Day 2773

Much to my surprise, I don't have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome after all. The orthopedic specialist I saw this morning told me that I wasn't having the symptoms that you would normally associate with Carpal Tunnel. He says the problems I've been having all these years are caused by arthritis. I guess it makes sense. Arthritis is common in my family. I wonder why I was so convinced that the pain and lack of mobility in my left wrist was caused by Carpal tunnel? The good news is that my sprained wrist has healed nicely. The bad news is that my arthritis will probably get worse.

I need to start doing my range of motion exercises again for both my wrist and my shoulder. The orthopedic specialist said he would be happy to recommend  a physical therapist, but that they would probably just tell me to do exactly the same things that my last physical therapist suggested. I know what to do. I just grew tired of continuing the stretching exercises after the first year.

It was so hot outside today that I didn't feel like doing much of anything. I went to the doctor and picked up something for dinner. That was about it. I've been watching Janet binge watch television shows all month and thought I'd give it a try myself. I downloaded season one of a series I meant to watch several years ago but never got around to it. I only meant to watch one episode today, but I can see now how easy it is to get sucked into watching an entire season in one sitting. Without commercials, each episode isn't really that long. TV drama episodes usually end on a cliffhanger, so you naturally want to see what happens next. When you finish one episode, it's easy to say "Well. I guess I've got time to watch one more." All the sudden it's dinner time and you've watched half a dozen shows.

Maybe I'll do something more useful and productive tomorrow. Then again, I might just finish season one of my show. In a world without deadlines, there isn't a compelling reason to overexert yourself. I kind of wish I had deadlines again. They add a certain structure to your life. At least from what I see on Facebook, most of my former co-workers seem content with traveling and spending time with grandchildren. Travel is good. Taking classes is probably good too. I just need to get over the idea that I always need to be making money. If I can find something challenging that I enjoy, it will probably turn into money anyway. That's certainly how it always worked in the past.

This is the time of year when it gets harder to illustrate the blog. The vegetation is drying up and the wildflowers are almost gone. Most of the animals are in hiding too. It's just too hot. Our walks are much shorter now, because we don't want Dash to become overheated. It upsets me when I see people jogging with their dogs in July. Dogs don't sweat and can't handle this heat as well as we can. People don't handle it all that well either. I see the EMT ambulances in the park a lot more often in July than I do in January. At any rate, I still take a new picture every day, but you might have to be content with seed pod images
 for a while.

I've stopped sleeping with my feet elevated. There's really no need anymore. Pretty soon I'm going to start going back to the gym again. Dash is eating well and seems to have fully recovered from his last vestibular episode. Janet is going back to work while she waits for the final minor surgery she needs to complete the reconstruction process. It's hot, but I think we all are going to survive the summer.

Queen is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2225

I frequently forget what day it is. It seemed a lot like Sunday to me. Since Janet had the day off, we got up late again and didn't finish breakfast until almost lunch time. We walked the dogs a little later this morning on the theory that if the sun was a little higher in the sky, it would be warmer outside. It never did get very warm, but at least it was clear and there was no wind.

Since I didn't go to the gym yesterday, I decided to go today. I'm always surprised at how crowded the place is on Monday, but maybe it was because today was a holiday. I stopped at a new REI store I always pass on my way to the gym. I hadn't been inside a REI store since I used to live in Seattle, but was delighted with what I saw. I love this kind of stuff. There were tons of warm coats and lots of sturdy pants with pockets everywhere. There were boots that looked like they would last forever, although I could probably wear them out in a year. I like to dress like the apocalypse is just around the corner, so this store was right up my alley. Oddly, they were having a Winter clearance sale during one of the coldest days of the year. I found a nice goose down jacket on sale and bought it. When I was at the register the clerk asked me if I was an REI member. I didn't think so, but the guy insisted on looking up my name. "Sure, you're a member," he said. "Did you ever live in Rogers, Arkansas?" "That's my Dad," I told him. "Well, would you like to use his membership for this purchase," he said. It didn't seem right. My Dad has been dead for over a decade.

Since the gym was kind of crowded today, I had to use some different equipment than I normally use. One of the machines required me to move my wrist a lot. Ouch! I hadn't used this particular machine in over a year and it was obvious that during that time my carpel tunnel had gotten worse. I'm not sure what to do about this wrist. I do my stretching exercises, but my range of motion continues to gradually get worse. I definitely don't want surgery. I know several people who have had surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and their condition didn't improve at all. I've learned from the dogs that surgery should only be an option when you have run out of other options. Dot and Dash wouldn't be here today without the help of some very talented surgeons, but their cancer surgeries weren't without consequences. It takes a long time to recover from major surgery and the older you are, the more difficult the rehabilitation becomes.

