Day 3075

I just received a notice that NetworkedBlogs is shutting down. Sad. One by one, all the familiar faces I have long associated with blogging are disappearing. Entrecard is gone. Adgitize is gone. I'm not sure if BlogCatalog still works. I haven't seen anything new there in years. I'm going to miss NetworkedBlogs. This is the tool I've always used to syndicate the blog to Facebook and Twitter. Maybe there are other blog syndication services out there, but there probably aren't many. Blogging just isn't popular anymore.

I'm glad I got to be a part of blogging's short lived golden years. It certainly didn't last very long. When was the last time you spent hours blog hopping? Yup. I can't remember that far back either. If you're reading today, you're probably just looking at a link on Facebook. At some point you begin to wonder if there is any point writing if nobody's reading anymore. It is becoming an increasingly quixotic quest.

It would be hard to quit writing. It's a lot like walking Dash. Our walks are painfully slow now, but they have become part of the fabric of life. Whenever we fail to walk I am filled with a sense of foreboding. The day is supposed to start with a walk and end with a blog post. That's just the way it is.

We had a nice walk this morning. I was somewhat surprised to see a single mutant flower in a field full of Mexican Hats. These upright prairie coneflowers are sombrero-shaped with drooping petals and a tall central cone. How did this explosion of petals even happen? This flower looked like it came straight from Chernobyl.

I had planned on having the trees trimmed this morning, but the tree guy called and said he'd had a couple of emergencies and he needed to postpone our appointment. It's just as well that we called this off. It rained last night and the trees were still wet. I imagine that this would have made the branches heavier and more difficult to cut. At least the trees didn't fall on my roof last night. Evidently, the storm was far worse in Far North Dallas.

Now that it's warm enough to keep the air conditioner running, doing the wash has become more difficult. Both the washer and the condensation from the air conditioner drain into the same floor drain  in the utility room. The drain needs to be plugged when the washer is running and open when the air conditioner is running. It gets complicated when both things are happening at the same time. I forgot to open the drain today and the utility room got flooded. If it's not one thing, it's another.

I wish my lone trip to the gym every Sunday was enough to build muscle mass and shed a little weight. I have a feeling that it's just a symbolic gesture. It's going to take a lot more than an hour at the gym to change anything. I'll still go tomorrow. Hey, there's nothing wrong with symbolic gestures.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1015

I won't bore you with what I did today. Why? Well, maybe because I did exactly the same things as I did yesterday. Tomorrow will be the same as well. It's going to be a very busy week. My activities ranged from steam turbines to a 40 pound cat, but it wasn't as interesting as it might seem. Basically, days like this are just a lot of typing.

My Google Analytics stats have been depressing lately. Now that Adgitize and Entrecard are both gone, my blog traffic has slowed to a trickle. I know that some of you think that visitors from these blogging networks weren't really interested in reading your blog, but I beg to differ. Almost every interesting blog I've ever discovered came directly as a result of participating in the Adgitize and Entrecard networks. Without them, it's just going to be a bit harder to keep up with my favorite bloggers.

It's time for my annual physical again. I'm pretty good about eating the right foods and getting plenty of exercise, but I still don't look forward to these physicals. I'm just tired of hearing that my blood sugar and PSA levels are on the high side. I'm tired of wondering about the differences between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. I definitely don't want to add any more meds to the growing pile I already take every day. Truthfully, I'm in better physical shape than I was fifteen years ago, but it's hard to feel that way. I've had to give up drinking and lost my tolerance for alcohol in the process. Now, even a glass or two of wine with dinner will keep me up half the night. The statins I take are starting to cause muscle atrophy. For the first time in my life, I'm feeling old.

I kept thinking I heard the raccoon last night. When I got up and looked out the window, there was nothing. Maybe I just dreamed I heard the raccoon. I have a feeling that the raccoon and the armadillo may have moved on to greener pastures. The backyard is so torn up right now that I don't think these animals could do any more damage if they tried.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 776

Another day, another doctor's appointment. Sometimes I think my physician's have made me a test case to see how effectively they can manipulate blood panel results to tweak my physical condition. It doesn't matter which doctor I see; a new blood test is ordered with virtually every visit. I've got a whole ring binder full of blood test results now. I used to hate these things, but now I think I'm becoming addicted to them. I've learned all the nuances associated with the rise and fall of liver enzyme levels and know what my glucose levels should be at different times of the day. I know what a perfect blood panel looks like now and so to the doctors. They keep adding and subtracting medication in search of the Holy Grail. Am I any healthier after all this experimentation? Your guess is as good as mine. There were more tests today though. There are always more tests.

Entrecard appears to be back online again. I probably should find a better way to blog hop and build traffic, but I've gotten used to using services like Entrecard and Adgitize. I will go back to dropping tonight and visit some of my favorite blogs that I've missed while the site was down.

Maybe, now that my visitors are returning, someone will be able to identify the little bird that I photographed today. I see this bird every morning and it sure seems like a lonely bird. It is always sitting on the same telephone line or tree. This solitary bird never flies in a flock with other birds. It is always alone. At first I though it might be a feral parrot, but now I think the bird could be a small hawk instead. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about birds though. Maybe one of you could tell me what I've been looking at every morning.

