journal.melendez.org

So, the alarmist neighbor was not far off on the number. Yes, there have been about 30 robberies. This, unfortunately is also what defines a "real" neighborhood. The very mixed quality of our neighborhood means that all types of people, some good and some not so good, brush up against each other. High crime periods make me long for the physical security of the suburbs, but the accompanying lack of soul makes me throw that idea out the window. Tropical storm in the Gulf today. It will be a hurricane in 72 hours and has a decent chance of hitting New Orleans. Gotta love it!

Crime in my neighborhood can be intense. Right now, there are a rash of armed robberies in the Faubourg Marigny area. If you live in the area and see anything suspicious, please contact the 5th District police at 504-941-4400. One of our neighbors (a man of much alarming news) says that there have been 36 armed robberies in the past month, including one across the street from our house. They are also supposed to be occuring during the day.

Argh! Dead fish in the pond today. Suspiciously, a cat was hanging around the pond.

I live in a real neighborhood. I got up early today and walked from my house to the far end of the French Quarter, which takes about an hour round trip. The neighborhood is very mixed, with rich and poor literally right next door to each other, mansions beside crumbling shacks and punks and retirees, all mixed up together. Gay couples walk their dogs, tattooed and pierced people ride bikes, and old ladies sit on porches and size up everyone who walks by. Most people make eye contact with you, and no matter how strange you may appear, say hello. Many houses are being restored, no small feat in an older part of a city where the elements extract a wicked toll. Our house was built in 1840 by a free man of color and we spent far more than we could afford addressing structural and cosmetic issues. Our neighbors are mostly working class and the ones on the right side drink a little bit too much on weekends and turn up classic rock to deafening levels. Judas Priest whips them into a fr...

Sunday evening was one of rest and reflection. And Japanese studies. Lots of Japanese studies. There will be more Japanese studies today (I have the day off from work), although probably not this evening. Generally on Mondays, I visit my favorite local watering hole.

Last night, our friends Ralph and Terri came to visit us from the faraway land known as the Lakefront area of New Orleans. I made what has become my signature dish, chicken fajitas. I also mixed mojitos and Moscow Mules. This morning, we got up early and worked out. Then Cassie left on a business trip and I stayed at home, taking my old race bike into my local bike shop, Bicycle Michael's. I know I am going to pay more (far more) than what I would pay if I bought everything online, but I really wanted to support a local business, especially one in my neighborhood. Then I came home and got my fix of daytime TV and fed the goldfish in the pond.

So, if you live in a historic city, should there be a Wal-Mart there? Absolutely not. Problems with Wal-Marts: predatory business practices displacing small businesses, lack of a living wage paid to employees, visual pollution, questionable politics, traffic.

Last night, we went to Cooter Brown's, one of the best "college" bars in the city. It's always a very laid back atmosphere. Instead of jello shots, people are drinking premium beers. It also has one of the most rockin' grills of any bar. The Radiator's Special, a mix of fried shrimp and oysters served with melted cheese on french bread will rock your world.

OK, so here's an idea I had for a new business concept: microjobs. Instead of people working at one job, what if we employed people with a series of small jobs? Could this help small business more effectively control their labor costs and give workers more variety and challenge? Ideally, microjobs would be: portable, not capital or resource intensive, simple concepts, utilizing partners instead of employees (think lemonade stand as opposed to amazon.com), local first, scaling to where business can be done, able to start up fast and shut down fast if necessary and with little requirements for offices and other expensive trappings. Flaws that I can think of so far with this idea: 1) There is still a need for a stable, seasoned, knowledgable worker (you don't want your brain surgeon moonlighting as a bartender) in some vocations. 2) Without some sort of national health care insurance, these people could be as screwed as they would be working at a single low wage job,...

Last night was mojito night at The Audubon Club, a gentrified bar in the Lower Garden District. It was good to see some people I knew (and some I didn't) and have some drinks, but I was not all that impressed with the bar.

"The final jet-booster of this trend is the airlines' extraordinarily successful frequent-flier programs, which have provided the burgeoning hyperflier culture with its own currency, lexicon, and class structure. ... The hyperfliers may think they're getting something for nothing, but they're actually playing the airlines' game. By tightly restricting free flights, airlines have rigged it so that a passenger flying for free almost never displaces a paying customer, and typically costs the airline only about $20 per flight. But to earn that $20 flight, hyperfliers will go out of their way to book all their tickets on one airline, and may waste hundreds or thousands of dollars building their status." --Warren Berger, "Life Sucks and Then You Fly," Wired, August, 1999

Updated the opening page to this site .

Friday night: a visit to Ninja Cafe, where the waitress was very skeptical of my knowledge of Japanese. Then, we went to dba and had a few cocktails with the owner of some New Orleans websites for those with prurient interests. On Saturday, I worked on the pond, getting proper filtration set up for it. This will give us the opportunity to add more fish to it. On Saturday evening, I roasted garlic and we made some drinks with Red Bull and then we visited Rese and Kenneth in Rese's tony Henderson condo .

Late night and a long day yesterday. I took a day trip to Dallas for work and worked very hard. Little groggy today. The theme for the day is "considerate autonomy." By that I mean following your own path while still respecting the rights and feelings of others.

Last night I studied my Japanese and played with a gnutella front end called Lime Wire. It's pretty slick, but the selection of music really bites. The problem with monopolies is not that they corner a market. It's after they corner a market and investors are crying for more profits and more growth. Then the only choices are to raise prices (phone companies) or convince people they need the new and improved version (electronics manufacturers), or both (microsoft).

This is one of those days to dig in for the long haul. While I did miss the neighborhood association meeting last night, I had a couple of pleasant conversations in the R Bar with authentic neighborhood residents.

No thoughts right now worth sharing, I suppose. However, it does seem like a good exercise to put something down. I saw this bumper sticker the other day: "If you had agoraphobia, you'd be home by now."

great, his dad really is running the country http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/international/15PREX.html?todaysheadlines

On Saturday night, I went with Alex to see a baseball game. The New Orleans Zephyrs, versus somebody else. I don't even remember who. Mostly, the trip was an excuse for cheese fries, chicken tenders, oversized cocktails and daquiris and hanging out. They gave us those new gold dollars as change, which initially confused me greatly. After the game, we headed over to Ernie K-Doe's Mother In Law Lounge to check out the post funeral aftermath.

Sometimes you're afraid to do something and then it turns out that it was all a big over-hyped issue. Last night we had cocktails at dba followed by a lovely dinner of Mediterranean food at Mona's.