Day 2370

I went to the airport and picked up Janet after breakfast this morning. I'm really glad her plane arrived at DFW airport, because at exactly the same time that I was waiting for her at the American Airlines baggage claim, there was a shooting right outside the baggage claim at Love Field. If we had been at that airport instead, we would have been stuck there the rest of the day. They shut down the entire airport because they thought that people might have got on on planes without going through security during the confusion that occurred right after the shooting. Everyone had to get off their plane and go through security all over again. Access to and from the airport was shut down and people on the airport access roads at that time were stuck in their cars for hours. It was a huge mess.

The dogs said goodby to the dog walker this morning after a final early morning walk. It was nice to know that if I need help again, there is someone out there I can trust. There were certain aspects to caring for Dot on my own that were more difficult than I anticipated, but continuing to give the dogs their regular morning and evening walks wasn't one of them. The dog walker always arrived right on time, was very patient with Dot, and most importantly, both dogs liked her. Having something new and different to anticipate each morning seemed good for them. Hopefully, they will continue to walk with the same enthusiasm when we resume our regular schedule tomorrow morning.

It didn't really seem like a work day, since I spent half my day going to and from the airport. I finished several small website updates after lunch, but there was nothing major on the agenda. Since Janet was home with the dogs and work was slow, I decided to get a head start on my Saturday errands. You'd think that mid-afternoon on a workday would be a good time to do grocery shopping, but what do I know. The store was relatively empty, but there were only two check out aisles open and I ended up waiting in line longer than I usually do on a busy weekend. I couldn't use the automated check out aisles today because I bought some beer. They still check your ID every time you buy alcohol even if it's obvious that you're an old man who hasn't hasn't made an underage purchase in over fifty years. There is no common sense to rules and regulations anymore. Eighty year old grandmothers are forced to take their shoes of at the airport and old men are still carded when they buy beer. In the mean time, there are still shootings at airports and nothing is really any safer.

Even though I had just returned from the store, neither of us felt like cooking, so I went out again and picked up some take-out for dinner. On the way, I encountered a huge four car pile up just a few miles from my house. There were fire trucks, ambulances, and a big traffic jam. It probably would have been easier to cook something for dinner. If I learned anything today it was that when people come to me, like the dog walker and the FedEx man, it is generally a good experience. On the other hand, when I venture out into the world, not so much. If anyone ever perfects online grocery shopping with free home delivery, I may never leave the house again.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2364

I took Janet to the airport this morning. The road to DFW has been perpetually under construction since the day I moved to Dallas. I don't think they'll ever finish it. They keep making the road wider and wider, but it never seems to be wide enough. I drove carefully today. I'm always worried that I'll get in a wreck and the dogs will starve to death before anyone notices I'm gone. Taking care of the dogs has always been a team effort and it still makes me nervous to operate without a backup.

I promised Janet I wouldn't go up on the roof while she was gone. It would definitely be bad news if I broke my neck and nobody noticed. There are still plenty of things that could go wrong, but I think we'll do OK. All the dogs meds have been neatly organized in little packets with the date and time to give them marked on the front. The refrigerator is well stocked and the dog walker is coming tomorrow morning to help with Dot's morning walk. Dot and Dash are so set in their ways that they always act a bit restless the first few days that Janet is gone. They're dogs though, and as soon as they settle in to a new routine, everything is fine.

Unfortunately, we haven't reached that transition point yet. Whenever they hear a noise, they run to the front door to see if anyone is there. Well, Dot doesn't run anywhere, but she whines for me to lift her up and take her to the front door. If I get the dogs settled in one room, five minutes later they want to be in another.  Their routine has been broken and they're not happy campers at the moment. I try to be accomodating, but there's only so much I can do. Things are going to be different for a while.

I don't know why the dogs are so upset. Things aren't actually very different at all. Our life is always pretty much the same. I went to the grocery store today, like I always do on Saturdays. Dash got a long afternoon walk and they both got their dinner right on time. Maybe they want the television on. As soon as they both settle down and go to sleep, I'll have to wake them up again to give them their evening meds. Then we'll go through this all over again.

I was going to try to get to bed earlier and get some additional sleep, but I'm not off to a good start. Despite the best of intentions, I ate dinner when I always do and couldn't get started writing the blog until the dogs settled down and went to sleep. By the time I reconfigure the dogs beds in their  nighttime mode, give the dogs their pills, brush my teeth and empty and clean the dehumidifier, it will be close to midnight. An hour after I go to sleep, Dot will poop in her bed and I'll be up again.

