We here in Birmingham, Alabama have been experiencing a severe drought for 2007. At last check, we are 21″ below our average rain level. Keep in mind, when I first moved here 5 years ago, a statistic claimed we had more rain than Seattle on average. We are dry, people.

Eight days ago, our 15 year old A/C unit’s fan motor decided to call it quits. Outside temp was 90. Inside was 92. After a new fan motor ($350), it was purring like new. Two days later, it crapped out again. I called the service tech back out and thankfully it was just the wiring (no charge).

Today, the temperature reached 90 by 11:30. My building and most other businesses off of Hwy 280 in Inverness lost it’s power. I decided to take an early lunch and cruise around. I got back an hour later to a blacked-out building. My supervisor suggested we leave for the day. I grabbed my laptop to work from home and never looked back.

About an hour after I got home in Trussville (20 miles away), we lost power in our neighborhood as well! I called Wonderwife who still thinks I am radiating something. She called Alabama Power and to their credit, rolled in about 20 minutes later. Impressive. Power was restored in about 30-40 minutes.

You’d think that was the end of it, wouldn’t you? Not so fast my friend. Keep reading.

Shortly after the power was restored, there is an acrid smell in the air and coming from the air vents. There was no blowing air, mind you.

#$@%*!

Another call to the company that installed the fan motor and rewired to make it work a second time. To their credit, they were here in about 20 minutes as well. The same tech that was here the 2 previous times returns, looks at the unit. Checks the blower. Everything looks fine. We check out the thermostat and ZAP! He gets hit with a nice little 24 watt jolt. Some more tinkering and ZAP! Another jolt. This time his voltage meter runs up to 92. No way a thermostat should get that high. The 15 year old thermostat is replaced with a digital one, something on my list of things to do anyway.

No air is blowing after this so we check the motor again. Two wires had wrapped around each other causing overheating and meltdown, which explains the aforementioned acrid smell. It also fried 2 couplings.

The friendly service tech didn’t even write up a bill because he felt like it was their responsibility (um, yeah). I admit and he suggested that this was a “unique incident” but I would still recommend calling Tri-County to keep your cool.

Wonderwife predicted all of this heat as “the worst summer” when she found out she was pregnant in January. I’m told summer pregnancies are tough. This prediction is right on track. It is hot & dry, people.

In closing, summer officially begins tomorrow (June 21) but it has already been here for the past 3 months!

Yesterday marked the beginning of the end for Wonderwife’s first pregnancy. She is now in the third trimester. Baby Denbow, is an 85% chance of being a girl. While brushing up on month six in my book, The Expectant Father, I came across a few facts of what the baby looks like.

The baby is now covered with vernix, a thick, waxy, protective coating. The movements of the now foot-long, two-pounder are getting stronger, and he or she can hear, and respond to sounds from outside the uterus. – Armin A. Brott

Brott then goes on to say what the mother is going through physically & emotionally as well as what I might be experiencing. I have to say, that most of this is dead on. The period of greatest weight gain, continued forgetfulness, feeling that the pregnancy will never end…not to mention she may feel the same way!

 Baby girl @ 24 weeks

These days on the internets, you just never know what you will discover. I’ve been using a great photo hosting site & social community called Zooomr for quite awhile now and they never cease to amaze me. Today, San Francisco photographer and CEO of Zooomr showcases yet another feature that founder Kristopher Tate has managed to whip up for us…video embeds from Vimeo & Youtube  right next to your photographs!

As Thomas likes to exclaim, “Hot donkey!”

The timing couldn’t be better for me because I am way pissed off that today, Yahoo/Flickr has deleted my pro account (8,000+ photos) at “my request”. This is false and I am awaiting Yahoo’s response and will reserve further comment. Another point of good timing? I have owned my first video camera for less than a week and cannot wait to finally utilize all of the video 2.0 webware.

Admittingly, I am in a bit of photo limbo right now. I cannot access my Flickr account (still viewable) and I am still waiting for all of the promised features that Zooomr is cooking up for me (batch uploader, marketplace, photos in groups, Flickr converter).

Photo on the left, video of the bouncy baby on the right as an embedded tag. Neat!

Be sure to check out my Zooomr account, Mojo Denbow’s Photo Studio

Don’t forget the hot new Vimeo account, Mojo Denbow’s Video Studio as well! More to come as I figure out how to shoot video instead of photo.

This is the first opportunity I’ve had to blog in awhile. Wonderwife and I were thrilled to witness her sister Lauren marry a good man, Tyler. The ceremony was held in a gorgeous chapel in the woods of Bella Vista, Arkansas near Wal-Mart HQ.

The reception was very well done, too. Excellent food/cake, jazz ensemble, dancing and even sparklers!

After a 9 hr drive and a 9 hr work day, I’m beat. I am also having some major issues with Yahoo/Flickr right now and cannot access my photo account. More on THAT issue later. Oh well, at least I have good ol faithful Zooomr to back me up.

Congratulations, Tyler & Lauren. We love you.

Wonderwife and I are headed out of town Thursday morning to Bella Vista, Arkansas for her sister’s wedding this weekend. We’ll stop in Memphis for more bbq ribs from Central BBQ. Oh my..mmmmm. We’ll do a photo shoot at the nearby, world class Memphis Zoo and then head into Arkansas on Friday.

It will be great to see the in-laws again, especially the bride/groom because they are both fun people with great personalities and interests. I had the opportunity to shoot their engagement photos for them and they were fun to work with.

Speaking of photography, they chose a fantastic photographer in Jason Hudson. He seems to capture the emotions and environment of a wedding like only a few can. You know I will be close by watching & learning. Click the link above to see his gorgeous work. The link showcases Mildred B Cooper chapel where we will be at. Amazing.

