Day 2029

Years ago, I made one of those micro loans that are supposed to help people in developing countries buy a cow or plant more rice or something. I completely forgot about the small loan, although from time-to-time the investment would deposit quarterly interest payments of $2.50 in my Paypal account. Much to my surprise, I received a notice the other day telling me that the loan had been paid in full and my principal was being returned to me. I kind of liked the symmetry of the whole transaction. I had helped someone I didn't even know and many years later, the money came back to help me pay for Dot's cancer medication. I think the principal will pay for one month of Palladia pills. This is the way money should work. You help someone buy a cow and then the favor is returned when you least expect it to help extend a dog's life. This simple investment was never designed to make anyone rich, but there was an honesty about it that just doesn't exist on Wall Street. Unfortunately, simple honesty seldom pays the bills. With two high maintenance dogs, a laundry list of prescription medications to take every month, and an insatiable desire for the latest gear, I'm afraid micro loans are just a symbolic gesture. I still need the stock market to go up.

I spent most of the day cropping and re-sizing photos for a media presentation. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I'd just shot the photos in a 16x9 format in the first place. Hey, how was I to know that this is how they'd end up being used? I could have batch processed the files to save time, but then nothing would have been cropped correctly. There must be an easier way to do this, but I still find myself opening up each individual image in Photoshop, cropping it manually, applying color correction, and then finally reducing the file size a bit so it will load quickly on the destination device. I think I did a good job cropping hundreds of photos, but I have a feeling that half the images won't end up being used anyway. That's just the way it goes in my world.

Dot seemed shaky again today. It remains a mystery to me why she wakes up strong some days and is weak and shaky on others. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to her energy levels. Some days she's full of energy, even on those hot days when she should be tired. Then there are times when she has no energy at all, even when the weather is perfect. It's just as confusing trying to figure out what causes her to poop in the house. She'll be right on schedule for three or four days at a time, and then the next day poop will just fall out of her. Her diet is consistent. I am consistent about feeding her and taking her outside. Maybe this is just an inevitable part of the aging process.

One of my favorite doctors is closing his practice at the end of the month. I made an appointment well in advance to see him one more time before he disappears forever. Today, I got a call from the clinic saying that the doctor would be in surgery on the day of my appointment and that I would have to reschedule with someone else. "But I scheduled this a long time ago," I said. "I specifically wanted to see this particular doctor." "I understand," the nurse said, "but he is completely booked until he leaves at the end of the month." "You'll have to choose someone else," she told me. It hardly seems fair, but then what is fair these days? Not much, I suspect.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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