I'm an incurable MAC ADDICT...is that so wrong?

To those of you whom are skeptical about the POPULAR HOBO's integrity..."How does a hobo afford to buy a Macbook unless it was a stolen one?"As I said before, I buy all my stuff at retail stores and I pay with 'hobo cash' that I made from panhandling  and doing odd jobs here and there. And then, last week I reported that I got my Macbook stolen by a thug/ghetto thief!! Its true that I am a hobo and its also true that I got my Macbook stolen out of my hands last week at friggin' Starfucks coffee shop @2899 University Ave. and guess what--I just bought another Macbook!
And here's where I bought it...

Call these guys at 619-255-4333. Tell 'em you're sick and tired of your virus/malware sickened Windowz PC and you're ready to step up to a clean, fast and reliable Macintosh! Tell them you need
a laptop that's built to withstand the rough, furious, filthy, fast paced (with lights and sirens all
around you) and dangerous lifestyle of a goddamn HOBO! :)

Btw, I'm sorry I got a little carried away in my zeal and support for these guys at DC Computers. That part about getting a free iPod or iPhone...well that's just straight up bullshit! I just thought if I said that then you would jump in your car go there. I'd advise you to go there anyway though since their prices are so good that you'll save enough $$ to buy yourself a iPod or iPhone!!
That's NOT bullshit!

STARBUCKS,North Park: We're not responsible!

Yesterday afternoon, a week after I was robbed of my Macbook at Starbucks' @ 2899 University Ave,
I returned to the coffee shop to speak with the either the franchise owner or the head manager about the robbery. However I was told by the young Assistant Mgr. that the store was corporate owned.
He said he was unaware of robbery of March 5 or any other such incident at the store and that any loss of property while at the store is the customer's sole responsibility.When I shared with him that
SDPD told me that they've had a number of theft reports at their address, the employee was not interested in hearing anything about the topics of crime nor customer safety.

He acted as though I were there to try and engage him in some sort of rhetorical socio-political discussion while he's busy trying serve coffee. His concern about me and the theft of my property
can be summed up best by his words: "Ah Bummer...I'm sorry about that but there's nothing we can do it." and "You might try contacting the corporate office but they'll tell you the same thing: Starbucks isn't responsible for what people do, inside or outside the store."

There it is...just as I suggested the other day: This thinking/policy by Starbucks and its employees
ensures the easy access to a gold mine of sweet and easy FREE $$$$ (ie. laptop computers, iPads  and other WiFi-able devices) which predator thieves stalk and troll the streets looking for! When
they see the unsuspecting laptop geeks, blissful in their free WiFi and gourmet coffee, they see FREE /FAST MONEY!!!
 
I was surprisingly calm and polite as I listened to this numb skull. I didn't argue nor raise my voice  because I'd prepared myself for precisely this sort of denial and apathy. This Starbucks and other similar complacent North Park small businesses are effectively turning their town into a ghetto.
 Sure it seems far fetched and I sound like a raving lunatic..I know. Its amazing how well all those clean smooth upscale sidewalk tiles all along Starbucks help to mislead the average pedestrian
into assuming that he/she's walking in a safe neighborhood.

Last week when the Starbucks employee smiled at  me and pointed to the outdoor
patio furniture and said "You're welcome to sit outside and get online if you wish.", at a glance,
that seemed like the mark of good customer service to me. Now I know that I was deceived into believing the place was safe and I'm angry as all hell!!!In retrospect, I'd have enormous respect
for this store and its employees (and plus I'd still have my Macbook), if the employee had said,"Sorry, all our seats are taken right now and the outside seats are not recommended for
 laptop users. If you need to get online, I'd suggest that you stop by later or go up to the
other store across from the CVS drugstore."

Their oblivion or denial of the physical endangerment they themselves place their customers
into is breathtaking!! Remember - I was NOT the first and only robbery victim at this store.
 They incite/ catalyze this crime upon their unsuspecting/defenseless customers via encouraging laptop users to sit outside their store.
 
