Day 1560

Do you guys hate passwords as much as I do? When is someone going to figure out how to use the little cameras built into our computers to do a retinal scan and be done with passwords? I can never remember my passwords any more. There are so many of them these days. You can't use the time honored practice of using the same password for everything anymore either. Everyone had their own conventions and standards. Some want a minimum of six characters. Others demand ten characters. More and more sites are demanding a combination of upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special symbols. This wouldn't be so bad if everyone could agree on what a special symbol was. If I decide to use an underscore, the next person will demand an ampersand instead. It's driving me crazy.

I mention this only because one of my clients was asked to change the IP address where all their domains were pointed. We had to log into the Network Solutions control panel to move the DNS and neither of us could remember our passwords or User ID. We couldn't even remember who's account we were using. The client requested a password reset on his account and somehow Network Solutions ended up resetting my account instead. Every time I deal with Network Solutions, I vow to move the rest of my domains to GoDaddy. Making any kind of a change that involves Network Solutions usually takes up half my day.

Dash is so good about going to the cancer center for his radiation treatments. They love him up at the center and always tell me what a sweet dog he is. Dash is a social dog. I think he likes going for radiation treatments because he gets to play with other dogs while he waits for his turn with the radiation machine. That says something about how bored he must be spending the day with me. If getting treated for cancer is preferable to sitting under a writer's desk, that tells me that the writer's life might be way too boring. In fairness, Dash used to play with Dot a lot. Now Dot is getting too old and doesn't like to play much. No wonder Dash likes to go to the dog park so much.

The weather is getting a lot warmer, but it still seems pretty weird to me. When I take the dogs out early in the morning, there is still frost on the plants. By the time I take them out in the evening again it is 80 degrees. Where else but Texas would you use your furnace in the morning and your air conditioner in the afternoon?

Mondays provide a continual reminder that I'm working mostly to pay the bills these days. Very little of what I do is fun anymore. It used to be fun, but times have changed radically. Creative work has become so commoditized and marginalized that very few folks like me get to pretend they're the Wizard of Oz anymore. Instead, I feel a lot like Sisyphus, endlessly pushing that giant boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again. Every time I take Dash to the cancer center, I remember why I keep pushing that rock up the hill. Work may be mindless, but it's not pointless. It pays the bills.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day