Dot's front leg continues to improve. I think we got lucky, because it appears that all she did was strain a muscle or ligament. We're still taking it easy on our walks though. We walk slow and watch carefully for any sign of weakness. It's always a balancing act with Dot. It is essential to keep her moving to keep her condition from rapidly deteriorating, but she is very fragile, so you've got to be careful not to let her overexert herself. At least for today, I think everything is in balance. Dot had a good day.

Tomorrow should be busy. Janet returns to work and so do I. I have new writing assignments to complete and another website to update. There is a fresh supply of strawberries and bananas for my morning smoothies and a new winter coat if it is really cold in the morning. I measure my days now by my ability to get Dot outside before she poops. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Dovey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2019

Today was stressful. Dot's platelet count was normal and she got the green light to continue her Palladia treatment, but the nurse had trouble finding a vein and Dot ended up having a big hematoma on her neck. I had the doctor look at it and she said Dot would be fine. The big swelling had to be uncomfortable though. Dot was also surprisingly shaky today, considering how strong she's been for the past week. There's really no rhyme or reason to this at this point. Dot has good days and bad days. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow as well. It's sucks getting old. Although I've fixed the screen door half a dozen times before, it has never been as difficult as it was today. I couldn't even raise my right arm enough to reach the top hinge and remove it so I could get the door off. My shoulder has really deteriorated since the last time I did this. I finally got the hinge off by standing on a chair, but it was so much easier when I could reach above my head with both arms. Carpel tunnel has taken its toll as well. I usually attach the screen mesh to the door using a staple gun and than attach the wooden trim back to the door using a different type of staple gun that shoots little brads into the wood. These are heavy duty staple guns, but I've never had trouble using them before. This time I often had to use both hands to squeeze the handle hard enough to fire a staple. To make matters worse, there were mosquitoes everywhere. I had to go back inside and change into long pants and a long sleeve jacket to avoid being eaten alive. It was 100 degrees too, so I was soaked with sweat by the time the job was finished. The door looks nice though. Hopefully, I won't have to do this again for a while.

I found a less expensive source for Dot's Palladia drug online and asked her oncologist if she'd write a prescription so I could purchase the chemotherapy pills this way. I was surprised when she was very reluctant to let me use the online source. She said that she couldn't guarantee that the pills would be effective. "They might have sat in the heat too long, or even be past their expiration date," she told me. "But these are sealed bottles in the pharmaceutical company's original packaging," I said. I knew that this was a reputable pharmacy, because I'd done my research. "Well, could you sell me full, sealed bottles like the ones I see here on the website," I asked? If I received sealed bottles from the manufacturer, I wouldn't have to pay the cancer center's $40 hazardous material handling fee every time I renewed my prescription. "We can't do that," the oncologist said. "We have to count the pills and repackage them to make sure you get the right amount." This made even less sense. I'm pretty sure the count would be right in a factory sealed manufacturer's bottle. Actually, I remember now that the cancer center miscounted Dash's chemotherapy pills once and gave me five fewer pills than I should have gotten. Five pills doesn't sound like much, but at $25 per pill, it can add up. The whole conversation was frustrating to me.

I watered the lawn this morning because it was really starting to get hot and dry. I shouldn't have bothered. As I write this, the dogs are both huddled under my desk and we are right in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. I wasn't expecting this storm and it caught me completely by surprise. Actually, quite a few things caught me completely by surprise today. My breakfast was good this morning though. No surprises there.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1827 - Blogiversary

I'm finally getting over my cold. For the first time in over a week, I woke up feeling reasonably normal. It was nice to get through the day without consuming an entire bag of cough drops or box of Kleenex. Usually, when I catch a cold, it only lasts for a few days. This was a nasty one. I've still got a bit of chest congestion and cough occasionally, but it looks like the worst is over.

