Boosting the signal

image from etsy

Just passing on the message...

As some of you already know, one of our cousin's sons has been battling a brain stem tumor for nearly 9 months (DIPG--Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma; long term survival rates are dismal). Unfortunately, Mason (age 9) is starting to lose his battle. He very much enjoys geography, so his mom had an idea--to try to get Valentine's from all over the country/world for him.

Because the postmarks are somtimes impossible to read, his mom is asking that if you send one, to please either write the city/state/country it's coming from or to write that information on the inside (maybe 'Happy Valentine's Day from ______, in _City_, _State_').

If you want to help, here's the address:

Mason Kempf
7700 W 96 Ter.
Overland Park, Kansas 66212

If anyone wants to pass along this info to family and friends that might be able to help, I think they would love that. Please be aware, though, that time is of the essence.

Mason already got to have an excellent Christmas... let's make his Valentine's Day even better!

New friends

Right now I am staying at a friend's apartment (which is where I fell down the stairs, it's on the 2nd floor), with three adorable kitties as my companions. All three are Snowshoe cats, which I had never heard of before but which I think are really pretty. The blur down in the corner is because one of the boys decided to play with the camera strap just as I was taking the picture.

In other news, I won a giveaway from Sarah over at Classroom Chic! It's my first giveaway win ever, and I sure can use it. It's a gift card to Ross, which I love, so I'll have to let you know what I buy. Thanks, Sarah!

Where the streets have no name

I accidentally deleted my last post on the topic but, yep, I'm still homeless.

I have been homeless for about a month. I blew all of my money staying in a really seedy hotel and driving around because I didn't have much else to do. I ended up having to buy a new AC adapter for my laptop because the last one died, and while I was waiting for that to show up, I paid my library fines so I could use the computers at the library.

It is stinking hot in Texas and sleeping in one's car here is no joke.

Here are a couple of articles related to the topic that I found pretty interesting.

Internet cafe refugees - no friends or prospects, and only a cubicle to call home. Compared to sweating it out in an old SUV, an internet cafe doesn't sound too bad.

A homeless man lived in a New Jersey library for 2 weeks before anybody noticed (and only because he was stealing food). Living in a library would be great. I love libraries! You'd never run out of reading material! Speaking of which... you heard about the Homeless at NYU guy, didn't you? Old news, but still interesting.



Where the Heart Is is one of my favorite books, though I think the movie had a slightly better ending. It's related to the topic because the main character, Novalee Nation, ends up living inside a Wal-mart after being abandoned by her boyfriend until she's taken in by the friends she's made in a strange town.

Too sexy for her job

_{photo by Saswat Pattanayak}
Gallery: Debrahlee Lorenzana too sexy to work at Citibank?

According to Lorenzana, who worked for a New York branch of Citigroup, she was told not to wear items of clothing such as turtleneck sweaters and pencil skirts because her figure proved too much of a distraction to her male co-workers.

Though some of the photos that have been submitted to websites are a bit more on the provocative side, the photos taken by her lawyer of her everyday work attire show a professionally-dressed lady who just so happens to have a bangin' figure.