Moose

Some nights it’s faster to walk home from the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station than it is to wait for the train, so that’s what I did Monday. As I walked by a slightly unkempt, middle-aged man limping with a cane near 3rd and Mass Ave NW, he very nearly jumped in surprise away from me. “You okay?” I asked, and he replied, “Sorry, you startled me, can’t be too careful at night in this part of DC.”

It turned out he was the feature photographer for Street Sense. We talked at length as we walked, about photography, homelessness, mathematics, philosophy, and life as a homeless black man getting back on his feet. He called himself Moose, and he’d had a rich history here in Washington. I’ll have to make sure to look out for his photos in the next paper.

Manno

Yesterday, I was trawling (not trolling) through Craigslist for a cheap DVD player, and found one being sold by a guy who turned out to be the [now-former] Assistant Director for Team Development, Nats Minor League Operations. Not anything huge, but still pretty cool to meet up with someone closely connected to our local baseball team — and buy his DVD player. Now I don’t need to shuttle my iBook between the computer desk and the TV table anymore.