Day 2354

I wish Steve Jobs were still alive. I never used to have problems with operating system updates, but lately the new Apple OS and IOS updates are so buggy that they seem like Beta versions. I'm almost scared to update my phone anymore, because each new IOS update seems worse than the previous one. The combination of buggy system software, spotty U-verse service, and a brand new hosting company has created a perfect storm of bad news. Just about every morning when I boot up my computer, I'm greeted with a new problem. Was my phone causing the problem? Does the WiFi router need to be re-booted again? Have I configured my webserver wrong? It's hard to even know where to begin.

I was in tech support hell for hours this morning, trying to track down why my e-mail wasn't working and I couldn't even access my own website. I finally ended up talking to a very knowledgeable IP guy who told me to call my ISP and tell them to check the routing path and clear it if necessary. This sounded easy enough, so I called AT&T and made the request. "This is beyond the scope of my capabilities," said a voice that sounded like he was talking to me from Pakistan. "I can give you the number of our paid subscription support if you'd like." "You mean that after all I pay you guys every month for U-verse service, you want to charge me extra to unscramble my flaky internet connection?" "I'm sorry," said the hard to understand voice from Pakistan. "Would you like me to send you a brand new router at no charge?" This was crazy. "You mean you guys would rather send me a new router than reset my connection." I said. I hate dealing with tech support. I've still got the problem I started out with this morning. There a new router on it's way to me that I probably won't be able to install correctly. To add to my problems, I can't decide whether to upgrade my phone to IOS 9.3.2 because I read an article that said it could turn your phone into a brick.

Since it didn't appear that my connection problems were going to be resolved quickly, I went to the battery store and special ordered a new battery for my little WiFi hotspot. T-Mobile said these batteries weren't made anymore and tried to see me a new hotspot. They were just being lazy.  I knew this battery was available somewhere because I've been replacing weird batteries for years. The new battery will arrive next Wednesday. The little WiFi hotspot is slow, but it is very reliable. Without it, I would have missed quite a few blog posts over the years.

The weather has been horrible this week. It's so humid and muggy outside that it feels like you could cut the air with a knife. My dehumidifier is working overtime to keep the air comfortable inside. Dot doesn't like the heat and humidity. I've been having a hard time getting her outside anyway now that she's become weaker, and hot, humid weather just adds to the problem. She did poop outside today, which was a small blessing. I just got lucky. When I had her outside after lunch, a big truck drove down the alley behind our house and got her so excited that she immediately started to poop. I wish I could schedule someone to drive down the alley every time I had Dot outside.

The plumber is coming back tomorrow to fix the leaking sink. This should only take a few minutes since the problem is just a compression fitting that wasn't tightened enough. The plumber better not try to charge me for this additional service call. He should have checked his work the first time he was here. After unnecessary car repair charges and a ridiculous attempt to charge me for resetting my router this morning, I'm not in the mood for unwarranted extra charges.

Maybe tomorrow will go smoothly. I'm not counting on a trouble free day, but it would be nice.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2343

Wouldn't it be nice if there was someone you could call who always had the answers you were looking for? I'm continually faced with situations where something should work, but just doesn't for some unexplained reason. Instead of asking a nearby knowledgeable friend, I am forced to spend hours searching the Internet for the advice of strangers. Today, I was having trouble getting a camera to connect to the WiFi network so I could control it from my phone. This shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, since I've done this many times before. Today it just didn't work. According to Google, lots of people seemed to be having the same the same problem, but opinions varied widely. Some people thought the camera was at fault. Others though the app on the phone was worthless because it hadn't been updated in our years. Then there was those who said that nothing was wrong at all and that their camera was connecting to WiFi just fine.

You have to resolve these problems through a process of elimination. Is there something wrong with the U-verse connection again? Did my latest IOS upgrade ruin all the older apps on my phone? Did I just not read the instructions correctly? After a lot of fruitless experimentation, I discovered that I needed to reboot my phone. I should have tried this first, since it seems to be the universal solution for all electronic problems. I am constantly rebooting the WiFi router, the DVR, the computers, the phones, and even the thermostat. Why are these connections to the cloud so fragile? I never had to do this five years ago.

Janet and I both think Dot is getting stronger, but I wonder if we are imagining things. The differences we are seeing are subtle at best. I've always believed in the placebo effect. If you really want to believe something, you generally can. Dot does seem a bit steadier this week. On the other hand, she is still senile and poops all over the place. I had a big mess to clean up last night, but strategically placed disposable pads are making the process easier. I don't think there's a lot we can do medically at this point. Instead, we provide a kind of doggie hospice care. We're not going to make Dot well again, but we can keep her happy.

It didn't rain as much as I expected today. Actually, it hardly rained at all. This doesn't mean that we've got clear skies ahead unfortunately. The long range forecast says it's going to be a wet and stormy week. We'll see. The forecast was certainly wrong today. Whatever is going on definitely appeals to the butterflies. I hardly saw any butterflies last year. This Spring, they are everywhere.

