Day 1496

We woke up this morning to a cold house. Yup, the furnace has gone out again. I know exactly what is wrong. The flame sensor has gotten dirty  and it no longer senses the gas flame. The pilot light ignites the burners, which shut down again two seconds later when the flame sensor doesn't detect anything. This used to happen seven or eight times a year with the old furnace. Surprisingly, it still happens at least once a season with our relatively new furnace. When the HVAC folks come out to fix things, they always tell me that the flame sensor shouldn't be getting dirty like this and blame the gas company for delivering bad gas. As you might expect, the gas company denies this and tells me that there is absolutely nothing wrong with their gas. The furnace always seems to go out on a weekend or holiday too. It never fails. Hopefully, I can get a repair crew out tomorrow.

I managed to get my two large poster projects printed. Unlike the furnace, the printer seemed to be working fine today. Most of the problems I had with these posters originated in the computer, not the printer itself. Back when I was doing a lot of print work for clients, I had a full suite of professional monitor and printer calibration tools. Unfortunately, none of this sophisticated hardware and software works with my current computer. Pre-press software is expense and I just don't do enough print work anymore to warrant upgrading to the latest versions of all this stuff. I wing it now, and it's harder to get a really good looking print. Today's prints aren't perfect, but the color looks pretty close to the original photo and I did finally figure out how to force the printer to make borderless prints again.

Dot and Dash loved their trip to the dog park today. We ran into a friend from our Wednesday training class, and Dash seemed delighted to see a familiar face. The dogs all played for a while while Janet and I walked around enjoying the sunny day. At least it was nice today. On a really cold day, it would have been a lot worse to have the furnace go out.

I finally made it back to the gym this afternoon. I was so busy last week that I only had time to go once during the week. The running track at the gym has a sign that says you are supposed to go one direction on even days and the opposite direction on odd days. Nobody knows why this rule is in place, but everybody follows directions. Today, one woman started walking around the track in the wrong direction and everyone else followed suit. I jogged in the even day direction too, even though it was clearly an odd numbered day. I think people were just embarrassed to tell the first woman to change directions, and admit they took the stupid rule seriously. By the time I left, there were dozens of people running in the wrong direction. Maybe this is how revolutions start.

You know all those list of things you see on your Facebook timeline? Yesterday I clicked on a list that said "17 things that a depressed person should never do."Yikes! I was doing all 17. Don't expect me to change my ways any time soon though. I've grown very comfortable with my grumpy behavior.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day