JBL - OnStage vs. Harmon Kardon - iHome

My plan was to give a comparison between these two iPod Docking players.  The iHome is also a clock radio with a tuner and a remote control.  The JBL is small and easy to take with you on vacations, to work, etc.  I bought both at Costco to take home and try side-by-side. 

There really is no comparison.  The JBL sound a thousand times better.  It actually sounds so good its surprising.  The Harmon Kardon sounds decent for a clock radio but, for $100, it ought to sound a little better.

 The JBL is tiny compared to the iHome.  It makes it apparent that the JBL is intended to give you the ability to use your iPod on the go where ever you are.  However, the iHome is for your nightstand table.  If that's where you intend it, its great.  If you want something more generally useful, my advice is really, really simple.  Get the JBL!

I'm doing this more for my own log of events then anything but I hope that someone may have a brilliant idea or that a neighbor of mine may become informed.

I thought I saw him five minutes ago, at 8:35 in the morning.  The only reason I am still here is because my son insisted on eating at home.  I am usually gone by now.  It appeared that my morning behaviors were well known.

He was wearing a Georgia Power jacket.  I grabbed my dog and my phone and went outside.  I made an awful racket and then I shouted, "excuse me!"  When he saw me, he high-tailed it down the driveway, behind the neighbor's garage apartment, and out onto Orme.  He fled down Orme towards piedmont park.

I called the police.  The police actually arrived in under 30 minutes!  Unfortunately, the police man couldn't understand that I was not saying the Georgia Power man was stealing from me but that I was assuming this man is not the Georgia Power employee masquerading as one in a Georgia Power jacket.  He explained that there is a GP truck right up Monroe.  I suggested that the thief just stole the jacket from the truck.  He went off to investigate.

The policeman returned with the Georgia Power man in his car.  He had a hat, badge and name tag stating he was G Power.  I was very apologetic.  I explained that I'd called out and had my dog with me and that he headed down the side street.  He said he didn't hear me.  It was questionable and my paranoid self almost still believes that something is wrong with this situation.  He had no clipbard, no pen...   At least I can head to work now. 

It looks like I am going to have to stick to cameras and home protection.  No, I won't kill the Georgia Power guy in an scared over-reaction.  Since I can't seam to do anything about it and the police are less then helpful, I just need to make sure I won't wake up to someone in my house without a way to defend myself and my family.  This is like having an unknown disease where you don't know whether it might kill you or if it will just, eventually, go away with a little aspirin.

I am, however, an idiot for calling 911 because the GP man was doing, something....

In continuation of Thieves in Morningside / Atlanta...

My wife spotted two men this morning at about 5:45 A.M. on the corner of Monroe and Amsterdam.  One was a large black man wearing a heavy coat, the other ducked into a driveway before she got a good look at him. The man with the coat turned around and hid his face as my wife's car approached.  After she passed, they both headed down Amsterdam Ave., into the Highlands, and she lost site of them. 

She called me and I spent the next hour and a half frantically watching out my windows, hoping to catch them in my driveway so I could call the police.  No such luck.  Its so wrong that I feel that good luck is having a prowler invade my property. 

The police informed me that crime has gotten much worse since Katrina refugees arrived in Atlanta.  I would like to take a moment to point out that most Katrina refugees are good people who have suffered a terrible tragedy.  I met one, Gregory Young, the other day at the Atlanta C Sharp User group.  He is a brilliant, young software engineer / architect who is now living here, working in Atlanta.  He is contributing to our neighborhood and city both with his innovative work and philanthropic presentations.  He came out on Jan 2, a holiday this year, to give a talk about Aspect Oriented Progamming and expanded my knowledge on an incredibly useful and powerful software design methodology.  Its refreshing that the bad of the criminals is so well countered by the good of people like him.  My heart goes out to all refugees who are like him.

Now, I'd really love to catch this prowler and swing the scale back the other way. 

I just finished this post about crime in Atlanta when there was a knock at the door.  I jumped.  My neighbor, Johnny, was standing there. He had witnessed the M.F. stealing my laptop from my car at 4 a.m. about a month ago.  I knew, if he was at my door, he was reporting another crime.  I always lock my car and check my wife's car every night and always bring valuables in from the car but this thief catches us every time we screw up. The night of the laptop loss was due to having my arms full  and an upset little boy when I arrived home while talking on my cell phone.  I meant to go back out and get it from the car but I forgot and our personal thief was ready.  This morning's report was about another neighbor.  He stole the neighbor's mail.  Johnny saw him and followed him!  He saw him got through the package and then get on a bike around the corner.  He called the cops and described everything.  He told me, "we'll catch him.  When we do, he won't want to have met me." 

The saddest part is that my sister-in-law insisted that its Johnny.  ...and, for about a week, I considered that possibility.  My own brother-in-law had a little trouble and made my confidence in people less solid.  I'm not as naive as I once was.  But I'd hate to be a paranoid POS.  Johnny described the man I saw in my driveway the day my cell phone got stolen.  He is returning!  He is the same individual.  I am actually glad to think we have one person to deal with and not twenty.  I know he is not the only one and he may not be the one who actually stole my laptop.  He is, however, the thief of our cell phones.

