Day 1105

It was a nice relaxing day. We got up late and had a hearty breakfast. Janet made a pumpkin pie. We both did a little shopping and wrapped packages. The dogs enjoyed having everybody home and alternated between chasing squirrels in the yard and sleeping on the bed. For the first time in quite a few years there were no Christmas Eve fundraisers for Dalmatian Rescue, so it was nice to have a day with no agenda.

My Jewish clients were still working today. I think I'll wait until Wednesday to start their assignments though. Jeez, they practically had the entire month of September off for their religious holidays. I need a few days off myself.

We opted to go out for dinner instead of cooking this evening and it was a good choice. We enjoyed an absolutely delicious dinner at Central 214. Janet had a Berkshire Pork Chop with Cream Cheese Grits and I had Wagyu Bavette Steak with Black Truffle Potato Puree. Yum! Since it was a holiday, I even had a Cosmopolitan before dinner. It's been over a year since I've had a martini, and depending on what the liver doctors say, it might be even longer before I have another one. Basically abstinence sucks. I really used to enjoy having a drink every evening before dinner. It was one of the most relaxing parts of my day.

We got the dogs all dolled up in their Christmas scarves for their evening walk. I'm not sure that anyone even saw them though. The park was empty. I guess there aren't many picnics in the park on Christmas Eve. It was cold today too. I don't think we saw another person on the entire walk. According to the weather forecast, we might even get a little snow tomorrow. It's been quite a while since we've had a white Christmas in Dallas. Whatever happens, I'll be watching the Dr. Who Christmas special tomorrow evening. I'm not sure what you guys will be doing, but I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 954

It's weird that after all these years, certain things still baffle me about HTML. Today, I noticed that when I inserted a rather ordinary nested table into a page I was working on, the entire page shifted a few pixels to the left. If I took the table out again, everything would shift back to the right. Obviously, there was something wrong in the code, but I just couldn't find it. Maybe it was something as small as a single misplaced tag. I wasted a huge amount of time looking for discrepancies, but the table itself seemed to work perfectly. I finally gave up and inserted a similar invisible table in all the other pages on the site, so everything would shift a few pixels to the left. The site looks and works perfectly now, but two or three years from now I won't have a clue why this particular website has tables with nothing in them strewn all over the place.

Project Runway is back. It's hard to believe that this show has been on the air for ten seasons now. Back when I still drank alcohol, Janet and I would have Martinis while we watched the show. I never cared much for shows like Survivor or even American Idol, but Project Runway was always one of my favorites. As contrived contests go, this one seemed pretty genuine. I can hear the show off in the distance on the TV in the kitchen as I write this. Janet must be watching. I've got to finish the blog first. The show's not the same without a Martini or Cosmopolitan in my hand anyway. I only watch TV during breakfast now. A long leisurily breakfast has become my one remaining luxury.

I read something recently that said dead Blue Jays were a sign that the West Nile Virus might be in the area. I saw a dead Blue Jay this afternoon while I was walking the dogs. Actually, you see quite a few dead birds if you are walking in the woods, but mosquitoes are bad this year and I'm starting to get nervous about the West Nile Virus. That's all I need on top of everything else that's wrong with me. Thinking you're not going to get bit by a mosquito in the South is ridiculous though. There are millions and millions of the little bugs and even if you spray a whole can of Off® on your arms and legs, you're still going to get bit occasionally.

I'm already looking forward to my regular Friday breakfast outing. The trash has been taken out to the curb. All my e-mail has been answered. It's been so hot this week that I even went up on the roof today to look for tiny cracks. I found some too. All in all, it's been a very productive week. I'm ready for bacon now.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day