Favorite links:

• Charities: There is no excuse for homelessness, or shoddy affordable housing. But it takes committed individuals. Grab a hammer and offer to help DC Habitat for Humanity. Or help Manna build communities, not just housing.

• Pastry: Pastry Designs. Alas, Karen Corazzini's exceptional pastry shop in Bethesda MD, at which he studied pastry making, has closed. The Breadline is a good alternative although it focuses more on bread. Au Levain du Marais has superb croissants, although you have to go to Paris but, hey, what's wrong with that?

• Books: Politics and Prose bookstore is a superb bookstore for fiction and nonfiction of almost all types (except technology).  Reiters bookstore has the best selection of computing books around.
  Both Politics and Prose and Reiters far surpass any online book seller: (1) they accept online orders, (2) in the store they have a stock you can touch and feel so you can peruse a book or compare one to another, and (3) the staff members have great experience with the stock and subject area, so they give excellent recommendations. And their prices are competitive.

• Jazz: Pieces of a Dream and Oregon are two great jazz groups; both sometimes perform in Blues Alley, the hidden gem of Washington DC.

• Beers: From the U.S., there are too many good microbreweries to list them. Pyramid produces fine beers, as do Abita (try Turbo Dog and Purple Haze) and Rogue.