Eli Lilly offers pay-for-it parking on the weekends for activities in downtown Indy such as Colts games. Since this past weekend saw the first game of the regular season, and it was at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, it's to be expected that a lot of people showed up.
This morning, the detritus was still very much in evidence. Glass bottles, intact and broken, everywhere. Trash blowing all over the parking lot. Heck, full trash bags all over the parking lot.
People! Pick up after your nasty, disgusting selves! The lack of garbage cans means take your trash home with you, and throw it away there! You brought it in, you take it out!
Disgusting.
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Security by Wishful Thinking
There's a show on Tuesday evening called "It Takes A Thief", in which a couple of reformed thieves actually check out someone's house for security risks, then burgle the house with the owner's permission. (All on-camera, of course, since it's for TV.) Afterward, they show the burglary to the owners, tell them what went wrong and how things can be improved, then set up the owner with some free-to-the-owner basic security features, like better locks, new windows, whatever. It's rather an interesting look at how safe one's house really isn't.
This weeks' family was a 3-generation home. Grandma and Grampa, mom, and 2 kids - a teenager and a (I think) 10-year-old girl. First off, we find out that their house has been broken into, burglarized, and vandalized in the past, at least once (and possibly at least twice; I wasn't sure on that.) AND, apparently they don't live in the greatest area of town, contributing to the breakins and vandalism problems. So, you'd figure they'd be at least minimally security-conscious, wouldn't you?
You'd be wrong. They constantly left the front door unlocked "because Brittany (the teenager) kept losing her key." The window in the back of the house was unlocked because the lock was mis-adjusted. Mom kept hundreds of dollars of necessary money - Child-support money from her ex - loose in a bowl in the kitchen, where it was easily findable. Mom, Gramma and both daughters kept hundreds of dollars worth of costume jewelry, expensive shoes and designer purses, and clothing absolutely everywhere - jewelry all over the desks, dressers, bedroom furniture.
So, the breakin occurred. They actually let the family watch as they did a B&E on their house. The teenage daughter was appalled at the amount of mess that was created. (I still can't quite figure out what she thought they were going to do. They did tell the family "we're going to burgle your house, exactly the way someone breaking the law would do." Someone who's tossing your house to find easily-stolen, easily-sold items isn't going to be concerned with keeping the place looking neat, for heavens' sake.) The "B&E guy" broke in, collected all the jewelry, purses, clothes, shoes, and money, loaded it into his van and drove off in about 10 minutes.
The other consultant told the family exactly what was going on, and then the B&E guy brought the stuff back. The next day, they showed up at the house again to clean up the mess and install new security features, as well as fix the old ones.
All new deadbolts and door handles, they fixed the kitchen window, installed a dozen new windows, gave Mom a "security camera" (basically a webcam-style dealie that could hook up right to a computer or a VCR so she could tape the place), and a bolted-down small safe. They told Mom how to work everything, all the changed they'd done, and what NOT to do in the future - as well as how to be more secure. Then they left, with the agreement that they'd be back sometime in the next month to see if the family was doing any better, security-wise.
On their return visit, they discovered that the door was finally locked, but the teenage daughter left her window unlocked. Easy entry. Mom's essential Child-Support money was still in the bowl in the kitchen. All the jewelry? Still strewn all over the place. The safe not only hadn't ever been used, the packing material was still in it. The Security Webcam? Still in a bundle of wires on top of the TV - right where the Security guy had left it, three weeks earlier.
Mom made all kinds of excuses: "I forgot the money was there." "I've been busy." "I didn't have time to learn the software for the camera." They informed her that there WAS no "software to learn"; it was a plug-and-play camera, and 'busy' doesn't explain the wide-open window.
I was flabbergasted. A family that's been repeatedly burgled - and NOT by people that gave their stuff back, either - just couldn't be bothered to lock their doors, put their valuables away in a safe (provided TO THEM FOR FREE), or even keep their windows locked when they weren't home. It was as though they just kept thinking "if I pretend it didn't happen, it won't happen again!" I felt really sorry for the hosts of the show - they seem like they really want to help people. But the family they featured this week just didn't want to be helped, it seems.
