Day 4967

A neighbor's house went under the wrecking ball today. This was a nice house with an Austin Stone exterior, three bedrooms, a pool, and an updated kitchen. The original owners both passed away several years ago, but I remember them well. They had a big Christmas party every year and invited the entire street. They liked dogs and were always friendly with our first Dalmatian. 

It's a shame that the original residents on our street are all gone now. People buy their properties for exorbitant prices and then just tear down the house. There are a lot of vacant lots in the neighborhood now, all waiting for new mansions to be built. Truthfully, I liked the neighborhood a lot better when houses like the one torn down today were something to be proud of. People built these homes in the 1950's and lived there until they died. Janet and I knew all these people, but don't know any of the newcomers who replaced them. It's the end of an era I guess.

It hasn't gotten any cooler. We had another triple digit day with no rain in sight. It's even hot at night now, although our sunrise walks with Dawn are still tolerable. Were our summers always like this? Maybe. I think it feels worse now because everyone reinforces the bad weather by constantly reminding me about it on social media. I guess it could be worse. We don't have floods or wildfires.

After returning from our sunrise walk, I ate my breakfast and went to the gym. Every day feels more or less the same but I have no complaints. I'm healthy. I'm paying my bills on time and at least for the moment, everything in the house is working. It's easy to forget what day it is. When I'm at the gym it feels like I've never left. The same people are working out at the same machines. I feel like I know some of these people just from overhearing their conversations as I pass them walking around the indoor track. Things are starting to feel a lot like Groundhog Day.

After having my regular ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, I took a nap with Dawn on the bed. She didn't leave the bed this time which was kind of amazing. Maybe she's finally warming up to me. Probably it was just too hot to get bothered about anything. I think Dawn is as tired of our hot weather as I am. She doesn't even want to sit out in the yard now. I can't blame her. I don't want to sit out in the yard either. If I mow the grass again, it's going to have to be very early in the morning.

It's hard to believe it will be August tomorrow. Time to get the car safety inspected again. I'm glad there are no car problems this year. I'm glad the air conditioner is working well too. I'm just going through the motions this summer and definitely don't want any problems. Actually I wish I could just sleep through August and wake up again when it was cooler. I don't think it's going to be any cooler tomorrow. We'll go through this same routine again.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4676

It's feeling like Ground Hog Day again. Every day seems exactly the same. I have no one to blame but myself since I have no real desire to change. I did try to change things up a bit by going back to the gym this morning instead of walking in the park again. The gym is pretty much the same as well. I always have the same routine even if there are dozens of machines I have never tried. All I can say is that it's a good thing I handle boredom well.

The park was quiet this morning. There seems to be a lot more activity on the weekends. I'm always surprised that so many people do things together before the sun comes up. Some run in groups and cyclists often ride in groups. I have trouble just getting up in the morning. I'd never be organized enough to join a group activity before I've had breakfast. All this is just idle speculation though. I tend to avoid group activities at any time of day.

I've been wondering why the grass and other plants have been so sticky this Fall. Even the roads under trees are getting sticky. It turns out that we have an infestation of aphids in Dallas. The clear, sticky liquid if basically aphid poop. I wish I hadn't learned this because it is kind of gross. The stuff is not harmful to dogs or humans, but it can kill plants. The plants are having a tough time this Fall. First it was the little green web worms and now it's the aphids.

I was terrible on the basketball court when I was at the gym this morning. I wonder why I am so inconsistent? I've been shooting free throws at this gym for so many years now that I should have perfected the process by now. Shooting baskets is basically just hand eye coordination. I must not be terribly coordinated because I'm all over the place. On a good day I can sink seven or eight baskets in a row. On a bad day all I do is embarrass myself. I used the vibration plate again today. It doesn't even seem like exercise, but if it can help improve my bone density, it's worth spending ten minutes on the machine. I still don't like the drive, but going to the gym was a nice change of pace. I didn't have to walk through any aphid poop either.

It's surprising how many launches I get approved for at Kennedy Space Center. I got invited to another launch today. Some of the approvals are automatic and I don't have to apply for credentials. The Space Force is usually a lot more consistent with approvals than NASA. I'm glad they don't check and see whether I actually show up for the launch. If they checked I'd have been crossed off the list by now. I'd really like to go to all of these launches, but I can only afford several trips a year. I'm already looking forward to my next trip. I still feel like a pretend journalist, but I do enjoy the experience.

Dawn's been avoiding me all evening because Janet is out of the house. It's disappointing that we haven't become buddies, but there isn't a lot I can do about the situation. It seems like she ought to be able to tell that I really like dogs. Maybe I look or smell like one of the men who mistreated her. Dawn is probably glad when I go to Florida.

