hehe ... From my experience perl doesn't like doing undefines hash-refs when your using strict. IMHO this can be annoying as hell when you've got a ton of hashes to play with.
there are a couple ways around it ... easiest thing to do is just take out the "use strict;".
Honestly, it isn't needed on smaller segments of code, its just a good idea. Just don't get int he habbit of taking it out ;-)
Mbond.