Day 2165

I didn't have time to take a shower this morning because I was waiting for the HVAC guy to come over and give me an estimate for installing a whole house dehumidifier. The HVAC guy was running late, so he didn't make it over at all. Damn, I could have taken a shower after all. I tried real hard to be on time for Dot's physical therapy session, but I was late too. I just can't seem to get Dot out of the house in the mornings. If I point her toward the front door, she inevitably wants to go out the back door. I always oblige, because I think she might need to pee. I'd rather be late than have Dot pee in the car. For the second week in a row, I had to stop the car midway to the vet's office to re-position Dot after she had gotten stuck in an awkward position. Oddly, nobody seemed upset when we arrived fifteen minutes late. I suspect they were running late as well. It was just that kind of day.

There was extra laundry this morning because Dot pooped in her bed again. It's just as well that I didn't take a shower, because I discovered that there is still a leak in the shower pan. My caulking job appears to have failed. When people ask if life has returned to normal after the pipe leak, I just smile and say yes. It's easier to keep my mouth shut, because I know that nobody wants to hear what I really feel. At this point I don't think life will ever return to normal. I've kind of forgotten what normal is.

Even work was problematic today. For some reason only one of the four web cameras seemed to work after I created four new pages where customers could view the cameras online. Since the embed code for all the cameras was more or less the same, I couldn't figure out what was wrong. After talking with the client, we unplugged each of the cameras and then plugged it in again. This is what you do with electronic devices when you can't think of anything else. The reboot seemed to work. The client can see all the cameras now, although they still don't work in Firefox for me. Instead of scratching our heads for the rest of the day, we decided to tell people just to not use Firefox to view the website. Works for me. Very few people actually view the cameras anyway.

Janet had an office Christmas party tonight, so I had to improvise a way to take Dot on her evening walk without Dash at her side. I ended up walking backwards down the alley with a treat in my hand so Dot would follow me. Eventually her sense of smell kicked in and she started walking on her own, but it seemed to take us forever to go a single block. You have to be patient with Dot. If you try to hurry and don't give her plenty of time to poop on her own schedule, she'll inevitably go in the house five minutes after you return home.

I finally found a portable dehumidifier in a store that I could actually see and touch. The machine looked flimsy and was made entirely out of plastic. Yup. It was made in China. I remember the online reviews for this model said that the water reservoir was very hard to empty without spilling water on the floor. I tried to remove the reservoir on the showroom model and concluded that the reviewers were right. I'd be spilling water big time if I tried to empty this awkward plastic bucket when it got full. I still don't know what to buy, but I definitely know what I'm not going to buy.

As if to prove that this was not an auspicious day, a PVC pipe connected to an outdoor sprinkler system in the park broke right as Dash and I were walking over it on our evening walk. We were immediately soaked. Don't even ask why the city is putting a sprinkler system out in the woods in a public park. Just another example of your tax dollars at work.

I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. I don't really expect Friday to be any different than today, but it would be nice to start things off with an hour of relative peace and quiet.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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