I continue to be amazed at how few things it takes to completely fill up my day.  Either I'm getting a lot slower, or simple things are becoming more difficult. I had only one fairly routine website assignment today, and I still struggled to get everything finished. Household chores and paying bills seemed to eat up most of my time today. I'm thinking of switching a number of monthly bills to EFT payments, because writing checks and addressing envelopes is so time consuming. Was it always this way? Carpal Tunnel or not, it is becoming increasingly painful to write anything manually anymore. I find typing much easier. Cooking meals seems to take longer than it used to and walking the dogs takes forever. I really enjoy walking the dogs though, no matter how long it takes. Dot takes baby steps now, but I can tell this is still the high point in her day. Dash doesn't seem to mind going slower either. I think he's learned that he has more opportunities to snag something nasty to eat along the trail, now that I concentrate more on keeping Dot from falling.

After I finished today's website assignment and paid a big stack of December bills, I took a little gift card from my favorite clothing store and went shopping. These holiday gift cards the store mails out to regular customers every year are a brilliant marketing ploy. Somehow, I always think I'm going to save $50 and end up spending $200 instead. It never fails. I keep forgetting that this store isn't Kohls.

I also finally got around to taking care of my meager Christmas list on the Amazon website. I was pleased to see that regular shipping will still get there by Christmas. I wasn't quite as pleased when I noticed that several items in my shopping cart had a small notice that said "usually ships in two to four weeks." Hmm. "That's not going to work," I thought and abandoned the checkout procedure to start over again with gifts that shipped immediately.

Here's how forgetful I'm getting. Yesterday was my Blogiversary and I completely forgot about it. Oh, well. I guess we'll celebrate today. In case you haven't noticed, I've been blogging six years now without missing a single day. I wonder if anybody's been reading for six years? Writing this ongoing journal is a weird little accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless. I don't think I've done anything this consistently before in my entire life. Tomorrow I start physical therapy for my shoulder injury. We'll see how consistent I can be with that.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1706

We had another peaceful night with no incontinence accidents. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be a peaceful day. About 5:30 AM a big thunderstorm rolled in that seemed to meet the dog's storm phobia threshold. Once the thunder and lightning started, all bets were off. This was going to be one of those all day rains with very few dry interludes to take the dogs outside to do their business. Even though I could tell they needed to go, Dot and Dash wouldn't even stick their head out the back door. Dot couldn't hold it and ended up pooping on the living room floor. Dash stubbornly refused to go until the rain stopped. About an hour after breakfast there was a brief break in the storm and I took him out to the park. Luckily, he did his business quickly, because a huge thunderclap sent us both running back to the house within minutes.

The weather was so terrible that I didn't even bother to go to the gym. Traffic is a nightmare when it rains in Dallas and I'd just as soon avoid it whenever I can. Instead of working out, I got out the Stratocaster and played guitar for a while. I need to get the guitar out of the case more often. Like many things I used to do well, I really need to practice. It doesn't help that the carpal tunnel in my wrist has gotten worse. I couldn't play for a full evening anymore. The wrist just hurts too much. I was thinking that shooting baskets at the gym was helping my carpal tunnel syndrome, but apparently different muscles are used playing guitar. Even though I didn't have the guitar out for a long time, it's was still enjoyable to play a little blues on a rainy day.

After I convinced myself that I was no longer guitar hero material, I did what any geek would do on a rainy day: I updated software and recharged batteries. When all the computers and tablets were up to date, I vacuumed the house. Since I hadn't cleaned anything since before Dot's surgery, the carpets were filthy. I guess it makes sense to clean the carpets whenever you wash the dogs. Both get dirty at about the same rate. Everything is clean now. We've got clean dogs, clean sheets, clean carpets, and clean towels. It won't last long. As soon as Dash discovers how soft the ground is in the back yard after all this rain, he's sure to dig a big hole.

The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow. If it is, I'll finish the list of errands I was planning to do today. There are bills to pay, prescriptions to pick up, a refrigerator to restock with fresh vegetables, and maybe a trip to the gym. It looks like it is going to be a busy week. Janet and Dot have birthdays this month as well.

It's almost time to get the bed prepared for another unpredictable night. This whole ritual is strangely reminiscent of camping. I'm not sure exactly when we can trust Dot again, because she's not talking. Waterproofing the bed sure beats replacing the mattress though, so we'll probably continue adding the waterproof layers long after we really have to. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up becoming one more insane thing I continue to do forever without questioning, just like sweeping all the water off the roof after it rains. Yep, I've got to do that tomorrow too.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1393

I barely left the house today. Don't worry, the dogs still got their morning and evening walks, but that was about it. The rest of the day I spent staring at the computer. It's no surprise that carpel tunnel has taken its toll on my wrists. My main exercise today was pushing the mouse around on my desk.

