1/8/2023

 What have I been watching?: Welcome to Chippendale's

What have I been listening to?: Crime Junkie podcast

The last month or so has brought with it some unfortunate circumstances. First, I discovered one evening last month that my recently adopted cat, Columbus, (adopted in September, I believe) had swallowed several inch-long pieces of rubber. We had been resting together on the couch for several hours watching TV. When I got up to get ready for bed, I saw that he had at some point earlier in the evening thrown up behind the couch. He has never thrown up with me before. There were three of these inch-long rubber pieces in his vomit. I knew exactly where they had come from. Roughly a week early, I had used my air fryer and then rinsed out the drawer and the flat grate that sits inside the drawer, then I left those pieces drying on the countertop on the dish rack. I left at some point, and when I came back to the apartment some hours later, I saw the grate and realized that the four rubber pieces that had been attached to each of the four sides of the grate were gone. I shook my head in disbelief. Columbus has a terribly persistent pattern of getting up on the counters and fucking with stuff. He has destroyed some of my plants, ripped up paper towels, gotten into baked goods, knocked bowls off the shelf to hit the counter and floor and shatter. I assumed at the time that he had ripped those rubber pieces off and played with them or stashed them somewhere. It never occurred to me that he would have swallowed them--like I say, they were large and cumbersome rubber pieces. 

When I saw them in his vomit roughly a week later, I was absolutely horrified. There were three there, and I had every reason to think that he had also swallowed a fourth, which was MIA. He must have been attracted to the oil/grease residue on the air fryer pieces. The next day, I took Columbus to the vet. I had been on the fence about doing so because his behavior was totally normal apart from having thrown up. I was holding out hope that he would throw up or poop out the remaining fourth piece of rubber. He was still eating, drinking, behaving normally. But my sister in law and a coworker who owns cats suggested I bring him in to get an X-ray just to be sure. 

When I brought him in, I was taken aback and scared when they told me he had a fever. I had no idea. This confirmed for them that he needed to get an x-ray to see if the fourth rubber piece was inside his belly, potentially blocking stuff off. Indeed, the veterinarian pointed out a more opaque spot on the x-ray that she was confident was the rubber piece. She sadly informed me that in light of his fever and the presence of the piece that Columbus hadn't passed, he would need emergency surgery to remove it. She said that Columbus was extremely unlikely to be able to pass the fourth rubber piece. Since he had thrown the other three up, the fourth would have come with the others if it could. But since it hadn't, that meant it was stuck. I told the veterinarian I would need to know the cost. She gave me a moment alone and I called my mom and sister-in-law (all cat owners), and then my partner, in tears. I sobbed as I told them that Columbus would need emergency surgery, that they would need to cut him open. I was devastated that I had only had him in my care for a matter of months, and he was already forced to go under the knife because of events that happened on my watch.

They brought me the itemized cost sheet in a bit later. Columbus would get an abdominal exploratory surgery, as well as a full intestinal exploration. He would remain overnight at the vet on an IV and would need various different drugs. There was also the matter of the cost of the x-rays used to confirm that the rubber piece was, indeed, inside him. I applied for a CareCredit card (for veterinary costs) on the computer in the veterinary office while Columbus was prepped for surgery. It would allow me to spread out the payments for the surgery and related costs over the course of twelve months, interest free.

I felt like I didn't have much of a choice. I couldn't let his life end here. There was no question about that. He is only five years old. He had been in my home for only three and a half months at the time of this incident. I felt guilty that this had occurred during this terribly brief period on my watch, but at the same time was infuriated because it wasn't as if I left a ton of shit out around my apartment for him to get into--how could I have expected that he would pull pieces off of a literal appliance? How was I supposed to have prevented this? 

Had Columbus been older, perhaps I would have concluded that it was not rational to undertake this effort at this expense. But he has a lot of life yet to life, and he is my family, and so I authorized the surgery. Half of the amount was charged to the CareCredit card at that time, and the remaining half would be charged the following day when I picked him up.

