Day 1578

Dash is back on schedule again. The cancer center called at 6 AM this morning and said the radiation machine was working again, so we resumed the treatments. He's slightly more than halfway done now and is starting to show a bit of what the oncologist euphemistically calls sunburn. They say this skin redness is normal during radiation therapy, but truthfully, nothing seems very normal about this whole process.

Work was slow today so I finally got up on the roof and removed all the standing water from last week's rains. You'd think that the water would have evaporated by now, but it was still there.  I should have gotten the water off the roof earlier, because pollen and debris from the budding trees had turned the water into a dark brown mess. The energy saving white roof was kind of pointless, because all the junk that falls from the trees every Spring has already stained the roof, turning the reflective white into a rich brown sienna color. I don't think Burnt Sienna is a very energy efficient color.

I need to find something new to eat for breakfast. I'm growing tired of all my Friday favorites. The only things that appeal to be now are wheat products like pancakes and french toast that are still on the forbidden list. I've done such a good job at eliminating sugar from my diet and keeping diabetes at bay, that I really hate to return to eating french toast and waffles again. My body seems to convert wheat products directly into sugar, so I'm better off without it. Bread sure sounds good though.

I still get lots of trade magazines in the mail. In fact, trade magazines and bills are just about the only things I get in the mail. I avidly read all the magazines with reviews about new gear. I love reading about the latest and greatest guitars, cameras, microphones, lenses, and recorders. The other magazines are filled with business tips about improving productivity and streamlining business processes. These magazines bore me and I throw them away. I have no interest in improving my business processes whatsoever. Actually, I think I started my company just to give me an excuse to buy lots of cool gear. It worked for quite a while, especially when I was doing a lot of radio and TV commercials. Now, I mostly just write things and this requires virtually no gear at all. What a shame.

It looks like it's time to get the lawn mower out of the greenhouse. If I don't get the front yard under control soon, weeds are going to overpower the Bermuda Grass and I'll have to ask the landscaping guy to come back again. The big Yazoo gas mower isn't going to start without a major tune up, but I've still got the electric mower. The electric mower should start just fine, because I've been keeping the heavy 24V battery nice and warm under my desk all winter.

I'm glad the weekend is here, although I don't really know why. It's not that different from the rest of the week.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1045

I enjoyed going to the video production seminar today. They didn't have barbecue after all, but the catered tex/mex lunch was quite tasty. I can't say that I learned anything that would benefit me personally, but I continue to be fascinated by how much the industry has changed. Production equipment that used to be reserved for Hollywood directors and million dollar edit suites is now affordable and readily available to all. If you have your heart set on making a feature film, access to professional equipment is no longer a limiting factor. All you really need now is a great idea and the discipline to put a film together.

I'd love to have one of those new Canon EOS C500 Cinema cameras. I can't say that I need one though. The only video I shoot these days could easily be captured with a cell phone. All my clients want is something quick and easy that they can slap up on YouTube. Low resolution and out of focus seems just fine to them. I'm sure people are still doing high end video somewhere, but it's definitely a different group of people. I see folks who work for professional sports teams and houses of worship at these seminar events, but very few of my old buddies who used to churn out corporate videos. The corporate world has moved on and left the old video guys behind.

Maybe Winter is on its way. A cold front blew through from the North late today and the temperature dropped more than twenty degrees in just a few hours. I have a feeling that I'll finally get to use the new furnace this weekend. The dogs always seem to enjoy the cooler weather. The cool air gives them extra energy. I had someplace to go this evening, so I was trying to hurry them along on their evening walk. Dot and Dash had other plans. They were both determined to have a walk that was long enough to make me late. They succeeded.

If it gets colder tonight, I might have to put a little more thought into where I have breakfast tomorrow. There's nothing better than a good hot breakfast on a cold morning.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 980

No time for the pool today. I was busy. One of my clients has a retail location in Caesar's Palace, and I went over to the store to interview the manager and take lots of pictures of the place. I wish I had an assistant, or at least a roadie. By the time I carried my 35 pound bag of gear from the Bellagio to Caesars, I was already tired. The interview went well though. The manager was delightful and regaled me with stories of what it was like to run a high-end business inside a casino. I'm glad I brought good lapel mics and a mixer with me. Las Vegas is a noisy place. You don't do anything in this city without a soundtrack in the background. You seldom see where the speakers are hidden, but the music is everywhere. Just going to the drugstore to get some toothpaste can feel like you're inside your own music video. Actually my video interview worked out pretty well. I won't need to add a soundtrack later. It's already there.

Janet won $200 last night while I was writing the blog. She said I brought her luck by staying away from the casino while she was gambling. Works for me. I have terrible luck at the tables. Playing slots is definitely not a game of skill, but I think having the right attitude helps. Janet thinks the glass is half full, while I tend to think it's half empty. It's not surprising to me that she consistently wins more than I do while we're in town. I've usually convinced myself that I'm throwing money away before I even start.

