Bad news :(

[pressmom]

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Ugh...my computer got stolen from my mentor's office today. I lost all this research I had been working on. Most of my hard data was on my boss' computer, but I lost all my notes from reading 30 articles to write the paper as well as 7 articles I was working on reading that were in my laptop bag. My memory stick was stolen too (as well as my debit card), but right now I'm most pissed about the data.

Anyone feel like consoling me?

 

[dyachei]

Ugh...my computer got stolen from my mentor's office today. I lost all this research I had been working on. Most of my hard data was on my boss' computer, but I lost all my notes from reading 30 articles to write the paper as well as 7 articles I was working on reading that were in my laptop bag. My memory stick was stolen too (as well as my debit card), but right now I'm most pissed about the data.

Anyone feel like consoling me?

So sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?

 

[pressmom]

So sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?

Thanks for offering 🙂 Just make sure that when school gets back in that you don't leave your computer in the classroom when you're not there. (All you new UTKers, this goes for you, too.) I don't know if you were one of the ones that was leaving it in there by the end of the semester, but I know I was, and I won't be doing it next year!

Mine was behind the door (which was virtually closed), so the thief had to go in her office to get it.

One of the profs who got his computer stolen, his office door was closed, just not locked. It's crazy how brazen these thieves were!

And, just to add insult to injury, my dog just threw up poop on my couch, and now my apartment stinks! Life just keeps getting better!

 

[SillyFilly]

Awww MAN! That SUCKS, girl I am so sorry. Also sorry to hear about the vet school campus crime! 😡 A-holes!

Anything we can do to help?

 

[pressmom]

I just keep on trying to be thankful that it wasn't my home or my car. And just FYI for all you new UTKers, this is the exception rather than the norm. However, most theft is down in clinics and it's important to keep any valuables you take down there on you at all times. I think this is because the public has more access to clinics and are not as likely to be questioned walking around down there. So far, there hasn't been theft from the academic areas, but I think it is a good reminder that basic awareness and protection is always a good idea.

 

[soxbox]

That just really sucks! I can somewhat commiserate... I was in Costa Rica working on a 3 month long project with 2 other people. We were taking the bus back to San Jose. My one partner was responsible for the laptop that day. Well he left it on the bus (a week before the report was due). Yes, we had backed up our data, but the backups were all in the laptop case. We had 150 pages of the report written and it was gone. All our data we had collected, puff, gone. It was a sad, sad day! Luckily we at least had a much earlier printed out rough draft, so we were able to retype about 70 or so pages from those print outs. So I learned my lesson. Laptop is carried by me and I always leave the strap of the case crossed over my chest, dorky or not 🙂

It would be so awesome if it turns up for you!! If not, at least you have left a little public service announcement for the rest of us which is much appreciated 🙂

 

[Moonpaw]

OMG I'm so sorry, Pressmom! That's really awful...you'd think that this kind of thing wouldn't happen in Knoxville, but I guess thieves are anywhere. I only hope that it was some random member of the public and not anyone from school.

As for the "dog throwing up poop" thing...I'm really sorry, but that just kind of made me at the absurdity of it. It'll be one of those things that you'll laugh about in a few years. You know, as long as the bad smell goes away.

 

[veggirl]

So sorry, pressmom!! That really sucks! 🙁

 

[critterfixer]

That really bites! I can't imagine how stressed you must feel over losing your research. Well, karma is a bitch, and the thief is gonna get his/hers.

 

[Rae]

Thats just awful pressmom! Its bad enough if you happen to lose research stuff accidentally but its down right craptastic to have it stolen!

 

[twelvetigers]

People suck sometimes.

 

[pressmom]

Thanks for the support everyone! I found out that my renter's insurance is paying for a new computer (and the stuff in the bag), so I went out and got one today! So I guess every cloud has a silver lining...

 

[Catnapper]

Well that must be a relief to have some insurance back-up, there. pressmom! I'm glad to hear there's a little good news headed your way! When I was a research lab tech, I worked with this really sweet post-doc (still friends with her) whose backpack was stolen from behind her mostly-shut office door. She had to call and cancel all of her credit cards & the whole she-bang! I guess somebody else's belongings behind a closed door isn't enough! --Sad! 🙁

 

[Sapphir3blu3]

Pressmom, so sorry! In your shoes I'd be more angry at the theft of my time (via your having to redo some reading & notes) than of the hardware (which renter's insurance has already replaced for you, yay!).

If it helps you feel a little better, a friend of mine many years ago in Atlanta was working on his doctoral dissertation when his apartment in was broken into and the computer containing the work stolen. The truly awful part, though, was that the floppy disks containing the backups (told you it was a long time ago) were also stolen. Despite the fact that they were worth nothing whatsoever. I'm sure they ended up in a dumpster behind a pawnshop somewhere.

 

[Moonpaw]

I'm so glad that at least you could get another computer that was covered by insurance, even if there's no replacing all the work you did.

 

[ylrebmik]

🙂 glad everything worked out for you... but it shouldn't have happened in the first place 🙁 I would have been devastated.

 

[pressmom]

Sapphir3blu3, that sucks for your friend. I can't believe they stole his disks. That's ridiculous!

Fortunately, I had backed up to my external hard drive on March 29, so all I lost was my final PPTs for classes and my study guides for finals. (I was going to pass them down to my little sib.) I also lost about $40 worth of music from iTunes (have receipts, so I will be reimbursed), and the worst part was all that data, but I'm reconstructing it.

