Hot as Hell

New Orleans set a record today. The temperature climbed to 99 degrees. With the humidity, it actually felt like 3 zillion degrees.

I'm talking hot here. The photo is of a fellow I saw walking the streets. He looks familiar. I can't quite place him.

How hot was it today (Wednesday)?

It was so hot...

The cows are giving evaporated milk.

The trees are whistlin' for the dogs.

It's so hot, I saw squirrels fanning their nuts.

The birds had to pick up the worms with potholders.

I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walkin'..

With all of this heat, it is a good thing I am "cool." It's not even summer yet. I think it is going to be a long hot one.

May the breezes blow cool in your corner of the world.

Until the next time
John Strain

The Music of the Night

The Phantom sung of the night's music; tonight I was surrounded by it. I stepped out of my air-conditioned cocoon into the thick, humid air that embraced me like a lover. I was surrounded by it and I sensed it as a presence; more than just air. The perfumes of gardenia and magnolia floated on invisible currents, which brushed my face as they passed.

I felt as though I were on the floor of a great hall or stadium. The trees were the grandstands and they were populated with cicadas and locusts singing their night chorus. Passing over a small bridge, I heard frogs sounding like tightly wound rubber bands being strummed by intermittent fingers. The haunting sound of an owl turned my gaze upward only to see the nearly full moon peering at me through the towering pines.

Streetlights cast an eerie glow and I noticed my shadow grow long and then disappear only to repeat as I approached the next one. While the day creatures sleep, the night's denizens go about their ancient tasks. If I were to close my eyes and listen to the night sounds, it would not be much different than it was thousands of years ago.

My short walk ended and I re-entered the safety and comfort of my cocoon resolved to drink from this sweet vintage more often.

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night
-Music: Andrew Lloyd Weber
-Lyrics: Charles Hart

Until the next time
John Strain

When at first you don't succeed. . .

Let's try this again. I think I have the kinks worked out of the movie. So please try to view it again.

In other news, I am about to launch my web camera. I have it working and all, but my computer is located in the middle of the house. The problem then arises: How do you get the camera to a window or to anything interesting? My iSight camera connects to the computer via firewire and I have to buy special extension cables, which cost about $30 each. I can string 3 x 15' before I would have to stick in another firewire hub. All of that is a pain in the rump. I have also considered a wireless camera, but they cost from $200 on up. The most elegant solution is to purchase a laptop and move it where ever I want. I have needed a good excuse to get a Powerbook anyway. If it were not for the no money thing. . . Oh well.

I have fun tinkering around with this stuff and trying to do things. It is like a big puzzle or thought problem. I also learn a lot in the process.

Let me know what you thought of the movie.

Movie: Bear Goes to the River

Until the next time
John Strain

Bear Goes to the River: See the Movie!

We had some fun Sunday and I have the video to prove it. Come along on one of our routine weekend adventures. See Bear dive into hostile waters to retrieve his prized tennis ball. You'll smile at the enthusiasm of this precious pup and just maybe, your Monday won't feel so blue.

Follow the link below to see the movie.
File size: 7 MB
Format: MPEG-4 (Quicktime)
Running time: 3 min. 10 sec.

This is a pretty quick download if you have broadband.

Movie: Bear Goes to the River

If the movie does not play, you may need to install Quicktime. You can get it here:

Download free copy of Quicktime"

Until the next time
John Strain

I Almost Soiled Myself

Friday at work, I was looking at my email. At work, I have to use webmail instead of my usual mail program. I say that to point out that the interface at work is different than the one at home.

I had looked at a couple of messages, which changed the dark black display type into light gray type. I was expecting an email so while I worked at my desk, I would glance up and click on the inbox button every now and then. I didn't have my glasses on to read the computer, but I could see what I was doing basically. The top two messages were light gray, because I had already read them. If a new message were to come, it would be dark black.

On one of my refresh clicks, I hit the mother load. About 10 new emails appeared. Huh, I thought to myself, I sure got a lot of messages in 10 minutes time. I put on my glasses and began looking at the subject line of the messages. They were all orders from places I shop. They said things like, ORDER CONFIRMATION, SHIPMENT NOTIFICATION, and other "you just bought something" phrases.

OMG! I thought to myself. Some bastard must be using my credit cards to order all kinds of stuff. I thought about how I had just received 10 emails in a few minutes and wondered how many were in the pipeline still to come. I got that feeling in my gut and chest that says, "there is some major shit going down and it ain't good."

I was trying to think what to do to stop this pinball machine of purchases at my expense. I kept reading and noticed the dates were not current. Then I realized what had happened. When I went to click the "inbox" tab, I missed and instead clicked the "bidness" folder. When I did that, I brought up all of my email receipts for things I had purchased in the past.

Pheeewww! It was like waking up from a bad dream; all in about 20 seconds time.

That just goes to show you how powerful our thoughts are. I went from having my identity stolen and being in deep financial poop, to getting off scot-free. What a ride. The feeling couldn't have been better if I had been on a roller coaster.

No financial ruin or identity theft and luckily, no soiling of self. I did, however, get a good laugh out of it and another blog post.

Until the next time
John Strain