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[dcontaminant]

how are we going to play this? there are a few options... one has to do with making decisions and other to do with playing the hand that is dealt. the problem is sometimes in figuring out which is which but not so frequently as you'd imagine. to do what is right is the plan here. i don't feel like making bad decisions. on the plus side, i am, in a

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[tanagers]

I remember an aggressive beggar in downtown Minneapolis a few years back. I think we had gone to Rock Bottom. He refused to take no for an answer and singled you out and was like yelling at you. It was very weird. Running the soup kitchen in Chicago has taught me a lot about dignity, etc. It has also taught me to look at people and tell them no when they ask for money. I do pass out a lot of food when I have it, though. While geocaching a few months back, I gave a guy a banana. This other guy came and chased him off yelling about turf. He looked at me and says, "HE'S GOING TO USE THAT FOR DRUGS." Now, he had clearly seen it was a banana. I thought, "woah! I didn't know you could do that with bananas!" It was very weird.

Come visit.

[dcontaminant]

hah. i remember that too.
the thing is, i generally have a policy of giving out the change i have in my pockets when asked. sometimes i decide i want to hang on to it, but generally, when asked, i feel that my pocket is way over-loaded and figure i will be happier with smaller pockets than with the 20-45 coins that have invariably collected there since the last person asked me for change. this means 1)the time outside teh rockbottom was kind of an anomaly (i wonder why i didn't want to give him anything) and, 2)that the dude who turned me down might have missed out on a huge score...

as for visiting, my weekends will be more free after the 11th. i'll check out the greyhound rates. i figure i should probably bus down there since my car would be unlikely to make it and i probably wouldn't be able to afford gas... even if i adopted a much more conservative policy toward panhandlers.

[tanagers]

I give food, not money. If someone is outside of McDonald's, I'll often ask what they'd like and buy it for them. I've seen too many people use money for bad things. I do give money sometimes unsolicited, though. Like a few months back a woman in Chinatown was digging through the garage late at night and stuffing leftovers into her mouth. She clearly needed money for real.

Megabus is typically really cheap from MPLS to Chicago. It's not more than 20 a way, and sometimes only $1. It just eats up time.

[dcontaminant]

yeah, i thought about what panhandlers are going to do with the money for a while but the more i consider it, the more i have a hard time justifying my right to decide what people do with the money they earn. maybe it's a commentary on the value i see in the job i do but it seems that asking people for money is legitimate employment and for me to dictate where that money goes is a bit patronizing. at the same time, i don't shop at stores that are likely to do undesirable things with the money i give them so i can see it from that angle as well...

but yeah, i'll check out megabus too. the bus always takes a long time but i am strangely broke (i make too much money to be broke) so i can't really afford to get around any other way and really, i've got time.

[tanagers]

It's odd, but I view some forms of panhandling as work, too. I especially think the on/off ramp begging as a job. I don't like it, but I appreciate that it is not easy. A mother told me she couldn't afford pencils for her kids last year and I snapped to a coworker later on, "she's not even bothering to go out and panhandle or something!" There are people who are too lazy (and she really was. She pissed me off) to go out and even try asking for money. But just like I don't invest in Walmart or Anheuser, I don't give money to people who I don't trust will use it wisely.

Yeah, you make too much money to be broke! I bet the house is going to be great, though. What days would you think about visiting? Like leaving Friday returning Monday?

Oh-- and are you alive?

[tanagers]

Flying sounds like the way to go. How about Labor Day weekend?