Random Sucky Neighbor Thoughts

[Food Lady]

SHUT UP!!!!! It's 6:45 am. You don't need to be having a conversation at the top of your lungs outside of people's doors this early. Yeah, I'm up, but others might still be sleeping and nobody cares that you cleaned your house or whatever you're blabbing on about. Who cares?!??!?

[mjr]

I'm surprised you haven't heard loud, amorous moaning coming from one of those apartments.

Gee whiz...

[Food Lady]

I'm glad I work Sunday nights. I need to get out of here because you all sound like you're having a fight in the hall closet, like literally IN the closet. And you're unnecessarily loud. I feel bad for that sweet little boy that lives there. His parents seem nice, but I don't know who the rest of you people are. I guess they need better behaved friends?

[KellyHabersham]

To some people who live on the street behind us -

Please don't let your dog run around in the front yard without a leash on, especially during a time when other people are likely to be walking their dogs. It's not fun trying to avoid a potential dog fight when I'm waking two dogs, and yours keeps following/trying to chase them and barking.

(all three dogs were little, but still.....I don't know the neighbor's dog, and the two I was walking are sometimes okay around other dogs, other times they aren't.)

[notalwaysright]

The unit next door to mine has been vacant for a while. Yaay! But then the landlord decided to do a remodel. Now it's loud, with bonus banging on the shared kitchen wall until crap starts falling out of my cupboards. Then the breaker for that unit turns off an electrical outlet in my unit. Now this whole time I assumed I'd be getting new neighbors after this was over. I just saw the previous tenant's car. I suspect they are going to move back in. Nooo. They do dishes for an hour straight, and their idea of "washing" is basically whacking their pots and pans against the sink repeatedly, for that entire hour. I HATE them. I hate them even more than the people who lived their before them who would loudly sing the entire Frozen soundtrack, and I hated them a lot. I hate them because I can't possibly complain that they do their dishes too loud, it sounds pathetic. But I can't stress this enough, it's very annoying.

On the plus side, I just went out to where the garbage bins are kept, thinking I'd try to move some of them up against the side of the house. We're supposed to get some wind this weekend, and the bins always blow everywhere. But when I got there all the rolling totes are gone! The only thing left is the larger cardboard dumpster, which never moves. So someone thoughtfully moved the totes down to the basement. I bet it was the landlord, because the handyman called him to tell him that paper from our bins got all over the neighbor's lawn. Normally us tenants clean it up, but the handyman was like "no, at every other rental I've seen, the property manager deals with that, not the tenants." Bonus for me, no picking up trash after this weekend!

[Becks]

If/when I find out who's responsible for someone honking their car horn in a half-assed yet persistent manner off and on since 3:30 this morning, I'll threaten to do something drastic, but in all reality, I'll just stay in my apartment and bitch to the cats.

[KellyHabersham]

To whichever neighbor is doing this - I don't know what you're burning, or if you're using a fireplace or an outdoor fire pit, but please STOP. It smells awful and is making me sneeze.

[Aria]

Someone's bike was stolen recently and he's put up posters about it everywhere. A Sasquatch bike, the lock was cut through with bolt cutters.

Is it terrible that I can't help but think if you're going to buy a 2-3k bike, you ought to buy a really awesome lock and chain? The kind that laughs at bolt cutters?

[wolfie]

Not a chain, a heavy cable. Chains are vulnerable to bolt cutters, cables far less so. If the jaws don't meet exactly, the cable will squish and many of the strands will avoid being cut.

In trucking, the hardest seals to remove are the so-called flexible bolt seals. They look like a plastic-covered bolt seal, but the shank is actually a 5/16 cable. Too big for wire cutters to get a bite on, and if your bolt cutters are at all worn, they won't cut it. Got myself a dedicated 16" bolt cutter just for flexible bolt seals.

