Day 2028

It's finally dry enough to apply the mosquito repellant we got for the yard. The stuff we purchased is supposed to be completely safe for children and dogs, so it probably won't even work. It's worth a try though. The mosquitoes are terrible this year. After I sprayed, the entire yard smelled like Citronella candles. The smell isn't unpleasant though. It's much better than the typical poisonous chemicals that are usually recommended to control mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are fairly tenacious. Nothing we have tried over the years has been very effective. I remember one Summer where we got an odd looking device that was supposed to attract and kill large numbers of mosquitoes by luring them to a trap with carbon dioxide that was generated by a little engine that ran on propane. I remember buying a lot of propane that Summer, but I got the same amount of mosquito bites as always. The machine was worthless. Maybe this new organic spray will do a better job. I certainly didn't see many mosquitoes this afternoon, but that was probably just because it was a windy day.

I got the laundry and vacuuming chores done fairly quickly today, so there was still time to go to the gym. I find that I'm having kind of a Pavlovian response to wearing the Apple Watch. When I punch in the number of calories I want to burn on the Fitness app, I actually keep exercising until the little bell on the watch rings, indicating that I've met my goal. Twice now, I have stayed longer at the gym than I initially intended, just to hear the little bell ring. I'm not a goal oriented person either. I'm just fascinated by machines.

I never use to get work assignments over the weekend, but now this is pretty commonplace. The lines that used to exist between work and home have been hopelessly blurred. I guess today's website updates could have waited until Monday, but I went ahead and took care of things today, Why wait? Tomorrow is going to be pretty much the same as today anyway. The only real reason I go to the gym on Sunday is that Janet is usually home to keep an eye on the dogs. Without this little diversion, most Sundays would just seem like another work day. At least I'm caught up on things for a while. I always like an empty to-do list.

Today was a good day for world events. The Russian Progress spacecraft made it safely to the international space station with several tons of much needed supplies. The US woman's team won the world cup. And Greece voted a resounding no to the European bailout plan. I actually think it would be a good thing if the Greeks dropped out of the European Union and went back to using the Drachma. Let's bring back the Deutsche Mark, the French Franc, the Italian Lira, and all the other currencies as well. I remain convinced that globalization is not a good thing. With lots of small independent countries, many problems remain localized and contained. In a global economy, a single persistent problem can easily escalate out of control and ruin things for everybody. Sure things would be less efficient and more expensive if everybody printed their own money and made their own stuff. Do we really want efficiency though? Forest fires are efficient. What the world needs now is redundancy. I don't think we're ready to be one world yet. Just look at us. Nobody at any level can agree on anything these days.

I'm certainly not going to worry about world events tomorrow. I've got my own problems. I've got a dog who poops in the house. I've got a yard that's a breeding ground for mosquitoes. And I'm not getting enough sleep. In the grand scheme of things, these are very small problems. If everybody just minded their own business and concentrated on their own small problems, I don't think we would have so many large problems.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day