Grand Theft...

The MVPD officer just left.

Someone came in last night and stole all the tangerines off of our backyard tree. And I do mean all the tangerines. Even the ones off the top of the tree that we had left because they were too hard to reach. Every last one. We're talking well over 200 of the little orange suckers. They even took some of the fallen fruit.

They didn't touch the bikes, or the scooter that belongs to James's friend. They did not steal the lawn mower or the weedeater. The car was accidentally left unlocked, but there was no sign that anything had been disturbed. We can see no sign that they tried to enter the house. If they did, they left my laptop, the most valuable easily portable thing in the house.

Just the tangerines. And the officer pointed out that this had to have been a planned crime -- they would have needed boxes to get the fruit out of the yard.

All of this happened less than ten feet from my bedroom window, and I slept through all of it. The only thing I can think is that the noise of my CPAP drowned out the sounds of people climbing the ladders. (The ladders had been left in the back yard to harvest fruit, but they were moved out of position and one which had been flat on the ground was open and standing up.)

I am annoyed and a little angry about losing the tangerines -- they were pretty good ones. But they were little, nowhere near commercial size. What would someone do with them? I am at a loss there.

But I am really freaked out about the invasion aspect. What if they had broken into my house? I would not have heard them.

I really wish brian1789 were not away on travel.

Another thought...

We had been picking tangerines a few at a time. We had had a major picking early in the season, and were due for another major picking soon, to end the season. When we pick lots of fruit, I always take some of it down to the Second Harvest Food Bank in San Jose.

If the scum of the earth thieves did not pick the fruit because they were hungry, then they took fruit out of the mouths of people who are. And that makes me angry -- more so than the loss of the fruit for ourselves.

(no subject)

One more thing about the theft...

Whoever it was, had fruit-picking equipment. In order to get the fruit at the top of the tree without damaging the tree, one would need a pole with a basket and a blade. Which pretty much rules out the homeless guy who hangs out in the park.

Sons of bitches.

(no subject)

On top of everything else, I've had a migraine today. (A combination of too little sleep -- I went to bed too late) and stress, and sweet smelling flowers. The Maxalt seems to be helping, and I had grits for lunch. But I have accomplished absolutely nothing today.

(no subject)

One thing I did do today was read the paper. On page 2A of the San Jose Mercury News is a little story (by a New York Times writer) down at one corner about the ways in which people are fighting back against the annoyances that bother us here in the 21st century: the guy who sends back all his subscription cards that fall out of his magazine so that the company will have to pay the postage, the woman who always punches 0 on automated voice systems so she can talk to a real person, the guy who always goes into Starbucks and orders a "medium" rather than a "grande". It seems like a piece of pretty pointless fluff.

The last paragraph is interesting: "The Internet offers a booming trade to help with this kind of annoyance-fighting behavior. For example, shared passwords are available at www.bugmenot.com to help people avoid dealing with long registration forms."

That's it. Nothing more about bugmenot, not about its founders or people who use it or anything. It seems like the entire piece exists pretty much to tell people of bugmenot's existence.

Hee hee. Let's hear it for fifth columnists. : )

(no subject)

And this is why I <3 mactavish.

Karma can be a real bitch, sometimes....

Okay, so we have the little drummer boy in our house. No doubt we annoy a serious chunk of our neighbors. The people who used to live next door (with The Dog That Barked) moved out, and in moved... people with a cranky baby. A LOUD cranky baby. A loud cranky baby with a seriously unpleasant cry.

Don't get me wrong -- our new neighbors are charming. I really like them. They are extra nice to D. And I totally sympathize with the problem of having a cranky baby. It's just that that cry is soooo annoying.

(no subject)

I should be going to bed... and I am completely tensed up. I need to sleep, or I will not be functional tomorrow, but I'm scared to go to sleep. I just do not feel safe, even though rationally I know I probably am.