Not that it matters, but I did get quite a bit done. Three more websites are up to date again, an article is on its way to be published, and a new print ad is looking pretty good in Quark Express. Sometimes I think I ought to teach my clients to update their own websites, but that would be shooting myself in the foot. I'm fully aware that my client's don't hire me for my wisdom. They hire me because I'm willing to do tiresome, mindless things that they don't feel like doing.

Although I've never liked the randomness of Texas weather, I find the changing of the seasons comforting. As Fall continues its approach, I see familiar signs that I know I've seen before. The leaves on certain trees are starting to turn yellow and orange. The Coots have returned to the lake and the Cormorants aren't far behind. As the days grow shorter, the dogs and I cast long shadows on our morning and evening walks. I'm certainly no Henry David Thoreau, but I've documented these seasonal transformations so thoroughly over the years, that I can tell you exactly what is going to happen next, just by looking at the photos I took in previous years. Maybe the ice is melting and the oceans are rising in other parts of the world, but nothing is changing here. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter are as regular as clockwork.

I am baffled by all the bickering in Congress. Sometimes I don't think anyone understands the healthcare industry at all. First of all, there is nothing new about Obamacare. Most states have had high risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions for decades. I should know, because I have some serious pre-existing conditions myself. It's not that people with pre-existing conditions can't get insurance, they just don't want to pay for it. Anyone with a pre-existing condition could always get health insurance the same way I did. For over a decade my company has leased my own services through an employee leasing company, just so I could get on the employee leasing company's group health insurance plan. This was always an expensive solution, but the insurance was quite good.

I have a feeling that I made the transition to the world of Medicare at precisely the right time. I noticed recently that the employee leasing company I was affiliated with has quietly dropped the gold plan I was using and is now advising customers to use one of the new private health care exchanges instead. The irony of this whole healthcare mess is that the people who hate the Affordable Care Act the most will probably benefit from it by being able to drop their company insurance programs entirely. On the other hand, the people who love the Affordable Care Act now, will probably hate it several years from now when they discover how much they will actually have to pay.

Noting is as it seems. I discovered that a long time ago.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1350

The trouble with working is that I'm too busy to get started on any of my ambitious bucket list projects and not busy enough to make any real money. I feel like I'm treading water at times, but I guess this is still better than drowning.

When I find the time, there's all sorts of things I'd like to try. I've been meaning to hook a camera up to a Meade Cassegrain telescope I acquired at a charity auction. I bought the necessary fittings to attach a camera about three years ago, but still haven't found the right opportunity to photograph anything. There are only about three or four days a year when the sky is sufficiently free of haze to take advantage of this super telephoto lens, but so far there has either been a dog emergency or a client crisis whenever the ideal day arrives.

I need to make a cutting board for the kitchen. For some reason, all the wooden cutting boards I've seen available in cooking stores are the wrong size. I found a local specialty hardwoods lumber company on the Internet, but have never found the time to spend several hours searching for a perfectly proportioned piece of rosewood or mahogany. It doesn't help matters that I will also have to buy a router and learn how to use it in order to create the kind of cutting board I really want.

I'd like to put rock sliders on the Defender 90, build a model train layout, and start recording my songs again, but I'll openly acknowledge that some of these things will never happen. There are always practical necessities like painting the house and caulking cracks and crevices so bugs can't get in that supersede the fun stuff. I guess I could start on some of my bucket list projects if I didn't go to the gym several times a week, but the workouts have become a practical necessity as well. Too many of my friends have already had heart attacks. I don't want to be the next one.

When I was walking the dogs this morning, one of my neighbors brought me up to date on the Summer's ongoing neighborhood disputes. I'm glad I really don't keep up with these things. I try to pretend that the park behind my house is out in the wilderness somewhere, and it is always distressing to realize that it is just a small patch of green in the middle of a big city. I would like to live in the middle of forty acres of land with no neighbors at all. The trouble with this type of arrangement though, is that there are seldom good veterinarians nearby.

