Original Post
At some ungodly hour in the middle of the night, as is my wont, I got peckish. I knew the corner store would be closed, but the gas station on the other corner stays open 24 hours, so I figured I'd traipse over and grab myself a snack. I grabbed a jacket and slipped my Neutrogena Lip Moisturizer into my pocket (it's winter, even if it doesn't seem like it most of the time) and stepped out the door. The door, for reference (click all pictures for larger version): 
It's steel. Which will explain something else, shortly. Reaching the ground floor, it occured to me to check for mail: 
It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten my keys. Now, I don't really know any of my neighbors, nor do I really care for my neighborhood, so I didn't see knocking on the doors of the occupants above or below me and coming down the fire escape as an option. However, if I did get onto the fire escape, getting into the house would be trivial, as I had opened the fire escape window shortly prior because I felt hot. I digress. I looked at the main door, knowing that once I walked out of that door I was confined to either finding my own way onto the fire escape or seeking out building security (ha! I live in the Bronx, kid, in an era that isn't remotely gentrified). 
Now I reasoned that, given the existence of fire escapes, and given that behind my building was a large construction lot, there had to be some sort of corridor that ran the rear perimeter. A couple steps to the right of my building I saw a recessed door that confirmed it. Through that door you can see a discarded shell of a steel door (in the recess to the left, propped against a wall corner) that I ended up having to move, for reasons that shall become apparent shortly: 
You can also see the kinds of discarded furniture that litter these corridor/walkways in this picture: 
Some perimeter investigation led me to this apparent entry to the walkway system: 
which was position like so with respect to the street: 
The positioning is relevant because it shows that going around the severe drop to the left is not much of an option. It's also relevant because the adjacent fenced area happens to be a construction site, and just so happened to have the following junk items right by the fence: 
I lifted one of those red crate-things around the fence (helps to be tall): 
Now here came the critical part. I was going to attempt to jump over the gate using the red crate, but I was totally visible from the street. I didn't want to arouse suspicious, because my neighborhood is the sort more likely to be associated with a crime than with a locked out renter. Anyway, I jumped the gate and again lifted the crate over to assist me in further jumps, because there were more fences: 
I caught a break on the second fence. A few links were broken, so rather than trying to jump over it - notice, in the bottom of the previous photo, a bit of a ledge at the bottom, which was actually about three feet off the ground - I was able to make an opening and "roll" through to the next area. Once again, I reached for my trusty red crate. Picture of the second fence from the street behind my building, across the construction area (digital zoom, sorry for the low quality): 
The third fence was not so simple. There were no adjacent rigid surfaces that I could prop myself against or gain leverage from, and I was beginning to wonder if I had stalled. Remember the pictures of debris shown much earlier? Well there just so happened to be other such debris in various awnings and recesses behind the building, including an oh-so-convenient-it-must-be-a-James-Bond-movie dresser of sorts, which I brought over and stood on. From there I bent the ends of the chain link fence, mostly under the top pole, and I found it funny that in the midst of all this, one of my greatest concerns was tearing my hands or my hoodie. I finally arrived behind what I believed to be my building in the complex. Now just to pull down the fire escape ladder, clamber up and get inside the house, right? Not exactly. I'm not sure whether it was a design failure or an act of stupidity - and I was too tired finally walking up the escape to check - but the ladder wouldn't dislodge from the ground level. It appear that someone had hooked the ladder too far up, such that releasing it from the escape in the even of a fire might be difficult. I'll have to talk to building security about that. Back to detritus in the corridor. The steel door photographed waaay above was originally lying on a schooldesk, and next to it had been two empty, plastic water drums. I brought one drum over and tried to use my increased leverage while standing on it to release the ladder. No luck. Pulling myself up was a no go, either; I needed more elevation. Didn't I say there were two drums? And a door? And a desk? So shouldn't I have placed the drums - which were identical - side by side, laid the door over them and placed the desk on top? I didn't realize the door was steel when I first saw it, until I went to pick it up as part of this madcap scheme. Realizing its heft, I put it aside and had to go with the riskier move of placing the desk directly on the drums (hope it doesn't shift/slip and cause me to fall!) With all this hardware finally in place, I was able to lift my knee into the first rung of the escape ladder, from which point I climbed up and swung myself over around the side, onto the escape. Now to get to my window: 
Anyway, the rest was a cinch. I took a picture of my booster contraption from my window, too: 
