Well, hello there! Fancy meeting you here. Well, welcome to Drake & Beth's place. C'mon in, set a spell... take yer shoes off and relax a bit!

Well, we're up in ol' Amador again... and lo and behold, the DA's office here didn't follow suit on the Jackson PD's head-up-arse-a-thon in deciding to nail us for camping (against the ordinance lol) in the local public parking lot. They sent me a letter declining to prosecute it. LOL. So, Officer C, put that in yer pipe and smoke it!

Meanwhile, the relocation is moving ahead, little by little. We're looking into a phone and mailbox by next week, we hope. *fingers crossed* And the place that Beth's working for likes her so much they may steal her from the temp agency to become a full-time employee. I also have a lead on some possible work for someone who has a goal much like my own -- to run a cybercafe! So I may get a chance to get some practice working on one before expanding my biz into running my own! Whee! (Not to mention making a few $$ doing so!) I am also still looking into doing some webwork for realtors that work with a friend of mine, which could lead into a fairly steady stream of income, and so far all without the full-time work I am hunting for still. :D

Anyway, thanks go out to a friend of mine who's going thru some stuff of his own but is the creator of two quite cool websites (one of which I did the logo and some of the design work for): http://www.obsoletelab.com and http://www.secureunderground.com
He sent us a $20 donation thru paypal and we appreciate it. Thanks, man.

And that about wraps it up for this blog entry. Good fight, and good night. Or whatever that quote is. I don't remember... Hmmm....

Hi all. Beth here with a short note. We're in the library in Sacramento, where the internet comes with a filter. Anyone looking for us on messenger, I can only hope has stopped by here and realizes we are not ignoring them--we just can't get on.

I am working in a warehouse, as said, and I am enjoying the work. The regular employees and the temps (which there seems to be a small army of, including me) are all fairly decent folk and fun to talk to. The work, while more physical than I'm used to and thus a bit tiring, is not hard or terrible.

A personal thankyou to Miz Lilith from me, for all her help.

We are currently trying to find a place, hoping that we will be able to find something, anything we can afford. We'll keep you posted.

That being said, if anyone in the Sacramento area can offer assistance with a place to stay, please contact us. We would appreciate whatever you can do, even if it's only to tell us about something you've heard about.

Thanks.

~Beth

Blogs away!

Well, many thanks go to my friend Miz Lilith for helping us with gas not once but twice so I can keep Beth able to go to work and still hunt for it myself, as well as her offer of assistance to get into a place. We are both very grateful for the assist. :o) As well, Miz Lilith has made some work suggestions for me that may go a ways toward re-kindling my business down here. :o)

Work goes on for Beth, and she seems to like it where she's working... kind of a warehouse gig with books and magazines. We have had a couple close calls making it there but thanks to Miz Lilith's gasoline assist, that shouldn't be a problem.

Hopefully we will soon be able to find shelter for both of us and work for me.

Looking into low-cost housing, seems that the options in Sac just now are limited in availability. Sucks, man.

Anyway, Take Care All!

Here's a link that anyone who is likewise homeless in the Sacramento area may find useful: Sacramento Food Banks

Good luck to our fellow homeless.

Drake & Beth Steele

Well, here goes.

Day 2 of work for Beth is over, and I have spent what time I could today hitting monster.com and sending resumes to all the local ISPs I could find in the phone book. Beth is tired but seems to like the work okay. :) She's been getting some aggression out tearing covers off of books and dusting shelves. And I greet her every day after work with a poem and a foot massage. :)

A friend of Beth and her mom's criticized me for my treatment of her mother and ex-husband in this blog. All I will say is this: if she knew the whole of the situation, she may not be so critical. There are aspects of what has happened in her life that Beth has chosen to share with me (and her ex in one Messenger convo he decided to have with me) that she does not wish to share with others. And that's all I will say about that.

Anyway, to those concerned for Beth, I am concerned for her as much as anyone can be. I do my damnedest to take care of her with the resources I have and to treat her well and show her as much love and kindness as I can. I love her. And I always will.

Be well.

- Drake

Well, hello, all!

Drake here, and we're back - but not for long. Having whisked away to Sacramento, then off to Pacifica, we got back to find that a temp agency has an assignment for Beth! Meaning one of us has some kind of job! WOOHOO! Next it's my turn. Going to have to hope that I can get on the PCs at the library in Sac and do some more job hunting down there. Fingers still crossed!

Anyway, the interviews went okay... I am supposed to hear SOME time this week from the Apple people about that position, and the temp agency I went to seemed to be more laid back... Sounded like they were pretty much gonna pick a few and say "here!" to the company, and fill 'em.

Spending time with Black Dragon and Mrs. B. D. Was cool (they're my friends from Pacifica.) Got to spend some time under a roof, playing with the puters, and hanging out. Also got to sleep horizontally. Very nice after having to sleep in the car for so long. ;) They were excellent hosts, and the weather was suh-weeeeet! It was about 65-70 degrees and foggy for 90% of the time there... Just perfect. :D

Anyway, we're off once again to Sac tonight, since Beth starts her assignment tomorrow morning bright and early. So here we go... Have a good one and again, best to you all and wish us the best!

- Drake and Beth Steele.

