I thought you worked in a library. Doesn't a sizable portion of the clientele smell of vomit, urine, alcohol, etc.?

Ouch. That stung a bit. You may want to turn your phaser down a tad.

To answer the question anyway - actually, no. Even at the currently closed Main branch, the homeless drunks are few and far between and known by name.

There is one guy who likes to show up at my branch whilst toasted. He rides a bicycle and is always smelling of booze. Some days he's slurring words and walking sideways. Always full of good cheer though and harmless, though we did have to kick him out once for not wearing a shirt. He was a bit annoyed but left promptly. He seems to be homeless as well.

Didn't say you had to like it. At the old San Francisco Main, the majority of chairs were taken up by homeless people. As I recall, they tried to solve the problem by removing chairs. That didn't work.

I've had a most uplifting weekend and thought I would share this story.

I had lost contact with an old and dear friend of mine in 1998. We had attended the same music school in 1983 and had become close friends. In the years that followed, we both developed some serious problems with narcotics. The last time I saw him was 1998 and while I was pretty messed up at the time, it paled in comparison to him. He had begun shooting heroin. It was the last time that I saw him and he looked horrible. After that, he seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth.

As the years passed and I cleaned myself up, I never stopped thinking about him, wondering if he were dead or alive. I would do a google search every so often and it always came up empty.

On friday night, I did another search, not expecting to have any success, and was surprised when I found mention of him at a drug rehabilitation clinic on the east coast. I was able to get an email address and wrote him a letter. I didn't know if he would write back or if he would even want to talk to me. We were both pretty messed up the last time we saw each other and I expected that it might be something he didn't want to be reminded of.

Well, it turns out, he has been clean and sober for 3 years now, is running today in the NYC Marathon for Team Fox, Michael J Fox's team for Parkinson's research, and has just completed his first CD. He is now a counselor for teen addicts and looks about a million times better than the last time I saw him. He was really happy to hear from me and we are going to talk tomorrow for the first time in eight years.

I can't even put into words how happy all of this makes me. I've thought about this guy for years, wondered if he was even alive, and missed him terribly. To find out that he survived and pulled himself together is just about the best news I have heard in a long time. It really made my weekend and I just had to share. I'm even doing something that I didn't imagine I would be doing this weekend; tracking his progress online in the marathon. :)

It's been a good weekend.

that's an amazing story of both survival and miracles.

i am happy for you that you and he have been able to reconnect.

and i am very proud of you and your accomplishments. you have incredible talent and are a truly valued friend. he is lucky to have you back in his life!

Thanks for the kind words. :)

Well, he completed the marathon. I know he is probably a little disappointed. He wanted to beat a time of 3:30, which would have qualified him for the Boston Marathon, and missed it by about 10 minutes. He was also trying to beat the best time of the Judge that sentenced him to rehab, instead of sending him to prison. :) He came close.

Still, what an amazing accomplishment from a guy that probably couldn't have run a mile without collapsing, the last time I saw him. It really warms the heart. :)

Wow, that is a great story! Thanks for sharing, makes my day!

Have you ever seen "Stand By Me"? If not... Don't.

The 'Mr. Creosote' part of 'MP and the Meaning Of Life' might be problematic as well......

("Just a little wafer?")

And Veronica Cartwright's cherry spewing scene from "The Witches of Eastwick."