Day 2659

Lord knows what I do in my sleep. I woke up this morning without my fitness tracker on my wrist. I couldn't find it anywhere. Did it fall off when I got up to go to the bathroom? Did it fall off when I cleaned up Dot's poop at 2 AM? I didn't want to lose the tracker for three months like my other UP band, so I looked everywhere. Eventually, I found it under the sheets at the foot of the bed. How on earth did it get there?

While I was searching for the illusive UP band, Dot was slowly waking up. Every morning I have to make a quick decision. When Dot lifts her head and acknowledges that she is awake I have to decide whether to lift her up and let her pee in place on her bed, or quickly walk her down the hall and out the back door. If she pees in place, there is a small well contained mess. If we can make it outside, there is no mess at all. If I guess wrong, there is a trail of pee all the way to the back door and a lot of rugs to wash. I guessed wrong this morning. I really thought she could make it, but when she didn't pee immediately when we got outside I knew there was a trail of pee behind me

It was unusually cold this morning. It felt strange to wear a winter parka in April, but that's Texas weather for you. This was another one of those days where we had the furnace running in the morning and the air conditioner in the afternoon. At least the humidity was low. It will help the rugs dry on the line in the back yard. I've stopped drying the rugs in the dryer, because the rubber backing would always flake off and make a big mess. I've got a fairly efficient system for keeping things clean now, but it sure would be nice if I knew what Dot was going to do in the morning.

I decided to upgrade my IOS devices to the latest system and as usual, Apple hit me with a surprise. They have a two step authentication process now that seems unusually complicated, even for Apple. When you log on with one device, Apple sends an authentication code to a second device. You have to copy this code back to the first device before you can continue. I guess this is an effective way to keep an unauthorized person from using your phone, but it is very inconvenient. I'm not sure what you would do if you only owned one Apple product. I'm going to have to figure out how to disable this feature, because I definitely don't want to keep an iPad nearby every time I use my phone.

I actually had work to do this morning. It was only a routine website update, but it kept me busy for a while. I need to think seriously about uploading a massive amount of photos to Shutterstock. I make a little money every month from stock photo websites, but I don't have enough photos on file to generate any real income. When my few remaining clients eventually disappear, passive income websites like Shutterstock and iStockphoto might be all I have left. In theory, you could make a living selling stock photos, but you'd have to have thousands available. So far, I only have ten.

Today wasn't half bad. Dot was calm and stress free for most of the day. Dash was eager to walk for a change. I had some work to do and the weather was crisp and cool. I didn't even leave the house today, but that was OK. On days like these, I don't feel a need to escape.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2094

We had to work around the rain today. Although the rainfall was sporadic, it was surprisingly heavy. The storm cells were so small and sprang up so quickly that the weather radar let me down. I thought we were in the clear when I saw a break in the weather around 10 AM, but about halfway through our walk, Dash and I got soaked. At least there wasn't much thunder and lightning. When we got home, Dot was still fast asleep on her dog bed.

I started to see patches of blue sky around lunch time, so I decided to drive up to the repair shop in Plano and get my laptop battery replaced. For a brief moment, I thought I was going to get a completely new computer, because one of the technicians said that my particular model was on a recall list. They had to do a test to see whether my machine qualified for a complete motherboard replacement. I was hoping the computer would fail the test, but it passed with flying colors. After looking at the serial number, they said that my computer was late in the production run for the recalled model and that Apple had already corrected the problem. Too bad. I did walk away with a new battery though, so the aging MacBook Pro will probably continue to serve me well until laptops are completely obsolete.

The sporadic storms made it difficult to take Dot outside at the appropriate times and consequently she pooped in the house twice. It's hard enough to time things right when the weather is perfect. Today it was impossible. All it takes is a few seconds of sustained barking to cause Dot to have an accident. There was plenty to bark about today. Thunder made the dogs bark. So did the sound of rain on the roof. When they weren't barking at the storm, they were barking at me. Neither of them seemed to realize that there was no reason to hurry through breakfast this morning. I had to wait until the rain stopped to walk them anyway. Needless to say, I did a lot of laundry today.

I'm enough of a geek that it was hard to ignore today's Apple Event. The last thing I need is one more thing with an Apple logo on it, but I was somewhat intrigued by the new larger iPad. I seldom use my iPad anymore, but this new larger model seemed like it could easily replace a laptop. With a large touch screen, and the ability to use a keyboard and pencil with it as well, why would you even need a laptop? Oops. I forgot that the iPad is just another IOS device and won't run any of the software I depend on for work. I guess I'm going to need that laptop with the brand new battery after all.

Work is still slow. It's time to send out my September invoices but I didn't feel my usual sense of urgency to get them in the mail. Billings are so low this month that it hardly seems worth the effort. I need to keep a positive attitude though. I remember when I got initially the laptop in 2010 I was going through a similar dry period and then out of the blue I got a huge job that doubled my income. I'm not sure a new battery will have the same effect, but one can always hope.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day