Day 1776

When I arrived at the gym this afternoon, there was a big sign at the reception desk that said "Pool Closed Until Further Notice." My paranoid mind immediately made the assumption that this must have something to do with Ebola. In all likelihood, the pool had just developed a leak. It doesn't matter anyway, since I never use the pool. Swimming might actually be better for my shoulder than what I'm doing now, but it's too much trouble to get a locker and change. The place was pretty empty this afternoon, but that didn't mean anything at all. The gym is always empty on Sunday afternoons.

On my way home I listened to a Ted Talk on the radio where a geneticist talked about human evolution. It was fascinating. I was surprised to learn that although Homo sapiens have been around for several hundred thousand years, modern day humans are only about 60,000 years old. That's pretty young, considering how long crocodiles have been around. According to this geneticist, the human race almost went extinct when the ice age coincided with the eruption of a huge supervolcano in Indonesia about 70,000 years ago. The explosion dimmed the sun for six years, disrupted seasonal rains and almost killed off the human race. With fewer than 2000 people left on the planet, evolution kicked into high gear, forcing humans to either adapt or die. The remaining humans left their home in Africa, searching for a more hospitable climate. They invented language as we know it today. They developed agriculture and other ways to improve their survival odds, and spread across the world in less than 10,000 years. All this information was just the prelude to the main event, however. The guys main point was that he thinks that evolution has kicked into high gear again and in less than 500 years we will change into a completely different species. We are being asked to process more information in a single day now than we used to process in a year. Our current brains can't handle the load and they are trying to adapt, just like the first humans were forced to adapt to a cataclysmic change in climate. Some of the science in this Ted Talk went over my head, but it caught my attention when the explosion of autism in children and many other modern day disorders were explained as explorations on a DNA level as the evolutionary process tries to arrive at whatever comes next. Of course none of this may be true, but it is still fascinating. Your great, great grandchildren might not even be human. I've always thought that people who worry about the glaciers melting are thinking way too small. The earth is 4 billion years old. If we're really only 60,000 years old, I'm sure the earth has a way to deal with us. Maybe we won't destroy the planet after all. Maybe the planet will change us.

I think I'll go vote tomorrow. I'm not sure where the early voting place is, but it should be easy to find. I've become a fan of early voting in recent years. It's so much more convenient that waiting in line on election day. The early voting locations all seem to have the latest touch screen voting machines too. When I vote at my local precinct on election day, I get a paper ballot where I have to mark a lot of little circles with a #2 pencil. The type on the ballot is very small and when I forget my reading glasses, I don't know what is going on.

We've finally come up with costumes for the Halloween party at our dog training class this Wednesday. Janet is sewing them together now. No, the costumes aren't for us. They are for the dogs.

Pearl is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1774

When I went to breakfast this morning I couldn't figure out why I was having so much trouble parking my car. Jeez, I come to this place every week. I should be able to park here blindfolded. When I got out of the car, I noticed that the restaurant had re-striped the parking lot and every single parking space was exactly one foot narrower than it was the week before. Sad. Maybe they can squeeze an extra Prius or two into the parking lot now, but what is the point if nobody else can even fit between the white lines? A couple of F-250 Super Duty pickups in the lot didn't even come close. They were so far over the line that only a motorcycle could park in the next slot. When I got my meal with a plastic fork, instead of the customary metal one, I knew the dreaded restaurant consultants had struck again. I don't know why people are so compelled to squeeze every last dime out of their business. It's often the little things, like a decent sized parking place, that customers like the most. When you take these things away people notice. I predict that metal silverware will be back next week. Nobody likes a plastic fork.

I had to drive down to Baylor Hospital for another periodic blood test at the liver center today. When I arrived, I noticed three huge fire department Hazmat trucks and four police cars parked in front of the main building with their lights flashing. There were also about a dozen uniformed officers and a camera crew in the general vicinity. When I checked in at the liver center, I was asked to sign a document saying that I hadn't visited Africa in the past 30 days. I told the receptionist I had never visited Africa in my life and in light of recent developments it was unlikely that I would ever visit the place. I also asked about all the Hazmat trucks parked out front and she just shrugged and said it could be anything. I guess this is the new normal now. When I got home there was absolutely nothing about this dramatic little incident on the local news. It was probably just another false alarm.

