Day 3075

I just received a notice that NetworkedBlogs is shutting down. Sad. One by one, all the familiar faces I have long associated with blogging are disappearing. Entrecard is gone. Adgitize is gone. I'm not sure if BlogCatalog still works. I haven't seen anything new there in years. I'm going to miss NetworkedBlogs. This is the tool I've always used to syndicate the blog to Facebook and Twitter. Maybe there are other blog syndication services out there, but there probably aren't many. Blogging just isn't popular anymore.

I'm glad I got to be a part of blogging's short lived golden years. It certainly didn't last very long. When was the last time you spent hours blog hopping? Yup. I can't remember that far back either. If you're reading today, you're probably just looking at a link on Facebook. At some point you begin to wonder if there is any point writing if nobody's reading anymore. It is becoming an increasingly quixotic quest.

It would be hard to quit writing. It's a lot like walking Dash. Our walks are painfully slow now, but they have become part of the fabric of life. Whenever we fail to walk I am filled with a sense of foreboding. The day is supposed to start with a walk and end with a blog post. That's just the way it is.

We had a nice walk this morning. I was somewhat surprised to see a single mutant flower in a field full of Mexican Hats. These upright prairie coneflowers are sombrero-shaped with drooping petals and a tall central cone. How did this explosion of petals even happen? This flower looked like it came straight from Chernobyl.

I had planned on having the trees trimmed this morning, but the tree guy called and said he'd had a couple of emergencies and he needed to postpone our appointment. It's just as well that we called this off. It rained last night and the trees were still wet. I imagine that this would have made the branches heavier and more difficult to cut. At least the trees didn't fall on my roof last night. Evidently, the storm was far worse in Far North Dallas.

Now that it's warm enough to keep the air conditioner running, doing the wash has become more difficult. Both the washer and the condensation from the air conditioner drain into the same floor drain  in the utility room. The drain needs to be plugged when the washer is running and open when the air conditioner is running. It gets complicated when both things are happening at the same time. I forgot to open the drain today and the utility room got flooded. If it's not one thing, it's another.

I wish my lone trip to the gym every Sunday was enough to build muscle mass and shed a little weight. I have a feeling that it's just a symbolic gesture. It's going to take a lot more than an hour at the gym to change anything. I'll still go tomorrow. Hey, there's nothing wrong with symbolic gestures.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2957

Time flies. Three years ago I was out at Vandenberg Air Force Base as a guest of NASA to watch the SMAP launch. I didn't realize that this would be my last trip for a long, long time. Six years ago, Entrecard disappeared. Again, I didn't realize that this was the end of something. Blogging was never the same again. Things keep changing, but as always, I never realize the implications until much later. If there are changes or surprises in store for me in 2018, I hope they are good ones.

The gym seems to have lost a few members. Maybe some people quit when the price went up. Since I don't know any of these people, there is no way to know for sure. I'm doing my workouts earlier now. It leaves more time later in the day to do other things I don't like to do. If Saturday is a day for errands, Sunday has become a day for exercise. When I returned home today, I vacuumed. Vacuuming is more work than it seems because I always have to move so much clutter, just so I can clean the carpets. It would be tempting to just vacuum around all the junk on the floor, but it would defeat the whole purpose of cleaning. Dust hides under clutter.

It was beautiful outside today, but the nice weather made it difficult to walk Dash. On pretty, warm days the park is filled with joggers, cyclists, and people walking their dogs. It is impossible for Dash to walk in a straight line. He is always zig-zagging around, following his nose. If we are on a road or trail, I have to keep an eye out for bicycles. The cyclists are silent and never slow down for dogs. I have to keep an eye out for loose dogs too. Way too many people think it is perfectly OK to let their dog off leash in the park. There are signs all over the place saying that all dogs must be on a leash, but apparently nobody reads signs. I have seen these loose dogs get into fights with other dogs, but the owners never think it is their fault. I prefer days like yesterday when it is cold and misty with nobody in sight.

I was thinking of starting to watch Black Mirror on Netflix today, but there wasn't enough time. My simple Sunday routine eats up the entire day. There's an early dog walk, followed by breakfast and a trip to the gym. Sometime I go to the grocery store on the way home from the gym, but I didn't today. Afternoons always include some chore that I can't put off any longer. Today it was vacuuming. Often it is getting the water off the roof. To get Dash to eat properly, I have to split his dinner into two parts, with a walk in the middle. This ritual take longer than you might think. With the time I had left, I repaired my walking shoes while Janet was fixing dinner and that was about it.

