I have more than 9,000 songs on my iPod so far.

I have many more to still download.

As regular readers already know, I was a rock critic some years back during the glorious post-Nirvana boom days.

And as my longtime friends know, I am an inveterate snob (well, just like them actually).

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The second part of my tale on going homeless for a night comes out Sunday. But that won’t be the end of it for me. I meant to try to keep the momentum going by helping our local homeless folks, but now I’m even more convinced I want to stay engaged in the cause after the torrent of feedback I received.

I’ve gotten so many calls and e-mails reacting to the piece. Most of them were positive, including one about a woman who works at a coffee shop who often befriends the homeless near the store. I’m going to follow up with her next week. I’m so eager to tell you that story because it’ll hearten even the most cynical of you out there.

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I was driving home the other night listening to XM-Sirius’ POTUS station (one of my favorites) as they ran a news conference held by Illinois’ newest blowhard, idiot politician now that Gov. Rod Goodbye-a-vich has been impeached. Regular readers will know who I’m talking about — Roland “freakin'” Burris. The “emburrisment” of Chicago politics.

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