Good morning, 2009. In the category of things-you’ve-always-meant-to-do: today I stopped in at 826 Chicago, the Midwestern outpost of the Eggersian armada of tutoring organizations / oddball emporiums, to see if I could volunteer as one of their writing tutors. I would like to get back to working with kids more.

The SF branch 826 sells pirate implements, but this one is a spy supply shop. It has the same assortment of McSweeneys-published items, though, the same delicious magazines and books. I felt like I was back on Valencia.

The man behind the desk was another one of these Chicago transplants I keep meeting, someone who moved here in the last year, who chose this city, not for a particular job, but for its generally high quality of life.

I think it’s a good sign that this 826 is walking distance from my home in Humboldt Park.

I hope this is the year, for all of us, of doing the things we always meant to do.