Puppies are today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4375

It's feeling like Ground Hog Day again. Every day the same frustrations occur over and over. My feet continue to hurt despite wearing the special shoes that the orthopedic surgeon recommended. My FedEx package remains lost despite calling them twice a day and begging for additional information. I keep walking longer and longer, mostly because it keeps me from thinking about all the aspects of modern life that irritate the hell out of me. Just about everything we as a society are currently doing is wrong. It just seems weird that so many people see things differently than me. In my heart I know I'm right.

I don't know what I am going to do about my FedEx package. The company really doesn't seem to care about their customers. Instead of trying to improve service, they seem to have put all their efforts into insulating themselves from customers. I'm actually impressed at how clever they've been at preventing me from finding out the status of this package that I know is sitting in a warehouse less than twenty miles from where I live. It is impossible to talk to anyone in the warehouse or even to a supervisor. You always get routed to an offshore call center where contract workers are employed to be friendly without really telling you anything. I'm starting to suspect that they dropped and broke my star tracker. I'm starting to get asked about what's inside the package. Today I was told that if the package didn't arrive within three or four days from now, I should ask the shipper to file a claim for damages so they could be compensated for the lost package. "But the package isn't lost," I reminded the call center agent. "I can tell from looking at the tracking history on my FedEx account that it's sitting in your Hutchins warehouse." "You scanned this package again this morning," I added. None of this gets me anywhere, because the call center representatives are forbidden from transferring my call to someone local who might actually know what is going on.

I feel like FedEx has stumbled onto a fiendishly clever plan to drive me crazy. I've always cared more about objects and gear than people. I want this star tracker. I've been waiting for it since last March. Maybe there is a holiday rush for delivery services. Maybe the driver had a bad day. Maybe the warehouse facility is understaffed. I still keep thinking that this should be a no brainer. The package initially didn't get delivered for some reason. It should have been redelivered the next day unless something is going on that they aren't telling me. I have many reasons to be suspicious.

I'm in such a bad mood that I don't even feel like going to rocket launches or out to the observatory anymore. My feet and shoulder hurt so much that I'm not even sure I could make the long drive to West Texas. It wasn't a pleasant drive even when I was feeling better last year. Florida is a different story. SpaceFlight Magazine seems to be under new management and they don't appear quite as interested in me these days. Hotel and rental car rates continue to increase as well. People are traveling again and flight are often full. It's a mess. I think I liked traveling more when the world was completely locked down.

The weather has been just as weird as everything else this Winter. One day it is 70 degrees and the next day it is freezing. The changes from day to day can be dramatic. Today was quite warm. I was able to take my long walk wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Just a few days ago I was wearing a down jacket. This inconsistency certainly isn't helping my overall mood. I don't mind having four seasons, but the seasons need to behave. Winter should be cold. Summer should be hot. And Spring and Fall should be nice. So far, we seem to be packing Winter, Summer, Spring, and Fall into a single month.

It's been a long day, but I've finished my dinner and taken this week's trash out to the curb. I'll probably just have shredded wheat for breakfast again even though I've been planning to resume my Friday restaurant breakfasts for weeks now. I'm really proud of Dawn. She seems to be doing a better job of adjusting to her new life than I am.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3692 - Superbowl Sunday

It looks like the Ground Hog was right. Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early Spring this year and I think it started today. The temperature was near 80 degrees this afternoon. This was enough to get the air conditioner running again. It was also a perfect day for shorts and a t-shirt. It's still hard to believe that there is still a chance of snow by Wednesday. Texas weather never fails to amaze.

Today was a great day for a walk, but I also took advantage of the nice weather to wash the car and go up on the roof. I thought this would be an ideal day to make some more repairs, but much to my surprise there was still water on the roof. Where did this come from? I don't even think it rained recently. I swept away the water and left the bucket of silicon up on the roof. I'll try again to make the repairs tomorrow.

21,000 steps today. The gym wasn't very crowded, but the park was packed. Everybody was out today. You just don't ignore an eighty degree day in February. Lots of people were walking their dogs this afternoon. I see hundreds of dogs in the park, but I've only seen one Dalmatian on a walk since Dash died. I forget how rare these dogs are since I see quite a few every Monday. They must be hard to find though, since most of the people who adopt our rescue dogs are from out of town. Quite a few even come from out of state. I enjoyed seeing all the happy dogs this afternoon, but I think I'll enjoy seeing my favorite Dalmatians even more tomorrow.

I reluctantly added another day to my Florida trip. I hope these are the last reservation changes I'll need to make. I think I've already set a new record for schedule changes. The closer it gets to the launch, the harder it is to make changes. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. When I changed my flight this morning there was only one seat left. Things were pretty tight at the hotel as well. Please, no more changes guys. This is wearing me out.

I enjoyed the game this evening. I thought Kansas CIty was going to lose, but with only 8 minutes remaining, Patrick Mahomes managed to turn a double digit loss into a double digit win. Mahomes seems to specialize in turning things around at the last minute. It certainly makes for an exciting game.