I hope that Dot and Dash cooperate with the dog walker tomorrow. Life will be so much easier if we can get their regular morning and evening walks out of the way without a giant hassle. I tried to take Dot on a short walk by myself this evening and that didn't go all that well. She really has very little interest in walking unless Dash is walking in front of her. The dogs don't know it yet, but they're going to be getting a banana tomorrow. We usually have a big breakfast, with bacon, eggs, biscuits, and fresh fruit on Sunday mornings. I think I'm going to revert to my weekday banana and strawberry smoothie tomorrow, which means sharing a banana with the dogs. Anything to make life a little easier.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1613

I picked up Janet at the airport today. DFW seems to be permanently under construction these days. Every time I go to the airport there seems to be a new temporary access road to get to the terminals. Since American Airlines just got out of bankruptcy recently, I wonder where they're getting the money to finance this huge expansion. Maybe it's not a problem though. They're probably making enough from what they charge for your bags these days that they could finance several new terminal buildings.

The dogs were certainly glad that the family is back together. They don't like surprises. I wonder how they'll feel when they discover they don't have as much space on the bed tonight. It's amazing how much room two Dalmatians can take up when they put their mind to it. They didn't want to let any empty space go to waste and quickly figured out how to occupy almost the entire bed while Janet was gone. On many days, I had trouble finding even a small space for myself.

I finally got my car in for its overdue service appointment this afternoon. It costs a bit more to work on this car than the old Defender, but hopefully it won't break as often. Maybe I'll get lucky and it won't break at all for a while. There was nothing wrong when I took the car in today. It was just one of those preventive maintenance service visits where they change the oil and all the fluids and charge you a lot of money for basically nothing. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure though. I always change my oil every 3000 miles, whether it needs it or not.

There still wasn't much work today, even though I did have a few website updates to complete before the weekend. It's just as well it was a light day. A trip to the airport, two dog walks, a service visit at the car dealership, some light grocery shopping, and a trip to the post office for stamps seemed to take up the entire day.

Our Spring weather continues to be exceptionally nice and I don't think it is supposed to rain all weekend. How did we get so lucky? It's still snowing in some parts of the country and California's wildfire season seems to have started early this year. Sure, we have the occasional tornado and it's beastly hot in July, but right now Texas seems like a great place to live.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1607

I took Janet to the airport again today. Sometimes I think she travels a lot. Other times, I think she's the normal one, and I've become a hopeless recluse instead. At any rate, travel's loss has become the dogs gain. It's been years since we've had to board Dot and Dash. I'm just about always here; to walk them, feed them, and nap with them. Before she left, Janet typed up an elaborate list of medication instructions for the dogs. I give Dash his chemotherapy meds on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She usually give the other regular morning meds while I'm still asleep and the evening meds while I'm writing the blog. I don't think I'll have much problem keeping things straight. I really don't have much else to remember this week.

It was a beautiful day. The mud from Thursday's storms has mostly dried up, but the grass and foliage are still lush and green. I wish things would stay this way all Summer. Everything dries up quickly when the temperatures are in the 90's for months at a time though. It actually got up over 90 this afternoon. I keep the Summer heat at bay by paying my utility bills. Water and electricity bills can get ridiculous in Dallas in the Summer. Later in the year, there are often water use restrictions, but this early in the season, people run their sprinklers like there's no tomorrow. Ditto for electricity. If I'm having my coffee outside on a Summer morning, I'll always hear a low pitched hum that's almost as loud as the ever-present Cicadas. It's the collective noise of all the air conditioner compressors, working hard to cool the neighborhood.

I can either clear the water off the roof tomorrow, or go to the gym instead. Both activities probably burn roughly the same amount of calories. Both are necessary, and neither is particularly fun. I'll just have to see what kind of mood I'm in. Many of you might think that pushing tons of water off the roof would never be the winning choice. Overpowering the forces of nature can be oddly satisfying though. We'll see what the weather is like. If it's really hot tomorrow, I'm going to the gym. The water on the roof will evaporate on a hot day and the gym is air conditioned.