I've been trying to terminate my account with one of those companies that monitors security alarms for over two years now. They were overpriced and just didn't do a good job. I send them an official letter requesting that my account be terminated and was assured that I had done everything correctly. Thee only problem was that my account kept being auto-renewed year after year and I kept getting invoices. Whenever I called to complain, the company would apologize profusely and tell me they were aware of the problem and that it would be taken care of. After being assured six months ago by the head of the accounts receivable department that my account was indeed terminated and that I had a $0 balance, I get another call today, saying I owe them $300. I called the same lady who told me that everything was fine last time and explained the situation. She told me that everything was fine again and told me to ignore the phone call. Somehow I don't think this is over. This entire company is brain dead.

Sometimes I think the entire country is brain dead. There is mounting evidence that our government is brain dead. I heard recently that Asians were the fastest growing segment of our population. Large corporations are importing them in record numbers because they just can't find enough people who already live here to fill the highly technical positions these companies need. I have said for a long time that the Chinese will be the first to land on Mars. We're over here fighting about raising the minimum wage at McDonald's when thousands and thousands of really high paying jobs are going unfilled because people graduate from our schools with no real skills. We could learn something from the Chinese, but nobody's listening. I'm glad I was a war baby who had a trouble free childhood in the 1950's and an exciting time coming of age in the 1960's. Things have certainly gone downhill since then.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1773

We had a nice view of the solar eclipse this evening. As luck would have it, the best viewing time in Dallas was right around sunset, so we actually got a chance to see the eclipse with the naked eye as the ground haze near the horizon filtered the sun's light. After I walked the dogs, I grabbed a camera and headed toward what I though would be the best viewing location. My instincts were right, because when I arrived at my destination, there were several guys with large telescopes already there. One of the guys had a fancy H-Alpha filter on his telescope and let me take a look. There were several very large sunspots and I noticed that there was a bit of a rough edge to the bite the moon had taken out of the sun. I suspect that I was seeing the silhouette of mountains and valleys around the moon's circumference.

I've only seen one total eclipse of the sun in my life, but I've seen many partial ones. I wonder if I'll ever see another total eclipse? These things are pretty rare and almost never pass directly overhead. I saw my first one while I was going to high school in Alaska and I've never seen another one since. It was pretty cool to witness this eclipse though. I've never seen a sunset eclipse before and might never see one again.

Dot had a good day at her physical therapy session today. She seemed confident and sure of herself, with none of the shakiness in her rear legs that we saw last week. I'm always happy when Dot has a good day because it makes me think that all the effort we've put into physical therapy is actually producing some results. Dot seemed to enjoy here acupuncture therapy too, so it was a very good day.

I finished my writing assignment right on schedule and I'm up to speed on all the websites I manage, so maybe I'll have a free day tomorrow. That would be nice. I need to start planning for an upcoming video project and there's always those new Dr. Who episodes I haven't seen yet. I'll do just about anything to avoid re-grouting the shower.

Yikes! I just heard that there is another confirmed case of Ebola in New York City. With so many healthcare workers becoming infected, you'd think that they'd self-quarantine for 21 days outside the country before returning to the United States. One can only hope that common sense will eventually prevail and we'll impose a travel ban, close the borders, and stop issuing Visas to and from these West African countries. This is getting out of hand.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1768

It was a remarkably normal day. Both dogs got a bath at Dirty Dawgz. We didn't even have to wait long for a tub this time. I mowed the grass for what I hope is the last time this season. I changed the bed sheets and washed the dog blankets. I filled the car with gas and picked up some bulk items at Sam's Club. It was just an ordinary Saturday.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. There was this one little snag. A train station less than two miles from our house was completely shut down and the train was taken out of service when a woman with a fever got off the train at our neighborhood station and vomited on the platform. Janet actually saw all the police and hazmat crews as she was driving home from running errands. Rumors swirled for most of the afternoon. The woman was on the quarantine list. She used to be on a quarantine list. She never was on anyone's list at all. Nobody knew for sure. I kept hearing that she lived at the Ivy Apartments where Thomas Duncan became ill. I'm not even sure if this is true. Evidently, there was a lot of confusion because the woman in question kept changing her story. The woman now says that she threw up because of a spider bite. Of course she could have just been drunk. When asked for a comment, a DART Rail official said the woman was the sixth person today to have thrown up on one of their trains. This is why I prefer not to use public transportation.