The commercials with a few notable exceptions weren't exciting at all. I loved the Jeep commercial with Bill Murray reprising his role in Ground Hog Day. Very clever, expecially since today was Ground Hog Day. I also liked the Quicken Loans commercial where Jason Momoa pokes fun at himself by revealing that he is really a skinny balding man. Most of the other commercials were either far too serious or just totally incomprehensible. I'm not wild about today's half time shows either. Pole dancing is just no substitute for real musicianship. I don't think anyone's going to top Prince singing Purple Rain in a driving rainstorm.

It was a good day. Blue sky. An early Spring. An exciting game. Burgers and beer. And 21,000 steps. It's hard to complain about that.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3327- Groundhog Day

I've always associated Groundhog Day with the Bill Murray movie instead of Punxsutawney Phil, It seems somehow appropriate that Groundhog Day takes place on Superbowl weekend this year. The Patriots keep playing in the Superbowl over and over again. A lot of things in my life seem to take place over and over again as well. Recurring events aren't necessarily bad but they do make you wonder. Is Tom Brady playing in the Superbowl again because he's the best quarterback in the league? Is there some luck involved? Why do I have a fruit smoothie for breakfast every morning when it would be easy to eat just about anything? I'd never order a fruit smoothie at a restaurant, even if it were on the menu. I've come to realize that a lot of repetition is pure laziness. Sometimes it takes a lot of dedication and practice though. I'm still trying to learn the difference.

Apparently, not everything happens over and over again. For many years, I've been going to a Superbowl Sale at a clothing store that used to be a client of mine. This was a fabulous once a year sale and it was generally the only time I could afford these type of clothes. Even though I have little need for work clothes anymore, I've continued going to this sale. Today I learned that the Superbowl Sale is gone. It has been discontinued. I don't know why I thought this would never happen. Nothing else lasts very long in today's world. Why should this odd three hour 75% off sale be any different.

Dash seemed a little better today. There was no diarrhea last night. Maybe the Metronidazole worked or maybe there was so much diarrhea yesterday that his entire digestive tract is empty. I guess we'll know when Dash poops again. That hasn't happened yet. Unfortunately, some common side effects of Metronidazole include lethargy, confusion, and loss of appetite. Dash is already dealing with these problems so it is hard to tell if Dash's difficulty in walking this morning was caused by the pills or was just something he would have experienced anyway. Later in the day he seemed fine and the diarrhea hasn't returned, so I've got to assume that the medication is working.

I think my dehumidifier has broken. It was leaking water this afternoon. The dehumidifier is meant to run continuously, but it has been running for about three years so I guess problems are inevitable. I wonder if my appliance repair guy can fix dehumidifiers? This dehumidifier has made a real difference in keeping the house livable, so I may need to buy a new one. I've discovered that the leak stops when I tilt the dehumidifier to one side. I've propped a book under one corner of the machine so it runs at an angle now. This is a temporary solution at best. It's weird that almost every single problem I've had with the house involves water. Water has become the enemy around here.

Janet has a meeting tonight so it's up to me to give Dash his evening meds. You'd think this would be easy but Dash has become very particular. Some days he will take his pills in canned dog food. Other days the pills need to be rolled up in a small strip of delicatessen turkey. Occasionally I have to use a little piece of Angle Food Cake. One way or another he always takes his pills though.

I'm sure we'll watch the Superbowl tomorrow, even though the Pats and the Rams aren't our favorite teams. The Pats are probably my least favorite team. My favorite commercial of course is the Budweiser spot featuring a Dalmatian with its ears blowing in the wind.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2962 - Ground Hog Day

I felt better this morning, but I still didn't go out for breakfast. A bowl of oatmeal seemed just fine. After breakfast, Dash and I had a nice long walk before I got started on an equally long day.

I called the vet who prescribed Carprofen for Dash and expressed my concerns. He said that there was another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory that didn't have Carprofen's side effects, but that he wasn't very familiar with it. We decided to just discontinue the drug until next month's exam and then see what our options were. Since the Carprofen has very little to do with Dash's heart condition, this seemed like a good plan to me. Next, I talked to a different vet to ask some questions about Dash's eye infection. It's getting better, but we ran out of eye drops before the infection cleared up. She said to continue the drops until the infection goes away and renewed his prescription.

I felt a little more comfortable about Dash's health, so it was time to deal with the refrigerator again. I called the sales guy at Nebraska Furniture Mart to see if the model we are currently looking at is really out of stock until the middle of March. It was. Since this same model is also for sale at Home Depot, I drove over to our neighborhood store to check on its availability. I didn't get any answers because there was no one available in the appliance department to answer my questions. Somebody in the plumbing department told me to come back tomorrow.

Even though I was busy today, it's doesn't seem like I accomplished much. The vet convinced me yesterday that Dash was uncomfortable, probably as a result of arthritis. Since his solution to the problem was Rimadyl, I still don't know what to do. I really don't think Rimadyl is a safe drug. Janet seemed surprised that I haven't bought a refrigerator yet. I tried to explain that it wasn't that easy, but I don't think she liked my answer.