The vet tech asked if I wanted to see Columbus again before I left. I was very emotional and upset and said I would just see him tomorrow when I picked him up. They had given me no indication that there was any likelihood of the surgery going wrong or any risk of him not getting through it. 

Later that night at around 8 P.M., the vet called me. She said that the surgery was completed and that it had gone well. They had removed the rubber piece and had also looked through the entirety of his intestinal track to see if he had swallowed any other foreign objects. They found a piece of string but nothing else. He was sewn up and would remain at the vet's office overnight for recovery. They would ensure that he could eat and drink and then I would be able to pick him up.

The next day I worked from home so that I could be available at any point to go pick up Columbus. I picked him up around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. He was very groggy, still on pain killers from his surgery. People had warned me that following his surgery, he might be irritable, nauseous, and not want to eat. I brought Columbus home and when he got out of his cardboard carrying box, he was wobbly and disoriented. The sight of him would have been comical to anyone else but was heartbreaking to me. His belly had been mostly shaved, and he had a strip of bare skin around one of his legs as well, where his IV had been. It was like a bald bracelet, about an inch and a half thick. He had a cone on and I watched him weakly flop around on the ground trying to figure out how to orient himself with his cone.

Luckily, Columbus didn't refuse to eat. He was as ready to eat as always, which I was very happy for. He has always been very food motivated (which presumably is what got us into this mess in the first place). He ate and drank normally and used the bathroom. The night I brought him home, I folded down my futon and made my bed there. Usually, I sleep in my own room, obviously, and Columbus isn't allowed in there. I wanted to have at least some part of my apartment cat-free. But I didn't feel good about leaving him alone all night, so we spent the night together in the living room. I was overjoyed that he cuddled and slept with me for almost the entire night. I remember laying with him in the living room, a little sleepover for us of sorts, and I thought that it was a notable night, one that I would remember. 

Weeks have passed now, and Columbus is fully recovered. He has gone back to his active, naughty self. He has gone back to being a very vocal meower, a trait that he had seemed to abandon during his recovery. He continues to jump up on the counters in spite of my persistent efforts at spraying him in the face with water. I put aluminum foils on the countertops for about a week, which did seem to deter him, but once I removed the foil he went back to jumping up more regularly. I'm not trying to have foil on my counters permanently, so I'm not sure what to do. Columbus's belly has grown a small amount of hair back and his surgical wound appears to be healing well. Life goes on as it did before.

My biggest fear is that Columbus will swallow another foreign object. It could happen at any time. After I left him for surgery, I looked around my apartment and resolved myself to putting away every unnecessary object. Nothing on the countertops, everything in cabinets. But I really don't have much stuff out. I clean and organize constantly, it's who I am as a person. I don't like clutter and mess. I put the toaster up in the cabinet, and told myself I would wash and put away the dishes right away, leaving nothing overnight on the counter. I have not been as consistent with that as I should be. 

The problem is that it is hard to know what he will get into. Yesterday I got out my iron and ironing spray and set them on the table in preparation for ironing something. I went to the apartment gym in the meantime, coming back up an hour later. He had chewed on the cord of the iron and the rubber band that was securing it in a bunch. No item is safe, which makes it impossible for me to prepare for any and every scenario. I am doing the best I can, but I fear that one day he will swallow something else and be unable to throw it up. I don't know if I will be able to rationally finance another surgery. All I can do is enjoy the time we have together and do my best to make my apartment a safe environment for him. I love him and cherish him and we should have years and years and years left together. I hope dearly that that will be the case.

Columbus's emergency was not the only unfortunate circumstance that fell upon me at the end of 2022. On Christmas eve eve, I believe it was, I left work early at around 2 P.M. to go home and get my things together to go with Jacob (my partner) to his parents' for the holidays. I park for work everyday in downtown Milwaukee in a parking garage about a block from the federal courthouse. I swipe my work parking pass to get in and out. I have a steering wheel lock for my Kia, but I never have it on in a parking garage, because I did not think anyone would try to steal a car out of a parking garage, because they would either have to bust through the barrier at the exit or use a different parking ticket to get out or something. I thought my Kia was only vulnerable to theft on the street or in a surface lot. I was wrong.

