Day 609

I really like Instagram. If I can ever remember to put my phone in my pocket, I'm going to start documenting my daily routine. There's something nice about these little square photos that seems to complement the blog and foursquare and everything else. The thing I like most about these photos is that there is no option to upload from an album. You have to actually take a picture on the spot with your phone for the application to work. As a result, photographers aren't uploading carefully edited portfolios. They're just taking spontaneous pictures. Very cool!

I keep reading all these serious sounding discussions on Google+ about privacy vs public sharing. I can see both sides to this argument, but there's a hidden benefit to public posting that nobody seems to be talking about. When Alzheimer's and dementia start to set in, I can go back to my blog and foursquare and Instagram and reconstruct every place I've ever been, everything I've ever seen and every thought that's crossed my mind. Maybe memory isn't all that important if your experiences are all out in the cloud somewhere. When my parents were getting old, I noticed a lot of people going around with tape recorders making aural histories, so the past wouldn't slip away. Probably there aren't as many untold stories anymore. Increasingly, our collective stories are just a few clicks away on Google.

Dash had his biweekly antigen shot today. I was skeptical at first, but the medicine appears to be working. Dash's coat looks almost as good as Dot's these days. He'll probably have to continue taking the injections for the rest of his life, but since there are few, if any, side effects to the drug, I think his quality of life will be a lot better. As I was getting Dash ready for the ride over to the vet, I got a call about Dot. Her thyroid levels are a bit low. It is nothing serious. My vet just wanted to let us know. If my own medical care was half as good as these dogs get, I'd probably live ten years longer.

I got a message from Germany the other day asking if I'd be interested in flying to Houston to interview someone from Brazil. This is what the world has come to. I sit in my little room with the dogs, but I'm just as much of a global company as Coca Cola or McDonald's. It doesn't matter if you're making pottery or selling dog collars on eBay, if you don't currently think of yourself as global, you're probably missing the one chance you've got left to make some decent money.

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