journal.melendez.org

Here's me and Jim enjoying a mojito in Miami.

My ADSL is up again, after 3 long months.

Phone calls. Unrealistic expectations. Everything needs to be done yesterday.

So the roof got fixed. I'm thinking about owning a really old house and all the work that entails. Most everyone who comes to work on the house really doesn't like working on it. It takes a lot to love my house. My house is even mentioned here . Scroll down or hit "control-f" to find 920 Spain. Time to go outside and get some sunshine!

It's going to rain today. I'm a little scared about the roof, but there's no stopping the rain, baby. I'm thinking about voodoo today. Then, I saw this article about a voodoo shrine. From a website I visited: 3. postmodernism: A rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective, anonymous experience. Collage, diversity, the mystically unrepresentable, Dionysian passion are the foci of attention. Most importantly we see the dissolution of distinctions, the merging of subject and object, self and other. This is a sarcastic playful parody of western modernity and the "John Wayne" individual and a radical, anarchist rejection of all attempts to define, reify or re-present the human subject.

Things I am thinking about on a Friday afternoon: Sleater Kinney , anonymity in these times, memes .

Got home last night from a week out of the country. A severe rainstorm leaked through the roof at the new house and destroyed about 100 square feet of ceiling. Ah, the joys of home ownership.

Roy rolled out of the bed. It was the second time he had gotten up this morning. The first time was two hours ago to see Lori off to work. He had stayed up to finish a piece he was writing and when he finished, he took one of his 20 minute "recharge" naps. He put on some shorts, a t-shirt and his favorite boots and jumped on his bike, headed to the gym for a quick worlout. The afternoon at the office would be busy. He had the staff meeting and two conference calls. At least he could stayed dressed this way all day. Roy knows a lot of people in the city, and the success of the company has meant he's pretty well known in entrepreneurial circles. Most of the over-40 types are still pretty leery of him though. Is it the piercings and tattoos or is it just that his thinking is so alien to them? Screw it, who cares, he though. As long as we get paid by our clients.

Whither the Mom and Pop ISP??? http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=01/02/05/2334251&cid=425

Mojito Ingredients: 1.0 sprig fresh mint Mint 1.0 oz light rum Rum 1.0 tsp Sugar 4.0 oz Water Directions: Put a splash of water in a rocks glass with the sugar and mint. Use a spoon or a pesel to crush sugar and mint into water. Add remaining water and rum. Garnish with a piece of sugar cane. This is the national drink of Cuba, it is very light and quite refreshing.

Here's an example of an idiot, from today's news: Update: Teen burned imitating MTV stunt TORRINGTON, Conn. (AP) - The father of a 13-year-old boy, hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns after mimicking an MTV personality who set himself on fire during a stunt show, blames the network for his son's injuries. Jason Lind was severely burned Friday night when he and a friend poured gasoline on his feet and legs and lit him on fire while imitating a stunt on MTV's high-rated show "Jackass," police said. The fire grew out of control and burned the boy's legs and hands before it was extinguished, officials said. Jason remained hospitalized Monday in critical condition in the burn unit of Shriner's Hospital for Children in Boston. The MTV program also drew fire from Democratic Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an outspoken critic of media violence. Jason's 14-year-old friend was arrested Saturday and charged with reckless endangerment. Police woul...

Worked on the quotes page. Added the quote from this month's issue of adbusters about resistance.

There is a new local magazine being distributed for free in New Orleans. It's supposed to be a fashion magazine for the men of the city. Painfully light on content, heavy on the advertising. Another pile of paper is clamoring for my attention. I support the idea of creating new things for people to read. I support the independent press and the circulation of new ideas. I have no use, however, for more propaganda for shopping culture. I would say that our mental space has enough advertising in it already. Our heads are full. I am very fortunate to make a good salary and be someplace where the cost of living is not too high. I really don't need very much that I don't have already. I am tired of everyone telling me I need more stuff. This system keeps us in jobs we don't like, doing things we don't agree with and living out of balance with our nature.

Finally updated the website and the books page.

I hope the mean woman does well-somewhere else.

The neighborhood association meeting was held in the recreation room of a local Lutheran church. I had had a couple of cocktails before arriving, so I was less anxious than I might be otherwise, walking in to a room full of strangers. It was a cold and rainy evening so Cassie and I were wet and harried as we rushed in the door. Our contribution to the potluck was tabouli. We were greeted by a bald disinterested man who snacked on a styrofoam plate of small, indeterminate types of potluck-type casserole based foods. The beef, tomato sauce and macaroni mixture left a thin red film on the plate as he scooped up the last bits with a plastic fork. Maybe it was the alcohol and the exhaustion from the day, but both Cassie and I stood awkwardly at the entrance, waiting for some undetermined thing to happen. "Be sure to sign in," bald greasy plate guy finally said to us. I wondered if the macaroni and beef mixture came with cheese on it, absentmindedly signing my name and Cass...

The airplane to Orlando rumbles to life and cheats gravity one more time. The man behind me is 42 years old and he is telling the woman seated next to him that he has never left the ground before today.

Last Night, I went to see " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. " I went to a free screening, which attracts so many deadbeats like myself that the crowds are almost Calcutta like. I didn't know there were that many dead end service jobs in New Orleans. The screening was at Canal Place, one of my favorite movie venues in the city. Canal Place has an excellent sound system, comfortable seats and good views of the screen almost anywhere you sit. And although the screen isn't the largest, especially when you compare it to the mega theatres in the suburbs, the overall effect is consistently as close to a classic movie experience as possible in today's corporate dominated theatre industry. There are other theatres in New Orleans that excel past Canal Place in one respect or another, but the overall experience at Canal Place is my favorite. I also love the urban setting and the slightly aging hipster population the theatre employs.

Not such a hard day today...so far.

Hard day at work. Need to keep at those soft skills.