Day 2502

What was Cardinal Dolan thinking when he invited Donald and Hillary to speak at the Al Smith dinner tonight? Somebody forgot to tell these two that last night's debate was over. I usually love the self-deprecating humor at these events, but this was the most acrimonious and least funny roast I have ever seen. George Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Regan have all been hilarious at these type of events. Trump and Hillary were pathetic. They both told a few jokes and then launched into their stump speech. This was a take no prisoners evening. No wonder so many people are disgusted with this election.

I put my trash can on the opposite side of the street this evening. This isn't much of a plan, but it was the best I could come up with. Who knows. Maybe a different truck picks up the trash on the right hand side of the street. I went back to using my original rolling cart, because the robotic arm on the truck pretty well demolished my new can last week. We'll see tomorrow morning whether my talk with the sanitation department had any effect whatsoever. If my trash isn't emptied properly in the morning, I'm going to be well beyond frustrated.

Actually, I'm already frustrated because  today's rain ruined my chances of getting the roof repaired this week. The last time I called the roofers, they promised me that they'd be out again toward the end of the week. Now, they have the perfect excuse to keep ignoring me for a while longer. The coating material can't be applied unless the roof is completely dry, and the rainy season is approaching. It's going to become harder and harder to find a time when the roof is dry and the roofers are available.

The dogs were unusually needy today and it was hard to get anything done. If Dot wasn't demanding attention, Dash was. Dash always gets nervous on rainy days and it was hard to get him to go outside until the skies finally cleared. I knew he had to pee when I got up this morning, but it took four or five attempts to get him out the door. Dot didn't even bother. She just pooped in the house. It seemed like every time I tried to fix breakfast of dinner, there was another mess to clean up. There's nothing like the smell of dog poop when you're trying to enjoy your dinner.

I got another writing assignment this afternoon, but there was no need to finish it today. This will give me something to do tomorrow. If the weather cooperates, I'll look forward to going out for breakfast again. It's been a long week and I need to get out of the house for a while.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2382

It doesn't really take that much to turn a bad day into a good day. Basically, I was faced with the same old grind, but Dot had more energy today and I was able to solve a perplexing website problem for one of my clients. I was really pleased with how well Dot did during her water therapy session. We were able to increase the speed a bit and she didn't stumble at all. The vet paid extra attention to her shoulders during her acupuncture therapy and tried to relieve some of the stress that was causing her muscles to cramp. Her rear legs are so weak now that she basically shifts most of her weight to her front two legs which causes a lot of stress. The combination of water therapy and acupuncture seemed to work, and Dot felt better for the rest of the day.

Much of my website work is so mechanical now that I often feel like a code monkey. Occasionally though, I have to really think things through and today was one of those days. I've never really liked interactive forms, especially when they don't work. I had to do a lot of troubleshooting today to figure out why something that should be working actually wasn't. It would have been easy to blame the hosting company or gremlins for the problem, but I was determined to find the answer myself. After a couple of hours of experimentation, I figured out what was going on and explained everything to the client. I think they understood, but there's always a chance that they weren't listening.

I've got to find something better to watch on TV while I eat breakfast. I used to watch Dr. Who re-runs on the BBC channel but they quit running them. Now there's nothing but endless political and financial news, which are both equally depressing. I'm totally tired of the non-stop political news. Do we really have to listen to this for six more months? I wish that Bernie and Trump would have a secret meeting and both agree to run as independents. Bernie could call Trump a narcissistic fascist and Trump could call Bernie an dangerous socialist and almost instantly the traditional political establishment would be irrelevant. In a four person race, either Bernie or Trump would win. Hillary and whatever tired old retread that the Republicans trotted out wouldn't have a chance. All this would be fine by me. I think just about anyone would be better than more of the same. It's time to re-shuffle the deck and start over. Of course there's always a chance that I'm just another nihilistic anarchist. I'm really hoping that the UK leaves the European Union tomorrow too.

It's amazing how quickly the soil dries out after a few days of Texas heat. Our yard was a mud pit just a few weeks ago and now it is almost bone dry. I'm going to have to start watering again or everything will die. Our water bill triples during the Summer months. I hate to think how much people with really big yards and fancy sprinkler systems pay for water each month. We have a very small yard and our water bill goes through the roof in July and August.

There was only a small Internet outage today and I didn't even bother to call technical support. Sometimes calling AT&T actually makes things worse. That's the way modern life is today. You have to decide whether random sporadic problems are worse than the problems you go out and create for yourself.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2331

We woke up to sunshine this morning. The weather has become just as unpredictable as Dot's pooping schedule. I was delighted that thunder and lightning weren't going to be a problem today, but still it would be nice to know these things in advance. I've given up trying to figure out how Dot is going to feel in advance. Every day is a new day. I'm not a flexible person by nature, but Dot has forced me to embrace flexibility this year. Some days she is so weak and tired that she doesn't even want to move. Other days she seems to have found a second wind and actually seems to be getting better. She is so old now that each additional day is a gift. I try my best to adapt to her current condition and I'm even getting used to constantly cleaning up poop.