The Grammy Awards are on TV now in another part of the house. I don't know who any of these people are. Where are the new bands like Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, and King Crimson? For that matter, where are the singers like Percy Sledge, Marvin Gaye, and Janis Joplin? I don't know if I'm old school or just old, but I still prefer "Dark Side of the Moon," to "XXX,"

January is almost over. Dash has another appointment for an echocardiogram this coming Thursday. Then there's Groundhog Day. It always feels like Groundhog Day to me.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1323

Today was one of those "nose to the grindstone" days. I methodically worked my way through a long list of simple tasks. Articles got written, websites got updated, and bills got paid. There was even a conference call, although since only one person showed up, it wasn't really much of a conference. The dogs had nothing to bark about today, and other than the faint sound of typing, the house was quiet as a tomb.

I got an adapter in the mail this afternoon that will allow me to attach a professional matte box to my video camera. The device would be a lot more useful if I actually had a matte box to attach, but I'll worry about that later. With few upcoming video jobs on the agenda, I've got plenty of time to find that matte box.

I'm beginning to wonder if social media is worth the effort. Without the leverage and large numbers that blog sharing sites like Entrecard and Adgitize used to provide, it's getting harder and harder to attract new readers. Even during its heyday, a lot of people dismissed Entrecard as mindless widget clicking. I liked it though. It brought thousands of new eyes to the blog every day and some ended up staying to become regular readers. Sure, it's easy enough to re-share blog posts on Facebook and Google+ but it's not that same thing as having lots of people come directly to the source. Probably my main problem with social media is that I'm not a very social person. I think the only reason I'm on Facebook at all is to try to lure people back here to the blog.

Maybe declining readership is just another sign of Summer. Everything seems to go through a decline in the Summer. It's getting hard to find flowers to photograph in the park these days. The season is over and almost all the flowers have dried and turned to seed. The grass in the back yard is looking a lot thinner too. Even though the yard was professionally landscaped early in the Spring, the Summer's thick canopy of Oak leaves prevents enough sun from getting to the grass. Essentially, even after a lot of effort, the yard looks just like it always does at the end of July.

At least Dot seems to be improving. She's got another acupuncture session tomorrow. The girl's got a pretty full dance card now with the combination of water therapy and acupuncture. I think the treatments are helping though. Dot was pretty spry on her walks today, even though it was a hot day in July with very few flowers to smell.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1059

It's amazing how often little things end up consuming large amounts of my time. I wanted to get November invoices out today. Everything was ready to take to the post office, but I couldn't get the envelopes to print. Printing envelopes used to be a piece of cake with older printers, but now I have one of those "multifunction" printers and one of the functions that Epson seems to have left out was envelopes. I can't just slide the envelopes into a little slot anymore. I have to take out the paper tray and reconfigure it for envelope sized pieces of paper. If I'm off on the dimensions by even a tiny amount, the envelopes get stuck and I practically have to take the printer apart to clear the paper jam.

Some of you might ask why I don''t just use the large format printer I'm always talking about instead. Nope. That won't work either. The large printer won't even accept something as small as an envelope in the paper tray. Although I could have hand addressed all the envelopes much quicker, I persevered and finally got the multifunction printer to work. As I drove to the post office with the envelopes, I kept thinking that this was a lot of work for the small amount that I actually billed out this month.

I wonder if any of my Entrecard friends are noticing that their blog traffic continues to slowly drop long after the demise of the Entrecard network. That's what seems to be happening with me. For the first time in years, my blog traffic is actually lower than my company website traffic. If you're a regular reader who has never signed up to become a regular blog follower, humor me and sign up now. It won't change anything, but it will make me feel better.

I got an e-mail today with an ad for a low cost film scanner that records directly to an SD card. No computer required. I have a fantastic old Canon scanner, but I haven't been able to use it for years, since it hooks up using a SCSI cable. Jeez, how long has it been since you've used a computer with SCSI peripherals?  I don't even own one anymore. At any rate, I may get this new little film scanner. I've still got thousands of 35mm negatives that I've never digitized yet. Maybe when I can't think of any new ideas, I'll at least be able to retrieve some really good old ones. I continue to think that I shot some of my very best photos in the 1970's. I can't remember what they were though. It would be interesting to scan these old negatives and see if they can hold their own with the stuff I'm doing today.  We'll see.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1040

You'd think that on Day 1040, I'd be working on my taxes or something. Nope. Just another day full of weekend errands. Every weekend, we stock up on groceries and supplies. Then, we methodically use everything up during the week, so we can repeat the whole process the next weekend. I'm always amazed at how much trash two people and two dogs can generate. We lead a simple life, but somehow there is always a huge amount of trash to take to the street every Friday. I think it is the packaging. Even the simplest thing comes shrink wrapped and boxed in layers and layers of packaging. Even though I hate all the boxes, I save a fair amount of them. I've been told so many times that if you save the packaging, you will get a lot more on eBay if you decide to sell it later. Maybe so. In the mean time, I've got tons of boxes I don't need.

