Day 2528

I had one of my periodic meetings with my financial advisor today. We had a nice conversation about how the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. As usual, I wasn't terribly happy about my portfolio's performance. Why had my own stocks gone down during a large post-election rally? Evidently, defense, energy, and pharmaceutical stocks went up, but nothing else did. What killed me was the surge in US Treasury yields which decimated bond prices and stocks that paid big dividends. If you guessed the outcome of the election correctly, you could have made some money last week. Few people did. I suspect that most investors were like me. They hedged their bets so they wouldn't get ruined if either candidate won.

I used to enjoy investing in the stock market. I thought I was pretty good at it, but really I was just the beneficiary of a stable, relatively sane economy. All that has changed now. I see little difference between investing and gambling these days. Actually, if you followed the NFL closely, it would probably be safer to bet on football than to invest in the stock market. The are just too many variables in a global economy. If somebody sneezes in China, you can catch a cold in Texas. At any rate, my advisor and I tried to make some choices for the year ahead. We will probably be wrong.

I did some research today to see if I could upgrade my office computers without having to replace all my software. What I learned wasn't very promising. It would be nice to have Sierra running on everything so I could share information between the computers and my phone and tablet. The main problem is that the minute I upgrade, some of my most important software instantly becomes obsolete. You can't even buy Adobe Creative Suite anymore. It's is all subscription based. Even something as basic as Microsoft Word would need a subscription to Office 365. Avid Media Composer has gone to a subscription based model too. Basically, you just rent software now. Call me a dinosaur, but I may just keep running Mountain Lion forever.

So, what's worse than a dog with fecal and urinary incontinence? Maybe it's when your other dog has diarrhea at the same time. Today was a three ring circus trying to keep the house and yard clean. I don't think Dash is sick. He just has a bad habit of eating disgusting things that the neighborhood cats drag in the yard. If history is any guide, he should be back to normal in a day or two. Dash has a vet appointment tomorrow anyway for his thyroid test, so I'll see what his vet thinks.

Janet had to work late today, so I thought I'd try to walk Dot by myself. Dot really seems to need another dog to follow, so I wasn't expecting this to go well without Dash in the lead. It took us a long time, but eventually we made it around the block on our own. I wish I could still walk both dogs together like I used to, but that is impossible. Just keeping Dot on her feet is a full time job.

Tomorrow will be busy with a vet appointment for Dash and a doctor's appointment for me. It definitely isn't life in the fast lane anymore, but I do stay busy. Hard to believe that it's the middle of November already. Thanksgiving will be here before you know it.

Honey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day