Day 1127

What a surprise. I looked out the window this morning and the back yard was covered with snow. It's quite rare to get enough snow to cover the ground in Dallas. The dogs initially didn't want to go outside, because it was cold, but when they discovered the snow, they had a great time. We tramped around in the woods, leaving foot and paw prints everywhere and by the time we got home again, the snow had just about melted.

As luck would have it, the only snow that didn't melt was the snow on the roof. I decided to wait until it turned to water again before I dealt with the cleanup ritual. For the moment, the snow is just good insulation.

Today, I took care of keeping my car legal for another year. First I got a new registration sticker and then drove down the street to the little garage where I always get the car safety inspected. Even though they have inspected this car for at least six or seven years, I always have to tell them that it is a full time four wheel drive vehicle and ask them not to put it on the dynamometer. I must have been pacing around the lobby of the garage during the inspection because the owner asked me why I was so nervous. I made up some lame excuse for all the pacing because I was embarrassed to tell the guy that I was nervous that the mechanic would put my inspection sticker on crooked again. He always puts the stickers on the windshield crooked. Last year, he even put my registration sticker on upside down. The car passed inspection with flying colors, even though I hadn't bothered fixing the rattling catalytic converter. I guess I'll just live with the rattle for for another year. It doesn't hurt the engine and I'm kind of getting used to it.

While I was at the garage this afternoon, their web developer stopped by to renew their contract for another year. Since I was obviously too late to make a pitch for the business, I asked the garage owner what the other guy was charging to design a website after he had left. The owner said his new site was costing him $500 and acted like that was a lot of money. Sad. I don't know how you can make a living doing websites anymore, unless you're one of those big corporate interactive agencies like Razorfish. The budgets for the simple bread and butter jobs that keep little guys like me busy keep getting lower and lower and lower.

The price of Apple stock keeps getting lower and lower too. Apple closed below 500 today. I wonder how much further it's going to fall. I'm sure glad I didn't buy any shares at 700. I hate to admit it, but maybe my broker's decision to get me out when he did wasn't so stupid after all.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day