I'm really disappointed that the stock market dropped 666 points today, although I don't think this inauspicious number is a sign of the beast. I just think a lot of people are nervous and wanted to take some profits while the market was near an all time high. Jeez, I'm nervous myself, but I can't think of any rational reason to sell. The business climate is good around the world and most companies are optimistic about the year ahead. That being said, I still wish that the stock market wasn't ruled by fear and greed. Irrational fear is at the root of most market sell offs.

Apparently ground hogs are just as divided on the issues as humans. Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of Winter, but Staten Island Chuck predicted an early Spring. I wasn't aware that there were so many of these prognosticating rodents. Six predicted a longer winter, and four predicted an early spring. One of the prognosticating ground hogs isn't even alive. Washington, D.C. relies on Potomac Phil, who was taxidermied quite a while ago. Why am I not surprised that Washington, D.C.  would use a dead ground hog for this all important task?

I don't think our neighborhood squirrels could predict anything. Their only interests are tearing up the yard and pestering the dogs.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2872

My life is starting to resemble Ground Hog Day. I feel like I am doomed to repeat certain things over and over again until I finally get them right. Today I defrosted the evaporator coil on the refrigerator for the fourth or fifth time. The latest visit by that appliance repairman apparently accomplished nothing. The coil is frozen again. I can always tell that the evaporator coil is completely frozen when the temperature rises in the refrigerator compartment by ten degrees. So far, I replaced three expensive components, but I've always suspected that there's just a loose wire somewhere. At any rate, the appliance repair shop is going to get another irate call from me on Monday morning. I'm really getting tired of this. You'd think the repairmen would have a way to test their work before they leave. Nope. They always just say they think they've solved the problem and tell me to call them again if something goes wrong.

I let the refrigerator cool down again while I went to the grocery store and then I prepared to tackle the roof. Fall is not a good time to be applying a sticky liquid to the roof. The leaves will continue falling until the middle of January and I can' afford to wait until them. It was a nice warm day, but it was windy. By the time I finished my repairs today, dozens of falling oak and elm leaves had already become stuck in the wet elastomer. Too bad it takes twelve hours for this stuff to completely dry.

I quit trying to peel off more of the old coating material because I'm beginning to think that the thin film of water I'm finding between the silicon coating and the asphalt substrate covers the entire roof. From now on I'll limit my repairs to plugging holes. At least I applied the material with the right consistency today. It helped a lot using the stirring attachment I attached to a power drill. I tried really hard to be neat today, but when I was finished I noticed that I'd spilled the elastomer coating all over my leg. If I'd bothered read all the fine print on the bucket, I'm sure I'd learn that this stuff is hazardous to your health. At least it comes off with soap and water. When I return to the roof tomorrow to inspect my work, I'm sure I'll find a carpet of dead leaves glued to the cured silicon.

My repairs were ultimately futile today, but I did accomplish something. The refrigerator will work fine for at least two weeks, whether the repairman returns or not. Also, the next time if rains, I have greatly reduced the chances of a major roof leak. Maybe there will always be a thin film of water between the silicon and asphalt layers, but at least I've sealed the obvious holes.

I had to use the wet/dry vacuum to extract water from under the shower tiles again, but that's hardly worth mentioning anymore. I think I may have found how the water is getting under the tiles, but I can't stand going without a shower for the amount of time it would take to fix it. For the moment, it's easier just to suck the water out with a vacuum every four days.

Janet found some socks for Dash that should prevent the rubber boots from rubbing against his paws. Now it takes even longer to get him ready for a walk. First we fit his regular harness. Then the knee brace attaches to the harness. Next we put on the cotton socks and then finally we put on his boots. It is not surprising that sometimes he has lost interest in walking by the time we get him dressed. I guess it's all worth it though. The nails on his rear paws are starting to grow again and the raw areas have healed.

I should continue repairing the roof tomorrow, but I've had enough for a while. I'll probably just go to the gym and take a long nap.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2455

It's weird. Last year on September 3rd, I took a picture of a dragonfly. I haven't been able to capture one since. These critters are hard to photograph, since they move so fast and seldom perch on anything for very long. Imagine my surprise when I got my second picture of a dragonfly on September 3rd again. This must be a good day for dragonflies. I was waiting for the sun to set down by the lake and a dragonfly landed right in front of me. It's pretty safe to say that I won't photograph another one until next year at this time. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at this strange coincidence. I've been blogging long enough to realize that a lot of things happen the same way year after year.

If I go back and read a post from exactly one year earlier, I'll often find that I ate the same thing for breakfast, dealt with exactly the same dog problems, and worked on virtually identical projects.  Often when it rains, I'll discover that it rained on the same day one or two years earlier as well. Am I living some sort of real life version of Ground Hog Day? It's hard to tell sometimes.

