March 21, 2009: Hi! I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd break in! - Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

How bizarre. I was sitting in my office, working on my short story, when the dogs started going nuts – barking, howling, jumping. I glanced up and noticed a shadow move past the glass partitions to either side of my front door. Assuming it was either a canvasser or neighbor dropping by to invite me over for a spring barbecue, I was fully prepared to ignore the doorbell – except that the doorbell never rang. Through the reflection in my office window, I saw a shadowed face peer in through the glass. The dogs continued to jump and bark. The guy continued to peer inside. Finally growing tired of this bullshit, I opened the door and snapped “Yeah?!”.

The guy, moustached and mid-thirtyish, slim build, started and stammered: “Is Stanley here?”

“No,”I informed him. “No Stanley here.”

He mumbled a quick apology and then hurried off to the white van parked in front of the house where his buddy sat waiting.

Now, normally, I would have just headed back into the office and that would have been that, but given the suspicious behavior, I decided to take note of the vehicle’s license plate as it drove off.

When I told Fondy the story, she naturally insisted I phone the police and let them know. After much hemming and hawing, I finally acquiesced and called up the non-emergency response line and let the woman who answered know pretty much what I told you. I told her: “Look, it may be nothing. But, just in case there’s a break-in somewhere in the neighborhood, it may prove useful.” (And, of course, in case someone breaks into my house and I’m not alive to tell anyone about it, you can all avenge me.).

I hung up and forgot about it until half an hour later, the same woman I spoke to at the VPD phoned back and strongly urged me to immediately phone them back if I either see the van or the individual who came to my front door in the neighborhood. She seemed quite vehement, so I asked her whether she ran the plates and if everything was alright? Her response – that the behavior I described was certainly suspicious and warranted closer scrutiny – seemed obvious. So obvious, you’d think it would have been mentioned during that initial phone conversation.

Hmmmm. No sooner do I write up this entry than the phone rings again. And, again, it’s the VPD. This time they want a description of the individual. How old was he? What did he look like? What was he wearing? How old was the guy waiting in the van? Was he sitting in the driver side or passenger side? Light-haired or dark-haired? Did either of them give you any trouble when you confronted them? I answered the questions as best I could and again wondered what was up? She informed me that the police were in the process of checking out the neighborhood, looking for the van. I hung up and my first reaction was: I hope I didn’t send the cops out on a wild goose chase. Then, my second reaction was: There’s no way the cops would go through the trouble of scouring the neighborhood unless something was up.

I’m tempted to hop into my car and scour the area myself, perhaps make a citizen’s arrest if not for the possibility that I may miss another call from the police department.

Hmmmm. No sooner do I update this blog entry than I receive a visit from a police officer asking me to identify the potential suspect. “Yep,”I told him as the guy’s face flashed up on the lap top. “That’s him.” Apparently, the guy is a prolific break and enter specialist and the van is registered to him. He and a buddy out the target home, kick in the back door, then help themselves to as much as they can before taking off. My house is alarmed but, apparently, even that doesn’t deter these jerks who are out of prison as fast as the police can put them in. Thank you liberal Canadian justice system!

Of all the houses in the neighborhood, why did they case mine?  And in broad daylight?  I’m guessing it’s the fancy boxwood lining the walkway.  Nothing says posh like boxwood. 

Today’s disquieting entry is dedicated to birthday girl Christle.

Mailbag:

Terry writes: “ Why not have one of your writerly-type friends read it and give feedback?”

Answer: I will. But I can’t give them an unfinished story.

Terry also writes: “Do you know if there will be an announcement anytime soon about who has been signed for the SGA movie, or does the signing wait until the script is done and approved?”

Answer: No idea how the studio plans to proceed in that regard.

Silversi writes: “Hey Joe, I was just wondering if the Q&A with Dave & Roy is still going to happen, and if so if you had any idea when??”

Answer: I sent the questions Dave and Roy’s way. Whenever they’re done, I’ll post their answers as a dedicated Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker blog entry.

PG15 writes: “Hello Joe and fellow blog commenters! Miss me?”

Answer: I was about to hop into my car and go look for you.

PG15 also writes: “1. I noticed that the SGU promo was called “Frantic”; I don’t know why they’d name promos, unless there are more, with different names. Are there more SGU teasers coming soon?

2. You were right about us dissecting the promo – the puddle effect is fine, but a few fans have noticed that the gate is smaller than the gates we’ve seen in the past. Is the SGU Stargate smaller than the MW and Pegasus gates, or the same size but the promo just showed it from a distance?

3. Glad to hear that Joel is working his magic on SGU. Will he get a live orchestra for “Air” like he got for “Rising” and the SG1 movies?

4. Any plans for Joel to score the SGA movie with a live orchestra?

5. Destiny – is the ship actually called “Destiny”, or does it have an Ancient name that is translated to mean “Destiny”?

6. A non-SG question: are you a fan of Red Dwarf, the british Sci-Fi comedy?”

Answers: 1. There are none on deck but I assume that, yes, we’ll see more in the near future.

2. I’ve been on the Destiny set and, up close, the gate looks just as big as the Pegasus and Milky Way gates.

3. I’m not sure what Joel has planned.

4. See above.

5. My lips are sealed. For now.

6. Never watched it.

Kaylee writes: “I heard there will be a lot of deaths in the first few episodes of Stargate: Universe. That wouldn’t include any main characters, would it?”

Answer: No one is safe!