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Monday, June 28, 2010

Why do they keep breaking my car windows?

Asked by retail staff as I was working for his store. "Why do they keep breaking my car windows?"

It is an upscale Audi import with an alarm. It is parked in the back lot of an apartment block. They got some stuff out of it the first time. All he leaves in it now is the charging cable for the iPod.

Well frankly, they got something once. And frankly, the cable hints at something being in the glove box or under the seat. (I never asked but if it has darkly tinted windows, they need to break them to see if there is more to take this time.) In big apartment complexes, nobody even hears car alarms most of the time -- people go numb from the frequent false alarms.

It is a shame, but this guy needs to invest money in a house with a garage to get the car out of site. However, I suspect he spare cash is sunk into keeping windows in his car.

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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/

Do NOT jump puddles.

I guess I should explain the delay in posting here for a bit. I came back from SAFETECH 2010 and was back at work. One Tuesday, we had a heavy slushy snow storm and during one job downtown I jumped a gutter filled with slush to avoid getting my shoes wet. It was a small jump of perhaps 3 to 4 feet. The take-off was great. The grace in mid-air was impressive -- or at least we will assume that for sake of the story. I landed on my right foot only but squarely. The landing seemed OK but then I tried to take the next step and something was terribly wrong. I limped across the street barely getting to the far side before the light changed.

Long story. Short.

I tore some of my calf muscle way from its tendon. It hurt. It hurt BAD. It took over a week to heal and there was even a bit of limping then when I was tired at the end of the day.

Long story. Not that short.

Between this injury and vacations by myself and others, this set me up for a 3 week run of on-call with 2 weeks off and now 2 more weeks.

Moral of the story, do not jump puddles. I just hope I can avoid any more workplace athletic injuries.


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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/

Dilution of Emergency Lights

Driving is a major part of my job and I believe I take it very seriously. However, I have noticed a strange trend. Flashing, blinking and strobing lights everywhere.

A garbage truck driving down a highway does not need a strobing yellow light at the back center. A lawn mowing contractor truck which was parked beyond the sidewalk on the turf does not need flashing orange lights either. A transit bus does not need its brake lights to flash three times each time the brakes are applied. Quite frankly with its big back end it looks like a fire truck from a distance.

How many flashing lights do we need to give us warning and when does diminishing return kick in? I fear drivers are getting immune to some of the flashing warning lights.


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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/

How to Get Expensive Cabinets

I was just cleaning up papers from old jobs and found a diagram for some cabinets which needed locks added. It was a new group home and the medication cabinets were planned and suddenly they realized they should have locks. (At least from the way it was relayed to me, this huge and complex set of cabinets built into a wall with a desk were to be for medications and files from the start.) Surprise.

I found ways to do it with a mix of cabinet locks, elbow catches and push locks. I had to do some rough chiseling to get room in places and the locations could not be even with the pulls. While it all worked, it was an after-market solution. The locks are basic and the cheap part of the job. However, it cost them a fortune in time.

Quite frankly, if you think there is even a small chance you need a lock on a drawer or door later, get the cabinet maker to add them at the start. The time needed is far less than getting a locksmith to do it at site later. Also, if you put locks on some of the cabinetry, do all of them. It gives you flexibility in where you put the items needing to be locked up later.

Of course, people will not plan ahead with this in mind and I will get more jobs like it in the future.


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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/