SteveHeckmanOnline.com

Christman's Update #1 (6/30/2008)

At 2:12 AM EST Chris Jollay officially began his week of homelessness. After scouting several neighborhoods and streets in the city he was dropped off on FoxHall Road in front of a peaceful looking school in a quiet neighborhood. My initial diagnosis is that he came in to the week grossly unprepared. Here is what he packed (he was permitted a grocery bag of belongings):

Inside his Pikachu backpack was:

A liter of Jack Daniels/A change of underwear/A spare t-shirt/A spare pair of socks/Several power bars and 100 calorie packs/Two Arabic text books/One word search book/$20 cash (agreed to amount going in to bet)/Health insurance card/ID/A water bottle/A prepaid cell phone w/charger (I got him 100 minutes for the week)/Contact lenses and solution/Bug spray/Sun tan lotion/A marker/and a pen/A disposable camera/A Lighter (thought he left his cigars in my car)/Chris also had a sofa pillow and a small blanket with him.

I took some pictures of Chris as he got out of the car that I will include in a future update. He has said he will each day send me an email recap of his day. I’ll pass it along as soon as I can each day. I am also going to be proving daily updates on the George Mason message boards at http://www.caazone.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=80329.

Right now the plan is to welcome Chris back to civilization this Saturday night at Capitol Lounge on Capitol Hill in DC. Some of us will probably get there around 9:00 and Chris has said he will show up around 11:00. I hope you can make it out to hear his tales from the streets.

Until the next update….

- Dave http://www.endhomelessness.org/

The RECEPTION (7/6/2008)

Chris Jollay's homelessness concluded on Saturday night at 10:25pm. Jollay was greeted by 30+ supporters.

Here the hoards of people takeover this party of the bar. Jollay has a word with Larry

What event is complete w/o the shocker? Best beer he's ever had i'm sure Jackie txt'ing

CONGRATS JOLLAY...quite a feat (ask me about the girl)

Christman's Update #4 (7/3/2008)

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I just spoke to Chris and he does not think he will make it to the internet terminal today, but wanted to provide an update for his public. I will do my best to recap.

Last night for about the first time Chris was able to sleep through a good part of the night. He attributes it mainly to drinking Jack Daniels on an empty stomach, but he found a cozy bench behind the Lincoln Memorial right near the Memorial Bridge. He slept until around 4:00 AM, then began walking around the city again. He said he plans on possibly going back to the same location tonight for some rest.

Jollay spent $2.00 of his remaining $5.00 on a grilled cheese sandwich today for lunch. He plans to do some serious begging this evening so he can have a few more meals before Saturday. He also spent the majority of today looking for a place to get himself cleaned up. He said his hair has started to get hard and his smell is becoming unbearable. After trying unsuccessfully to sneak his way in to several hotel swimming pools he finally settled for a running sprinkler near Johns Hopkins University. He said he had quite an audience watching him as he ran through the sprinkler (he did keep bottoms on) and washed himself as best he could. While not ideal, he does now feel a little better about himself. http://www.endhomelessness.org/

Tonight is also Jollay’s final Arabic class of the week. He has said that his classmates all try to sit as far away from him as possible with late arrivers to class visibly upset that they are forced to sit nearby him. One positive today for Jollay is that last night he decided to hide his textbooks in his classroom in an effort to lighten his backpack weight by a few pounds. Assuming they are still there this evening this will have proven to be a wise move.

Not sure what kind of update I will get out tomorrow. I will be downtown for the 4^th and will definitely be checking in on Jollay. I’ll try to maybe send something out late tomorrow night or sometime Saturday. Regardless, I hope everyone can make it to Capitol Lounge on Saturday night. We will probably get there around 9:00 with Jollay arriving sometime around 10:30 or 11:00.

As always stayed tuned to www.steveheckmanonline.com for your latest updates.

Left: Here you find Jollay on his 5th night of homelessness, just one shoe on....Right: Pokemon pride. (Teddy Roosevelt Federal Building)

Christman's Update #2a (7/1/2008)

Good morning everyone,

First off, here is Jollay’s email he sent yesterday afternoon from his first day. He admitted it was brief but he was apparently in a hurry. He’s promised better tonight.