When I was at the gym today, I discovered something else that is murder on my carpel tunnel hands. The gym has a really nice basketball court, so I thought I'd shoot a few baskets while I was there. Yikes! This used a few wrist muscles that I haven't moved in a while. My hand-eye coordination isn't what it used to be, but I did manage to dunk a few.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1283

The road crews were back in front of the house again this morning. This time it was paving machines, re-applying the same sort of asphalt surface they had scraped away a few weeks ago. Is this progress? Sadly, in today's world, I suspect it is. Millions of tax dollars were spent to fix a road that was never broken in the first place. Meanwhile, dozens of nearby side streets are still full of potholes and will probably never be fixed.

In honor of my advancing age, I fell on my butt and sprained my wrist while doing yard work. I was tugging on a large vine, trying to get it out of a tree. When the vine snapped, down I went. Oh, well. Now my right wrist matches the other one I'm always complaining about with the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

I got a ton of social media birthday greetings yesterday. Most of them were from people I'd never actually met. At least I had a vague idea who most of the Facebook greetings were from. I didn't have a clue who sent me birthday greetings on Google+. Not only did I fail to recognize the people, in many cases, I didn't even recognize the language the greeting was written in. For the record, I received no greetings at all from actual family members. They probably learned years ago that it just wasn't worth the trouble.

I wasted quite a bit of time today trying to apply online for a legitimate and well-deserved exemption on my real estate taxes. The powers that be couldn't have made the process more difficult if they tried. After I finally assembled and filled out the required forms, I noticed a little note at the bottom of one form that said everything had to be notarized. Why have an online form at all if it has to be notarized? It kind of defeats the whole purpose. I guess I'll finish this task another day.

Dot had very little energy on our morning walk. Even though we started out earlier, while the weather was cooler and there was still a breeze, I could tell she was getting too hot. We turned back well before our usual halfway point and made it home safely, but I'm really starting to worry about the old girl. She still loves to walk, but one of these days, I'm going to have to carry her home. That's not going to end well for either of us.

I've already taken the trash out to the curb for tomorrow's weekly trash pickup and am starting to salivate, thinking about my Friday breakfast outing. Staying on my wheat, sugar, and salt free diet forever is not going to be easy. I can still have meat in moderation though and I'm hungry for meat. I see a tasty, meat filled omelet in my future tomorrow.

Alamo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1201

I feel like I'm on the verge of something. I have over 30,000 Twitter followers, but no idea what to do with them. I find it increasingly easy to write endlessly, but still have nothing to say. I'm smart enough to realize that most of my successful writer friends have chosen to write about something useful to other people. They write cookbooks and books about parenting which are frequently wildly popular. Those that chose to write deeply personal novels instead, usually sold next to nothing. If they were lucky, they eventually wound up teaching English literature somewhere, totally mired in university bureaucracy and faculty politics. And those that chose to just write about themselves? Well, enough said about that sticky subject.

I only mention this because I've been watching Seinfeld's new Internet series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." I watched all ten episodes last night, and found the show fascinating. All the other comedians Jerry had coffee with seemed to share one thing in common. They all hated the idea of working for a living and couldn't imagine having a boss that told them what to do every day. I've always felt the same way. During my ad agency days, I used to tell friends that I was a prostitute. "People just rent my mind instead of my body. That's the only difference," I'd say. I've always thought that I was a clever guy, but if I ever accomplished anything useful to anyone other than myself, it was purely accidental. I'm still on the verge of something though. I can feel it.

Today, I finally learned how to use the DVR, mostly so I could record the new episode of Dr. Who that comes on later this evening. I hate to watch TV during dinner, but I definitely don't want to miss the new show. I am also determined to find a decent new roof that doesn't cost as much as a new car. A roof should never cost as much as a car. Cars are more fun. Google seems to be helping me with my quest. Every time I complain about my leaking roof on the blog, a new roofing company ad seems to magically appear in my Google Adwords queue. I clicked on one of these ads today and discovered an industrial company that refurbishes commercial roofs with a high-tech coating that is supposedly guaranteed against leaks for ten years. Sounds good to me. Sounds economical too. I think I'll investigate this further.