If these Starbucks employees truely understood the value of "customer service"  they would first consider how it impacts upon  their customer's physical safety, never mind concern  about ensuring the very best customer experience possible, then they would remove that patio furniture from the sidewalk and thereby preclude their customers the risk of being the victim of a violent crime.
Simple. ring shop ow

So now I'll procede to contact the corp. office and try to resolve this matter and absent any agreement  by them to replace my property, I'll move forward in small claims court.

Stay tuned...I've got some new photos and more insights and info as well provided to me by neighboring shop owners /managers I interviewed.

MM Hobos Help Disabled Motorist

The video clip you're about to see is one of those fluke surprises that I'm rarely lucky enough to shoot. Its so well timed that it looks staged but its not.

BTW this was the last video I got to shoot with my Macbook and I uploaded it only minutes before my Mac got stolen last week. :(

Let me set this up for you:
I saw David Mick last Thursday morning and he was telling me about his new sign he's been flying on MM Blvd.Its yet another one of his attempts to fly a hobo sign that will make him some hobo cash without using the familiar worn out messages used by other bums.You've all seen their signs --"Need Work Please Help", "Disabled Vet Please Help" , "Will Work 4 Food Please Help","Please Help God Bless" ,"God Bless Please Help","Help Please Please Help" etc etc.

David Mick's previous signs have been original but were too silly or too lengthy to be effective but  on this day, he had a good one. And to me that's HOBO NEWS that warrants a video interview and so I got out my laptop and started recording video of him with his sign...and then watch what happened... ;)

 

I'm glad to be able to share that with you. I can't speak for every Mira Mesa  hobo, but helping others is the golden rule, right? Its only human to do so and I didn't just adopt that philosophy since becoming homeless and needy and nor do I sit on my ass until someone asked me for help before I give it to them.When I see someone in need of a little help I bring it to them. (I'm not talking about $$ here,btw, but rather, physical assistance or materials/stuff that I may have to offer someone.)

Anyway, David Mick and I handed the lady about five dollars or so in change. After she pumped some gas into her gas can, I offered to walk back to her car with her and pour it into her tank.

After I gassed her tank, Bianca Koch  drove me back to where I was sitting with Randy and David. She gave us some blankets and socks and a hug and we thanked her!!

 Bianca is a homeless advocate in Ocean Beach and we were glad to meet /assist her 

in  her time of need. She's very sweet and we hope to see her again soon. 

Hey Bianca,if you're reading this please call me soon!  :)

Boogiman Snatches Scott's Macbook @ Starbucks, North Park

At around 6:30pm on March 5, I walked into the busy Starbucks Coffee shop at 2899 University Ave.

and glanced around for an empty seat while I ordered coffee. Since my laptop battery was charged up I decided to sit outside at one of their tables and work on the evening's news report for the blog.

I sat with my back to the wall, my backpack containing my power adapters/battery chargers for my Macbook and my Sony digi camera as well as the camera were beside me in my chair. With my 13" Macbook sitting along side the padded zipcover which serves as a mouse pad, I began to write my new post. Periodically, between thoughts, I'd pause and sorta scope out the scenery...acknowledged

new customers who'd just sat down at the adjacent tables. 

As the darkness fell, I chatted briefly with one guy who stepped outside to smoke. He wondered if the Library was open. I'd written a couple of paragraphs and uploaded a video file and was focused upon my work typing when suddenly an arm swept across the table top and while I was typing, my computer was swept out from beneath my fingers! The young latino guy who stole it had approached the store running (eastbound) passed the store front. With no railing nor obstacles in his path to slow him down and give me any forewarning whatsoever, he simply extended his arm as he went by me, grabbed my computer with the mouse dangling by its cord and bolted around the corner

 down 29th Street.

