Day 1520

It was a stressful day. Dot is not getting better. When I took her on her morning walk, she threw up some of the carpet she ate. About three hours later, she threw up even more carpet scraps. I took her back to the vet and she said that even though it was a good thing that she was able throw up most of the carpet she ate, she wasn't out of the woods yet. Carpet is apparently one of the worst things a dog can eat because long strings of the fabric tend to stay intact. It is these long strings that can cause serious problems if they get into the intestines.

The vet said I ought to try feeding her small amounts of a bland canned dog food like Hills ID four times a day, to encourage her to pass the rest of the debris through her system. Unfortunately, she couldn't hold the canned food down and threw up again. We'll be watching Dot carefully tonight and taking her back to the vet first thing in the morning for a series of Barium x-rays to determine if there is a blockage. Hopefully, she'll be able to pass everything, because if she can't, she'll have to have abdominal surgery. Our first Dalmatian had to have abdominal surgery and it was extremely difficult to get his digestive processes working again afterwards. He almost died.

Dash, of course, is still waking us up in a panic at three in the morning to go outside and poop. We're still not sure what is wrong with him either. My shoulder is taking its own sweet time to heal as well. Life goes on, but this is definitely not the best February I can remember.

I went to the networking breakfast this morning, mostly because Dot seemed perfectly fine when I woke up. She actually seemed perfectly fine when I returned. It wasn't until about 10:30 AM that she started throwing up carpet scraps. This morning's meeting was actually pretty interesting. There was no formal agenda and we just sat around and talked about how much our respective industries had changed in the last decade. It was oddly reassuring to realize that everybody else was facing the same jarring, tumultuous changes that I am.

Dot is resting calmly now. She threw up some more carpet right after I finished my dinner this evening, but she is breathing normally and her stomach is not distended. If she starts throwing up violently, we'll have to take her to the emergency vet tonight, but hopefully that won't happen. She actually appears more comfortable now after she threw up the most recent batch of carpet.  The odd thing is that she now appears to have thrown up more carpet than she actually ate. Poor girl. She's got to be really uncomfortable.

Hopefully, things will start looking up tomorrow. I saw the sun again this evening while I was walking Dash. That's always a good sign.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1513

I started my Hepatitis-C treatment this morning. While I was reading all the warning labels and instructions, I saw something that said "do not drive until you see how your body reacts to this drug." That was all the excuse I needed to skip my Wednesday morning networking breakfast. I didn't really want to go anyway. Ever since the guy who made the great omelets left, breakfast hasn't seemed nearly as exciting. I'm probably the only one who goes to these meetings for the food. Everyone else actually seems to like making connections. I'm very reluctant to sell my services too aggressively. I've learned the hard way that if I get the job, I have to do it myself. Most of these other guys and gals in this networking group are in sales. If they get the job, they just pass it off to someone else to complete.

It was so cold this morning that both dogs were finally willing to curtail their morning walks, so we could all go back to the house and warm up. Since I'm walking each dog separately now, the shorter walks allowed me to get back on schedule again. It was still a very busy day. I've doubled my writing workload this year and still have all the daily website updates that kept me busy to begin with. I doubt that I'll be able to keep this pace up forever, but for the time being, it keeps me from dwelling on the boring nature of my life.

Dot had a great day at her physical therapy session. She completed her interval training on the underwater treadmill like a boss and seemed relaxed and happy during her acupuncture therapy. This was the best Dot has done on the treadmill in several months, so I was pleased. When I arrived at the vet's office this afternoon, I saw someone make a u-turn through her parking lot and then drive directly over a street sign. The sign ripped the front bumper off the car and made a general mess of things. When I told the vet about the incident, she said that  the sign was a warning telling people not to make u-turns through her parking lot. Karma at work, I guess.

We haven't taken the dogs to their Wednesday evening training class for almost a month now. It's just been too cold. Dot and Dash certainly don't seem to mind. I think they both realize that lounging around on fluffy dog blankets in a warm house is a lot more pleasant than following orders in a cold, and often muddy field. We'll return to the class in the Spring though. I don't know why, but it is just something we do.

