This is Monday\’s Gambit

Apologies for the extreme lateness of this posting. Or, you could look on the bright side and realize that when Wade posts his normal Gambit that you\’ll get a double dose of goodness. I\’m such an optimist. But so yes, this is Monday\’s Gambit. This would not have been Monday\’s topic, had things been normal, but things were not normal. I rarely do things that are normal, usually through no fault of my own. Yesterday was a bit off the scale though, even for me.

It all started when I got out to my car in the morning to find the passenger side window busted open and what looked like most of the contents of my car spread out on the broken glass in the passenger seat. I retreated inside to file a non-emergency police report, but found via automated message that I\’d have to wait until business hours to do so. So I went back out to inspect the damage and pull in what valuables were left to me in case anyone else came by who was feeling a little opportunistic.

As it turned out, the only thing stolen from my car was the loose change. F***ers. I hope whoever it was choked on the bottom-shelf vodka they bought with my change.

The day was not a total loss, however. Here are a few interesting things I learned:

• The City of Minneapolis has an online police report form you can use, and it\’s really quite intuitive and useful. Granted, I haven\’t been contacted yet, but I do have a case number in the event that I need it for insurance or if it were to be broken into again, and perhaps it increased slightly the number of patrols in the area last night. Who knows. But I do applaud the system for being easy to use. Hopefully none of us really need to use it again.
• It is invaluable to have an auto mechanic you trust. I called mine to see if he knew a good auto glass service. He told me the one they use in the shop, and after asking what had happened, made a general offer that I should call him if I needed any other help. I\’m not sure what else I\’d have needed, but the offer itself sounded so sincere that I really appreciated it. For the record, I go to Amigo auto service in S Mpls.
• Two plugs in a row, but it can\’t be helped. The auto glass service he recommended was Auto Glass Today. You can find them on the web at their name dot com. The name is self-explanatory. I had my repair done less than two hours after I called them. I went to one of the shops, but for a small extra fee (really, it\’s small) they\’ll come install it wherever you are. I suspect that\’d be useful if I\’d lost the windshield instead of just a side window. In any case, good stuff if you need it, and I believe they\’re a local company too (but I\’m not 100% sure on that).

Of course, being me, nothing I do is ever normal. So when the auto glass guy came back in to take my money, he asked what had happened. I hadn\’t thought about it, but there was glass up on top of the roof of my car, which as he pointed out, means that the window was hit with something rather large, and moving at an upward angle. (Think about it, if you hit the window with a crowbar, swung level, all the glass just falls into the interior.) I really have no answer for it, but just wanted to point out that I can\’t even get vandalized normally. Heh.

I think overall the one thing I\’ve learned is that when you hear people say not to leave any valuables visible in your car, it\’s really quite a literal statement. I\’m sure that what I had was barely visible, but clearly a pile of loose change, and somebody wanted/needed it badly enough to take the risk of smashing and grabbing. So maybe take a few minutes if you think of it, and lower your risks of having an annoying day like I did.

As for me, I\’m feeling much better today. Or at least I would be if I\’d had hot water in my apartment. Oy!