I'm still a little puzzled at how best to go about getting more blog readers since the demise of Entrecard. Reading doesn't appear to be very popular anymore. My other social media efforts, which rely more on pictures, seem to be doing fine. My Google+ page is mostly pictures. I post a lot of pictures on Twitter too. I have a sneaking feeling that a lot of people come here for the pictures too. It would be interesting if Google Analytics had a way of tracking people who actually read the articles. I bet that number would be very small.

While I'm on the subject of Google, I saw the Google Street View car drive by my house today. I wonder how often they update those Street View pictures?  This is the third time I've seen the Google photo car in my neighborhood. One of these days I'm going to be quick enough to wave at the car as it drives by. Maybe then, I will actually be in the Street View picture.

I stopped by an animal rescue resale shop in my neighborhood while I was running errands this afternoon. There was a young couple trying to give their puppy away to the store manager. It was sad to watch. Why do people get pets they aren't willing to keep and take care of? The manager was trying to direct the couple to no-kill shelters in the area. The couple was acting like it was the most normal thing in the world to get rid of their dog. I just don't understand people.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1021

This is the only time of year when you can open your windows in Texas. The weather is beautiful in October and the month certainly got off to a good start today. Did I open my windows and enjoy the cool breezes and mild temperatures? Well, no. You see, if I opened the windows, a ton of wasps would fly inside. Over the summer, lots of wasps have built imposing nests under the eaves. The window screens would keep the wasps out, you might think. Well, no. I went on a tour of homes a while back and noticed that a house on the tour which resembled ours looked much better without the window screens, so I took the screens off our house as well. The house does look better, but I haven't been able to open the windows since. Unfortunately, that's the way it is with me. Pretty wins over practicality just about every time.

The dogs didn't seem all that eager to get up this morning. I think yesterday's golf tournament tired them out. They normally sleep so much during the day that having people come up and pet them all afternoon was more activity than they could handle. I thought they would go to sleep in the car on the way home last night, but they don't seem to like the smaller seats in the little Kia rental car. Nobody seems to like the Kia. Janet and I have gotten so hooked on GPS navigation that we frequently get lost without it. Since we'd never been to the Bridlewood golf course before, we weren't sure how to get home without the Land Rover GPS until we realized that the iPhone had a turn-by-turn navigation app. A little voice in the dark guided us safely home. It is kind of weird how ubiquitous technology has become. I didn't even question putting my faith in a little artificial voice coming out of a telephone.

I've started looking for an alternative to Entrecard and so far I don't like what I see. Most of the other blog advertising networks seem to either be pay-per-post schemes, which I don't like, or require huge readership stats to attract national advertisers, which I don't have. Several of these blog networks suggested creating a niche blog with content devoted exclusively to one subject like parenting, vampires, or knitting. I guess talking about wasp nests and sleeping dogs doesn't count.

There are days when just doing your own thing seems a lonely road to follow. I don't know what else to do, however. I'm kind of set in my ways and I'm certainly not much of a team player. I told one of my advertising friends that I couldn't imagine spending all my time writing about one subject. "But you do spend all your time writing about one subject," he said. "You just write about yourself." Touché.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1015

I won't bore you with what I did today. Why? Well, maybe because I did exactly the same things as I did yesterday. Tomorrow will be the same as well. It's going to be a very busy week. My activities ranged from steam turbines to a 40 pound cat, but it wasn't as interesting as it might seem. Basically, days like this are just a lot of typing.

My Google Analytics stats have been depressing lately. Now that Adgitize and Entrecard are both gone, my blog traffic has slowed to a trickle. I know that some of you think that visitors from these blogging networks weren't really interested in reading your blog, but I beg to differ. Almost every interesting blog I've ever discovered came directly as a result of participating in the Adgitize and Entrecard networks. Without them, it's just going to be a bit harder to keep up with my favorite bloggers.