“Slept at the LAB school in NW--woke up at 530 because the birds were loud. Walked like three miles to the mall, slept in between capitol and monument till 1000. Left my reading glasses on mall will go back tomorrow and look for them. Went to history natural museum.

Begged for 2.25 used that to buy two one dollar chicken sandwiches.

Thinking about sleeping somewhere near dupont tonight because im tired lazy to walk back to NW. Will spend 830 on drinking jack and finding place to sleep. It is hard to sleep in morning with loud birds.”

I spoke to Chris at about 10:30 last night and he was sitting in the back of a freshman orientation session at George Washington University (it was storming outside). He successfully then made it upstairs into an empty, unlocked classroom where he planned to spend the night. The room apparently even overlooked a sorority house across the street where Jollay claimed to have already seen a few girls in pajamas.

Jollay definitely seems to be regretting only bringing two shirts, that are white nonetheless, because his first one is already soiled with dirt and grass stains. If you are going on a Where’s Jollay trip at any point this week to visit him, bringing a spare t-shirt might be even better than money.

Until tomorrow…. http://www.endhomelessness.org/

Christman's Update #3 (7/2/2008)

Sorry for the delay, but here is Jollay’s update from night 3.

“Had to hightail it out of Dupont after class last night. Some gay guy wanted to know if I was on a camping trip--I told him there was no way I'm pitching a tent here. Anyway, stying clear of Dupont from now on at night. Way too gay, and my homeless getup and A Pokemon backback I think makes them think I am desperate for money and half retarded; a combination no sex starved deviant can resist.

Some other guy accosted me when I neared my destination last night as well. Wanted to know if I cooked. Ugh.

My destination last night was my drop point Sunday--hope school in NE arpound 40th and Q. Slept on a swingset and smoked a cigar, pretty good night. Warm until 4 or so when I woke up cold. Left around 515, walked my ASS off. Uphill Foxhall to American. American to UDC/Van Ness. Then I went to zoo. Saw pandas. Saw all sorts of curious animals. Ate some lettuce/carrots outside the monkey cage. Hope they dont pput special monkey crap on it, but i FEEL fine.

Slept in Dupont which is much less gay 11am-3pm. Money.

Things are okay but I want to sleep inside tonight. Putting the huge hit on this 18 year old minkie in my class to hang out tonight at her place in Foggy Bottom. But doubt I will have any success because I am starting to smell bad./weird combo of grime/sunscrren and bugspray.”

I went to visit Jollay last night. Some may say I spoiled him, but I did give him a sandwich, some added liquor and a third t-shirt for the week. He seemed to be doing well and had $13 remaining to his name. Be sure to visit http://www.steveheckmanonline.com/the%20bet2.htm for updates including a couple of cell phone photo’s I snapped of Chris last night. He had just changed in to t-shirt number 2 yesterday afternoon so he didn’t look too bad at all.

Until tomorrow… http://www.endhomelessness.org/

Christman's Update #2b (7/1/2008)

Jollay has provided his update of night two. Here it is

“I thought I had it made last night as I escaped the rain by darting in with a GW freshman orientation group into a building of classrooms. I staked out a classroom on the 2nd floor, closed the doors, and prepared to stay the night, with a nice view of a sorority house across the way.

But around 1130 a janitor found me and kicked me out, so I had to go out for a long night. Its sucks when things are still wet, my blanket gets damp and then I satrt to get cold. I spent half the night shivering on a bench in front of the kennedy center, and then half on a bench on the ellipse.

I really couldnt sleep, but when dawn came around it finally started to gradually warm up--and I slept on the mall from about 8am-1:00pm. I guess by default I'm going to stay up most nights and sleep during the day now--I've still got a good amount of jAck Daniels.

My powerbar rations and $ is getting low, I will have to beg again soon. I couldnt resist getting a POTBELLY SUB TODAY WHEN I WOKE UP. My sign is : temporarily homeless--and not all that bright--please help.”

http://www.endhomelessness.org/