Wednesday, March 29, 2006

My Evening on the Mean Streets of Salem

Earlier tonight was kind of a downer. Headed for Subway and parked a block away, and an older homeless guy hit me up for a dollar for food. I had no cash on me, so I had the genius idea of offering him a meal at Subway. Not only did he not really want food, he was kind of indignant, and said, "I can get my own food." Obviously wanted booze, not food.

So I was a little discouraged, figuring all homeless were basically the same as those freeway onramp career panhandlers or lying drunks.

Well, coming back from my midnight stroll through Bush Park, I ran into a guy in my back alley carrying a couple of blankets to wherever he planned to sleep. When I got to my driveway, his bike was parked there, my Diet Coke 2-liter bottles in a plastic bag, and it hit me that his blankets were the two I'd thrown in the trash earlier that night during Spring cleaning.

Obviously it was kind of a downer, but at the same time, the guy was making his way, whatever way that was, on his own. I talked to him when he came back for the bike, and he had a little route he runs every day. So we worked out what I can do with stuff he might use, he doesn't have to root through my trash, and I have my own personal Goodwill drop-off.

I'll probably get ripped off now somehow, but I'm Mother Teresa tonight. At the very least I got the bad taste of that old drunk guy out of my mouth.

Friday, March 03, 2006

My Message to Ron Wyden Today

Mr. Wyden,

I look forward to seeing how you apply your Internet Non-Discrimination Act to the US package delivery service industry and other industries with different levels of service.

We are all tired of having to choose between Next Day Air, Second Day Air, and Ground transport for packages, and look forward to our egalitarian future where nothing can be delivered any faster than USPS Media Mail, regardless of what you are willing to pay.

From there, with your foresight and guidance, we can work on abolishing charter and private plane flights that move passengers back and forth in a discriminatory fashion, only based on how much they are willing and able to pay. Better yet, ground the planes and get everyone on Amtrak, for the ultimate in delivering poor service equally to all.

I'll leave it to your imagination where we can go from there, but suffice it to say we are all looking forward to a future with less confusing choices to make, or, God willing, no choices to make at all.

Thank you,
Morgan B MacArthur
Salem, OR