Today was one of those day where it seemed like I was busy all day long, and yet at the end of the day I had trouble thinking of anything I actually did. Weekends are like this a lot. There are so many mindless little chores to do that a whole day can go by and you don't think you've accomplished much of anything. Hey, the toilets are clean again. There are clean sheets on the bed. We have a fresh supply of groceries. There were other chores as well, but you get the idea.

The reason I was down at the lake at sunset was that today provided a good opportunity to see a thin crescent moon and three planets grouped together low in the Western sky right after sunset. I did manage to find the moon, but there was far too much ground haze to see Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. Finding a day with really clear skies all the way to the horizon is even rarer than photographing a dragonfly. I read somewhere recently that one third of the entire world can no longer see the milky way at night because of urban light pollution. I can believe it. I haven't been able to see the milky way or any of the fainter viable stars for decades. If you like astronomy, it's probably a good idea not to live in a large city.

Dot seemed tired today. Maybe it was just me who was tired. Dash kept waking me up last night when he started squirming around during a dog dream and ended up pushing me off the bed with his feet. I sleep a lot better when both dogs sleep well. I didn't do so well getting Dot outside to pee in the morning either. She ended up peeing on her blankets before I could get the harness on her. No harm done though. The blankets needed to be washed anyway and now everything is clean again.

I haven't looked at my stock portfolio in a long time, because it was just too discouraging. I looked today for some reason and was pleasantly surprised to discover that things are actually looking up again. The past three months have been great. We haven't completely erased last year's carnage, but some of the decisions made earlier this year turned out to be good ones. If this proves anything it is that I should quit fretting about everything on a day-to-day basis. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen anyway.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2089

Do you ever feel that your life is starting to look like a reenactment of Groundhog Day? I'm sure you remember the movie where Bill Murray was forced to repeat the same day over and over again until he finally got it right. Sometimes I feel this way. Every day I eat the same things. Almost every day I clean up poop and wash the soiled dog blankets. Every time I do a load of laundry, I plug the floor drain in the utility room with a rag so water from the rinse cycle won't come back up through the drain and flood the room. After I take a shower I always put rags around the edge of the shower stall to soak up water that has seeped through cracks in the tile between shower walls and floor. Every evening I print the same JPEG file to keep the ink lines in my large printer from clogging. There are literally dozens of little rituals like this. The dogs get the same two walks every day and I patch up and repair the same websites over and over again. I know that I've got to break out of this monotonous cycle, but it's a comfortable rut and I feel no urgency. Hopefully, I won't be stuck in the time loop as long as Phil Connors was in Groundhog Day.

I've been wondering why traffic seemed so bad this week, and then I realized that school was back in session. There literally seems to be twice as many cars on the road. I pass a private school on my way to breakfast every Friday and I see cars lined up for ten blocks as parents queue in the right hand lane to drop their kids off for class. Luckily, I am going in the other direction. The same cars return every afternoon to pick the kids up. When you add the additional trips for band practice, soccer practice, and other school activities, the roads are always busy. It certainly is a different world from the one where I walked or rode my bicycle to school. I wonder how parents find any time to themselves these days.

The stock market had another miserable day. When is this going to end? I feel like my retirement income is an ice cube sitting out in the hot sun. It is just melting away day-after-day and there is very little I can do about it. I think people are going to regret the day when politicians sold them this idea that a 401K Plan that they managed themselves could provide a much more secure retirement income than the old fashioned defined benefit plans their parents generation relied on. It hasn't worked out all that great so far. I'd trade my 401K for my Dad's pension any day. He and my Mom lived comfortably on that pension for many years. I can't say that I'm going to do nearly as well. I might not be able to retire at all.

Work was busy for a change. I added a new section to one of my client's websites and changed out photos in another. There have been no writing jobs all week though. It's always feast or famine. I can never manage to keep a nice, steady workload for very long. At least I can still pay the bills. There's not much left over anymore unfortunately, and that's a bit worrisome. 

We've got a three day weekend coming up. I don't know what we'll do with the extra day, but maybe we'll think of something. I know we won't be sleeping in late. That's just not in the cards anymore. If we don't get Dot outside early, it's a virtual certainly that she'll poop in the house. Of course if she poops in the house in the middle of the night, I can always sleep in a bit longer after I've cleaned things up. That's what I did last night. Oh, well. Here's hoping for a relaxing weekend, starting with no barking dogs at breakfast tomorrow morning.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1584

I feel like I'm locked in my own personal Ground Hog Day. I've been trying to resolve a website problem for almost two weeks now. I call technical support every morning and talk a cheerful person who seems to understand my problem. He, or she, always says the problem seems easy enough to resolve, but that it will need to be escalated to the next level of support, because they don't have access to the information I need. The next day I get an e-mail saying that my problem has been solved and my ticket has been closed. I then go to the website in question and discover that nothing has changed at all. The problem has definitely not been resolved. I then call tech support again and explain the situation to another friendly person. They apologize for the mix up, telling me that they have reopened my service ticket and that the problem will be resolved properly this time. The next day I get another e-mail saying that my problem has been solved and my ticket has been closed again. Once again, nothing has changed. This has been going on for weeks.

