Poetic Champions Compose

She'll loan you her toothbrush, She'll bartend your party

EMAIL ME! -- pesadidas[AT]yahoo[DOT]com

HELP ME GET A FREE PHOTO iPOD...PLEASE!!!

Thursday, June 02, 2005

WWSSD?

Yesterday, my car was burgled.

No, there was not a break-in involved. Rather, it was that someone removed something from THE OUTSIDE of my car. Yes, from the exterior.

But wait.

Let's go back in time. Back to the beginning. Create a timeline... It's what Sara Sidle would do.

This past November, after the horror of the presidential election, I purchased a "I DID NOT VOTE 4 BUSH" bumper sticker as my futile, yet only means of retaliation. Said sticker has resided firmly upon the bumper of my vehicle since the post-election days.

I live in a blue state.

I thought that my sticker would be safe within the confines of a blue state.

I found out yesterday that this is not so.

Silly me. I forgot that the only things that really made this state a blue one were Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Everything in between is decidedly of the red variety--necks and all. I guess in hindsight, I am surprised that it took this long to happen.

Yesterday morning, when I left the house to head to work, the sticker was still attached to my car. I know this because I always throw my laptop bag in the trunk, and the sticker was affixed to the area just above the lock--I had violated the rules of bumper stickers by placing it in a non-bumper area, but I had decided that the space between the spoiler and the lock was the area of highest visibility. Hence, the sticker was stuck there, and hence, I saw the sticker every day when I placed the key in the lock to open the trunk.

Flash forward to yesterday afternoon:

When I left the building and headed out to my car, as lifted my key to put it in the lock and open the trunk, I was stopped in my tracks. My blood ran cold for a moment, and I nearly screamed out loud. But, no sound escaped my lips. I was too dumbfounded to speak. I stood there in the parking lot staring at the spot where my bumper sticker used to be.

That's right.

Someone stole my bumper sticker.

And, if there were any doubt before now that I have been watching WAY too much C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation lately, this should clear that doubt right up.

My first thought: Don't touch the trunk. Maybe we can lift a print. Or at least a partial.

*sigh*

So, after I gave myself a righteous *slap* for even thinking that thought, I did the only thing I could--the next logical thing. I looked around and made sure that my car was well within camera range, and, seeing that it was, I marched myself back inside the building and made the security guy scan through the video from the parking lot for the entire day. Yes, the entire day.

For a bumper sticker.

(Shut up. It's the principle of the thing.)

We sifted through an hour and a half of video, and didn't find anyone who even came close to going near my car. Unfortunately, the cameras in the parking lot do sweeps of the area, and for the camera to make a full circuit, it takes about a minute and a half. That's long enough to pick and peel the sticker off.

Bastards.

So, there I was, out one cool sticker, and a whole lot of luck.

So, what else was there left to do?

Consult with my partner in crime, of course.

I picked up the phone and called it in. Zamsterson suggested that I go back to the scene and "canvas the area for witnesses. It's what Sara Sidle would do."

I did not canvas anything. I instead went to my local Barnes & Noble.

I still haven't touched the trunk at that spot yet. The small rectangular area of where the sticker used to be is clearly visible on the dark blue of my car, thanks to the incredible amount of yellow pollen that has been floating around in the air lately. Likewise, there is a clearly visible fingerprint area in the upper-right hand corner of what used to be the sticker, as well as adhesive residue where the perpetrator obviously had to use his or her fingernail to "pick and peel" up the edge of the sticker for removal.

I wonder if we can lift some epithelial cells for DNA analysis there...

I will present photographic evidence of this tonight after I get home and snap a few shots with the digital camera. I don't think a cameraphone would do this justice.

Stay tuned, people...

More info and images to come.

¶ Ξ PDawg Composed at 9:39:00 AM

Comments:

I found your blog on tractor fenders while searching the web and wanted to tell you it is great. Feel free to have your participants view tractor fenders for more great ideas.

# posted by