Day 2540

Every couple of months, I open a stack of mail that I have no interest in. This stack is pretty large, because the only mail that I actually do open are bills, checks from clients, and the occasional letter from my sister. I never read bank statements anymore. If I'm interested, I can always go online to check my balance. Letters from Medicare and my supplemental health insurance company are mostly just irritating. Why does the government generate so much useless paperwork? They could probably cut the cost of healthcare significantly if they just eliminated all these letters. Letters from SiriusXM go directly in the trash. If you ever accepted a free trial from SiriusXM, you'll get so many letters afterwards asking you to subscribe that they could have given you a free subscription with the money they spend on postage. Why do banks keep asking me to sign up for a credit card when I already have their credit card too? Most of the mail I receive is worthless. Of course, I could say the same thing for most of the e-mail I receive. Some of the mail I opened today went in a folder, in case I might need it for taxes. The rest went in the shredder or the trash. Hopefully, I won't need to do this again for another couple of months.

It was so dark and overcast today that I spent the entire day thinking it was about to rain. The air smelled like rain. There was lots of wind, kind of like a front was moving through the area, but there was no rain. I think it is still supposed to rain after midnight tonight, but hopefully there will be no thunder and lightning. With storm phobic dogs, thunder and lightning virtually guarantees that you won't be getting much sleep.

Since dark, gloomy days destroy my motivation, just about the only thing I accomplished other than sorting through a pile of unwanted mail was go to the gym. At least the gym is brightly lit. I keep thinking that I should be getting stronger or have more stamina after all the time I've spent at the gym, but I feel the same as I always have. My wrists hurt. My shoulders hurt. And I'm always ready to go home as soon as my workout is finished. I try to be optimistic though. I'm not gaining much but maybe the whole point is to keep from deteriorating even further.

I've got to find a solution for my acid reflux problem. I thought I was cured, but really it was just the pills that made me feel better. As soon as I discontinued the Protonix, the heartburn returned. I don't want brittle, weak bones, but I don't want the heartburn either. In theory, you can cure this problem with a change in diet. You've got to give up coffee, spicy foods, tomatoes, pizza, potato chips, and just about everything else I enjoy. Like that's going to happen. I don't think I could survive without coffee and spicy foods. I'm going to go get a bone density test next week. If my bone density is still good, maybe I can start taking the Protonix again. Maybe it's not good for you in the long run, but the stuff really works.

I got an e-mail from a high-end watch winder company telling me that everything on their website was half price for one day. That's quite a savings. The rational part of my brain kept telling me that I don't even wear my watches anymore. I don't need another watch winder. The irrational part of my brain kept saying, but it's half price! Half price! I'm happy to report that the rational part of my brain prevailed.

I can't believe that the same people who spent the past year calling Trump a fascist and a tyrant are now praising Castro as a great leader. Do these people have any idea of the horrible things Castro actually did? All I've got to say is it's a strange world we live in now.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2539

There's a small Cuban restaurant in the neighborhood I've always been meaning to try. Today, when I passed the place on my way to get groceries, I noticed a TV satellite truck out front and a news crew setting up for an interview. I'm sure they were going to ask the restaurant owner what he thought about Castro's death. It seemed weird that world events would have an impact on my small neighborhood, but that's the world we live in today. I made a mental note to watch the local news this evening, but I quickly forgot. I guess I'll never know why the satellite truck was parked in front of the restaurant, but I still need to stop by and try a Cuban sandwich sometime.

There was a broken hinge on the rear door that I needed to fix today. I thought this would be an easy task. All I needed to do was replace three rusted screws and reattach the hinge to the door. I hadn't counted on the fact that my body is falling apart. I had to reach above my head to extract the rusty screws. I can easily extend my left hand above my head, but my left wrist is very weak because of carpal tunnel. My right wrist is much stronger, but I have trouble extending that arm fully because of my dislocated shoulder. Just reaching up and securing the hinge with three new screws turned out to require much more effort than I thought it would. Getting old is a bitch.

I had better luck repairing a broken iPhone case a little later in the day. This task required that I remove six tiny hex screws with a watchmaker's tool and then use a drop of superglue to repair a crack in the bezel of the case. I successfully made the repair without losing any of the tiny screws or getting superglue on my fingers. I don't know what this proves, except that maybe I need to stick to jobs that require finesse rather than strength.

I found a spare external hard drive in the office this morning and instead of taking it to the storage warehouse like I usually do, I decided to use it to create a Time Machine drive for the laptop that I've been playing with this week. I don't know why I never backed up this laptop before. I've had the thing for years. I defragmented the laptop drive while I was at it and then unplugged everything and put the laptop back in a drawer. I probably won't boot the thing up again until I need it to write a blog post during a power outage.

Dot was in good spirits today, although I did have a bit of a mess to clean up during the night. I debated whether to wake Janet up and ask for help, but she and Dash were sleeping peacefully so I managed to clean Dot up by myself. I'm getting better at this, but I'm sure not getting enough sleep. All I want these days is an uninterrupted eight hours of sleep.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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