Well, we're prepping for our trip to Stockton, then Sacramento, then Santa Rosa, and finally to Pacifica for the weekend to stay with my friends. Job interviews are the reason for the trip... three for me, and one for Beth. Keep your fingers crossed! We think we've got up enough help from family and local organizations to make the trip. :o)

Here's an interesting little thing. Apparently, Beth's mom doesn't approve of her choice to be with me out here. She sent the police to ask if she was being held against her will. She, of course, let them know differently. Sigh. I wish that for once, Beth's mom would treat her like the adult that she is and allow her to make her own decisions without butting into every aspect of her life. She meddled in the beginning of her last relationship, and that didn't go well. This time, Beth is making her own decisions and so far, she has been happier, relationship-wise, than she ever has. (By the way, so have I. I love this gal with all my heart and soul. She is my world, though her mother seems to think otherwise.) She should be a bit understanding, considering some of what she's been through in life. But no, she just flatly refuses to believe in us and in what we can do. Her loss, in my opinion. She's alienating her future son-in-law, and in doing so, alienating her own daughter. If their relationship sours, she will have no one to blame but her own meddling self. Sad thing, that. I'd like to actually have in-laws that accept me, like mine have accepted Beth. They love her like she was always part of the family, and because she makes me happy, they want to see us succeed together. I don't know what school of thought Beth's mom follows, but it is inherently flawed. You don't talk down about those your loved ones love, without alienating those loved ones and causing rifts. I've seen those rifts become irreparable. I hope for her sake that she accepts Beth's decisions, and respects them, and through that, becomes closer to her daughter rather than being pushed away. Because this kind of behavior is just asking for that.

Anyway, wish us luck on the trip and the interviews... maybe the light is finally showing up at the end of the tunnel!

- Drake out.

Hello all!

It's me, Beth, with a quick update for you in case we don't get to blog while we're "out of town".
I finished my 20 job searches for the month as required by social services, and hence will be able to show at my 8/10 appointment with proof I did more than sit on my arse all month.
We will be able to make it to the interviews with clean clothes and a cleaner car.
My testing went well, and the employment agency seems quite interested in me, which is good news.
The Jackson police are still *&%$ers, and they harrassed us *again* this morning, this time for removing Drake's beard in public. There be a nice warm humid seat in heck for them, with cold coffee, stale donuts and lukewarm flat soda all around.
Drake is all groomed and so handsome it's all I can do to keep my hands off of him.
We got ahold of a free disposable camera at the foodbank yesterday and are taking pictures of each other, including Mr. Gorgeous here. We've just got to find someone to take a pic of us both.

Anyway, that's all for now. Wish us luck for the weekend, and look out for results of our quest.

~Beth

(Sesame Street theme plays, and Beth speaks in her best 'Elmo' voice) Hello everybodeee!!! It's Beth, typing from her comfortable (or reasonably so) perch next to Drake here in the library. Today started off horribly, and thankfully didn't follow suit all day. (end Elmo voice)
At 6am, just as we were waking up for the day in the parking lot we sleep in (the parking lot the city police have told us we could sleep in!), Drake noticed someone approaching the car. As he pulled open the makeshift curtain and said "Hello?", one of Jackson's finest (the same *&^% that had my car towed) demanded to know if we'd been sleeping there. Well, hell yes we had, and he knew it. We've only spoken to this same *&^$ about 80 times in the past couple of months. He's looked at our IDs so many times, we're expecting birthday cards.
Of course, he still asked to see Drake's ID this time (why?), and if you've been reading, you know that said ID is tucked safely in his wallet....in another city in their police lost'n'found. So we searched frantically for the "interim license" (read: piece of paper that could have been printed by anyone) that the state of California issues to folk when they apply for a new/replacement license. After repeating the request while we searched a couple of times, Officer Hardhead accepted the license number Drake told him and looked him up. All this hassle, and it ended up with him getting a ticket with a request to appear in court. Apparently, he's being charged with a misdemeanor: camping within city limits without a permit. Just lovely.
Then, the day took a turn for the better. I applied to 5 more jobs on monster.com in Sacramento, where it looks like we'll be heading on Thursday. Drake applied for as many jobs in the same area as he could, trying to garner at least a few more interviews. I got a response from a temp agency regarding a specific job, and just finished the online testing for the job. I don't know my scores yet, as I have to call back the lady who arranged for the tests. I'll do that in just a few minutes, but first I'll tell you the rest. After we finished with the Job Connection action for the day, we headed off to the food bank and showered off again, and got some doughnuts to help the rumblies in the tumblies. Job Connection and food bank usually lead into library time, but today there were voicemails on Drake's phone when we were finished with food bank. One was from the temp agency asking me to call, and the other was for Drake, from another potential employer. Just as we finished returning those calls, the phone beeped again and there was another voicemail for Drake asking for his help with a computer issue. This led to a quick trip out and a job for Drake. Looks like we *will* be making it to Sacramento after all. (yaay!) I also called my social worker to find out when I can be expecting my next GA (general assistance) check, hoping that maybe we could have that money in hand when we head off to Sacramento. No official word yet, but we'll see.
Tonight a very conservative shopping trip and laundry are planned. We're hungrily eyeing the bag of soup mix that made it into the mailbox today. That is one big bag! And the company actually sent some freebies in the bag. Surf on in and have a look around. We got our big giant bag (which sells for about $8 - and feeds 17 people) for free and paid $3.50 in s&h. Get yours here: http://www.ed-foods.com/freesample2.html
Tomorrow promises to be a busy day; since we have a filthy car to clean out and I still need to do 6 more job searches to fill the monthly quota of 20 that GA requires of me. Whee!
(Elmo voice again; begin Sesame Street Music) Today's episode was brought to you by the letters f, t, and p, and the number 86, and the word *&^%. (Sesame Street music fades out)
Anyhow, tune in each (or close to) day for yet another episode of "The Young and the Homeless."