Day 1843 - New Year's Day

It was so cold today. The temperature hovered around the freezing mark for most of the day, while a steady rain soaked the ground. The forecast warned of sleet and slush, but it never materialized. Nothing froze except for me. I thought I'd managed to find little windows of opportunity to walk the dogs on the weather radar, but Dot and Dash weren't quick enough and we got soaked both times. It seemed like I spent a good part of the day cleaning muddy shoes and drying the dogs with bath towels.

Janet went to the gym today, but I didn't feel like driving in this weather and stayed home all day. I'm getting frustrated that I'm still using Lion as the operating system on my desktop computer, so I thought I'd investigate how I could upgrade my system without having to upgrade all my important applications as well. Applications like Media Composer and Pro Tools are very picky about which operating system you use. They are also very expensive. If I was still doing a lot of video work, I'd just bite the bullet and upgrade everything to the latest versions. That seems a bit excessive though when I only do a few video jobs a year. Everything works fine now, as long as I keep using Lion as my operating system. After checking around on the user groups it looks like there is a free maintenance upgrade to my current version of Media Composer that would allow me to move up to Mountain Lion.  Of course Apple has already discontinued Mountain Lion and moved on to Mavericks and Yosemite. Apple has become very frustrating now that they have largely abandoned creative types and want to make all their computers work just like an iPhone.  Not my cup of tea. I don't think I ever want to install Yosemite.

When I'm house bound on a cold day, I do laundry and fix things. I should have stuck with fixing a light switch or something simple. Trying to resolve all my computer problems was very unsatisfying. I downloaded a few things, but didn't have the nerve to install them. I need to do some more research before I start replacing things, or I could easily make matters worse. To tell you the truth, I enjoyed using Apple products a lot more back in the days when everything was running on OS 9. Lots and lots of little companies catered to the needs of creative folks back then. Now that Apple has discovered the real money is in selling phones, they've largely abandoned folks like me. I don't care about the Cloud or talking to friends on Facetime. I don't even care about laptops. I just want a big desktop computer with a huge monitor that will run the stuff I need for work without ever crashing.

The only thing I don't like about compression pants is that you have to keep taking them on and off all the time. They're great for walking the dogs in the cold, but too hot to wear around the house all day. I'm really glad that men never started wearing panty hose. It's a giant pain to get these skin tight things on and off. It would be nice if someone made them with a fly in front too.

It was hard to remember to take the trash out to the curb this evening. It didn't seem like a Thursday at all. It didn't seem like New Year's Day either. When I was younger, New Year's day was mostly spent recovering from New Year's Eve. Now, it seems like a non-event. There used to be four bowl games that you watched back-to-back whether you liked football or not. You started with the Rose Bowl in California and ended late in the evening with the Orange Bowl in Florida. Now, there are well over thirty different bowl games starting in mid-December and going all the way through January 12. The Orange Bowl is called the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl now and the Cotton Bowl isn't even played in the Cotton Bowl stadium.

I'd love to see the sun tomorrow, but I don't think it's going to happen. It looks like we're going to have another very cold, rainy day. Janet thinks we ought to go to a movie. Jeez, I haven't been to a movie in a theater in almost three years. It might be fun. It certainly would be more fun than doing laundry and fixing computers.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1022

I felt like using some Linux applications on my computer today. Oops. I forgot that I didn't have X-11 or Developer Tools installed on my Mac anymore. No problem. Hey, I used to do this stuff all the time. "I'll just get out the Developer Tools install disk and get everything working again," I thought. When running Linux on a Mac first became an option after OS X appeared, I became fascinated with it and grew to love several Linux applications. I particularly liked Gimp, which was sort of a free open source version of Photoshop.

Well, getting Gimp to work again was going to be a problem. First of all, there wasn't a Developer Tools install disk anymore, because I had downloaded the Lion OS from the app store. Apple doesn't make things easy these days. To get access to the Developer Tools, I had to sign up to become an approved Apple Developer. I answered a whole bunch of questions on their website, which probably proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I know absolutely nothing about coding Apple applications. Apple approved my application anyway and sent me the software. I read all the instructions that I could find on Google about how to install all this stuff and then I tried to launch a Linux application. Nothing. Apparently, I'm not as much of a geek as I used to be. There was a time when I had lots of Linux apps running perfectly on a previous desktop computer. Either Apple has become more complicated, or I have become less intelligent.

Dash got to go to the vet again today. He loves to go to the vet. All I have to say is "It's time to go to the vet," and he's right at the front door, wagging his tail. I don't think he even feels the antigen shot he gets every two weeks. To him, a vet visit is just a time to socialize and get petted by the nurses.

