"Stupid KEeeyboaeerd..........................."

Good Evening;
So.....I'm at Jenn's for the weekend. Tonight they are out signing lease on new placee to live.

HOORAEY! NO MORE BATSHIT CRAZY TO DEAL WITH!!

THISE KYBOAERDE SUCKS

LATEREEE...........................DAVE

"How About a Quickie..........?"

Good Evening;
So...areal quick post because the library is closing and my laptop is fucking up;
as in--eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Met my friend Frayda here tonight and she gave me a whole bunch of nice shirts that were being given away, what ever I don't fit into is going to one of the "clothing banks" for the needy/homeless.

Went to Monkee's and got another weeks worth of meds this morning, picked up my other scripts at RiteAid too.

Had a great meeting with Margaret from HCH yesterday, I truly love competence!

Went down to the City Paper and got money for the next column being published on Sept. 5th, and did an emergency repair on my jeans shorts with cheap ass 'duck' tape...that's right it was not true 'duct' tape, but a knockoff. And......the repair did not last the train ride back to the Starbucks!..........lol!

Remembered I had an almost new pair of khaki shorts in the shed, about a size or two too small,
it's amazing what a shoelace through the front beltloops will do in a pinch!

Later............................Dave

"Donut Holes Al Fresco..........Don't Try To Lay No Booogie-Wooogie, On The Queen Of Rock And Roll!..........."

Good Morning;

Well....another night and morning in my outdoor office. Except for the mosquitos and not being able to sit around in your underwear it's pretty cool. But then again, maybe those two items cancel each other out....lol!

It's actually quite cool and breezy and I'm about to head over to the shed. Dinner was carry out Munchkins from the "Dunkin' Dumpster" with a mayonnaise sanwich for desert.....yeah things are tough right now all around.

I'm going to have a column in next week's issue (Sept. 5th) of the City Paper. I was told I can get an advance, but I'm not sure how much yet. Food, Bus Pass, Meds , and hopefully enough to take Rachel to the Maryland State Fair on Labor Day, and next week can take care of itself.

Jenn texted me asking if I could ride herd on the grandmonsters Friday afternoon  and Saturday morning because they have meetings and work, and again Sunday for a wedding, so it's up and back twice to the insane asylum, and the batshit crazy m-i-l, ...who I was just informed, called up Jenn's grandmother, (MY mother), in Delaware and spun a packet of lies to try to enlist her in the ambush that batshit crazy setup when Jenn and family were told they had to get out.
I'm told that she was told basically..."Oh?, well......bye!"


Today at Noon I am meeting with the HCH caseworker at the coffee shop.

So I'll be back this afternoon with an update....
Later.........................Dave

"Winken, Blinken, And Nod ........................................... God Bless The Child----..........."

Good Afternoon;

So....I'm sitting here in the coffee shop and watching this woman who has to be at least 11 months pregnant or carrying a litter of a dozen or more.
She is nodding out over her Frappucino and has spilled one already.
The regional manager and her superior just happened to walk in here today as she
almost inadvertently used her long curly hair as to mop up the spill.

She is not causing any trouble, but there is concern for her, and for the baby's safety because she is unsteady on her feet and falling off the stool, or the commode, (when she was in the restroom for 15 minutes or more), is a distinct possibility.

Jenn and I saw her yesterday on the corner of Falls Rd. & Northern Pkwy. panhandling, (and as a professional critique I must say that her sign, about the size of a newspaper, unfolded at the middle but not opened full width, is printed way to small to read from more than 2 foot away and contains way to many words to read at a stoplight....I could not make out what it said from the passenger seat). I am not sure if she is actually homeless or just playing off the pregnancy to the very last second to get high.

All three levels of management are now standing outside the store talking to her after helping her down the three steps to the plaza area. She is no longer nodding out, but her speech cadences and semi-coherent lapses are indicators that is still high. The little I overheard earlier as she ordered her drink and then complained that it was not the same as she usually got, and ended getting both drinks for the price of one sounded like the work of a seasoned hustler.

The two upper level managers are still outside with her, as if waiting for something or someone, and probably keeping an eye on her for liability reasons.
I wanted to offer to help in some way, but she was giving out a very strong, 

"don't approach me" vibe. I've been texting Jenn, and talking to Kinsey about ways to help someone who is not yet ready to ask for help. About the best I can do is write own the day and time of the women's NA meeting right across the street and offer it to her.

Now there are 2 Baltimore City Police officers talking to her, (I had thought they might have called a taxi).....now all three are gone and the managers all all inside. I went out to look and if they put her in their patrol car and took off, they did it awfully quick.

