I briefly flirted with the idea of handing him the half-full Doritos bag from my car

I once gave a guy my 2 bags of recycling that I was about to return for the deposit money. He seemed to appreciate it.

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"Is this an earbud I see before me?"

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Maria!

I should be paying for wedding stuff, not toys for me.

Pshaw... Happy bride is good.

I've been putting on only the songs I actually would listen to in the future.

I have playlists for this in iTunes. I ripped a bunch of stuff on that I will rarely want to listen to but wanted nonetheless. The iPod is slightly more selective.

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In the midst of all the other conversation, this comment made me wonder what an iMacBeth would look like.

Probably cute.

And wearing white earphones to drown out the sounds of Duncan's screams.

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Last question for the enablers: Do I get an iPod mini or the regular 20 or 40 gig version?

I have a 20 and it works. I filled it, but I have a LOT of music and ripped almost everything I own. (It holds a skosh less than 4500 songs.)

My second most favorite thing about my iPod is that it has allowed me to throw away my CDs.

I couldn't do that because CDs I don't want = cash or trade at used CD stores = more CDs for me. True, it's only $2 a disc or so, but it's enough to make it worth storing them until I can sell.

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Just last week, a panhandler tried to get me to give him cash for a sandwich as I was pulling out of the White Hen. If I wasn't so hungry for dinner, I would have given him the ham&cheese I had just bought inside the store. I never give them cash because I suspect that they'll use it at one of the many local liquor stores (this is Forest Park I'm talking here!).

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All the love I am giving iPod and I think I just confused the hell out of mine trying to update some of the songs on it. As soon as it gets unconfused, we are both driving up to Orange to see victor and thessaly. But not before. I don't drive without music happily.

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Timelies all!

I don't have an iPod. I think they're neat, but I'd probably need a newer computer to run iTunes, or something similar, and that's not happening.

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one of the many local liquor stores (this is Forest Park I'm talking here!).

Oh, heavens, yes. Liquor store, bar, cemetary. Liquor store, bar, cemetary. Rinse and repeat.

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I gave a guy a cup of coffee when coming out of a McDonalds once - came with the value meal, and I had better stuff at the office. He seemed glad enough of it.

I never give them cash because I suspect that they'll use it at one of the many local liquor stores (this is Forest Park I'm talking here!).

Eh, that doesn't really bother me. I spend plenty of money on liquor and frankly, I probably need it less. Actually, after spending 48 hours on the street as part of an outreach thingy when I lived in Atlanta, I know I need it less.

Joking aside, I find I have some fairly strong feelings about this issue.

My decision to give or not give at a particualar time is, I think, based more on what's going on with me internally than with the person's actual needs, which I can't ever know. So why should I get worked up about what it gets used for in the end? I'm not comfortable using a dollar to make moral judgements.

Now, if I were prepared to give someone the kind of money, assistance, resources, whatever to really make a difference in someone's life, then yeah, a little planning at least would be in order. But all the dollar I give to a homeless person will do, all it can do, is make their day a little better. So who am I to say how they should go about it?

[Kathy, you know none of this is directed at you, right? Just something I've been thinking about.]

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