The weather report says it's going to get down to fourteen degrees tonight. Brrr! I don't know how you Northerners tolerate this kind of weather. We're not even halfway through Winter yet, and I'm already sick of continually changing back and forth between multiple layers of heavy outdoor clothing and lighter indoor wear. The large expanses of single pane glass in the house seems to condense buckets of water every morning, and I'm always wondering whether the car is going to start. Basically, I'm just a Winter wimp.

I wish I could tell you that it was Friday tomorrow, but we've got one more day to go. I try not to get ahead of myself, but I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1505

Although I spent my teenage years in Alaska, I don't think I could take Northern Winters anymore. This morning was brutal. The temperature was in the teens and there was a stiff wind that made the wind chill feel much worse. The dogs have both learned to do their business very quickly, so we can return to the warm house as soon as possible. I'm glad Dash has finally overcome his reluctance to pee in the yard, but I think this cold spell has made him a bit too casual. This evening when he went outside, he quickly peed on the patio furniture on the back porch and immediately came back inside.

I found myself daydreaming about retirement today. Although I am very busy, the relatively small amount of money I make for my efforts is hardly worth the trouble. I've depended on the stock market to make up the difference for quite some time. If I could still make a reliable 10% total return year-in and year-out, I'd probably have retired already. My financial adviser isn't too keen on the idea of retirement though. He's a realist. He is convinced that there will be other years like 2008, and that it's always a good idea to keep a few irons in the fire. I reluctantly agree. My business changes so quickly that if I abruptly quit, I wouldn't have a clue what was going on within three years. So here I am, competing with a bunch of millennials who just don't don't know how to price things. I'm holding my own, but it feels a lot like treading water.  I wonder how these young wordsmiths and design wizards are ever going to get rich if they keep undercutting everybody's prices.

Since our dog walks were cut short by the cold, I spent a little extra time in the gym today. My biceps are getting bigger, my core is stronger, and it is clear I'm making progress. My shoulder still hurts, unfortunately. I have a feeling that I should see a good physical therapist, or maybe even get an MRI scan of my shoulder. Something is really wrong. After today's workout, I couldn't lift my right arm above eye level. The shoulder always hurts and I'm seldom able to lift this arm above my head, with or without weights. The dogs continually pull this shoulder out of joint on our daily walks, so most of my rehabilitation efforts are futile. Hey, everything else is going well though. I'm a one armed wonder.

I don't think I can skip tomorrow's networking breakfast, like I did last week. I have to give a progress report on the website I'm designing for the group. Yes, there is a website and it's almost done. I wonder if these guys realize that I'm just coming to these meetings for the food. Now that I've become serious about staying healthy, enjoying the occasional tasty meal has become a big deal. I was just getting ready to to make my morning oatmeal today, when I discovered a leftover bacon and mushroom quiche in the refrigerator. That little quiche made my day.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1499

I skipped the networking breakfast this morning. Maybe I'm growing tired of bacon, or maybe I just didn't have any interest in learning about how to retain good sales managers. That's the trouble with these networking breakfasts. The food is good, but the speakers very seldom deal with anything I'm remotely interested in. These aren't exactly Ted Talks here. Since I have to give one of these talks myself later this Spring, I shouldn't be too disparaging. I still don't know what I'm going to talk about, but I bet it will be a little different than what these folks are used to.

Since I wasn't stuffing myself with bacon and sausages, I walked the dogs and had my usual bowl of oatmeal and fruit. It was really cold on our walk this morning. All the vegetation was covered with frost. I'm sure glad the furnace is working again. This ongoing tug of war between heat and cold will continue through April. Then it will just be hot all the time. Basically, Texas weather is hopeless.

Since Dot had an acupuncture treatment on Monday when we took her to the vet for her spinal X-Ray, she didn't go for her usual Wednesday therapy today. This made the entire day sort of topsy-turvy. When I finished my work for the day, I used Dot's time slot to go to the gym. I frequently go to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but have never gone on a Wednesday before. Much to my surprise the place was crowded. What would make a Wednesday afternoon different than a Tuesday afternoon? Both are workdays. At any rate, I think I'll go back to working out on Tuesdays. You should know my style by now. When I go out in public, I like my destination to be empty.