Once again, I failed to watch tonight's new Dr. Who episode. This used to be a Saturday night ritual for me, but I just don't find the new season all that interesting. Maybe things will get better as the season progresses, but so far, these new shows don't even come close to the classic ones like Vincent and the Doctor, where the doctor and Amy meet Vincent Van Gogh, or Blink where the doctor has to utilize "easter eggs" hidden on seventeen different DVD's to convince Sally Sparrow and her friend Larry to send the Tardis, which was stuck in 1969, back to him. Maybe the new shows will seem better after I've seen them a few times. I tend to like re-runs better than new programming anyway. Oddly, I read an article recently that said watching re-runs makes people happier than watching new shows. Works for me. I've started re-reading books I've already read too.

Since the dogs are clean and the yard is tidy, I have no idea what I'll do tomorrow. I'm even all caught up with work at the moment. Maybe I'll play the guitar a bit. Maybe I'll replace a bunch of dead watch batteries. Or maybe I'll forget what I did today and do everything all over again.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1767

So, I'm going to get groceries this morning and there's an ambulance with all its lights flashing parked right in front of the store. This is actually not an uncommon occurrence. I've seen ambulances and firetrucks parked in front of grocery stores dozens and dozens of times. Hey, EMT's get hungry too. What made this truck different was I immediately noticed that many people entering the parking lot took one look at the truck and just kept on driving. They weren't going to take any chances and assumedly went somewhere else to buy their groceries. Most of the people who did enter the store took a quick picture of the truck with their cell phone.

I'll have to admit I was a bit relieved to see that there were no men in biohazard spacesuits inside. There were just four EMT's in their regular uniforms sitting around a table at the little cafe inside the grocery store. Why were they all huddled around a laptop though? That didn't seem normal. They weren't drinking coffee or eating breakfast either.

With a heightened sense of awareness, I wandered around the store looking for something for dinner. I saw four old people coughing profusely while pushing their carts and a guy at the checkout counter wearing a big gauze bandage with blood stains on it. I'm sure that the busy store has always been filled with people like this. I just never noticed them before Dallas became ground zero for Ebola. Now that one nurse on the quarantine list decided to fly to Cleveland and another went on a cruise, you just don't know what to expect. I keep waiting to hear that one of the quarantined people is dating the chef at a popular restaurant, or has a brother who works in the produce department of my regular grocery store. Out of an abundance of caution and just a touch of hypochondria, I picked up a frozen pizza and two frozen Chinese dinners and headed home.

I hope they re-think this "self-monitoring" policy very quickly. It's obviously not working. Why would anyone on a quarantine list who has already been exposed to a deadly virus even think of talking a cruise? Jeez, cruise ships are notorious germ factories already. This is the last place you'd want one of those Presbyterian nurses to be.

When I was up on the roof today, I heard Dot barking and immediately climbed down and went inside to let her out in the back yard. The incontinence episodes have taught me that whenever Dot barks, she needs to pee. Sure enough, she peed within seconds after letting her outside.  There haven't been any accidents in quite a while, but it still takes a lot of coordination.

I discovered that there's a feature on our land-line phone that lets you either block 25 callers, or white-list 25 callers and block the rest. Janet and I added up all our friends, relatives, and clients and came up with a number less than 25. This might be a way to get rid of the annoying telemarketers forever. At any rate, we're going to enter our meager list of friends into the phone and give it a try.

I hope this is a quiet weekend with no surprises at all. I'm tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course, I could just turn off the television and pretend everything was fine. I wonder how long that would last?

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1766

My Facebook feed seems to have divided into two camps: those who think we're all going to die and those who are already sick of hearing about Ebola and want to go back to nonstop LOL cats. I don't feel comfortable at either of these extremes, but I am still a bit incredulous at how this drama is unfolding. So far, it still seems a lot like a bad Michael Bay movie.

