git clone https://github.com/joyent/node.git
cd node/
git checkout v0.4.5 # or any other version you'd like
./configure --debug
make install
which node # should be /usr/local/bin/node
curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh
# or, for 1.0rc, until it goes live at the end of this month
# curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | npm_install=rc sh
# give yourself access to /usr/local
sudo chown -R $USER /usr/local