The one thing to hope and pray, (or wish if you don't pray), for is that the (VERY) soon to be born child does not spend it's first weeks of life detoxing, and that it's development was not retarded in any way by the chemical abuses of the mother.
I must say though that she looked 'healthy' and clean, not gaunt, scarred with sores from picking at her skin, or full of track marks, and her hair, body, and clothes were clean and did not smell.

Except for the pregnancy part, I can claim to have, "been there/done that",
and even though I have no desire to go back, I have empathy for where she is, what she's going through, and shared the fear of both the known agonies of detox, and the unknown future without the drugs that become so much a part of life, that even thinking of life without them is terrifying.

Gotta run, more news if I hear any,
Later....................................Dave

"Hey........YOU!!!..........."

Good Afternoon;
 Well I'm here at the Starbucks in Mt. Washington and the first thing I see in my Inbox is this article from Poverty Insights:

Hey You!....

Back soon,

Later................................Dave

"Close Encounters Of The Law Enforcement Kind ...............OR............ Guilty Of Being Innocent............."

Good Morning;
So.....I'm sitting here behind the library watching the movie "Chicago" on
the portable digital  TV, and a Baltimore County Police car pulls up and the officer walks up and looks around at the TV and laptop plugged in and the
magnetic antenna stuck on the upright of the awning. He asks the usual questions one would expect, basically;
What's up, what are you doing, who are you, etc. All quite polite and non-aggressive, and of course asks for ID, which I give him. I am only having the normal panic attack one gets when one sees the "Oh Shit" lights in the rear view mirror. Then 2 other Police cars pull up...

AND THE PARANOIA MACHINE KICKS IN FULL SPEED! 
("Now THREE cops are here...think I'M FUCKED")
and for NO REASON AT ALL! .......LOL!!!!!!!!!
Old habits and reactions die hard I guess!

The other 2 officers left in their cars and Officer Ransom(e?) and I chat for a few minutes, he mentions that he's never seen me before. I reply with a comment that a low profile and not doing anything illegal or unlawful or annoying is how I like to live. We did the "do you know" game about some of the other people here on the street in the Pikesville area, and then he took off too.
A very polite, professional, and pleasant young man and except for the excess adrenaline boiling in my stomach, a not unpleasant encounter......lol.

I think I'm going to go see if the shed has cooled off enough to lay down in.
("Chicago" is ending and it's starting to drizzle.... And there is a good possibility
that there may be a thunderstorm, according to The Weather Channel)

Later..........................Dave

"Tired Of Being So Tired..............."

Good Evening;
Well....I'm back in town and at the coffee shop. Jenn just dropped me off after 4 nights an 3 & 1/2 days at her place. Tom had picked me up around quarter after Midnight on Thur./Fri. night.
It was typical of most visits of late, their underlying fear, worry, and anger about having to move coloring everyone's thoughts and actions, even if only subconsciously....and the batshit crazy m-i-l acting as if everything is normal.

Nothing much I really feel like writing about now. I'm just so damned tired all the time recently, partly from the effects of the start of the downhill slide on the depression rollercoaster, and partly...??I don't know what??.

I submitted another story to Evan for column # 4 in the City Paper an I'm praying he runs it because I'm dead effin' broke. Waiting to hear from Monkey to see if I'll be able to pick up a couple 'bupes' tonight, because I'm out of them as of last night.
Tomorrow I need to get to D.S.S. and refile the Foodstamps and TDAP claims, and to recertify the Medical Assistance claim, (especially the M.A. claim because there is some weird shit going on,AGAIN!, with my Gastro-Intestinal system.).

I meet with the woman from HCH on Wednesday here at the coffee shop again.

And that's it for now.....
Later..............................Dave

"Bag And Baggage............"

Good Evening;
Well....This is a link to 'NY altnews' on a major issue facing the newly homeless and some companies that are walking the razor's edge
of legality profiting from it:

http://nyaltnews.com/2012/08/homeless-pack-shelters-storage-brokers-seek-stuff/24014/

Later....................Dave

"Once More Unto The Breech........Or..........Hope Springs Eternal........."

Good Evening;

So......from Henry V to Alexander Pope and here I go again. 

My meeting with the young woman, (forgot to ask her if I can use her name, so I'll err on the side of anonymity for now), from Health Care for the Homeless, (HCH), was, in my opinion a rousing success. I felt that there was a true sense of interest, empathy, & compassion on her part and that I was not just another nameless number, and that a connection was made.
She was well versed and familiar with the procedures and pitfalls of the S.S.A. and what needed to be done and how and when in filing an S.S.I. claim. With the basic information gleaned from this meeting she is going to restart the initial process. Once that is begun we can walk into an S.S.A. office and get the documents required for the TDAP claim at D.S.S.