I hear that the CDC is seriously considering putting the 70 healthcare workers who came in contact with Thomas Duncan on the TSA no fly list with all the terrorists, while they still refuse to even consider a ban on air traffic to and from West Africa. This is insanity. Hey, I've got an idea! If our government is so determined to let these infected people leave the hot zone, let's forget about all the thermometers and just hook people up to a lie detector instead. If you're lying about exposure to the disease, you don't get in. Pretty simple. If the screeners happen to snag a few people who are lying about things totally unrelated to Ebola, don't let them in either. We've got enough lying bastards in this country already.

I guess I just fundamentally don't understand the rainbows and unicorns crowd who wants to go back to LOL cats on their Facebook page and think we are all overreacting. Maybe I've watched too many apocalyptic science fiction movies. Maybe I continue to think the glass is half empty when it is really half full. I may not know the full story, but I still think we've dropped the ball on something that is very serious. This is a forest fire. You know how they fight forest fires? They create wide firelines that the flames cannot cross and let the fire burn itself out. Nobody would ever take a burning tree and move it to a new forest.

Dot seemed visibly stiff at her physical therapy session today. She still may be a bit sore from her fall yesterday, but our vet thinks she may be suffering from degenerative myelopathy. This slow-onset condition is very common in older dogs and often results in leg weakness and poor muscle tone. Since the spinal nerves gradually deteriorate with this disease, it is important to keep Dot moving to minimize the effects of muscle atrophy. I really think the acupuncture and water therapy with the underwater treadmill are helping. Dot still faces a lot of obstacles, but she is doing better than any senior citizen Dalmatian I've ever seen.  The old girl is pretty remarkable. As long as she has the will to keep going, we're going to do everything possible to ensure that she can.

I ate canned food for dinner tonight instead of going to the grocery store for fresh veggies like I usually do. This was probably pure hypochondria on my part, but I'll make up for my overreaction by going to my favorite restaurant for breakfast tomorrow, just like I always do.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1765

You really can't make this stuff up. Not only do we have a third confirmed case of Ebola in Dallas, we have someone who apparently thought that planning her wedding in Cleveland was a lot more important than the safety of the entire country. The first nurse was deservedly called heroic. I don't think many people will be using that term to describe the second nurse. It is simply unbelievable that someone who had regular contact with Thomas Duncan and already was under strict quarantine would conclude that it was a good idea to hop on a plane to Cleveland so she could help her mother plan her wedding. To make matters worse, she already had a fever when she boarded the plane. So much for the idea of "self-quarantine."

Dallas is understandably worried. So far, the CDC and Presbyterian hospital have refused to reveal the names of the other 70 hospital workers who have had direct contact with Duncan. They could live next door to you for all most people know. The quarantine rules have been so lax to this point that absolutely nobody knows where these people buy their groceries, go out to eat, or relax with a beer after work. All I know is that you definitely don't want to wake up to the sound of helicopters hovering over your house.

Dot had a bit of a setback today. She stumbled a bit on her morning walk, but I wasn't really worried since her legs have been weak for quite some time. It was the afternoon that got me worried. When she tried to get up from an afternoon nap, she fell over completely and landed in a heap on the brick floor. I initially thought she might have had another seizure, but she showed none of the signs of her earlier vestibular seizures. I helped her up and after some initial unsteadiness, she walked normally to the back door and wanted to go outside. She seemed normal for the rest of the day and we even took a brief walk. We skipped training class this evening though, just to be on the safe side.

I'll be glad when I can feel on the safe side again. The world seems to grow more chaotic with each passing day. Our make-believe war with ISIS doesn't seem to be having any effect at all. Saudi Arabia is artificially depressing the price of gasoline in hopes that they can make it economically unfeasible for the United States to continue producing shale gas. So much for energy independence. In the past two weeks, the stock market has lost 100% of the gains it has made so far during 2014. We're back to square one. Oh, did I mention that the health care system is a complete mess, with or without Ebola?

