Thefts increase during holiday season

It's that time of year where surprises are expected - but someone stealing your iPhone off your desk at work is not the kind of surprise you're liable to be too jazzed by.

Police departments and HR offices across the country note an increase in stolen cars, break-ins and petty thefts during the later months of the year. Case in point: just today someone managed to walk out of my office w/ a DESKTOP computer, as well as the monitor, mouse and keyboard. He must have been really motivated to work from home, because aside from making it past the locked entrance to our suite, he also managed to avoid detection by the real employees at 9 in the morning (I knew there was a really practical reason for being late)! It took us a couple more hours to realize the desk chair was also missing from the cubicle - so he was able to wheel the whole damn thing out, right under our noses. Like I said, I guess the guy really wanted to set up a home office.

Bottom line, this holiday season, keep your eye on your personal items, like purses, briefcases, wallets, phones and iPods/iPads/Kindles. Not just in the grocery store and on the train - but also at your desk at work. Always lock your doors - at home and in the car. Enable any security devices, if you own them. Have a friend you trust come and "House-sit" at random times of day if you plan to be out of town for an extended period of time. Another stat police & other experts tout at this time of year is that people who otherwise would not steal are more likely to do so. Please be careful with your stuff! As someone who's already had to replace a stolen iPod once, I know I will try my best to do so myself. TTFN.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Quest for the Everything Bagel

My boyfriend, Luke, is a great guy. He helps out around the house, he deals with my annoying-ness, and, as it relates to this story, he goes and picks up lunch when I am too lazy to do so. Case in point, last weekend.

I decided I wanted an Einstein Bro's Bagel sandwich (as you may have heard, I'm really into those right now. Seriously - they're awesome). So, Luke headed over to the bagel shop to get himself a breakfast sammie and me a turkey and provolone sandwich on an everything bagel.

We live about 2 city blocks from the Diversey brown/purple line stop, which you may or may not know actually has an Einstein's location directly beneath it. And like the creatures of habit we are, sometimes we revert to our old ways - we both come from rural places, where walking somewhere doesn't even remotely make the list as a mode of transportation. So, he drove over in the Camry. And that was apparently when all hell broke loose.

The way he tells it, he stepped up to the counter to order, when a lady barged in front of him and ordered a dozen Everything bagels: "Oh, looks you have 13 left, I guess I I might as well take them all." Luke said, "Oh darn, I was going to order a sandwich on an everything bagel - do you think you could save one for me? Since you only wanted 12 anyway?" Apparently the woman either, a. had a hearing problem, 2. was a really rude person or d. did not understand. We're going to go with option 2, which was that she was a total b-i-t-c-h. Luke says she gave him a nasty look and proceeded ignored him completely.

Now I'm sort of a picky person, and I like things just so (to put it mildly). And Luke texted me saying there were no everything bagels so I said forget it, I will have something else instead. I didn't want their stupid sandwich on a stupid different bagel, I wanted the sandwich I like. Stupid Einstein (is that an oxymoron?) But, I digress.

Anyway, like I said, Luke is a really sweet guy. So he decided not to give the place his business either, and went to another location of Einstein's. There are a ton in this city, so it probably took him all of 5 minutes to drive over to the next one. This place was sure to have what we needed. So, he walks in to order our lunch, and - no everything bagels!!!

At this point, it became sort of a crusade, an important quest of his, to find this freakin' everything bagel! He didn't even tell me about the second failed mission until he got home, because he knew that I would have told him not to bother.

So he kept on - and started by making a game plan. There were three remaining Einstein locations that he knew of in the immediate area. If all of these were devoid of everything bagels, he would consult his phone/Google Maps to find another one. He carefully considered which of the next three stores to go to first, and tactically chose the one on Sheffield in Wrigleyville.

Luckily, his two last resorts were unnecessary. THIS Einstein Bro's HAD the elusive everything bagel. And Luke's quest was complete.

When he finally made it home and relayed this all to me, I said, "You know, you really didn't have to go to all that trouble." And Luke replied, "By that point, I was on a mission - I was going to get that damn everything bagel!!!" Ha ha!

So we ate our meal. And it was good. Thanks, babe!! Ta ta for now!

Sittin' 'round waitin' on two green lights

So today, I’m driving back to work after picking up my latest lunch favorite from Einstein’s Bros. Bagel (holla!), when I have an interesting experience with Evanston, Illinois' traffic light system.

I miss the green light turning left onto Sherman from Clark Street, so I pull to a stop. Then, the green left turn arrow comes on, so I proceed to – well, turn left. On my right, I can see a pick-up truck coming down Sherman Street toward the intersection, clearly not intending to stop.

So as he enters the intersection, I stop right under the light to avoid a collision, but, I’m highly irritated because I have the right of way (Hello! A green light!) I lay on my horn – jackass!

Now let me just stop here and say – I’m from the U.P. (of Michigan – the Upper Peninsula), and up there, we don’t honk at people. However, I’ve been living in the city for over a year now, and during such time, I have honed my Chicago driver skills and also developed a little syndrome that my friends and family back home like to call “FIB’s” – I’ll let you marinate on that one for yourself.

Meanwhile, back at the Evanston intersection – I have the green light, and I am totally in the right here, right!? Turns out…kinda. As I lay on my horn, the kid (a Northwestern student, I surmise, by his age and the bumper stickers on his truck) rolls his window down and yells “Lady, I have a bleeping green light!” I say, “NO, *I* have the #?*! green light!” Our faces both slowly morphed from sheer anger to utter confusion when we both looked up at the light to find out, sure enough – both sides of the intersection have the ‘go sign’ engaged. Two conflicting green lights - me with the left turn green arrow, he with the straight-up green light. Special, right? Ughhhh.

Now I have to call in to the city of Evanston to complain about how their malfunctioning traffic signals nearly caused a terrible accident – not so near, as both vehicles were driving pretty slowly and the drivers were alert to the other car’s presence, but I may just jazz that bit up for a better effect. I’ll fill you in on that encounter - which is sure to be another treat, no doubt - later. TTFN.

Like today's blog? Email me at lafavea@gmail.com or add me to your favorites!!!