digitalBush

Last week, I posted about our house getting robbed.  I’m starting to get over the initial shock, and I thought I would share with you some of the precautions Ashley and I took to bring some order back into our lives.  Depending on what was stolen will determine what actions will need to be taken, so I’ll go over the things stolen and our resulting actions.  Some of this applies regardless, so I’ll go over that first.

1. Get out of the house.  At the point that you realize that you’ve been robbed, you won’t know if the criminals are still inside your home.  It’s just safer to leave the house.
2. Call the police.  They’ll come and make sure your house is secure.  Be prepared for a lengthy visit.  The police were at our house for a couple of hours.  The officer took pictures of the disturbed areas, helped us go through the house to log the items stolen, and dusted for fingerprints.
3. Re-secure your home.  You have to feel safe in your own home, so repair any damage that would allow a criminal back into your home that night.  Even if it’s just temporary, do it.  You’ll feel better.  In our case, the point of entry was unknown, but since we never locked our back deadbolt, we think the back door was jimmied.  Regardless, one of the fire safe boxes stolen contained spare keys to the house, so I went to the hardware store and picked up new locks for the entire house.  I stayed up installing them that night.
4. Notify your insurance company. They’ll assist you in filing an insurance claim to help recover your losses.

That about covers the things you have to do regardless of what gets stolen.  Unfortunately, we had a lot of information stolen that compromises our identities, so we had a feverish couple of days handling the rest of this.

1. Notify the credit bureaus.  Since my social security number and birth certificate got stolen, we put an alert on our credit for 3 months.  We called TransUnion and they notified the other 2 big credit bureaus (Experian and Equifax) for us. 
2. Go to the bank.  We had checks and account numbers stolen, so there is a lot to do here.  Basically, we closed out all of our old bank accounts and created new ones.  We could have just put a stop payment notice on the stolen checks, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. This was where most of our efforts were focused because EVERYTHING that we do is automatically drafted/deposited.
3. Contact your auto-drafted services and utilities.  Since we changed bank accounts, we had to provide them the new account information.  It wasn’t hard to do, but it was just a lot of calls to make.
4. Talk to your employer.  You want to get paid, right?  Let them know your new account number so that your direct-deposited check goes to the right place.
5. Go to your other bank.  Some checks to an equity line were taken as well.  Since we don’t use that equity line, we had the bank freeze the account so that no loans could be taken from it unless we showed up in person.  If you have an equity line and use it, go to the bank and they will advise you on what to do.
6. Get your social security card reprinted.  Mine was taken, and I had to get a new one if I ever want to change jobs or get a passport.  This was free, but the wait was horrible.  The 2 times I’ve been to the social security office it was packed.  Take a snack and be prepared to wait an hour or two.
7. Get your birth certificate reprinted.  This will cost money to replace, so make sure to keep the receipts for that insurance claim you might be filing.
8. Get your vehicle titles reprinted.  The fire safe had our vehicle titles in it, so I had to make a trip to the clerk’s office to get new ones ordered.  This will cost you some money, so make sure to keep the receipts for insurance.
9. Get your marriage license reprinted.  I’m just adding this for completeness.  The same applies to the other non-free things above.  Keep your receipts.
10. Change your online passwords.  Since we had a laptop stolen, we’re changing all of our online passwords.   Start with the most important things first like banks and credit cards and work your way down to the lesser important websites you use. I’d rather not take any chances, so secure those password protected websites.  If this isn’t a case for OpenID, I don’t know what is.
11. Get identity theft protection. I’m still researching companies for this, but I’ll be subscribing to one of these services that monitor my credit for me.  There are a lot of things you can do yourself, but it just might be worth it to have someone go to bat on your behalf if stuff starts happening here.

It’s safe to say that this process sucks royally.  Not only has our space been violated, but now we have to do a ton of work to protect ourselves.  If you can think of anything I might have missed or have some advice for me, please share in the comments or contact me directly.

For those of you who aren’t family and don’t follow me on twitter, our house got robbed.  The past 24 hours have been a flurry of emotions.  Sometime yesterday during the same some asshat(s) decided to break into our house and help themselves.  They stole a few things of value, but at the same time they managed to grab some things of sentimental value and a lot of personal information.  Ashley lost a few pieces of jewelry that were given to her by her late grandfather, her father, and myself.  The homemade recording of our wedding is gone along with the camcorder that it was stored with.  They also managed to get a fire safe that contained all of our freaking important documents like social security cards, birth certificates, and receipts just to name a few.  Checks and some emergency money were also among the prizes won by those sons of bitches.