Whatever I did with the ants yesterday seems to be working. I didn't see any ants today. I was hoping that since we had quite a few hard freeze days this winter, bugs wouldn't be as much of as much of a problem this Spring. Maybe this was just wishful thinking. So far, those cold days haven't made much of a difference at all. There's always some sort of bus related crisis in Texas in the Summer. Last Summer it was mosquitoes and West Nile Disease. This year, it's conenose bugs and Chagas disease. The conenose, or "kissing bugs," as they're known in many places, carry a protozoa that is already killing dogs in South Texas. The protozoa circulates in the blood until it takes up residence in the heart and begins damaging the tissue. Often, the first clinical signs of Chagas disease in dogs is sudden death from heart failure. Yikes! One more thing to worry about. As if heartworms, lyme disease, and leptospirosis weren't enough already.

It's time for the dogs evening round of meds and a snack before bed. After that, we'll all pile on the bed, watch a little TV, and sleep in late. Sounds like a plan to me.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1550

I took Janet to the airport today. She works hard and needs a periodic vacation to keep her sanity. I lost my sanity a long time ago, so trips don't really help anymore. I don't like to travel. The only kind of trips I enjoy are business trips where I can spend someone else's money. There is still a small amount of satisfaction that comes from living large on a greedy corporation's dime. Corporations don't send me places like they used to though. All they want are are my files. e-mail has changed everything.

 I couldn't have gone on a trip anyway next week. Dash gets another CAT scan on Monday, so the oncologist can calculate exactly where the radiation beam needs to go. On Tuesday he begins the first of 21 scheduled radiation treatments. Later in the week he will begin chemotherapy as well. As worried as I am about Dash's treatment, I feel much better today than I did yesterday. I finally had a chance to speak with the head oncologist at the cancer clinic and he was very reassuring. This guy was one of the founding partners of Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists in Houston. This is one of the best animal cancer hospitals in the entire country. I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of answers from someone with over 25 years of experience treating every conceivable form of cancer. There is no substitute for knowledge and experience. The young person I talked with yesterday will learn this someday.

Dash's special harness came in the mail today. I wish I'd discovered Ruffwear harnesses earlier. The harness is comfortable, fits like a glove, and there is no way a dog could escape from it. These harnesses were designed for service and search and rescue dogs, but they are perfect for an escape artist like Dash. I may get one for Dot as well, since there is a convenient handle on the top that makes it much easier to lift the dog in an emergency. I am always scared that Dot's legs will go out on a walk and it would be difficult to get her home again. Something like this would help.

The bird that poops on my car must have started talking to other birds, because two crows pooped on my head while I was walking the dogs this evening. They certainly managed to make a mess of things. I had to wash my hair and throw my clothes in the laundry as soon as we got home. It's kind of ironic that I'm developing a reputation as a bird photographer on Google+. I have taken some beautiful pictures of birds, but that doesn't mean I like them. Basically, I think most birds are filthy, disgusting creatures and I want nothing to do with them.

We're supposed to have severe weather tomorrow, so I stocked up on groceries on the way home from the airport. If the weather is bad, I see no reason to leave the house at all. Even when the weather is good, there aren't that many reasons to leave the house. Oh, thanks for thinking of Dash you guys! It means a lot.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1476

Janet returned from her Christmas trip today. I only fly a couple of times a year these days, so every time I go to the airport, I'm amazed at all the changes. Anybody who expects job growth to return any time soon needs to take a good long look at DFW airport. People are being replaced by machines in droves. The attendants who used to hand you a parking ticket when you entered the airport have largely been replaced by machines. In many terminals, the ticketing agents have been replaced by machines as well. You print your own ticket and boarding pass without talking to anyone. In the international terminal, there is even a machine that will scan and verify your passport. Flying isn't very exclusive anymore either. To my untrained eye, it looked like the people waiting for their bags at the baggage carrousel had arrived directly from Walmart. I'm sure that all the machines keep costs down so these scruffy looking people can fly instead of taking the bus.

The year is finally winding down. By the end of the day, I looked around the office and realized there was nothing more to do. I'm caught up! Since tomorrow is New Year's Eve, I might actually be finished for the year. I'm not worried that this lull will continue. It never does. Traditionally, January is usually a busy month.

Although the year is ending tomorrow, there is still plenty of unfinished business from 2013. For starters, my neighbor's tree is still sitting on my roof. The owner of the aggressive dogs down the street hasn't fixed his fence either. I need to call my hepatologist and find out when he wants me to start my new Hepatitis C treatment. For several years my doctors have told me that January 2014 would be the date when the new treatment would be approved by the FDA. Now, 2014 is here. Oh, I guess I need to find out what this so called "donut hole" that has made the cost of my prescriptions skyrocket is all about as well.

