Numero Uno.

After the initial first few days at the center I have been surprised at how comfortable I’ve felt while interacting with clients. Mostly I stay inside of the visitation center and the men’s center, and in the morning I ride my bike from the Lake Merritt area to SVdP, located on the corner of West Grand and San Pablo Avenue, which is right at the edge of where Oakland really becomes Oakland to use a slight euphemism.

However, yesterday after coming back from lunch in the dining hall, the door to the main center was locked and I was forced to walk outside of the caged parking lot and around the block to get back into the main entrance. It was a reminder that I am still a visitor in a foreign land. There were stray dogs and more than a couple of guys carrying on loud conversations to nobody in particular and I’m pretty sure one of them yelled, “Hey, white boy” at me. Rather than stopping to explain my ethnic makeup, I thought it prudent to keep walking and avoid eye-contact, figuring the v-neck cotton-cashmere blend sweater I was sporting was already more than enough provocation for any one of them to justify commencing a Jets-Sharks style rumble.

The other news at SVdP is that we’re implementing web-based software to track our clients more efficiently. As a drop-in center with many different functions it has been hard to accurately track the clients and progress of the center using various Excel sheets dispersed throughout the different departments. The software will also supposedly allow us to compile over 1,000 different reports based on demographics and other info we gather.

I’m hoping there’s a report that will allow me to say, “Oh, well I helped seven more clients this month, which according to this web-based software report I just ran, I’m 53.5% closer to heaven and eternal salvation.” Because as we all know, when it comes to helping people it’s all about what’s in it for numero uno, right?