Day 2237

A year ago at this time I was a guest of NASA at Vandenberg Air Force Base. I had been invited to witness the launch of the SMAP satellite and still remember the experience fondly. I haven't been anywhere since. Shortly after I returned, Dot injured her spine and life changed radically. I had an opportunity to go to Kennedy Space Center and view another launch later in the year, but it wasn't very practical. Taking care of Dot requires all hands on deck. Now, I have an opportunity to take a much shorter trip to Houston to get a progress report on the Orion program and a tour of mission control. I think I could make the trip in a single day, but it's hard to decide whether this NASA event is feasible either. Even if Janet came home for lunch that day to check on the dogs, they would still be alone for a long time. Dot can get in trouble so easily now that I hesitate to leave her at all. I need to think about this. I can't stay home forever, but I can't leave Dot and feel comfortable either.

We slept in too long this morning. Dot is used to our weekday schedule where everybody is up at the crack of dawn. I think she tried her best not to make a mess, but we weren't there when she needed us. I heard her wake up around six AM, but before I could grab her harness and get her suited up, she had already headed toward the back door, leaving a trail of poop along the way. Ironically, I couldn't sleep well last night, and had gotten up briefly around 4:30 AM to go outside and look at the stars. Everyone was sleeping so peacefully that I was very quiet and did my best not to disturb Janet and the sleeping dogs. I should have taken Dot outside then. Luckily, the two soiled rugs were small enough to stuff in the washing machine and clean.

It's weird how bothered I get when a UPS or FedEx shipment is late. I was supposed to get a piece of camera equipment I ordered this morning, but found out later in the day that the shipment had been delayed. It won't arrive until sometime next week. This was just a small little adapter. Not a big deal at all. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to see whether this gizmo was going to solve my connection problem as I anticipated. I'm not very flexible anymore. I don't like surprises and expect everything to stay on schedule. Of course this never happens, so I am always frustrated.

I renewed my computer's anti-virus software today. I don't even know if this application actually works, but it's kind of like car insurance. You'd hate to be without it if you actually needed it. Increasingly, you don't buy software anymore. You just subscribe to it for a year at a time. I don't like software subscriptions any more than I like late FedEx shipments, but what can you do? Uber cabs, Air B&B, and software subscriptions are the future, whether I like it or not.

I should have gotten a head start on my weekend chores today, but it was hard to stay focused. I dawdled over breakfast, spend too long just staring aimlessly at things in the grocery store, and took a nap with the dogs instead of vacuuming the house. Luckily, there's always tomorrow for that sort of thing.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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