Day 675

I took the loaner car back to the Land Rover dealer before breakfast this morning and picked up my Defender. After a week and a half in the shop, just about everything was fixed. Ironically, the red "service engine" light in the dash, which was what caused me to take the car in for service in the first place, was still lit when I drove away. Whenever I'm at the dealership, my recurring urge to get a new car reasserts itself. Usually, all I have to do is look at the sticker price on one of the new Land Rovers in the showroom, and my new car desires dissipate very quickly. I've had the Defender a long time and I wouldn't look forward to having a car payment again. My service guy says they're bringing the Defender 90 back to this country toward the end of 2012. Now, that would be tempting.

The dogs were a bit miffed that their morning walk was a little later than usual this morning. Jeez, it was only 9 AM and they were acting like I'd totally forgotten about them. I did make sure that they got walked before I ate breakfast myself, but they get upset if our little schedule is off by even fifteen minutes.

As you probably already guessed, I got off to a late start this morning. Luckily, there weren't any deadlines today, so it didn't really matter. After breakfast, I used what was left of the morning to re-install the correct version of Avid Media Composer and add the other application in the Production Suite as well. I've gotten so used to the ease of using the Apple App Store, that I'd forgotten how complicated it can be to install and authorize some of these video applications. A serial number is never enough with these old school apps. Most needed an authorization code as well and one even needed a dongle. Oh, well. At least I'll be ready now if that big video production job ever rolls into town.

I had my last physical therapy session today. I'm not completely mended yet, but I'm really pleased with what I've been able to accomplish during the last three weeks. Today they needed to do some strength measurements, so they would have something tangible to turn in to the insurance company for reimbursement. My neck moves more or less normally now. My shoulder muscles are a lot stronger too. What surprised me is how weak my left wrist is. This is the wrist where I still have Carpel Tunnel problems. As it turns out, this left wrist is less than half as strong as the right wrist. I think I'm going to be using my weights and resistance cords for a long time.

As I was leaving the physical therapy offices, one of the owners said they'd be talking to me again soon. They do want to do a series of informational videos for the clinic. This is really good news, since so far, November doesn't look very busy. Maybe I'll use the new Avid software to edit these videos. Chances are I'll still be using Final Cut Pro though. It usually takes me a while to get up to speed on new software.

We were going to have the dogs be Budweiser Dalmatians for Halloween. Unfortunately, the miniature Budweiser wagon we saw on eBay can't be shipped and must be picked up locally. So much for that idea. Without the wagon, Dot and Dash would just look like Dot and Dash.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day