Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Day 2952

My routine seldom varies. Sometimes I'm amazed that doing simple, often mindless things can take so long. It takes far too long to make the bed in the morning. I can make my smoothie fairly quickly now, but it take me forever to drink two eggs, a scoop of oatmeal, a large mixing bowl full of fresh fruit, a banana, a little vanilla ice cream, some half and half, assorted seasonings, and a cup full of ice cubes. My recipe makes a quart.

Walking Dash takes much longer than eating breakfast. We walk several miles each morning at a snail's pace. Dash can't move very fast anymore, but he still enjoys smelling things and being outdoors. I don't even turn on the computer until we've returned from our walk and I've finished doing the dishes. There is no hurry. I know I'll have plenty of time to finish any assignment I might have. It take me longer to find the dog poop in the yard than it takes to finish my writing assignments these days.

Today I finished my second article. It's hard to believe that I used to routinely write 4000 word annual reports when today's assignments rarely top 400 words. The assignments are still moderately interesting and I'm happy for any work I get. It took me less than two hours to finish today's job. There's a good chance it will be the last thing I write this week.

When I was working today I discovered a strange file on my computer. I thought I might have a virus,  so I quarantined the file and started doing some research on Google. It turned out that the file was something Apple installed the last time I upgraded the operating systems. Apple installs hundreds of weird files on your computer and they never bother to explain what they do. A lot of them report back to Apple, because about every ten minutes Little Snitch informs me that my computer is contacting an Apple server. If you think you still have any privacy at all, you're living in a dream world. Apple, Google, and Facebook know everything. Probably Microsoft knows a lot too, but I wouldn't know. I've never used Windows.

I noticed this morning that there a brand new channel on my TV right between Fox and MSNBC. It's called Newsy. Something was really different about this channel. There were no pundits and very few opinions. There were just little snippets about various events in a seemingly random order. The channel is billed as news for millennials. Surprisingly, many of these short segments were actually quite interesting. If this is really the way millennials like to get their news, Fox, MSNBC, and the broadcast networks might as well pack up their tents and go home. Maybe I have the attention span of a millennial, because I actually liked this odd format.

My foot didn't hurt as much today. This gave me an excuse to postpone making a doctor's appointment a little longer. I hate making a big deal over something that might be completely normal for someone my age. On the other hand, I'd hate to ignore a broken bone in my foot. I'll procrastinate a little longer and see what happens. I have no such reservations about making an appointment for Dash. We're going to the vet tomorrow morning to check out a minor eye infection and get his nails trimmed.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day