I'm not making any New Year's resolutions this year. I've given up most of the guilty pleasures already, so there's not much more to abstain from. I'm not trying to better myself either. Maybe I could be a kinder, more sensitive, or harder working person if I really tried, but what would be the point? Life is difficult enough as it is. Maybe I'll just resolve to get up every morning and make the bed.  That should take care of things for another year.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1471 - Christmas

Janet woke me up at 3:30 AM. I dressed quickly, packed the car, and at 4 AM we headed for the airport. The roads, even the freeways, were absolutely empty. I've had early flights before, but I guess never on Christmas morning. It was eerie, even a little spooky, to travel through a huge city absolutely devoid of traffic. When we entered the airport itself, traffic picked up a bit, and when I dropped Janet off at her terminal, there was actually quite a crowd. Apparently she wasn't the only one squeezing in a quick trip to visit relatives on Christmas morning.

When I returned to the house, I went straight back to bed again with the dogs and didn't wake up again until three hours later when sunlight began streaming through a bedroon window and Dot and Dash informed me that it was time for their breakfast.

It was a lazy day, since there was absolutely nothing to do. The weather was nice, so we took an extra long walk this morning. There were lots of joggers on the trails and many of them wore Santa hats. Almost everyone wished us a Merry Christmas as we passed by. I like quiet, amorphous days like this. There appeared to be lots of family activity up and down the street. The smell of smoke from dozens of fireplaces filled the air and cars filled with presents and food arrived and departed with regularity.

My own house was an island of calm. I fixed myself some oatmeal and fruit, brewed a pot of coffee, and watched a Dr. Who marathon that culminated with the annual Christmas special later in the evening. After breakfast I went through a stack of unopened mail and discovered that my stockbroker had made some trades that he had forgotten to tell me about. Actually they were probably trades that we'd agreed about several months ago at our last meeting, but you couldn't prove it by me. I never take notes at these meetings and promptly forget what we've talked about. I reviewed the trades and they all seemed quite reasonable. I still wonder whether we ever talked about this before though.

When I told one of my clients not to send me any work on Christmas Day, he probably imagined that I was off to a big family gathering. The truth is that I just enjoy doing nothing. The world won't end if I do nothing for a few days. I'm sure that all the crazy deadlines will return within a week or so wherever I do.

I found the Dr. Who Christmas Special a bit confusing. Somehow the doctor managed to age 300 years while Clara was having Christmas dinner with her parents. Throughout most of the show the doctor kept telling Clara that he couldn't regenerate anymore and was finally going to die. At the very end however, the time lords reached through a rift of time that I thought the doctor had already taken care of in a previous season, and brought him back to life again. The plot had so many confusing  twists and turns that I wonder if Steven Moffat just makes this stuff up as he goes along.

Tomorrow things will be more or less back to normal. Dot's physical therapy sessions have been rescheduled to Thursdays for the duration of the holidays. I need to get Dash back to the vet for his antigen shot. I wouldn't be surprised if there was work to do as well. There always seems to be work to do on Thursdays.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1280

Janet is home again. The new roof has been paid for. I didn't even get stung by a bee today. For the most part, all is well with the world.

The day did start off with a humongous Summer rainstorm, but the dogs and I are learning to adjust to these storms. Instead of walking the dogs right after I get up, as I usually do, we all had our breakfast instead. Dot and Dash love to eat, so postponing their walk was no big deal to them. I am so slow fixing my own breakfast that by the time I was finished eating and had done the dishes, the rain was over. Problem solved. The sudden downpour cooled things down by at least fifteen degrees, so we actually had a very enjoyable walk. Our afternoon walk was another story entirely. Once the sun broke through the clouds, the moisture in the ground turned to steam and the air became a sauna.

Considering that it was a Monday, I was surprisingly busy today. I completed a couple of website revisions and wrote an article or two. I remembered to pay my quarterly estimated taxes too, so I can cross that off my list. I was actually so productive today that I feel I should be entitled to take Tuesday off. That will never happen though. There is always work to do on Tuesday.

