Day 1055

I don't think I'm a spokesperson for Paypal anymore. The Paypal Advantage program that I was helping to promote seems to have disappeared. I looked on the Internet yesterday and all references to the program have vanished. Very few people saw the ads featuring me and a Dalmatian as satisfied Paypal users, but I swear they actually did exist. I saw them myself. Oh, well. And I was hoping to be like William Shatner for Priceline.com. The only other company that has ever used me in their advertising was Wordstar. Remember Wordstar?  I didn't seem to do that company much good either.

My little photo shoot this morning went pretty well, considering that we did the photography at the wrong time of day and the lighting was terrible. It was good practice for me. I need to remember how to deliver good results under bad conditions.

At one point I was seriously considering turning my company into a more retail business, taking family portraits and pet pictures. That little fantasy didn't last long. I quickly learned that professional art directors and graphic designers were much easier to deal with than regular folks. It seemed like the less money people had for photography, the more they wanted in return. Now, I have a simple rule of thumb. If there isn't an accounts receivable department to send the invoice to, don't do the job. I'll occasionally take pictures as a favor, like I did this morning, but I'll never charge for them. It's just too depressing to see what friends actually think you are worth.

The clear skies and bright sunlight might not have been good for photography, but it was perfect for taking the dogs to the dog park. Now that Janet's Land Rover is back in service, the dogs were much better travelers. They seem to like Janet's car better than mine.  They hated the Kia Sorento rent car.  The back seat wasn't deep enough and they kept falling out of the seat every time we went around a corner. Thankfully, everything is back to normal now. Life is good.

Next weekend, the annual Santa Paws photo season returns for another year. Dalmatian Rescue has lined up five different locations this year. I hope I'm up to the challenge. Each year my knees seems to get worse and worse. After kneeling and standing up over and over again for six hours, I always feel like someone needs to scrape me off the floor with a spatula at the end of the day. The only thing more grueling than being the photographer at these events is being Santa. I'm really glad that I don't have to wear a Santa suit and have big dogs sit on my lap all day.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day