Nothing you can do to help people that just aren't interested in help. Or, rather, that want you to wave a Magic Fairy Wand and Make All The Bad People Go Away. I think they didn't want help so much as they wanted things to be their way, without any effort on their part.
This weeks' family was a 3-generation home. Grandma and Grampa, mom, and 2 kids - a teenager and a (I think) 10-year-old girl. First off, we find out that their house has been broken into, burglarized, and vandalized in the past, at least once (and possibly at least twice; I wasn't sure on that.) AND, apparently they don't live in the greatest area of town, contributing to the breakins and vandalism problems. So, you'd figure they'd be at least minimally security-conscious, wouldn't you?
You'd be wrong. They constantly left the front door unlocked "because Brittany (the teenager) kept losing her key." The window in the back of the house was unlocked because the lock was mis-adjusted. Mom kept hundreds of dollars of necessary money - Child-support money from her ex - loose in a bowl in the kitchen, where it was easily findable. Mom, Gramma and both daughters kept hundreds of dollars worth of costume jewelry, expensive shoes and designer purses, and clothing absolutely everywhere - jewelry all over the desks, dressers, bedroom furniture.
So, the breakin occurred. They actually let the family watch as they did a B&E on their house. The teenage daughter was appalled at the amount of mess that was created. (I still can't quite figure out what she thought they were going to do. They did tell the family "we're going to burgle your house, exactly the way someone breaking the law would do." Someone who's tossing your house to find easily-stolen, easily-sold items isn't going to be concerned with keeping the place looking neat, for heavens' sake.) The "B&E guy" broke in, collected all the jewelry, purses, clothes, shoes, and money, loaded it into his van and drove off in about 10 minutes.
The other consultant told the family exactly what was going on, and then the B&E guy brought the stuff back. The next day, they showed up at the house again to clean up the mess and install new security features, as well as fix the old ones.
All new deadbolts and door handles, they fixed the kitchen window, installed a dozen new windows, gave Mom a "security camera" (basically a webcam-style dealie that could hook up right to a computer or a VCR so she could tape the place), and a bolted-down small safe. They told Mom how to work everything, all the changed they'd done, and what NOT to do in the future - as well as how to be more secure. Then they left, with the agreement that they'd be back sometime in the next month to see if the family was doing any better, security-wise.
On their return visit, they discovered that the door was finally locked, but the teenage daughter left her window unlocked. Easy entry. Mom's essential Child-Support money was still in the bowl in the kitchen. All the jewelry? Still strewn all over the place. The safe not only hadn't ever been used, the packing material was still in it. The Security Webcam? Still in a bundle of wires on top of the TV - right where the Security guy had left it, three weeks earlier.
Mom made all kinds of excuses: "I forgot the money was there." "I've been busy." "I didn't have time to learn the software for the camera." They informed her that there WAS no "software to learn"; it was a plug-and-play camera, and 'busy' doesn't explain the wide-open window.
I was flabbergasted. A family that's been repeatedly burgled - and NOT by people that gave their stuff back, either - just couldn't be bothered to lock their doors, put their valuables away in a safe (provided TO THEM FOR FREE), or even keep their windows locked when they weren't home. It was as though they just kept thinking "if I pretend it didn't happen, it won't happen again!" I felt really sorry for the hosts of the show - they seem like they really want to help people. But the family they featured this week just didn't want to be helped, it seems.
Nothing you can do to help people that just aren't interested in help. Or, rather, that want you to wave a Magic Fairy Wand and Make All The Bad People Go Away. I think they didn't want help so much as they wanted things to be their way, without any effort on their part.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Why is the grass greener?
We've all heard the phrase, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." But why is it greener? Why do things look so good from outside? I think I've figured it out, at least from my perspective.
