Plastic Coffee Cups

Unfortunately, I WASN'T floating out to sea on a raft

Phew! Long break.

Ok, so!

New Orleans did not get washed away in Hurricane Gustav. (Buzzing and general approval from the crowd.) A whole mess of issues were raised during the evacuation though, namely because the shelters that people went to within Louisiana had really shitty conditions, and the people who were in these shelters (of course!) were the poorest New Orleanians, who continue to get the shaft from every single facet of our society. You know, because they're poor and therefore not human beings. I'm sure they're just lazy and not a product of a fundamentally unfair system that's designed on every level to keep them out of any process that would allow them to accumulate the means or abilities to seize any meaningful power or position in said system...

But I digress.

To that end, I've started reading Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. It really and truly is a must-read for anyone interested in doing organizing on any level, even if you just go through the whole thing shouting, "No no NO Alinsky, you're wrong!", because he brings up so many specific examples and situations that you have to think about all of it and form your own opinions and stances.

The rest of my trip out West was fantastic. San Francisco seemed like an amazing place during the 18 hours I spent there, and I can't wait to go back and spend some real time there. I put my feet in the Pacific though, so I consider the trip a success. Camping in Yosemite was amazing - we hiked Half Dome, which was absolutely breathtaking. We saw this on the way up:



It was a round trip of 17 miles, and I got blisters, and my legs hurt for days, and I was terrified of the last bit of the climb, but it was totally worth it. Pictures are up on the face book.

Last weekend we went to Austin to visit Kri, which was also really great. Nine hours of driving each way, but definitely a really fun time with KDHL and her roommate Elizabeth. We went to a pirate party on international talk like a pirate day, went swimming in Barton Springs, drove and walked around different parts of the city, and just had a pretty rad time. Definitely a chill city and I can see the appeal to many people - but I definitely missed the grit and hanging sense of danger that I've gotten used to over the past 6+ years of living in Philly and New Orleans.

So now, it's back to New Orleans. I now have two part-time jobs doing web development, one for a small design shop doing consulting and product support work, which is fun and fairly easy, and one which I start tomorrow with a tech collective developing whole web sites, mostly for non-profits and other progressive-minded folks. Both are going well, and getting paid is pretty rad. I even bought a toaster the other day!

Other than that, I've just been living over at Wonkette and following the stupidity of the elections. Samantha and I might start blogging funny political stuff over at Sir Not Appearing - we'll see though.

Ok, go go gadget readership spike!

posted by Werd @ 1:24 PM