It's time for my annual physical again. I'm pretty good about eating the right foods and getting plenty of exercise, but I still don't look forward to these physicals. I'm just tired of hearing that my blood sugar and PSA levels are on the high side. I'm tired of wondering about the differences between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. I definitely don't want to add any more meds to the growing pile I already take every day. Truthfully, I'm in better physical shape than I was fifteen years ago, but it's hard to feel that way. I've had to give up drinking and lost my tolerance for alcohol in the process. Now, even a glass or two of wine with dinner will keep me up half the night. The statins I take are starting to cause muscle atrophy. For the first time in my life, I'm feeling old.

I kept thinking I heard the raccoon last night. When I got up and looked out the window, there was nothing. Maybe I just dreamed I heard the raccoon. I have a feeling that the raccoon and the armadillo may have moved on to greener pastures. The backyard is so torn up right now that I don't think these animals could do any more damage if they tried.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1011

If you want to get a new iPhone on the day it is released, be prepared for an all day experience. You'll spend most of the morning just getting the phone. Then you'll spend most of the afternoon trying to figure out why it doesn't work quite like you expected.

I really didn't spend that much time in line. Instead of going to the big Apple store in the mall, I went to a small AT&T store right in my neighborhood. There were only about 15 people ahead of me in line when I got to the store. Incredibly, five or six of the people ahead of me had camped out overnight. What was the point of that? I got my phone at the same time they did, and I didn't go to the store until after breakfast. The line I was in would have gone really fast if it weren't for the fact that half the people wanted to look at every single case in the store before deciding what color they wanted. The AT&T folks let people in the store one at a time. Every time someone came out with a shopping bag containing a phone, someone else got to go in. I feel sorry for the folks who stood in line all the way to the end, only to discover that they weren't authorized to use the phone they were trying to upgrade. These folks got sent away with nothing. The guy right behind me waited until he was only three people away from the door and then abruptly left, saying that he had to go to a meeting. He didn't get a phone either.

When I got the phone home, I discovered that several apps had simply disappeared. I tried to download them again from the iTunes store, but they were gone there as well. Apparently, not every app is compatible with the new phone. I couldn't find my address book for a while and then realized it had been hidden away inside a utilities folder. Apparently the iCloud backup process doesn't backup passwords, because I had to enter all my passwords again. Some of them I couldn't remember anymore, but that's just the way it goes. All in all, the whole process was a lot less painful than a major system upgrade.

The dogs were mad at me when I got home with my new phone. Their morning walk was several hours late, and they like to stay on schedule. They did get their walk however. I never shortchange the dogs. In retrospect, I wish I'd walked the dogs first and then gone to the store. Our cool Fall weather disappeared overnight and it ended up being pretty hot outside today. It would have been more pleasant to walk early in the morning.

It looks like Entrecard is officially dead. I heard from fellow bloggers Dave Lucas and Mike Golch that service to the once popular site will not be restored. Personally, I'll miss Entrecard. I discovered lots of great blogs and bloggers on this site and since dropping on the Entrecard widget was such a convenient way to blog hop, I'm not sure how to systematically visit this many blogs again. I noticed that my own traffic is down since the Entrecard demise, but I hope you guys will keep visiting.

Rowe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 776

Another day, another doctor's appointment. Sometimes I think my physician's have made me a test case to see how effectively they can manipulate blood panel results to tweak my physical condition. It doesn't matter which doctor I see; a new blood test is ordered with virtually every visit. I've got a whole ring binder full of blood test results now. I used to hate these things, but now I think I'm becoming addicted to them. I've learned all the nuances associated with the rise and fall of liver enzyme levels and know what my glucose levels should be at different times of the day. I know what a perfect blood panel looks like now and so to the doctors. They keep adding and subtracting medication in search of the Holy Grail. Am I any healthier after all this experimentation? Your guess is as good as mine. There were more tests today though. There are always more tests.

Entrecard appears to be back online again. I probably should find a better way to blog hop and build traffic, but I've gotten used to using services like Entrecard and Adgitize. I will go back to dropping tonight and visit some of my favorite blogs that I've missed while the site was down.

Maybe, now that my visitors are returning, someone will be able to identify the little bird that I photographed today. I see this bird every morning and it sure seems like a lonely bird. It is always sitting on the same telephone line or tree. This solitary bird never flies in a flock with other birds. It is always alone. At first I though it might be a feral parrot, but now I think the bird could be a small hawk instead. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about birds though. Maybe one of you could tell me what I've been looking at every morning.