I had a lot of work to do today, and none of it was very interesting. I won't bore you with the details. Tomorrow should be interesting though. I have an appointment with my hepatologist to discuss, and perhaps even begin, my new Hepatitis-C treatment. I still don't have any idea what this new treatment involves, but I've heard that it is much more effective than the old interferon and ribavirin combo. I'm looking forward to finally putting all this behind me. If the new medicine works, I should be completely virus free in six months. I still find it ironic that I am being treated at the very same hospital that gave me the transfusion of bad blood that started this whole mess over 30 years ago.

I watched a fascinating documentary about J.D. Salinger last night on PBS. I never realized that Salinger kept writing prolifically right up until his death in 2010. He supposedly wrote dozens of unpublished novels and kept the manuscripts in a safe at his New Hampshire home, stipulating in his will that they weren't to be published until 50 years after his death. I don't think J.D. Salinger would have liked the Internet.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1492

When Dot was in the water treadmill this afternoon, she momentarily seemed to become disoriented and forgot where she was. Even though the water level was not very high, she seemed to panic and started swimming instead of walking normally on the treadmill. We stopped the treadmill and let her calm down as I told her that everything was OK. After a few minutes, we slowly started the treadmill again and everything was completely normal. Dot seemed to forget the whole episode. Although I'm not really sure what happened, I can certainly relate to losing your bearings. Sometimes I'll be driving along and realize that I have absolutely no idea where I'm going. Usually, these moments pass very quickly and by the time I arrive at the next stoplight, I'm back on track again. Maybe this is what happen to Dot today. I think for a brief moment, she forgot where she was and thought the rising water in the tank was going to drown her.

I inadvertently ended up being the Debbie Downer of the lightning round session at this morning's networking breakfast. Instead of brashly proclaiming that my business was going to double in 2014, as the others all appeared to be doing, I patiently explained why my entire industry is fucked and told the group that my goal for the year was just to get back to billing out what I was ten years ago. Although everything I said about the current state of the ad industry is true, I don't think it was what these folks wanted to hear. I should have known better than to share breakfast with a group of people who are always convinced that the glass is half full. Sorry guys, I seem to have lost my rose colored glasses. I think the glass is empty. I'll probably keep going to this group though, because I do love bacon.

I think I've lost the battle with the bird who poops on my car every morning. I've placed little paper hats and other wobbly things on my mirrors to deter the bird, but it seems to know how to remove them. For reasons that other birds will only know, this bird loves to sit on my rear view mirrors and drop a load. Even though Janet's car is only twelve feet away, the bird only shits on mine. It leaves her car untouched. I hope the bird doesn't start building a nest. Once a bird actually built a nest in my mailbox and I had to ask the mailman to leave my mail somewhere else for a while so magazines or packages dropped in the box wouldn't kill the baby birds. The mailman and I became quite interested in the birds progress. We watched them grow, until one day they just disappeared. I still don't know whether they learned to fly, or whether a cat got them all.

I hope my financial adviser has some good ideas for me at our meeting tomorrow. 3-D Printing turned out to be a great idea last year. Gold? Well, gold wasn't so good. That's the trouble with investing. It's hard to be right all the time.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1491

I don't have a lot of stress in my life. What little stress I do feel is usually caused by the dogs. They both worry me at times. Dash woke us up three times last night to go outside. He apparently had diarrhea. When I asked the vet today if we should cancel his dental procedure because of his upset stomach, she said no. When I came to pick him up this afternoon after the anesthesia had worn off, his nurse asked me if he might have eaten some blueberries recently. Apparently, he pooped what appeared to be blueberries along with a little blood while he was at the vet. Maybe he did get into some blueberries. I don't know. Both dogs are counter surfers and if you turn away for an instant, they'll eat whatever is on the table. We certainly do have blueberries around the house. I eat them almost every morning with my oatmeal. I guess blueberries aren't toxic to dogs, but they can irritate their digestive system. 

Dot causes a different type of worry. I'm fairly confident that she won't poison herself by eating strange crap she finds in the park, but she's old and very fragile now. Every time I take her on a walk, I wonder if it will be her last. Her physical therapy vet says that the walks are important and that gentle walks will help keep her muscles from atrophying. I believe this, but she still gives me a scare now and then. Today, she squatted to pee on our evening walk and couldn't get up again. Instead of panicking, or trying to carry her home, I just sat with her for about five minutes. When she was ready, she got up on her own and walked the rest of the way home as if nothing had happened. Something did happen of course, and I can't ignore it. Dot and I have an understanding. She wants to keep going and I'll do my best to help her. I've never seen a dog with so much willpower. If I had Dot's determination, I'd probably live to be 100.