I've been amazed at how healthy and happy Dot has seemed this week. Maybe the acupuncture treatments and her new vitamins are really helping. I wonder if they have acupuncture treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome? Hey, it's worth a try. For most of my life, I've been very skeptical about alternative medicine. Maybe I was wrong though. I've achieved far better results from going to a good nutritionist and radically changing my diet than with all the prescription medications various doctors have prescribed. Come to think of it, physical therapy proved to be a much better solution to my neck and back pain than all the prescription pain pills too. Maybe some day I can get rid of all the pills entirely.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1198

I don't know why I'm so tired today. I certainly didn't do much. To mitigate the effects of a rather uneventful day, I explored Hulu Plus a bit and discovered a wealth of new ways to waste time. I also practiced the guitar for a while until the carpal tunnel pain in my wrist forced me to quit. I can usually play for about forty-five minutes now. Back in my rock 'n roll days, that would have only been one set in a four or five set evening. It's still fun to play though. I usually play through a pre-amp using headphones so I won't bother the dogs. I'm lost in my little world, while they're sleeping on the bed, lost in their own dog-dreams.

I got an e-mail from Angie's List saying that they'd send me a $20 gift card if I'd write two reviews for health care providers. What's that all about? I thought all Angie's List reviews were supposed to be spontaneous and unsolicited. I went ahead and wrote the reviews anyway, but I doubt that I'll ever get the gift card. The whole thing reminded me of the time some meeting planing web site told me that they'd send me an iPod if I filled out their survey. I filled out the survey four times, but never did get the iPod. All I got for my efforts were annoying calls from the meeting planning company, asking me if I'd like to sign up for their expensive service.

I did do some web site work today, but it was all pretty inconsequential. Today's revisions rose to about the same level of importance as the time I spent pumping up the Defender's tires to 32 PSI with an air compressor. I don't know why the tires have a consistent, very slow leak. I also don't know why some clients continue to make consistent, and often needless website changes. It's good to have something to do, however. Without these activities, I would have been forced to watch even more old episodes of Lexx on Hulu.

Although the day started cold, it warmed up quite a bit by the time dog training class arrived. It was actually quite nice outside this evening, so Dash and I had no excuse for avoiding class. Two dogs got in a fight, which scared Dash, but otherwise the training class was as uneventful as the rest of the day. Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1112

I plugged in the guitar and played a little blues today. There certainly wasn't much else to do. It was a very slow day. The good news was that I hadn't entirely lost my chops. The bad news was that playing guitar for any extended length of time with Carpal tunnel hurts like hell. Who knows though. Maybe playing with a wrecked left hand will give my riffs a note of authenticity.

I wonder how many years of sitting in a little room and writing inconsequential advertising it takes before you go stark raving mad? When you factor in that my primary diversions are sweeping standing water off the roof and killing cockroaches that wander into the house, maybe I've passed that threshold already. At least it was a bit warmer today. The dogs didn't even have to wear their Winter coats.

I was amused today when I noticed that the stock market had a substantial rally when the President came on television early in the afternoon to say that everyone was close to striking a deal on the fiscal cliff. Of course five minutes after the market closed, some senators came on TV and essentially said "just kidding." There is no deal tonight because nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. I have a feeling that this impasse could go on for weeks or months.

If we can stay awake until midnight, Janet and I will bring in the New Year with some champagne and a selection of cheese. I can't imagine standing out in the cold for hours to watch a mirrored ball drop, but seeing the event on TV in a warm house with a flute of champagne in your hand is actually kind of nice. 2012 certainly wasn't that memorable, but maybe 2013 will be better. Remember 1999 when Y2K was supposed to bring the world grinding to a halt on New Year's Eve? Nothing happened. People still say "party like it's 1999" though. What's that all about?  I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like 1999 when we all sail over the cliff a little later this evening.

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope your first New Year's resolution is to continue reading this blog for another year.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1043

I hate it when your body starts to fall apart. I'm finally getting used to the carpal tunnel in my left hand, and then I wake up this morning with exactly the same pain in my right hand. How could that happen overnight? Maybe one of the dogs slept on my hands. Maybe the bad dreams I've been having are seeping into my muscles and bones. I don't know what caused this, but it's irritating. I guess that I'll have to start doing my stretching exercises on the other hand as well.

I spent most of the day writing. I've covered some subjects I write about so thoroughly now that new articles are starting to sound a lot like stuff I've already written. That's the danger of being considered an expert in a given subject. You just end up doing the same thing over and over again.

A friend told me today that he couldn't work on a certain piece of business for ethical reasons. Then he asked me if I'd like to work on it instead. Yeah, sure. Whatever. Everyone knows that I have no ethics to speak of.

Apple introduced a cute little iPad today and the stock went down 18 points. What was that all about?  I think people expect too much these days. Maybe folks thought this new iPad costs too much. Maybe they thought it was too much like a Kindle or a Nook. Hey, it was a cute little iPad. I wouldn't mind having one. The stock should have gone up.

