My son has a laptop!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to you all but my son is the proud owner of a new laptop.

The manager at the local Staples store came through bigtime for me as he was able to get me the following for $599 ( plus tax )

Dell® XPS M1330 Notebook PC
As one of the thinnest and lightest notebooks in its class, the XPS M1330 is a truly portable notebook.
Intel® Core 2 Duo T5450 (1.66GHz) processor
2GB installed memory
120GB Hard drive
SuperMulti DVD drive
13.3" WXGA TrueLife™ Wide Display
Built-in Dell Wireless Bluetooth capability
2.0 Megapixel Integrated Webcam
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
1 year warranty

Staples has been selling it for close to $1100 but the store had a special Christmas Eve sale.

I had enough from the donations and saving what I could to get him a wireless mouse as well and his Mom is going to get the bag for him.

He is beyond thrilled and I am so grateful to all.

Meanwhile in the real world Christmas Night was a little bleak at the shelter. Some volunteers promised to provide Christmas dinner and they never showed letting the poor students who did not go home to scramble to feed everyone. It wasn't the big dinner they had planned but there was nothing they could do.

I will be at the shelter until Saturday morning and then have to see what other options are out there. All the agencies are shut down this week and nothing is moving.

Over in Boston they had a big meal at Pine Street Inn
Homeless in Boston served a Christmas meal, with a side of compassion

Yes the homeless are well fed on Christmas and Thanksgiving but sadly there are 363 days in a year.

I will continue to blog and let you know how the battle is going.

Again thanks for all the support......

Now that the laptop dream has been accomplished the donation button will still be there if anybody feels like getting me a cup of coffee I'm just trying to save whatever I can so I can get off the streets.

12/23: Christmas Eve Eve

Went computer shopping today and was given a nice heads up by the manager at Staples in Harvard Sq.

He told me to come in tomorrow after Noon as there will be some 'last minute' sales so I might be able to get a better laptop for my son than I thought possible.

I could not have done this without the help of the readers of this blog.

I will be spending Christmas Eve evening at my son's home and staying over. At least for Christmas Eve we are a family.

I will try and post more tomorrow.

calm before the next storm

I just want to thank people in the community for all the support they have shown to me the past 2 weeks.

Today a church in Central Square was passing out winter coats to all that need them. Looks as though Channel 4 donated some as there were many that had the CBS4 logo on them that the station used until they became WBZ again. This morning I was able to get another 14 day bed at Harvard Sq Shelter which keeps me out of harms way past Christmas. I am thankful as the weather outlook is not good. I am still waiting on a few other long term solutions. That maybe the hardest part of this lifestyle...wait, wait and wait.

The dad of a classmate of my son invited him (and me) to join them in Foxboro tomorrow for the Pats game. (free tickets..wow) so I will meet them at Alewife and then go to South Station to catch the train to the stadium. My son is so excited as he has never been to a Pats game and has only been to Foxboro for his high school's playoff game. Must admit I am a little excited as well as I haven't seen a Pats game in the new stadium. My bronchitis is better but I was a little concerned about the weather but I spoke to the person and he said not to worry as the tickets are on the club level where it is protected. He works for a major sponsor of team. It will be a good day of bonding with my son.

Again I would like to remind people that if you have an old desktop computer lying around the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter would be thrilled to give it a new home. The shelter has 3 old computers running Windows 2000 but 2 of them have died completely and the only working machine is not long for the world. While Harvard students run the shelter they get no direct support from the university. I am sure Harvard throws away machines daily but the students have tried to get something with no luck.

Again thank you. My dream of getting a laptop for my son for Christmas looks like it will happen.

Shelter stories - December 8th

First of all I am humbled by the generous support being shown to my family from strangers on the net. I will be in contact by email to those who have offered support. I can not thank you enough.

As I posted yesterday my 14 day bed at the Harvard Square shelter expired yesterday and I must wait 7 days to re-apply. I can call at 9:30 PM to see if they have a one night bed. For the next 2 nights I can sleep on a friends couch if need be. He lives in a Cambridge Housing building on Mt Auburn St that is owned by Harvard. He is not allowed to have somebody overnight on a regular basis but a day here and there they do not mind. This helps as many of the other shelters do not do intake on weekends so options become even more limited. At least I am secure until Monday morning.

I just want to tell you about 2 people I have met at the shelter.

A young woman with a 12 month old son finally got a motel room from the state yesterday. She had been living at the shelter and her baby was being cared for by the state. The woman had been in grad school at Harvard but things just fell apart when she got pregnant. Hopefully now things will start getting better for her.

Over the summer and fall I became friends with a man who has been living on the streets a long time. You can find him most days at Au Bon Pain at Harvard especially after 6 PM where he sits with his radio and listens to sports. The years on the streets have taken a toll on him and he is now 62. He moved to Boston in the early 60's from Maine and lived in a room in Davis Sq until 1988 when the rooming house owner cashed in on the real estate boom the subway brought to Somerville. He has lived on the streets ever since. This man has survived by collecting cans and that is hard work as it may take 8 or more hours to collect enough cans to make $20-40 a day. Each can is only a nickle so just do the math. However he now has trouble walking and can not can anymore and now has been forced to 'stem' in the square with a paper cup. He is not a daily drinker and in fact I have only seen him drink once in the months that I have known him. The truth is he is very sick and he needs to be seen by a doctor now.

He lost his ID years ago and he needs his birth certificate so he can get a state ID and social security card. He thought he needed to go to Maine for it but I found out today that we can order it online for $15.