I had a lot to do today, but it wasn't overwhelming. I answered e-mailed questions, updated websites, and wrote two articles. Those simple tasks, along with transporting Dash to and from the vet, took up the entire day. I continue to wish that I had more time to aimlessly pursue personal projects, but maybe that's not in the cards for the moment. 

At tomorrow's business networking breakfast we are each supposed to describe our biggest business problem in two minutes or less and let the group propose a solution. It won't take me long to describe my problem. I'm spending way too much time doing low paying jobs. I'm not sure what the solution is though, since my entire industry has radically changed in the last ten years. Nobody wants to pay for copywriting anymore because it's way too easy to steal somebody else's writing on the Internet. A lot of people actually actually seem to prefer cheap template websites and even cheaper stock photography. I'm screwed. I have a feeling that if the folks in this networking group needed my services, they'd want to pay even less than my current clients. Maybe I should take a welding course.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1485

I wish I had the nerve to tell people that I didn't work when it rains. Better yet, I'd love to be able to say that I don't do anything when it rains. Yes, it rained all day today. The dogs got wet and needed to be cleaned up several times. Everything got muddy. And of course, the Dallas traffic was terrible. As you might expect, I can't get away with refusing to work on a rainy day, because it rains far too often.

I went about my day as if everything was normal.  I ate breakfast with the business networking group. I drove downtown with Dot for her water therapy session. I did a lot of laundry. And I updated a few websites. Through it all, the rain never stopped.

I'm not certain, but I'm getting this feeling that the business networking group is on the opposite side of the political fence than me. We don't talk about politics and the group is supposedly apolitical, but you can kind of tell which way the wind is blowing. This new insight is disappointing to me. I don't want to know anything about your politics. Political rants from people I know in real life has just about ruined Facebook for me. Go ahead and vote for whoever you want. I just don't want to hear about it.

One of my clients wants to start sending me more work. This a mixed blessing at best. More work means more money, but it also means more time spent working. I think I already spend far too much time working. In the best of possible worlds, I will learn to become faster and more efficient and still have a little time for myself at the end of the day. On the other hand, I could just as easily go stark raving mad.

Maybe the rain will stop tomorrow. I still need to get the tree off my roof that fell during last month's ice storm. The neighbor who owns the tree seems to have been out of town ever since the tree fell. She told me that she had already contacted a tree service to remove the tree, but three weeks later they have never arrived. I suspect that they won't come out unless she is home to pay them. If things go as they usually do, I will eventually get frustrated and hire my own tree people to remove the tree. Then the neighbor will never repay me. That's just the way neighbors are these days.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1484

Dot and Dash don't like the new cold weather schedule. Instead of walking them right after I get up in the morning like I usually do, I've started eating breakfast first to allow things to warm up a bit before we venture outside. To me, this is an excellent plan, since the temperature warms up quickly once the sun is up and starts to thaw things out. The dogs don't like this additional wait however, and bark at me as I do my best to eat my oatmeal in peace. They don't seem to realize that I'm doing all this for their own good. As far as I can tell, the extra hour I spend eating breakfast usually results in a five degree increase in temperature. This is only when the sun is shining, of course, but so far we've been lucky and it's been sunny all week. Once we're underway, all is forgiven. The dogs love to walk and maybe they realized that as a result of their short wait this morning, they only had to wear one coat instead of the two they wore yesterday.

I'm hoping the year will grow more exciting in the ensuing months. I've got plenty of work to do but it's all pretty dismal so far. I need more time with absolutely nothing to do, so I start inventing my own personal projects again. I don't think I've done anything that didn't involve clients, the dogs, or my own health in months. I wonder now how I ever found the time to play in a band, plan elaborate photo exhibitions, and even take cooking classes. The irony is that when I was doing all those things, I was actually making more money than I am now. At least the market was up today. When the stock market is up, it helps to compensate for all the boring, low paying advertising jobs. I keep telling these kids I compete with these days that they've got to raise their rates and quit living with their parents. They don't listen though. They don't even believe how good it used to be before they ruined everything by undercutting the prices of old dogs like me.

