HELP! Baby photos lost forever!

Otto was at the Kona Club on Saturday December 17th from about 10 pm to 1 am at some point between 11 pm and 12:30 our digital camera was misplaced along with a tan VooDoo Rum baseball cap, and a 128 MB card for our camera (may have been a 512 MB disc).

The cap and the camera were on the bar when he last saw them and the card was in a camera bag on the bar. He found the bag on the floor without the card.

The two discs contained ALL of the photos of our newborn baby! These are the ONLY photos we have of the first month of his life!

We are offering a REWARD for the return of the 2 discs!! Please help.

Our camera is a silver digital Canon that was banged up with a couple good sized dents on the body. The battery says 'von Stroheim' on it. Please send this e-mail to everyone you can think of that had been at the Kona Club that night.

If found please send to:
743 Haight Ave
Alameda CA 94501

Or call:
415-335-1624
or
510-865-2113

We are crossing our fingers that someone grabbed our camera by accident and is trying to figure out who it belongs to. We thank you all for your help.

Here are some pics of that night at Kona Club. It was way packed but maybe someone see's something that we have not seen in these pics. A hand, a camera in a hand, etc. We're on the hunt to lend help.

I also hit a wrong button on my camera and it has about 3 seconds of video of Otto, C'Al, Mai Tai and people around them. Not sure how to transfer it here, though.

Sending positive vibrations your way. Hope it turns up and yous get those baby pics back. Like C'Al said, A bummer end for yous to a Great Evening.

This really sucks! I can't recall seeing the camera or the bag but I was lit up like a Christmas tree that night. I passed the word on to all my friends who were there.

Is that Otto's VooDoo Rum hat on that other guy's head? That's also right where Otto left his camera.

Otto's hat was black.... and found in the bathroom here he did not go with hat... not good

On 2005-12-20 09:38, crazy al wrote:
Otto's hat was black.... and found in the bathroom here he did not go with hat... not good

actually the hat is tan and can be seen in Bamboo Ben's photos

Thanks to Ben for taking and posting the photos. thanks to Will the Thrill and Michael from Conga Lounge for making a huge effort to contact Jacques who knows this guy shown in the pictures wearing my hat

tomorrow Jacques is picking up my camera from the guy who grabbed it by accident thinking it was his

hopefully a happy ending to a gut-wrenching, holiday ruining story

thanks to everyone for assistance and concerns, it is how you handle the hard times that strengthens friendships

On 2005-12-21 00:32, Otto wrote:

On 2005-12-20 09:38, crazy al wrote:
Otto's hat was black.... and found in the bathroom here he did not go with hat... not good

actually the hat is tan and can be seen in Bamboo Ben's photos

Thanks to Ben for taking and posting the photos. thanks to Will the Thrill and Michael from Conga Lounge for making a huge effort to contact Jacques who knows this guy shown in the pictures wearing my hat

tomorrow Jacques is picking up my camera from the guy who grabbed it by accident thinking it was his

hopefully a happy ending to a gut-wrenching, holiday ruining story

thanks to everyone for assistance and concerns, it is how you handle the hard times that strengthens friendships

Good thing I ate my Carbs that day!!!

"Postive Vibrations" work once again!!

Ya mon!

this is fantastic.... i thought Otto's hat was the same color as mine 'black'...

this is great news... Ben Boo .... now a tiki-detective TOO!!

now that this is looking like it may have a happy ending, who is going to be the first to photoshop a camera in the hands of that guy! :)

Or a caption contest...

On 2005-12-21 09:44, mrsmiley wrote:

"I was soooo drunk, I din know what I was doin'! I forgot my own camera that I got for takin' pikshures of my girl to put on the internets, but I figured, hey! Cameras are all the same, so I jus grabbed the neares one - cuz that's how we do it down south! Take what you want - no one'll miss it - no one that matters, anyway! At first I grabbed some guy's pace-maker cuz I was fooled by the shiny metal parts, but my girl made me put it back in that guy's chest. Then I picked up some dude's Pee-Dee-Aay cuz it had a picture screen an' all. I tried to take some pikshures of me with umbrellas up my nose, but I couldn't get the flash to flash and the screen jus kep saying 'password not reconnized'. Funny camera! So then I grabbed this here bald dude's camera cuz, I mean, he's bald! What the hell does he need a camera for? Yup, that was sum goood times!"

Hey that's great! Take lotsa pictures everywhere. That's what saved the day. I guess it's too late for tikifish's coat lost at the Lingba room/lounge, and something Sabu lost also.