Tomorrow I'm going to D.S.S. to refile for FoodStamps and Medical Assistance, and  get the forms to be filled out by the doctor for the TDAP.
I can use the HCH address with a c/o in her name as a mailing address.

For the first time I feel a confidence in an advocate and a sense of hope in navigating the process with the help of those who know what they are doing.

Which is a good thing, because last night was HELL! I tried to roll over from sleeping on my left side to my right side and woke up literally screaming in pain. My left lower back, hip, and upper left leg felt as if someone had jammed a knife in me......and began twisting it and jabbing it in and out.
(And YES, I DO know what that feels like....and I have the scars to prove it!)
THEN.....I reflexively tried to sit up, in one continuous motion.....
Well I must have blacked out for a minute or two. When the dizzyness and confusion cleared I sat up, then pulled myself to my knees an stood up in stages by hanging onto the shelves in the shed. I stood there until the pain faded to a dull throb and carefully lay back down and took a dose of the muscle relaxers and pain meds, (ibuprofen and 'bupe'), and went back to sleep, eventually.
Either tomorrow after D.S.S., or Friday, I need to get back to the doctors to get a referral for another MRI to determine what is going on with the tumor on the Sciatic nerve......whether it has enlarged greatly or twisted around the nerve.
I switched over to the boots I got from Monkee, so I am standing and walking level and my feet are flat not on a sideways incline sloping outward because of the way the heels wear, that has helped some, but I can feel something is 'not right'.

Anyway, it looks to be yet another beautiful night to be 'camping out'.....though I'd love to find a nicer "campsite".........lol!
And it looks as if the 'picnic lunches' are going to be from the "Dunkin' Dumpster" for the ?????? foreseeable future, as I have bus fare for 2 days then that is the end of all my cash. If...IF, I am lucky I may, MAY get my Foodstamps expedited and get them on September 7th. If not, then it will be October 7th.
(And there is the chance I will get a column next Wednesday, but most of that will go to the State Fair with Rachel)


Anyway...I want to actually catch the 9:03 pm. bus...which is usually 15 minutes early, so........

Later..............................Dave

"Walking A Mile In A (Dead) Man's Shoes....... & Pain And (Possibly) Gain..."

Good Evening;
Well, I'm here at the coffee shop about to pack up and head over to the bus stop. It's been a rough day after a BAAAD night. I was in such pain in my lower left back and hip from the damaged sciatic nerve that I was damn near in tears. I could only find one position lying own that relieved the pressure and that was after downing a handful of Ibuprofen and Flexeril and a 3rd  dose of 'bupe' (which is really rare for me).
Sleep came in short random periods, and waking up frequently and standing up for a minute then lying back down was the norm. I finally got up for goo about Noon when I heard someone on a cel phone outside the shed. After waiting 30 minutes for him to finish fighting with his wife/girlfriend an take off I rolled out and over to the Giant for an hour, then the library for an hour, then after catching a bus just in time to make a connection...which typically for the MTA never showed up, I waited another hour for the bus over here.

A couple good things did surface today... 

I have a meeting tomorrow with a rep. from HCH to see about having them take on my case with D.S.S./S.S.A.

I got an e-mail from Evan at the City Paper stating that if I got him a column by next Tuesday he just may be able to get it in next week's edition, which means I will be able to take Rachel to the State Fair.
(But Donations are STILL accepted and appreciated....just in case, y'know)

And wearing, for the first time, the boots I got from Monkee that belonged to her late husband, a pair of real Timberlands, with practically no wear on them, are a big help in relieving some of the back pain. They are a size 11-1/2 Normal Width
replacing the size 11 Wides that I was wearing...of course what I REALLY  needed were a size 11 Normal Width, so it's a tradeoff...these grip my feet across the foot while allowing some slippage up an down and back and forth, while the previous pair from Walmart allowed my feet to spread and flatten with slop across the instep. But as long as I go slow and watch my footing this pair does help by eliminating one outside factor in my back pain.

Gotta run now.........
Later.................................Dave

"Late Night Lunacy.........Sunday With Rachel........................"

Good Morning;
So...I'm back in Pikesville and sitting out behind the library gain tonight.

