Monthly Archives: January 2013

Health Matters

Greetings from sunny Miami! I’m here for work for a few days. After the frigid week we had in DC last week this is a welcomed change. You’d be surprised how just the sight of sunglasses, flip flops and swaying palm trees can unfreeze you from winter’s grasp.

I was struck by how many people there were begging around my hotel last night. I tend to think that DC has a large population of panhandlers, but this was at San Francisco or New Orleans levels. I’m not sure if they were homeless, but if they were I can understand that as surviving outdoors in South Florida does seem like a brighter option than Washington and places north.

BP Check up (176/366)

Photo: Mike Chaput

Friday I met up with Anthony and accompanied him on his visit to the Continue reading

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Week 6 Update

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Anthony strolls down Connecticut Avenue chatting with a city worker. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

It’s freezing outside. Literally! It’s only 18 degrees Celsius right now and with the wind-chill it feels like 2 degrees! The high is only supposed to get to 27 today. I am so thankful for the roof over my head.

I met with Anthony yesterday. We had lunch and went over our progress. I urged him to go to a shelter last night, but he refused. He’s stubborn as hell when it comes to the topic of shelters. “They’re no good,” he always says. You’d think his tolerance for shelters would increase as the temperatures outside decrease, but it doesn’t.

Progress with his housing are a bit stalled right now. We have reached out to Georgetown Continue reading

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Service & Volunteerism

We’ve heard a lot about service and volunteering this weekend with the MLK Service Weekend. I volunteered with a great local DC group called Yachad – they help rebuild low-income housing in our nation’s capital. As I write up my blog I regret not having invited Anthony to come along with me to volunteer. I think he would have enjoyed it.

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Me doing some painting with Yachad this weekend. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

Anthony volunteers a lot of his time. Not in the conventional sense of volunteering once a week with a hospital or signing up for a national day of service, rather Anthony takes time every day to help people on the streets of DC. From providing directions to tourists who he encounters staring blankly at a DC map to new Street Sense Continue reading

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New York City

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Me working on the train. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

I’m sitting on an Amtrak train coming back from NYC. There is no other city like it in the world. I’m not sure I would want to live full time there, but I do love this city. It is so chock full of interesting people, stores, restaurants, buildings, etc. I don’t know how it doesn’t just collapse as it seems that the entire city is built on top of an enormous subway network carved out of Swiss cheese. And it seems to all work. Most trains seem to come by every 3-5 minutes. In DC it’s not uncommon to wait 15 minutes for your train.

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Fog rolls into Manhattan. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

Anyway, I had some meetings up in the Big Apple…so I didn’t spend any time working on the book or helping Anthony since I arrived yesterday. I had five meetings which kept me quite busy – but I did have a little downtime. Here’s what I filled my day with:

Visited the Marble Collegiate Church where nearly 7,000 yellow ribbons hang in honor of the fallen US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are also green ribbons for the Iraqis and Afghans who have died in conflict.

Walked 60 blocks of Broadway – I did a lot of walking there yesterday. My FitBit recorded 23,059 steps – or nearly 11 miles!

Took a few minutes to take in the skyline from the 48th floor where one of my meetings was.

Discovered PAX Wholesome Foods – thumbs up!

Stopped by the Spice Corner – my favorite store for Indian ingredients.

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Photo: Reed Sandridge

Got on the Brooklyn bound subway when I was trying to go uptown.

Met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in a year and a half.

And made it to the train station in time to catch an earlier train home. Life is good!

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Fallen soldiers at Marble Collegiate Church. (Photo: Reed Sandridge)

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The obligatory Times Square photo. (photo: Reed Sandridge)

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View from my friend Amy’s apartment overlooking Central Park. (Photo: Reed Sandridge)

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Rain: Good for Reed, Bad for Anthony

Photo: John Tlumacki

Photo: John Tlumacki

Yesterday was a good day for me. Despite a sluggish start, I managed to get three pages written. Although I feel I’m allowed to give myself some credit when I have good days like today, I’m also a realist and recognize that perhaps the nonstop drizzle that coated us yesterday might have contributed to my discipline. Nobody wants to sit at your computer and write when it’s beautiful and sunny outside!