It's hard to believe that January is already over. Pretty soon it will be time to prepare my taxes again, and then it will be my birthday, and before you know it, election day will be here. I'll be glad when election day arrives, because I'm getting sick of the relentless campaigning. I know what everybody thinks now and still they have more debates. Somehow, I don't think any of these debates are going to change anything. There aren't going to be a lot of new jobs because we don't manufacture anything anymore. The housing crisis isn't going to go away any time soon because nobody can qualify for a mortgage anymore. Europe's problems are really our problems, because that's what happens in a global economy. Somebody opened Pandora's Box a long time ago and I don't think any of these politicians will be able to close it again.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 757

I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish today, but I ended up getting very little done since I spent so long at the doctor. My doctor visits inevitably morph into client meetings and take twice as long as I think they will. Today we went back and forth between talking about my liver and talking about the doctor's marketing plans. Actually, I like things this way, since I never feel rushed. There's always plenty of time to ask all the questions I can think of. The long and short of things is that I do need an MRI, apparently since there is something new in the CAT scans that wasn't there two years ago. Hopefully the mystery object is benign.

I guess I'll get my car safety inspected tomorrow. It would have been convenient to do this today, since the safety inspection station is right near the doctor's office, but there just wasn't time. I didn't want to walk the dogs in the dark again.

It's supposed to get down below freezing tonight. That seemed fairly impossible earlier in the day, when I was walking the dogs in shirtsleeves, but Texas weather can fool you. During dog training class this evening, a cold front blew through and the temperature felt like it dropped twenty degrees in less than an hour. Class actually ended early, because everyone was so cold. Nobody had dressed for this sudden change of events. I think Dot and Dash were happy to come home early. Neither one of them like the cold.

I know that some of you who read this blog were also members of Adgitize like I was. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that their Entrecard rank has dropped now that Adgitize is gone. My Entrecard rank, which had been constant for months, dropped quite a bit right after Adgitize closed its doors. I still can't figure out the connection, but I bet there is one.

I've absolutely got to get my invoices out tomorrow or I won't have any money coming my way in February. I'm usually not this late. Sadly, I've been saying that a lot recently. I really need a nap.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 745

I think I'm ready to start 2012 with a clean slate. I've got the new orphans added to the animal rescue sites I manage. I've completed my watch articles. I've sent all the content for my oil and gas project off to Germany. I've even finished most of my bookkeeping and accounting for the year.

Now it's on to projects of a more personal nature. I discovered that nobody's referring me for a MRI because my doctor is on a skiing vacation. Still have to resolve that one. I need to get the furnace folks out to the house again too. The furnace is actually behaving worse after its Winter service than before. I have a feeling that I'm going to have a major problem unclogging my large format printer soon, because I haven't turned it on in over three weeks. I've just been too busy.

Janet wants to see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the DMA while it's still in town, so we may do that this weekend. We'll certainly go to a dog park. Since it's a holiday, we may even go twice. New Year's Eve itself will probably be pretty quiet. After years of playing noisy New Year's Eve parties in a rock band, I much prefer to just stay at home and watch old Dr. Who movies these days. I'm certainly looking forward to having some good champagne tomorrow evening. Although I can't drink anymore, I grant myself an exception on holidays.

I noticed that all the Adgitize widgets have disappeared on my blog today. I guess that means that Adgitize is gone for good. I'm still a bit sad to see this venture fail. I've seen so many good ideas fail over the years and so many bad ideas succeed. There's just no justice in the world sometimes.

Puppies are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 742

I guess it's back to the old grind again. I spent the day trying to resolve an assortment of small problems that never should have become problematic in the first place. I tried to get an erroneous charge erased from my credit card statement. I tried to figure out which of three different doctors is responsible for referring me for the MRI that I supposedly need. I tried to figure out how to bill a European client in Euros, even though my accounting software only recognizes dollars. I tried to make an eye doctor appointment for Dash, even though the animal ophthalmologist kept thinking he was Petey, who has already died. Absolutely nothing seemed easy today, which I guess was to be expected on the first day after a major holiday. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get some real work done.

At least the weather was nice today. I'm still trying to take a camera with me when I walk Dot and Dash, but getting decent pictures has proved to be quite a learning experience. The dogs aren't very good as photo assistants. I can't let loose of the leash, or they'll run off chasing ducks and other critters. When I hold on to the leash with one hand though, it's hard to keep the camera steady and take the shot with the other. Today I got better results than usual. I managed to get half a dozen sharp hand-held shots of today's sunset with a long telephoto lens. It's hard enough to get sharp telephoto shots without putting the camera on a tripod. When you're trying to hold onto two Dalmatians who have their hearts set on chasing nearby ducks, it's just about impossible. My technique is gradually getting better though. Maybe someday I'll write a book about how to take good pictures while taking Dalmatians on a walk.

I hope I can get this whole MRI issue resolved tomorrow. I've already met my deductible on my health insurance this year, and if they can't schedule me for the scan until next year, I know I'll end up paying a lot more. With my luck, I'll probably end up being scheduled on the same day I've got to take Dash to the eye specialist.

I know that some of you who read this blog also participate in Adgitize like I do. I was sad to receive an e-mail from Ken Brown this morning informing me that Adgitize was shutting down, because the blog advertising service wasn't making any money. I always liked Adgitize and certainly respected the way Ken Brown ran his company. This isn't the first blog advertising site to go bust and it probably won't be the last. Blogging just doesn't seem quite a popular as it was a few years ago. I'll certainly continue blogging though, even if all the widgets on my blog disappear. I enjoy blogging and I appreciate each and every one of you who have decided to make the journey with me.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day