I got dropped off at the Light Rail yesterday afternoon by my son-in-law around 3:30 pm, (after spending most of the week there.... [I've come to realize that I can get very little if any creative writing done up there in Monkton, because of the tension that has now morphed into anger and barely concealed hate that is permeating that house..],...), and then went past Monkee's because I was out of meds. I only picked up one because I was out of cash until today when I met Evan to get the balance of my money from the City Paper. (And then went past again this morning to get enough for the next 10 days) After Monkee and I talked for an hour or so yesterday I jumped back on the bus then the train and went to the coffee shop for a few hours. I ended up missing the bus and took the train to the train to the bus to Pikesville, getting back to check out the shed for the first time since Monday.

After swinging past the Giant and the gas station I headed over to the library, planning to plug in as usual, but when I saw a person sitting on the steps with a Game Boy or similar type video game player plugged in, and smoking a cigarette, as I started across the parking lot. I about faced and headed across the street and around the corner to a bench near the Staples. I was ticked off to find someone in "my" spot, (even though I know it's public property). As I was sitting on the bench  trying to decide whether to just hit the shed and crash out or wander around for a while, since it was so nice and cool for the first time in months, (as it is again tonight). 

I saw a guy walking up the street on the other side and realized it was the Russian kid Ivan I've mentioned before, and that he was the one behind the library. We talked for a minute, (I try to stay on civil terms with him, even though I don't fully trust him, based on past experience), and I said I was going over to watch TV and he headed to the gas station to get a soda. As I got the TV set up and sat down to make a sandwich he came and asked if I needed both outlets. I told him no and he plugged in his game unit and asked to watch "The Unit" with me. I said no problem and told him I was about to eat as soon he finished his cigarette because the smoke really bothered me.
He said no problem and tossed the butt away.

As soon as I got the TV tuned and a sandwich made he lit up another cigarette and I got up and pulled my plug, packed quick and dirty, bagged the food, and took off with out a word, and nothing was said by him either. I ended up on the bench by the library front entrance and ate my dinner and watched TV for 1 hour and 45 minutes until the battery failed.
When I came past the picnic table on the way to the shed about 2:30 am. he  was gone. And I haven't seen him tonight either.One of the reasons I try to keep my distance is that on any given day there is a 50/50 chance that he is likely to be busted for dope. I can't afford the 'guilt by association' that would come with that.

Today on the train on the way back from Monkee's the 'ex' called and asked if I could and wanted to come by the apartment to spend the afternoon with Rachel, shower, and hang out for a couple hours. She and her boyfriend, (partner, lover, live in companion...???? what do you call it these days), were going to the last performance of the play he was acting in an the cast party.
Well of course I said yes and timing worked out just right too, as the train pulled into Mt. Washington she happened to be right around the corner on the way home, so I did not have to wait an hour for the bus running on a Sunday schedule.

Rachel and I had a nice low key day playing board games, watching TV, and having lunch together. When they got home from the cast party about 8:30 I got a ride to the bus loop in Mt. Washington and caught the #27 bus to the Plaza Metro station, where I had a 30 minute wait for the bus up here to the library.....and we're full circle. I've been watching CH 13 since the 11:00 pm. news came on, an it's time for bed now.

Later...............................Dave

"How Facebook and Twitter Are Helping the Homeless"

Good Morning;
A link to a story on "The Atlantic/Cities-Places That Matter" website:
How Facebook and Twitter Are Helping the Homeless

Later..............................Dave

"Who Needs Sleep.......... Read 'Em And Weep.......... The Write Stuff ??.........".

Good Morning;
So...I'm at Jenn's again, meaning her B.S.C. m-i-l's house. I've been watching the grandmonsters and messing up my already out of whack sleep patterns. How messed up you ask? How about breakfast and my first cup of coffee at 2:00 pm.!!!

Anyway I think I'm leaving Saturday morning, and I have to roll out by Saturday evening because I'll be out of meds and need to get to Monkee's Saturday night.

Things here are still the simmering stew pot of barely suppressed negative emotions, which I'm trying to stay out of being caught in the middle, because believe me NONE of the principals involved want to hear my unfiltered and unvarnished opinions on the matter. So I'm just getting as much shower and laundry time as possible while I still can, 'cause who knows where Jenn and family will end up. (I have heard Pennsylvania, just over the Maryland line being discussed.

Anyway....as you can see I had column #3 published in the City Paper this week, http://citypaper.com/news/columns/panhandle-tales-1.1358802, with any luck I'll be able to get some cash this weekend. I received an E-mail from someone at HCH and I hope to meet with her early next week when I am back in town. I also got a voicemail from someone at "Word On The Street", Baltimore's independent, grassroots, 'homeless focused' newspaper..http://wordonthestreetbaltimore.wordpress.com/..another thing which I will be looking into next week. A writing workshop was mentioned, and I THINK an invitation to submit something. (Bad reception here in the basement, and the fidelity of the low budget TracFone recording leaves a lot to be desired!)