I need to make a list of questions to ask the vet when we go for our physical therapy session tomorrow. Dot really had me worried today. Even though everything seems fine right now, I fret that the cancer may have returned or that there may be something else wrong that we haven't even diagnosed yet. I think we're doing all we can, but we can't make her any younger. Dot is my constant companion, so I'm hoping that the vet can reassure me tomorrow.

Nobody can reassure me about the CDC. I think it's time for Tom Frieden to go. He is still thinking globally, worrying about wrecking the fragile economies of three West African countries, instead of doing what over 90% of the American people want him to do: recommend an immediate travel ban to and from these countries. If all a travel ban did was alleviate fear, it would still be a good thing. I just don't understand why we haven't done this already.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1764

I drove past the Ebola hospital on my way to pick up Dash from his follow-up exam at the cancer center and was a bit surprised to see that everything seemed absolutely normal. By the non-stop coverage this event is getting on TV, I was expecting to see dozens of satellite trucks and reporters camped out all over the place. I didn't see anything. If I didn't know better, I never would have guessed that this was ground zero.

The hospital may have seemed normal, but a few blocks further down the road I saw something that didn't seem normal at all. There was a car ahead of me that appeared to have stalled out at a busy intersection. I got in another lane so I could get around the car and then I saw a woman next to me get out of her car, run over to the motionless car in front of me, and bang loudly on the window. All of the sudden I see a guy sit up in the driver's seat, shake his head from side to side for a few seconds, and then drive away. The guy had fallen asleep in his car, right in the middle of busy traffic.

Dash got a great report from his oncologist today. His chest x-ray looked clear, his physical exam went well, and all his blood values were normal. The doctor still wanted dash to continue his chemotherapy though. He said that he would understand if we wanted to quit, but that if it were his dog, he would continue the treatment for a full year. He said that even though it appeared that Dash was cancer free, thyroid cancer was very aggressive and that he though it would be better to be safe than sorry. I reluctantly agreed. We've come this far. We might as well go all the way. Dash tolerates the Palladia pills very well and so far the only negative side effects appear to be financial. The pills are quite expensive.

I had some extensive website updates to make today, but there was still a little time to fiddle around with the new generator. I got the cover off, filled the unit with the proper amount of engine oil and mixed the special ethanol destroying enzyme in the gasoline. That's as far as I got before I ran out of time. After spending more than an hour getting things ready, I didn't even start the generator.

I got another writing assignment toward the end of the day, so it looks like I'll be writing again tomorrow. There's a growing pile of bills to pay as well. Maybe I'll finally start the new generator, but it's not very high on my priorities list.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1762

As most of you probably know by now, there is a second Ebola victim in Dallas. This time is was an experienced nurse, wearing full protective gear that got infected. And the CDC still says that there is nothing to worry about? Who are they kidding? I'm familiar enough with public relations damage control to recognize today's press conference for what it really is. The CDC doesn't have a clue how to stop this disease from spreading. At this point, they are just trying to say calming things to prevent a general panic.

I can't believe that the CDC is actually trying to blame the nurse for this by saying there was a "breach of protocol." I imagine that the nurse was following the CDC protocols faithfully, right up to the moment she realized she was infected. I think it is outrageous that this poor woman has caught this deadly disease while compassionately treating a man whose family is now suing the same hospital that went to extraordinary lengths in an effort to save his life. The people who are trying to fan the flames and turn this whole mess into a racial issue should be ashamed of themselves.

The guy who brought Ebola to America should never have been allowed to travel here in the first place. He lied to get on a plane out of Liberia and he lied again to the hospital by not revealing that he had prior contact with an Ebola victim. Sure, the guy did say he was from Africa, but according to everything I've read, he did not reveal that he helped carry someone who was already infected with Ebola to a hospital in Liberia. I'm amazed that we haven't already stopped all air travel in and out of West Africa. This is a no brainer. Doesn't anyone remember the Kevin Bacon game and Six Degrees of Separation? If we don't prevent people from traveling to and from infected countries immediately, it is not implausible to imagine that the entire world will be at risk in a very short amount of time.