How about a "Lost and Found" right here on TC? I'm glad for you Otto and Babydoe. Mele Kalikimaka!

On 2005-12-21 09:28, crazy al wrote:
this is great news... Ben Boo .... now a tiki-detective TOO!!

Definitely great news. Ben, you're a supersleuth - we're gonna have to start calling you Lieutenant ColumBoo. (I'd say hat's off to Ben, but he's already removed mine).

The moral of the story is...download your baby pictures and back them up.

Oh yeah, way to go Humu, she's the super sleuth :)

On 2005-12-21 21:01, mrs. pineapple wrote:
The moral of the story is...download your baby pictures and back them up.

Absolutely.

I can't tell you how many of our friends have never done this - and have 1000's of irreplaceable photos just sitting on thier hard drives. Our good friends lost every picture from the birth of thier son on when thier computer was stolen!

Really sad.

Get out those blank CDs and start burnin'! NOW!!

What a total fuck!ng scumbag! The camera & memory card was recovered, but all pics were erased!

I've sent Otto info about recovery software he can use to possibly retrieve them.

Again, let this be a lesson to all - back-up your irreplaceable digital photos! Burn multiple disks and send some to relatives or keep some at work. Back-up CDs are cheap!

Man, this thread is a roller coaster! Awful disheartening news, then the promising light of a happy resolution, then one more bite in the backside. Hope those pics are recoverable.

So let's see, the guy "accidentally" took the camera, then accidentally assumed the flash card was full of his own photos without looking at them, and also accidentally assumed that he wouldn't want to keep any of his own photos, so he accidentally cleared them all off the flash card. It could happen to anyone!

Too bad the "million volt electric shock" feature with automatic thief recognition wasn't turned on.

-Randy

On 2005-12-18 17:05, babydoe wrote:

The two discs contained ALL of the photos of our newborn baby! These are the ONLY photos we have of the first month of his life!

... the alohabros are sorry for your loss, however why not offload the files asap, especially those that are important... moreover, why take 'em to a place where you know you're gonna get hammered... makes no sense... what a lesson, ouch!...

On 2005-12-22 12:09, aquarj wrote:
Man, this thread is a roller coaster! Awful disheartening news, then the promising light of a happy resolution, then one more bite in the backside. Hope those pics are recoverable.

So let's see, the guy "accidentally" took the camera, then accidentally assumed the flash card was full of his own photos without looking at them, and also accidentally assumed that he wouldn't want to keep any of his own photos, so he accidentally cleared them all off the flash card. It could happen to anyone!

Too bad the "million volt electric shock" feature with automatic thief recognition wasn't turned on.

-Randy

PLUS-(as I understand it) the empty camera bag was found on the ground without the OTHER memory card in it, SO...He accidently took his spare memory card out and accidently dropped the camera bag(the camera was out of the bag already) and then accidently put on Otto's hat! SOUNDS LIKE LIKE GUY IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING to happen! :(

On 2005-12-22 12:34, mrsmiley wrote:

PLUS-(as I understand it) the empty camera bag was found on the ground without the OTHER memory card in it, SO...He accidently took his spare memory card out and accidently dropped the camera bag(the camera was out of the bag already) and then accidently put on Otto's hat! SOUNDS LIKE LIKE GUY IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING to happen! :(

... booze will make ya do things that ya know is wrong...

Did he "accidently" erase the contents of the other flash card as well?

Not to be a walking endorsement, but if the recovery software doesn't work, then there is a company in the Bay Area called Drive Savers that can definitely recover the pics off of the flash card(s). They were able to recover all of the photos off a friend's flash card, and they were all perfect. The only thing is that they charge about $100+ to do so.

The pics are most likely still on the cards, but when you tell the camera to erase everything, it usually just resets the file allocation table, but doesn't erase the pictures. The same thing happens if you do a quick format of a disk with a computer - it just resets the file allocation table but doesn't erase the files from the disk. So as you take more pics, the old files are replaced with new ones. If someone did a complete full format on the flash cards, however, like hooking the camera up to a computer and actually doing a full format on the cards, then that would wipe everything off of the cards and reset the file allocation table as well.

Otto and Baby Doe, I hope that when you recover the pictures off of your flash cards, that you find compromising pics of that asshole having sex with sheep, or even worse, that you can then plaster all over the internet, and everyone can use as screen savers!!!