Dash had some lab work done while he was at the vet today to make sure his kidneys are still working properly. We'll have to wait for the results, but his veterinarian seemed to think he was doing very well. I was glad to hear that his teeth aren't in as bad shape as I thought. His gums are still healthy and it looks like a simple cleaning procedure to remove the plaque will be all he needs. I made an appointment to get his dental work done next week. When Dash's teeth are gleaming again, we'll deal with Dot's teeth. Maybe, when both of the dogs get their dental work done, I'll go see the dentist myself. I probably need to see a dentist a lot more than the dogs.

My Wednesday morning networking breakfasts resume tomorrow. We haven't had these early morning meetings during the holiday season and three weeks of sleeping in on Wednesdays has reconfirmed that I'm never going to be a morning person. Most of the other people still appear to go to these meetings to make contacts and pass out business cards. That's fine by me, but I'm still going for the bacon.

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1457

As the sun rose over Dallas this morning, I found myself listening to an interesting presentation about the future of Dallas. The new Midtown project that was being proposed at my breakfast meeting sounded exciting and ambitious, but I doubt I'll be here to see the ribbon cutting ceremony. Even though I've made this city my home for many years, I can't wait to move to somewhere smaller and more tranquil. Janet and I haven't decided where that illusive "somewhere" might be. It just has to have great veterinarians and reliable WiFi.

Since I was out and about today, I began to hear other people's ice storm stories. I thought that we'd had a rough time, but our ordeal was nothing compared to some of the stories I heard. Dot's veterinarian almost had her house burn down when a nearby transformer exploded during the ice storm and knocked her power out. She and her family are still without power.

I thought I was insanely busy yesterday, but the hoops I had to jump through were nothing compared to the chaos that was unfolding at the main UPS customer service center where I went to retrieve my lost package this morning. There was a huge line of people trying to either send, pick-up, or complain about a package. None of these people seemed very happy. The service representative I talked to said the ice storm had put them five days behind schedule on deliveries. Many of the people in line were mad when they discovered that the package they had come to pick up was already on a truck headed to their house. It's a long drive to this service center, so few people wanted to make this trip twice.

At least I was prepared. I called ahead to make sure that my package was actually waiting for me at the depot before I even got in the car. I've been through this drill before. I still had to wait in line though. Even though I could see my package sitting behind the counter, it took me thirty minutes to get to the head of the line and claim it. I don't know how the agents managed to keep their sanity. The place was a madhouse.

I finally was able to climb up on the roof today and assess the situation. There's still lots of ice up there. I was able to remove some of the ice in an effort to lighten the structural load on the roof, but my utility pump has frozen solid, so I wasn't able to remove much of the ice melt. A lot of the ice was 2 to 3 inches thick and was quite heavy. A 2 inch slab of ice weighs about the same as a two inch thick rock. Maybe it will warm up enough tomorrow so I can remove this ice before the next cold spell. Oh, there's a downed tree on the roof too, Not a huge tree, but it's still a tree.

I'm hoping that tomorrow is uneventful. One can always hope.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1449

I got a phone call from a client today. This used to be a daily occurrence, but today's preference for text messages and e-mail have made the old fashioned phone call exceedingly rare. I've actually started to fear these calls, because nobody calls you on the phone anymore unless something has gone very, very wrong. I use caller ID to screen all my calls. 98% of them are from telemarketers. The other 2% make me nervous. As it turned out, this particular call was nothing to fear. It was just someone who likes to talk.

I wish I'd taken a real camera with me on our morning walk today. For about ten minutes we were engulfed in fog and my familiar surroundings turned into a wonderland of misty imagery. Most fog lifts and quickly dissipates as the sun burns it off. This was different. A thick low cloud just blew right over us. I took a few shots with my phone and then it was all over.

I had plenty of time to go to the gym today. Although I've been pretty good about maintaining my three-day-a-week workout routine, I've got to come up with some way to make the gym more interesting. Boredom is always my worst enemy. I'm already bored with my healthy diet, even though it is showing tangible results. I'm afraid that going to the gym is going to be next on my growing list of boring activities. I'll be the first to acknowledge that exercise is good for you. In just a few months, I can already tell that my muscle tone and core strength has improved and I don't get as tired anymore. I just wish these activities were fun. Luckily, I'm very familiar with boredom. Boredom doesn't slow me down a bit.

