Rain I feel for you brother.
It's hard when life takes us on a road we just would rather not be on.
 
When it makes us deal or think about things that does nothing but upset us
and question how so much could be so...wrong.
 
It's sure nice to have music and loved ones to help us along.
 
 
 
 

No kidding...  I just got the police report today for an incident that happened about a month ago when a tenant, who had to be evicted, finally left.  Among lots of things (like stealing two of the owner's neon Corona signs, several things from another tenant, cutting my internet connection cable and leaving trash and damaged things), here's what he did to the big screen:
 

 
 
Oh yeah, and, currently, nothing appears to be going to happen to him...  Figures.

Thanks the kind words, guys.
 
I think I've developed certain reflexes early on in my life - a certain state of awareness, which I guess might have helped and kept me out of trouble.
 
As for the current situation, to me it breaks down as such: my instinct as well as the cops agree on the fact that those kids are probably a bunch of small time burglars - one of them on his second strike already. I'm not sure they have what it takes to even want to retaliate and it would be risky for them. 3rd offense means a lot of trouble, no?
 
If they do intend to retaliate, either they simply want to kick my ass, in which case they know that I can probably put up quite a decent fight and they need to surprise me  - by breaking in silently enough not to wake me up, something which the new alarm makes even harder. We also have pepper spray guns planted everywhere in the house, tasers, baseball bats, etc. And if I can turn a frying pan into a weapon, imagine what I can do w/ an electric guitar or such... ;)
 
For all they know, I might have guns too, as lots of people do around here. 
 
So either this or either they want me dead and come back w/ a lethal weapons. I doubt it. They'd probably go on a rampage and kill a bunch of us in the neighborhood at that point - like the first couple who called the cops and had visual contact w/ them. And there's only so much you can do. 
 
As I said, it's all layers I guess. How hard it is to break in, how hard it is to do so w/o triggering alarms, what's the risk coefficient if you make it in, are you at risk of facing a big biker w/ a gun or something like that, etc... The point is that, if they are willing to take all those risk, there's very little in the world that could protect me beside never sleeping again and carrying a machine gun w/ me at all time.

I like to keep a couple of small protection devices nearby.  Here's one!
 

 
It's helpful when remodeling too.
 

Hendrix had an amazing song about that device, didn't he? :P
 
I'm pretty resourceful guy - for example, here's one of the greatest weapons ever conceived, imho. 

 
There's so many way to hurt someone w/ one of these, so much damage you can inflict, it's incredible. 
 
Oh yeah, and you can also use it to score goals, too. Neato, uh? ;)

 
We have machetes, a couple of medieval broadswords...handed down through our family through a few centuries here...and my wife...who took up a few martial arts things recently...

Rain I too feel your pain. As a victim many times in life, I've been paying for criminals in all areas. My home and studio have cameras all over, I have steel bars on my windows on all lower levels, alarm...it's a crappy way to live but we don't have a choice. Until laws get tougher and alter the minds of these criminals, you gotta do what you gotta do both expense wise and if you have to get physical, you do what you have to do.
 
I say all this from experience. My houses have been robbed, my shed's broken into, studio's broken into, music gear stolen, dirt bikes stolen, I've been robbed at gun-point...the list goes on and on. And people wonder why I'm sometimes vicious on the forum here. You see, I've dealt with idiots and criminals in real life more times than I want to think about. You can understand why I have the temper I have now. Having something stolen from you or having your home ransacked is not only humiliating, upsetting and devestating, you feel violated in a way I can't even describe to you. It's even worse when your poor mother finds the house in shambles and hears the criminals running away. Thank GOD they ran and didn't hurt her. They felt the need to stab the cat on the way out though and the dog was scarred for life...God knows what they did to him.
 
So let me tell you bro...you do what you have to do. And if you have to purchase a gun off the street, you do it. I'm serious. I'd rather go to jail for the rest of my life over living my life every day knowing someone in my family was harmed and I couldn't help them because I either:
 
a) Didn't have the right protection for my property
b) Didn't have a weapon strong enough to take one or more people out
 
It sucks to think that way....it sucks to spend the money on anything and everything that deals with criminals. But you have to do what you have to do at all times. Let me tell you....if God forbid I ever had to defend to the point of taking a life and had a reason to...even if I were completely in the right, it would haunt me for the rest of my days. I don't know what that feels like and never want to know. I do know it would really mess me up though even if it were deserved.
 
If my family were hurt by someone because I couldn't defend them or didn't have the means to defend them, that would destroy me for life and I'd be in an insane asylum while being completely useless. I'll choose the scenario above this one instead. You should be able to alarm your house for cheap. I think ADT has a pretty killer deal they are runnig now. If you need video, there are inexpensive ways to do this too. If the whole rig cost $1500 over time (you don't have to do it all one shot) it's well worth it in my opinion. It took me a while to warm up to the steel bars on all my windows...but now I'm used to them. One look at my house if you're a criminal and you think twice. Fenced in yard, dead bolts everywhere, cams, alarm, bars on the windows, nothing with glass on any over levels exposed. Yeah, they can get in if they want to...but the more protection you have, the more time it takes for them to break through.
 