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/faq.htm#certificates

We found out he can use the shelter address for mail so hopefully we can get this done. He is a good man, just a stubborn 'Maniac'.

Still he is a prime example on how the housing market in Cambridge/Somerville has changed the past 20 years. There used to be numerous rooming houses in the Dana Hill, Central Square and Davis areas but property values skyrocketed. 20 years ago the area of Mass Avenue between Harvard and Central was not upscale. There were cab companies, gas stations, Mom and Pop stores all along the avenue. Rooming houses were on Dana St, Clinton St and Magazine where people could simply rent a room. Those days are gone. Another factor was rent-control being abolished in the 1990's. The rent control zealots wanted nothing to change but the Cambridge rent control board was still setting rates based on 1969 20 years later. It wasn't fair to the property owners but the zealots refused to find middle ground like they did in Manhattan where people who were in a rent control building could stay but if they moved the landlord could then charge market rate. The elimination of rent control in Cambridge, Boston and Brookline have had a devastating toll on people living from paycheck to paycheck. In Cambridge the problem is compounded by so many units now owned by Harvard and only made available to Harvard affiliates. Harvard does own 3 buildings that they let the city use for elderly and disabled persons but it is just a drop in the bucket.

I don't pretend to have an answer to the problem but something has to be done as things are only getting worse.

The kindness of strangers

I had coffee this afternoon with 'pinetreeblossom' and we had a nice chat. I was blown away by her kindness and I am deeply grateful.

I will try this weekend to send email to those who have helped out. My computer access today is very limited as the shelter is down to one computer that works. They have 3 older Dell desktops that Harvard threw in the trash but 2 of them will not even boot up now.

If anybody reading this has an old desktop collecting dust in a closet I am sure the students who run the shelter would be thrilled to give it a new home.

They can be reached at

Phone: 617-547-2841

Street Address:

66 Winthrop St.
Cambridge, MA
02138

Write info@hshsc.org to learn more about the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter Corporation

Tonight is my last night here as my 14 day bed expires in the morning and then I have to wait a week to reapply. I am not looking forward to the next few days but it is what it is.

Thanks for reading..more tomorrow

A thanks to some wonderful Harvard students

Since Thanksgiving weekend I have been a "guest" at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter.

Every winter since 1983, the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, staffed and directed by students at Harvard University, has provided food,housing, and a friendly, supportive environment for two dozen men and women each night during the five coldest months of the year.

I can not begin to tell you how wonderful these students are in trying to help people in need. Somehow they are able to juggle the workload of attending Harvard, maintain a social life and still have time to staff the shelter. It is clean, comfortable and they provide good food, warm showers, telephones, laundry and computer access. The students do this on their own through a student organization called the Phillips Brooks House. It is located in the basement of the University Lutheran Church located at 66 Winthrop St.

One of the students gave some blogging tips and showed me how to have ads on the blog from Google and Amazon that might bring in some income. For example the Red Sox ad on the right would mean that if anybody bought some Red Sox World Series souvenirs from Amazon a small percentage of the sale would come back to me. That actually applies to anything bought on Amazon as long as you enter the site from this blog. Plus I would be able to buy the the laptop from Amazon and get back a little rebate. Believe me every saved nickle helps.

this is how the shelter works

Staying at the Shelter:
Shelter Season: the shelter operates from the evening of Nov. 15th to the morning of April 15th

Hours: The shelter is open from 7PM to 8AM, except on Saturday mornings when it is open until 9AM

To reserve a bed:

2 week beds: Call in the morning at 7:30AM (shelter clocks are synchronized with national time, to check correct time call 617-NERVOUS) to reserve a bed. Beds are given out in the order of calls and are not guaranteed to be available. The shelter does not give away more than one bed per phone call.

Emergency one night bed:

What it is: When a guest with a reserved 2 week bed is not able to make it to the shelter that night, their bed is open for others to use as an emergency one night bed

How to reserve it: Call in at 9:30PM to see if any one-night beds are open. Beds are given out in the order of calls and are not guaranteed to be available.

If no beds are available, our staff will work to find available sleeping accommodations at other area shelters. T-tokens are available for referrals to other shelters only, and there is a 3 tokens per week limit per guest.

Guests with reserved beds must arrive at the shelter by 9:00PM unless they have informed shelter staff otherwise or risk loosing their bed. Guests with work-related reasons may come in later than 11PM upon verification of work.

HSHS is a dry shelter that provides a drug-free, alcohol-free, and smoke-free environment. Referrals to wet shelters will be made if necessary.

In my case the bed I had for 14 days will expire on Saturday morning and then I have to wait seven days to reapply for another 14 day bed. So for a week I have to scramble for a place to go. The Salvation Army in Central Sq is an option for 4 nights (then 4 out) but I don't really qualify for their long term program as I am not an alcoholic or drug abuser. I can also stay with a friend one night a week and also try for a bed in Harvard Sq at 9:30 PM. Because I am saving every nickle for Christmas that I can I will not spend money for the hostel in Boston.

The 'wet' shelters in Boston are so bad I would rather spend the night in the 'Hotel Citizens Bank'. Plus since there are no lockers there you may well wake up with your belongings missing. (somebody stole my sneakers one night at the Boston Rescue Mission on Kingston St downtown). Walking into South Station at 6 AM in socks is not a good way to start the day.

Still no luck on the long term beds in Waltham, Cambridge and Somerville. The reality is nobody with a bed is giving it up when it is 15 degrees out at 3 AM.

Again thanks for reading and for those who have offered support I am grateful beyond words.