ipod thieving

So my 18 yo kid sister who's been homeschooled all through highschool got her first job this summer... and less than a week before she leaves for college she got her ipod, her prized possession, and her debit card (I guess those are handy, too) stolen from the crew room at work by a coworker.

Now this sucks royally... I mean, it's an ipod. As I'm currently saving my pennies, literally, to get an ipod myself, I definitely feel her pain. Life without one seems so... unmusical. Everyone else gets to go dancing down the street in black-and-white with their earbuds in, and here I am in technicolor trudging down the sidewalk with nothing to soothe my ears but the noise of birds chirping and cars driving past. That poor, poor kid... to have everything, and then suddenly have nothing.

But on a more serious note, it really does stink because this is her first "real life" (I HATE those terms, but so be it) experience with people... and she didn't really LIKE people in general to begin with. Now she really doesn't like them and doesn't trust them either. Maybe she shouldn't, but still... there's a happy balance. These are the people she's spent her whole summer in close quarters with getting to know, and being friends with and now they're just common thieves. The whole thing's pretty depressing.

I did a little research though and apparently this is a huge issue. Ipod theft in LA has increased 34% in LA, and over doubled in San Francisco in the last year. I guess Apple's applied for some theft-deterrant patent so they can track your ipod if it's reported stolen. But with over 110 million ipods in circulation, I doubt such a service will be coming any time soon given the sheer volume of claims they'd have to deal with, yet hopefully someday our ipods and tender youthful optimism will be safeguarded. For now we'll just have to stick to hating people and not trusting them. Please, Apple. Hurry.