After a few minutes recounting the fun to the fine folk in #gamedev, I grabbed my camera, grabbed my keys, and set out to make this pictoral recreation - and pick some stuff up at the gas station. [smile]
It's steel. Which will explain something else, shortly. Reaching the ground floor, it occured to me to check for mail: It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten my keys. Now, I don't really know any of my neighbors, nor do I really care for my neighborhood, so I didn't see knocking on the doors of the occupants above or below me and coming down the fire escape as an option. However, if I did get onto the fire escape, getting into the house would be trivial, as I had opened the fire escape window shortly prior because I felt hot. I digress. I looked at the main door, knowing that once I walked out of that door I was confined to either finding my own way onto the fire escape or seeking out building security (ha! I live in the Bronx, kid, in an era that isn't remotely gentrified). Now I reasoned that, given the existence of fire escapes, and given that behind my building was a large construction lot, there had to be some sort of corridor that ran the rear perimeter. A couple steps to the right of my building I saw a recessed door that confirmed it. Through that door you can see a discarded shell of a steel door (in the recess to the left, propped against a wall corner) that I ended up having to move, for reasons that shall become apparent shortly: You can also see the kinds of discarded furniture that litter these corridor/walkways in this picture: Some perimeter investigation led me to this apparent entry to the walkway system: which was position like so with respect to the street: The positioning is relevant because it shows that going around the severe drop to the left is not much of an option. It's also relevant because the adjacent fenced area happens to be a construction site, and just so happened to have the following junk items right by the fence: I lifted one of those red crate-things around the fence (helps to be tall): Now here came the critical part. I was going to attempt to jump over the gate using the red crate, but I was totally visible from the street. I didn't want to arouse suspicious, because my neighborhood is the sort more likely to be associated with a crime than with a locked out renter. Anyway, I jumped the gate and again lifted the crate over to assist me in further jumps, because there were more fences: I caught a break on the second fence. A few links were broken, so rather than trying to jump over it - notice, in the bottom of the previous photo, a bit of a ledge at the bottom, which was actually about three feet off the ground - I was able to make an opening and "roll" through to the next area. Once again, I reached for my trusty red crate. Picture of the second fence from the street behind my building, across the construction area (digital zoom, sorry for the low quality): The third fence was not so simple. There were no adjacent rigid surfaces that I could prop myself against or gain leverage from, and I was beginning to wonder if I had stalled. Remember the pictures of debris shown much earlier? Well there just so happened to be other such debris in various awnings and recesses behind the building, including an oh-so-convenient-it-must-be-a-James-Bond-movie dresser of sorts, which I brought over and stood on. From there I bent the ends of the chain link fence, mostly under the top pole, and I found it funny that in the midst of all this, one of my greatest concerns was tearing my hands or my hoodie. I finally arrived behind what I believed to be my building in the complex. Now just to pull down the fire escape ladder, clamber up and get inside the house, right? Not exactly. I'm not sure whether it was a design failure or an act of stupidity - and I was too tired finally walking up the escape to check - but the ladder wouldn't dislodge from the ground level. It appear that someone had hooked the ladder too far up, such that releasing it from the escape in the even of a fire might be difficult. I'll have to talk to building security about that. Back to detritus in the corridor. The steel door photographed waaay above was originally lying on a schooldesk, and next to it had been two empty, plastic water drums. I brought one drum over and tried to use my increased leverage while standing on it to release the ladder. No luck. Pulling myself up was a no go, either; I needed more elevation. Didn't I say there were two drums? And a door? And a desk? So shouldn't I have placed the drums - which were identical - side by side, laid the door over them and placed the desk on top? I didn't realize the door was steel when I first saw it, until I went to pick it up as part of this madcap scheme. Realizing its heft, I put it aside and had to go with the riskier move of placing the desk directly on the drums (hope it doesn't shift/slip and cause me to fall!) With all this hardware finally in place, I was able to lift my knee into the first rung of the escape ladder, from which point I climbed up and swung myself over around the side, onto the escape. Now to get to my window: Anyway, the rest was a cinch. I took a picture of my booster contraption from my window, too: After a few minutes recounting the fun to the fine folk in #gamedev, I grabbed my camera, grabbed my keys, and set out to make this pictoral recreation - and pick some stuff up at the gas station. [smile]
