Stephen Mejias

We're shipping our November issue today. Shipping gets me all excited and nervous. I don't sit, I shake. I don't walk, I dance. I don't talk, I sing. Like Willie Colon: Cua cua ra, cua cua!

Thishttp://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118953936892024096.html">This; Wall Street Journal article asks: "Are MP3s and the iPod ruining pop music?"

I've mentioned my insecurities and low self-esteem, told you of how I often feel so out of place and inferior. Whether in my personal relationships or professional duties, I can overwhelm myself into paralysis and depression with the idea that there is someone better suited for my life, that I do not belong where I am, that I am simply not good enough. It's a problem. But, considering that I was a red-headed white kid, growing up in the housing projects of Newark, within a large, Puerto Rican family who spoke a different language, and had an alcoholic father who cheated on my mom and often humiliated me, it's not too difficult to understand.

Because, three weeks later, my back, butt, and legs were still">http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/080707laziness/">still hurting, I decided to go to the doctor. My doctor is an audiophile. He had had a wonderful time at the Home Entertainment Show last May. He's mostly attracted to the more exotic loudspeakers such as the Proclaim">http://blog.stereophile.com/he2007/051207proclaim/">Proclaim Audioworks DMT-100 and Loiminchay">http://blog.stereophile.com/he2007/051507mandarin/">Loiminchay Mandarin Supreme, but he's also very enthusiastic about smaller, more affordable designs from ZVOXhttp://blog.stereophile.com/he2007/051307zvox/">ZVOX; and Audioenginehttp://blog.stereophile.com/he2007/051407audioengine/">Audioengine;.