It sucks to live this way but unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice. The last thing you want in life...is regrets of any kind. Especially in this situation. Good luck with everything...just know that I can relate with you on all levels having been the good guy in the neighborhood always abiding by the laws that opened his home up to everyone. All it did was invite them into my home to rob me while all I wanted was to keep the kids off the streets and in my yard playing basketball and swimming in my pool. Go figure. :(
 
-Danny 

Danny, thanks for sharing this! I never knew you'd been that unlucky - that's phenomenal.
 
That pretty much mirror my feelings. I'm lucky enough never to have had to deal with an actual robbery but my wife and her parents had burglars breaking into their house when she was a teen and she, as well as the many folks I've spoke with, often say the same thing as you - how violated they felt.
 
As territorial as I am, I can't imagine how I would react. That's one of the cool things about my situation - I'm basically home 24/7, except for a quick trip to the grocery once a week or such. The few times where we went away, most of the time I insist on at least bringing my favorite guitars over to a friend's place - just in case. The rest is not that irreplaceable and we do have insurance, so, even if it's a pain... But I'll try to have the cameras installed before we take our next vacations, for sure.
 
Anyway, my first and biggest concern is my wife's safety. All those nights when I wasn't sleeping, I was going through the various possible scenarios and figuring out how I could make sure she was safe. 
 
You know that movie the Crow which came out in the 90s? It struck something deep inside because the idea of seeing a loved one abused and injured is so absolutely unbearable that if there is one thing that could cause me to walk out of the grave to seek retribution, that's it. Not literally, but, you know... It's just impossible for me to even cope with it. One of those things that make you feel that you could rip your way through a concrete wall with your nails.
 
We picked ADT, after shopping around for a while. They have a strong presence in the neighborhood, have their own team on dispatch and we can also transfer the contract to Quebec if we move back (for some reason, they're one of the very few if not the only company to offer this option, Quebec is excluded of every deal we've seen). And the remote access via smartphone is killer - you can have logs of every event, every time a door is opened, who used their code at what time, etc. 
 
If it can act as a deterrent, all the better. If not, well the alarm at least gives me a better chance to react more quickly. It really feels as if we'd just fixed the lock on a door which didn't close properly. It's not 100% safe, but it gives me wiggle room to handle the situation.
 
 
 
 

Krist, judging by the excellent character you display in here, you'll be fine.
 
I once had to go to court as a witness in a "Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent" case that occurred in my club. A guy decided to take some disproportional revenge on one of my customers who'd ripped his son off for a small amount of cash. Yes, the guy was out of order in the first place, but he didn't deserve a ruptured spleen for his deeds.
 
It was a quiet early evening, and aside from the perpetrator and the victim, there were only three of us in the bar area. I was working the bar, and chatting to two customer - a young chap, and a local hard-nut, who had a bit of a reputation for being a tough guy. The whole incident was over in seconds and the perpetrator was gone again before anyone could do a thing to get involved.
 
When the police arrived to take statements, me and the young chap gave a pretty detailed and accurate account of proceedings, but the 'hard-nut' told the officer he "hadn't seen a thing", as he had been "looking the other way". What a sickening act of cowardice from a supposed tough guy. I had little choice as club proprietor to 'do my duty', but the young guy also stepped up to the plate and agreed to participate. He showed more guts in that moment than the 'hard' man (probably twice his size), who skulked off when the police arrived, had ever done in his life.
 
In the upshot, both me and the young man stood up in court and testified under the staring gaze of the defendant. Plus my business partner had to stand up and validate the footage of the incident we'd captured on our security camera. I'd long gone after giving my evidence when the guy's lawyer, in view of the fact that his client was clearly the guy in the video, proposed a plea bargain whereby his client agreed to plead guilty to the GBH charge providing the prosecution dropped the (much more serious) "With intent" part of the change.
 
Don't get me wrong, I was crapping myself about having to stand up in court, but I walked out of court that day with my head held high.
 
 
 
 
 

Krist,

Hockey sticks are excellent weapons, I have had my chin cut and bruised many times with one. My son in his Senior year, almost had his arm broken by a player that decided to slash him on purpose. I have coached high school hockey so I have seen it all. Just remember though, everyone on the rink has the same tools.

You are also a very intelligent, thoughtful and caring person. Keep in mind though that the people you are dealing with are probably not that bright. They are not going to react the way you or I do. I work in the Trade Show industry which has some very wonderful people in it, but also has the lowest of the lows. I am constantly amazed by the mentality of some people. Don't take for granted that they are going to think rationally. I just came home from a 3 week stay in Vegas, Mandalay Bay, by the way. I was going to give a shout out to you, but we were just to busy. 7am to 9pm almost every day. The pace is so fast I am just kind of laying here zoning out this morning.