I jumped up and chased after him, knocking over the empty table and chairs to my right but I could get no closer than 15 ft or so from him as he turned the corner before he outran me for the next block and a half down 29th.  As I chased him, I shouted and screamed continuously in hopes that someone down the street in his path would stop him. But after you go just one block down 29th, everything gets very dark and quiet down there as there are no shops/stores and few pedestrians.

After chasing him for one and half blocks I stopped running. Not only was I exhausted from sprinting that short distance, but I'd twisted or jammed my right knee as well but since I'd lost sight of him completely in the darkness, I was reluctant to proceed any further at that point

without any means of self defense/protection.

I turned around and hobbled/ran back to Ground ZERO, the CRIME SCENE @ 2899 University Ave.*** I'd just realized that I'd left my backpack and other valuable stuff behind amidst the pile/trail of Starbucks patio furniture which was strewn across the entire sidewalk and into the street. As I returned to the coffee shop, I saw a guy picking up my cigarette lighter from the street. I told him he could keep it. The patio furniture and debris/property/stuff that I'd left behind all appeared to be undisturbed and left lying where ever they happened to land when I fled the scene to chase after the boogieman.

The portion of this incident you've just read, IMO, is not nearly as amazing and outrageous as what follows. This next portion of the incident is somewhat blurry to me because I was in utter shock from what had just happened. My mind was running in five different directions at once and these were my thoughts as best I can recall: • Call 911 • Go back down 29th St. • NO! Go buy some weapons first then go down 29th St. • Do I have GPS? • Do I have XXXX  XXXXX  XXXX installed? • Who saw this guy and do they know him? • Was he alone? • WTF does Starbucks have exceeding cheap ass patio furniture? Maybe cause they know they're in the ghetto and have to replace it often! •Are any Starbucks employees gonna come outside to find out what happened? •Did they call 911 ON ME because I flipped over their chairs/tables? • Did anyone else call 911?

I stood there in reeling in shock but painfully aware of the NON REACTIONS from everyone around me who seemed content to just standby and gawk at me. While my adrenaline was pumping like a fire hose to do SOMETHING QUICKLY, I realized that I was completely disabled from any action that would fix this situation. I picked up my backpack and stepped up to the window and looked inside

the store. There were lots of blank faces staring back at me but I saw nothing to indicate that anyone inside the store was upset, bothered or at all distracted from their Starbucks coffee pleasure or from enjoying their free wifi internet session. The employees were focused upon serving coffee and appeared to be unaware that just two minutes prior a predator thief had struck upon one their customers and left their pristine patio in a mess.

Rather than leave silently without being noticed, I opened  the door and unloaded a short and very loud and vulger barrage of ideas/concerns and othrwise, gems of wisdom of the streets which popped into my head. As I walked away, I continued to feel the bizarre and lifeless stares from the  bystanders all around me whom, after hearing me hollering inside the store and disrupting everyone inside, must surely be stares of ice cold disdain.

Its rare that I ever  get to see the reactions from bystanders after being the victim of a violent crime.
That's because in previous incidents, I was either unconscious/incapacit\ununted or too busy dealing with the police to take notice. In times when someone actually helped me, I became aware of it after waking up in the trauma ICU at some local hospital. While I've been mugged and robbed before,

I've never been so immaculately, so precisely, so surgically and so indefensibly raped of thousands of dollars worth of my property in the blink of an eye while amidst pedestrians/folks all around me.

But then to witness the most unconcerned, apathetic and incompetent non-response from every person present at the crime scene not only puts a sharper edge on the pain and loss I incurred, but it    also puts this entire nightmare into sharp focus for me to understand better.

This was no random act. This is not a case of negligence or stupidity on my behalf and nor am I willing lie down and be counted among the silent masses of victims of this and other similar violent crimes. That said, I do feel fortunate to have realized the severity of the rampant crime situation here before deciding to move into a nearby apartment that's been offered to me at an enticing low rent price.  I'd considered this apartment offer to be a great bargain opportunity. That is before my computer got jacked out of my hands. During my meeting with the SDPD officer who wrote the crime report, I heard some candid anecdotal insight about the alarming North Park crime wave and

in particular the 9899 Starbucks Coffee shop location which I'd never imagined nor would suspect before becoming a crime statistic.