It's hard to believe that January is already over. Pretty soon it will be time to prepare my taxes again, and then it will be my birthday, and before you know it, election day will be here. I'll be glad when election day arrives, because I'm getting sick of the relentless campaigning. I know what everybody thinks now and still they have more debates. Somehow, I don't think any of these debates are going to change anything. There aren't going to be a lot of new jobs because we don't manufacture anything anymore. The housing crisis isn't going to go away any time soon because nobody can qualify for a mortgage anymore. Europe's problems are really our problems, because that's what happens in a global economy. Somebody opened Pandora's Box a long time ago and I don't think any of these politicians will be able to close it again.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 775

There was a big fight at the dog park today. Two dogs went after each other and within seconds, ten more joined in the ruckus. By the time the owners got their dogs separated, there was definitely a little blood spilled. I'm really glad that Dot and Dash don't have the desire to pile on when they see other dogs get into a scuffle. They both walked away from the commotion this morning and retreated to the other side of the dog park. Maybe they take after me in this regard. I avoid confrontations whenever I can. I don't agree with other people about very much, but our differences are seldom worth fighting about. If I fought with everyone I disagreed with, I'd be battling someone 24/7. It's much easier these days to publicly ignore what goes on around me while privately thinking that everyone has gone nuts.

The weather was so nice today that I though it would be a good time to trim all the low hanging tree limbs hanging over the roof. One of our large oak trees has become quite overgrown and some of the limbs are actually touching the roof now. When I go up to get the water off after a rain, I am continually bumping my head on these low hanging branches. I'm certainly no arborist, so I just copied what I'd seen other tree trimmers do when I used to hire professionals. I thinned and I pruned and after a few hours, the two trees that overhang the roof looked a lot better. I think I may have found where one of the leaks might have started while I was up on the roof as well. Most of the roof was dry, but there were a few areas that were still damp right at the edge of a seam. I should have spray painted an arrow to mark these areas, because when the roof dries completely, they will look absolutely normal. This was just the right time to see the telltale signs of a leak. I couldn't find any spray paint around the house unfortunately, so I'll just have to remember where these problem areas are. I can't patch anything until the roof is completely dry.

I don't remember manual labor always being this hard. Maybe I'm out of shape, or maybe I'm just getting old. Trimming trees seemed like hard work this afternoon. Maybe it was just the saw. The big reciprocating saw is pretty heavy, but it's a lot safer than a chain saw. A few years ago, an acquaintance of mine slipped while using a chain saw and the blade caught him in the face as he fell. After seeing what happened to this guy, I don't think I'll ever use a chain saw again.

Do any of you other bloggers use Entrecard? For the past several days I've noticed that I can't login to Entrecard anymore. The site seems dead. Maybe this is the end of the blog advertising sites. Adgitize closed its doors last month and before that several similar sites met their demise. It would be a shame if all these sites were gone. I discovered most of the blogs I currently follow using Adgitize and Entrecard.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 757

I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish today, but I ended up getting very little done since I spent so long at the doctor. My doctor visits inevitably morph into client meetings and take twice as long as I think they will. Today we went back and forth between talking about my liver and talking about the doctor's marketing plans. Actually, I like things this way, since I never feel rushed. There's always plenty of time to ask all the questions I can think of. The long and short of things is that I do need an MRI, apparently since there is something new in the CAT scans that wasn't there two years ago. Hopefully the mystery object is benign.

I guess I'll get my car safety inspected tomorrow. It would have been convenient to do this today, since the safety inspection station is right near the doctor's office, but there just wasn't time. I didn't want to walk the dogs in the dark again.

It's supposed to get down below freezing tonight. That seemed fairly impossible earlier in the day, when I was walking the dogs in shirtsleeves, but Texas weather can fool you. During dog training class this evening, a cold front blew through and the temperature felt like it dropped twenty degrees in less than an hour. Class actually ended early, because everyone was so cold. Nobody had dressed for this sudden change of events. I think Dot and Dash were happy to come home early. Neither one of them like the cold.

I know that some of you who read this blog were also members of Adgitize like I was. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that their Entrecard rank has dropped now that Adgitize is gone. My Entrecard rank, which had been constant for months, dropped quite a bit right after Adgitize closed its doors. I still can't figure out the connection, but I bet there is one.

I've absolutely got to get my invoices out tomorrow or I won't have any money coming my way in February. I'm usually not this late. Sadly, I've been saying that a lot recently. I really need a nap.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day