Day 2307

My bank sent me one of those new credit cards with a chip in it. At first I didn't think the card was real, since it was completely flat and looked like it was made out of cardboard. There were no embossed, raised numbers like there always are on conventional cards. I guess the bank thought all those old fashioned carbon copy credit card readers are gone. Maybe they just wish the old 'knuckle buster" machines would go away. I still know of a few small merchants and local restaurants that use them. At any rate, it's the end of an era. I don't know what plumbers and electricians are going to do. My plumber still places the card under his invoice and rubs over the paper with a pencil to trace an image of the raised card number. As many of you already know, I'm not a huge fan of progress. Transactions seem to take twice as long with these new chip cards. To me, they're a nuisance.

I started the day by completing the website update assignment I received yesterday evening. That was a bit of a nuisance too. I suppose I could have waited until Monday to start this, but what if the client really needed it? I may be old and business may be slow, but being responsive is still in my DNA. I've always turned jobs around in a timely manner and have never missed a deadline since I started the company in 1990. The update took a while, but at least it's out of the way. Now, I can spend my time on important things like cleaning up dog poop.

I was bragging about Dot yesterday, but my luck ran out today. She had another accident while I was taking a shower and it took me quite a while to get her cleaned up again. We buy Nature's Miracle enzyme cleaner by the gallon now and our washing machine is going constantly. I was initially really disappointed with the complicated front loader after having to replace the wax motor on the door lock twice, but lately it has been working like a charm. I don't think washers and dryers in laundromats get as much use as ours do since Dot has become incontinent.

Janet got a new iPhone today, and now I want one too. The 6S is much faster than my old 5 model and the retina screen is visibly sharper than anything I've seen on a phone before. It's hard to justify purchases you don't need though. I definitely don't need a new phone. Mine works just fine. I really don't need much of anything, but I'm itching to buy something. It's kind of ironic. When I'm really busy, I never think about buying things. When work slows down and I'm poor, that's when I want to buy things. It shouldn't work that way.

The rain returned this afternoon. Even though Dash and I got wet on our evening walk, I'm not going to complain about the rain. Today's rain actually did me a favor, since I needed to water the front lawn. Now, I'm OK for a while. I can never remember what the watering days are in our neighborhood. Water restrictions were put in place a few years ago when there was a drought, and even though we had a tons of rain last year and the lakes are full, the water restrictions are still in place. I learned a long time ago that once a government regulation is in place, you've pretty much got to learn to live with it forever.

I guess I'll go to the gym tomorrow. I get bored walking on the treadmill, but I do like shooting baskets on the basketball court and I enjoy seeing lots of steps on my activity tracker. Sometimes Sunday's are 20,000 step days.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day