Survival Guide to Homelessness

Content Thieves

2006-10-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

A brief note to all of you who are minded to contribute to charity, please don't contribute to Homeless Advocate, a blog. In this post, they have reprinted a post of mine, made it look as if I am one of their contributors, and placed a request for donations at the bottom. They did this without my permission, and have ignored my attempts to contact them, and refused to publish my comment at the bottom of the post.

Very nice, Rabbi Dale.

Request for Reader Comments

2006-06-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt the most scandalous, most commented upon, and most joked about suggestion I've made in this blog has to do with getting a good, nearly waterless shave. I suggest a dab of generic sex lube and a thimbleful of water to help the razor glide over your skin.

I've never had a complaint about this advice. No one has ever told me that it didn't work well for him. That is because no one has admitted to trying it.

Come on.

Are you afraid the cashier will think you are having sex?

And the downside of that is?

Someone who has tried it, tell me, was it okay? Is it now part of your survival skill set? What did you think?

Changing Your Life

2006-06-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

It has been said before, but it is worth repeating: the homeless problem is the problem the housed have with the homeless.

I was just reading a terrific little blog item about a kid in Washington that had managed to set himself up as a computer consultant using a Starbucks wifi network while homeless. When Starbucks was closed, he spent the night at Kinko's. He scrounged for food and computer equipment. He worked for tips. He kept himself very clean. He surfed the internet for girls. In short, he had created a lifestyle. The blogger who was writing about him gave him a substantial amount of money hoping he would change his life. Of course, he couldn't understand why the wifi kid spent it on computer equipment.

The blogger couldn't understand it because he refused to acknowledge that this man had a legitimate and sustainable lifestyle. When given money, he reinvested it in that lifestyle, as any responsible, reasonable person does. The blogger was angry at him. Why, oh why, didn't he struggle to get a home? The man was already home.

Homelessness changes you. So does having a house. Your priorities become the priorities of the extant lifestyle. What you do with money has much to do with how you are living. All lifestyles are investments, and we continue to add resources in an effort to improve their performance. Abandoning a lifestyle is something we never do without a serious push. Once a lifestyle is comfortable, why should it be abandoned?

This is another reason that charity is so unsavory. It comes from a position of superiority. The charitable feel they have a right to determine the goals, purposes, and uses of their charity. It lacks dignity. I don't mean for the recipient. I mean it is not dignified to try to direct the lives of others, to be so involved in the details of other lives. It's a failure to understand boundaries.

Homeless in Australia

2006-06-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

I just had a question from a reader about wild foods, bush tucker, in Sydney. I'm from California, and while I hate to be provincial, I have no idea what is growing in Australia. How can I advise someone on how to find bush tucker on a continent that boasts marsupials and crocodiles as its natural icons?

Hey, that reminds me of a story about the first Europeans to make landfall in Australia. I've heard they died of starvation with food all around them. Don't let that happen to you. You have to know enough to recognize the bounty at your feet. That's what this whole blog is about. Learning to have some insight into how a home and comfort are achieved, with or without societal assistance.

Rely on experts. Learn native skills. Listen to locals. Realize, though, that when someone is an expert on one thing, it doesn't make him an expert on everything. Think critically.

Wild Foods

2006-06-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's worth knowing which weeds and decorative plants are edible in your part of the country. In southern California I often breakfasted on eugenia berries, included dandelion leaves in a salad, or roasted their roots for dandelion coffee, or snacked on natal plums or the rather bland fruit of the strawberry tree. Wild blackberry is a treat not to be missed in the northwest. In the Spring if you can run, just after Easter abandoned rabbits are fairly easy to wear out, capture, and dress for dinner. If you know your wild foods, life can go a little easier.

Be ready to be told that the berries you are eating are poisonous. If you know better, just ignore foolish advisors. I've been told eugenia berries are poisonous more times than I can remember, though I've been eating them since early childhood and every book on botany and horticulture notes that they are edible. On more than one occasion I've been told that a perfectly ordinary fig or strawberry was poisonous. Just figure that the foolishness factor on unsolicited advice is about 90%.

Why Lying Works

2005-12-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

Once again I had a comment expressing fear of being caught lying. I don't know how to tell you that there is nothing to fear, but let me tell you why lying works.

First, there is a social barrier to catching you. It is embarrassing to catch someone in a lie. It is almost impossible to call someone a liar outright. When people do, it's a shock to everyone within hearing. Even if you are caught, most times the person who caught you will participate in a cover story. You might not get the thing, whatever it was you needed, but you also won't face retribution for the lie.

