It doesn't just happen in video games! Wednesday night I parked my truck in front of my house, in a quiet, serene little residential neighborhood, around 930pm. The next morning, I woke at 700am, showered, dressed, ate breakfast, fixed my lunch, and walked out the door. Same as always.

What was different was that my truck was missing.

At first I thought, well maybe I didn't park it there.......

Or maybe I left the brake off and it rolled away........

Then I noticed my flashlight lying on the sidewalk. The last time I'd seen it, it was in my glovebox. So then I thought I'd better call LVMPD. After a few minutes they arrived and I filled out a form with twenty or so questions and that was that. Just another stolen vehicle. No fingerprints from the crime scene or anything.

My insurance rep told me they'd cover rental charges after 48 hours, and if the truck remained missing after 30 days, they'd pay out what it was worth. It all didn't seem too very bad, just inconvenient. Besides, the insurance company would most likely give me more than trade-in value on the truck. I had been considering getting a new Wrangler this weekend, but that was put on hold by the thief.

So Thursday and Friday pass; Russ, the guy who owns the house I live in, kindly drove me to and from work.

This morning, almost exactly 48 hours after I noticed the truck missing, LVMPD called me to let me know that they had recovered my truck and had a suspect in custody. Since I was asleep and didn't answer the phone, they had my truck towed to an impound lot.

Now, I was in pretty good spirits about everything, considering my truck had been stolen. I try to find whatever positive things I can even in bad situations. But when I woke up and got the message, then called the towing company to discover I have to pay $250 dollars to get my own vehicle back that was unlawfully stolen from me, I was pretty pissed. I doubt anybody is going to reimburse me for that.

When I finally rescued the truck around 1030pm last nigt-- after spending about six hours enjoying the Bite of Las Vegas festival at Desert Breeze Park-- I found it driveable, but not in perfect condition. The stereo ws missing, of course, and so was the truck bed extender. The stereo I had put in a couple of years ago at a cost of about $120 I think, and the extender was $300 last year. Also missing was my GPS reciever for my notebook, another $100, my heavy-duty power inverter, about $50, all of the change in the console, about $5, and my fuzzy green Care Bear dice and incense thingy.

The culprits popped the lock off of the passenger side door, so it's missing, too. The ignition seems to be damaged a bit from the insertion of a large screwdriver. The battery is very weak. I'm going to check under the hood today to see if it's been replaced by a crappy one, and to see if all of the fluids are still present.

The sucky part is, all of this damage how now severely decreased the value of the vehicle. If I trade it in on a new one before it's repaired, I will get very little. If I repair it first, I have a $1000 deductible before insurance covers anything. It may not be worth the effort and cost.

I really hate thiefs.