It’s a two bedroom at Belmont Ave E & Bellevue Pl E with hardwoods, lots of natural light, plenty of space and an incredible view of downtown, the Space Needle and Lake Union. We move in soon, so stay tuned.

Also, Nodira finally turned 21 and I’ve posted some pictures in the gallery.

The shelter is for non-violent homeless teens in the U-District and it’s a place where they can eat, sleep and take it easy while trying to get on their feet. I wish I could say I do it to give a little back to the community, but I’d be lying. The work is mostly fun and takes my mind off grad school.

I was in the kitchen when I heard the explosion above me. It was the kind of loud that startles but doesn’t frighten. Moments after the bang started to fade, I felt debris rain down and instinctively turned my back to the noise. I could have sworn the old dishwasher had exploded, but the draft blowing in from the window suggested otherwise.

It didn’t take long to figure it all out. Someone had thrown an empty forty at the shelter. The bottle had punched a hole in the leaded window and then exploded over my head once it made it through. Cool, huh?

No one was hurt, so I shrugged off the glass and everyone else shrugged off the incident. Just another night at shelter, I guess.

If you aren’t doing any volunteering on MLK Day, you should at least listen to two of his most moving speeches. The first is the famous I Have a Dream (YouTube) and the second is his last, and my favorite, I’ve Been to the Mountain Top.