For the first 21 months I've lived in this apartment, I've struggled to get my newspaper delivered without it being stolen before I can get it. I imagine it was being stolen out front, by someone passing by or waiting at the bus stop near my apartment. I've since lowered my delivery schedule to weekends only, and was still only getting a paper about a third of the time.
After finally speaking to a delivery manager at the newspaper company, we decided to have the delivery person put my paper inside the bars lining my living room window. The window starts maybe 6.5 or 7 feet from street level, relatively easily reached. The paper would be harder to see by passers-by, we figured, with it resting between the glass and the bars.
It worked great. I've gotten my paper consistently in the few weeks we've tried it. My roommate even figured out that the paper could be accessed through the window, making it even more convenient than if it were somehow delivered to the front door of the apartment. And I even got complacent about the successful deliveries to the point that I didn't cancel my delivery this weekend when I was away, and I left the papers, still in their plastic bags, in the window until today.
I was walking home from dinner, when I saw someone at the front door of my building, so I turned around*. As I was waiting, some guy on the street asked me if the newspapers were mine. (I have no idea how he knew that I was waiting to go into my building, or that the front apartment was mine, or anything like that.) Dumbfounded, I said yes.
He said I should do something about them, because someone had been trying to set them on fire.
He thanked me, though wasn't able to offer any solutions. He didn't even bring up the idea of take-out until I mentioned it.
I've corresponded with Brad Goebel twice regarding my fantasy football team named after him. It's my first time playing fantasy football. My team is 6-2, tops in the league. As of a week ago, his team was, he said, 2-5 in his league. He cited my obviously superior skill as the reason why he would not offer me advice on how to run my fantasy team, when I had offered to ask him questions along those lines if he'd be interested.
I'm trying to think of who I should name my team after next year. Kurt Gouveia is the main idea to come to mind so far, though he might not have been obscure enough.
*I don't like entering my building when someone else is. I don't know any of my neighbors, and I certainly don't know their guests. I don't want to compromise security by letting them in, and I don't want to be rude by walking past them but then slamming the door in their face. So I usually go somewhere else for 20 seconds until the moment passes.