Janet's flight was delayed by weather this evening, so I found myself out at the airport watching the bags go round and round at the baggage claim carousel. I like bags and it's always interesting to see what other people are carrying. At least half the bags are dull, utilitarian looking Samsonite models, but occasionally I see something interesting. My favorite bags are made by PortaBrace. These distinctive blue bags are made by hand in Bennington, Vermont and used almost exclusively by film and video production crews. I frequently use mine as suitcases. They are almost indestructible.

I wish tomorrow was Friday. It's not like the workload is all that terrible this week. I think I'm just getting tired of oatmeal for breakfast. Even mixed with strawberries and blueberries, it's still oatmeal.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1277

Fridays are somewhat ritualized. After I walk the dogs, I go out for breakfast and order something more interesting than oatmeal. This is usually a high cholesterol meal with several eggs, but I figure that one day out of seven with too much cholesterol is a lot better than the seven days out of seven that used to be the norm for me. After breakfast, I go to the grocery store and buy groceries for the weekend. Then I come home and try to finish the week's work so I can start my weekend free and clear of obligations.

I woke up this morning with a throbbing pain in my right leg. I momentarily thought I might have deep vein thrombosis or something equally foreboding. Then I remembered that I was stung by bees yesterday. I seem to be a lot more sensitive to bee stings than I used to be. This was one heck of a sting. Maybe the dreaded killer bees have finally arrived in Dallas.

It keeps getting hotter. The temperature was over 100 degrees at some point this afternoon. Maybe I'll finally get a tan this Summer. I've lost to much weight recently that I finally don't feel bad about walking the dogs without a shirt in the Summer. I certainly don't look like a young lifeguard, but it's better than it used to be.

I never like driving in Dallas in the Summer. The old Defender has a tendency to overheat and when I'm stuck in rush hour traffic I can literally see the temperature gauge on the dash inch upwards as I sit stranded at a traffic light. I've had to pull over to let the engine cool before, and it will probably happen again. It certainly takes the fun out of driving when every drive is a race against the clock to get home again before the engine overheats. Today, I needed to get some more ink for my large format printer. I did the smart thing. I just had my ink vendor drop ship the ink to me via UPS. I never though I'd use UPS to send things across town, but sometimes it makes sense.

I took Janet to the airport again this afternoon in 99 degree weather. It definitely made sense to take her car. No matter which Land Rover I drive, the airport is about as far as I ever go these days.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1249

It was a busy day. The roofers woke us up with a lot of banging and pounding over our head. It's clear that roofers get off to an earlier start than I do. The dogs have kind of an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude about all the activity. As long as they can't actually see the roofers, they don't bark all that much. I guess they're pretty used to noise on the roof. Quite a few tree limbs have fallen on the roof over the years and of course, I'm up there myself quite a bit getting the water off.

I had lunch with my ad agency friend today. I'll have to admit I was a bit envious of my friend. He drove up in a brand new Lexus IS convertible and proceed to tell me about the fantastic vacation in Rome he just returned from. My friend has never looked healthier or happier. He's on permanent disability. Nice work if you can get it is all I've got to say.

After an unusually healthy lunch, considering the way we both used to eat, I went grocery shopping at Central Market and then returned home to finish my work for the week. I was glad to see the roofers leaving for the day when I arrived. I had put up with all the noise I could handle this morning.

I went to the airport this evening to pick up Janet. I checked the American Airlines website just before I left, to make sure that the arrival time or the gate hadn't changed. They're always changing gate assignments at the last minute. The gate was the same, but the website said that the flight was going to be early. While I was driving to the airport, they must have changed their mind. When I arrived at the designated baggage claim area, I discovered that the flight in question was actually going to be late. This happens all the time. No wonder this company went bankrupt.

Dot and Dash were delighted to see Janet again. Dash got so excited that he started jumping straight up in the air. When he makes these vertical leaps, he can get three feet off the ground. All this activity would have been fine, except he was doing his wild leaping around in the living roof. I'm always scared he'll land right on top of the glass coffee table and cut himself. Once we let the dogs outside to blow off steam, they both quieted down and were calm again. They must have known what was coming next: some tasty dog treats from one of the suitcases in the hall.

I think the roofers said they were coming back tomorrow. Oh, well. We certainly won't need an alarm clock in the morning.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1243

I took Janet to the airport today. It used to be that I traveled more than she did, but now it's the other way around. I rarely leave the neighborhood anymore. That's just as well. I don't really like traveling anymore. The dogs definitely don't like the idea of traveling. Mostly because they usually don't get to go. Dot and Dash get upset whenever they see a suitcase. A suitcase means that something is going to change and their routines will be disrupted for a while. I try to compensate by feeding them extra treats and taking naps with them. This usually works. Luckily, dogs are easy to please.

