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Just over two weeks ago, my cell phone buzzed while I was in the middle of an afternoon work meeting. Usually I would ignore the phone in that circumstance, but I didn’t this time. It was from Kathy, and she doesn’t call all that often.

When I answered, she told me she was hiding in one room of the house after someone tried breaking in. She didn’t know if he was in the house. The Redmond police were on the way.

It was a Monday, and Kathy was working from home that day. The door bell ran. She ignored it, figuring it was UPS dropping off a package. After a long pause, the doorbell rang a few more times, and then a bunch of times.

Kathy walked from her study to near the front door and started to yell, “who is it,” just as the decorative windowpane closest to the door knob was punched in. Kathy yelled something and ran to her hiding spot, grabbing her cell phone on the way. She called 9-11 and then me.

The would-be burglar apparently took off. She could see through the hole that it was a male wearing a dark blue jacket with light lettering, and the police found nobody matching that description hanging around.

The physical damage was minimal. But for Kathy, this episode was emotionally difficult. For the five minutes it took the police to arrive, her home had gone from being a place of safety and comfort to being a terrifying prison.

When the police left, she talked to our friends a couple of houses down. These people have young children, which means they are well connected in the neighborhood and beyond. They sent out word warning other neighbors. Later that night a neighbor down the street send us images of all the cars and pedestrians that had passed his security camera watching over is driveway. After that, we were forwarded an email from a neighbor who was likely a target of the same individuals.

He was on the second floor of his house when a car pulled into the driveway. A clean-cut white male in his late 20s or early 30s, wearing a dark blue shirt with light blue lettering, got out of the passenger side of a silver late model Kia Optima and rang the doorbell. The home owner answered from the second floor window, and the ensuing exchanged established that the visitors had the wrong house number. The police obtained a written statement about this incident, but they have not “solved” the case, as far as I know.

On this particular day, I had promised my students a 6:00-7:30 pm review session for their final exam, so I really had no time to catch a bus home and then make it back to work. When I went to The Ave for a quick dinner, I stopped at Radio Shack and picked up a few blinking LED assemblies. After fixing the hole that evening, I set up the blinking LED assemblies near all ground floor entrances to make them look like part of an alarm system. Out of my electronics junk box, I dug up a small keypad that used to be attached to a radio. I affixed it on a wall near the front door.

Kathy appreciated my faux alarm system, but wanted the real thing. “I don’t care what it costs. I want a real alarm system and some video cameras!”

Okay…I can deal with that. As it happens, good alarm systems are quite affordable and straightforward to install. In the bad old days, an alarm system with sensors on every door and window would be a pain the the ass, if only because one would run wires from each sensor back to the control unit. Modern alarm systems are entirely wireless, and can include door and window sensors, motion sensors, glass breakage sensors, water sensors, smoke detectors, heat detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, natural gas detectors and even remote panic buttons. The control unit can be programmed to call an alarm monitoring service if you chose; or, you can program it to call your own series of numbers. You can add a dedicated cell phone “line” to most alarms. Some can even utilize the internet to email messages.

So four days later, I had an alarm system in hand. An evening later I had installed a bunch of motion sensors and all the door sensors. It took another evening to put in all the window sensors. Piece of cake.

I also picked up a video surveillance system that can continuously monitor and record video from multiple cameras around the property. That was a bit trickier to install because even with wireless transmission of the video, you need to supply 5 volts to power the cameras. An interesting feature is the ability to monitor the cameras via the internet on computers or a cell phone.

So that’s what I’ve been working on for the last two weeks. I enjoy that kind of geeky tech work.

What I’m not quite comfortable with is this new security mentality around our house. It feels like I’ve enclosed our home in virtual barbed wire or something. What’s next, a metal detector at each entrance? I’m sure I’ll get used to it soon enough, but for now it feels a little icky.

What I’ve done, basically, is to make it undesirable for a common thief to burgle my house. The flashing lights, the cameras, the security decals in windows are all notices to a would-be thief that they would have a much easier time going somewhere else.

In other words…I’ve made it my neighbors’ problem.

Open Thread 12/21

by Carl Ballard — Friday, 12/21/12, 8:01 am

– Plan B was just to not have the votes, I guess.

– Speaking of Plan B, Patty Murray made a funny.

– Speaking of Patty Murray, Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.

– King County wins the Brightwater lawsuit and so good news for ratepayers.

– Best Year Ever

– The gun monsters.

– This miserable little genus.

– The Sirens would have been a better name than Seattle Reign FC (although the lack of a creepy eagle logo is a plus).