I must pause for now but I'll return here soon (I hope) to show you some video/photo details about this breaking news story as well as discussion of the underlying and sidebar issues ("the news

behind the news", as we news professionals like to say). 

I'd really like to hear from the readers out there with  your questions comments or 

experiences you may have to share. 

In the meantime...

"GODAMNIT!!!I'M SO FUCKING PISSED OFF, I COULD EXPLODE!

***So help me God, from this moment forward, 

the 2899 University Ave. Starbucks store shall be
 known as Ground Zero North Park, and as the 
"crime scene coffee shop" (CSCS).

¡¡¡wE're xPeriencing Techno Difficulty...Please Stand By!!!

In the past 36 hrs or so the Popular Hobo News & the  Entertainment engineering crew, has been working round the clock to get this blog back online in safe operating order. Due to the highly unstable znd ambulatory nature  of  the "news desk" and  our facilities lately, we sometimes must shut down the news desk editing and report writing operations in a hasty and disorderly fashion.

Like last night  when its closing time on the outside flight deck of the U.S.S. Starbucks Coffee shop and the First Mate and Deckhand come flying out the front door with a big mop and a bucket and start swabbing down the flight deck right where you're posted up and spread out all over the table with cameras, memory card readers, Macbooks, mice ,mouse pads, beer cans, coffee cups, ashtrays, and 6 or 8 bags and envelopes full of crap,  you don't have time to throttle down and close the operation correctly. No,instead you've gotta start snatching cords out of electrical sockets, stuffing your crap intto backpacks and suitcases, and clearing off tabletops with one sweep of your arm if you want to keep your shit from being flooded or broken. Or like when you're trying to sort thru your picture files and upload a photo to your blog while you're sitting on the crapper inside the grocery store. That's when it seems like all of the sudden everyone in the store and within a 1/4 mile radius has to take an urgent dump in the crapper you're using! You're sitting there watching the progress bar slowly creep along as your photo is being uploaded.

There are times when I refuse to be rushed along by stressed out over-worked tax payers who live inside doors with utilities,and toilets. After several minutes I decide to give them a reason to go elsewhere... "Go away...THIS TOILET IS OUT OF ORDER....I''m having a long slow medical emergency in here...GO AWAY...I'm in labor in here...my contractions are coming hard and fast now...30 seconds apart...Uhhhhhhhhh!! Huuuuuummmmmmph!!!Oooooooooohhhhh!! I think I'm gonna give birth within the next 2 to 3 hours.... but you know how these things can be ... you may wanna just GO AWAY...or you may wanna go find  a diaper if you're gonna wait...Urrrrrrrrrhh!!"

I'm used to being in "public" 24/7 where everything you need to do requires using a public facility of some sort or doing personal things in front of gawking speechless civilians and snickering assholes. Whether its brushing my teeth, washing my hair or working on my Mac and blog. But it gets a bit reckless trying to work online in fits and stops when I'm forced to pick up and  move from place to place.That's when things start to falter or suddenly crash.My blog didn't crash per se...I almost blew it up /demolished it accidently. It was very easy to do and that's what's scary. (I simply clicked on a different template design to check it out and when I clicked, I lost my entire original customized template that I'd worked on and fine tuned for many hours. I never did recover it but I did learn from that mistake.) I hate things that that are deceptively fragile or prone to breakage/failure.
Needless to say, living outside out of a suitcase and a backpack and walking all over town
with my Macbook, digi camera, spare and other small pricey electronic devices is risky business.
I debated about starting this blog for many weeks and decided to go ahead with it because
this "news"is the sort of content that you can't replicate at some later date and as I've mentioned, I don't plan on being a hobo for much longer.

But before I move out of Hoboville, I wanna try and present the best and the worst human experiences that the other hobos and I see and deal with everyday.