[April]

Your cat is in my yard, freaking out my dog. He has tags on, however he is following me around crying like he hasn't seen another person in a year. He vacuumed up the food I gave him so fast, I would be willing to bet he hasn't eaten in at least a day. My daughter called you because of said tags, and the fact that he seemed so hungry and friendly that we were sure he escaped. nope. He is apparently an "half indoor, half outdoor" cat. Oh and "don't worry if your dog attacks him. I keep telling him one day he will meet a dog that he can't beat up" and that he "only has tags on, so if he gets hit by a car, someone will call us"

if it wasn't for the fact that I have two other cats, I would have taken him inside so fast and he would have been my new kitty.

[Aria]

Not a chain, a heavy cable. Chains are vulnerable to bolt cutters, cables far less so. If the jaws don't meet exactly, the cable will squish and many of the strands will avoid being cut.

I have a Kryptonite U-lock and also a chain coated in plastic, it came with the lock. Would that be good? I don't want to lose my new bike too soon.

[wolfie]

Does the U-lock take a round or a flat key? Round keys were thought to have higher security than flat, but a few years ago a vulnerability was found, and they're now considered less secure. What's the diameter of the steel on the lock? U-locks, being rigid and fairly small (compared to the loop of a cable/chain) are vulnerable to prying attacks (stick a lever inside the "U", and pry against what the bike's locked to).

What is the diameter of the rod the chain links are made of?Bolt cutters can get through 3/8" grade 70 transport chain in two "bites" (one for each side of a link), and that stuff is pretty heavy to carry on a bicycle. Once you get above 1/2 inch diameter it becomes resistant to bolt cutters, not because of the strength but because the jaws won't open that wide. I'd say cable (you can get it in plastic covered form) is still better than chain - 5/16" minimum, 3/8" is better.

Is your bike insured? You might want to ask the insurance company what lock THEY recommend - after all, unlike a bike store (whose interest is in selling what they have), the insurance company's interest is in keeping your bike from being stolen (since if it doesn't get stolen, they don't have to pay out).

[Aria]

Um... well, the key looks flat? lol. I'm afraid I don't know the answers to your questions and someone tore up the box the lock came in. (my dad) The instructions don't have that information.

Ah, it will probably be fine... it is a pretty good lock and despite it's pink glory, my bike isn't nearly as expensive as a Sasquatch. Kryptonite does have a theft insurance thing, though. Maybe I should consider it.

[wolfie]

Round keys have a distinctive appearance - if the key looks flat, it's a conventional flat key lock. Kryptonite seems to have gone away from round keys after the vulnerability was discovered.

As for the diameter of the steel on the U-lock and on the chain, a simple measurement with a ruler would be adequate. The U-lock is almost certainly too big for bolt cutters, while the chain is almost certainly small enough to be vulnerable. After all, 3/8" grade 70 transport chain is vulnerable, yet would be too heavy to carry for locking up a bike.

[GOInsanity]

I'm so happy to have a house now.

College apartment life: It took us the longest time to figure this one out.
We didn't have much of a problem with our upstairs neighbors, just the usual noise you'd expect from living beneath someone. But once a week, we'd here what sounded like a rocking chair, then a load bang and the sounds of everyone running around really load. This would usually repeat a few times.
We finally learned: One of the girls was in a equestrian class and was cleaning her saddle by propping it up on a chair. A wobbly chair that rocked around while she worked and would occasionally fall over, scaring the other roommates into running into the room. Kind of funny now.

We've had a few interesting neighbors since buying our house. When we moved in, we were told about B from his mom and the neighbors. He's on the autism spectrum and overall a good kid. But he had to be taught a few things. Apparently he used to just walk into people's houses without knocking or anything. But they got him to understand that he has to wait for people to invite him in now.
Best story was from another neighbor. They were putting their kids to bed around 8ish when he heard some sort of vehicle drive by his house. A bit later he heard it again. And again. Walks outside to see B in the yard on an ATV, circling the house. Neighbor goes out, grabs the front handles of the ATV and tells B to never do that again and go home.