Thanks to the 75+ people who came out to the W hotel in Westwood last week for the combination of Kiva's 6th anniversary, a celebration of the million bucks (!) the Friends of Bob Harris team at Kiva.org has raised to lend to small businesses in the developing world, and my own birthday party.

The million bucks was actually the team's goal for my birthday present (Kiva did a whole blog post about it, in fact), which is also mindblowing—the idea that my birthday would ever be an occasion for hundreds of people to do something nice for thousands of total strangers all over the world… I just don't even know how to respond. (In fact, these 750 sweet folks have made it to over $1.1 million by my birthday, and are already approaching $1.2 million.)

One highlight I'll never forget: I turned around, and more than a dozen folks had put on matching T-shirts proclaiming themselves officially as Friends of Bob Harris.  

It's one thing to know you have a lot of wonderful friends. It's another to see that they've decide they want a uniform. Wow.

Everyone should get to see something like this once in their lives.

Huge, huge thanks.  Now it's on to two million!

I have a few days in Tokyo on my way to Cambodia for my book on microfinance, so I went for a wander in throbbing Shinjuku, certain something fun would leap out pretty quick. Sure enough, 5 minutes after I got off the train: this curious sidewalk ad showing a cat and a menu leads up to a two-floor complex called the Calico Cat Cafe.

For a minimum cover of about $7 (rising by the hour), kitteh-deprived apartment dwellers can wash up, change into slippers, flump down with a few of the house's 50 fuzzy felines, and bliss out. I'm allergic and have a bad cold, so I didn't indulge, but the cats seem well tended, and customers must follow strict rules about not disturbing cats who aren't feeling all Cute Overload right that minute. Everybody of all species looked downright giddy.

Note the Arabic on the seatbacks. Truly small planet we live on.

Finally — somebody is standing up for things that everyone already likes.

So desperately needed.