I'm scheduled to unveil a new website I've been developing for the Wednesday morning networking group at tomorrow's meeting. Truthfully, this site is a little boring, but I think it meets the needs of the group perfectly. I could probably make the site more exciting if I just focused on why I come to these early morning meetings. Maybe I should scrap all the business stuff and make the site about bacon.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1436

I woke up late and barely made it to my breakfast meeting. Wednesdays aren't my favorite day anymore. There's just too much going on. I usually change three times on Wednesdays. I wear a suit to the networking breakfast. I change into raggedy dog walking clothes and work boots when I return. Then later in the day, I put on some respectable casual clothes to take Dot for her weekly physical therapy session. I try to complete at least one writing assignment between the dog's morning walk and Dot's vet appointment. Then when I'm back to the office for good, I tackle the day's website revisions.

I'm sure that many of you have much more hectic days than this, but I don't do hectic anymore. If I did, I'd still be sitting in a status meeting at a big ad agency somewhere, instead of working in a quite room with a dog under my desk.

I'm still having problems with my large printer. I guess I waited too long between cleaning cycles. Since I no longer have a need for large museum quality prints, maintaining this complicated printer has become a giant nuisance. The printer is so heavy that I can't even move it by myself, so taking it to a repair center is problematic at best. I had to have a friend help me install the thing years ago and it's sat in the same dusty office corner ever since. Remind me to never buy anything that uses ink ever again.

One of my doctors wants me to take a pill that he says will improve my cognitive abilities. I scoffed at the idea at first and was actually a bit insulted. Hey, my business is thinking up solutions for people and I feel at times that my life is like doing a complex Sudoku puzzle that never ends. Maybe the Doc is right though. Janet changed the dog's food recently and now I can't seem to remember which dog eats which bag of kibble. I have a feeling that I've been feeding Dot's food to Dash for several weeks now.

There are thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow. I hope the forecast is wrong. Rain slows me down tremendously. I think I'm only half as productive on a stormy day. The dogs are terrified of thunder and lightning. I don't like to drive in the rain. And even though I put an entirely new roof on the house this year, I still worry about leaks.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1422

The speaker at today's breakfast meeting was a financial planner who talked about how an increasingly global economy will affect your investments in the years ahead. I happen to agree with his somewhat gloomy assessment that printing money only postpones problems and that in the long run, our current economic situation is unsustainable. We have opened a Pandora's Box that can't be closed and there are many economic bubbles out there that will eventually burst. I just hope that that it will take at least forty years for the world to start looking like a scene from Mad Max at Thunderdome. I'll be gone by then. Ten years, or even twenty years, is a little too soon to return to the Middle Ages for me. I'd just as soon continue to live in denial and pretend that everything's fine.

Dot was certainly in fine form today. She was strong and steady on her morning and evening walks and did exceptionally well at her physical therapy sessions. Just about every Dalmatian I've gotten to know seems to prefer cooler weather and Dot and Dash are no exception. Temperatures in the mid-50's, like we had today, invigorate them. Personally, I'd prefer the temperature to be about 20 degrees higher, but I'm not going to be picky about these things. I'll be the first to admit that it was a beautiful day.

I got several new assignments today. This should keep me busy through the end of the week. If there's time left over, I'll sweep the standing water off the roof and wash the car. I won't wash the car with water from the roof though. It is already stained a tobacco brown from all the pecan shells. I'm going to try to get back to the gym tomorrow. I got the results from one of my recent blood tests in today's mail and for the first time in about six months, they are looking good again. That's really all the encouragement I need to continue with my diet and exercise regime. I just like to know that something is working.

Sunsets are back again. The dogs and I had a pleasant sunset walk along the shoreline this evening. I enjoy this time of day, but it's a moving target. I'll need to remember to walk the dogs a little earlier each day as the days grow shorter. You've got to time these excursions right, because the difference between dusk and complete darkness is only about thirty minutes.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1415

Wednesdays are busy enough when it's dry. When it rains on Wednesday, all bets are off. Today's unrelenting rain ensured that traffic would be congested wherever I drove, that Dot and Dash would be muddy wherever I walked them, and that virtually nothing I started today would be completed on time.