It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. Maybe that's why everything was so crowded. There were long lines at the grocery store. There were even lines of people using the self-checkout terminals, which are usually empty. There was an old woman ahead of me in line who kept swiping her credit card through the machine over and over again, swearing at it when it wasn't doing what she wanted. I was just about ready to move to another line, when a clerk came over to her and explained that she was already finished and could just take her buggy and go. I wonder what will baffle and confuse me when I get old? I sure it will be something. It will be something totally unexpected too. That's the way it usually works.

When I was watching Dr. Who this evening I noticed a glowing red light on the set top box. I had forgotten that I had programmed the DVR to record the show. I don't know why I'm so keen on seeing every episode, because I don't think this new series is quite as good as some of the previous ones. I still think I liked the ninth and tenth doctors the best, when they traveled with Rose Tyler. Oh, well. If I want to see this new episode again, it's in the box. Maybe the season will get better. There's already a lot of buzz about the season finale, when the Doctor's name is revealed.

I hope the dogs don't mind if we skip the dog park tomorrow. Yeah, I know. Some people take four or five dogs to the park by themselves. I don't. Maybe I'm overprotective, but Dot is getting old and I've seen some pretty rough dogs in the park. I just feel more comfortable when there's two of us watching over them.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 982

Everything is normal again. I'm back in Dallas. The dogs have returned from the boarding kennel and have resumed their regular routine. Although I have learned what the fashionable will be wearing next Spring, it really doesn't matter since I'll still be wearing a black t-shirt and jeans for the foreseeable future.

I hated to say goodby to Las Vegas. It was a nice change of pace. We got off to an exceptionally early start this morning. It actually seemed like we got up before we went to bed. I'm definitely not an early riser, but I've learned that there are advantages to getting to the airport at the crack of dawn. The line at the TSA checkpoint is much shorter, for starters. Getting through security at McCarran Airport has always been daunting, but we sailed right through this morning. There wasn't a line at all. Janet and I ate breakfast at the airport and then had an uneventful flight home.

Since I'm not one of the ones who immediately checks their cell phone the instant the landing gear hits the runway, there was a ton of e-mail for me to sort through when I got back to the office. Hidden away among hundreds and hundreds of spam and marketing messages were at least ten legitimate letters telling me that I was already late on something. Tomorrow will be a busy day. There are dogs that need to be added to rescue websites. There are new services that my clients think the world needs to know about. There are articles that need to be written. Could all this wait? Probably. Would I have any business at all if each of these projects didn't receive top priority. Probably not.

Yesterday, at the WWD Magic show, I walked right past a panel discussion of fashion bloggers. They were all talking enthusiastically about emerging trends and the importance of the Internet to the fashion industry. And why wasn't I included in this illustrious panel, I wondered? Hey, I write about fashion. I blog. Hmm. Maybe it's because I'm not 22 years old. These kids were all so young. I say hats off to these young bloggers. I'm all for any 22 year old who is actually out in the world doing something and not still living at home with their parents.

I'm a reluctant traveler, but once you pry me away from my routine and get me out of town, I never want to return. It's nice to do something different. Regular day-to-day life can be mind numbingly boring no matter what you do for a living. OK. Maybe it's not boring if you are an ER nurse or a fireman, but I have a feeling that even those jobs eventually become largely routine. I need to mix things up more often. It's probably my own fault if life is a little dull. Now, if only that assignment in Singapore would come through.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 885

I went to a new breakfast restaurant this morning. I'd driven by the place many times but had never eaten there before. As soon as I went inside, I knew I had entered the Twilight Zone. I was the youngest person in the entire restaurant. Lots of people were reading the newspaper. No, they weren't looking USA Today on their iPads, they were looking at real paper newspapers. Nobody was using an iPhone or Android. The few people who were talking on cell phones had ancient brick-like models that I hadn't seen in years. The food was good though. Most importantly, the all important coffee refills just kept on coming.