I think people are expecting too much from the upcoming elections as well. If you believe all the people on Facebook, the world is going to end if one candidate or the other gets elected. I don't think so. I know who I'm going vote for, but if the other guy happens to win, life will continue more or less as usual. The country is so divided now that we're going to be locked in a gridlocked stalemate for a long, long time.

There's a new lens I'd like to get for the video camera. This lens has gotten fabulous reviews, but it happens to be the manual focusing variety. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be unfortunately. A lens I can't even focus properly isn't going to be very useful. I wonder who's going to win this little dilemma: practical John, or gadget boy? 

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 869

People used to greet me by name at guitar stores, Italian furniture stores, and art galleries. Now they greet me by name at the pharmacy. I take so many pills that I've risen to the head of the class at my local pharmacy. All the pharmacists know who I am and what I take. It's depressing. I'd much rather have a friendly, personal welcome at the guitar store.

I suspect that those Halcyon Days might be over. The Carpal Tunnel in my wrist is so bad that is hurts to even pick up a guitar. I can still play, but not for very long. As much as I hate all the pills I take, the doctors say they are absolutely essential. I guess it is no surprise that my pharmacist is getting to know me better than anyone else. I'll take pills to keep me healthy, but I draw the line at taking pills to make me happy. I'm responsible for my own happiness.

They even make psychotropic drugs for dogs now. It just seems all wrong. The world around us may not induce euphoria anymore, but I hope that the dogs and I will always be able to cope with whatever comes our way without the need for a chemical filter. So far, so good. I manage to get through boring and even stressful days pretty well. I'll admit that there are still a few clients who could send me over the edge. If I manage to keep my sanity, I owe it all to Dot and Dash.

Training class was great tonight. The weather was warm enough that I didn't need to wear a jacket. My Spring allergies weren't acting up as much as they usually do. Dot and Dash even seemed to be in an unusually obedient mood. For the first time in quite a while, I wasn't looking at my watch continually to see when class would be over.

My new website is coming along well. With any luck, I might be able to get a functioning version up on my test server tomorrow. if that goes well, I might even get back to tackling the dreaded grass in the back yard again.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 810

It was interesting watching the dogs at the dog park today. One reason I like dogs so much is that they never hide their personalities. Active, energetic dogs are unabashedly wild. Shy dogs aren't a bit shy about letting you know exactly how they feel. All the dogs seem to instinctively seek out other dogs with similar personalities. Dot is not playful, but nobody pushes her on the issue. Dash is a bit shy, but puppies seem to seek him out. The dogs who like to chase each other at breakneck speeds from one end of the park to the other, always seem to leave the more sedentary dogs alone. The humans seldom have to intervene, because the dogs already know what kind of animal they are.

Even though there were dramatically different canine personalities in the park today, all the humans seemed pretty much the same. I'm sure the dogs owner's were just as diverse as their dogs, but we humans are so much better at masking our feelings. The people just talked politely with each other, while the dogs lived out their K-9 fantasies in public. I think the dogs have the right idea.

The weather was so nice today that I decided to tackle the leaves in the back yard after we got back from the dog park. Every Spring, it seems like there are more leaves than the year before, but I think it is a lot more likely that I just have less energy than the year before. There were certainly a lot of leaves today. In some spots the dead leaves had become compacted into a solid mass almost two feet thick. It was almost as if the entire yard had turned into a giant compost heap. One thing that you quickly discover when you rake leaves in the Spring is that you missed a lot of dog poop during the Winter. After several hours of using a rake and the leaf blower, I finally managed to get most of the leaves corralled into a huge pile in the middle of the yard.

Now, the leaves need to go into big plastic trash bags where they will wait for the illusive day when the city comes to pick them up. I need to check and see whether there is some special bag the leaves need to go into. I seem to remember a very angry neighbor last Spring who was furious, because after bagging all his leaves, the city refused to pick them up because they were in the wrong kind of bag. This seems like something the city would do, so I think I'll check first before I go to the trouble of bagging everything.

