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Thank you for visiting this section of my web site.
Thanks to the 3500+ visitors to this website since 1999, and I hope to see a continued interest in the problem of homelessness in Fort Lauderdale in the year 2001.
I am chronicling my experiences for those interested in learning about "breaking the cycle of homelessness", a quote I like from the resource development director of the HAC, Ezra Krieg.
Below is a diary of my activities.
It has been a long time since I have been logging entries into this diary, but many things have changed for me in the last 6-7 months.
Here is a quick synopsis of what has happened to me:
I left Fort Lauderdale in September of 2000 to work for a company named Convergys in Fort Pierce,Florida serving as a technical support representative answering questions for Dell home and small business users. This job was similar to the job I held about three years earlier when I was working at TAG-The Answer Group. Unfortunately the results were about the same. Because I was not firmly settled and had to move again suddenly, and because I did not conform to the call quota assigned by Convergys/Dell, I was let go in early October.
I moved back to Fort Lauderdale when my present and previous landlord, Nina Davidson, drove up to Fort Pierce with her husband and brought me back. I then moved to a 10-unit apartment complex that they had just acquired at 2210 NW 7th Ct, in the Sistrunk corridor in November 2000. I stayed at that property until May of 2001. I earned my rent privileges by being a semi-security guard on the property and helped with general cleanup on the property, painting, sweeping, etc.
On April 10, 2001 I started working as a cashier at Wal-Mart Sawgrass Mills in the Garden department. I generally work two 2PM-10PM shifts, 2 4PM-Midnight shifts and one 11AM-8PM shift. I really enjoy the work there, and because I now have a solid income and since the renovation work at the 10-unit property was almost complete, Nina moved me back to the Commercial/Powerline property in May 2001.
Only three weeks after I moved back to Commercial/Powerline, I got into a verbal argument with one of the other tenants at the house which is still classified as a "half-way" house, because he didn't like the fact I was coming home at 2:30 AM and waking him up from sleeping on the couch, where he should'nt have been anyway.
Then on May 15, while I was at work, someone broke into the bedroom window, and stole my laptop computer and case, some music CDs, and some DVDs that Nina did not take with her when I moved out before. All together the loss at original cost was about $2800, but the computer was almost 2 years old, and was only worth $800 at trade-in at Gateway.
I continue to work at Wal-Mart and on June 26, I upgraded my bike at the Miramar Wal-Mart because the pedal shaft on my existing bike (which I had bought a month before) was failing, and I need the bike to get home on the 4PM-Midnight shifts, since there are no buses running at that time of night.
As time permits, I really will try to make more frequent entries to the diary, and my extreme apologies for not doing so sooner.
To read previous entries from the diary please click on any of the links below.
HAC Diary Entries
January 31-February 6
February 7-February 13
February 14-February 20
February 21-February 27
February 28-March 6
March 7-March 13
March 14-March 20
March 21-March 27
March 28-April 3
April 4-April 10
April 11-April 17
April 18-April 24
Post-HAC Diary Entries
May 1999
June 1999
July 1999
August 1999
September 1999
October 1999
November 1999
December 1999
2000 Diary Entries
January 2000
February 2000
March 2000
April 2000
May 2000
2001 Diary Entries