If you live in my neighborhood near Monroe Drive, Atlanta, GA, here is his description:
Brown-skinned man about 5' 8" usually wearing a baseball cap and running sneakers.  He is typically well-dressed, looking as if he's just out for a jog. Black nylon jacket, black nylon pants.  Clean shaven.  He may be on foot or on a bicycle.  My wife saw him with another man on foot.  I've seen him by himself as did my neighbor.  They probably have a runner who gets the stuff and then run it back down Monroe, south of ponce, on their bicycles.  Or should I say, on the bikes they stole.  I think I once saw him walking on Orme pretending to read a newspaper and he walked. I had my son with me so I couldn't cross the street to get a better look.  The other day I saw him walking north on Monroe Drive.  I pulled into the next street to wait and get a closer look.  He never crossed that street.  I then saw him about thirty minutes later a few blocks north, he ducked into a driveway. 

If you read this and say, "oh my god, I've seen him!" or you've been robbed or otherwise victimized in Midtown or Morningside, please leave a comment. I am getting involved and need all the information I can get.

Recently, crime in my Virginia Highlands / Morningside / Midtown neighborhood went from occasional to rampant and out of control.  I have been trying to find resources that might point me in the right direction to both protect myself and pro actively do something about it.  No one seams to be paying enough attention or taking action.  My plan is to start at home ( lights, cameras and a gun, unfortunately ) and then involve myself in the community to try to light a fire.  

In the last few months, my home has been violated with theft every three weeks.  I even set a cell phone alarm to remind me to be extra cautious every three weeks.  Unfortunately, the extra awareness has been useless as we've still been victimized.  The problem has spread beyond my neighborhood to my wife's place of employment.  Emory just sent notice to its employees and students that thefts have recently sky-rocketed both in classrooms and hospitals, including Operating Rooms.  Laptops, cell phones, and anything easily hocked for cash appear to be the prime target. 

In the three police reports I've filed, the officers indicated that they have seen massive increase in criminal activity in Atlanta since Katrina and the influx of "New Orleans Refugees".  New Orleans was one of the most dangerous cities in the country before that storm, we bussed quite a few of those people here to Atlanta.  I can't imagine how bad it must be in Houston!  The officers concede that theft, rape, car-jacking and home burglary had recently spiked.  They did not elaborate on what is being done in response. 

A year ago, I shrugged off an invitation to join the Morningside Security Patrol Membership.  It wasn't that I didn't value such an organization or service, its that the cost of the membership was outside my means.  Even though that hasn't changed, I will be paying the dues.  The police department can't be expected to shoulder all of the burden.  An on-duty police officer is obligated to deal with lesser issues when they are required: car accidents, traffic patrol, etc.  An off duty cop can sit in our neighborhood and focus on the problem.  That's what I want.  I want someone trained with a firearm who can stop a criminal safely to be completely dedicated to my neighborhood. In fact, a few would be even better.  I will also try to offer support in any way I can.  I hope the organization will utilize my technical skills and that I can provide tools that will directly contribute to the cause but I am willing to scrub toilets if it will make a difference.

We've had three cell phones stolen from my wife's and my own car.  My laptop was taken along with all its accessories and my new Hugo Boss sunglasses.  Half a dozen shipments were stolen from our front porch.  Total losses?  ...about $4000.  Since November 2005!  Before that, not once.  My neighbor has lived in her house for 25 years and she hasn't been robbed in about 20.

I've been procrastinating on purchasing the home security items that I can afford right now.   More motion lights, a couple cameras and, yep, a 9 mm with a laser site.  I can't actually afford it but I will buy it on credit an work out the details later.  Of course, I will need a gun safe for that as well.  My wife and I received professional training with firearms a couple weeks ago.  We're both dead on shots and much more comfortable that we could, in an emergency, us a gun to stop a threat.  Its not that I want to kill the thief or thieves who've invaded my life, though that is my primal emotion, it's the fear that they may lose restraint in desperation and enter my home.  If my two year old son is put in any hint of danger, the causation must be removed, immediately and unquestionably.  I pray that it never happens.  I hope my family is not in personal danger from these horrible people.  Hope, however, is bred of uncertainty.  I must be certain that my family will be safe if we have time to react.  Therefore, my wife and I have agreed to exercise our constitutional right to arm ourselves.  ...and that makes me very sad.

I thought having a baby would be the maturing factor in my late twenties life, making me unquestionably an adult.  I have to admit the reality is sobering.  A tiny person’s life is not only a result of your actions but also completely dependent on you.  However, I haven’t acted like such a kid, such a goofy, bumbling, silly person since I was as tall as my 11-month son!  So having children is as maturing as a rollercoaster ride at Six Flags. 

We just put a contract on a house!  Now I am a real adult.  I am going to enjoy all the benefits and responsibility of home-ownership.  It’s been a lot of fun so far!  I am very pleased to think that I own some lawn and a fence and a bunch of walls, not to mention the dishwasher, fridge, stove, garbage disposal, lighting fixtures, furnace, basement, sun room, porch, attic, cabinets and molding.  I have a mortgage, a second mortgage, homeowner’s insurance, a security system, pest-control, water, gas and electric hook-ups and all the systems that make it all work.  Talk about coming screeching into adulthood! 

My wife and I are tremendously excited to start investing in our property.  We already had that feeling of belonging and purpose and righteousness in our rental because we residing together.  It didn’t matter if it were an apartment, a hotel room or a van down by the river.  It was home.  Now we can paint the ceiling midnight blue if we want to without asking anyone’s permission.  It’s a small thing, really, but very librating.