I wish I could get used to the idea of retirement. 2014 was a good year. Last year, things started to slow down, but billings were still OK. This year has been a disaster. I feel like I've totally dropped off the radar. I've known for forty years that advertising was a young business, but it still hurts to realize that you've gone past your expiration date. Things probably aren't going to change. For most of my career I was the first to try new things and was always on the leading edge of innovation. Now, I don't welcome the latest trends. For the most part, I'm appalled by where we seem to be headed. I have to live with the fact that I'm a clever, but increasingly grumpy old man.

I ordered the camera today. You knew I would. I don't buy things because I need them anymore. I buy things to influence my mood. The new camera probably won't get me any new jobs, but it will make the few jobs I still have a little more interesting. I look forward to experimenting and learning something new. It is ironic in a way that my knowledge of photography continues to improve, while my desire to actually sell the photographs I take continues to decline. I just don't care anymore. I take pictures almost every single day, but rarely show them to anybody. When I do get an assignment, all I think about is what a bother it is going to be to load all the equipment in the car and drive to the location.

I was fascinated by tonight's primary results. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have pretty well proved that the Democratic and Republican parties are irrelevant. Bernie is not really a Democrat and Trump is not really a Republican. The reason that they are both popular is that most voters aren't either. Almost everyone I know of voting age describes themselves as an independent. If the Democrats were smart, they would nominate Bernie because he has a better chance of winning than Hillary. If the Republicans were smart, they would swallow their pride and get behind Trump. These two candidates are as different as night and day, but they are both protectionists who believe that globalism and bad trade deals have destroyed the middle class. They also both believe that we ought to stay out of disastrous foreign wars. Sounds good to me. Maybe the Democrats and the Republicans ought to start listening to what the voters are thinking for a change.

I hope that Dot sleeps well tonight. Of course, I always hope that Dot sleeps well and there are no accidents. Sometimes we get lucky.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2099

I listened to the local news coverage of the big Dallas Donald Trump rally while I was eating dinner this evening. I love a circus and would have enjoyed sitting in the crowd when I was younger. History, however strange, is always interesting. I used to make a point of visiting Dealey Plaza on November 22 just to hear all the conspiracy theories. Crowds never used to bother me. It didn't matter if it was a Fourth of July fireworks show or a Rolling Stones concert, I was there. Something has certainly changed. I'm a virtual hermit now. If I have a choice between seeing an event on TV or watching it in person, I'll almost always opt for the stay-at-home alternative. I've been to a lot of Rolling Stones concerts but when the Stones came to AT&T Stadium this Summer, I had no interest whatsoever in getting tickets. All I could think about was how bad the parking would be and what a pain it would be to drive all the way to Arlington in heavy traffic. I imagine that traffic is pretty bad at American Airlines Center this evening.

I was paying bills this afternoon and I couldn't figure out why my Quickbooks records looked so different from my bank statement. I had quite a bit less than I though I did. It finally occurred to me that I hadn't been recording a growing number of automatic recurring payments in my Quickbooks software. Everyone seems to want you to pay your bills electronically these days. I can see why companies like this. They get their money a lot faster when they directly debit your account. It's convenient too. Unfortunately, when you forget to record these automatic payments, things get confusing. Imagine how disappointed I was to discover I had forgotten about three months worth of automatic deductions from my checking account. I'm feeling poor now.

The weather continues to be delightful. This morning when we walked the dogs it was chilly enough that I needed a light jacket. It's hard to believe that jacket weather is here already. Of course, by mid-afternoon it was 90 degrees again, but for a few hours this morning, the weather was perfect. We'll have a few more hot days, but I bet it won't be long before I'll be wondering if the furnace is going to work this Winter.

I'm still reading the memoir written by the ad guy I used to work with in Seattle. Unlike The Martian, this is a very long book and will never be made into a major motion picture. I read a couple of chapters every day and maybe I'll be finished by Thanksgiving. What makes this book interesting is that I remember a lot of the people who are in it. The advertising world really was like Mad Men in those days. I had forgotten how much alcohol and general rudeness was involved. As far as work goes, I think I prefer the way things are now.

Life is peaceful these days. The only stress is worrying about Dot's health. I wrote an article this morning and sent it of to my client. I updated a few websites, and answered some correspondence. That was about it. Tomorrow should be very similar. I'll start with a cup of coffee and my trademark peach and banana smoothie. I'll end with an episode of Perry Mason. If I'm lucky, I won't have to clean up poop in the middle of the night.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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