Day 1064

I used to be real careful about the software I installed on my computer. Before using something new, I would typically wait until a friend had already installed the same software on their computer with no ill effects. Only then would I go to the store and pick a box off the shelves to install on mine. Now my computer has developed a mind of its own. It's starting to act a lot like my phone. Almost every week I'll launch a familiar tool and receive a message saying a new version is available. Would you like to download the new version now, says the message. If I ignore this message, it will just reappear again the next time I launch the software. I've gotten in the habit of downloading and installing the updates just to make the irritating message go away. As a result, when I begin to use my supposedly familiar software, I often find that a favorite feature has been replaced by something I never wanted in the first place.  I know that somewhere off in the cloud there are people looking out for my best interests, but I would rather make these decisions myself.

It's hard to fight progress though, so I usually just click the download button and learn to live with the results. I've come to the conclusion that it's a lost cause to make decisions by yourself these days. Sharing and collaboration are revered and everybody needs to be on the same page. Like it or not, we live in an age where an iconoclastic thought will never get you as far as a picture of a cute cat.

I've started to wonder how I can make my own thoughts appear like cute cats. As an experiment, I've uploaded some photos of mine to Google+ and then a few months later, uploaded exactly the same photos that are tagged with a currently trending Meme. The photo linked with a popular Meme always gets far more attention. The photos are absolutely identical, but the one without a popular reason to like it always gets ignored. This is counter-intuitive to me. Here I've been thinking that it was originality that got me noticed, when it apparently it takes a village after all.

I only mention all this because when I was taking Dash to the vet this afternoon for his antigen shot I got talking with the director of a rescue program I work with about the theme for an upcoming event. She wanted me to take a photo of a dogs paw pressed against a human hand as a symbol of people helping animals. Sounded like a good idea to me. When I got home, I opened up Facebook and immediately saw a picture of exactly what she was talking about in my stream. Weird. Had she already subliminally seen this picture, or does everything just happen in parallel these days?  Oddly, the fact that this visual idea has already been done will make it seem more powerful to some in the rescue group. There won't be the worry of being the first anymore.

Can you tell I'm rambling. Nothing really happened today. Oh, I did go to the shoe store and discovered that my feet have grown wider.  Boo. Apparently, I should be wearing an 8 1/2 extra wide now.

Puppies are our Dalmatians of the Day

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