This is contrary to our sense of justice. We believe that if we break the rules we will be punished if we are caught. That simply is not the case. Power and social constraint are much more powerful ideas than justice. You must apply the right paradigm to your circumstances if you want to understand what is happening. Justice is the wrong paradigm. The power of social regulation, over the other person, not you, is the right paradigm.

Second, and perhaps even more important, it takes work to reveal a lie, and most people are simply too lazy. I worked on a school paper while I was in college, and one day an advertisement came in for placement in the paper that denied that the Holocaust occurred. My editor wanted to run the ad, on the basis of free speech. I opposed, but said if he was going to run the ad he should at least allow me to investigate the source and the citations in the ad and run my resulting story next to it. He agreed and I set to work. The first thing I did was look up all the citations. There were quotes of Elie Wiesel said to have been printed in the NY Times, so I looked up the dates offered. The NY Times is archived in just about every university library, so it was easy. There was nothing. Elie wasn't there. I went through every page of the issues cited, even the classified ads and the coupon supplement. Nothing. I looked for books mentioned and could find no reference to them anywhere. As far as I could tell, they didn't exist. So I called the advertiser.

I told him I was having a little trouble with fact checking, and asked if he could send me clippings from the papers and copies of the books. He laughed and said that in the many years he had been publishing this ad, no one had ever asked him to prove his citations. I told him that without proof of his claims, his ad appears to be a libel to Jews, and he quietly withdrew his request to publish it.

This is an example of the method used for evil. It is as powerful when used for good, the good of your survival. The plain and simple truth is that fact checking requires effort, and most people won't put that effort out.

Comments Restored!

2005-10-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent a couple of hours cleaning comment spam off the blog. The crap was everywhere, money quick scams, male enhancement scams, weight loss scams, even designer shoes and motorcycle sales. I must have had fifty comments to remove, all from the same six or seven people, scattered over all the posts that I have in my table of contents. So, without delving into the kind of psychological disturbance that drives a person to do that to a blog, I've suspended my comments, because I can't be bothered to clean this crud up every day.

For my loyal and kind readers, we've been lucky. The blog has been here for more than a year and this is the first real assault it's received. If you have something to add to the blog, a post or comment you'd like to make, some tip to pass on, email it to me. I've been attending to things better around here, and if I think your words are valuable, I'll make a post or a comment and credit you.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm hopeful it won't have to be permanent. Such things are like storms. They pass.

The Big Easy

2005-09-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I've been watching the news about the New Orleans disaster with sorrow. We knew that New Orleans was vulnerable, and perhaps some people therefore blame those sufferring now for having stayed at all, but each of us lives near to disaster most of our lives. The rich in Malibu regularly slide down the hill when the season of fire, rain, and mud takes their houses, predictably. All of tornado alley is unlivable if your criteria is some kind of storm safety, and that includes quite a few states. Washington is persecuted by a volcano, California by earthquakes, New York by terrorists, Chicago by hard winters, Florida by disease carrying mosquitoes. This world is not safe, and never will be, so we live where there are people and opportunities that make our lives good, regardless of the local dangers. I feel tremendous sadness, loss, and regret that I never visited the Big Easy before it was changed by hurricane Katrina. I hope it somehow recovers.

I don't know if the relief efforts have been competent, or if they've been all they can be. That's for politicians to argue about, news reporters to ask pointedly, petulantly, about. Who cares? For the people in the city, relief efforts have been mostly absent, and people who stay in the stadiums and on the flood free grounds, do so at their peril. There has never been a better example of what not to do in a homeless, refugee situation. Never, ever, ever, head into the central processing areas of a disaster. Don't do it. Remember, "shelters are for someone else" is a principle that applies equally well to disaster shelters and to homeless shelters, run by government, church, or FDNY. No matter how well intentioned, they become hells.

The only thing to do is to leave, and some people have been leaving. They walk out. They swim out. They leave without food, clothes, shoes, half naked, scraps for possessions, with fast friends around them for a little protection. They leave the zone as quickly and carefully as possible, because the only thing that matters is to get out of the disaster alive and unharmed. Work out the rebuilding process from a safe distance.

Good luck to you all.

An Advanced Course in Lying

2005-08-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

I was at a theme park the other day, and I decided to test some interaction theories I have. I was riding a small ferris wheel and while it was unloading, I was bored. The thing can only unload a few cars at a time, and the rest of the riders spend quite a long time waiting. My two year old son sat next to me, also bored, so I reached out to a strut next to the ride bucket and pushed, causing us to swing. It wasn't too long before the ride attendant noticed the motion and shouted out.

