r.i.p., my bike

This is my 200th blog entry, but rather than wax philosophical on the nature of blogging or any other such things, I'm posting in memoriam of my bicycle -- a silver, black, and red Specialized Hard Rock. It wasn't much of a bike... I got it for cheap when I moved to Palo Alto almost 3 years ago, and it's model was already 2 years old at the time. Still, it served me well, never broke down, and had been my primary mode of transportation for navigating the Berkeley Hills and exploring the regional parks near my home.

But last morning I walked out to my car to discover the car's contents in disarray... cassette tapes, car manual, registration, etc all tossed about. Then I looked in the back seat and realized my bicycle was gone. I had packed it up for a trip back home to visit the family for Easter, but upon coming back to Berkeley late at night, decided I'd wait until the next day to unload it. Never got the chance. The thieves also took my mag-light and leatherman, but fortunately neglected to take my umbrella, snow chains, meter change, and old high-school punk rock tapes (which are, of course, invaluable). My car shows no sign of damage, which only makes me wonder if after multiple trips bringing items in from the car I forgot to lock it. My bad, perhaps. But they're still assholes.

I wouldn't mind a little danah-style digital vigilantism, but I don't have any evidence to work with. But if bike thieves read blogs, I guess they should know that you'll need a socket wrench for the left pedal, it comes loose every once in a while...