The Maryland State Fair is a week away, so I definitely need cash quick, I'll
have to see if I can coax Evan into another column next week.  ;-)

Anyway....I need to jump in the shower and rinse off...(Because I CAN!!)... these freakin' hot flashes and cold sweats are not only driving me crazy, but they combine with the fabric softener and laundry detergent residue that is always in the clothing after washing, (Even after a triple rinse.), and it makes the very cotton cloth of the tee shirts feel heavy, dense, and cruddy.

Later....................................Dave

"City Paper..........Column # 3............."

Good Morning;

So... read it online;
http://citypaper.com/news/columns/panhandle-tales-1.1358802

or pick it up Wednesday at one of a bazillion locations,
Column # 3 of "HOMELESSCIDE", 'Panhandle Tales'
is out today.

Later.....................Dave

P.S......NOT my title, I submitted it as
"Cash In Hand".......lol!

"P.O.V.........Present, Future, Past

Good Evening

Well.....it truly is a lovely night out tonight. Cool with a pleasant breeze, low humidity..a little cloudy, but for once I can sit here without worrying about rain from them. I wish I had a cold beer and a warm body next to me...(preferably a female human within the socially acceptable age parameters)..., and we're sharing a big old chaise lounge on a --- rooftop deck or balcony overlooking city lights,
the porch of a cabin in the mountains with a view that goes in forever, or hammocks in front of a beach shack/bar/restaurant in the 'Islands', (French Polynesian or Caribbean, I'm easy....lol!),...[or "Oz"].
But.....

I've got the TV plugged in and I'm channel surfing between WMPT 67-2 airing a  public tv documentary show, "P.O.V." a collection of short films by various film makers, the one on now is amazingly beautiful and strikes a chord within me with it's haunting solitude of the South Australian salt flats at Lake Eyre. He is using real time and elapsed time videos, and  a series of automatically controlled time lapse stills, synchronised to the Sun by an equatorial mount. Incredible!
So many places left to see.......

http://www.pbs.org/pov/salt/#.UCh1FXojk8g.blogger

And I'm skipping across the channels to the WJZ 13 News, a cornball movie on WUTB 24-2 from 1979, "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh", and "Law And Order" on  24-1.

Now a segment on the people who design and create "glass eyes"...so cool!
Now a segment on a man who has the most vinyl records in the world, over 1,000,000 LPs, and 1,500,00 45s....over 80 % of which is no longer to the public according to the Library of Congress. It is a designated 'Archive', and he can find no one at all willing to buy it and take it on to preserve it after he is gone.
How can either the industry or museums be so blind?!

Okay one half of my weekend TV addiction, the weekend version, part 2,
 is now on.... "Criminal Minds".

Back to PBS and a segment on a job I used to have, cleaning out houses that were foreclosed on, abandoned, or where the owner died. It can be a dirty and dangerous job, and yet both extremely heartrending to be trashing people's lifelong memories, and,...rewarding. If while cleaning everything out you are able to recognize and grab something and save it from destruction and return it to the owner/next of kin, (which was why I got fired from the temp. agency that worked for banks and mortgage companies-- whose only concern was speed....and hired on by a privately owned company that worked mainly for investors, lawyers and estate liquidators and funeral homes-- and where everything was sorted into 4 categories: trash.., scrap/recycle.., cash value/salable.., intrinsic value/heirlooms). If I could still do the required physical work required I might be there still.

 I'm babbling and going off on all kinds of tangents, and the wifi here is slower than molasses and it's taking minutes  for each 'auto save', so I'm gone.

Later..........................Dave

"Flat Out, Flat And Out............."

Good Afternoon;

So....when I signed off this morning I barely got packed up and down to the gas station to make it to the restroom,....barely!
I got back to the shed at 5:30 AM. and got to sleep by 6:00 am., waking at 8:30 am. to take morning meds. I went back to sleep until 12:30 pm. when I looked at the time and figured 'the hell with it, it's Sunday and I have no place to be, no cash to spend, & no reason to get up' and went back to sleep until 2:30 pm. This is the longest period of downtime I've been able to be flat on my back in months, the recliner at Jenn's does not count because some part of my body always aches when I get up and I'm never really oun asleep. When I got up, cut my toenails and changed into fresh clothes from the skin out. I ended up at the coffee shop about 5:00 pm. and here I sit. It's near closing and I need to start packing up.