Hey, why are you swinging? By which she meant that I was not allowed to swing my bucket.

I said, Hey, I really don't know. You know I think the people in the bucket above me did something to set me swinging. By which I meant that there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing the people in the next bucket could do that would remotely affect my ride, much less start me swinging. Nothing. The idea had no credibility at all. The attendant knew it. I knew it. The people in the bucket above me knew it.

But I said it implacably, unhesitatingly. It was impossible to contradict me. As difficult as it is for most people to lie, it is even more difficult to challenge a lie put forward confidently, no matter how obvious the lie is. Often an obvious lie is more powerful than the truth, because the truth is reasonable. Truth can be challenged, where lies must simply be endured.

Personal Update

2005-08-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

You've asked about me repeatedly, for months now, and I have ignored your pleas for an update. I'm sorry. I've been under severe stress trying to maintain my family and finances, the kind of stress that homelessness allows you to avoid, but my family gives me a great deal in return. I'm in a scramble for money all the time, but frankly, I've never been a beggar, and this blog was starting to make me feel like one, so I took the Paypal links out and invested my energies in other ways. I am afraid I don't think this book idea is ever going to happen, so I need to find other employment.

That isn't to say that I am abandoning the blog entirely. It is often on my mind, and I have a few new ideas. Regular posting hasn't been something I am willing to do just now, though.

Thank you to all who've shown concern for me. I'm sorry I haven't responded. I've been a bit depressed.

Basic Math

2005-03-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

What is poverty? Poverty is when your needs and expenses exceed your income.

What is wealth? Wealth is when your income exceeds the demands of your needs, your desires, and a little extra for savings.

There are only two ways to rise from poverty to wealth. They are to earn more, or reduce the costs of your needs.

Six hundred dollars a month is abject poverty if your expenses are six hundred and one dollars per month. It is amazing wealth and luxury if your need demand is three hundred dollars per month. Simple, basic math. Earn more, or spend less to grow rich.

Do Nothing

2005-03-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

There will likely be moments, long dismal moments, when everything seems empty, when all possibility seems to have vanished, and when your deepest desire is to simply vanish. The feeling, if it is truly profound, is one of hollowness. It is worse than melancholy. It is the essence of powerlessness, and this is the feeling inspired by true, clinical, depression. This is the backbone of suicide, and people can be brought to it by long hours of self criticism, blame, hunger, cold, and sadness.

If you get to this terrible country, first, do nothing. You think that the feeling will persist forever. It won't. It can't. Before you know it you get an idea, and that gets you thinking about something else, and then you think of something you'd like to try. Oh, you may sink back into the empty spot, but the worst part about being there is the feeling that it will go on forever. Once you know it goes away, it gets a little easier to take.

When the hours ache and linger, when the mind is poisoned with hurt, when the night is very cold and very dark, and when you can think of no where to turn, do nothing. Change will come.

Until it does, take a hot shower, and use some deodorant. Depression causes us to release all kinds of stinky pheromones.

A Note to International Readers

2005-03-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

This blog is heavy on advice that works in America. This isn't because I am an egocentric American that doesn't realize that not everyone is from Los Angeles. It's just because I only write about what I know, and I haven't been most other places. If I talk about a solution like the Automobile Association of America (AAA) and you have some alternative for another part of the world, please, I implore you to share it.

That's what comments are for.

Simple Stuff

2005-03-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

Keep identity documents, car registration and insurance card, and any credit and bank cards in a card wallet separate from your cash wallet or purse. This hardly needs explanation. It's a bad idea to lose both cash and identity at the same time. Carry the card wallet in a front pocket in your jeans or slacks. Front pockets are difficult to pick, not impossible, but difficult.

If you haven't joined AAA (the automobile club), do so. They will get you out of a lot of jams. They'll give you a jump. They'll open your door if you lock your keys in. They'll tow you off the freeway. Good stuff. Oh yes, they will also copy your car key for you in plastic and embed the fake key in a credit card frame. Perfect for tucking into that card wallet.

Who Are You?

2005-02-24T22:55:00.000-08:00

Self image and public image are inextricably, and probably inexpressibly, tied together. Who you are is really a compilation of facts you know about yourself, the judgments you hold about those facts, and your perceptions and beliefs about the judgments others will make about those facts. You're a boy, you're a girl, you're a man, woman, white, black, hispanic, American, Israeli, cult member, body dismorphic, gender confused, homeless, rich kid. You're none of that? Okay, you are some other oddball collection of facts that will give instant rise to emotional response in everyone you meet. The whole point of this blog is to help you get control of who you are, what that response becomes.