Now that I have today's pictures and video clips safely saved to a hard drive, I feel better about tomorrow's busy schedule. I will be doing several more interviews at the big WWD Magic show that's currently underway at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Janet want's me to scour the booths for free fashion swag while I'm at the show, but I'm afraid if I put one more thing in my already heavy bag, I won't even be able to lift it.

It's hard to know what to wear in Las Vegas. While it's blistering hot outside, the casinos and hotels are always freezing cold. It's disorienting to spend the day going from one extreme to the other. When I'm inside the casinos I'm always looking for a sweater. Outside, it's a much different story. It's almost impossible to dress light enough to be comfortable walking down the strip.

I'm going to have to get a wake-up call tomorrow morning. We have one of those blackout curtains in our room. No light gets in whatsoever. If nobody opened the curtains, I'd probably sleep till noon.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 977

Dot is sitting shivering under my desk, wrapped in a blanket. It's raining again. I wonder how she knows it's going to rain. She's better than the weatherman. Over an hour before the rain started, she was nervously pacing around the house, trying to tell us that the world was about to end. I've gotten to know her mannerisms so I checked the weather radar on my iPhone. It didn't look so bad. Dot knew better. Almost on cue, the rains started immediately after she went to her protected spot under my desk. It's a good thing I got my chores done earlier. I mowed the grass and got all my weekend shopping done before the deluge started. I hate rain at this time of day though. By the time the storm passes through, it will be too dark to go up and get the water off the roof. It will be another night of listening for leaks.

I got a good example of why Apple is so successful this afternoon. I needed to buy an audio cable, so I went to Guitar Center because they have tons of cables. "Oh, you've got to go to the Apple Store for Apogee cables," the sales guy said. "Apple owns Apogee, so they'll have all the cables there."  I stopped by Radio Shack first.  The Apple Store is always crowded on Saturday and Radio Shack has lots of Apple stuff too. The Radio Shack manager told me that I needed to go to the Apple Store too. "That's not a very common cable," he said. "We don't carry those." So, I fight the mall crowds and go to the Apple Store. "That's a specialty item," says the Apple sales guy. "You'll have to order that from our online store." Two different stores, who probably had this particular cable online too, just lazily sent me to the Apple Store instead of trying to get me to buy from their online stores. Apple got the sale.

I'm trying to decide which gear to take on an assignment next week. The assignment involves taking both video and still images. Since DLSR cameras take pretty good video these days and many video cameras can capture high quality JPEG stills, it's not an easy decision anymore. Of course, I could just pile everything I own in the car, but I'd rather travel light and take no more than I need. I wish these companies would make it a little easier for me. My video camera captures sound better, but I like the picture on the DLSR the best. Writing jobs are so much easier. All I need is a laptop and a ten year old copy of Microsoft Word.

I wonder if all the rain we've been having is going to wash away the mosquito spray? It's been bone dry around here for weeks, but just as soon as the city began its aerial spraying program to combat the West Nile Virus, it began raining cats and dogs. Mosquitoes love the rain, so probably this wasn't exactly what the city had planned. So few things go according to plan for me personally, that it's kind of reassuring to know that they don't go according to plan for anyone else either. I wonder if the city has a Plan B if the mosquitoes come back? I learned long ago that you've always got to have a Plan B.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 907

I can always tell when I'm in a rut. I start looking at catalogs a lot. My favorite catalogs are Sweetwater Sound and B&H Photo. I flip through the pages and think about gear that I'd like to have. Never-mind that I have way too much gear already. I can always convince myself that a new lens, some clever new software, or a new microphone is just what I need to get the creative juices flowing again. I don't have enough money to feed my gear lust these days, but that doesn't keep me from flipping through the catalogs. I've been thinking about an anamorphic lens to extend the life of my old Beta-SP cameras. I've even considered upgrading Media Composer to Avid Symphony. A Zeiss Compact Prime cinema lens would be pretty cool too. There is no sound business reason to get any of these things. I just love the tools of my trade. Sometimes I think I like having the tools more than I like actually using them.

The dogs seem to share my tendencies to want what they don't have. When they're inside, they always want to go outside. When I take them outside, they quickly realize it is too hot and they want to go back inside again. We can go back and forth like this all day. Dot and Dash are perpetually looking for the best spot on the bed. Where is the best spot? Well, it's usually where the other dog is sleeping. I wonder why it is so commonplace to want what you don't have?  The dogs should be happy just to have a good home. I should be happy with what I've got for any number of reasons. I still keep looking through those catalogs though.

