June beetles

The June bugs are out and about. More accurately, Cotinis nitida, the Green June beetle. Today is the first day I've seen them and it's the middle of August. The sight of June bugs takes me back to childhood. I recall seeing them as a boy, catching them, feeling their prickly feet stabbing at my palm, examining them, watching them buzz away - clumsy, near-sighted fliers thudding into houses and cars. They're supposed to crawl out of their underground homes in June. Hence the name. Why haven't they appeared before now? Is it a global warming thing? Is it climate change? Is Obama behind it? Is the CIA screwing with the June bugs? Or is the CIA screwing with the calendar? Perhaps the June bugs are on time, and it's us who are two months late.

Wikipedia says "Junebug is a common nickname for men who are juniors born in the southern United States." I don't think I've ever met anyone nicknamed "Junebug". Maybe it's a local thing.

I'm back

I shouldn't let my blog languish like I have. But really, there hasn't been much to write about. For the last month I've been working intensely on my reminder program. I'm obsessed about getting it to a release candidate. I've developed two websites so far, and neither is public yet. They're just testbeds for the html and Javascript. One is a Comcast personal site here that is plain old html. I just discovered wix so I have a Flash website here. When I started writing the program, I called it RxReminder for lack of a better name. Then, when I went to get the domain registered 18 months later, I found that while I was working on the program, someone had trademarked the name and registered the domain name. So what am I going to call it? I chose the rather lame Reminder XR ... it has the same initials: RXR. Still searching for a name that isn't already taken. And should I sell the program, give it away, or what? I wouldn't mind making a few dollars for the many hundreds of hours I've worked on it. On the other hand, I believe in the concept of community service, of giving back, of doing something to help other people get through the day.

The National Weather Service says my local temperature is 99°. It's August in Central Virginia. I'm a little surprised that it's ONLY 99°.

It reminds me of my last trip to the beach, two Augusts ago. The heat index stayed around 115° every day. The sun was the kind of sun that makes you feel you're getting a 1st degree burn by just stepping through the door. When I got a sunburn while sitting in the shade, I cut the trip short.

(Another memorable thing about that trip to the beach was that 50 miles into the trip my right front disc caliper seized up with the brake ON. I was in the middle of nowhere, so I drove the next 100 miles with the brake on. I had 220 horses and 4-wheel drive - one locked up brake had zero chance of stopping me. But when I got to the beach and found an auto shop, that wheel was smoking hot, and I mean that literally.)

There's something about August. I recall driving into Helena, Montana, one sunny August day. The air was hot and the sun was blistering. I remember thinking, "this is the hottest place I've ever been", and maybe it was. I've never been to Death Valley, but if it's hotter than central Virgina in August, then no thank you.