Day 3531

I got off to a slow start this morning. I was planning to go to the gym early, but that didn't happen. All my little errands took twice as long as I'd planned. I was lucky that I made it out of the house before noon. Before I even finished my routine this morning, I knew it wasn't going to be a 20,000 step day.

Maybe I was tired because I'm still not sleeping well. I think we need a new mattress. Janet and I both need a very firm mattress and after years of big dogs hopping on the bed, ours has seen better days. Maybe there's another reason why I'm waking up too early, but this is the best I can come up with.

I found out today that one of our friends dogs has cancer. It's sad that so many dogs have to deal with this. It's rare for a dog to reach old age these days without being treated for some form of cancer. Spot, Gretta, Dot, and Dash all had different forms of cancer. It's terrible when the lab results come back and you find out the the growth that was removed by the surgeons a few weeks ago is malignant. You feel helpless. The only silver lining is that treatment options are so much better than they used to be. Spot, Dot and Dash all survived their treatment and went on to lead normal lives. Gretta was the only one that didn't make it.

I've decided that I'm a terrible travel planner. Every day I think of something else I've forgotten. When I went to Florida to view the Falcon Heavy launch I forgot a lot of things. When we go to the observatory, I'm sure I'll forget a lot of things too. I usually remember to bring the right computers, cables, and cameras, but I often forget to bring enough clothes. If I were rich, I'd travel with no luggage whatsoever and just buy what I need when I got there.

I'm trying to decide whether to see if I can interview astronomers at the observatory, or just let my article be a personal recollection of the evening. These are two different types of articles. It's hard to say what the magazine would be looking for. I'm inclined to just tell a personal story. The magazine had probably interviewed hundreds of astronomers over the years. It's unlikely that they've encountered someone like me. I'm likely to submit an article that has more about wild pigs than telescopes.

I didn't get my 20,000 steps today. I did manage to accumulate 17,000 steps with only a single walk. I guess that's good enough. I was tempted to go out after dinner and take a second walk, but it was already getting dark. I don't think I'll be doing much walking after dark in Dallas. All it takes is a couple of days of listening to the local news and it's easy to become convinced that doing anything after dark isn't such a good idea.

We'll see if I can get a good night's sleep this evening. I'm tired and I didn't take any naps today. Maybe that will help.

Pinkey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day