The FreeBSD Diary

My laptop was stolen yesterday.

My IBM ThinkPad T22 (serial #: 786NKZP) was about two or three years old, but I had it for only 74 days. It came with Windows 98, and I added FreeBSD 5.2.1 to it so that it dual-booted. I added KDE 3.2.2 and OpenOffice. I had xplanet set up just they way I like it. This machine saw me through BSDCan without a hitch. It still had 16 days left on the 90 day warranty.

*sigh*

The thief also got:

1. Orinoco Gold card
2. Orinoco Silver card
3. Linksys PCM100 10/100 Integrated PC Card

The only item which is not replaceable is my notebook (the paper kind, not the ThinkPad). It had many notes on various subjects dating back three years.

I've filed the police report. I've found my receipt with the serial number. I'm going to deal with the insurance next week.

For what it's worth, the laptop from stolen from the back of the station wagon. Yes, it was in plain view. That is the part I regret. I am normally so fastidious about that. The car also had a bike in the back and a 10ft ladder on the roof rack. I was more concerned with the ladder than the laptop. Wrong decision.

I started the replacement process last night. I'm not going to wait for the insurance process to start. I've come to depend upon the laptop too much for that.

As I was typing up the BSDCan article, the building manager from the parking garage called to say they found nothing in the video tapes. The tape shows me driving in, parking, and leaving the car. Nobody approaches the car, nothing happens until I return. Now that's very interesting. I know the laptop was in there when I left the car. I looked right at it. When I returned, I knew the car alarm had been triggered because of the chirps when I unlocked it. Normally you get two chirps when unlocking. If the alarm has gone off, then you get a series of chirps. In addition, the right rear car door was ajar upon my return. It wasn't ajar when I locked the car because the alarm would have chirped to let me know about the improperly closed door when I armed it.

My theory: the thief came along the walls to avoid the camera. It's a pretty obvious camera. They also used a slim-jim to unlock the door and grab the laptop.

I just hope this lack of photo evidence does not affect the insurance claim.