I suppose I'll go to the gym tomorrow. It all depends on whether I can go to sleep tonight. I'm ready. All I need to do is empty the water out of the dehumidifier, brush my teeth, and try to slip a puppy training pad under Dot's butt without waking her up.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2234

Yay. I finally managed to see all five visible planets this morning. I got up early and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. When I went outside, there was Mercury, right below and slightly to the left of Venus. Saturn, Mars and Jupiter were also easy to see, along with a waning gibbous moon. I continue to be surprised at how quickly sunrise occurs. When I first get up on a clear day, the sky is dark and there are lots of stars. By the time we walk the dogs, the sky has acquired a deep blue-black color with an orange glow along the Eastern horizon. As we walk, you can see the sky grow brighter and the remaining stars grow dimmer minute-by-minute. About halfway through the walk, only the planets remain. Mercury disappears first, then Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. Often Venus remains in the sky almost until sunrise.

Today was just as slow as yesterday, but I was in a much better mood, probably since it was clear and sunny outside. After breakfast, I decided to take a camera and retrace my steps in the park without the dogs. It was amazing how many more animals I saw without Dot and Dash barking and scaring them away. I saw a Red-tailed Hawk, several woodpeckers, lots of ducks, and a Great Egret. It was enjoyable to wander around and look for things to photograph. I need to do this more often.

I was having difficulty installing the latest system on my iPhone and then I read that one of the bugs that this new system was supposed to fix was a difficulty in installing upgrades. Hmm. What do you do when the old system doesn't want to let you install the new one. I kept getting error messages over and over again until I tried to do things the old fashioned way by plugging the phone into my computer and making the upgrade using iTunes. How quickly we forget. I used to always add new apps and make system upgrades while connected to iTunes. Somewhere along the line, the phone started upgrading itself and I forgot about iTunes. It's good to know it's still there when you need it.

Dot was restless today. I took her outside for short periods of time over and over again, but mostly she just wandered around aimlessly. After having at least half a dozen opportunities to do her business outside, she still decided to poop in her bed while I was out photographing birds. When I returned , she was standing in her pen, looking at her soiled bed like some other dog had made the mess. I guess Dot's accidents can't be helped. She doesn't want to have accidents, but with all the neurological problems she's having, she just doesn't have that much control. I never get mad at her for making a mess. The same thing is probably going to happen to me someday.

I was surprised to see that my trash can had been emptied this afternoon. Not only was it the wrong day for trash pickup, the trucks never come down the alley anymore. Maybe this has something to do with the road construction that's underway on our street. I wish the sanitation folks had told me they were coming. I would have taken the rest of the trash outside to the can. Maybe this was it for the week. The road crews are getting closer and closer. I have a feeling that the street might be blocked on Friday morning.

This week has gone surprisingly fast, considering how uneventful it has been. Maybe I'm getting better at amusing myself.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2133

I've noticed that there are several people at the gym who leisurely read the Sunday paper while while they are using the recumbent elliptical machines. Isn't this missing the whole point of going to the gym? These guys are moving so slow that the only thing that's going to get their heart rate up is reading a story in the local news section about a mugging in their neighborhood. I shouldn't be critical though. I'm missing the point all the time.

Of course, maybe I'm right and everybody else is missing the point. It gets confusing. How can you have a serious talk about climate change without acknowledging that there are already way, way too many people on the planet? We are the problem. I guess it's easier to tell people to quit using fossil fuels than to quit having sex. Everybody seems worried about shark attacks these days. Why don't they just stay out of the water? That would be too easy though. Sometimes I think we are just hardwired to miss the point. Most politicians don't have a clue about why they are actually in Washington. To tell you the truth, I don't have a clue why I started my own business. I don't even like business.

Sunday's keep getting busier. Leaves are falling from the large Oak and Elm trees now, and I have to continually keep sweeping the porch and patio to minimize tracking them all inside. The leaves that do make it inside, I vacuum up with the Dyson. I wish I could come up with an easier way to clean the house. Before I can even start vacuuming, I need to move all the dog beds, water bowls, and chairs out of the way. I'll move everything off a rug, clean it, put the stuff back, and them move on to the next rug. There are 21 rugs to clean.

I sure wish Steve Jobs were still alive. Steve would have never tolerated the sloppy way software updates are released these days. After two updates, I'm still having problems with IOS 9 on my phone. I'm not the only one either. A quick Google search confirmed that hundreds of people are having the same problems I'm dealing with. Ever since I updated my operating system, I've been noticing that WiFi hotspots I know to be working just disappear. Some apps no longer work with WiFi at all and you have to use cellular date to access the all important cloud. It's a mess. I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to be surprised when they get their next wireless bill and discover that they're way over their data plan limit. Why did we even need IOS 9 anyway? I was happy with IOS 8. Hell, I was happy with IOS 5.

The dogs had a nice weekend. Dot must be feeling stronger, because she's walking more briskly now. We're walking the same distance in the morning, but we get home about five minutes earlier than we used to. Dot sets the pace, and she's decided to speed things up a bit. Dash is better too. I haven't detected any limping in three days. He's lifting his legs higher too, because I don't hear his nails dragging the pavement every time he takes a step. I'm sure the cooler weather helps. It was only 57 degrees when we left the house this morning.