I approached my car from the stairwell and first noticed that my headlights were on, lighting up the cement garage wall. Had I left them on since this morning? No, I don't think so. I got closer. My passenger side front window was broken in. Thick blue glass shards covered the front interior of the car and piled up on the passenger seat. Sitting on top of the glass on the seat was a black screwdriver. I was stunned. I opened my trunk and looked in the back seat, where I had a camping tent (~$200) and sleeping bag (~$100). Neither had been removed. In fact, nothing appeared to have been removed. Whoever did this actually left me with more belongings--the screw driver-- than I had started with. 

I was so occupied with determining whether anything had been stolen that I at first didn't even realize that my ignition and steering wheel column were ripped apart. The exterior plastic was pulled open, revealing metal and wire and cords and the red light that lights up the ignition. The metal was dented and broken. Someone had tried to steal my car, but had left it where it sat. Did they get spooked by someone passing by? Did they merely fail? 

I called 911 and was informed I needed to call the non-emergency number. I did so, and was informed the next available officer would be on their way. They could not give me an estimated time frame in which that would occur. I waited. I called my mother on the phone, sobbing. Why were all of these horrible things happening to me, I cried. I couldn't handle all of this, I couldn't afford all of this. I had only been working about four and a half months. I wasn't anywhere near financially stable yet. I was devastated. I called my partner and informed him the same.

It was a blustering, snowy day. A dangerous blizzard had been forecasted to begin that evening. The garage was not entirely closed--you could look over the half cement wall out onto the street below. I shook with cold as I waited. I had been told I needed to remain here with the car for when the officer arrived.

After roughly a half hour had passed, I called 911 and said that I had called the non-emergency line as instructed but that no one had come yet to assist me and that I couldn't continue standing out with my car indefinitely. They told me they would re-report it or whatever and someone would come soon. About ten minutes later, an officer arrived, finding me shivering with cold in the stairwell.

He was very kind and helpful. He apologized several times that this had happened to me, which I appreciated even though he bore no fault in the situation whatsoever. He made a police report and gave me all the information I would need to convey to my insurance. He had me get in the car to see if I could start it to drive it home. He took the screwdriver into evidence to see if they could get a print off of it, but indicated that it would be unlikely. He told me he would also look into whether the garage had operational cameras. I greatly appreciated his kindness and empathy.

I was able to drive the vehicle home. I live only five minutes' drive from the federal courthouse, so I didn't have to spend too long inside my busted up car with the ripped up ignition, fucked up steering, and busted out window. My partner came to Milwaukee and picked me up and we went to his parents' for Christmas as planned, bringing Columbus with us.

On the day after Christmas, we returned to Milwaukee. Jacob parked in front of my apartment building and we went to sleep like normal. We were awakened around midnight. Jacob's mother was calling. "Your car was stolen," she told him. "The police called me, they are trying to get ahold of you." Jacob had an incoming call. "It's them, " he said. He answered and it was indeed the police. They informed him that his vehicle, a Hyundai, had been stolen off the street in front of the apartment. I listed close to his ear in disbelief. Was this a nightmare? There was no way this was happening a mere four days after my own vehicle was targeted for theft. Jacob had parked on the street near my building on and off for six months without issue.

The police had seen his vehicle, as well as an individual in another, driving in tandem somewhere in South Milwaukee. Whether the police were prompted to investigate this because of erratic driving or due to having spotted the busted out window, we don't know. In any event, the police turned on their lights and went to pull over the individuals. The other individual, driving a different stolen vehicle, sped off and eventually, apparently, crashed somewhere up ahead. The individual driving Jacob's Hyundai pulled over and cooperated. He was arrested and placed in the back of the squad car. It was at this time that we were called. The officer asked if we could come to the scene to pick up the vehicle. We weren't sure what to do, since now neither of us had a vehicle. We took a Lyft to the scene anyways because if we had allowed them to tow Jacob's car to a lot, we would have had to pay to get it out.

