Day 372

I had another meeting with my financial advisor today. We agreed to buy some things and sell some things, but I still don't feel very comfortable. Five years ago, I felt like like I could retire whenever I felt like it. Then along came the financial meltdown of 2008. I lost so much between October of 2008 and the March lows off 2009 that I still haven't fully recovered. I'm left with a feeling somewhere between irritation and dispair. Let's just say I don't think about retirement much anymore. Sure, the market has gone up in recent months and I've even benefited from the current bullish sendiment. It's all pretty fragile though. One day of bad news can easily erase an entire month's worth of market gains. I still hope to get back to even one of these days, but I've got a long way to go. One or two of my friends have already gotten back to even. They were the ones smart enough to buy gold at the end of 2008.

The dogs were jumpy at training class tonight. There was one aggressive dog that went after some of the other dogs and this incident put the rest of the dogs in class on edge. Dash seemed scared the entire evening. I think most of you already know that Dot an Dash were rescued. We don't know much about their life prior to adopting them, but I'm convinced that Dash was abused at some point. On evenings like tonight when there is a lot of commotion and people start yelling at their dogs, Dash doesn't do very well. We made it through the evening though and now both dogs are happily asleep on their beds.

I've got to go back to the doctor tomorrow for a follow up visit to eveluate my recent surgery. I'm feeling pretty good this week, so I don't anticipate any surprises. I'd just as soon finish out the rest of the year without any more surprises at all. Dalmatian Rescue does gift wrapping at Barnes & Noble stores during the holidays to raise money for the dogs. Janet & I usually take the Christmas Eve shift, because we seldom have anything better to do. This year they want us to bring Dot and Dash to the store with us. That might be an afternoon full of surprises right there.

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