I may need to rethink my plan of buying a guitar and becoming a rock god again. I need to be able to spend an afternoon with a leaf blower first without being defeated by wrist pain. My left wrist just about killed me after two hours of swinging the leaf blower around with my left hand. I don't remember things being this bad last year. Carpal tunnel syndrome basically sucks.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 808

I'm really getting the urge to play the guitar again. There were several points in my life where guitars were real important to me. I played in several different bands throughout high school and college, put the instrument down for well over ten years and then joined yet another band. Now, I find myself languishing in another one of those periods where I haven't played a note for over ten years. Nevertheless, I find myself strangely attracted to guitars again. Too bad I never kept all the guitars I've had over the years. Some of them would have been collectable rarities by now. I didn't collect things back then though. Collecting came much later.

If I do start playing again, it won't be be to meet girls or become famous. I have this feeling that moving my left hand up and down a guitar neck again might be just the exercise I need to hold the carpal tunnel in my left wrist at bay. My physical therapist gave me a whole set of exercises to do that are designed to stretch the nerves in my wrist. I hate lifting weights though, or doing resistance training with a bungee cord. I really don't like exercise period. I like activities that kill two birds with one stone. Walking the dogs four miles a day is great exercise for me, but it also gets the dogs walked. Ditto for things like vacuuming and getting the water off the roof. I don't necessarily enjoy these things, but they provide exercise while getting something else accomplished as well. The way I look at it, practicing the guitar again would flex exactly the same muscles and help stretch the same nerves as I'm doing now using small weights. It would be a lot more fun though, and if I worked at it, I might get to the point where I could play decently again.

Do you ever notice how chatty some waiters are when you go out to a restaurant? When I went out for breakfast this morning, my waiter would answer everything I said by saying "Awesome." "Would you like some more coffee?" "Sure," I would say. "Awesome." says the waiter. "How are those eggs." "Very good," I say. "Awesome." says the waiter. The guy must have said "Awesome" twenty times during the course of breakfast. I much prefer those waiters in fancy steakhouses who invisibly hover in the background, filling your water glass and bringing you more dinner rolls without saying a word.

The Dalmatians seem to be finding new homes very quickly this year. I think I saw on Facebook that Lady found a home today. For every dog that finds its forever home however, there is always a new dog ready to take its place at the kennel. Another new girl arrived late this week. Janet and I will have to go up and meet her this weekend.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 608

Do you ever feel that you're spending too much time re-learning things you already know? I do. I wanted to make a few high quality Giclée prints on my new printer this afternoon and discovered that even though the Epson 4880 looked exactly like my old Epson 4000 printer, it was a different beast entirely. The ink was different. The ICC profiles were different. Even the paper path seemed slightly different. Consequently, I wasted some expensive watercolor paper trying to duplicate something I used to be able to do in my sleep. Like it or not, I'm going to have to go back to square one and recalibrate everything. I had the same problem when I switched from Photoshop 7.0 to CS5. Even though CS5 was a big improvement, it was also a big irritation, since a lot of the techniques I had perfected over the years simply didn't work anymore. Sometimes I wish people would simply stop improving things. It's going to take me the rest of my life to master all the features of stuff I already have.

As irritating as new things can be, I still can't resist something new. Today I joined Instagram. I have no idea who actually follows you on Instagram or why, but I do like the little square images the app produces. I took a few Instagram pictures today with my iPhone and was instantly transported back to the days when I shot a lot of stuff using Hasselblad and Bronica cameras. I've always liked the 2 1/4” x 2 1/4” square image format. Somehow I find it easier to compose things inside a square frame. This is probably just one more indication of how rigid and inflexible I've become. Just to prove that I'm really an easy going, flexible guy, I cropped one of my first Instagram pictures back into a rectangle for the blog.

It's time to give Dash another antigen shot. His skin is starting to look really good again, but maybe I ought to start giving the injections myself. These injections are supposed to be given subcutaneously, but the past several times the techs have given the injection in muscle and caused a nasty welt. I wish staying healthy wasn't so complicated. Dash appears to be getting better, but I seem to be getting worse. I'm increasingly convinced that I've got a pretty bad case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The last time I went to the doctor, I had them X-Ray my hands, since I thought that I might have sprained or broken my wrist. The X-Rays looked fine though and the only other thing I can think of that would cause this kind of pain is Carpal Tunnel. I really don't want the surgery if I can avoid it. I had a friend who had the surgery and his hands are worse now than they were before. I saw some special far infrared therapy gloves on the Internet that are supposed to help. Maybe I'll buy a pair. Gloves certainly sound easier than surgery.

Dalmatian of the Day

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