In wet days I wonder why I even go to these Wednesday morning networking breakfasts. I'm easily the least businesslike person in the room.  They'll probably kick me out of the group when they discover that I'm just going to these early morning meetings to eat bacon and see if my old dress suits still fit.

I had lots of writing to do today, but I managed to complete all my assignments. Hey, what else can you do on a rainy day? While I was writing, I kept the washing machine running with load after load of rain soaked clothing and muddy dog towels. The dogs still insist on a walk on rainy days. They don't like the rain, but they absolutely refuse to poop in the yard.

We kept our acupuncture appointment this afternoon, despite the rain. I would have preferred to stay home, but I think it's rude to cancel an appointment at the last minute. Dot did well in the underwater treadmill, but when the vet tried to test her balance and coordination by having her balance on a large rubber ball, she was pretty shaky. I wasn't really surprised. Dot is frequently shaky on flat, level ground these days. Nothing is going to turn Dot into a young dog again, but I still think that the physical therapy is helpful. She seems to enjoy the activity and maybe we can slow down the inevitable a bit.

Since it rained all day, they moved the dog training class Halloween party indoors this evening. Try to imagine fifty dogs in costumes inside a small room and you've got a pretty good idea what the party was like. I was amazed that there weren't more skirmishes between the dogs. It wasn't surprising that most people left as soon as the costume contest was over. With fifty dogs in a small room, you don't want to push your luck.

I'm hoping that things return to normal tomorrow. A little sunlight always puts me and the dogs in a much better mood.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1408

I've been pleased to discover that most of my old dress suits still fit perfectly. I haven't worn some of these suits for decades. When I put my phone in the pocket of a grey Armani suit this morning, I realized that the last time I wore this suit, the iPhone hadn't even been invented yet. I guess the suit hadn't gone out of style though, since one of the sharp dressed lawyers at this morning's breakfast meeting shook my hand to say hello and said "nice suit."

I had to answer several complicated questions via e-mail after I returned from the meeting and began to long for the day's when  my clients preferred to talk on the telephone. A wide variety of things that you could explain in five minutes over the phone seem to inevitably take thirty minutes of typing to get the same point across.

Dot seemed slow and stiff on her morning walk. I don't think she has arthritis, since the stiffness comes and goes. She doesn't limp or have an ACL tear either. Some days she has lots of energy and still seems like a young dog. On other days, she can barely walk from one end of the house to the other. By noon, Dot was completely back to normal, so we went ahead with her scheduled water therapy session. The short movie we made today shows how well she extends her legs underwater. Since the water makes her buoyant and takes a lot of the weight off her legs, it gives her a much wider range of motion than she would normally have. The video is in slow motion so we could study her gait.



Dot and I both had a very a busy day. Dot not only did well at her therapy session, she did equally well at dog training class this evening. For my part, I managed to answer all the questions I was asked in several lengthy e-mails, as well as make some website updates that were long overdue. Tomorrow is another day. I've got a several writing assignments tomorrow and a pile of bills to pay, but at least I won't have to get up early.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1401

I continue to be surprised at how much I'm enjoying these Wednesday morning networking breakfasts. By all rights, I shouldn't be enjoying them at all. I'm not a morning person. I'm not very businesslike. And I'm definitely not very good at small talk. Perhaps I just enjoy breakfast in all of its myriad forms.

Today's presentation was from a trial lawyer member of the group about how to prepare yourself to give a deposition. This seemed to be useful information for almost everybody in the room, which just goes to show you what a litigious society we live in today. I found the entire presentation fascinating and wish I knew this information six months ago when I actually might have needed it.

Dot did very well at her physical therapy session today. She was strong enough to start using the underwater treadmill again and seemed to enjoy the exercise. She had an acupuncture session as well. I can't imagine being as relaxed as Dot with several dozen needles in me, but the treatment seems to be effective. I never though I'd see the day when Dot looked forward to a vet appointment, but she likes her physical therapy vet. On these Wednesday trips, I don't have to coerce her to get in the car at all.

