Day 4551

I always erase the cookies on my computer before I turn it off at night, so I think that Facebook is just grasping at straws when it is trying to get me to click on things. One day my feed will be filled with posts about boxing. The next day it will be filled with pictures of battle tanks and military equipment. Lately, I've been getting a lot of posts about obscure musical groups I've never heard of, along with random information about the early life of Elvis and Jimi Hendrix. A lot of these things are sponsored posts and clickbait, but some are just "suggested for you" nonsense generated by Facebook. I don't really understand any of this. Wasn't the whole idea of Facebook so you could keep up with your friends? Very little I see these on my feed actually comes from anyone I know.

I could tell it was going to be a hot day when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. These early morning walks are always nice, but as soon as the sun hits your face, you can tell that the pleasant weather isn't going to last long. I really should have gone to the gym today, but it was easier to convince myself that a long walk right after breakfast wouldn't be so bad. The first few miles weren't terrible because the sky was overcast. As soon as the skies cleared it almost instantly became too hot. I'm afraid it's going to be like this for the rest of the summer.

I got a message from the Benro folks that it should be OK for me to install the latest firmware in the star tracker. Then they added that if the upgrade didn't work that they would fix it later. Not terribly encouraging, but I have to remember that I'm a Beta tester. Maybe I'll give the upgrade a try tomorrow. A year ago at this time I was learning how to use a different type of star tracker. I've taken both of these devices out to McDonald Observatory, but have only taken a small handful of pictures. I haven't used them at all in Dallas. There are too many streetlights that light up our backyard and I'm certainly not venturing very far from home at night these days. Sadly, it's just not safe anymore. Basically I just turn on the local news during breakfast to see who got shot overnight. We're not as bad as some major cities, but that's not saying much.

The new dishwasher will be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be any problems. I've found the shutoff valves for the water and I'll move the furniture out of the way after breakfast. I wish the installers would tell me exactly when they'd be here so I don't waste half the day waiting for them. I guess that's impossible. The best you can get from service people these days is a four hour window. The old dishwasher matched the color of the blue metal mid-50's kitchen cabinets. At least the stainless steel door on the new one will match the stainless steel counter tops. I looked for something with a slide in color panel on the door, but apparently that is out of fashion these days. All the new appliances are stainless steel. When I was younger it was important to me that everything matched. Now it's more important that everything works.

Hopefully I can get my grocery shopping done tomorrow before the appliance installers arrive. I don't know when I'll find time to take my long walk though. Oh, well. One way or another I'll get my steps. Even retired people with nothing to do have their priorities.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day