Less than a week old and already this blog is paying dividends in mysterious ways.  This past Saturday morning, I was recovering from my previous night at Washington Heights’ premiere only gay bar No Parking by taking inventory of the pockets in my “going out” jeans: one debit card, a handful of crumpled dollar bills left after generous tips to the hunky dick dancers, three NYC-branded condoms, and wait…no drivers license?

Oh great.  I had paid a price for fashion having chosen not to carry a wallet because the heft interrupts the sleek lines of my Levi’s skinny jeans.  Instead, I had shoved all the necessary items into a front pocket.  Somewhere along the route home, I pulled out my iPhone (who was I texting at 3am?), and dropped my i.d. on the side of the road.

When I moved to the Heights, I neglected to change the address on my license, which meant that a dreaded visit to the DMV was in my future.  But an email arrived Sunday morning that made things seem a little brighter.  The author of the note had found my i.d. and was willing to meet up to return it.  A few hours later, I was standing outside the neighborhood Starbucks wondering how the guy had tracked me down so quickly.  He laughed at the question.

The recovered license with items collected the previous evening

“We live in the Internet age.  I plugged in your name and up came a blog called Alphabet City.  The address on the license says East 5^th street—so I figured it was a match.  Then I read a post about how you moved to Washington Heights and I knew it must be you,” he said.

Since his wife was standing there, I refrained from calling him “my Nancy Drew.”  Unsure of proper thank-you etiquette, I asked if I could buy he and his wife an iTunes certificate.  They just shrugged.

“No big deal.  We’re neighbors.  That’s what we do.”

I’m glad that’s what neighbors do in Washington Heights, and I’m glad I got this blog going.  I sent them a gift certificate anyway—because that’s how I do it in Alphabet City.