We arrived on the scene and the squad car's lights were still flashing. The streets were otherwise quite and calm. The officer told us that usually these car thefts are perpetrated by juveniles who learn how to steal these cars online or from TikTok. Usually, since they are minors, the worst that happens to them is that they go to juvie, then get out, then go back to stealing cars. They don't do it because they need to--they aren't starving, aren't homeless. They do it for fun. They do it because they are on Christmas break away from school and just want to fuck up some cars. They can steal the cars with nothing more than a USB thing and a screwdriver. They break in the window, then steal the car and drive it with abandon until they wreck it or ruin it. They occasionally steal some shit from it, then they leave it there and move on. Again, this is typically done by minors. But this time, the officer told us, the individual was 18 years old, and so perhaps he would be prosecuted and something would actually come of it. The officer confirmed with Jacob expressly that Jacob had, quote, "not given anyone permission to steal his car." Jacob confirmed that he had not given anyone permission to steal his car, an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. The officer then asked if Jacob would be willing to assist with prosecution, in the event that that occurred. Jacob said he would.

Jacob's interior was worse than mine. The individual had rummaged through everything, the glove compartment and the console, ripped everything out, scattered papers and items on the car floor. His skateboard and some CDs were missing. The ignition and steering wheel column were ripped up just like mine. The rear view mirror had been removed from the inside of the windshield and was nowhere in sight. The windshield mounted phone holder was removed and on the floor.

While we were speaking with the officer, a Milwaukee police department van pulled up next to the squad car and another officer exited. The individual who had been caught stealing Jacob's car was removed from the squad car and transferred into the van. I stared at him, hands behind his back in cuffs, as he was removed from the squad car. He had a hoodie on over his head and wore Croc-like shoes with socks. He looked very casual. I couldn't see his face. I hated him. I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. He had destroyed my partner's vehicle all for an hour or two of "fun." I wanted to yell at him and flip him off. But I remained silent, in shock.

We were able to drive the vehicle, just like I had been able to drive mine, although Jacob noticed right away that it was running poorly, he could tell that it had been driven recklessly. Since we couldn't well leave it back on the street for the rest on the night and I didn't have anymore spots in the garage, he dropped me off and made his way back home to Wauwautosa. It was hard to get back to sleep, but eventually I did.

Obviously in hindsight there are things that we should have done differently. I knew that Kias and Hyundais were targeted for theft in big cities, and particularly in Milwaukee. I had gone to a police station during my first month here and gotten a free steering wheel lock for precisely that reason. But like I said, I didn't know that someone would try to break a vehicle out of a closed garage, so I didn't have it on at the time of the attempted theft. And in hindsight, when Jacob parked his car at my apartment the day we returned from Christmas weekend, we should have gone into the garage, removed the steering wheel lock from my car, and put it on his. But it all happened so fast. We were dealing with and caring for Columbus at the time, as well. He was still recovering from his surgery and taking several meds a day. I was preoccupied. We had never put a steering wheel lock on Jacob's car in front of my apartment, and he had parked there overnight dozens and dozens of times. 

Insurance will hopefully handle everything and I won't end up paying too much out of pocket. I dropped my car off a few days later at the Kia dealership in Wauwautosa to get an estimate for insurance. That was last week, and they still haven't done the estimate yet. They are inundated with broken-into Kias. I was informed it would take 2-3 weeks to 2-3 months to get everything done.