I confused two of my XD cards on a trip to Mexico this past summer and started to format one that was full. I caught my mistake after a couple seconds and pulled the card out of the camera. After a few anxious days I got home and googled all sorts of recovery software.
I ended up trying a couple of free programs and Art Plus Digital Photo Recovery (http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/dpr.htm) recovered the most images. It successfully recovered most of the images from a 512 card and the missing material was mostly redundant so I didn't feel the need to pursue it any farther. There were a few images that showed up only as thumbnails, but I was pretty happy with what I got.
I was curious after this, so I took a card I had already saved to disc and tried, first to recover all the images after simple erasure, then after formatting. I was able to get all the images after the erasure but none after formatting.

Its been awhile and I'm sure many of us are sympathaetic... any progress report on getting those pics recovered?

On 2005-12-22 18:43, Mai Tai wrote:
Not to be a walking endorsement, but if the recovery software doesn't work, then there is a company in the Bay Area called Drive Savers that can definitely recover the pics off of the flash card(s). They were able to recover all of the photos off a friend's flash card, and they were all perfect. The only thing is that they charge about $100+ to do so.

I've used them for clients before. Pleased with the results. I believe they've even helped a certain Mr. Buffett

Tacky Techie Tiki Bar
It's easy to grin, when your ship comes in, and you've got the stock market beat; but the man worth while, is the man who can smile, when his shorts are too tight in the seat

[ Edited by: Turbogod 2006-01-04 06:16 ]

On 2005-12-22 12:11, alohabros wrote:

On 2005-12-18 17:05, babydoe wrote:

The two discs contained ALL of the photos of our newborn baby! These are the ONLY photos we have of the first month of his life!

... the alohabros are sorry for your loss, however why not offload the files asap, especially those that are important... moreover, why take 'em to a place where you know you're gonna get hammered... makes no sense... what a lesson, ouch!...

[ Edited by: unklefun 2006-01-05 08:45 ]

Hi Baby Doe, This Jacque AKA Unkle Fun, sorry for the lost again. I told Otto that if the recovery of the pictures work out I'll make the Dork who took the camera reimburst you.

On 2006-01-05 08:43, unklefun wrote:

On 2005-12-22 12:11, alohabros wrote:

On 2005-12-18 17:05, babydoe wrote:

The two discs contained ALL of the photos of our newborn baby! These are the ONLY photos we have of the first month of his life!

... the alohabros are sorry for your loss, however why not offload the files asap, especially those that are important... moreover, why take 'em to a place where you know you're gonna get hammered... makes no sense... what a lesson, ouch!...

[ Edited by: unklefun 2006-01-05 08:45 ]

yes, stupid to leave photos on cards that are still in use
yes, stupid to leave cameras on bars unattended for several minutes

I always offload my photos and burn to CDr, Baby Doe has a different system for managing her photos and she had not done her homework and I wanted to use the camera so I grabbed it and knowing that the card in the camera was almost full I also grabbed a second card which also happened to be almost full

as for leaving a camera on a bar it should be noted that this was not just any bar in the middle of North Beach
This was a grand opening where I personally knew about 20% of the attendees. The grand opening was not publicly announced therefore one could assume that it was friends and friends of friends

Now here's the update:
I did get the camera back with the card that was in it
not only were the photos erased but there was a "test" shot on the card of someone's living room

I am still working on data recovery on this card

apparently the second card was found and mailed to my post box. Am picking that up today so there is some good news

I must say that Jacques (who is a good friend of Will the Thrill) has been very helpful in recovering said items from one of his friends

Indeed, if you can't relax at a private invite-only party, when CAN you? sigh

After having my purse stolen JUST once at, yep, a private party, I've never dared take my paw off it again. Oh, the troubles that caused--but such a sad thing, not to be able to trust!

Only takes one bad apple, as they say. I'd like to 'reformat' him, huh.

I wish you tons of luck with the data recovery, Otto!!! If it worked for B*ffet...:wink:

... sony (and canon) makes some fairly thin profiled cameras that yield nice results... the alohabros have found that by using these small cameras and storing them in leather pocket protectors (kept in the front left breast pocket of all shirts worn), there is little chance of losing the camera (reasonably snug fit)... one must be, as the alohabros are, religious about using the pocket protector... this way cameras are less likely to be left out and can be accessed quickly in the event a photo op presents itself... best luck on the data recovery...

I am back online and was surprised by all the comments! THANKS EVERYONE!

First off I want to let you all know that we did get our camera back AND we actually got back our 1 GH compact flash card as well (it was mailed to us this week!).

Yes, photos were erased but it looks like we have recovered most of them.

