Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

So apparently, The Big Dig is supposed to be over. It doesn’t really look that way to me…

Funny Target cars were all over this weekend. Interesting advertising!

Ugly statues with birds on top!

This guy was OK. This other guy was totally irritating. Made me wanna be conservative just so I could argue with him.

Lots of famous old guys are buried here, including Paul Revere!

We gave all of the cash we had, then later we realized we didn’t have anything left for subway tokens!

Here’s my cutie in the Trident Bookseller on Newbury Street:

Here’s a view of traffic from the top of Newbury Street:

Berklee School of Music with the Prudential Building in the background:

I don’t have a lot of money to give, and I’ve really been trying to eliminate my credit card debt, but I think that helping Katrina evacuees is more important. I found Charity Navigator: Your Guide to Intelligent Giving very helpful. This article lists all of the 4-star rated charities involved in Katrina relief efforts. I think I’ve decided to give to:

• The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and
• The MSPCA Natural Disaster Relief Fund

(which, as it turns out, is right in my neighborhood!)

Where are you donating your money?

I read on the cover of a local paper today that people in Boston have set up all these shelters, but they haven’t had any people arrive yet because so many evacuees are reticent to leave the region. Makes sense, but I hadn’t thought of that. I can see why they would feel that way. I feel bad just having moved away. I feel I should be closer, helping out.

My alma mater is accepting students who have been displaced by the hurricane. I was reading last week about how schools in Boston are donating laptops, and it seemed somehow silly to prioritize such things when many have lost families and their lives. Still, there are people from all walks of life who are now homeless: poor, wealthy, educated, and uneducated. My ex’s new significant other had just received a tenure-track position teaching at the University of New Orleans. It’s hard to prioritize when there are people in need at every level. I look at people like myself, people like the people I worked with in Memphis, and all the animals. I don’t want to forget the poor, but in remembering the poor, I don’t want to forget the middle class who are also homeless, the sick, the young, the elderly, the recently orphaned. And while I remember all of those people in need, I don’t want to forget the people who were more directly affected by the hurricane itself in Mississippi. Triage in a situation like this is nearly impossible. It’s overwhelming. When it comes down to it, though, there are so many people who do not have other means of support. They need their government. They need us. Help your family. Help those who can’t help themselves. Give, give, give. If everyone helps in some way, maybe we can eventually get things closer to right again.

Aaron’s birthday was September 1st. It wasn’t the best day for a birthday this year, but we did manage a visit from Scott and Michelle, a trip to James’s Gate, and a real live ice cream cake from J.P. Licks!