Sad day

[RonS]

I made the biggest mistake of my life. I just got off a long flight, and forgot my T42p under the seat in front of me. When I got to my hotel and took my bag out of the rental car, it felt light, and I immediately realized what I had done.

By the time I got back to the airport, the plane I arrived on had left. My Thinkpad was not at the gate, customer service, or at lost baggage. They even called the captain of the plane in-flight and a flight attendant checked the plane, but it was too late. Somebody (maybe the cleaning crew?) took my laptop.

I had the BIOS password/fingerprint enabled, so my data is safe. But anothe rmistake was that I didn't even have my name and address on the bottom of my Thinkpad.

I think I'm going to shave my head now...

[notebooknewbie]

With all due respect, that was a VERY dumb move. Although I'm not trying to rub salt on the wound, how in the world could you forget your laptop on the plane???

[jdhurst]

Believe me, it is NOT hard. I was travelling by train in Europe last May, and we were changing at station and boarding a new train. There was confusion over track number (by the agents) and we were frazzled. We got on the train, and about 30 seconds before they closed the door, I realized my briefcase (latop, papers, et al) was not in my possesion. I scooted out the train door, picked up my briefcase complete and reboarded as the doors closed. Thirty seconds from total loss.

I have a hard drive password on my thinkpad, so odds are, no data would be compromised. Still, easy to do as I have noted.
... JD Hurst

[RonS]

I deserve no respect. I travel a lot, and my usual practice is to slip my notebook against vertically under the seat, next to my computer bag, until the plane lands. When the person next to me gets up, that gives me more room to pull out my bag, load the computer, and leave.

I happened to be really tired and I just blew it. I grabbed my bag and left the computer.

Not that it's any consolation, the crew at lost baggage said they get about 40 lost computers a day in Washington Dulles. And recently, a woman left $60,000 in cash on the plane and someone walked off with it.

[sugo]

that was a VERY dumb move.

It's not. Everyone makes mistake. Although we like our thinkpads, there are still many other more important things we have to worry about in our lifes.

RonS, hope you can find your machine back soon.

[christopher_wolf]

Best Wishes Ron; hope you get your system back. I am *paranoid* about stuff like that happening to me.

[Kyocera]

Ron, I can imagine the sick feeling when you realized it was left behind. But keep on the phone and keep up some hope because there are some good people in this world and hopefully one will come in contact with your lapster.

[Brave_turtle]

WaHHh, even though I don't know you personally... I know what you are going through and I felt a bit sad.

Don't worry there's still chance you find it back.

[own6volvos]

Was your harddrive password protected as well? If this is the case, anyone is completely screwed unless they know your password. Otherwise they just need to stick the HD in another computer and it works fine.

[TimWang]

Yea, I know the feeling of losing something expensive. I once lost my pencil case and in it, I had like a $200 graphing calculator. Now I know this doen't compare with a $2000 notebook but trust me... that horrible feeling is still there. I felt sick afterwards and I nearly went nuts looking for it (does this mean I have obsessive-compulsive disorder?). But luckily, time heals most "bad feelings" and trust me, you'll feel better by next week .

[Hanson]

Yeah, I lost a $200 bicycle one week after I bought it! It really feels horrible.

You just need to get over it, learn your lesson, and make sure you do everything possible to prevent losing something valuable to you again.

But with that in mind, make sure you make every attempt at recovering your laptop, early stage action is crucial.

[o1001010]

ouch.

i spent 70 bucks on a remote airplane and 30 secs into the air it flew behind a house and i never found it

[AlphaKilo470]

Yikes! I hope you can somehow recover your computer, though the odds are likely against it. I've been in similar situations though. I remember once walking into a classroom one morning and finding my Palm IIIc: I had left it there overnight. I also once had to leave my laptop (at the time an aging 760E) because I had left it hidden behind a desk while I was elsewhere in a place I couldn't bring the laptop with me and while I was out someone locked the classroom and I couldn't get in before it was time to go home. Luckily I was able to get that back the next morning.

One thing I do with my laptops as a small security meause is to alwyas have a laminated business card taped (with 2" thick clearpackaging tape since it's perfect height to cover my cards) to the bottom of the computer in a spot where it won't be in the way of anything.

[BruisedQuasar]

I always engrave my name and driver's license number on the bottom of valuables like notebooks with a short note that anyone else in possession of the item has a stolen item, unless engraved in my hand with their name.
Using your driver license number IDs it as yours and gives police an easy way to locate you. I include an email address so the rare honest person can notify you.

