Some people are starting to email me, wondering if I am still alive since I never blog, write, or call anybody anymore.

Yes, I am still breathing oxygen and drinking caffeine and typing as fast as my fingers can manage. As I may have mentioned, I have to hand in a book on Jan. 31st. And since I cannot seem to write this book at my house due to the fact that I have carelessly allowed wireless Internet to be there, I find myself every single day going to Starbucks.

Did you know that there are people who go to Starbucks every single day and stay there most of the day? And they don’t even work there!

It is a beautiful thing, like a recreation center with armchairs and good warm things to drink. We are all quite happy there. Obama has become president, and every now and then people need to have a discussion about how amazing that is.

Every day the chess players come and set up their games. Alan the Yoga Teacher comes in to write his newsletter exhorting us all to stretch more in the new year. Dick the Mailman comes in after his rounds and reads a book on burnout. Bob is on year five of writing a book. Jane, a visiting nurse, brings in her patient notes to write.

And then there is Ernie, who is possibly the oldest and kindest man in America today still driving a car, who comes in daily to discuss politics, movies, and possibly find a game of Scrabble. We have had many enlightening conversations about education and Hillary Clinton over the past weeks.

The other day he crossed the room to get to my armchair in the corner. It took about ten minutes with the cane and all, and when he got there, he wanted to know if I’d watched the Golden Globes. I said I had.

“Which won for best picture?” he wanted to know.

“Slumdog Millionare,” I said.

“Oh!” he said. “And have you seen it?”

I said that I hadn’t.

He stood there, ruminating on that for a moment. His rheumy old eyes looked as though they might lose focus altogether. Then he said, “Well, I heard it sucked.”

I wanted to get up and hug him.