Well, my dim-witted and carefree suburbanite mindset was finally shattered forever this morning: somebody stole my bike.

It was my own fault. I left it in my car, parked on the street, overnight. It's such a pain to get it in and out of the backseat, and I knew I'd need it today to bike from my dad's house (where I park) to the metro. I guess I was subconsciously counting on potential thieves knowing that it was a really, really shitty bike due to its being stored in a really, really shitty car. Apparently they didn't.

At least it was a considerate theft -- rather than smashing an entire window out, he just broke the small triangular one at the car's back right corner. Maybe I'll get to the auto glass place and they'll say "Triangular? Oooh. That's a tricky one. You've gotta order those custom made from deepest, darkest Africa. And you've gotta use that special enchanted safety glass, from a, wahaddayoucallit, dragon's hide." But right now it doesn't look like the damage was too bad.

This isn't my first brush with bike larceny. In elementary school I had a totally sweet white and blue BMX, with a white front tire and a red rear one. I rode it every day for a summer to the bus stop where I'd get picked up to go to computer class at the Arlington Career Center. You can understand the neighborhood toughs being jealous of a glamorous lifestyle like that, and the hot-and-cold-running 12 year old babes that came with it. So I got back from class one day and found my bike gone.

Fortunately the guys who stole the bike showed up two days later, riding it, at the exact same place where it was stolen, at the exact time when the buses were dropping off the kids who were the only plausible owners of the stolen bike. My grandfather, who was now picking me up in lieu of the bike, went over and scared them, and I got my ride back. Awesome.

Unfortunately Grandpa passed away several years ago, so this time around I'm not quite sure what to do. Without the sweet red and white tire setup, it doesn't seem worth going to the trouble of getting ignored by the DC police. Frankly I'm most pissed off that I've now lost the mounting brackets for the bitchin' LED safety light set I bought a week ago. That's right, safety lights. No, I haven't gotten any cooler since the career center days.

So I guess I'm in the market for a new bike. In the meantime I'll have to just console myself by ratcheting up my levels of misanthropy and paranoia toward my neighbors. That I can handle by myself; the bike is a little trickier. Does any one have any good suggestions for where to get a cheap bike for riding around the city? And does anyone know if any of those folding bikes are worth the money? It'd be nice to be able to bring one on the metro at rush hour.