Things look better elsewhere because we don't have the full story. All we're seeing of any given person's situation at any given time is a "snapshot" of what it's like to be them right here, right now. Not "the work that led up to this point", not the effort put into it, not the "putting in their time", not the day-to-day drudge. We don't see any of that. All we see is the big shiny sparkly thing they have that we'd like to have, or the (perceived) lack of icky drudgy thing that we DO have.
This goes for everything, really. Other people have more vacation time than I do, for example. While I may envy their vacation time, what I don't see is that they put in time for 15 years to "earn" that amount of vacation time, or the reduced paycheck because it's unpaid, or whatever other modifications they have.
Some people think my work schedule is pretty darn good - my employer allows me to work 4 ten-hour days so I can spend an extra day with my family every week. Every Friday off? Wow, that looks great, right? Well, this too can be yours if you're willing to show up at work at 6am and work till 4 every day. And don't forget - short weeks must be made up for somehow, so sometimes there's some 12-hour days. Still sounds like the same great package? I sure do think so, but you might decide it's not as Shiny as you thought, hey?
I remember a sermon by our pastor that brought this up, only he was talking about "crosses we bear". We may look at someone else's "cross" (whatever their burden may be) and think, "Wow, I sure do wish I had that problem instead of mine. That is no problem for me! I could deal with that super easy!" Well, of course - and that precise reason is why THAT (whatever it is) isn't your burden to deal with! We don't know how difficult it is for someone else to deal with a burden, or present a Happy Face, or have that "Green Grass" - all we see is the superficial, snapshot-in-time instance of RIGHT NOW. What we see is not what really is. What we see is a small portion of what is, and we might be astonished to see what the Real Picture is. Every interaction, every bit of information, all of those things are like one little dot of paint on a canvas. Enough dots, all ganging up, can create a picture.
We have to remember that all we're seeing is a single dot. One single point in time. One single snippet of information in an otherwise busy, full life. Things are seldom as they seem. Hopefully we can remember this and realize that other peoples' burdens are not nearly as invisible, nor as easy-to-bear, as we may think.
Things look better elsewhere because we don't have the full story. All we're seeing of any given person's situation at any given time is a "snapshot" of what it's like to be them right here, right now. Not "the work that led up to this point", not the effort put into it, not the "putting in their time", not the day-to-day drudge. We don't see any of that. All we see is the big shiny sparkly thing they have that we'd like to have, or the (perceived) lack of icky drudgy thing that we DO have.
This goes for everything, really. Other people have more vacation time than I do, for example. While I may envy their vacation time, what I don't see is that they put in time for 15 years to "earn" that amount of vacation time, or the reduced paycheck because it's unpaid, or whatever other modifications they have.
Some people think my work schedule is pretty darn good - my employer allows me to work 4 ten-hour days so I can spend an extra day with my family every week. Every Friday off? Wow, that looks great, right? Well, this too can be yours if you're willing to show up at work at 6am and work till 4 every day. And don't forget - short weeks must be made up for somehow, so sometimes there's some 12-hour days. Still sounds like the same great package? I sure do think so, but you might decide it's not as Shiny as you thought, hey?
I remember a sermon by our pastor that brought this up, only he was talking about "crosses we bear". We may look at someone else's "cross" (whatever their burden may be) and think, "Wow, I sure do wish I had that problem instead of mine. That is no problem for me! I could deal with that super easy!" Well, of course - and that precise reason is why THAT (whatever it is) isn't your burden to deal with! We don't know how difficult it is for someone else to deal with a burden, or present a Happy Face, or have that "Green Grass" - all we see is the superficial, snapshot-in-time instance of RIGHT NOW. What we see is not what really is. What we see is a small portion of what is, and we might be astonished to see what the Real Picture is. Every interaction, every bit of information, all of those things are like one little dot of paint on a canvas. Enough dots, all ganging up, can create a picture.
We have to remember that all we're seeing is a single dot. One single point in time. One single snippet of information in an otherwise busy, full life. Things are seldom as they seem. Hopefully we can remember this and realize that other peoples' burdens are not nearly as invisible, nor as easy-to-bear, as we may think.
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