Two things I miss about Japan is cheap public transit & basic honesty. Even today, you can leave a back pack and valuables on a transit platform and expect it to be there untouched when you return. As a kid, I could easily catch transit to anywhere for pocket change. I have been all over SE Asia. Cheap transit was & remains available everywhere. Minimum wage workers do not need a car and they were not strong armed by state laws & scum civil suit lawyers into paying rediculous sums to auto insurance firms. Want to employ a lot of people with good jobs and free a lot of people from high transportation bills? Demand the Fed engage in a massive program to build a national public transportation system. It must be Federal so it can outlaw unionization of transit workers. Unionization of transit workers results in rediculous pay scales as found in NYC where a mere bus driver gets engineer pay and full retirement at age 45!

In states like Michigan, liberal liability law and No-fault insurance (sold to voters by liberals as a help to the poor) forces low income people to pay minimum $1,300 a year for basic auto insurance, more than what most of them paid for their car!

[Kingsley]

I once saw, but don't recall where, a small alarm device with a transmitter that went into your briefcase and a card that you slipped into your pocket and if the two items got a certain distance apart an alarm went off - basically your brief case saying "Hey! Don't forget me!"

Has anyone had any experience with such an item?

Cheers,
Kingsley

[AlphaKilo470]

[quote="BruisedQuasar"]Two things I miss about Japan is cheap public transit & basic honesty./quote]

Wish I had that here. To take the subway, it cost $1.75 for a single token to board the train. However, I guess it's not too bad since the money seems to actually be going somewhere, MARTA (the transit authority in Atlanta which, in a trivial fact, is privately owned) bought a ton of new train cars over the past five years and plans to have all of the old cars refurbished and they are also laying new track. Taking the train is also much nicer than dealing with taffic on i75 and then finding a place to park in the city. Still, with those fare prices, I'm glad I don't have to go into the actuall city of Atlanta that often. As for people stealing stuff, I'm really not sure how bad that is since I never bring stuff with me on the train. I'm sure the crime and theft gets worse the further into Atlanta you get but nonetheless, it's not half as bad as what many may say and it's not nearly as bad as some of the more crowded systems in other big cities.

[BillMorrow]

I made the biggest mistake of my life. I just got off a long flight, and forgot my T42p under the seat in front of me. When I got to my hotel and took my bag out of the rental car, it felt light, and I immediately realized what I had done.

By the time I got back to the airport, the plane I arrived on had left. My Thinkpad was not at the gate, customer service, or at lost baggage. They even called the captain of the plane in-flight and a flight attendant checked the plane, but it was too late. Somebody (maybe the cleaning crew?) took my laptop.

I had the BIOS password/fingerprint enabled, so my data is safe. But anothe rmistake was that I didn't even have my name and address on the bottom of my Thinkpad.

I think I'm going to shave my head now...

drop that razor and pick up the phone.. again..
call the aircraft cleaning company and post a reward for your thinkpad..
call the airport security office..
yout thinkpad is someplace and it should be able to be recovered..
they don't just let ANYONE on commercial aircraft since 9/11 so with some investment of time and an incentive you might just get it back..

good luck..

[DataAve]

RonS, I have a feeling she will show up. Sorry to hear of your misfortune though.

[draco2527]

I once saw, but don't recall where, a small alarm device with a transmitter that went into your briefcase and a card that you slipped into your pocket and if the two items got a certain distance apart an alarm went off - basically your brief case saying "Hey! Don't forget me!"

Has anyone had any experience with such an item?

Cheers,
Kingsley

LOL! I have something similar! A ThinkPad branded leather case (laptop), that was made by Port for IBM. It has the Defcon system built in and it comes with a REMOTE!

Like a car alarm, I can turn it on/off as well as set sensitivity!

Really cool bag, I no longer use it; I use the Targus backpacks as well as....another brand (really good, about $100/backpack); I have it upstairs and don't feel like looking at it; but it has back support and plenty of space.

[sco1984]

Sorry to hear about your Thinkpad® lost news. Hey try simple and
easy method.


Call IBM .

Give them your laptop serial number

Part number

They informs you when ever in life time if the laptop arrives at IBM®
's serviceing center.


I saw once , on IBM® India web site , where they posted model numbers with serial numbers of 3 theft laptops and they also blocked warranty
for those laptops.

Best of to contact IBM® Thinkpad® devision by e-mail , by air mail
, send them purchase bill xerox copy by fax, by e-mail or by air mail
and let them update there database so if found they'll return.

I think good idea would if you leave your laptop model , serial number,
your location details over here .


Regards,
Amey Abhyankar.