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July 20, 2006

Meanwhile, Al's in jail...

We all know people who, for whatever reason, seem to experience more than their share of bad breaks. My good friend Al, who has come to my aid on more than one occasion on tech-related matters, has landed himself in jail for ninety days. Due to circumstances involving Family Court, Al's life suddenly took a sharp turn and he's been in a jail in upstate New York since July 1. He writes:

There are bars in the windows, the jailer carries a ring of keys and when we get hot we open the door. There are no fences, no Crips, no Bloods, no guns, no fights and no problems. We like it just fine that way.

It helps that the entire population of this jail has one thing in common: relationships gone bad. Out of a total population of six, four of us are here on civil charges and the other two are being held for domestic issues (one silly and one well-deserved.)

Prior to his joining 5 others in the small and antiquated jail, Al and I exchanged email after someone suggested he write about his predicament. I offered to blog and post whatever was on his mind and he agreed. Al would send his blog posts to me via snail mail and I'd put them up for him. Last week he sent me a letter that included 2 posts for his blog. You can read them here.

I can't begin to imagine what it's like being in jail, let alone one where you can't go outside for ninety days. I'll guess that Al is passing the time doing a tremendous amount of reading and writing. I know that the receipt of letters is a welcome distraction for him. In fact, he asked that I put the address of the jail on his blog to encourage folks to drop him a line. If you're so inclined and would like to bring a bit of sunshine to someone I consider a good friend, send him a letter. The address is in the sidebar of his blog. I know he'd be surprised and would greatly appreciate it.

Cindy