We ate well this weekend, but it will be back to my morning smoothies tomorrow. Both dogs have vet appointments next week and I need to have my own blood work done as well. Janet says there is equipment that Dalmatian Rescue needs for its next off-site event in my storage warehouse. I don't remember seeing this stuff, but that doesn't mean anything. I'll go take a look.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2116

We started the new month with a new schedule. We go to our physical therapy sessions in the mornings now. Mornings are good because Dot is less likely to poop in the car. On the other hand, mornings are not so good because there isn't much time to get ready. By the time we took the dogs on their morning walk, ate breakfast, took a shower, and got the car ready, it was time to go. Dot definitely didn't like riding in the Evoque. I tried my best to make a comfortable flat surface, but her bed still had a bit of a tilt to it and Dot managed to get stuck. I had to stop a couple of times along the way, but eventually we made it to our destination.

Even though Dot wasn't happy about her ride, she did amazingly well in the treadmill today. She was strong enough that we were able to increase the speed and do a small amount of interval training for the first time in several months. No accidents in the house today either. Actually, we have had very few accidents this entire week. I'm not sure we can attribute this pleasant turn of events to the Melatonin we've started giving her before bedtime, but it's the only change I can think of.

Work was surprisingly busy today. I got two new website projects that will keep me busy for a while. I'm not sure how excited I am though. One of the projects is kind of a pro bono deal that I won't make any money on. The other project has such a low budget that it's hardly worth talking about. That's the state of web design these days. Take it or leave it.

There was another tragic school shooting today. Once again the shooter was a young male. Hasn't anyone figured it out yet? Terrorist shootings. Gang related shootings. School shootings. They all have one thing in common. These crimes are almost universally committed by young men. Instead of endless agonizing about mental health and gun law issues, just ban young men from having guns. Period. Make the penalties for possessing a gun so severe that no young man would even want to go near one. So, how would you enforce such a ban? You couldn't. You probably can't enforce any other solution either. That's the problem of living in a free society. The obvious solutions are impossible to implement without destroying the free society we all claim to love. Do we want safety or freedom? Eventually, we have to decide.

I got a call from the Land Rover dealer today telling me that they are working on my car. Does this mean it will be done soon? Not necessarily. I've gotten these sorts of calls before and then waited a week or more before the car was actually finished. I don't really care how long it takes, but I'm guessing that Dot would really like to have things wrapped up before next week's physical therapy session. She hates the Evoque.

There's already another update to the buggy IOS 9 on my phone. I'm downloading it now. The current system is causing all sorts of problems with my WiFi network, but you have to be connected to WiFi to download the new system. This may take a while.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2115

I was glad the yellow warning light came on again when I was driving to the dealership this morning. At least the repair guys won't think my suspension problem is something I imagined. Who knows how long the repairs will take. It always seems to take much longer than I anticipate. This is probably why Land Rover has always been pretty generous with their loaner cars. If you've got a free loaner car, you're not going to complain as much about how long the repairs are taking.

Since I like to complain, I'll complain a bit about the Evoque anyway. The car is more expensive than the larger LR2 or the appealing new Discovery model. It has a small 4 cylinder engine and terrible visibility. The rear seats don't fold flat and the engine shuts off when you stop at a light. The stop and go engine is supposed to be a feature, but it is a giant annoyance to me. I never really believe the engine is going to start again when the light turns green. I hope they are able to fix my suspension quickly. I'm not looking forward to driving the Evoque for the entire month of October.

It was a nice warm day, so the dogs wanted to sun themselves in the backyard after lunch. Instead of lying in the grass, Dot now likes to lie in the Monkey Grass beds next to the greenhouse. This is killing the Liriope plants, but I don't have the heart to make Dot move. I did a little gardening while I was watching the dogs. It's always been difficult to grow the type of plants I want, but surprisingly easy to grow weeds. If I don't pull the weeds, they crowd out the good plants. As I was pulling weeds, I noticed that clumps of them made a pretty good makeshift broom. I used the clumps of weeds to brush away a dense mass of spiderwebs on the back windows. I thought this was pretty clever, since clearing away the spiderwebs with a regular broom typically ruins the broom. The webs stuck to the clumps of weeds like a charm and them I just threw them away.

I've been having trouble with my phone ever since I upgraded to IOS 9. A lot of the apps I use don't recognize the WiFi network anymore and use cellular data instead. I looked on the Internet and a lot of other people are having the same problem. Apple needs to fix this quickly. As soon as people start realizing that they've inadvertently maxed out their data plans by using cellular data when they thought they were using WiFi. My watch is having trouble getting the temperature from my phone as well. Makes me wonder about the wisdom of upgrading my laptop to the new El Capitan system. What could possible go wrong?

I still haven't figured out how to get Dot in the Evoque for tomorrow's physical therapy appointment. That will be my after breakfast project, unless a new writing job accidentally falls in my lap.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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