My neighbor called me to say the cops were looking for me…something about my car. Turns out someone smashed in my driver side window with a HUGE A** ROCK.

So there I was, watching Torchwood, Season 1, Episode 2. Comfortably in my bed, Macbook humming away when I get a call. It’s my neighbor Tony.

“Adria, the cops were just at my door looking for you. I sent them upstairs. Are you all right?”, he says.

Me: Yeah Tony I’m fine. What’s up?

Tony: Well they came here knocking on doors looking for you. I told them you were upstairs.

Me: (Wondering why the cops can’t find me as I know my address is current on my driver’s license) I’m fine Tony. Just watching a show.

Tony: They were saying something about your car

Me: (Curse words swirling inside my mind) Ok, I’m going to go and see if I can find out what’s going on. (I dress hurridly and head down the front stairs, sorta dreading what I expect to see)

I go out and there is the cop car near my car Toby. I greet the officers who are in the squad car with the windows rolled up. They step out. I identify myself as Adria Richards. I ask them what’s going on. I can see by now my car has a broken window. “Did you check it out?” I ask. “For what?” says the cop who stepped out of the driver’s side. “To see if anyone is in it. Can you walk over to the car with me?” I say. He does and tells me I should check to see if anything is missing. I can’t believe this cop. I tell him the car is 20 years old and there’s nothing to take from the car. This is a revenge thing.

NOTE: Do not try to have conversations with White male cops about domestic abuse, stalking, revenge or anything that resembles a logical thought process OR deductive reasoning as you will lose them and frustrate yourself.

Fast forward that I give up talking to both cops about my suspicions but I do get the following after interviewing them both:

• Someone observed the act occurring
• A witness called the police but declined to identify theirself
• Someone physically interrupted the person committing the act
• The person reported as committing the act was White, mid 20’s male, dark hair

Moving on to happier thoughts, first one then another neighbor came out. I told the cops I was going to blog/tweet this and they were fine with me posting their photo. My neighbors were super awesome and consoled me, shared what they had heard, what others had said and what they’d done to alert me. We talked, joked, I took photos and we discussed strategies for repair (report it on my car insurance/don’t report it). I felt truly grateful and happy that I’d made authentic connections with the folks in my building and people in the neighborhood. I’ve been here for almost 3 years.

Looking back, I’ve come a long way from the old days when I couldn’t even speak up to ask for help at my job when my car battery had died (2000). I felt so uncomfortable asking my co-workers (aka bothering them) that I sat at my desk for more than 2 hours while my boyfriend at the time drove across town to help me jump my car. Ack! I realize now that I don’t have to bear the emotional baggage of each stressful situation I’m involved in. I can instead ask for help, delegate and call in favors. I understand how I like helping people, I need to let people help me.

So, we patched up the window with some kitchen garbage bags until morning. I’ll go out and take some more photos. It’s not such a big deal…now. Last year, this would have been emotionally crushing to me. I can’t “prove” who did this or why but when you see the size of the rock tomorrow, you’ll think twice if someone would use it to “rob” a car when there are more effective ways to unlock a vehicle.

This is definitely going under the category, Dramatical

  
Download now or listen on posterous

Memo.m4a (1208 KB)

Posted via email from adria’s posterous

Shared from Adria’s Posterous site of verbal reflections http://adria.posterous.com

Had a great time last night jailbreaking iPhones live via Ustream!

I jailbroke my 1st Generation 2G, two 3G iPhones for a client and my 3GS up to version 3.1.2 via the iPhone Dev Team’s Pwnage Tool.

Yes I was drinking.

Yes I had fun!

Pytey of the iPhone Dev Team graciously Tweeted about the video and I’ve seen 2,000 visitors today. Thanks!

  
Download now or listen on posterous

Memo.m4a (2598 KB)

This guy who emailed me needs to get a grip.

Followup excerpt from my email to the guy:

I have had the most amazing things occur this year in my life.  I am extremely grateful for these opportunities and am doing everything I can to keep the momentum going.  I don’t expect everyone to understand but I am not willing to internalize your judgments about me as a person.  I’ve come a long way and am doing the best I can.  I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and know where I fall short.  I’m getting help, advice, guidance and support which has made a phenomenal difference in my progress.  I hope next time you will remind someone you’re waiting on something vs summarizing the outcome with a judgement.

Posted via email from adria’s posterous

Shared from Adria’s Posterous site of verbal reflections http://adria.posterous.com

I saw @txvoodoo was also saying how cool the “New Followers” column was in Tweetdeck’s new 0.31.x version and the saw people asking how to add it so…here’s a video!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Share and Enjoy:

It’s been a busy 2 days at Blogworld!  I’ve been learning, sharing, hugging and getting great vibes!

I’ve reached 500 hugs! I’m at 421 hugs. This has been an amazing experience thanks to John Chow and the power of blogging. I was able to take an idea and run with it.  My goal of 500 hugs is very near and people are suggestion I do something to celebrate. What should that be?

I wore my “Free Hugs” shirts on Day 1 and Day 2.  People smiled, thanked me, took photos of us together and some shared their feelings about why they have felt uncomfortable with hugging as a human social interaction.

8 people said no to free hugs.  I asked each if they wanted to do a handshake instead and 4 said yes to a handshake. 2 changed their minds and hugged it it out with me later on!  (more on those folks later).

I was asked by 2 people if I had swine flu. I do not.

The goal of giving free hugs was to connect with bloggers. Most of my life on the internet I’ve lurked. This means I would visit forums and blogs but not participate. I felt shy and uncomfortable about people seeing me and hearing me. Blogging has opened up my life to where I’ve learned it’s okay to be honest, direct and real about my goals, desires and dreams.

Thank you!

Everyone pretty much has touched a computer sometime in their lives. When things go wrong, you may click a few buttons, try to “Google” the problem or call for help. The jokes on bad technical support are endless.

I will be giving away 1 YEAR Zendesk Plus subscription for 3 users!

Updated: Contest extended until 11/20/2009 because I’ve been running around the country to all these conferences and I know you all have stories to share!

This includes 24×4 phone and email support

Rules:

1. Submit your best or worst technology support story. It can be about you providing support, something you heard at the water cooler or how using a helpdesk solution would benefit your company.
2. Leave your contest entry as a comment or do a blog post.  If you do a blog post, link to this and to the Zendesk homepage at http://zendesk.com
3. The most interesting, funny, quirky, grammar friendly entry will be selected Friday, 11/20/2009.
4. Prize value: At $39 per user per month, This prize is worth $1,100 dollars!

Now remember, Zendesk has plans starting at just $9 a month for a single user subscription.  No worries on installing software or configuring your email MX records.  Sign up and be enlightened.

Ready?  Go!  Tell me your story and win!

First day at Blogworld rocked!  I gave out 105 hugs and got to meet so many interesting people!

More later!