The Northpark Connection

Four reasons why I like this Laundry Mat @ Arizona & University Ave.(North Park):
1)Free Wifi and a broadcast studio quality NEWS DESK (see below)
2)friendly people (not edgy weirdo types) although Ingles no hablo muy mucho. :)
3)vending machines w/ fair prices
4) cheap friendly priced coin op washers and dryers!!
   Prices are 50% less than in MM!!!


In less time than it takes to make change from a five dolla bill, I was all set up at their
NEWS DESK, online with their wifi signal, sipping a 211, snackoing on some cookies.
while editing news content and getting my clothes clean! How that for multi-tasking!

Blogging:Therapeutic or Chem.Addictiion Substitute?

I've realized recently that this blog may soon become an alternative/substitute outlet for my incessant and indelible passion and NEED for occupation/employment. That's not good or is it? I mean, it doesn't surprise me at all that I'm able to wake up at 5am, drink coffee and begin working with my Mac (either online or in Photoshop) and stay focused and productive without being lured away by hobo drama/amusement all day long. For now, I suppose its a positive change. Its one more option for me to choose from each day... lemme see...I can either 1) find David Mick and start drinking beer @6am, 2) go out on the median and fly my "please help" sign and make some hobo cash or 3)
go somewhere to get online and stay busy and sober working on this blog and future content.
 
Of course, the local hobos can't quite understand it--they're all sitting up in the crow's nest drinking beer and asking themselves "Have you seen Scott today? Where's Scott? How in the world can a beer drinkin', cigarette smokin', sign flyin',suitcase draggin' hobo, like Scott, mosey up inside that Albertsons grocery store and post up at that little Starbucks kiosk ALL FREAKIN' DAY LONG fiddling 'round on his computer? How in HELL can he sit there less than 75 ft away from all those shiny glass bottles of whiskey,vodka, gin, rum, wine and ALL THAT ICE COLD BEER all day long and then leave up out of there without having even a faint smell of booze on his breath nor any boozein his suitcase? He must be losing his mind...he might have found him a girl friend inside that that grocery store or on the internet...He's been avoiding us that's for sure...Can't quite figure him out anymore."

I can understand their shock and confusion at my sudden and sustained focus on this blog stuff for the past couple of weeks because they've never known any hobos who had developed a set of useful capable hands-on  'hobo skills'  who also have some skills that are current and employable and
who are hell bent upon getting off the streets.

They've all heard me whine and bitch about how much I hate this hobo crap...how boring it is ...
and most of all how absolutely depressing it is to see your life flying by as you' live like an insect or a rodent and measure time and success each day by how big your pile of empty beer cans and cigarette butts is.

They've heard/seen countless hobos meltdown in their moments of remorse, regret and self-loathing and so have I and its pretty sickening to witness, I must admit. And so whenever I erupt into my own pathetic rant/whine, I try seduce my hobo audience into the spirit I'm feeling by preaching in the plural possessive form ("us", "we", "our"). That usually works until one of them gets so immersed into my rant that he needs to drink more to keep from crying. But eventually they all tell me the same thing every time I whine/rant: "If you wanna get your career back on track and leave Hoboville, then go make it happen." And a cynical burst of laughter cuts loose from each hobo signaling the end of my rant (at least for today).

You see, they just don't believe that a thriving, street-wise, able bodied hobo like myself could actually hate this living situation as much as I claim to. But now they're not sure what to believe when they see me spending consecutive entire days alone without drinking nor being chased around by plastic badged security guards all day long.

With this minor distraction set aside for now, let me slide over into a more hearty and systemic issue that I'm saddled with here...It may require at least 2 cans( 24oz.) of Steel Reserve 211 beer for me to get it resolved. My guess is that other blogger folks deal with this all the time. If so I wonder if they have any useful tips/insight to help me out.

