Day 1612

Buzz Aldrin couldn't have said it better. "You promised me Mars colonies. Instead, I got Facebook." When I saw this quote today, it summed up the last several decades for me. There are no large dreams that capture the imagination of entire countries anymore. Instead, we have become a fractured, totally divided world that agrees on nothing and can't get behind anything of consequence. When I was growing up, the best and the brightest went to work in places like Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. Today they work for Google. I was an Oak Ridge kid myself for a while, since my Dad was doing something secret at one of the labs. My young friends and I were science nerds before the term was even invented. We were convinced that we'd be traveling among the stars by now. None of us ever dreamed we'd be downloading funny cat pictures instead.

Not only has the world become trivial, I have become trivial as well. When I was a young kid in Oak Ridge, I thought I'd be an astronomer when I grew up. I actually ended up becoming an architect. Then in my mid 20's I had an epiphany. I realized that I was a fairly shallow person and became an ad man instead. I thrived in advertising, largely because my shallow nature fit me like a glove. I thought having a few people like me made the world a more interesting place. It probably did. The entire equation changed when everyone decided to get a degree in marketing. You don't really need that many people like me. There is a reason why big companies hire most of their advanced technical talent from India and China. American college grads no longer want to split the atom and go to the moon. They'd rather have their own reality show.

I don't know where we go from here, but I do know that people like John Kennedy and Buzz Aldrin don't resonate with today's young people like they did with me. Going to the moon in ten years from a standing start was a ridiculously ambitious goal and we did it. These days it would take ten years just to agree on what we wanted to do.

I certainly didn't do much today. I went to my breakfast restaurant a day early, because I'm going to be busy tomorrow. The first thing I noticed was that the restaurant, which is typically packed on Friday mornings, was virtually empty. Could this mean that we already have a de facto four day work week? All my clients seem to have flex-time employees these days and I know quite a few people who don't work on Friday already. What's going to happen when the robots get really good?

Maybe some of my clients have started taking Thursday off as well. It was certainly slow today. The dogs got two nice walks, including one in the morning where the temperature was brisk and cool. Dot and Dash love the cooler weather. Later in the day, I filled the car with gas, went to the bank, and paid a quick visit to a Fry's electronics store in the neighborhood. The store was almost as empty as the restaurant was this morning. Sign of the times, I guess.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1538

Unbelievable! Yesterday it was 81 degrees. I was wearing shorts and we had the air conditioner on. Today, it is twenty degrees, there is a fierce wind, and it is sleeting outside. Only in Texas. I'm beginning to wonder if I just imagined yesterday. It is so cold that even the normally cold blooded Dot refuses to go outside. I don't blame her. I don't want to go outside either.

When I discovered what the weather was like, I immediately scrapped my plans to go to the gym today. There is little point in going to the gym if you end up wrecking your car on an icy road afterwards. The only time I even got near the car today was to start it up in the driveway to make sure the battery still worked. I'm once burned, twice shy about batteries and cold weather. They've let me down before and probably will again.

I'm glad I picked up that DVD of "Gravity" yesterday, because watching an Oscar nominated movie inside a warm house sounds a lot more appealing than anything I might have been doing outside. I really liked the movie, although I probably would have liked it even more if I'd taken the trouble to drive to a nearby 3-D theater and see it on a big screen. I can see why the special effects took over three years to create. They were simply spectacular. After a while I forgot I was looking at special effects. It just looked like someone had filmed the whole thing in space. Alfonso Cuarón deserves major kudos for pulling off an extremely ambitious production. Even Buzz Aldrin was impressed, and he's been to the moon. At any rate, watching this movie, while Janet cooked some savory smelling pork chops in the slow cooker and the dogs curled up for a nap on their dog beds, seemed like a good way to spend a very cold day.

I guess I hadn't realized that the Oscars had become an all day television event. The red carpet fashion shows seemed to begin around noon and the actual ceremony is still going on. If this show is anything like last year, it will still be still be going on long after I go to bed. I guess I don't really care who wins, or I'd be watching the show instead of writing this blog post. Ellen is pretty good as a host though. Maybe I just like snarky humor.

I hope the weather improves tomorrow. I've got a lot to do and I doubt that I'll be able to get away with staying inside all day. Jeez, when is this crazy weather going to finally run its course? I'm ready for Spring. Just like I expected, all the early blooming daffodils and flowering dogwoods are frozen now. An early Spring really doesn't mean much if it is immediately followed by a late freeze.

Despite the terrible weather, there is still a lot to be thankful for. Dash's recovery has been remarkable. The furnace works great this year, and the house is actually warm. I've already received my assignments for tomorrow, so there's be plenty to do, whether I get outside or not. I wish that damn redbird would quit pooping on my car though. It's driving me nuts.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day