A word about personal safety from another angle. Expectations regarding personal safety seem to be another West/East Coast cultural difference. In DC, I try to be as careful as I reasonable can. I rarely walk alone at night, even to the grocery store that is just a block away. When we moved into our current house, I asked Andrew to install locks on all the windows, even though we live on the second floor. This was around the time that some guy was sneaking into homes and cuddling up to women asleep in their beds, even (in one case) when her boyfriend was asleep beside her. Add the fact that my county has almost legendary car theft rates and a not too shabby number of murders, and it just behooves one to be careful.
Here, I live in a house that doesn't have locks. Well, the front door has a lock, but no one has a key to it, so the front door is always left open. They leave their laptops in the living room (although I notice all the bikes have locks) and no one seems worried that their stuff is going to get up and go walking. This freaked me out when I first got here. My solution has been two pronged: I took all my equipment to the university as soon as possible, where it is all safely locked up, and each night I tie my door shut. I haven't told my flatmates about that second one, because I'm sure they'd think I'm crazy, but I can't sleep if I'm worried about the crazies that might wander in.
6 comments:
wow, no locks on the doors. that is crazy!
I agree that seems crazy to me too. but it must be nice to feel that secure.
I think you should get your inventor father and brother to build you a small personal portable flamethrower for those situations when someone covets your laptop or bed space.
It may not just be a matter of safety (meaning somehow Boulder is just that much safer than DC, though it probably is quite a bit), it may also be a matter of folks not really having that much emotional (or maybe even financial) connection to their property. For example, they are worried about their bikes because it will supremely affect their lives. Maybe they think that the stuff within their house might not affect their lives as much if they lost it, therefore perceiving it as less of a priority than their bikes. Whereas your equipment, if it was stolen would greatly affect your life, therefore quite a high priority for you.
I'd caution against the flamethrower suggestion. It will mean you'd have to purchase flame retardent sheets and those aren't as comfy. Maybe just a small tazer?
Why stop at a taser, why not get a Star Trek issue Phaser - then you could set it to stun or kill as you so desired. Surely DOD and DOB could handle that?
Hi Renee Michelle! Welcome to Colorado!
Not sure if you remember me but we roomed together during Matty's wedding. Matty sent me your e-mail address and I lost it, but I was able to remember your blog's name.
Let me know if you would like to get together one day. I work in Boulder and have a car.
As for the whole locking up the bike but not the front door, it's because the bikes are probably worth more than anything else in the house or car.
Flo
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