I want to thank the Tiki community for their help with this! If it was not for the crowd shots we would never have recovered the camera OR the flash cards from the person who grabbed these. It pays to take LOADS of photos!

Of course the lesson is to BACK up those photos! With a prepping for maternity leave and then a new baby who came 16 days early I just never got around to it. I was soooo bummed to lose those particular two months and then thrilled to get those photos back! Whew! This has just been such a rollar coaster of emotions... so glad I can put it behind me and move on now.

I know this might sound dorky but another lesson I have learned with all of this is how important family is. Who cares about the camera... and the photos are precious but I have a wonderful new baby and an awesome husband and 3 year old. There are so many people who have lost more then just a couple months of photos!

XOXO Baby Doe

Baby Doe,

Thanks for the post and am so glad you recovered most.

I am a mom of 2 and this has been on my mind daily. I erased over my sons first christmas (on video) and it still bugs me 8 years later. Oh well!

But you are right about a healthy family and the best of friends. You can't buy that.

Plus, now you won't have to reinact the birth to get those pictures!

Awesome news!

Cyndee

Whew! As their neighbor and the guy who was with Otto when this true life episode of "Hawaiian Eye" first began, all I can say is Mahalo to the Tiki God of Lost Baby Photos. Public aloha to Unklefun for the hookup that led to the culprit, too. Doe, see ya at home, dear.

On 2006-01-05 12:58, Otto wrote:

On 2006-01-05 08:43, unklefun wrote:

On 2005-12-22 12:11, alohabros wrote:

On 2005-12-18 17:05, babydoe wrote:

This was a grand opening where I personally knew about 20% of the attendees. The grand opening was not publicly announced therefore one could assume that it was friends and friends of friends

I need to set the record straight.

The night Otto lost his camera WAS the Grand Opening to the Public. Anyone who heard of it, walked by, or could open a door,( hence the big OPEN sign on the door) was allowed in. The bar was officially open to the public.

It DID NOT HAPPEN at the "Private Ohana and Blessing of the Kona Club Party" the week before.

---

On 2006-01-06 01:56, tikivixen wrote:
Indeed, if you can't relax at a private invite-only party, when CAN you? sigh

After having my purse stolen JUST once at, yep, a private party, I've never dared take my paw off it again. Oh, the troubles that caused--but such a sad thing, not to be able to trust!

Only takes one bad apple, as they say. I'd like to 'reformat' him, huh.

I wish you tons of luck with the data recovery, Otto!!! If it worked for B*ffet...:wink:

_____________________________________-

Tikivixen and Otto,

You need to edit your posts.

The Kona Club is and will be an outstanding Tiki Bar to visit. The owner has a great track record with doormen at both the Mallard in Albany and Thalasa in Berkley. This was that 1% of bad ( and a friend of a friend of a friend), that every bar gets.

Everyone out there needs to think before they drink. It's a strange world we live in. ( or chalk it up to that last Mai Tai!!)

What I said: "only takes one bad apple" blah blah blah

is pretty much what you said. It applies either way: whether private party or public shindig, there is only so much any owner/manager/bartender/security guard can POSSIBLY do to safeguard patrons.

My post was a lament on the way one negative person can screw things up for everybody. And not a bitchfest about the owner/manager/bartender/security guard/whatever at the Kona.

I'm sure that, having run the often-VERY-crowded Mallard for years with great success, those guys did an equally responsible job at the Kona.

I think that NO one is at fault or to blame BUT THE THIEF.

On 2006-01-06 18:35, RevBambooBen wrote:

On 2006-01-05 12:58, Otto wrote:

This was a grand opening where I personally knew about 20% of the attendees. The grand opening was not publicly announced therefore one could assume that it was friends and friends of friends

I need to set the record straight.

The night Otto lost his camera WAS the Grand Opening to the Public. Anyone who heard of it, walked by, or could open a door,( hence the big OPEN sign on the door) was allowed in. The bar was officially open to the public.

Tikivixen and Otto,

You need to edit your posts.

Whoa, there will be no editing of quotes or rewriting of history here!
I spoke to a patron at the opening and asked him how he heard of it and he said a friend told him. I asked Doug if he put out ads in the paper and he said no.
Being open to the public and publicly announcing the opening via local media are two different things.
Yes, anyone COULD have just walked right in off the street but that is pretty unlikely given the bars location. It's not in the middle of any neighborhood or walking area.

Otto, what software did you use for the recovery?

Did you ask the guy if he has Sabu and Tikifish's coats? : )