If you haven't heard yet, our house was broken into. No one was hurt, but they got away with some of our pricier electronics.
Typically, it happened the day before a holiday and the same day that Jim and Cheryl were coming to visit. I went home a little earlier so that I could run by the grocery store on the way home. I entered, saw the TV was missing, said "Oh, shit!" and ran out of the house. It was very reassuring when the first police officer arrived within a couple minutes, followed by four more vehicles!
Luckily, they didn't trash our house. It seems they were in a rush and just made off with electronics that were covered by our insurance. They are going to be very disappointed when they try to sell my absolutely worthless jewelry. The only things I really miss are my wedding band and some of my favorite necklaces and earrings that I received from loved ones.
The upshot is that we'll be looking into increasing security around here, and keeping a better inventory of our stuff.
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The experience
Yes, so I had picked up my parents, we went out for lunch, and then I had taken them in to Ames for a tour of my little office and to talk about what I had been up to at work, when I got the call from Rachel saying that she was in the car with Arthur and police officers were in the house. When we pulled up to the house, three cruisers were leaving, and two officers remained. One asked us a number of questions and tried to make sure that he had all the details that he could gather. The other one methodically fingerprinted the thieves' journey through our home (trivia fact: shiny plastic Apple power bricks that are left behind are great fingerprint capturing surfaces). All in all, we kind of got off lucky. They didn't trash or damage our house, or the items they left behind, and we think most of what they took will be covered by our renter's insurance. That's not to say that this whole thing hasn't been a pain, it has. The paperwork, the long communication cycle with insurance providers, and the delay in being able to get things back the way they were have all been difficult. Fortunately, things are only difficult, and not devastating.