Local Insanity

I’ve started using test/spec as a replacement for SimplyBDD. It’s great, except for one small thing: I can’t specify the superclass for the test case classes, which basically rules out integration tests in Rails. Rather than rewrite all my integration tests to use the standard test/unit syntax, I decided to patch test/spec. The patch can be found here.

So there’s this little app to access GMail which uses WebKit and runs outside of any particular browser. It’s nice to be able to quickly switch to GMail rather than switching to a browser and then to the right tab. There were a few problems with it though:

1. there’s no icon
2. it asks you if you want to save when closing it if you’ve composed an email
3. it doesn’t support multiple accounts
4. it doesn’t support file uploads

Well, I updated it a little bit, fixing the first two problems. I do not know WebKit or Cocoa well enough to know how to fix the latter two, but if anyone wants to offer some advice I may tackle them. So try it out and let me know what you think.

So, this is a completely unsubstantiated theory about Dark City. Thanks to Pandora I was introduced to Oh You Pretty Things by Herman’s Hermits, though the original is from David Bowie, I believe. It talks briefly about some of the themes from Dark City, namely the “Strangers” who have come to Earth and somehow combined with humans to form the “Homo Superior”, which I read as being John Murdoch, the man who learned how to Tune - the same ability the Strangers have.

Why not? I mean, it’s a loose correlation, but I think it’s plausible. After all, Robert Browning’s poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came inspired more than just Steven King’s epic Dark Tower Series, so why couldn’t a song inspire a movie?

I had an idea for naming a band that I think would be funny if implemented either in real life, a movie, whatever. Name your band something - doesn’t really matter what - and come out with a memorable album name. For your next album, call it the same thing, but change your band name to something quite different from the original.

So I was robbed today. At gunpoint. It’s still quite surreal, and I don’t know quite how to react. I tend to react to such things by over-analyzing, so I may as well continue the tradition. I’ve made a list, partly for myself and partly for the police/insurance, of what I lost:

• Black MacBook - $1,700
• Sony Ericsson T616 - $20
• Casio Exilim Z40 - $200
• Ogio HipHop side bag - $50
• MUNI Pass - $45
• iPod Nano (with engraving from Kelly) - $200
• iPod Shuffle - $80
• T-Shirt - $10
• Yoga pants - $15
• Moleskine notebook - $10
• Ethernet cable - $5
• Cash - $10

Grand total: $2,325. Well crap, I never really thought about it that way. Maybe I should, in the future, try to minimize the amount of stuff I carry with me on my way to work. That and try to find a safer place to live. Sheesh.

It was a really weird feeling to be robbed. It was dark and raining lightly. I had my umbrella that’s sort of falling apart open, and was listening to my iPod shuffle. I’d just gone to the grocery store and bought some wine and some food to make tonight, and was walking home. About halfway from the BART station to my house I heard a guy behind me say something. I wasn’t really sure he was talking to me until the second time, when I heard him ask distinctly, “What time is it?”

Now, I’d been listening to my iPod, and was distracted by trying to carry my groceries while keeping my umbrella from coming apart. When I heard him I took the headphones out of my ears and started to take out my phone, when I saw that he was carrying a gun, which was pointed at me.

From here it’s a bit fuzzy, but he said something like, “Give me your money” or “Give me your wallet.” I took out my wallet and handed it over, and then my phone. He then asked what was in my bag and I answered that my laptop was in there, and he then asked for that as well. I turned it over.

Left holding my bag of groceries, I was told to walk away, so I did. I felt totally disoriented and I wasn’t sure what to do, but my first thought was to tell someone else. There were some cars around, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to stop one and ask to use a phone. I saw a guy across the street and I approached him and asked to use his cell phone, which he gave me. I called the cops and gave a brief report of what happened, and they told me to wait there and flag the officers down when I saw them, which was about five minutes later.

I felt embarrassed that I was so vague in my description of the guy: 29ish yo black male wearing a down dark gray jacket with a hood, unknown pants. That describes just about every shady character on the street, except that this one would be carrying a side bag that looked a little fancy for him. I was also embarrassed that I had two iPods. I mean, am I spoiled or what? As Kelly pointed out though, I lost basically all of my frequently used expensive items, so that mitigates it some - it’s not like I have a BMW or something in a garage somewhere.

So I did the sensible thing and called to cancel my credit cards and phone service, then changed my most important online account passwords. I don’t expect to be the victim of identity theft on top of this.

I expect that this feeling is what people usually call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a pretty frickin’ weird feeling. What could I have done differently? Might I have prevented it? I don’t know, but I do know that I’m safe, unharmed, and that I was decently prepared for the loss of my laptop.

I wish all of you a safe February, and I’m glad to still be here.

Update: Some people have asked me where this happened. It was at Chenery & Mateo near the Glen Park BART station.

Attendio is finally live! Go check it out, and sign up if you like. We’re launched in the Bay Area (i.e. we have events in the system), but not really anywhere else. Nevertheless, check it out and tell me what you think either here in the comments or in the forum.