Last night someone let a breeze into my house. When we got home, the furnace was at redline as it vainly tried to keep the thermostat warm. The radiators were dangerously hot. 
And I was pretty sure that I didn’t leave my cookbooks strewn across the pantry floor on a layer of shattered Victorian art glass.
The responding officer mentioned that the holiday season is a hot time for those who use this method to encourage people to buy more stuff. Our neighborhood email newsgroup has had more buzz than usual about burglaries and car theft. One sign of a weak economy is a rise in material crimes. The poor become more desperate while the rich take shorter tropical vacations and drive last year’s Lexus.
Our visitors were in a studied hurry. They efficiently opened and dumped drawers, flipped mattresses, and opened every door. As near as I can tell, my super-zoom camera and new laptop computer were the only really significant items taken. Plus several hundred dollars, mostly in state quarters and other change. They found and collected the power supply and carry case for my laptop, each in a different location. I miss my vintage laptop bag more than the much pricier laptop. It was a classic Targus backpack that has been getting favorable comments for 14 years. I haven’t seen another quite like it since the year I bought it.
Fortunately, we were away with all our credit cards and my smaller (but now favored) camera. It appears that some jewelry of little economic value is also missing, and an older camera. And a set of house keys. Changing the locks is easy. But not having keys didn’t seem to slow them last night.
Sorry to hear that you were ripped off, Dan. It's terrible to have one's home invaded.
One day in 1987, I came home to a burglar who was still in my house. I saw him before he saw me. I thus called the police and they apprehended him in my kitchen. That gave me peace of mind that you won't have: I knew who it was.
That led me to buy a monitored burglar alarm, which has prevented at least one other break-in.
I suspect that the need to buy cigarettes or street drugs was at play, and it won't give you peace of mind to know that your treasured goods were probably sold at a fraction of the price you paid. Nor will it give you much peace of mind that others proceeded you, including Mindy Carney. http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/05/26/my-co…
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Good to hear no one was hurt and that your okay. Ercih has the right idea if you still feel violated by the whole mess, a monitored burglar alarm would be a good idea. Regardless, hope all is well.
The police and pawn shop database have my serial numbers. Luckily I had never gotten around to tossing the original packaging for my electronics. I'll be checking eBay and Craig's List for the next few days, as well.
If you recently bought any of those electronics on credit, check your credit card terms to see if there is any insurance that applies. Occasionally, there it.
I finally ordered a replacement set of State Quarters exactly 11 months after our collection disappeared. I saw an ad in Smithsonian selling the full 56 quarter set including folder and shipping for under $35. I did some comparison shopping. Double face value is a good deal for those of us starting from scratch after the issues are done.
http://littletoncoin.com/specials with "department" 9sp492
But Littleton Coin has a rep for overcharging for their regular offerings: http://is.gd/gMSdm
The main catch is that I'll have to cancel their coin-of-the-month club.
But when I received the set and saw the on-approval coins (all to be returned), I got a yen to own and display coins from the year my house was built. So today I "won" an 1894 penny for only 2,860 times its face value. Although this is in really good shape compared to others I've seen, I don't expect to get my money back selling it. It's to use as an accent on an 1894 city map that I already have.
<img src="http://dangerousintersection.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/1894Penny.jpg" alt="1894 penny" />