If you can forget about all the alarming news on local TV stations, today was fairly normal. I washed the car and replaced the backup battery hidden inside the audio recorder. I was going to fill the new generator with gas and give it a trial run, but I ran out of time. I need to start going to the gym again, but I think I'll wait a while. My gym is owned by Presbyterian Hospital and they probably give their staff free membership. I can't think of a better place to catch a deadly disease transmitted by bodily fluids than a gym where people routinely sweat on the equipment.

There is another severe weather warning for early tomorrow morning. Please don't let the power go out again. I'm not even sure that the generator works yet.

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1758

The Ebola patient at Presbyterian Hospital died today and a second person was admitted to the same hospital with symptoms. Everyone is a bit nervous. When I sneezed tonight at dog training class, everyone around me gave me a strange look. One woman asked if I was OK. Jeez, it was just a sneeze. I sneeze all the time. I have seasonal allergies and they're pretty bad during the Fall.

I understand why people are nervous though. I'm nervous. Many mistakes have been made already and more will be made in the future. The guy who was admitted to Presbyterian today was a sheriff's deputy who was ordered by his supervisor to enter the victim's apartment before it was sanitized to get a quarantine order signed. The deputy wore no protective clothing at all. Then, when he began feeling sick, he just walked into a suburban CareNow clinic for treatment instead of calling the CDC. These things just keep happening. I still can't believe that one of the quarantined kids left his house and went back to Dallas public schools the day after he was quarantined. They say that 50 people are at risk, but I bet the true number is several hundred. The guy who was admitted to the hospital today wasn't even on the CDC short list.

I was sad to hear that the dog that belonged to the Spanish nurse that has Ebola has been euthanized. Why couldn't they just have quarantined the dog? We love our dogs here in the United States. I think that once people start to realize that their dogs could be at risk, or even killed by government officials during an Ebola panic, it might change people's opinions about our open borders. I keep hearing that you can't stop people from traveling. Why not? If we denied entry from all West African countries, we could put a stop to Ebola in America. People forget that for much of this country's history, if you were sick when you came through Ellis Island, you were turned away.

Today was another busy day. I finished my writing assignments, made a few website updates, and got my October invoices in the mail. I think I've finally managed to catch up with all of my power outage backlog. I guess this means that tomorrow I'll have to go up on the roof and check out the water situation. I've been avoiding this, since my last trip to the roof involved a lot of work. We've had quite a bit of rain recently and it's not going to evaporate with our cooler Fall weather, so I guess that sweeping and pumping away the standing water is almost inevitable.

I can't stand another day of oatmeal, so I bought some bacon while I was at the grocery store today. A little bacon for breakfast is bound to make Thursday a better day.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1753

Today was all about damage control. Yesterday's storm was a lot worse than most people thought. Over 250,000 people are still without power in the Dallas area. I'm one of them. The power came back very briefly about 2 AM this morning and then about two minutes later it went out again with a bang as a transformer in the alley exploded. As I was walking the dogs this morning, I heard at least six other transformers exploding in the distance. Evidently, the power company is having trouble because there are many more downed trees and telephone poles than they expected. If they attempt to restore the power before they find all the downed lines, the circuit shorts out and a transformer explodes. Actually, I think we're losing ground. When I went to breakfast this morning, most of the traffic lights were working. When I went out again later this afternoon to recharge my UPS backup battery at Janet's office, all the lights were out again. I have yet to see any power company trucks in our neighborhood. To tell you the truth, I haven't seen any power company trucks, period. I don't know where they all are.

With limited computer resources and a very dark house, I spent as much time as I could outside. Ironically, the weather was beautiful today. You'll never believe what happened just 24 hours ago. I cleaned up broken branches in the yard and then I went up on the roof where there were many more tree limbs. It was raining so hard yesterday that I didn't even hear most of these branches fall. All I heard was the wind. I was surprised at how many good sized tree limbs were up on the roof. I don't think any damage was done, but it sure was a mess to clean up. Without the help of my trusty electric sump pump to clear the water away, it took hours to remove all the standing water and debris.

