I went to the post office today, and I found the most awesome kiosk ever. Now, I haven’t been to the post office in a while—email, IMS, and online billing have pretty much negated my need for the USPS—so I don’t know how long this has been here: the Automated Postal Center.

The Automated Postal Center, or APC, is a self-service machine that sells stamps and other postal services, like certified or registered mail. It’s pretty awesome if you just have a normal-sized envelope to send, or need a book of stamps. You slide your debit or credit card, select the postal type, weigh the envelope, grab the sticker, and presto!

No waiting in long lines, no cranky customers complaining about the long lines.

The kiosk I used earlier today is located in the post office at Penn Center (Suburban Station), between the counter service and the post office boxes. The next closest is at 30th Street Station, while there are a few others in the Northeast.

As many Philadelphians who like to stay warm in winter know, dealing with PGW is no picnic. In fact, one reporter called it “a cross between a Franz Kafka nightmare and an Alice-in-Wonderland adventure…” While the pgworks.com web site proudly proclaims itself “a financially viable enterprise providing safe, reliable gas service,” most of us know full well that nothing could be further from the truth. I do believe I discovered yet another reason the utility continues to hemorrhage money.
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June is Aids education month. Fight .org is holding its first Youth (13 to 21) summit at the Arch Street Meeting House, located at 4th and Arch. 8am to 5pm. Wednesday, June 5th. As our founding fathers declared independence from King George in 1776 it is time to declare independence from ignorance about aids. Come and let your voice be heard.

Welcome to the first AIDS Education Month youth summit! This summit will explore HIV testing, transmission, prevention, and treatment issues relevant to reaching and to empowering youth. Leaders from the youth and HIV/AIDS communities will discuss current challenges in providing community-appropriate outreach, education, advocacy, and HIV care to a population facing rising HIV rates. This summit is youth-friendly and includes a youth fashion show and artistic performances. Come check it out! Let your voice be heard.
Yo! breakfast and lunch will be served. Register online in confidence.

Free is always good and just recently released is the Summer 2007 Author events at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Free author events are held at 7 P.M. at the Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, in the Montgomery Auditorium. Doors open 45 minutes before events and there are usually book signings after.

Some of the authors presenting their recent work are Nathan Englander, Natalie Angier, Elmore Leonard, and about twenty-five others. Events begin May 3 and end August 16th. You do not need tickets, just show up, it’s free.

While there be sure to sign up for your free library card, you can sign up online, it too is free. Have two good forms of identification with you. Once you have a card you can take books home with you for free, but not just books but also DVDs, CDs, movies and music.

This is a great library system we have here in Philadelphia. Take some time to investigate all the many departments and what they have to offer, you are going to be surprised. I will be posting more about the library and what it has to offer in the future.This will give you time to save your money to buy a water ice and soft pretzel after your visit, because the Free Library is FREE.