I opened my basement door Monday night to grab the trash and suddenly saw a cat take off running down the stairs into the basement. I was fighting a bad cold, so I poked my head down there and looked around, but didn’t stay long. Left the cat some food and water, and figured it would be easier to find with some help from daylight. Went downstairs yesterday during the day, and still no cat. After giving up, left more food and water. This time, the cat hasn’t really eaten any of it. I went back down today, and really gave the place a good solid once over. Took Malia with me, to see if she could hunt the cat down. Still no cat, but I did find a mysterious hole in the back wall that is covered up by a piece of plywood. I pulled the plywood back a ways and saw that there were old birthday cards in there. My curiosity is killing me, but so is my cough, so I can’t really do any high intensity exploring yet in the superdusty basement. But once I get all the way over this cough, I will pull back the plywood and let you know what I find there. It will be a lot like when Geraldo opened Capone’s safe. In the meantime, I’m hoping that the cat somehow got back out the way he got in (through a cracked window), because I don’t know what else to do. Perhaps we should form a cat-search team and meet down there after the Phils game tonight.

Alright kids, it’s about that time again. We’re starting up our basketball league at the Marian Anderson Center (17th and Catherine), and we’re going to continue our tutoring program, which was a pretty big success this past year, culminating in an awesome summer program.

TUTORS: you will be needed on Saturdays from 11-12 a.m., where you will be working with small groups of kids. I am looking primarily for math and english people. The program will run from October 25th to December 13th, with us taking off the weekend after Thanksgiving. You are expected to show up for each of those days and simply cannot miss more than one, since the same group of kids will be depending on you each week. Please do not volunteer if you cannot follow through! I don’t want to be a jerk about this, but it is a responsibility and not showing up because you’re hungover, tired, want to go hiking, etc. does more harm than if you don’t show up in the first place.

COACHES: Coaches are also wanted. There is a coaches meeting this Friday night. The times that you coach on Saturdays will depend on what age group you want to work with. The kids range in age from 7-17. No coaching experience is necessary, though a fair knowledge of basketball is. Coaching will run through March.

If you are interested and are dependable, please contact me and let me know. Pretty much everybody that did it last year is coming back, so I think that you’ll find that this is highly rewarding work.