After breakfast, I paid a visit to my safe deposit box to look for some documents that my real estate agent needed. I couldn't find the documents, but I did notice that there was nothing of real value or importance in my box. I found two old music publishing contracts with record labels that had gone out of business years ago. I found a detailed inventory of office equipment that I no longer owned. I found an expired passport. I found an old will that I should have thrown away because the beneficiaries are already dead. I don't know why I even keep this safe deposit box. Everything in it is worthless.

I had to fight rush hour traffic to go to the airport this afternoon. Ordinarily, I don't even leave the house at this time of day, but rush hour just happened to be when Janet's plane arrived from Las Vegas. I keep thinking we're in a depression, because that's all I hear on TV. When I'm out and about though, people look like they're doing pretty well. If you judged things by the volume of rush hour traffic, you'd have to call Dallas a boom town.

Neither Janet or I felt like cooking when we finally made it home again, so we took the dogs out for dinner at Cafe Lago instead. It's amazing how well behaved Dot and Dash are when we take them to a restaurant. They're been to this dog friendly restaurant enough now that they both understand how things work. If they're well behaved, they're going to get food. They just sit at our feet quietly like model canine citizens. People come over to pet them at our table on the patio and would never believe how badly behaved this pair can be at home.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 879

I took Janet to the airport today. I used to travel more than Janet. Now, she travels more than me. We always take Janet's car when I take her to the airport. My car has seen better days, and I don't want the old Defender to cause anyone to miss their flight. Janet's Land Rover is so much smoother and quieter than mine. Of course, hers is almost new and mine is almost an antique. I do have a backup car, but it's even in worse shape than the Defender. Actually I haven't even seen my backup car in more than five years, because it's being stored in an aircraft hanger somewhere West of Nevada, Texas. I see my mechanic almost every week at dog training class, but I'm in no hurry to get the car back. It's a money pit and completely unreliable. If I had somewhere I needed to go, I'd definitely trust a 1995 Land Rover more than a 1972 Maserati.

The dogs are always upset when Janet leaves. They don't like any sort of change in their schedule and when the person who feeds them their breakfast every day isn't there anymore, they get worried. After a day or two they realize that I'm just as reliable at preparing their meals as Janet and they settle down. After a few more days, they have completely adapted to my schedule and are sleeping in late every morning. By the time Janet returns, she is usually greeted by two lazy dogs who don't want to get out of bed at all.

It's been raining every night this week. When I was up on the roof this morning, I was wondering why I don't have tremendous upper body strength. Pushing hundreds of pounds of water off the roof with the big push broom is quite strenuous. You've think I'd have some muscles to show for all my efforts, but I just keep getting thinner. One of the medications I take has a side effect of causing muscle tissue to atrophy. It's not severe or anything, but it seems to take a lot more effort to maintain the same amount of muscle mass as I used to have. Actually, it's probably good that I'm expending a lot of energy up on the roof, but it doesn't make the job any more pleasant.

What would be pleasant would be to live on the seventeenth floor of a luxury high-rise that didn't have any water problems at all. Instead off sweeping water of the roof, I could be sipping lattes at a downstairs cafe or visiting nearby art galleries. Uh-oh, don't think the dogs approve of this plan. Dash just gave me a dirty look.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 593

I needed to take Janet to the airport a lot earlier than we anticipated because the online reservation system wouldn't assign her a seat. This has happened to me as well, and it is always frustrating. You have to arrive early and wait and wait until they finally release your seat at the last possible moment. I always think I have been reclassified as a stand-by passenger and won't get a seat at all. Actually, I've gotten so used to printing out a boarding pass online and going straight to the gate that anything else seems unacceptable.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I rewrote a watch article that needed revision. I drove over to Fry's Electronics and wandered aimlessly around the camera section for a while. I went to Lowes and picked up a timer for the sprinklers. The dogs didn't want to go outside at all, but I took them on their evening walk anyway. I learned a long time ago that a walk in the heat is a lot more desirable than having the dogs wake you up in the middle of the night so you can take them outside to do their business.

I wonder if Google+ would be any good as a blogging platform? You can write as much as you want. It's easy to comment. It's friendly with pictures and video. Sure sounds like a blog to me. The whole experience is much more bloglike than Facebook, since only your own posts appear on your profile page. So many different things can appear on your Facebook wall that it doesn't even feel like your own page after a while. I'm going to stick with the blog, but it sure would be easy to just start blogging on Google+. Personally, I hope that this is the last new social network I encounter for quite a while. Checking in on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ everyday is all the activity I need. Please don't invent any more of these things.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day