The weather is still cold and rainy. So far, I've avoided turning on the furnace, mostly because it would be nice to have at least one month with reasonable utility bills. The day to inaugurate the furnace is coming soon though. I may turn it on tomorrow if it's as cold as it was this morning. Hopefully the furnace still works. Sometimes it fires right up and other times it needs a little help.

A cold house does keep me wide awake though. I didn't even come close to falling asleep at the computer and breezed right through my website and writing assignments. I noticed that the clouds seemed to be lifting a bit towards the end of the day. If it clears up tomorrow, I'll need to go up on the roof again and clear the water away. I'd rather go to the gym again instead of just pushing the big broom around on the roof, but we'll see how the day goes.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1394

Wednesdays are tiring. I'm up before dawn to drive to my business networking breakfast and can't call the day officially finished until we return from dog training class well after sunset. In between these two activities, a lot of typing takes place, along with a two hour trip downtown for Dot's weekly acupuncture and physical therapy session.

During today's visit with Dot's physical therapy vet, we made arrangements for her to get an MRI scan of her brain sometime next week. I've had a scan of my own brain and I can see why they want the dog anesthetized for this procedure. Being stuffed inside a narrow tube and listening to what sounds like a jackhammer pounding right next to your head is probably enough to freak any dog out. Hopefully, Dot does not have a brain tumor. The other likely causes of her seizures are much easier to deal with.

The traffic was terrible today. I can't imagine driving around in Dallas traffic on a daily basis. You never know what to expect. Usually, the trip to see Dot's acupuncture vet isn't that bad, but today it was bumper-to-bumper all the way. Bad traffic is usually the first topic of conversation during the Wednesday breakfast meetings too. Most of the folks in the group seem to drive continually. I don't know how they stand it. I would go stark raving mad, if I had to deal with rush hour traffic every day.

Writing in a quiet room with a dog under your desk is so much better than getting up and fighting traffic every day, just to arrive at an office where you probably don't want to be anyway. If you can tolerate the insecurity of never knowing where your next meal is coming from, the writer's life isn't bad at all. I finished two more articles today. There's plenty to do tomorrow as well. The best thing is that I seldom have to talk to anyone.

I fell asleep last night watching an old episode of Perry Mason. When I woke up, I thought I was still watching Perry Mason, but it was actually a very similar looking black and white show called the Untouchables. I couldn't figure out why Perry Mason was defending Al Capone. Then I went back to sleep again. I hope I sleep well tonight. It's been a very long day.

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1386

Today didn't get of to a good start. I got up late. The dogs were exceptionally slow on their morning walk. Even though I rushed through my normally tranquil breakfast, I felt like the day was half over before I began to immerse myself in a long list of projects with immediate deadlines. It might have been brain fog, but the articles on my plate today seemed more difficult than usual. Then there was that troublesome Wordpress site I'm developing. Even though I'm learning more and more about Wordpress with each passing day, it is still a thorn in my side. Today, I learned that my favorite Javascript applets don't work in Wordpress. I haven't really mastered the art of editing Wordpress themes in Dreamweaver either. I guess you're just supposed to buy a theme and leave it alone.

I got so tangled up with work problems today that I almost forgot about Dash's vet appointment. Luckily the vet was flexible and I was able to re-schedule his regular 2 PM appointment for 3:30 PM. Sometimes I feel like a full-time dog nanny. Dot has her own vet appointment tomorrow.  Taking care of the dogs takes a lot of time, but it's still the only thing that seems genuinely important. Everything else is basically BS.

Are you guys as tired of Congress as I am? This whole attempt to shut down the government to protest Obamacare is absurd. Hey guys, just leave things alone. If Obamacare works and people end up liking it, so be it. If Obamacare doesn't work and people end up hating it, it's not going to last very long. I've been in business long enough to realize that sometimes things just sink under their own weight. You don't even have to try to sink them.

Tomorrow looks like it will live up to its reputation as the busiest day of the week. I've got my 7 AM business networking breakfast to attend. Dot has her afternoon water therapy appointment. And it looks like I've got at least two new articles to finish. Hopefully, I won't even think about Wordpress tomorrow. At least the weather is nice. October is typically the prettiest month of the year here in Texas and if today is any indication, the month is getting off to a great start.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day