The problem: Prioritization of content... I suspect its the most vital and yet most intuitive /risky aspects of being a good News Editor. Do you ever notice when you watch the evening tee vee news, there's usually some guy either pacing around in the back of the studio scratching his bald head or sitting at a desk making a paperclip chain, drumming on the side of his coffee cup or rubbing his eyes while he's on hold on the phone? Who is that guy?

I'll bet he's the Chief News Editor...the one and only top dude who has the final say on what stuff gets reported and in what sequence. His balding head gives him an appearance of that of seasoned, hardened, jaded and decisive news professional (ie. Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore Show). But if you look closely the guy can't be more than 29 yrs old!

(I wanna be careful about what I say about those news professionals...especially since I may wanna job working for one soon. )

With my cache of a couple hundred unedited/uncropped photos, a couple dozen or more short movie/video files of street scenes, hobo escapades and spontaneous/live "interviews" and  chatter with on duty SDPD officers, plus an ever-growing list of narrative topics to write about, my problem is not a lack of interesting content but rather one of prioritizing it.

Its not a problem to simply keep filling the pipe with new content from my stockpile. My problem is that I'm constantly jumping back and forth between processing/editing content from my stockpile and shooting/writing new fresh content that would be considered "news".

For example, if I see Sal, the armed security guard at the B of A, running after Chris White (the crazy violent dangerous hobo) who's escaping the scene on his gangster-styled Harley Davidson/Schwinn bicycle carrying three fat canvas bags marked "MONEY" while dodging bullets from Sal's handgun,
I consider that to be the sort of interesting hobo news that folks will enjoy reading and seeing video of. Its the kind of incident that clearly justifies dropping everything else to try and capture video/photos of. Below is a picture of Sal...he's dangerous! ;)

         

But lets say I'm at Starbucks working on a lengthy article about 'the tactical use of fear mongering by contract security guard companies as a marketing/sales strategy for getting new contracts and making war with hobos their daily mission' and I happen to look outside and see two hobos rolling through the parking lot carrying a 82" flat screen television, I'm  not sure how to react. Its unusual to see a hobo with any kind of new or costly technology, but until I hear a police siren or a cop bullhorn ordering the hobo to stop, or some screaming crying female pleading for help, I'm inclined to keep on working on my story. Priorities,IMO, need to be established and then maintained but so far I don't have any hard fast rules for setting them.

Btw,  here are a few photos I've earmarked  to support upcoming articles I'll be writing soon...

Topic: Logistics...discuss how my hobo living situation poses many challenges to the tasks of blogging while also provides me with some advantages in the logistics of covering local news.

 

Topic: Discuss/illustrate my promo strategy for my 

blog and hopefully elicit some good feedback/advice.

Topic: In depth interview with hobo David "Man Down" Mick. I need to give this one a higher priority because any day at any hour he's capable (and quite accomplished lately) of getting himself arrested and next time he may do some considerable time. Before he does go away, I'd like to get his story and other stuff published/available to see so he can tell everyone in jail about my blog. ;)

Topic: Dumpsters and HOBONOMICS™...there are many disciplines of science which try to define and explain the phenomenon of the hobo. Perhaps none is more fascinating and more enticing to
spectators  and hobo wanna be's  than HOBONOMICS™. Its the science of hobo principles of finances, revenue generation and allocation, and most interesting of all, hobo accumulation and distribution of assets/chattel and his ritualistic duty of recycling/salvaging  of broken, used, expired crap that can actually add value and utility back into his old useless crap.

Topic: "Homeless is a choice!"...a favorite observation often used as an attack missle
aimed at hobos. Yes, I'll concede that not only is it sometimes a "choice", but I'll  explain how
living outside in the freaking cold, rain, mud, filth is an attractive and more feasible choice to the alternative options available to some hobos.

 

Topic: A discussion of that one intrinsic and obscure, hard to define, but easy to recognize, 

impossible to replicate, priceless and enviable human talent, ability or

 in-bread propensity commonly known as "hustle".

Its the most vital thing a hobo has or wishes for 

that determines how fat his wallet is!