There is something about the rain and the cold that seems to just fuel your pen. Perhaps that is why Ireland has produced so many damn good writers – or then again maybe it’s just the Jameson. Who knows…but it gets me in my writing mode – the Jameson that is.

Now for the depressing part. As I sit here in front of my fireplace with a blanket over my legs and a warm cup of English Breakfast tea soothing my throat I’m jolted by the thought of Anthony. Not only is he probably cold and wet, he’s certainly not selling many papers in this drizzle. It’s actually worse than a full on shower. At least then you have an umbrella and you can go on your merry way. No, yesterday was that miserable cold spitting that is just enough to allow you to run out without an umbrella but not enough to get your head out from dry sanctuary of your coat collar so that you can see more than just the sidewalk in front of you. If Anthony was out there – we’d probably have walked right by him.

 

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Getting my Grove Back!

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My workspace today.

Good morning! It is a good morning because it feels awesome to be back on track, dedicating time to my book. It helps compensate for how stupid I felt last night that I had never heard of the film version of Les Miserables before the Golden Globes.

Writing is like any other journey I have embarked on. You have to have conviction, make time for it and stick to your schedule. When I did my Year of Giving, there were plenty of days that I didn’t feel like going out and finding a $10 recipient – but I did it.

I’m also kind of excited about a gift I got from my dad. I’ve been intrigued with voice recognition software and he got me Dragon Dictate which allows you to control your computer, create documents, send emails, search the web, etc. all by voice commands. For as much time as I spend on my computer I thought this might make me more efficient. I will keep you posted on that.

Anthony is doing well too. I saw him again on Friday. He was excited that the weather was forecasted to be fairly warm these days – that makes a big difference in his happiness. Still nobody who is following the blog has stopped by to say hello to him. Don’t forget visit Anthony weekday mornings at the corner of 19th and M and pick up a copy of the Street Sense!

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New Year, New Start

2013Happy New Year! Although that sentence is beginning to fade from our conversations, it is very symbolic to Anthony and me. This is a new year and with that comes a new opportunity to achieve our goals.

I met up with my friend Anthony on Tuesday of this week for our regularly scheduled check-in. I arrived at our now familiar corner a few minutes late but Anthony was nowhere to be found. I even went into the Au Bon Pan where he sometimes goes to give his legs a break and warm up over a cup of coffee. But he wasn’t there. Outside again I started to give him a call and then saw the bright yellow vest far down 19th Street.

We wished each other a happy new year as we gave one another a big hug. It had been a couple of weeks since I had seen Anthony. He promptly gave me a business card of someone he wanted me to call for him. I disappeared into the Au Bon Pan again to find a quiet place to use the phone.

When I got back, Anthony had sold a couple of papers and we walked over to the Qdoba Mexican Grill that is on M Street. “I’m getting quesadillas,” he grinned as we walked up to the counter. I got the chicken burrito. I tried to buy Anthony’s meal but the manager smiled at me and said that his lunch was on the house. Anthony is an integral part of the community around 19th and M and several of the establishments take good care of him.

I got my notebook out as I finished my lunch to start reviewing our progress. I had disappointing news for Anthony. I hadn’t followed up on most of my to do list. I kind of shut down over the holidays. He went easy on me though – well, maybe that was because he too hadn’t done any of his homework either! We chalked these minor rebuffs up to the holidays.

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Anthony opens a gift from some fans in Pennsylvania! (photo: Reed Sandridge)

We got refocused and committed ourselves to getting back on track.

Before we wrapped up, I gave Anthony a package that I received for him from Kipp and Christine from Pennsylvania. They bought him the thermal underwear he wanted! He was so happy!!! “You’ve got no idea how cold it can get being outside in the cold all day and all night,” he said pausing to really inspect the clothes. “These are really nice.  You tell Mr. Kipp and Ms. Christine that I thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

We said goodbye and I watched him walk back to his corner to sell more papers. As he headed west on M Street, he pulled the thermals out of his bag one more time to give them another look.

Thank you Kipp and Christine!

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