Crummy bike thieves

So today my bike was stolen.
In addition to stealing my bike, they dropped my helmet on the road and drove over it. Honestly.

I was (still am) upset. This was my bike for fourteen years, I'd added a rack and fenders to it so I could ride in the rain to the clinic all through vet school. I'd locked my bike up on the rack outside my apartment, pretty typical, considering that I usually bike every day. However, the rear tire went flat overnight, and I was planning on taking it to the bike shop as soon as I was through the first half of finals. So I didn't take it down to the basement, where I normally move it if I'm not riding for a couple of days. Besides, while I love my bike very much, it's not shiny or even new; I think Schwinn stopped making it in 1990. The paint has been scraped off in multiple places. The gears are a bit gap-toothed. Nonetheless, when I came home today, the cable was cut, my bike was gone and my helmet was shattered in the middle of the parking lot. It's an unpleasant wake up call, not just that people steal, but that people steal with bolt-cutters. (yes, I'm sheltered)

I feel like I let the bike down. This is anthropomorphizing a utilitarian mode of transportation, of course, not to mention the fact that it was some thief who chose to cut the cable and make off with my bike. There is a question on the police report asking, "Did you give permission for the theft of your property?" No no nope no no.

In retrospect, I should have done things. I will do them with my next bike. I make a list of them here:

1. Locking inside overnight. Kryptonite locks can be picked, not as easily as cables cut, but breaking into an apartment complex is another level of theft.
1. High visibility, multiple locks, make the bike unattractive, yada yada yada. My bike was non-descript, but it only had a cable and it was tucked away at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac.
2. Evidently barely being able to squeeze the lock through both bike and anchor is good, as it makes it harder to use leverage to break the lock.
2. Documentation
1. I hear the VIN (BIN?) is under the pedal base. This would explain why I had so much trouble finding it the last time I looked (the internet has come a long way since I was in high school).
2. Photographs. Astoundingly, I don't think I have any pictures of my bike, despite bike riding and photography both having been fairly major parts of my life. 
3. Receipts: I should, theoretically, have the receipt from its last tune-up, but I hadn't planned on my bike being stolen, especially not when it was sporting a flat tire. And it's been a trouble-free 14 years, so receipts are few and far between.
3.  Insurance
1. This is complicated. Basically, you can get renter's insurance to cover your bike. But if you use it, your premiums go up. If your bike is stolen, you file a claim and get paid, and the bicycle is then recovered, you have to pay the insurance company to get it back.
1. Given the dismal recovery rates for stolen bikes, it's probably worth it.
4. Registration: Minimally helpful, apparently, as this usually means pieces of paper floating in one small region, and bikes are so very transportable, but it tends to be cheap and it may help a little. And what else are you going to do?
1. http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/ According to forum boards, the closest thing to a useful registration system.

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In short, my bike wasn't a target for theft until someone stole it and drove off, at which time it was too late to get paperwork in order or to move it inside. I am kicking myself for not moving it inside.