If we were picking animal spirit guides, mine would be the chameleon.

I've been thinking about a strategy that involves appearing to be a tourist. If you don't have anything holding you where you are, no people, no job, no great love of the scenery, it could be worthwhile to move your homeless household to a new city, a new state, and keep your old license and your old plates. Tourists are well liked because they take little, and spend a lot. Police are said to favor giving "warnings" to tourists, because they don't want to give them a bad feeling about the city. Business owners roll out the red carpets. You can get away with a lot with a camera around your neck and a fold up city map in your hand. Asking for help is easy; you aren't expected to know the ropes. This isn't a game I've played, except that as a tourist I've always noticed that a smile and a thank you and a can you help me? have had plenty of cache.

Who are you, anyway? It isn't that collection of facts, but they are your social identity. Take over control of that collection, and make the impact you want to make.

Search Results

2005-02-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

Someone tell me how this happens. I track referrers and search terms used to find the Survival Guide to Homelessness, and one that keeps popping up is a related search to adult gay and lesbian DVD's. That is simply bizarre to me. How did my site wind up related to porn portals?

My first thought was referrer spam, just as incognito suggests below, but it doesn't look like that to me. This is a search in Google for sites "related" to a result, and the original result is the DVD distributor. I did just snap to something, though. Could it be that I am related because of my scant references to sex lube as a substitute for shaving cream?

If only the rest of my key terms had such success in standing out. It would be nice to appear before the twentieth result page for the term homeless or homelessness. As it is, you have to add the term survival or surviving if you want to find me. On the upside, search for survival guide homelessness and I am the first result, so if you know you want me, you can find me.

OFF TOPIC: Birth Announcement

2005-02-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

My son, Cheval, was born to us just after noon, Friday, February 18th, 2005. He was six pounds, nine ounces, twentyone inches long. He was four weeks early, but perfect and healthy, a bit thin, and looked like nothing more than a grumpy old man. Needless to say, I am proud as can be. Both mother and child are continuing to do well days later.

Of course this kind of thing places a family under quite considerable financial stress, so it is not entirely off topic. I'd love it if my readers could help by commenting with their best ideas for cheap baby stuff. Toys R Us could break the Trump fortune if a parent lets them.

Donations would also help... (ugh, I hate asking)

My First Rejection Letter

2005-02-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Cool Publishers Unlimited
A Division of WeGotWhatYouWant Enterprises, Inc.
PO Box 1234 SomeWhere Villa, USA
Phone: 555-NaNa Fax: 555-Neah
Email: Notachance@coolpub.com
Website: www.donchagetityet.com

1-27-05

Dear Author,

We have decided not to pursue the publishing of your book. It's a good premise, but we don't think it is quite right for us.

A rejection letter has little to no bearing on the worthiness of a piece of writing. It simply means it won't work for that particular publisher. Finding the right match in a publishing house can be as important as the writing itself.

Thanks for thinking of us. We wish you the best of luck with your publishing ventures. I apologize for the canned response, but due to the volume of submissions, it is not possible to send personal responses.

Regards,

Too Cool President

Right up to the last paragraph I was with these guys. I took some small comfort in the notion that it was a good premise, and that perhaps they felt it was publishable, but didn't fit their line. They could have left off by wishing me luck, but they had to keep going. They had to admit the response was canned, and therefore insincere. To top it off, they had to brag that they have so much good stuff to read, they haven't got time to give me a personal blow off.

Now I am disappointed, and I don't mean to seem bitter, but I could write a better rejection in my sleep. Never, ever, admit that you haven't written this letter personally and particularly for its recipient. Never.

Ah well. I won't tell him that. I'll just put it here, on the blog, drink a beer, and see if I can think of someone else to submit to. I just hope the next rejection I receive has the good grace to seem personal. Meanwhile, if I don't find some work, I think I'll be reading my own book for tips.

Politics

2005-02-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

You may wonder whether I vote Republican or Dem, Bush or Kerry, pro or anti. You may want to know where I stand on the issues, social security, capital punishment, the war, the economy, abortion, stem cells, gays in the military, Palestine or Israel? Am I Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindi, Buddhist, atheist? You may wonder. You may even think you know, but I'm not going to tell you, not on this blog with this pen name. Why?