I'm trying to solve a different type of problem with another client and have contacted a developer who supposedly knows all the answers. Today, he sent me detailed instruction, telling me exactly what to do to make the changes my client requested. So far, so good. At the very bottom of the letter was a final paragraph telling me not to do anything to the website during business hours and to be sure to back everything up before I attempt to make any changes. The developer concludes by telling me that if I follow his instructions exactly, I still might crash the entire site. WTF? I was hoping that thy guy would give me an answer, not a roulette wheel.

I went to my hepatologist for another blood test this afternoon. From now on out, these periodic tests are somewhat of a formality. By all indications, the treatment has already worked. These guys are just playing it safe. I will continue to get bi-weekly blood tests until June, and then probably once a year thereafter. One thing I have learned during Dash's cancer treatment and my own Hepatitis-C treatment is that doctors tend to take the amount of medication necessary to resolve a serious problem and then double it, just to make sure. This is especially true with cancer, since there is no definitive way to prove that the cancer will never return.

Maybe I'll have time to get the lawn mower battery replaced tomorrow. I can't put this off too much longer, since the grass is still growing. Dash has another radiation treatment in the morning and I have an appointment with an egg at my favorite restaurant. I hope I can get some of these ongoing website problems resolved soon. It's way too late in the year for Ground Hog Day.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1539

My life is starting to resemble Groundhog Day again. The same health insurance claims get filed incorrectly over and over again. The large printer keeps clogging. My UP fitness band keeps breaking right after Jawbone sends me a patch that they claim will fix the problem. The insane redbird keeps pecking at my office window and pooping on my car. The same telemarketers and politicians relentlessly robo-dial my phone. I eat the same oatmeal and do the same work assignments over and over and over again.

I need to ask the dogs how they cope with bone crushing monotony. They both seem to have adjusted pretty well to doing the same things over and over again. Of course all Dot and Dash really do is sleep and pester me to entertain them when they wake up and realize they're hungry or need to pee. I'm sure I'd do better myself if I spent my entire day sleeping. It's much more frustrating when you have spend your day going through the motions of resolving problems that never seem to get resolved.

At least I saw the sun today. It was still cold as hell, but the blue sky looked promising. Today was certainly better than the relentlessly grey skies and sleet we had yesterday. I think the temperatures are supposed to climb back into the mid-sixties before the end of the week, when the whole cycle will begin again. I thought it would be too cold for the dogs this morning, but they seemed invigorated by the frigid air and wanted to walk longer than I had in mind. Dash still needs to take short walks and can't even wear his winter coat, since it attaches around his neck where his surgery incision is. Dot is just too old for long jaunts in icy weather. I'm always worried that she's going to fall.

I'm going to have to call an electrician soon. I can't even finish brushing my teeth before the LED lights in the bathroom ceiling start blinking on and off and driving me crazy. It would be nice to go ahead and fix the leaking shower pan and reinstall a large mirror that has come loose at the same time, but that would involve either finding a contractor who would inflate the price, or using a jack-of-all-trades handyman who would do all three jobs poorly. I've already mentioned that the dogs don't like workmen in the house either. All these problems will eventually get solved. It just won't be very satisfying.

Tomorrow, Dash resumes his regular bi-weekly antigen shots. I know he'd like to resume the rest of his regular schedule as well. All in good time. He should be pleased that he's doing as well as he is. I only wish my dislocated shoulder would heal as quickly as he seems to be recovering from his thyroid surgery. I'm going to remain hopeful that something interesting will happen tomorrow.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1510 - Groundhog Day

Damn you Punxsutawney Phil. The last thing we need right now is six more weeks of Winter. It looks like that's what we're going to get though; starting with today. Luckily, we didn't get the freezing rain that was forecast. We did get a lot of very cold rain that was only a degree or two above freezing though. I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for Spring.

Bruno Mars was the best thing about the Superbowl. He brought more energy to his short halftime performance than Peyton Manning exhibited during the entire game. What happened Denver? This contest was billed as the league's best offense against the league's best defense. Unless I missed something, the Denver offense was nonexistent.

The commercials were terrible this year.  I always like the Budweiser commercials, but their dogs and horses formula is something they perfected long ago. The only commercial that showed any degree of originality was the somewhat self-depreciating Radio Shack spot. Going into a Radio Shack store really is like going back to the 80's. By humorously acknowledging that history has passed them by, maybe the company is creating an environment for change. Who knows. They probably don't know how to change though and will continue to fail in a spectacular way, just like J.C. Penny.

