Rain; temporal disorientation visitor from Kiev; the life of Rick Nelson

Rain! It actually rained this afternoon. But more is needed. Slow, drizzly rain that lasts all night.

When I left for lunch, there was a smell of smoke in the air, and the sky was ashen with clouds appearing to arc from horizon to horizon. As I crossed the parking lot, I could hear the toll of a church bell, solitary peals separated by silence. For several minutes, I felt something I can only call temporal disorientation. As though I was hearing and seeing at another time. It was not like deja vu, for there was no sense of having been in this situation before. All in all, a very odd sensation.

After lunch, I met with a member of a technical exchange program from Kiev, Ukraine. (For a couple of years, representatives from various members of the old Soviet federation have visited the agency. I'm not sure of the exact nature of the program, but it appears to be an attempt to determine how the American telecommunications system works.) He was curious about how existing web resources could be used to establish and support a web presence. The net is so ubiquitous in western Europe and the US that it is easy to forget that many places have only the most limited access, or no access at all. He seemed very excited about several web resources such as the integration of third-party forums and discussion groups into an existing system and third-party site monitoring.

Late last night, I watched part of a documentary on Rick Nelson. I think this one was on CNBC or MSNBC. A similar program appeared on A&E several weeks ago. Rick was a very striking individual with his quintessential American-boy-next-door looks and an incredible sexual magnetism. But talk about dysfunctional! Gads! A life like a Hollywood soap: a highly visible showbiz family, an early very successful TV program, use of the program to start a singing career, marriage to a teenage fan, children, divorce, drugs, another marriage, a child out of wedlock, more drugs, money problems, a career on the road in excess of 250 days a year, and death in a plane crash. Both times I've come away feeling numb.

Enough!

PAX!