Not because it isn't your business. Not because I don't have strong opinions that I would like to persuade you to adopt. I do. I wish you would. It just doesn't fit here. If I take a side on side issues, some of you will be alienated and I won't be able to share my ideas on homelessness with you. And that brings up another homelessness survival issue.

Do not put bumper stickers on your car.

Bumper stickers make people react to you. That is what they are designed to do. No matter how important you think the issues of the day are, you do not need to be noticed. Save it for the rally. When you are trying to get settled for the night in that nice conservative neighborhood, you don't need the people seeing Save the Whales, and Love Animals, Don't Eat Them all over your car. They will know you don't belong there.

New Blogger

2005-02-03T01:17:00.000-08:00

There's a new blogger on the block, and I was really touched by her first post on the homeless experience. She is eloquent on the pain that lack of sleep causes, and on the topic of shelters. She does a beautiful job expressing how shocking the difficulties are if you have not prepared for homelessness. Check her out.

Alice on the Run

Interactive List of the Best

2005-02-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

I'd like your help with this post. I'm going to post some of my favorite things for travelers, the homeless, or just anyone, and I am going to post some categories and items that I need suggestions on. If you have a real favorite item, and I mean an unequivocal ten on a scale of one to ten, respond with it in the comments, or drop me an email, and I will revise the post, unless I disagree. Tell everyone what makes it a really good product. We can have more than one best in a given area, for instance, a best quality, and a best deal. I'd like to get a core list for homeless perfection.

Best All-Around Personal Care Product: Generic KY Jelly - There are lots of good reasons to make things slick, a waterless shave, a hair tamer, and of course there is the original use. No one ever felt cheated of their two bucks for a tube of sex gel.

Best Razor: There is no comparable disposable razor to the Mach 3 triple blade, but it is pricey at two bucks each, and it is only the first two or three shaves with each razor that are really good. For my money, I like the Gillette Good News razor with lubricating strip. It is a very high quality double blade, most shaves are bloodless, and at thirtyfive to fourtyfive cents each I feel okay about discarding them after two or three shaves, thus I am always shaving with a sharp razor, and life is good.

Best Portable Propane Stove: The worst is any of them that balance a single burner on top of a 16 ounce propane bottle. I used these stoves for years before I realized how annoying and dangerous they are. One little bump, an uneven surface, a badly balanced pan and over it goes, causing scalds and wasting food. I hate them. By contrast, Coleman makes a dandy two burner stove that folds up like a briefcase and takes up very little room in the car. It is usually sold for around $60, but the link I have provided is for a Walmart clearance that has them down to $35. Target and Kmart and Walmart continously knock off copycats that are just as good and sell them for under forty bucks. You are just looking for a two burner, briefcase style, propane stove.

Trial Sizes: The best place to look for your hygiene needs is the trial size aisle or end cap at your local supermarket or drug store. You'll find all sorts of neat items, containers, travel toothbrushes, mouthwashes, picks, floss, shampoo, combs, brushes, razors, creams, lotions, antiseptics, astringents, analgesics, cold medicines, bandages, caffeine stimulants, and much more for pennies. It is a sort of mobile lifestyle treasure spot. Look for it.

Best Hot Water Bottle:

Best Hand Warmer: The EZ Heat Reusable Handwarmer is a real star. I had one of these many years ago and had not known where to find another until this reader suggestion. Click the metal disk for instant heat lasting more than half an hour, and boil it to reset. Enjoy the residual heat on both sides of the cycle. Oh! I so love this product. The best seven bucks you've ever spent. Do a quick Google search and you will find scads of sites selling them.

Best Road Blanket:

Best Car Cover: We're looking for one that is not very translucent, has good tie down points, and allows you to get into and out of the car fairly easily after it is installed.

Help me out here. Tell me your best tips. Only tens. No nines.

Reader Tip - Free Showers

2005-01-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you only post personal experience or not, but here's one you should know. With the truck stop showers they are FREE if you have a refueling slip. When a trucker fills up his tank he/she gets a refueling slip. They're usually good for a week, and can be redeemed at any truck stop of the same brand as they came from (Pilot, T&A, Flying J, whatever). Most truckers get a stack of these things that they never use. If you're polite they'll usually give you one if you ask. Just hang out by the fuel pumps and catch them coming to or from their trucks. If they say yes, then just hang and be patient and wait until they give it to you. Then you get everything you described for free.

I was homless for almost a year, and then again for a few months, and this was my prefered method of showering and it never cost me a dime.