Make Them Pay

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 12/20/12, 7:11 pm

I’ve been thinking about what the state can do as far as gun control in the next session. Most sensible regulations will get caught up in Rodney Tom’s GOP Senate. And I’m not sure I’d want to test our state constitution or the current US Supreme Court, even now. But it seems to me that we could probably fine the gun manufacturers for every death by a gun in Washington.

I’m thinking something large enough that it would impact their bottom line, but not enough that it would put them out of business. So every murder, every suicide, every hunting accident, every police officer shooting that ends with a death gets, say, a $2000 fine for the manufacturer of that gun assessed at the end of each year. Doesn’t matter if it was legally purchased, stolen, or whatever — you made the gun, you pay a price.

We can use the money to go to gun safety programs if you like. Or victim compensation. I’d be fine with just putting it in the general fund, but I wouldn’t want the legislature to become dependent on it, since the goal is to have it not produce any money. In any event where the money goes isn’t as important as getting it in the first place.

A fee like that would encourage gun manufacturers to make their guns in a way that won’t be involved in killings any more. A problem with regulation is that the manufacturers will just do the minimum. Putting a direct cost on dead people will encourage them to make guns that won’t cause problems, and will let the market decide what’s the most effective way.

If the best way to prevent gun deaths is safety training, the manufacturers will invest in that. If it’s locks or fingerprint technology, the manufacturers will invest in that. If it’s designing guns that are fine for hunting, but bad for school shootings or street crime, they’ll do that. If it’s just not having super, super irresponsible ads,* they’ll do that. In any event, let’s put a price on dead people and make the people who manufactured the tool of death pay.

All that said, I know that the legislature probably won’t do that with a GOP senate that has a pretty gun loving chair of the Law and Justice Committee. And depending on what the courts say it might need a 2/3 majority since it’s a fee; if that does happen, put it on the ballot.

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Some Random Bus Questions

by Carl Ballard — Thursday, 12/20/12, 8:04 am

Now that there has been some time with the free ride area gone, here are some random things I’ve been wondering. Some of them I’ve mentioned on Facebook or Twitter, but mostly, it’s just off the top of my head.

– Do you say “thank you” if you’re exiting from the rear? I don’t but enough people do that it makes me wonder if I’m being impolite.

– How many times do you yell “Back door, please” before you walk to the front? I think two.

– Is there a better way for bikes and buses on Third Ave? I don’t even take my bike on Third, because yikes. It’s probably not great for bike lanes. I don’t know if there’s a better solution than bikes being more visible and obvious how they’re going to move. Not really novel to Third?

– Are the drivers trying to stop with the back door open in front of a tree or a telephone poll?

– What’s the way they deal with fare evaders getting on the back? I’ve only seen it a couple times, but it seems like they go over the intercom asking once and then don’t do anything, but I don’t know if there’s a better way or if that’s official policy. I remember being on the bus in London once and the driver was like “we’re not moving until you pay.” That doesn’t seem good in the moment, but maybe longer term it makes more sense???

Terrible Idea

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 12/19/12, 8:22 pm

I just get all sputtering and what-the-fucky when discussing the idea that teachers should be armed. It’s such a horrible idea, I can’t even comprehend where it’s coming from. Fortunately, Aphra Behn over at Shakesville has an amazing post on the subject.

Unlike the jackasses in Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia, who apparently think that any old person can do what a SWAT team does, I actually have respect for law enforcement. I understand that it takes a lot of training, and a particular set of aptitudes, in order to do that kind of work. I understand that what they do is not a matter of attending a training session or two. I also understand that they get paid to be alert to danger, and to proactively respond to it. That’s their job, and I respect that. I even understand that not all law enforcement and security forces have the same training, that some are very specially trained to handle things like hostage situations or gunmen who threaten large crowds.

But that is not my job. My job involves things like palaeography and reading microfilm, or grading papers, or going to yet another meeting about campus recycling. Nor is it the job of teachers at the elementary and secondary level.Their jobs are focused more on teaching and service than mine, and their training is a little different from mine–they take classes on their subject area and on the actual craft of educating, rather than focusing on how to produce scholarship. But you know what they don’t take classes on? How to take down an armed gunman without shooting innocent civilians. At least, they don’t teach that at my university’s College of Education.

Open Thread 12/19

by Carl Ballard — Wednesday, 12/19/12, 8:01 am

– We’re recycling more than we’re throwing out. Yay. Maybe because of the recession. Boo.

– How can someone even pretend not to understand that head on a pike is a metaphor?

– Rahm can’t have this Seattle bicyclist.

– Every “pro-life” evangelical, every Operation Rescue picketer, every March for Life participant, every Christianity Today editorialist, every Catholic bishop, priest and pope knows that the murder of 20 children is essentially different and far worse than any 20 abortions. All their beloved rhetoric of “abortion is murder” and “abortion kills unborn children” turns to ashes in the wake of incidents like the slaughter in Newtown.

