Miami, Florida, 4:35 a.m. Jamie and Rob are not quiet people. They also talk carelessly, this time about making more money before “we can buy a house”. The average price around here is $192,000. Jamie's 35, and Rob's around 54. Jamie is a headstrong but aging cocktail waitress and Rob was her mechanic boyfriend. I shared a two bedroom upper with them in that design District since October 8, 2001.
[Rob's mother still packs his lunch, but this is not criticism--if my family had lived in Miami, I might still be home myself. The inference here is that while Rob makes marginally more than I do. There is no evidence he's gaining by the combination of cheap living. That house prices from the Miami Herald, Home Buyers Section, 11/15/02.]
I'm still reading “Khrushchev Remembers”. In chapter 16 he describes Egypt as, “What I had imagined heaven would be like.” What part of town was he in? [I wrote a note here that this was supposed to be humor. I actually knew Khrushchev as a template for what happens when an educated brutes gain power. I find his mentality similar to American bureaucrats that is, anyone with a different point of view is unenlightened, and if you really knew what he was talking about, you would naturally agree with him.
I decided not to go into work today. Project 21 is still a month behind schedule. Some one-use tools have to be bought, yet the budget is easily on target overall. My daily gripe: Project 21 suffered greatly. When Rob failed to deliver a toolkit last Sunday as promised, I had the embarrassing task of explaining the delay to Monica and others. Apparently Rob decided to go change a truck battery instead. This was thoughtless on his part, because our display cases can only be built indoors on sunny weekends. Now I'm working on my birthday instead of brunching at the Mandarin Oriental.
[I do administrative and secretarial work on Tuesdays and Thursdays at a place called the Continuum. It's a luxury high-rise condo at 100 South Pointe Drive, Miami Beach, a different city than Miami. I may from time to time refer to this job as 687. Project 21 is the designation for counting and displaying a true one million hand-counted objects. It is a proof of concept undertaking, which will read more about later. Do not judge at this time, it is a world-class historical precedent, not a backyard hobby. The Mandarin Oriental is a four star hotel on Brickell Key.
It was my first real job in Miami, although I was a temp there for the next 18 months. I am fond of the place for another simple reason: my former employee, the phone company, used to continually complain how much they paid us. Yet this first job I got walking in off the street, when all the conversions are made paid me more take-home pay, even after nearly 15 years in that union.
Monica is a lady who runs a hotdog stand outside where I work. She was fascinated by the million object display, it would've done wonders for her business. Sadly, she was deported back Argentina before the event came about. For the record, Jamie, who is dating a guy 19 years older than she is, was very critical about me dating a 23-year-old.]