You're doing a great service and i wish you'd been around when i was doing this. Keep up the good work, and if there's any kind of help you need with the site please feel free to ask. I've worked as a web designer and a copy editor and i'd be more than happy to lend a hand.

Thank you again.

Daniel
hyacintheATgmailDOTcom

Hitchhiking

2005-01-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

I did quite a bit of hitchhiking in my younger days, and I paid little attention to the experience. I remember it, but mostly I tried not to process it. I just endured the rides. More recently hitchhiking has become very difficult to do, at least in the areas of California I've been in, and I attribute that to a combination of my age and world events. People enjoy picking up teens, either because they want to exploit them, or because they want to protect them. People don't much like picking up tall, imposing men in their twenties and thirties. All the stories of axe murderers come into their heads and they just drive on by.

The other day, though, I had a roadside emergency. I locked my keys in my trunk. I was only about five miles from home and a spare set of keys, so I set off at a brisk walk and started thumbing halfheartedly for a ride. To my surprise, less than three minutes later someone stopped.

I looked in and said, "Hi." No guns, no knives, no obvious weapons, tire irons, baseball bats, ejection buttons, cans of mustard gas. The guy wasn't wearing camoflage. He was big and muscular, but it looked okay. "You going to SmallTown?" He was, and I got in.

And then it began. The all-over-gaze. He never said anything wrong, never made any proposals, never made an advance. We talked about how hard it is to get a ride in the age of terrorism. All the time, though, the guy slimed me with his eyes, and I really remembered my teen experiences. In those days the guy would have tried more than looking. I felt violated in a vague way.

This is an illustration of the problem of charity. A ride is pretty small charity, but it is charity. Those who give charity always have an agenda. That agenda does not necessarily match up with the welfare of the recipients of their charity. When it doesn't, it can leave you feeling violated, insulted, or damaged. It can waste your time. While you are getting the charity, you aren't finding other solutions. Even the mildest forms of charity often turn my stomach.

Beware the hand that gives out of pity.

A Typical Morning

2005-01-08T19:43:00.001-08:00

Eyes open, the windscreen glowing, sweat's beading over my nose, head pounding. Ugh. I slept late. It must be ten, and the car is an oven. Quick now, into my clothes. Try not to make the car sway too much. Last thing I need is some confused passerby. Listen and look for a quiet moment outside. Open the door and shimmy on out under the cover, and damn, three people saw me. Well, maybe they aren't residents. Better park somewhere else tonight.

Now untie the cover and fold it up. Pack it in the back and I'm on my way. The local supermarket is the next stop and a wholesome meal for under three bucks. A bread roll, a piece of fruit, pint of chocolate milk, and a couple of fried chicken legs. Other times a quarter pound of deli roast beef, sliced thin, and maybe one of those single string cheeses for another thirty five cents. Later in the day I may get a snack at an ethnic store. Which one? It matters little. Every ethnic group serves up a great deal on food most enjoyed by its clientelle. At a Persian store I'll buy sweets or dates, olive oil or pastry. At a Mexican market, in season fruit, beautiful tamales, pan (bread), and maybe chocolates. An Asian store will likely serve up a nice veggie handroll of sweet rice and cucumber and pickled something wrapped in seaweed. There's so much food in Los Angeles you don't need to eat the same thing twice in a month, and you can still live on ten bucks a day.

Drop by the dry cleaner's and pick up a few shirts. Stop at Goodwill to see if there are some dressy shoes for a couple of bucks.

Now over to the fitness club to shave and shower and get presentable. I'll drop by my temp agencies a little later. Always good to glad hand. By noon I am in shirt and tie, and I am making the rounds for some work.

Sound impossible? Or does it sound as simple to you as it seemed to me?

Cold First Aid

2005-01-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

If you are soaked, and it is cold, remove your clothes. It is better to be dry, cold, and naked than to be wet, cold, and clothed. You can die very rapidly from hypothermia, and one of the first symptoms is stupidity. You forget how to treat hypothermia. That means you must act fast and prevent it. Do not stubbornly wear cold, wet clothes for social reasons. Remove clothes, find shelter, and find dry coverings.

You can warm yourself by eating fats. A stick of butter or margarine is fuel to burn.

Learn CPR. The American Heart Association believes that between 100,000 and 200,000 people could be saved each year if CPR were performed early enough in the crisis.

Never assume that a cold person is dead. Continue CPR until a doctor or paramedic takes over. People have survived drowning in cold water for more than an hour. Even paramedics will not assume that a person without a heartbeat or respiration is dead unless he is warm and dead.