Janet and I haven't visited the rescue Dalmatians for a while, so we went up to The Velvet Snout this morning to get reacquainted. There are only four Dalmatians in the kennel right now and we spent some time with each of them. Dalmatian Rescue is doing a really good job of finding homes for the dogs this year and nobody seems to stay at the kennel for very long. This a far cry from the days when we used to have over twenty dogs at a time. I think it helps that Dalmatians aren't quite as popular anymore. The people who get a Dalmatian today know what to expect about the breed. They aren't just getting a cute puppy on a whim like they did when the 101 Dalmatian Disney movies were popular. Dalmatians have a better life now and aren't dumped nearly as often.

The weather is getting warmer, but it still looks like it's going to be a nice day for the dog park tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the big Summer party for our training class. There are all sorts of races and games for the dogs and barbecue for the people. Dash particularly likes the bobbing for dog biscuits game.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 786

I spent the morning updating pictures on one of the animal rescue websites I manage. The animals were all puppies and kittens when I initially put them online, but they had grown so much that they didn't look the same anymore. You'd like to think that all rescue animals find their forever homes quickly, but sometimes it takes quite a while.

After I got all the animals straightened out, I went to work on writing a brochure for my latest client. This was a small job, but I'm always a bit apprehensive when doing something the first time for someone new. Some people are happy with just about anything, while others are so picky that nothing will please them. You never really know what kind of client you've got until you turn in that first job.

I almost ordered some new gear today. When I went to the website to place my order, it said the item I wanted was out of stock. This was actually a good thing. By the time the object of my desire is back on the shelves, I may have lost interest in it. Hopefully, this is what will happen. I am continually buying stuff I don't really need at the moment, just so I'll have it in case I need it in the future. People who don't buy equipment at all and just rent what they need when the job comes along probably do a lot better than me. Unfortunately, I don't like to rent things. I'm always nervous that I'm going to break the rented equipment, plus it's just no fun if the gear isn't mine.

Have any of you other bloggers heard about Google Friend Connect being discontinued on March 1? Apparently, the service will still be available to those who host their blog on Blogger, but everyone else may lose their followers. I've always thought it was a good idea to have a Blogger blog, since I'm convinced that Google always takes care of its own first. I know people though who have Wordpress or Typepad blogs that still use Google Friend Connect however. I wonder what these people will do? It would be sad to spend years building a good follower base and then lose it all just because Friend Connect disappeared.

Maybe I'll go out for breakfast again tomorrow. I've enjoyed eating out on Friday morning for the past several weeks. I'd get fat in a hurry if I ate out every day, but I don't think one day a week could do a lot of harm.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 564

I'm starting to lust for gear again. Sometimes this gets a little expensive, but typically my ongoing desire for stuff has positive aspects as well. There is always a period when I am struggling to understand and learn how to use my new gear when I'm interested, engaged and at my most creative. I'll wake up in the morning with some new insight as to how the gear works and off I'll go, editing, recording and snapping pictures like there's no tomorrow. Songs get written, movies get made and entire gallery shows get mounted and framed. Eventually I master the new machine and begin to lose interest in it. The exciting new gear just becomes another boring tool that I work with to make a living. Eventually, it either breaks or becomes obsolete.

I love new things, but nothing stays new all that long. I see this commercial on TV almost every morning where some guy tells us that he loves making birdhouses and is taking care of his heart so he can continue to make birdhouses for the rest of his life. Is this guy nuts? I could never make birdhouses for the rest of my life. If I ever made a birdhouse, I'd probably spend four months making one perfect little home and then never make another one again. When I was finished, I'd probably realize that I didn't even like birds.

So what gear has caught my fancy this time? Those little GoPro cameras are pretty cool. These indestructible little bricks can be attached anywhere. You could attach one to your front bumper and film the trials and tribulations of rush hour traffic. You could pin one to a dog sweater and film your dog's walk from the dog's point of view. People who are into extreme sports love these things. Here's nothing extreme about my life at all, but I still might get a GoPro. There's a time lapse setting where you could compress an hour dog walk into two minutes of screen time. I could mount one to the bow of my kayak and film ducks and pelicans. I haven't taken the boat out in several years. Communing with nature doesn't interest me. Exercise doesn't interest me either. Making a movie however...now, that's another matter entirely.

I saw another ambulance down in the park this afternoon when I was taking the dogs on their evening walk. People are dropping like flies in this heat. I see fire department EMT crews responding to something in the park almost every week now. A couple of years ago in July, the dogs and I walked right past a guy sitting on a park bench looking out at the water. The guy didn't say anything to us, but that was pretty normal. When we were walking back home again, I noticed an EMT crew and several policemen surrounding the bench. The guy had dropped dead while he was just sitting there on the bench. I don't think I need any more reasons to stay inside and look for a good movie on TV.

Dalmatian of the Day

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