You really can't get much done without electricity these days. It seemed like the whole city was just milling around waiting for something to happen. I've never seen my breakfast restaurant so crowded before. It was hard to find a parking place and even harder to find a table. Since the power was out in our entire neighborhood, I think everybody just decided to get out of their house and have a good breakfast.

My backup battery will recharge the laptop once and the phone two times before it goes dead. This give me time to write the blog and answer a few e-mails, but that's about it. The biggest problem with the backup battery is that it takes almost eight hours to fully recharge. My laptop doesn't seem to hold a charge very well any more and neither does the little 4-G hotspot I use for WiFi. Did I ever mention to you how much I hate batteries?

I heard on the news today that the CDC has narrowed yesterday's list of 100 people down to 50 that were thought to have "shared bodily fluids" with the Ebola victim. This amazes me. This guy managed to touch more people in two days than I do in a year. The HazMat team finally came today to sanitize the guys house. Better late than never, I guess.

It's probably better late than never when it comes to getting our power restored as well. Regular readers might remember that it took over four days to get our power turned back on the last time this happened. We ended up having to stay in a hotel for a few days. At least it's not freezing cold this time. Last Winter's big ice storm still seems worse than this, even though I think more trees and telephone poles were uprooted this time.

I'll have to learn to write faster, because my laptop battery is already getting low again. Given what I've seen today, it will be a miracle if our power comes back on tonight. There's a good chance we'll be sitting in the dark until next Monday.

Hobbs is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1752

As if an Ebola outbreak wasn't enough, our fair city is now shrouded in darkness. We are currently experiencing a massive power outage after a severe thunderstorm ripped through town about 4 PM this afternoon. I think that there are over 200,000 outage reports in the general area and one of them is ours. I've heard that the straight line winds were as high as 90 miles an hour at one point. This was certainly enough to uproot trees all over the city and blow a large section of our neighbor's roof off their house. The roof is currently sitting against our back fence. We were very lucky this time. There were no downed trees in our yard and so far, there have been no leaks through the roof. The wind was strong enough to blow water through the bottom of the back door, but that was about it. There is still a downed power line in the alley that was severed by the flying roof. I'm not sure if the wire is touching my metal fence at any point, but I'm definitely not going to touch the fence until the power company comes out and fixes the line. It goes without saying that I'm operating on battery power at this time.

Somehow the number of people in town who have been exposed to Ebola has gone from just a handful, to a dozen, to over 100 in less than 24 hours. This isn't good. I heard on the news today that one of the exposed, and presumably quarantined, kids went back to school yesterday. This in insane. Nobody even noticed the kid was gone until the school notified the CDC. So much for this "self-quarantine" they've been talking about. A judge had to get a court order to keep the people in their house. Now there are armed guards to make sure they don't disappear. The whole thing is a mess. The CDC hasn't even sent a HazMat team to decontaminate the apartment where the guy was staying yet. I've heard that the dirty sheets that the infected man slept on and even vomit are still untouched inside the house.

My vet is worried that nobody has even asked whether these people have a dog. Dogs are known hosts of the disease in Africa. If a dog was exposed and it is still running around around, Lord know what might happen. I'm still worried about poop. Did this guy use the bathroom on the plane? You know how airplane bathrooms work. They just open a little hatch and eject everything in the sky when they're at cruising altitude. There may be a little ticking time bomb in some farmer's field, or in your back yard.

Dot seemed tired and a little nervous during her physical therapy session. I bet she sensed that the storm was coming. Dot is unusually sensitive to weather changes and seems to be able to predict oncoming storms better than our local TV weathermen. Luckily, we made it home from the vet before the storm started. As severe as the winds were, I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be out on the roads during the worst of today's weather.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow in Dallas. The Cowboys are actually winning football games again. There's an Ebola patient who has exposed hundreds of people less than ten miles from my house. I'm sitting here in the dark, wondering if I can get this posted before my laptop battery or my little 4-G hotspot dies. Maybe this is the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. It's certainly been a weird week. I sure hope they've restored power to our neighborhood by morning. I'm going to need a good breakfast after all this and if my power's out, I bet my favorite restaurant is sitting in the dark too.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1751

It was interesting to see how the Ebola news developed today. First you would hear local chatter on Twitter. There are so many people who either work or have friends in health care that news travels quickly. Shortly after rumors start flying on Twitter, local talk radio shows are filled with callers talking about the same thing. A few hours later, the same stories start to appear on prominent local, and even national, media blogs. TV news crews seem to pick up the story very late in the game, and finally, at the end of the entire process, a public official eventually issues a statement. There were Tweets about where the Ebola victim lived, what airline he flew to Dallas on, and where the children he exposed went to school several hours before the same news appeared on the local television stations.

