Luke Melia

“The Bush administration is moving to replace safety requirements at federal nuclear facilities with standards written by contractors.” –NY Times

Hello? This is nuclear power we’re talking about. How can you expect industries in a capitalist economy to self-regulate in a way compatible with the public good? Gun manufacturers making gun-safety laws? Energy companies shaping energy policies (behind closed doors, no less)? And now Bush & co. want nuclear energy companies writing the safety plans for the government to enforce?

If Dubya gets reelected, I believe his second term will do far more damage than his first. Think of the 2000 election promise of bipartisanship and how that has been broken. Without the reelection possiblity looming, I’d expect he’ll have less compunction…

“I tried to tell the truth, but the truth turned ’round and lied…”

One of many great lyrics heard last night at the Bowery Ballroom, where The Flatlanders held court. Great stuff.

The concert was a nice boost after a frustrating early evening of volleyball. My offensive game is weak lately. I’m having a lot of trouble siding out and am getting shutdown by blocks. My self-prescribed prescription is hitting the weights; keeping my body behind the ball, so I can see the court and the blocker; and attacking the ball without timidity.

“I think I must have been out of the room INJECTING STEROIDS when Bush updated us on the Road Map to Peace.” Get Your War On’s take on the Dubya speech.

On NPR this morning, a Bush supporter explained why she thought the war was justified despite the new WMD-less statements of David Kay. She explained that “a lot more people died on 9/11.” The program host noted, “that was 9/11, this is Iraq.” The woman responded, “I know, I know, but I just feel like they’re all sort of grouped. You know, like the KKK here.”

Huh?

I hate to kick a guy while he’s down, but my support of Dean has wavered of late. I love his campaign, but am not clear to what extent he is running it or understands it. I saw Edwards speak on TV over the weekend. Very impressive. He might be my new favorite.

I think I’d be fairly happy with Kerry, Edwards, Clark or Dean in the White House. But then, I thought I’d be only mildly disappointed with Bush when he took office. Boy was I wrong about that one…

We woke up before dawn cracked Saturday morning and took a cab to Chinatown to catch a bus to Boston. The cab cost $7.00, the bus cost $10.50. Unbelievable.

We stayed with my uncle, Jamie in the South End and went with him to Boston’s Museum of Science. We checked out the exhibits and watched an Imax movie, Amazing Caves. I love the Imax!

Wayne joined us for a feast of a dinner at Jumbo Seafood restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown. They make these rolls that are made of soft tofu and shrimp wrapped in rice paper that are awesome. We had a nice long meal, slow-food style. We lounged so long partially because the company was lots of fun, and partly because no one was in a rush to get back out into the 10 degree weather.

I spent some time cleaning my uncle’s computer of spyware (while internalizing my gratefulness that I have a mac). We went to sleep late and didn’t wake up until it was time for a late brunch at Stephanie’s on Newbury. I built and maintain their website, so it was, of course, essential that I try their best brunch specialities. The frittered french toast was out of this world, and the smoked salmon potato pancake was delicious.

After all that feasting and the long bus ride back tonight, I walked home from Chinatown to Chelsea, listening to my iPod. It was great to see my uncle, and to hang out with Wayne. Spending time with friends and family over delicious food is one of the best winter activities I know.

One of the pleasures of maintaining this site is that sometimes a simple task will prompt an absurd amount of work. Putting up my pictures from Mexico unexpectedly led to 1) upgrading iPhoto and buying iLife ’04 (the real draw for me was GarageBand!), 2) discovering iPhotoToGallery, a slick export plug-in for iPhoto that makes uploading new albums to your website a snap… if you’re running Gallery, 3) installing Gallery, 4) importing my photos from Slooze to Gallery, and 5) customizing the hell out of Gallery to make it fit into my site in a pleasing way.

So… I hope you enjoy the pictures of Mexico as much as I enjoyed taking them, and putting them up on the site!

Now appearing in a newspaper near you… or not…

Happy New Year! I’m in Creel, a town in Mexico’s Copper Canyon, engaged to be married to Jeanhee, and deeply happy. More when I return…