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Written by Commuter Files
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Tuesday, 08 September 2009 |
After toting my oldest daughter around in the bike trailer one
afternoon last month, we ended up at an ice cream stand. Knowing my
wife and youngest would not want to miss out, we called them so they
could meet us there. After downing a twist in a cone, I asked my daughter if she was ready
to ride back home. She said she wanted to ride with mom back to the
house. Sure, why not. So I sped home with an empty trailer along the
always ripped-up/under construction roads back to the homestead.
After toting my oldest daughter around in the bike trailer one afternoon last month, we ended up at an ice cream stand. Knowing my wife and youngest would not want to miss out, we called them so they could meet us there. After downing a twist in a cone, I asked my daughter if she was ready to ride back home. She said she wanted to ride with mom back to the house. Sure, why not. So I sped home with an empty trailer along the always ripped-up/under construction roads back to the homestead. The local crews have not yet smoothed out the rough spots on one of our major streets in Portland so all the side streets have a big 3" ledge to smash over in order to go down one. Well I was going much faster than I would if I had kids in tow and hit that ledge goin pretty quickly. The trailer bounced, skidded on one wheel and tipped over! Not cool. While I was up-righting the trailer and getting out of the way of traffic, I didn't even think that any of the contents of the trailer could've fallen out because the back cover is velcroed pretty tight. So I rode home, a little embarrassed and a little scared that the trailer tipped over like that. Luckily no one was inside, but I'm pretty sure that was why it tipped--no weight in there. No weight except my bike pump and my iPhone (in a shockproof, waterproof case).
This is where the story sorta veers off from being bike-related and turns into a late night caper. I noticed my phone was missing at about 9 p.m. after remembering I had to be in Boston the next day for business. Luckily, I had activated the "find my phone" software option when the new OS came out a few months ago. I hit the track button and noticed that it was about a mile down the road from where I dumped the trailer. I quickly typed a message (the software also plays a tone for two minutes) to the would-be person who found it saying "thanks for picking up my phone, I would love to get it back can I swing by to get it? I see that you are just down on Forest Ave." I put my phone number on there and waited. About a half hour went by and I got a call from a local land line--it was the guy who found the phone, "Dude, I think my friend found your phone," He said.
"Oh great, I haven't had a great day today, my bike trailer tipped over and the phone fell out and I have a meeting tomorrow in Boston so I would love to swing by to get the phone."
"Yeah there is a problem though," he said "my friend sold it to me for $100 and I would need that in order to give it back."
"I can't do that. but I would appreciate if you could ask your 'friend' if you could get that cash back," I pleaded.
At this point I knew I was not dealing with some nice citizen who just happened to find a phone and wanted to get it back to the rightful owner. I glanced at the phone to see if I could get the number off of it to track--yeah it was there--along with the dipsh*#'s name. I thanked him as he said he would call his friend and ask for the money and call me right back. Well, I think an hour went by and I knew he wasn't gonna do that. So I called the police. I told them the story, gave them the address that came up in the GPS tracking and the phone number and name of the guy who called me. They sent a patrol car over right away. The officer was a young guy, who looked like he might be right out of the academy. As I told him the story and the name of the dude, his face relaxed in recognition. "Oh yeah we know him pretty well. this is what we should do. You call his number and say that you have the money and that you're gonna swing by and we'll go over and bust his ass." I laughed at the though of being involved in this little late-night sting, but then though that a phone was not worth any harassment from this guy or his friends. The officer went on to say that they were "retard crack dealers" and that they were just gonna sell it for drugs. As much as I wanted a drug dealer off the streets and my phone back, I asked if the officer would go back and get the phone solo. He quickly obliged and said "I'll be right back."
In about 20 min he was back, phone in hand. He asked that I look it over to make sure it was mine--it sure was--all intact, complete with the case. I was thrilled and thanked the officer for retrieving it and providing a fun-filled evening. And it was. I managed to get the phone back, but lost my lucky Crank Brothers pump . I wonder if the dipsh@# sold that for a nickel bag?
Ride safe and slow down on those corners!
Zm
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