IT'S SO HOT, you could...

... fry an SUV on the sidewalk!

Yet another unusual sight on my morning ride. Temps are supposed to be hovering right around the 100º mark for the rest of eternity.

I have never seen a car burn like this one (except on tv). Complete from one end to the other, including the front of the garage and the corner of the house.

Bulk Trash Pick-up

I see some really strange things while riding my bike in the morning.

What makes one decide to throw away something like this? What would posses someone to buy something like this? I've noticed a lot of people around here emulating this body style.

My grandfather was a plaster of paris dealer when I was a little kid. He had these things laying all over his shop, spilling into the house and back yard. Apparently there was a big market for them. I wonder how many of them still exist today?

Rule of Threes

This sign just covers the basics of life, doesn't it?

When I took my Wilderness First Responder course, we learned the Rule of 3s.

Let's see if I can remember:

1. You can survive THREE DAYS without WATER.

2. You can survive THREE MINUTES without AIR.

3. You can survive THREE SECONDS without getting a text, email or call on your cellphone.

You Filmin' Me?

While out shopping today I saw this pathetic little corner of the Target customer service area. Look at that. One counter, a bin full of unclaimed packs of snapshots, and an old obsolete enlargement machine. No attendant. This reminds me of how much photography has changed since I was a child.

In the late 70s I worked as a print processor in the 200,000 square foot Fotomat Labs. On a typical Sunday night, I would go into work at 11pm and get off at 7am Monday morning. In that span of time we would process, print, package and ship out around 22,000 rolls of film.

That is the strangest job I have ever had. My position was to monitor all the prints as they came streaming out of the darkroom. Yes, that means I could look at all your stupid photos all night long. Our policy was to process everything anyone shot. And, yes, people would shoot anything you can imagine. And, many things you can't imagine.

So, soon the term 'shooting film' will go by the way of 'hang up the phone', 'watch the tube', and 'read the paper'. In fact, I shot this pic on my phone and emailed it to my account and posted it up here all in about 45 minutes. No trip to the drugstore. No smelly fingers from developer/stopbath/fixer.

Duck and Cover

While riding my bike the other morning I ran across this in my very own neighborhood! Funny I should notice this the day after finding this video. And now this song stuck in my head!

In the first vid, check out the cool fire truck. And notice how many kids probably ended up with a concussion acting out their scenarios.

120% Pure Beef

The choice was a Whataburger Junior for lunch today because I knew we were going out for a big dinner tonight. But when they brought my meal, I noticed a full size patty on my little burger. Even though I got more than I paid for, I was somewhat annoyed. Of course, if they would have put a junior size patty on a full size bun, I would have REALLY been annoyed. That happened to me once at a Dairy Queen: got more than I paid for but...

I think this is karma getting back at me for all those times at Jack-in-the-Box when we ran out of hamburgers and just wrapped a cheeseburger in hamburger paper and sent the order out the door. 49 times out of 50 we would never hear a thing. Then that 50th guy would come storming back in, throwing a fit like we had insulted his manhood or something. Of course, by then we had a fresh batch up and he got a hot'n steamy one.

I did not make a scene today. I just happily ate my hamburger and curbed my expectations of the fast food industry.

BTW, if you are a future potential employer and you are reading this to try and get some dirt on me, remember, I was seventeen years old when I was flipping burgers.