Change is difficult. I'd be the first to acknowledge that people and companies get set in their ways. Even the relatively minor changes I'm having to make as a result of my shoulder injury, are driving me crazy. I'm really having problems with hiring a dog walker. I'm usually the one ranting and railing about irresponsible dog walkers in the neighborhood, so it's hard for me to trust one of these people myself. I'm sure there are excellent dog walkers, but I've seen some of them do some really stupid things down in the park and was glad they weren't responsible for any of my dogs.

Maybe there's a solution though. A friend let me borrow a waist leash today. I gave the contraption a trial run this afternoon and it actually seems to work as promised. A sturdy dog leash is attached to a belt that goes around your waist, allowing you to walk even large dogs hands-free. I see joggers using these things occasionally, but I'd never used one myself. Surprisingly, the leash seemed to work. I'll have to walk the dogs separately, but I was able to give Dash a good, well controlled walk without using my hands.

Instead of our usual Superbowl burgers, Janet cooked braised porkchops in the slow cooker and served them on top of an arugula and pear salad. The combination was delicious and the porkchops were unbelievably tender. I love the slow cooker. I guess it all goes to prove that it doesn't matter if the weather is terrible and the Superbowl is a bust, as long as you end things with a great meal.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1336

My gym is about as close as I'll ever get to experiencing Ground Hog Day. Every time I go, there is an old man reading the same book while he pedals a stationary bicycle very slowly. There is always a very thin girl who is speed walking endlessly around and around the oval track. And then there is someone who looks a lot like a competitive cyclist putting an elliptical machine through its paces as fast as he can while continually turning his head from side to side. There are other familiar faces as well, but these three are amazing. No matter when I arrive, they are always there, doing exactly the same thing.

I got a new photography job today, but other than that, it was a pretty typical Monday. Monday's are almost a textbook definition of boredom. Very little happens on a typical Monday, so in lieu of productive work, I invent little chores. I water the lawn. I do laundry. I don't usually try to catch up on things, because I've caught up already.

I should just go to a movie on days like this, but there hasn't been a new movie that has caught my interest for a long time. I'm becoming paranoid about leaving the dogs as well. Now that both dogs are prone to have seizures, I have this fear that the one day I take off for a long time will be the day that something terrible happens and I won't be there when they need me to take them to the emergency vet. I shouldn't think this way, but once your mind starts going in this direction, it's hard to snap out of it. I find myself checking the nanny cam on my phone quite a bit while I'm at the gym. Today Dash was so still that I thought for a minute that he might be dead. Luckily the nanny cam has a zoom lens. I zoomed in all the way and I could see him breathing. Then, it was back to the hand bicycle for another twenty minutes.

I think my social media efforts might have plateaued. Have people finally discovered that I seldom post anything new on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook anymore? There's still something new every single day on the blog of course, but you, my faithful readers, are a dying breed. Hardly anyone bothers to read blogs anymore. I don't know if I should care about the slow, but steady attrition of followers on Twitter. It's not like I'm going to start doing anything new at this point.

My research on seizures has netted me a lot more questions than answers. It seems that medical science has discovered, mostly through trial and error, a variety of ways to control seizures and minimize their severity, but nobody really knows what causes them in the first place.

As you can see, there are so few wildflowers left that I've started taking pictures of rocks.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1234

Wow! It's going to be a while before we see a day like 1234 again. While the number might mean something to blogging numerologists, it simply means that I've been blogging for one thousand, two hundred thirty-four consecutive days. If you hang around long enough, you may eventually see Day 2345, but that's going to be a while.

Although the number was unique, the day itself was fairly ordinary. I'm getting to the point where I can only accomplish one or two things each day, and today's main event was Dot's acupuncture appointment. We had to drive to a new location today, but Dot actually rode very well in the car. Dash may not like the new loaner car, but Dot seems to approve. The acupuncture therapy seems to be helping Dot, so I think we'll continue it indefinitely.

The Ground hog got it all wrong this year. Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow in February and predicted an early Spring, but that's certainly not the way it turned out. Every time I think Spring is here, Winter rears its ugly head again. It's cold again! We don't have snow, like some parts of the country, but it has definitely gotten pretty chilly. It felt like January when I walked the dogs this evening. The temperature was in the low 40's and there was a 30 mile per hour wind. Once again, I had to bundle up in my goose down ski parka.

Although Dot's journey to see the acupuncturist took up a big chunk of my day, there was still plenty of writing and website work to do when we got home. It's kind of ironic that while I'm busier than I've been at any point in my career, I'm making less money than I was when I had plenty of time to spare. People just don't value writing as much as they used to.

