Day 450

I got my March invoices out today. I wish my wallet looked as green as the trees that are starting to bud all over the park. That's probably not going to happen though. Certainly not while the stock market is fluctuating as wildly as it did today. I would welcome a little stability at this point. My website work is all over the place this month, since several clients are playing catch up after staff changes in February. The annual report job I was counting on this month hasn't materialized yet either. I've just got to be patient and take things one day at a time. This time next month, things could look completely different.

It was a nice day outside today. That's always a good thing. I've started seeing tulips blooming already and the wild irises growing all over the park can't be far behind. As I've been watching all the trees start to bud and turn green, I've noticed something else as well. I think someone is numbering all the trees in the park. Why would anyone do that? I don't know why, but there are hundreds of small aluminum tags with a number on them nailed to individual trees in the park now. Last month they weren't there. Most of the numbers in the section of the park where the dogs and I walk are in the 700 range. I genuinely don't know what this means, but there is probably stimulus money involved.

I took a watch over to one of my watch repair guys to get fixed this afternoon. I probably could have fixed this one myself, but sometimes I take watches in for repair just to have an opportunity to talk about watches with someone. Only one of my friends is even remotely interested in watches and he's pretty busy. There used to be a ton of little stores where I could go to talk about stuff with like minded people. Guys might not like to talk about relationships or feelings, but they love to talk about their stuff. There were three little photography stores that I really liked. The Citroën garage was a good place to hang out. There was even a little store that sold model trains I really liked. All these places are gone. Now, when I'm out and about, I seldom run into anyone who has time to talk. They can't. The vendors I work with these days all have bluetooth earpieces stuck in their ears and are trying to sell their wares to people all over the world. It seems like only the dedicated and the obsessed survive these days. Sad. I liked it much better when even lazy guys could run a nice, successful little business.

The dogs have the right idea. Sleeping, eating and charming people with a little wag of their tail. Not a bad life at all.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day