journal.melendez.org

If you ever get the chance, check out a band (now defunct) by the name of that dog. Back in the heady days of the early 90's, when I used to be obsessed by girl bands, that dog was among the coolest, with Los Angeles artiness and ethereal harmonies (did I really just say ethereal?). They had great pop inspired hooks and...a violin! Pretty much any non traditional use of a violin piques my interest, and this was some cool stuff. Here's a picture of them. The two women on the left and the right are twin sisters. The one on the right plays the wicked fiddle I spoke of. You can check them out at this site , which has a few tunes. The best, or at least the most characteristic of the tunes are actually under the "videos" section. One of their great tunes is "He's Kissing Christian" from their strongest album, "Totally Crushed Out." The other videos are pretty good too. The first, "Old Timer," was directed by the auteur of music ...

My parents left for Albuquerque after a six day visit here in the Big Easy. It was great to see them and now I feel ready to pass out from exhaustion. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of work to do before a little trip I'm taking. More on this later.

OK, so lately I have been getting ever so slightly peeved when I am around other seemingly "progressive" types, if that's really a type of person at all. I have been frustrated because I couldn't figure out exactly why I have been getting annoyed. I mean, we're all on the same side, right? I would find myself reading an e-mail and getting agitated to the point that I just wanted to delete the e-mail, and pretend it had never popped into my box. It finally dawned on me. It's a syndrome I am going to entitle "liberal bureaucrat syndrome." This is when people, rather than trying to support an idea with activities like actually doing something become involved by making suggestions of things for you to do. Or, the most irritating habit to me, people making extended critiques of all things done by others in the past, from a safe and distant vantage point. I realized that it's not so much people bossing each other around that annoys me (althoug...

So, what have I been up to lately? Hmmm....well, we just made it through our second hurricane in two weeks, I updated the look of the website , I designed a cheesy little web page for a bike ride I liked very much, and next week I begin as a fellow of the Institute of Politics .

Scary news from New Orleans: NOPD looking for suspects in Mid-City robbery, murder- http://www.wwltv.com/local/WWLrobmdr092702.6415df13.html

HACKERS BEG BORING PEOPLE TO STOP ENCRYPTING EMAIL: http://www.satirewire.com/news/aug02/encryption.shtml

The Disenchanted Kingdom: George Ritzer On The Disappearance Of Authentic American Culture. An interview by Derrick Jensen: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/318_ritzer.pdf

Ok, so I have finally stopped being completely bummed out about the world long enough to document the night I went out with 35 people dressed as Santa: http://www.melendez.org/santa/santa.html Another one happens next year, check it out.

Interesting tutorial about how to lobby your congress people: http://slashdot.org/yro/01/09/16/1647231.shtml

Senate Amendment 1562, adopted Thursday, will expand Federal wiretapping powers: http://www.cdt.org/security/091101response.shtml/ Calls to ban encryption: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46816,00.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/627390.asp Re-emergence of Carnivore: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46747,00.html http://latimes.com/business/la-000073542sep12.story Erosions of civil liberties are coming: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46784,00.html

People who don't consider themselves "activists" in the stereotypical sense do feel strongly about the issues affecting them and their environment. However, modern culture has made more people feel powerless and resigned to events taking place, whether they like them or not. This is good news for the mega corporations, bad for communities.

more microjobs: real estate, reseller.

A whirlwind of a weekend. Friday was dinner at Mike and Emily's house. We got to meet Mike's sister Anna as well. The paella was fabulous. On Saturday, we had Thai food with Kenny in Jennifer in of all places, Slidell. It was surprisingly good for Slidell! Then on Sunday night we went out with Rese and Kenneth to the Sake Cafe to celebrate Kenneth's birthday. Rock on old man!

There is a sad beauty to this city. I was struck by this thought this morning as I mused on friends who wanted to move or friends who were moving. I was reminded of those people who chose to stay in Cuba, especially Havana, which is a harsh life to say the least. At this point, anyone who really wants to leave Cuba can, yet there are many who still choose to stay. Whatever that motivation, I believe it is related to the reason so many people live here their entire lives, even though it is a struggle at times.

I need to make the weekly review of my personal goals. I haven't done that in a while, and I need to make sure I am living up to those.

My friend Kenny is going to China.

From Japan Times: Freeter: a Japanese Anglo-Germanism coined in 1987 meaning, roughly, free work. You ditch the career track in favor of part-time jobs leading nowhere and demanding little -- so many hours a day, at so much (generally not very much) per hour, and the rest of your life is your own. Fed up? Quit; travel; drift back; get another job . . . Not a bad deal, thought many. The article goes on to ream this lifestyle, saying that corporations do not look kindly upon "freeters."

I guess I am just a posting fool today. Fact of the Week: Number of extra cops recruited by the D.C. police department to face off with protesters in late September: 3,500 source: alternet

Oh yeah, I worked on the No Wal-Mart in Historic New Orleans page. It's not quite finished yet, but I thought I would share it with you.

Another weekend. Friday night, had cocktails and dinner with our friend Tim. Tim is an old friend and business associate from a previous life. He has a very cool pad in the CBD. On Saturday night, we saw Tim again, this time at his house for cocktails before White Linen Night, a local event where people drink booze and circle art galleries like mercury poisoned fish (or skateboarders). After wandering downtown aimlessly we joined a friend at a party in a loft nearby. Nice to escape the wandering masses below. We saw some friends and made some new ones. On Sunday we did home improvement chores (ugh) and then had a dinner for Cassie's mom's birthday at Bangkok Cuisine, the Thai restaurant next to the Rock n' Bowl. Gotta love that word. Bangkok.