– I’ll believe action on gun control when I see it.

– Rick Snyder decided to enact GOP legislation and it made him super unpopular.

Steinbrueck zzzzzzzz Mayor

by Carl Ballard — Tuesday, 12/18/12, 8:09 pm

Yesterday I had a little fun goofing on the idea that the people running for mayor was boring. I don’t think it’s boring. I love civics. Yay for civics. Maybe it’s because it’s a year out and I’m more freaking out about how much Christmas shopping I have ahead of me instead of politics. This time though it’s a well known quantity running, so I’ll be on my best behavior when writing about Peter Steinbrueck’s bid for mayor.

Former city council member Peter Steinbrueck is (though not yet officially) running for mayor.

Justin Simmons, the head of the Metropolitan Democratic Club, wrote a letter to Steinbrueck supporters today announcing that he will head up the Steinbrueck for Mayor campaign.

Zzzzzzzz. No! I’m awake. I’m staying awake through this. I think I have a Peter Steinbrueck shirt somewhere. I think about him for like half a second every time I go shopping at Pike Place and I pass a picture of his father, or a park named after his father. Basically, yay for the fact that his father saved Pike Place in the 1960’s. There’s a lovely Richard Hugo poem about it that I can’t find online.

But I’m not writing about Victor. Peter. He was generally considered a good lefty when he was on the council but hasn’t been in elected office in 5 years (it’ll be 6 by the time the election comes around). Now he has insiders and people who hate transit supporting him.

“We have already signed on an impressive number of leaders in these communities in and around Seattle, including Nick Licata, Tim Harris, Dorry Elias-Garcia, David Bloom, Kay Bullitt, John Fox, Yusuf Cabdi, Brita Butler-Wall, Paul Benz, Vivan Lee, Sarajane Siegfriedt, and many others.”

Jesus, it’s a Ted Van Dyk away from a list of people who were vaguely movers and shakers in 1975. Really should be relevant to peopzzzzzzzzzzzz. I didn’t fall asleep! It should be relevant to people who stopped paying attenzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I’m awake! It will be a relevant run to people who stopped paying attention to Seattle before grunge (that’s not totally fair, and I even like a couple of them). Zzzzzzzzzzz

Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by Darryl — Tuesday, 12/18/12, 2:18 pm

Please join us tonight our last meeting of the year at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally. The following two Tuesdays fall on Christmas day and New Year day.

We meet every Tuesday (except certain holidays…) at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00pm. Some people show up earlier for Dinner.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out one of the other DL meetings over the next week. Tonight the Tri-Cities chapter also meets. The Longview chapter and South Seattle chapter meet this Wednesday. The Spokane chapter and Drinking Liberally Tacoma meet this Thursday.

With 230 chapters of Living Liberally, including fourteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter that meets near you.

Call ‘Em Up

by Carl Ballard — Tuesday, 12/18/12, 8:03 am

It looks like it’s inundate your member of Congress with notes not to cut Social Security day. So I don’t want to hear that Washington didn’t do our part.

Here are the numbers for members of the House. Just call yours, the rest are just a waste of time:

DelBene 202-225-6311
Larsen 202-225-2605
Herrera Beutler 202-225-3536
Hastings 202-225-5816
McMorris Rodgers 202-225-2006
Dicks 202-225-5916
McDermott 202-225-3106
Reichert 202-225-7761
Smith 202-225-8901

And the Senators:

Cantwell (202) 224-3441
Murray (202) 224-2621

Be polite but let them know that you’re opposed to cuts in Social Security or to raising the age. If you’re on Social Security, or are nearing that age, let them know. If you’re young but resent having your generation played against retirees, let them know.

Another Day Another Mayoral Candidate

by Carl Ballard — Monday, 12/17/12, 8:09 pm

A week before Christmas seems like a not great time to announce you’re running for mayor. But fine whatever. Another ostensible liberal who zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. No I’m awake. Another candidate for mayor:

A former president of the Greenwood Community Council, who’s carved out a niche as an advocate for neighborhood organizing and education reform, Martin tells The Stranger that she’ll file paperwork this week to run for mayor. A Seattle resident since 1979, Martin runs her own design firm after getting a BA in landscape architecture at the State University of New York.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oh what? No I’m awake. I’m awake. zzzzzzz

“I think I have a pretty nice menu of supporters… I take time to analyze issues and understand both side of the argument,” says Martin, eschewing the policy briefings she says her competitors rely on. “I think that people know that. I have a conscience. And I also have a spine.”

Oh great. Awesome eschewing of cliche. Neat. I’m zzzzzzzzzzz.