Day 3139

My cousin sent me some old letters he'd found that my Dad had sent to his Mom during World War II. No wonder my parents weren't all that happy with me when I was this age. The letters weren't all that exciting, but Dad was definitely a loyal son. He wrote his mother every single day for long periods of time. I'm not sure my parents even had my address when I was this age. All I wanted was to be independent and to be left alone. I thought the letters would be about the horrors of war, but they were mostly about the monotony of Navy life and about missing family holidays. Dad was a good son. I guess I never realized how much his family meant to him. Times have certainly changed. My Dad's generation began moving away from home to pursue new opportunities after the war. Their children, including me, moved even further from their roots and family ties continued to become weaker. I wonder what this all means. If I knew, I could give a TED talk or something. Ease of travel and globalization have had a huge impact on who we are and what we'll become. All I know is that there are very few people who still write their parents every day. There are probably even fewer who do this in longhand with a fountain pen.

It's kind of ironic that I actually write every day just like my Dad. These are just notes to myself though. The loyal son has become the self absorbed son. No apologies though. Writing is good. The older I get, the more important writing becomes. Putting words together is good for the mind. Maybe it will keep me from becoming senile.

If the blog helps the mind, hopefully going to the gym helps the body. I did so well shooting free throws today that I started shooting from the three point line. This was much harder, but I did manage to sink a few shots. I wonder how my gym stays in business? The building is huge, but there are seldom more than a dozen people inside. Since the gym is part of a large hospital complex, maybe it doesn't need to turn a profit. Who knows. With the cost of health care these days, this gym is probably doing OK even if it's empty.

Dash had a good day. He got up on his own this morning, took his morning meds, and then dutifully walked to the back door and pooped outside. I wish I could convince him to do this every day. We had a nice morning walk, but yesterday's cooling breezes have disappeared. It kept getting hotter and hotter as the day progressed. By dinnertime, it had become far too hot for an evening walk. Dash didn't seem to be upset. Somehow he knew that yesterday was a good day for walking and today wasn't.

One of my favorite apps on my phone is going to disappear tomorrow. I've been using it for years to track everywhere I go. Facebook bought the app a few years ago and stopped maintaining it. Now they've decided to completely abandon the tracker and erase everyone's data. I've spent the weekend looking for a replacement app that does the same thing. Nothing I've found seems to work as well. Bummer. Now I've got one more reason to distrust Facebook. It wouldn't have killed these guys to keep this obscure little app going just to keep people like me happy.

Dash slept all night last night, which meant that I slept pretty well too. Coincidently, the security light in the back yard stayed lit all night as well. I look at things like these as good omens. I hope we have a repeat performance tonight.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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