Photo courtesy of *saxon*

Right now I’m just tired.  I’m normally really cool headed, but right now it’s hard.  Emotions really produce a lot of stress.  Right now I’m feeling a lot of them.

• Anger - How can you not be angry when someone comes and takes something that is yours?  Ashley and I work hard to have what we have.  It really pisses me off that someone got something for free that I worked for.
• Fear - Wow, this is a tough one.  Our space has been violated against our will.  There was nothing I could have done to stop what happened and that scares the shit out of me.  We weren’t at home when it happened, but what if we were?  If this had been a month ago, Ashley would have been home while she was switching jobs.  A lot of scenarios start coming into your head.
• Anxiety - Some creep now has enough information to steal my identity.  What’s to come out of that in the coming months?
• Blame - There are so many things that we could’ve done to reduce the impact of this robbery.  I’ll talk about this more in coming blog posts, but it’s safe to say that I have some regrets.
• Urgency - Ashley and I each took a day off work to take on the monumental task of taking every precaution imaginable to try and do damage control.  Closing bank accounts, canceling checks, canceling credit cards, new social security card, calling credit bureaus, etc, etc, etc.  The list just goes on.  Time is of the essence and you can’t work fast enough to try and keep these pieces of shit from causing you more trouble

I’m sure there is more, but I’m tired and I need to get some sleep.  I’ll elaborate more on this in the coming days.  I just needed to get a few things off my chest. 

I’m 4 months into my weight loss adventure this year and I’ve managed to lose 15 pounds so far.  I’m past the point where I would normally fail and fall back into my old eating habits.  The other day I was reflecting over past weight loss attempts and realized why this sucks so bad.  The hard part about losing weight isn’t the diet or the exercise (provided you are doing sensible things here).  The thing that is hard to overcome is me. 

Photo courtesy of Josh Hunter

You see, for years I’ve eaten whatever the heck I wanted.  Really, it has been that way since I can remember.  I was always a big guy growing up, but my activities kept my weight reasonable.  Fast forward to now and I have a job where all I do is sit all day.  My eating habits just caught up to me and now I have a problem on my hands.  When I look back at my high school pictures, I look skinny compared to what I look like now.  It’s amazing really.  Back then I knew I was big.  Now I just want to get back to the weight I was at way back when.  That means that now I must be REALLY BIG.

Okay, so I am really big. There’s a word for that, it’s called obese.  Isn’t that a nasty word?  Our stupid American politically correct culture wants us to not use offensive words.  You know, you might hurt someone’s feelings.  The problem is that by not saying anything, you are just contributing to a greater problem.  ACCEPTANCE.  By accepting people’s unhealthy weight, you are doing them a disservice. You are allowing them to be comfortable with a lifestyle that will ultimately lead to diabetes, coronary artery disease, or maybe cancer just to name a few.  Being overweight because you eat too much and don’t exercise is just as bad as smoking.  It’s just another poor life decision.

Here I am.  I weigh 281 lbs and I am 6′5″ tall.  My BMI is 33.3 which places me firmly in the obese category.  In order to rid myself of that label, I must reach a weight of 252.  Last year I would have told you that BMI was a crock-of-shit.  Denial is an evil thing.  All I was doing was overlooking the facts so that I could feel okay about myself.  All of my previous attempts at losing weight failed because of this attitude: “What’s the worst that could happen?  If I don’t lose weight I’ll just be like I am now.  I’m awesome.”

I am awesome.  My health isn’t.  I’m going to continue to fight to get my weight down.  I’d rather not miss out on important things in my life because I’m either sick or dead.  Food just isn’t worth that.  I’m come to terms with my present condition and where I want to be.  I just need to keep my spirits up in order to get there.  These mind games we play on ourselves suck.  It’s too easy to get depressed and give up.  This time I’m trying to stay positive.  If I’m making progress towards my goal, then I’m winning.  This is nothing more than a battle of will.  Suck on it emotions, I’m losing this weight and winning this battle.