Later........................Dave  

"The Good, The Bad, & The Batshit Fugly..............."

Good Morning;

Well I'm sitting out here behind the library again tonight watching TV and futzing around on FB and the 'net. The one thing I'm not doing though is tweeting. I have deactivated my Twitter account and withdrawn from the HEaR ME Tweet And Tumblr Project.
Besides my ingrained dislike of Twitter in general, and having no passion for the tweets I was posting, it was becoming a tremendous time waster. I also looked closer at the details of the grant proposal after the grad student whose PhD. project this is informed me of the need for an analytics program to find out details about the tweets, and those 'following' and those I 'followed'. After   looking into the tool he was recommending, www.kred.com , and a bunch of others and found that the information tracked and the breadth and depth of the search is way too intrusive for both the tweeter and the reader, and in my opinion, kind of creepy. Between this and just not feeling in any way connected to the medium of "micro-blogging", the 'carrot' of the phone (a Blackberry clone.....meh..) and the minutes aren't worth it.

So.....it's been about a week since the last real post. Let's see, (sidebar---hav you eveer noticd how har it is to writeeeeeeeeeeeeeee without using th leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeteeteeeers "e" an "d".... I'm just sayin', so you can visualiz what I'm aling with on th hardwar front!)
on Monday I commented on a post from Jenn on FB that basically started out with a generally humorous statement about someone needing a slap upside the head, that morphed into "with a sock full of nickels" that ended up being "wrapped around a chair".
When I mentioned that she seemed to be having a touch of anger issues, it came out that her batshit crazy m-i-l had told them they had to get out of her house and given them 30 days to do so.
C U Next Tuesday!
Well...when I half jokingly said "So I guess this isn't a good night to ask if I can ride back with you after your meeting and shower and do laundry?" She said "Why the hell not? At this point who cares what the bitch thinks" 
Circumstances, such as my s-i-l Tom getting sick with the same chest infection that almost cost me my lungs the week before from severe, uncontrollable coughing, exacerbated by his history of bronchitis and me having to watch the kids while Jenn took him to the doctor, then all of us, kids included, seriously oversleeping one morning, afternoon, and the next day, (Wednesday) Jenn having a meeting in the evening and asking me to stay and watch the kids again to give Tom a chance to rest, intervened so that I didn't get out of there until late Thursday afternoon. The whole time I was there I was able through both luck and planning to avoid contact with the m-i-l, and stay in Jenn and family's basement apartment, not wanting to get dragged into the middle of the conflict, and also because I don't want to be put into a situation where the temptation to speak my mind allows the emotional part of my brain to duct tape the logical side to a chair and tell her what I really think of someone who puts her grandkids in jeopardy.
Watch this space after they are safely moved out for the REAL dirt.

Actually this week looks to be a bit of a repeat with me going up Monday night to bathe, leaving Tuesday and returning Wednesday evening to stay through Friday because Jenn's best friend is going in for surgery and Jenn is driving her to and from the hospital and staying with her for the first night home.
Hey, if I'm going to lose my one consistent shower and clean clothes facility, again, I'm going to use it up to the end!
This has been the worst stretch of the whole time I've been out on the street, I just have not been able to stay dry because of the heat and the lingering extreme humidity.

On the up-side....last week the retired head of Health Care for the Homeless was in the coffee shop one day and called me over and asked if he could speak to me. We had met casually before and he was familiar with the blog and had just read the first 2 columns in the City Paper, (I think # 3 is this Wednesday). He mentioned that he had read about my trials and tribulations with S.S.I. and asked if I would mind if he could try to hook me up with someone who might be able to expedite the process and guide me through the paperwork maze.
"WOULD I MIND???" My face is bloody from banging my head against the bureaucratic walls......what o you think?......lol!!
So I am awaiting a call, text, e-mail, and or visit from this person, more as it develops.....

