This morning I got the best gift I could ever have hoped for: a half hour phone call with a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small village in Kyrgyzstan- my sister Erika. Bless Mr. Bell. The miracle of the telephone is something I'll never, for the rest of my life, be able to take for granted. Email is great, but can't quite replace the sound of someone's voice, thousands of miles away.

Peet's Coffee is giving away cups of regular coffee for free today, and the employees are donating all their tips to Walden House. Go fill up the tip jar (dollars, people, not nickels), but remember to go back on Friday and stuff a couple more dollars in, when they're actually keeping it.


Eli sent me a link to Jon Carroll's column from yesterday's paper. (If Eli didn't send me stuff, I'd never have much to blog about...)

"Take your self and your 20s down to any area of town where people might ask you for money. (If you don't know any, San Francisco's Market Street is always reliable, and it's easily accessible by public transportation.)

Walk along. Hand a $20 bill to any person who asks for money. Repeat until you are out of money. Congratulations: You have become an Untied Way volunteer. You will not get a T-shirt.

It is true that some of your recipients may use the money for self- destructive purposes. That is not ideal, but neither was it ideal when you used your money for self-destructive purposes. We're all just trying to figure it out as we go along, and your fine home or apartment does not place you closer to enlightenment.

We're all experts in how other people should get their lives together. There are the worthy homeless and the unworthy homeless. You may concentrate on the adjective, or you may concentrate on the noun. I'm a noun guy.

You may be sure that people who get your money have been punished worse for their sins than any penalty you or society could devise. They are not having fun. They almost certainly will have even less fun tomorrow. Some of your Untied Way clients may not show gratitude for your gift, while others may show too much gratitude. Some of them may do something embarrassing, like praying loudly or complaining about malign energy rays. What they're really saying is 'Thank you,' and what you're really saying is 'You're welcome.'"