With all the talk about how Ebola is transmitted, there's been a lot of local interest in the safety of the sewage system. Surely the guy pooped after he arrived in town. Where is that poop now? They say the virus can live a long time under moist conditions. At any rate,  I wouldn't want to be a worker at the local sewage treatment plant. I don't think I'd want to be a plumber either. One of the most persistent questions I hear is "If there is nothing to worry about, why are all you guys wearing HazMat suits?" I wonder about this myself.

Other than the occasional worry that Dallas will be where the zombie apocalypse begins, it was a fairly normal day. I spent the day doing the usual mix of website revisions and writing assignments. Some of the website work I did today involved redoing what did yesterday. That's pretty normal too. If I didn't redo a lot of things, I would have very little to do.

When we went to dog training class tonight, the sodium vapor lights that illuminate the field at night unexpectedly went out. Without these lights, it is really dark. I'm surprised that the dogs did as well as they did under these conditions. I could still see Dash pretty well, since he is basically white with a few black spots. The owners of the Labs weren't so lucky. Their dogs just seemed to disappear in the darkness.

I thought my fire ant bites would be gone by now, but they seem to have gotten worse. After doing a little reading, I discovered that this was normal. When the hard red welts caused by the bites start to blister, they can itch intensely. I'm in the itchy stage right now. They say that this can last for up to a week. It helps to keep things in perspective though. An ant bite is no big deal when there's an Ebola outbreak a few miles down the road.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1750

Good grief. Flu season is here. The State Fair of Texas just started. And a guy with the Ebola virus was admitted to Presbyterian Hospital after wandering around town for a week. What could possibly go wrong? I guess it was inevitable that Ebola would make it's way to America, but did it have to come to Dallas first? This is a little too close to home. Presbyterian Hospital is only four or five miles from my house. The gym that I go to is actually owned by the Presbyterian healthcare network.

I listened to the press conference held this afternoon by the CDC. The only thing I could think of was that every single post-apocalyptic end-of-the-world movie I've ever seen starts with some government bureaucrat standing in front of a microphone telling people that there's "nothing to worry about." Every time I hear that this disease can't be transmitted through the air, I think of all the other things that couldn't possibly happen, like Fukushima and Chernobyl.

I'm sure for the next week of so, everyone who gets a fever in Dallas will think they've come down with Ebola. It doesn't help that officials are very close-lipped about the whole situation. They won't reveal the airline the guy flew here on. They won't reveal who his family is, or where he was seen in town before he arrived at the hospital feeling sick. Why do they let people from West Africa continue to fly here? This is an uncontrolled pandemic that has already claimed over 3,000 lives in a short amount of time. It is insane to keep pretending that "there is nothing to worry about."

I awoke this morning to the sound of a dog trying to throw up in the bed next to my head. I've heard this sound before, so I immediately picked Dot up and quickly took her outside where she proceeded to throw up on the back porch. It's probably nothing, but when a dog is recovering from cancer you always worry that the cancer may have returned. Both dogs have sensitive stomachs and are prone to eat crap in the park. It's not a good combination. I've been keeping an eye on Dot today and she seems completely normal. All dogs throw up from time to time and hopefully this was just a fluke.

I completed my troublesome website project today and wrote two new articles. I consider this a good day. It would have been an even better day if the stock market hadn't taken a tumble. It's depressing to toil away at the computer to earn a few hundred dollars when you're simultaneously losing thousands in the market.

The yard is rapidly becoming covered with dry, yellowed elm leaves that the dogs and I inevitably track inside. The elm tree loses its leaves first, and then the oaks and pecan trees quickly follow. Fall has definitely arrived.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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