I'm determined to open the windows before the weather turns cold again. I got rid of two big wasp nests today. There's still one very large nest left and a lot of smaller ones, but I'm making progress. My method so far has been to open a window near a nest, spray the nest with insecticide and then close the window very quickly before the agitated wasps fly inside. Since the remaining nests aren't near a window, I'll have to go outside under the nest, spray quickly, and then run.

You've probably figured out already that there weren't a lot of writing projects today. When I've got writing deadlines, there's never time for things like getting Linux running on my computer. Of course, when I'm spending my time on personal projects like this, I'm not making any money. Why does it always have to be one or the other?

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 793

Why do software updates come so frequently now? I just installed Lion on my computer a few weeks ago and I'm already getting e-mails about the impending release of the next Apple OS, strangely named Mountain Lion. I'm assuming that this breed of Lion is different than the Lion I already have and will cause me just as many problems when I eventually decide to upgrade. I'm having the same problem with the Avid Media Composer software I recently started using. I literally just finished installing version 6.0 of Media Composer when I get an e-mail saying that version 6.01 is here and that it is an essential upgrade. Avid never makes it easy to upgrade either. You usually have to completely uninstall the previous version of the software and start over from scratch. Sometimes you even have to re-register the upgrade.

I just don't get the necessity for all these upgrades. Most people, including myself, don't even fully learn the old software before it's time to trade up to something new. Personally, I was happy enough with Photoshop 6.0 and would still be using it if my clients hadn't shamed me into upgrading to CS5. I'm sure it's better, but after years of use, I still hadn't learned all the secrets of Photoshop 6 and 7.

As recently as five years ago, I would have been knee deep in annual report writing by mid February. New annual report jobs awarded so far this year? Zero. That's not good. Writing annual reports used to be a good source of income for me. It was a good source of income for a lot of photographers and designers I know as well. Somehow it has totally fallen out of fashion for companies to produce elaborate annual reports these days. I guess they don't want shareholders to think they are being wasteful. The old style reports were a bit expensive, often having a unit cost as high as $5 each, but they kept a lot of small businesses like mine alive during the Winter and early Spring. Jeez! What's a boy to do when companies of all sizes just staple a cover to their 10-K Form and call it an annual report? There's nothing to write anymore.

I think I'll go out for breakfast again tomorrow. It's a sign of just how boring and predictible my life has become when I start looking forward to a waffle in a restaurant once a week.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 771

There was an unbelievable amount of rain last night. Of course, Dash would have to choose this nasty weather to have an upset stomach, so I ended up spending half the night letting him outside. I know he wanted to eat grass, but with the rain pounding down, he didn't even get off the porch. On our third attempt around 2 AM, he finally threw up on the porch and we all went back to bed.

This morning on our walk, we got to see what the rain had brought with it. The water level in the lake had risen at least three feet and had flooded a lot of nearby low areas. We live quite near the lake, but luckily we are on high ground. From the news helicopter I saw hovering nearby, I got the feeling that a few passing motorists weren't so lucky. There are a few streets in the vicinity that always flood when it rains this much and there are usually a few fools who think they can drive through anyway. They often end up on the evening news.

Dash seemed quite intrigued with all the water this morning. He tried to drink out of gutter spouts, and whenever we passed a nearby puddle, he would splash around with his front paws and try to dig a hole. Dot appeared to be disgusted with these childish antics and just wanted to go home where it was warm.

After breakfast, I got up on the roof and swept away all the accumulated water. There was a small leak in the living room last night, but nothing of any consequence. I've learned that if I can get the water off the roof quickly, there usually isn't any damage. The only time the leak gets bad is if I forget that there is standing water on the roof and it gradually leaks in, one drop at a time.

So far, so good with OS 10.7. I've been using the new system software for two days now and haven't had a single crash. I'm impressed. In the past, whenever I've updated my Apple system software, there were so many problems that it took me weeks to get everything sorted out again. No problems at all this time. In fact, things have been going so well with Lion that I've decided to retire Firefox and switch to Chrome while I'm changing things around on the desktop. I've become a big fan of Google+ recently, so I might as well start using a browser that is optimized for Google+.

No training class tonight. Actually, there might be training class, but we're not going. Although the rain has stopped, it's certainly not dry outside. The field where we train the dogs is a giant mudhole right now. I think Dot and Dash would agree that it is much more enjoyable to sit at home on their blankets and watch TV than to have their trainer tell them to sit in a puddle.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 769

A guy down the street is all worried about some new website where you can apparently roll your mouse over a picture of your neighbors house and find out everything about them. I asked him if he was thinking of Google Streetview and he said "No, this is much more powerful than Google Streetview." I'd never heard of a website like this and really couldn't get too concerned about it because I was wondering why charges from someplace in Luxembourg were showing up on my credit card statement. I've never bought anything from Luxembourg and don't even know anybody in this little country. When I called the credit card company, they didn't appear too concerned and just asked me if I wanted to file a complaint. I just wanted to know what the company in Luxembourg was selling, in case I had bought something over the Internet and forgotten about it. I've canceled credit cards before over charges that I had actually made, so I didn't want to go off half cocked on this one. You've got to be careful though. Once somebody tried to charge the down payment to a new car on Janet's credit card. They didn't get away with it, but it just shows you that scammers are everywhere these days. Life is becoming way too complicated for my taste.