The wind has picked up, it poured earlier and I was an am still under the awning behind the library at the picnic table that I pulled under just before the clouds burst and damn near flooded me out. Another inch and the water in the loading dock sunken ramp area would have been all over the sidewalk and flowing under the library staff entrance. It's almost chilly now so I am heading over to the shed to try to sleep.
 I am 6 cents short of bus fare for tomorrow and have a couple donuts, a can of tuna and a bag of ramen noodles as food until Monday night. I need to find at least $15.00 for meds from Monday through Friday, (or I'm not going to be able to help Jenn out), and bus fare for Monday because still no Foodstamps or TDAP.
It's been a long, hot, nasty, sticky, underfunded summer!
And one way or another, work, beg, borrow or steal.....
I need to get hold of about $100.00 +/- by the end of the month to take Rachel to the State Fair, we have not been able to get together as much recently, but the Fair is an important tradition and a legacy carried down from Jenn and I to Rachel and I, and passed along to Jenn and her kids, (and when I ended up back in my oldest daughter and my grandkids lives....it happened by "coincidence" that they were at the Fair on the same night out of 8 days and nights that Rachel and I went!)...and now we try to purposely make arrangements to meet up there.

Too tired to think of the rest of what I wanted to write.

Later...........................Dave

"Excuses And Apologia........................."

Good Evening;
Well......still alive and (feebly) kickin'!
Time, logistics, hardware problems, etc. have kept me from posting.
Oh yeah, and rain, a whole buttload of thunderstorms catching me
at the wrong time and place over the past couple weeks.

The coffee shop is closing, but I'm hoping that the wifi at the library is at full strength later tonight, if not then, see you Saturday.

Later.....................................Dave

"The Cyclical Nature Of Homelessness..............."

Good Afternoon;

A link to video from the NCH, (National Coalition for the Homelessness)

http://youtu.be/sZZ7lEEkREg

Later.............................Dave

"Steam Pressure......Or Now I Understand Why There Are Emergency Relief Valves!!!!........"

Good Afternoon;
Well...I'm here at the Starbucks in Mt. Washington and I'm learning the literal meaning of "hot under the collar". The A/C here is not, (and here's a phrase that I have heard way too much of in my life...[and yeah, pride would have me deny it, but honesty/openmindedness/willingness, humility, and a buttload of guilt force me to acknowledge the painful truth of the concept...
"if the foo shits--wear it" ].....lol!)..."living up to it's potential"! The thermometer inside was reading 82 degrees, but behind the counter, between the steam from the espresso machines and the hat of the brewers and all the compressors for the refrigeration units...it had to be pushing 90 degrees in spots. Meanwhile, just before the point where the A/C would kick on I am sweating through my shirt, particularly at the neckline. My head and face begin to bead up as the humidity rises and I just cannot get to where I feel dry. Then the A/C will cool it own to barely comfortable for a while, and the cycle starts again. I stepped outside to go over to Whole Foods and the heat and brightness were like a blast furnace.....and leaving the nice and icy cold market was worse for the huge contrast between indoors and out, but....at least re-entering the Starbucks felt good now.......for a while......lol.

This 'moistness' was the same thing I was feeling Friday night outside all night, and all the way to downright soaked in the shed when I tried to sleep.
Last night was not as bad because of a good strong breeze blowing all night long. I sat out behind the library until near 3:45 am. watching TV and rewriting and sending off the latest column for the City Paper to Evan. I went and sat on "MY" bench in front of the library, planning on laying down and skipping the shed, but I nodded off sitting up and slept that way until sometime after 5:00 am. when I stumbled down to the shed thinking that it may have cooled off enough to lay down inside since it was actually windy and almost 'cool' out...and I desperately wanted to lie down. Luckily it had, and I fell immediately to sleep, a deep solid sleep, for the first time in days. I woke up about 8:45 am. because it was getting too warm inside....and all of a sudden I really needed to get to the Giant and,...uhhhh, perform my morning meditations, .....as in,...."sit and think"....lol!

I was able to catch the 10:18 am. bus to meet up with the 10:35 am. bus here, arriving at the, unheard of for me recently, hour of 11:15 am.
I got extremely lucky that there was actually the one table open I prefer when I walked in. Actually the place was relatively dead for a Sunday morning, even more so in comparison to the past month or two because there has been a string of weekend swim meets at Meadowbrook that must have been regional or national level finals, flooding the coffee shop with so many customers that the pastry case looked a swarm of locusts had gone through it devouring all that lay before them, like a Biblical plague.

It rained like hell about an hour and a half ago, dropping the temperature while it rained and for a whole 15 minutes after. I preferred the wind which had blowing for a couple hours to the steamy calm out there now.

And it's closing time and I have to pack and head over to the bus top because John has not come in this evening to offer me a ride as has been happening pretty frequently of late.

Later............................Dave

"The July - August Transition Post................."

Good Afternoon;
Well...it's a hot and sticky, nasty-ass Saturday in August here in Baltimore. The basic Mid-Summer Mid-Atlantic Mess from New York to North Carolina. The type of insanity provoking heat and humidity that makes one easily understand why Congress is in Recess for a month......'cause looking at some of the bullshit that comes out of D.C. when the weather in pleasant one can barely imagine the logic twisting WTF? craziness they'd be regurgitating now!!!

