Wow, after one year you resume this thread

Well, it's a very old thread, and a way of 'calling home' has been discussed already and methods like that have been used in the past. But I like your quite specific suggestion.. heck, it would be useful just to know where I've been myself!

It may seem paranoid but if I leave the car I lock the doors.

It takes about 2 seconds for a burglar to open your locked car, even the "high security" ones can be done in less than 30 seconds. And with the right kind of burglars they just smash the glass if they think there's anything worth stealing in there. Car alarm? Who cares. A friend of mine got her car stripped of everything worth anything, in the centre of town at mid day. Alarm yelling. Thieves didn't care, they took their time and nobody reacted - why should they? Car alarms go off all the time.

Edit: Another friend deliberately leaves his car unlocked at all times, with no valuables inside (or even a car radio). He got fed up with the damage done by burglars. Now they can just open the car and check it for the non-existing valuables, without damaging anything.

There are security systems that will page your cellphone when the alarm goes off. Just keep your favorite thief dispatcher handy MEOW

That's what I do... mind you, I drive a Jeep with a soft top, so there's not a lot of security in locking to doors anyways, but I'd still rather have someone open the unlocked door and see that there's nothing worth taking than slash my canvas roof with a knife to try and get in (theives never take the time to realize the top is only zippered together...). It's all about perceived value in a vehicle... the more stuff that you have that "looks worth stealing" and the more effort you have to try and protect it, the worse off you end up. I always get laughs from friends because I leave $10 in coins sitting on the dash tray in my Jeep with the roof down in the middle of the city, and have never once had even a single coin go missing; I then bet somebody to leave a $5 bill there for a day and see how long it lasts.

I just hide everything in the car. (usually the trunk or take it with me) So it's a very plain, factory looking car. (I also drive an old 94 camry so the sound system is just the factory one, not worth stealing). You can also lock the trunk so that even if someone broke in it wouldn't open (you'd need the key to open the truck).

I think you misunderstand our intent. We value your projects and work so much that this experience reminded us that we can thank you in ways other than words. We weren't necessarily saying "Go buy another tablet because we feel bad yours was stolen." We're saying, "I'm donating because you earned it, we all value you a great deal, and maybe next time we won't need such a big reminder to thank you."

Also, if you don't have a tablet, we can't get updates to your tools. So it's a little selfish too.