Since the day was off to a dismal start anyway, I decided to go ahead and install Lion on my main computer. I always like to install new system software on days where I figure that things couldn't possibly get much worse. So far, so good. The download took a long time, but everything seems to be working. Photoshop works. Dreamweaver works. Microsoft Office works. I'm sure that there are half a dozen little applications that will never open again, but all the stuff I need on a daily basis to earn a living seems to be fine. I hate updating system software. No matter how careful you are, there's always a gotcha moment when you realize that you've actually made your life more difficult instead of easier as you had planned. You can postpone upgrades with Apple, but you can never avoid them altogether. The next time I buy a computer, it will only run on Lion, or whatever animal comes after Lion. I might as well bite the bullet now.

Since it was such a nice day today, I though I'd complete the tree trimming I'd started this weekend. I got out the reciprocating saw and headed for a dead tree in the back of the yard. Unfortunately, the longest extension cord I had wouldn't reach the tree, so I had to put all my tools away again. I thought I had an extension cord long enough to reach the back of the yard, but I'd forgotten that it's up on the roof now, hooked up to my next to worthless sump pump.

I got a call reminding me about Dash's antigen shot appointment tomorrow. This got me wondering why nobody has called me about the MRI I had done several weeks ago. You'd think that if the vet can remember my dog's allergy shot, that someone might remember the MRI they took of my liver.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 751

The days are noticeably longer now. Pretty soon, all the sunset photo opportunities that seem perfectly timed with the dog's evening walk will be gone for another season. I'm sure the golden evening skies will be replaced by something equally interesting as the days grow longer, but I'm going to miss these spectacular sunset walks.

One of my European clients has started paying me using Paypal. The fact that it's so easy and safe to make international transactions with Paypal is one more reason I'm starting to use it for almost everything. Getting money from another country used to be a nightmare when I had to use wire transfers. The German banks always wanted information that the American banks didn't even use. Paypal is so much easier.

I almost upgraded my main computer to Lion today, but chickened out at the last minute. Lion seems to work well on my laptop, but I have much more software installed on the main computer. Every single time I've installed a major system upgrade on my desktop, the results have been disastrous. There is always some very expensive application that I use everyday which refuses to work under the new system. Since it's hard to reverse a system upgrade, I usually have to go out and buy all new versions of the software I already have. Typically, I don't like the new versions as well as the old versions, but that's another story. I wish Apple had some sort of app that would search everything on my computer and tell me if I was ready for Lion or not. Snow Leopard is running perfectly now, but I remember that it was a nightmare too in the beginning. One thing is certain. I'm going to have to upgrade to Lion sooner or later. Avid Media Composer 6.0, which I would like to start using, only runs under Lion.

The dead leaves are really stacking up in the back yard now. I'm going to have to break out the leaf blower pretty soon and blow them into big piles so I can bag them up and get rid of them before Spring. There are so many leaves on the ground already, that even if I bag up leaves every weekend, it will still take me until Spring to get the yard cleaned up and ready for a fresh load of St. Augustine sod. It would be so much easier to live on the 17th. floor of a luxury high-rise.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 727

Another gray, Winter day. I've noticed the Double-Crested Cormorants have returned to the lake, right on schedule. If there's a piling, or a pole, or even a dead branch in the water, you'll usually find a Cormorant sitting on top of it in the morning. The ducks usually fly away as we approach, but these Cormorants don't budge. Somehow, they know that nothing can touch them when they're sitting on a pole in the water.

I upgraded my laptop to Lion today. I really should have waited. I didn't realized how slow it was going to be to download an Apple operating system. Every time I've done a system upgrade before, I've done the installation using a CD or DVD. Trust me, installing using a disk is much faster than a WiFi download. Unfortunately, I think Lion is only available from the app store as a download. If everything continues to work fine on the laptop, I'll download the Lion software to my desktop computer in a couple of weeks. I'm always suspicious of major system upgrades, because inevitably, some essential piece of software no longer works.

Even eating cold cereal for breakfast this morning didn't give me enough extra time to catch up on things. I have a feeling that no matter how hard I work, or how many meals I forgo, I'm still not going to catch up before the end of the year. Today I did some necessary accounting and wrote my daily quota of watch articles. The website updates were minor and I think they can wait until another day. I did need to run some errands though, and by the time the shopping and a trip to the bank were finished, the day was over.

I need to find out when the cutoff date is for Christmas delivery on Amazon.com. I have a feeling that it might be pretty soon.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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