So if you are in the area of NW Arkansas or Memphis, TN, contact me and we’ll try to do a quick meetup.

So our little 15 year old air condition unit that could decided to protest Sunday afternoon. Today I met with a VERY nice technician who was able to save the compressor ($1800) but needed to replace the fan motor ($350). He might have sold us a compressor that we didn’t need. He could have sold us a new heat pump, but that wasn’t his job. He is a tech, not sales. He could have said it was a 4 hr job when it only took 1.5 hrs. If you are in the area and need some A/C help, give Tri-Counties a call. You will save money & feel a lot better (cooler)

Oh, and the temperature was 92 INSIDE my freaking house. Temps outside topped out at 90.

The pregnant Wonderwife will sleep well tonight. Her thoughts are here.
Stay cool,

Mojo

photo courtesy of Maulleigh

In anticipation of baby Denbow, we finally were able to justify a video camera. Wonderwife & I did a lot of research, went to an electronics store and did the touchy/feely thing and then promptly went to amazon.com to purchase a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD108. We ordered it Sunday night and got it today for under $350. No shipping or taxes and it got here in one day. I love Amazon.

This also means I need to dust off the Video Mojo website and add to it.

I have read about various web applications and software you can use/share with for video much like what Flickr & Zooomr does for photos. I know about YouTube, but what else is out there that I am missing? Add your suggestions in the comments, please!

Apple announced/released it’s version of the web browser to be compatible with Windows. As the title says, I downloaded and then I deleted it. Why? Several reasons. I bought the hype and downloaded. Yes, it was super fast as advertised. Zoom-zoom.

After navigating the application awhile, I shrugged and removed from my PC. Yes, it has RSS and tabs but this ain’t Firefox. Heck, even IE7 has them. Safari cannot be extended (yet) but even IE7 can.

So yes, it is fast, but in the end, it is a browser with an iTunes interface. **shrug**

Mojo’s browser of choice is still Firefox and then Flock and then, even Internet Explorer would be used before Safari.

What is your browser of choice? Take the poll!

Last year the new course at Oak Mountain State Park in Shelby County (half-hour outside of Birmingham), located in the southernmost part of the Appalachian Chain, was praised by competitors as being one of the most fun, fast, scenic and difficult on the XTERRA schedule.

It starts with a swim in the warm water of Double Oak Lake – two 750-meter laps separated by a short beach shuffle in-between.

From there the long, single-loop mountain bike course starts at about 500 feet elevation, twists, turns, and rolls through the forest for seven miles then begins a gradual 700-foot climb to the summit.  The descent is a fast, wild ride highlighted by the notorious “blood rock” section – a series of tricky to maneuver, uneven and jagged rocks.

“I think this is the best race venue ever,” said XTERRA Pro Jamie Whitmore after last year’s race.  “It mixes East Coast mountain biking with tight turns, roots and rocks with a fast descent and rock garden area that’s totally West Coast.  It’s just a blast!”

The run is simply punishing, with four major climbs – each progressively steeper than the one before.  In between the climbs are a series of weaving off-road trails that meander through forested sections that provide shade, if not relief, from the heat.

Oak Mountain State Park is also home to the BUMP and Grind mountain bike race, one of the best mountain bike events in the Southeast now in its 13th year (last Sunday, June 3), as well as the popular Buster Britton Memorial road triathlon – which is part of the Best of the U.S. triathlon series (June 9).

XTERRA has teamed up with Buster Britton to provide special recognition for those athletes brave enough to do both races – aptly named the Bama Slamma Double Competition.  A trophy will be given to the racer with the best combined time in the XTERRA Southeast Championship and the Buster Britton.  Last year Craig Evans (who has since turned pro) won the Buster Britton then finished 9th overall (top amateur) in XTERRA to win the men’s double.

The XTERRA Southeast Championship race weekend (June 8-10) also includes a Friday night trail run, GU Charity Ride on Saturday, and a Sunday morning Duathlon to go with the full and half-distance XTERRA’s.

Click here for a more details, start times, where to see the action, etc.

I’ll be racing myself from the lake to about midway up the mountain for some mountain biking shots and hurry down for some trail running shots. Email me if you are planning on going.

Check out my photos from last year’s inaugural event below:

During the recent Do Dah Day event in the loft district of Birmingham, I got to hear a band called The Mojo Brothers (no relation). They played more than a few of my favorites, including “All Of Your Love” By John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers.

So this past week I received an email from Bill Ledbetter of the Mojo Brothers inviting me out to their gig on Friday night in Lakeview. Should be a good time and great music.

Check out the Mojo Brothers MySpace page here

 A random look as to what is on Audio Mojo aka the iPod. These are the first 10 songs that turn up in “shuffle” mode.

1. Me vs.The World, Madina Lake
2. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs, Fall Out Boy
3. Paradigm, All Together Separate
4. Constantinople, The Decemberists
5. Key To The Highway, Eric Clapton
6. All Of The Small Things, Blink 182
7. Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues, Buddy Guy
8. She Bop, Cyndi Lauper (its Wonderwife’s song, I swear!)
9. A Beautiful Collision, David Crowder Band
10. Together, Raconteurs

So there you have it. Just a little more insight into what goes into the Mojo’s head. Scary, ain’t it?

I saw this tee on the interwebs recently and just had to share it. Non-bloggers out there don’t understand the paranoia bloggers feel if they think no one reads their content. As for me? Well, lets just say that as much as I like the self-depreciating message of the tee, I won’t be needing it anytime soon.

Thanks for your time, attention and contributions. Keep em coming!