Damn, I’m so close!  This month was a good weight loss month for me.  I just weighed in at 281 lbs which makes my weight loss from last month 4 pounds.  I was shooting for 5 lbs this month, but it didn’t quite happen.  It’s okay though, because I’m still losing weight.  Any month I can record a weight loss is a good one for me. 

What did I do right this month?

Photo courtesy of blumpy

My diet is spot on.  I’m very proud of how well I’m managing my food and drink intake.  I still have times when I eat too much or eat something bad, but for the most part I’m good.  I’d say my diet is about 80/20 right now.  80% of the time I’m eating very healthy and the other 20%, not so much.  The good news is that I don’t have to feel guilty about the 20% because of my progress.  It keeps me from getting frustrated and that lack of frustration is enabling me to move forward. 

Where did I fall short this month?

Well, yesterday I ate a big ol’ mess of fried food for lunch and that most likely didn’t help my weigh in today.  Also, I still feel like I could be exercising more.  I feel a little weak at times, so that tells me I need more.  Fortunately it’s warmer outside, and that means I have to mow the lawn and tend to the garden. 

What’s in store for this month?

May is my birthday, so I’ll be doing nothing spectacular for that.  I might enjoy a slice of cake and chill with some friends.  I’m still in the 280’s and that sucks.  I’ll be out to remedy that problem this month and make a dive for the 270’s in a major way.  276 lbs is my target weight for the end of May.  So far this year I’ve lost 15 pounds.

Farmer might be a little exaggeration.  Maybe I’m more like a tomato growing hobbyist.  Either way, all of us “farmers” have our secret techniques to churn out bigger and more bad ass crops.  I want my tomatoes to be bigger and ripen earlier.  Hey, what can I say?  I dig competition. 

I think it’s awesome for people to diversify their activities.  It’s important to maintain a well-rounded personality.  Technology is cool and all, but nature is cool as shit too.  If you give a plant a little bit of love it will grow and flourish.   So, do you want to know how to grow big bountiful crops of tomatoes?  I’ll give you my secrets.  Maybe you can step away from the computer and go rock some salsa.

Photo courtesy of Manjith Kainickara

1. Prepare your plating area.  I have a good sized garden and every year I till it as deep as I can.  In my neck of the woods, we have mostly clay soil.  I till in peat moss and compost to try and keep the soil from wanting to pack down.  After several year of doing this, my garden soil has become much looser.
2. Pick plant varieties that grow well in your area.  This will depend on climate and soil type.  Your local nursery will be able to help you here.  You will have a ton of choices.  Heirlooms or hybrids, big or small, determinate of indeterminate.  It’s all your choice.   I grow early girls, better boys, and big boys.  Try to pick a variety so that you can spread out your harvest. 
3. Dig a hole.  You’ll need to dig holes that will cover up roughly 2/3rds of the transplants.  I pick off the lower leaves making sure to leave at least the 2 top sets.  This will help the plant establish a strong root system capable of sucking up water when things start to dry out in the summer.
4. Feed the plants.  I make sure to put some Osmocote slow release fertilizer in the planting hole before I put my plant in.  Additionally, I will fertilize a few times with a water soluble fertilizer depending on how the plant is looking.  You need to be careful with the fertilizer though because too much will make your plant grow big but not produce much fruit.
5. Keep things trimmed.  As the plant grows, I will remove the lower branches.  By the end of the year I have about a 6″ to 1′ stalk with no branches or leaves.  This will help keep the lower leaves from touching the ground and keep dirt from splashing up onto the leaves.  By keeping the leaves off the ground, you’ll reduce the risk of the plant getting diseases, bugs, etc that might be in your soil.
6. WATER!  I’ve read that fully grown tomato plants need a gallon of water per day.  They are thirsty, that’s for sure.  This is especially important during the hottest part of summer.
7. Reap what you sow.  Pick your tomatoes when they are ripe but not too ripe.  If they stay on the vine too long critters will eat them.  If you pick one too early, you can put it in a cardboard box covered up for a few days and it will ripen.
8. Holy Crap!  I have a metric crap ton of tomatoes.  What do I do now?  We can our tomatoes to use in stews and chili later on in the winter.  Homemade canned tomatoes always taste better than the store bought canned ones.

Now, what are you waiting for?  Go get outside and start doing something.  Right after your frosts are over for your area is the time to plant tomatoes.  Hopefully you’ll love growing stuff in your garden as much as I do.