This week has gone quickly. The trash is already out at the curb awaiting tomorrow's early morning rendezvous with the trash truck. I'm looking forward to another fabulous Black Bean Benedict breakfast with poached eggs, black bean cakes, grilled tomatoes, and chipotle hollandaise sauce. I'm not particularly looking forward to my doctor's appointment later in the day, since I already know what he's going to say. I don't think my ideas about discontinuing my meds will be well received.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 987

Has your life become a poor re-make of Groundhog Day? You remember that movie, don't you? Bill Murray is forced to relive the same day over and over again until he finally gets it right. I feel that way sometimes. I look for a flower, or something vaguely interesting to photograph for the blog on my morning walk with the dogs. I stay in the shower until the hot water runs out. I eat breakfast while watching an old episode of Dr. Who that I've seen five times already. Then I go to work. The work is almost always the same. It's usually slow and tedious. I add something to a website. I subtract something from a paragraph of text. I blend something together in Final Cut Pro. I crop something in Photoshop. I rarely talk to anyone. My marching orders typically come in the form of terse e-mails sent from smart phones. I don't even bother to answer these messages. The results will be on the web soon enough anyway. I just follow my instructions and move on to the next task.

I wonder if I will ever get it right. It would be nice to move beyond the boredom of endless repetition. The lesson of Groundhog Day was that even in the most boring of scenarios, there is plenty of room for improvement and personal growth. In theory, what I do should be fascinating. The problem is that I've done it all too many times already. This is the challenge of daily life. How do you take something that you have done 1000 times and make version number 1001 fresh and new? I don't have the answer, but I'm working on it. Let's just call it a work in progress.

Maybe I've become fixated on repetition because I've seen a lot of it on TV today. There's a political convention going on right now. It's exactly the same as every political convention I can remember. There's a hurricane headed straight for New Orleans. How many times has this happened? I don't know how the people of New Orleans have the tenacity to keep rebuilding on the same spot over and over again. Maybe they will never get it right. I would have moved to higher ground right after the first hurricane and never returned. That's just me though. I'm always looking for the practical solution. Could it be that being practical is right at the root of my boredom?

Hey, Wednesday is French Toast day though. I know it's just another part of the endless repetition, but I like French Toast. I look forward to it. Maybe the dogs and I will see something new on our walk.  Maybe I'll get an assignment I've never done before. Something brand new! One can always hope.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 779 - Groundhog Day

Everything seemed a bit out of sync today. I guess I've come to expect this on Groundhog Day. Ever since the 1993 Bill Murray movie, I've ceased to think of Groundhog Day as a predictor of an early Spring. Instead, it has become a weird little holiday celebrating endless drudgery. My life is a lot like the movie. I keep doing the same things over and over again.

Today I returned a client's call, only to discover the call had actually been made several days ago. I'm always slow to return calls to my cell phone. I just never notice them. Someday callers will learn that I don't use this device to talk with people. I just like the handy little camera. I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, only to discover that they were out of stock. This happens again and again as well. You'd think the automated phone system would say "don't bother to come until tomorrow", instead of saying "your prescription will be ready at 3 PM." No such luck however. The phone system is always wrong. Later, I got up on the roof with a caulking gun and applied a tube of Henry 209 patch to all the places that looked a little damp last week. I've done this more times than I care to count. Will it work this time? Who knows. I should find out fairly quickly though. I think it is supposed to rain this evening.

I found out several months ago that my dentist would be retiring soon. I've been thinking that I should go over and get my dental records, along with a recommendation for a new dentist before the office closed for good. Today seemed like a good day to do this, and wouldn't you know; I waited too long. The office was locked and appeared empty. I guess I should have done this last month. Oh, well. I go to see the dentist so seldom that I probably don't have many dental records anyway.

Even though I wasn't running on all cylinders today, I did remember to take the trash out to the street tonight. That means it's Friday tomorrow. TGIF.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 750

The last of my stop loss orders kicked in today and I'm finally rid of all the ridiculous volatility index funds and inverse shares that were supposed to protect me from a double dip in the stock market. Even though my broker loves this stuff, I've never made a dime on these complicated schemes to outwit the market. What has worked? Buying good solid companies like McDonalds and Apple has worked pretty well. If I didn't have a broker and a financial adviser, I'd probably have bought a lot more good solid companies like these.

Now that I've started taking pictures every day for Instagram, I'm starting to realize that I do the same things over and over again. At first I was proud of all the interesting little things I was able to observe, but now that I've seen each of these things twenty times, they don't seem quite so amazing anymore. I'm going to have to figure out how to insert some variety into my daily routine before my life turns into a real world version of Ground Hog Day. There are probably only so many over-easy eggs you can eat for breakfast and so many sunsets you can photograph before you go certifiably crazy.

Dash was amazingly good at training class tonight. I don't know what came over him. He would have won a ribbon if one of the trainers hadn't been a little too picky about the way he was sitting. Nevertheless, it was his best performance in months. The moody little dog made me proud. Dash is one of the smartest dogs I've ever seen, but if he's not in the mood, you're just wasting your time. This morning it was cold outside, so I put the dogs Winter coats on before their morning walk. Dash was having no part of this. He went right back to bed wearing his coat and did his best to burrow under a blanket. If I was a dog, I probably would have behaved exactly the same way.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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