So.... to recap the past week beginning with Saturday the 28th of July, when due to some seriously late oversleeping, the resulting lack of motivation and ennui on both mine and Jenn's part and the threat of thunderstorms forecast but never developing, which did give a certain legitimacy to our rationalizations....I never left Jenn's. And since I was supposed to be returning Sunday night anyway.....why bother.

Jenn, Tom, and the grandmonsters left Monday around 3:00 pm. for  2 nights and 2 days at a hotel near Hershey Park and a mini-vacation, and I stayed at their place to petsit the cats and the dog. It was pretty uneventful considering that her m-i-l is a balance of senility/stupidity/batshit crazy/& a poor, foul, non-existent!! sense of hygiene and basic sanitary principles.

Which is probably the reason I started to get sick on  Tuesday with a scratchy throat, headache, & fever, that graduated into a full blown, chest wracking, lung clenching cough Tuesday night. By Wednesday I was in whatever the medical term for a "pre-pneumonia condition". When the cough began to come in spasms that too vividly reminded me of  what I went through just before I slid into full blown Pneumonia that had me in the ER and on the surgeon's 'to do' list I combed through both Jenn's and my own fairly well stocked, (in both quantity and variety), medicine bags and on Wednesday evening, when the cough was at it's worst, and when they got home, for safety precautions, dosed myself with both systemic and symptomatic remedies, from Zithromax 7/7 antibiotic, to Triaminic Cough Strips, Nsaid fever reducers and analgesics, Mega C vitamins, and my normal meds which include generic Flexeril, and Buprenorphine. This heavy duty 'quick and dirty', though well reasoned and researched, treatment has seemed to work, because after finally getting to sleep Thursday morning about 5:00 am., and sleeping for close to 12 hours, waking and getting 2 more hours in, except for residual soreness in my lungs and chest muscles, a raw throat, and a rapidly tapering off and finally disappearing cough, I was  much improved. Another 3 days of  Z-Max and I'm one with the anti-biotic, and have already stopped all other symptom treatment meds.
I just have to remember NOT!!!! to take really deep breaths 'cause the chest and lungs are still sore.
Jenn dropped me at the light rail yesterday about 3:00 pm. and I cruised by Monkee's to pick up a couple 'bupes' to get me through the weekend. Money is beyond tight, it is non-existent, so I don't know what I'm going to do after that.

Last night I was at the coffee shop until close and John gave me a ride to the library, where I sat out back until close to 4:00 am. Then I went and checked out the shed. Most of the cardboard 'ceiling/leak deflector panels' had fallen in in one of the thunderstorms that had passed through Pikesville in the past week, but I ha expected that. I had snagged heavy, heavy duty box that had been part of a shipping crate for a FedEx/Kinkos copy machine that was about 25 foot long when unfolded, and almost 5 foot tall. I had to cut it into panels and wedge it into the angle of the roof an the wall on one side and between the wall and the top shelf on the other, and tear down the parts that did not fall down. A hot. sweaty, and dirty job. After I went to the gas station and washed off I had to strip to the skin and I put on clean, dry, but raggedy clothing to sleep in and tried to lay down  and sleep. No such luck....too damn hot, I was almost soaked through again. When I went out into the 80 degree weather....it was probably 15 degrees cooler!. I walked back to the library, thinking to sleep on "MY" bench and Barry/Rainman was on it, smelling so foul that even if I was so inclined it would have been impossible to sleep near him.
I went around to the front of the library and sat and dozed on one of the benches under a tree, unable to let myself lay down in full sight of Reisterstown Rd., (as the two other homeless guys in the little park area a few yards own do), for both safety and ???...'face'-'self respect'-'appearances'...??? don't know what you' call it, but I have always preferred the 'out of sight-out of mind' model of 'sleeping rough'.

Anyway......I'm done here and the damn 'd' and 'e' keys are skipping, (if you see a word that looks wrong.....try adding a 'd' or an 'e'....or both...lol!


Later..............................................Dave

"SShhhhh!!!........'THEY' Will Hear You!.........."

Good Morning;
So........I've been at Jenn's since Friday and the past couple days I've been sick as a dog.
Here is a link to Poverty Insights and Joel John Roberts:
http://www.povertyinsights.org/2012/07/31/the-conspiracy-of-homelessness/

Back soon as I feel better with a complete update of the past week.

Later......................Dave