Thursday, April 15, 2021

Day 4130

I took my long walk right after breakfast this morning because the forecast predicted rain in the afternoon. The forecast wasn't totally wrong, because it is raining now. The pumps on the roof aren't working well, but I'll worry about that later. For now I'm hoping that the rain will help rejuvenate all the dead plants in our backyard.

The replacement for the video component I inadvertently threw away arrived this afternoon. I have no idea whether I will actually use this since my video production days are effectively over, but I feel like I have rectified my mistake. This thing has been out off production for years and I might have found one of the last remaining examples. Janet tells me not to store it in a box on a shelf. I'll start throwing away boxes again some day and that's how the last one met its demise.

I discovered that you can now watch your UPS truck on a map as it slowly makes it's way toward your house. This is mesmerizing if you haven't got anything better to do, but it is frustrating as well. I watched the truck drive in circles around my neighborhood several times, always turning away just before it reached my house. Somehow I am always at the very end of the delivery run. I'm not sure why UPS put GPS trackers in all their trucks. Probably just because they can.

Dallas has a glut of vaccine now. There are more shots available than there are people wanting to take them. Just a few weeks ago people were clamoring for appointments and now there are big banners in grocery stores advertising "free shots, no appointments necessary." Things change quickly in the modern world. I don't think life will ever return to normal however. There will be more Zoom calls and fewer people working in offices. Curbside pickup will be permanent for some people just because it is easier. A lot of businesses will never return, including some of my favorite restaurants. I'll probably never go to the post office like I used to. Even UPS delivery has changed. I used to drive to the main distribution center to get my packages. It was easy and I got my items one day earlier. Now you don't have a choice. The truck comes to your house whether you like it or not. You can reroute your delivery to one of those little UPS stores scattered around town, but it costs extra and adds another day to your delivery time.

I got a notice that Feedburner is going to discontinue sending the blog to e-mail subscribers on July1. I'm not certain how many read the blog this way, but I'm sure there are still some. Little by little a lot of tools bloggers used to use are going away. My fear is that one day Google will decide to discontinue hosting blogs entirely and blogspot.com will just disappear. It could happen. Google pulled the plug on Google+ and it abruptly disappeared. Blogs just aren't popular now. I hope Google keeps blogspot alive. It would be just my luck that they would pull the plug on Day 4995 and I would never reach my goal.

I paid a bunch of online bills this afternoon and managed to get everything entered into Quickbooks without making a mistake. I wish I didn't feel compelled to keep track of everything. It takes a lot of time. I've been entering information into Quickbooks for fifteen to twenty years and I'm not even sure how to access the early years. Is the information even still there? There are mountains of paper records in the storage warehouse. It would take me weeks to find anything specific, if I could find it at all. This blog is a pretty detailed record of my daily life. Why do I record and document everything? I'll probably never know.

I used to envy dogs because I thought they lived in the moment. Dawn is haunted by memories though. There is no other way to explain her behavior. Maybe I record things because I don't have many memories. Sometimes the past floats by as I'm going to sleep, but it seems like a dream. Did it even really happen?

Krissy is today's Dalmatian of the Day


Watch of the Day