Southern Decadence Festival

it is not too late to attend this Labor Day weekend's Southern Decadence Festival in New Orleans. Also known as the Gay Mardi Gras, this gay celebration brings in an estimated $95 million to the New Orleans economy.



Visit the Southern Decadence Festival website for more details.







This photo is an indication of what you could miss if you stay away from New Orleans this weekend.



Enough said.



Until the next time

John Strain

Hurricane

As if Florida did not have enough with which to deal in the aftermath of hurricane Charlie, hurricane Frances is bearing down on the other side of the state. At this point in the life of a hurricane, all eyes are on it. The news coverage is extensive, reporters fan out to capture the carnage at the site of landfall. A day or two after the hurricane, the devastation is aired and disheveled people are shown crying in close up shots. Trees are downed, roofs and houses are scattered along with the lives of the victims of the affected community. What a lot of people do not realize is how long it takes to get things back to "normal". The devastation is so vast it takes months to restore electricity and some basic services. Rebuilding takes even longer and areas hit by large hurricanes are never the same. Ancient trees, which took 250 years to grow cannot be replaced.



For these reasons and more, my heart goes out to the people of Florida who are about to experience hurricane Frances. They can use your prayers now and in the aftermath they will need your support, both spiritual and material.



Until the next time

John Strain

The Lost Post

On July 28 I took photos of my new computer center and was preparing to share them in a post. Events unfolded and in the process of moving my computer I hooked up a more powerful power supply to my USB hub effectively disabling my digital camera, hub, and scanner. Finally, the ordeal is over and after only $168 to repair the camera, everything else was replaced new at no cost to me. I have praised Canon for their customer support. The only thing I can fault them on is they sent me the wrong USB cable for my camera. Once I notified them of this, they sent me the correct one FedEx overnight.



Now where was I? Oh yes, the computer center. I have had a vision of what I wanted for some time. The furniture offerings at Office Depot and other places were not what I liked. A built in model is what I decided on and even though it was considerably more expensive, I really like the way it came out.



This first photo is of the space I had to work with. The carpet was cut out and tile was put down to set off the area and allow an office chair to roll about.









The next step was to go to Home Depot and purchase the cabinets. We bought cabinets matching the ones we put in the kitchen three years ago. I had a basic design roughed out and Home Depot drew the final plans. I had an installer already so I talked with him about adding more power outlets, more pone jacks, lighting above and below the cabinets, and a wall switch to control the lights.









Voila, here is the finished product. I wound up getting a granite countertop. The installer knew a guy who knew a guy. . . You can't really see the color in this photo, but the countertop is dark green with gold flakes in the marble like finish.









All moved in. I am still trying to figure out what to put where, but I really love the new space. I have lots of storage, more counter space, plenty of outlets, and it looks so much nicer than before. Now all I have to do is pay for all of it.









It took some time to do all of this. If you have ever had any remodeling done, you know how little things cause delays of weeks. But that is all a memory now and I have a nice place to compute.



Until the next time

John Strain

Freedom Isn't Free

I watched the Republican Convention Monday evening and heard the word freedom uttered many times. After all, "freedom" is what we cherish most. I was thinking about the benefits of freedom and how wonderful life is with it, and then I thought about what life would be like without it. Just ask the Jewish people in the concentration camps or the Iraqis under Saddam Hussein's rule. The last thing I thought about was the cost of freedom. I found this poem, maybe you have heard it before, it is worth mentioning again.

Text Version.



Until the next time

John Strain

Olympic Dreams are for Everyone

You may not be a world class athlete, but no doubt you have wanted something badly enough you sacrificed for it daily until it became reality. The Olympic athletes are pictures of us. Some of them are triumphant, some meet with bad luck and tragedy. There are differing personalities. Some are cocky and arrogant, some are humble, and others are shy. I found myself pulling for athletes against my own country at times because of the nature of the competition and circumstances of the event. For example, yesterday in the marathon, the Brazilian runner Lima was leading with about 15 minutes to go when a crazed defrocked Irish priest ran onto the course driving Lima into the crowd. Lima was uninjured, but shaken. He eventually ran out of gas and was passed by the Italian and American who took gold and silver respectively. I was cheering for Lima, I was hoping the nut case did not steal his chance for winning. In the end, I do not think the incident mattered as Lima lost by a couple of minutes. At any rate, my point is at my age, I am more able to look at the games and appreciate the individual efforts and not make it solely a nationalistic thing.



I have been pursuing my own goal in running. To qualify for the Boston Marathon, I must run a marathon in less than 3 hours and 30 minutes. I have been training since the end of May with a renewed focus. Even though I ran a marathon last March, I was not pleased with the performance. I have lost weight, secured the services of a coach, and have not missed one workout. Yesterday, I ran 13 miles at a 7:46 pace (1:41:09). That puts me half way there. My pace is good and I am building for the December 4 marathon in Baton Rouge.



The goal is just the conclusion of all the training. Marathoners enjoy the training. It is a part of their life. The actual marathons are semester finals if you will. There is always another marathon. I like the daily training. The discipline it involves effects how I see myself. It is one thing to think something about yourself or to believe you are a certain way, but unless you are doing it, there is always doubt or even worse - guilt.



The Olympic games have concluded, but the athletes have taken on new goals. They are looking forward to some future competition in which they will compete. They will be spending time daily away from the cameras and crowds. They do it because it is as important as breathing.



A passion is something you do for you. It is independent of praise or outside recognition. Thank God we all can have and pursue a passion. The measure of a passion is not how well you do, but how much you like doing it.



Go for it!



Until the next time

John Strain