I'm trying to focus on the good stuff--my new computer and all the people (like you guys and my co-workers and students here) that have been so good to me. They have a person of interest in the case, who we caught on surveliance (sp??) cameras leaving with laptop bags. Maybe they'll catch him!!

 

[JIKJen124]

One thing that may help you in the future that I did while working on my undergrad thesis was that I frequently emailed myself drafts. Then my data was saved in cyberspace and if for some reason my laptop died (which it did) or was stolen, I'd still have the most recent version. I tried never to trust those stupid floppies. Too easy to loose!

 

[david594]

I read this and it made me a little worried about data loss. After which I decided I should finally setup some form of a backup system. Got something setup that works well, but is a little more involved than what most people would be up for doing.

Then I came across Mozy.com and I think it might be worth it for others to check out as it was very easy and straight forward. If you sign up with them they will give you 2gb of backup space for free(in hopes that you will upgrade to one of their larger, 5gb, 10gb, 20gb service options). They have a simple applications that you download which lets you select which folders on your computer you want to backup. For me, its just my desktop as thats where I keep everything. Then just set it to do backups either nightly or weekly and it will go through looking for changes, and upload any that are made.

 

[twelvetigers]

I mentioned you situation to my husband, pressmom, and he said, "Well, does she know what her mac address was?" I told him, "Uhh, probably not."

A mac address is, as I understand it, something that is used in identifying you as you log on to a network (get on the internet). It is set for your computer. So the IP address may change, but the mac address never will. His logic was... if you knew your mac address, you could tell the IT/networking department at UTK what it was and, assuming they use Cisco equipment, they could check the network for that specific address. If the numnutz was dumb enough to use the internet on campus with your computer (wouln't surprise me) then they could track him/her down to basically a two foot square radius. (S)he'd never see it coming.

This may not have turned out to be so simple, but it's an amusing idea. 🙂

 

[nyanko]

The problem with that suggestion twelvetigers is that the UTK network probably has a LOT of traffic, and depending on the network management they use it might be difficult to put a certain MAC address on some kind of "alert." And by the time they got to the area where the MAC was connected the person could be long gone. I'm also pretty sure they can really only determine which wireless gateway they're connected to, which is a bit bigger than a 2 foot radius too. 😛

So while it's a nice idea in theory, in practice even if the person was dumb enough to use the laptop on the UTK campus, it's not terribly feasible or practical.

 

[david594]

So while it's a nice idea in theory, in practice even if the person was dumb enough to use the laptop on the UTK campus, it's not terribly feasible or practical.

Trust me, its plenty practical, even on wireless. I spent 3 months last summer working on an implementation of this exact technology in a 5,000 user environment. Load maps of all the different floors of the building into the application and it could triangulate the position of a single device based on its distance from multiple access points. To be accurate within 20 feet was not that hard to accomplish. Great for wireless VOIP phones that could be forgotten places.

The magic software that makes it happen: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7305/index.html

 

[nyanko]

Trust me, its plenty practical, even on wireless. I spent 3 months last summer working on an implementation of this exact technology in a 5,000 user environment. Load maps of all the different floors of the building into the application and it could triangulate the position of a single device based on its distance from multiple access points. To be accurate within 20 feet was not that hard to accomplish. Great for wireless VOIP phones that could be forgotten places.

Nice. I knew they had this sort of thing down with cell phone towers but I wasn't sure if any company had yet implemented it for this purpose. That's pretty cool (and just a tad bit freaky). Is this in wide use yet? I better get out my tinfoil hat... Big brother, etc..

 

[david594]

Nice. I knew they had this sort of thing down with cell phone towers but I wasn't sure if any company had yet implemented it for this purpose. That's pretty cool (and just a tad bit freaky). Is this in wide use yet? I better get out my tinfoil hat... Big brother, etc..

I wouldn't say wide use but it is definitely out there. College campuses and large corporations with 50+ access points is where this technology starts to become financially feasible/desirable from a management point of view. But on the other hand colleges and large corporations are not the fastest to through money at non-essential technologies.

 

[twelvetigers]

My husband does the wireless for OKSU. Apparently he can see little dots with mac addresses by them? I guess it's become that advanced. At one point there was a person that was loading the system with viruses... they were trying to get a "lock" on him to get his mac address, so that they could have the OSUPD track him and arrest him. He was a sneaky bugger though, and never stayed on longer than a minute at a time.

Cisco seems like a pretty cool company capable of some pretty cool things. 'Course, I have a family member that works for them (and feeds 5 kids) and a hubby that might like to try that route in the future (sans the 5 kids, thx) so maybe I'm biased.

Point is, maybe it's not practical, or even feasible for campuses that don't use Cisco, but if all it takes is a second to jot down that mac address (and store it somewhere other than the laptop bag) then it just might be worth the time.

 

[catlover]

I love my flash drive for backups, but my husband is always reminding me to backup to the school network too, because my laptop and flash drive are usually both in my backpack, and if one got stolen the other would too.

I'm amazed at how many people I see in the library who leave their laptops on their desk while they go to the restroom, snack place, etc. I always take mine with me - even though it's a pain, I know I don't have time/money to get another one and get it all set up.

 

[Bill59]

It sounds like more than one computer was stolen, so it's probably someone who knows what they were doing vs. a spur of the moment thing. I bet they were sold within an hour.