After I dropped off my Kia in Wauwautosa, I saw Jacob later that night. I was withdrawn and sad. Eventually, when I was on the phone with my mom, I broke down. I couldn't stop thinking about how I had worked all through school in fast food to pay for that car. I bought it myself and paid off every cent of it myself. I was 18 when I purchased it for roughly $11,000. I had kept it clean and in relatively good shape. I vacuumed and carpet-cleaned the fabric interior and never got in an accident. Over the course of eight years, I kept it in almost as good of shape as the day I acquired it. And all the effort I had put into maintaining its value and taking care of it had been shat all over. Shat all over by someone who just wanted to ride a car into the ground and abandon it and then maybe find another one and do it again. Without regard for anyone else. I cried thinking about the thought of potentially having to purchase a new vehicle in the event that mine was deemed totaled. I couldn't take on a new car payment, I cried. I had gone in the red with my finances for Columbus's surgery. I couldn't handle this too.

I am still figuring out how to adjust things to accommodate for these circumstances. I have considered moving somewhere cheaper, although I am very happy in my apartment and have everything I need and want here. It would be a tremendous hassle to move. I had assumed, when I moved here, that I would stay here for the full term of my clerkship, two years at least. But I think I had this perhaps unrealistic vision of what my life as a lawyer would be like. I thought everything would be easier, that I wouldn't struggle for money. Lawyers live in nice, new, apartments, I thought. So I will too. In hindsight, I should have selected a simpler and cheaper apartment in order to put more towards savings. 

I knew, abstractly, before Columbus had his veterinary emergency, that when you get a pet, you run the risk of incurring a horrifically expense procedure. It is not something you expect, but you have to be able to accept it if the time comes. That is the price of having a living creature in your home. They are not stuffed animals. They are beings and if you accept one into your home, you are signing on to unexpected circumstances associated with their life. I knew that abstractly, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon into my pet ownership. I wasn't ready for it. But perhaps I never would have felt ready for it. 

The same is true for the car thefts. I knew that Kias and Hyundais were stolen at disproportionately high rates in Milwaukee. Thefts of Kias had gone up something like over 100% over the last year. But I thought for the most part I was careful, locking it when on the street or in surface lots in Milwaukee. But it wasn't enough. I have learned that if you have a Kia or a Hyundai in Milwaukee and you don't have a steering wheel lock on it at every moment it is parked, it is not a matter of if your car will be stolen, it is a matter of when. Let this be a warning to anyone in Milwaukee or a similarly large city with a key ignition Kia or Hyundai. It will happen to you unless you make sure that it doesn't.

Jacob and I went to my parents' in Rice Lake over New Years for my family's Christmas celebration. Jacob was able to drive us in his new Mazda CX-30. Even before his car was stolen, Jacob had been planning on purchasing a vehicle. While we were at his parents' the weekend before it happened, Jacob had actually gotten reauthorized for a loan and had test driven some Mazdas at the dealership. He knew what he wanted and was planning to go get it the week we returned. His car was stolen in the interim, which put a wrinkle in things. 

Nevertheless, Jacob was able to get the Mazda he wanted and is very happy with it. It felt very foreign and alien-like our first times driving it. It is a 2020 premium model. He said it felt too fancy and like he didn't deserve it. But he has worked hard, lived simply, and saved well. Now he has his preferred, reliable, less-stealable vehicle to show for it. 

I, on the other hand, am temporarily driving one of my parents' vehicles. They have graciously decided to share a vehicle during these couple of months while mine is in the shop. Since the estimate hasn't been done yet, I don't know whether my car will end up being fixed or deemed totalled. I honestly don't know what I want to happen. If it is deemed totalled, I would need to find a new car and that would add a hefty monthly payment to the monthly payment I've incurred for Columbus's vet bills. If the car gets fixed, I would be glad to have my vehicle back, but I imagine the value will drop in light of these events. It is out of my hands for the time being.

Anyways, those are the unfortunate happenings from the end of 2022. It is now 2023 and I am confident that the year is already looking up. Jacob and I are enjoying our time together. I continue to enjoy my work at the federal courthouse as a judicial clerk. We look forward to the nice-weather months' return so we can cycle outside, play tennis and pickleball, camp, and enjoy the sun. 

Until next time.