WATER!? How Preposterous.

It’s nice, how one must rely on a supply of personal bottled water just to have a Reliable source of hydration…

There is no water fountain located in the facility that I have spotted. I’ve asked about water, and they tell me that they bring in this cooler of water.

They average 104 men in the shelter each night.

The result is, I have to spend what little money I have to procure water on days that no charitable organization has dropped by to give us food or water on, to actually be able to have water on hand, and not meet the usually empty when I need it cooler.

This, for a facility designed to help out those who are in need of a place to stay out of the elements, does not make the slightest bit of sense whatsoever.

Salvation Army Rules: Two Bags Per Person.

Bed numbers 23, 24, Dorm 4, Men’s side. From my observations, this stuff all belongs to one person.

Last night, many were rejected, or halted at the door with orders to break down what they have, for the amount of stuff they had.

One elderly gentleman, perhaps in his late fifties, or early sixties, has one very long bag with all his stuff in it, and a rather small handbag. He was rejected at the desk, being told that the long bag was too big.
This man had to go sleep somewhere outside last night, and I do not feel that this was an appropriate action for them to take, especially with the following:

1: He had been staying there for a month already, from the commentary I gathered.
2: There was no advance notice, whatsoever, that this was a rule that they were going to strictly enforce, to allow people time throughout the day to actually sort things, and get it disposed of, or put away, or what have you.

I was halted at the door, personally, because I have a rolling suitcase, a backpack, and a handbag. The suitcase holds my clothing. The backpack holds most of the food that was given to me, as well as a few books I’ve checked out from the library. The handbag holds the rest of the books I’ve checked out (I go through plenty of books, with the bus rides I take, as well as the time I have to sit in waiting rooms of some sort to get things done), as well as paperwork that I need to keep in good condition for various reasons.

The homeless look out for each other, though. One guy offered to take my smallest bag — the handbag — in for me, since he had nothing, in exchange for a couple of oranges and a pudding from my backpack, which was an offer I graciously accepted.

Another guy had to completely give up his suitcase, because they refused to let him in with it, a garbage bag, and his backpack. He had been staying there for a while, as well.

The question to you all is:
Is this appropriate, even, and fair treatment of Tampa’s homeless, by a group with such a name as “The Salvation Army”?

[tags]Salvation Army, Questionable Ethics[/tags]

I went to check the stuff that Akismet had protected me, and noticed that Akismet has blocked (a bit past) its 20,000th spam comment on this weblog.

I can remember when I used to have to delete spam manually, and the ungodly amount of false positives that I managed to get with everything else in place. While I’d really rather put something in that would spare this server the trouble of even processing these stupid messages in the first place, I’m grateful for the protection that I get by even using Akismet in the first place.

[tags]Akismet, Automattic, WordPress, Spam Protection[/tags]

I just miss having access to IRC and instant messengers when I need them. I just miss being able to talk with my friends at will.

I’ll get this sorted somehow.

The essence of it is, you simply build towers, and upgrade them to do more and more damage to your enemies as they come running through what I can describe easiest as a ‘gauntlet’ of sorts. While you’re haranguing your enemy with volley after volley of pain, they’re trying to capture your base.

There’s someone working on another variant of this genre, currently named Flash Circle TD. I’d like to give this one a try when I get a spare moment, since I’ve become enamored of the type of game. It’s short enough, plays fast, and I can easily start and finish with it in a single session.

I know that I’ve been eating more since I went to the Salvation Army, but they have a NASTY habit of feeding us mainly carbohydrates, and not enough protein to satisfy me. I like lots of meat and less bread when I’m eating meals, and I’m fine with carbs when I’m snacking. I would love more meat in my diet, but short of resorting to Burger King every time I go up somewhere, I don’t think I’m getting enough protein.

As a result, I’ve gone from 313 pounds to about 321 pounds, and this is leaving me slightly distressed. I don’t want to get any fatter than I am, and I’m getting far more exercise per day here than I was when I was at home.

I’m hoping that it’s my legs building up their mass again, rather than me growing a bigger, fatter American behind. :B

( p.s.: I miss cooking. :(! )

[tags]Unexplained Weight Gain, Dieting, Muscle Gain[/tags]

How does one find privacy in such a public setting as a shared bedding area or a shared bathroom?

I’m used to being able to close the door, put on my headphones, and space out without the inconvenience of someone tapping me and saying Hi! or whatever. How does one discourage that activity without seeming like they’re an evil bastard operator from hell?

I mean, I like most of my roomies and all, but I don’t want to seem unapproachable to them, because I don’t want to be bothered when my headphones are on and all. I like — no, I value my privacy like others value their significant other. I don’t want to be disturbed when I’m in bed. So, any suggestions on how to deter these people from bothering me when I don’t feel like being pestered?

The last time they did something like this, they got $3,000,000 in venture capital.

They’ve tried to, or have done things like acquire part of Performancing… Get one of the MySpace staff members onto their team… got sweet cameras from Hewlett Packard (which they didn’t give me a single one :(!)…

They’ve also done some things that have upset some of the people who write entries for them, such as segmentation (though it’s partly understandable; it’s just that the mechanism responsible for making this work isn’t being completely enforced on the side of the advertisers, which penalizes the rest of us), and rolled out a few… bumpy releases, which is bound to happen, of course.

I think this time, the surprise is either going to be that they’re going to make advertisers not only rate us before they can run any other ad campaigns, but show us why we’ve fetched bans from certain advertisers, to help us improve on our work (it’d help, and it’d make sure we weren’t being banned because we’re furry, or whatever, haha)…
Or, it’s going to be that they’re going to send me a pony.

Everyone needs a pony (though I’d rather a full grown horse, so I can ride him to and from work each day in a nice white suit, with perfectly straight, unnaturally white teeth, and a white cowboy hat. Oh, and a white briefcase to finish the look. *hint-hint*) on any beta project.

— Xee.

HARTline. Going Places.

One luxury about the bus is… I’m NOT the chauffeur. I’m sort of happy to not have to do the driving from point A to point B at the moment. I feel fine, and dandy and things. I just kinda feel lazy, and thus let the guy who is paid to do this all day… do the driving.

It feels pretty darn nice, too.
(The only downside is, two of the buses I took today take very long, meandering routes that make the trip much, much longer than it really had to be. I could’ve waited for a different bus in one case, but I wanted to place a phone call. The interior of the bus is much quieter than standing at the curb, waiting for a bus. :p)