can read lots more about Blockbuster’s sordid history online here.
Filed under: Movies | 1 Comment
From McSweeney’s:
Take a look at my work: I’ve got a unique eye and I create a visual journal of personal moments, like your vows, during which, as a professional, I assure you I will not sigh heavily.
Filed under: Humor, Wedding | Leave a Comment
Christmas in September?
Saw this at the Younkers today. Really guys?
As an aside, it’s currently 80 friggin degrees outside.
Filed under: omaha | Leave a Comment
The Libertarian Party…
an enduring source of hilarity.
Reading through The Economist from a few weeks back, I saw this snippet in their profile of the LP’s presidential candidate, Bob Barr:
His moralistic fervour faltered only when it came to his own conduct: twice divorced, he was once photographed licking whipped cream off the breasts of a particularly buxom woman. He says he was raising money for leukaemia research. (Well, he would, wouldn’t he?)
I suppose it’s better than turning your entire body blue by drinking a homemade panacea made of silver. But here’s to you, Libertarian Party. Thanks for lowering the bar for political scandal and degradation.
Filed under: Humor, Politics | Leave a Comment
NPR pwned me
Every year I’m the butt of at least a dozen April Fool’s jokes. The totally obvious ones I can figure out, but once a prank exhibits the slightest bit of subtlety, I’m a sucker.
Take this story from American Public Media’s Marketplace. While driving home today I was listening to the show and started to hear about how the IRS is targeting folks deep in debt, and using the economic stimulus to send them consumer goods instead of cash:
Armed with a huge IRS database, Beverly and others like her have spent the last few months identifying taxpayers who’d be most likely to use their rebate checks to pay off debt.
Jaworsky: Someone who may be listing their house on the market as a short sale, for instance. Or students with student loans. Or screenwriters.
Then those taxpayers get special rebates.
Jaworsky: Instead of receiving that check that they were going to receive, we send it to them in the form of retail goods, in relative value to what their check would have been.
Listening to this story, I was getting pissed. Who the hell did these people think they were?
And then I hear the host say this at the end:
RYSSDAL: Oh, c’mon, check your calendars, everybody.
Ugh. I got pwned.
Filed under: Humor | 1 Comment
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