Day 4681

Brr. Winter arrived a little early this year. The furnace was on when we woke up this morning and it was time for a change in walking attire. I wore long pants on our sunrise walk and added a sweater under my jacket. It wasn't that cold, but it's been a while since we've seen temperatures in the 50's. Dawn loved the cooler weather. She was full of energy this morning and we completed our one mile loop three minutes faster than usual.

It was another good day for a long walk in the park. There was no sense in going to the gym on a day like this. I ate my breakfast and waited a while for the sun to get higher before leaving the house. It never did warm up very much, but the sky was clear and the cold front seems to have cleared away my allergy problems for a while. It felt good not to have a runny nose today. I didn't make great time, but I did OK. I saw quite a few photographers with long telephoto lenses looking for the eagles, but the birds appeared to be in hiding. Watching this quest to see the eagles made me feel like I was walking back in time. It was exactly like this last October.

I've been thinking about deleting several of my social media accounts because I never use them anymore. I keep thinking that some of these accounts might be the source of all the spam I'm getting. I haven't used LinkedIn in years. I couldn't even remember my password. When I finally logged in with a new password, I was surprised to discover that only 11 people have visited in the past two years. There was a time when I thought that LinkedIn might bring me business but it never did. It hardly seemed worth the trouble to delete this abandoned account, so I just turned off everything I could on the settings page and left. I also thought about deleting my Instagram account but then I remembered that NASA likes people to use Instagram when they visit the space center. There was also a time when I regularly posted on Instagram, but it is no longer a showcase for photographers and I've lost interest. Once again it didn't feel like it was worth the trouble to actually delete the account. Who knows. I might start using this again someday.

I've become ambivalent about social media in general. I only continue blogging because I'm determined to reach my 5000 day goal. Blogging definitely isn't like is used to be. I don't think anyone reads the blog anymore. A few friends still read the JPEG images of the blog I post post every day on Facebook, but I don't know if anybody still reads the real blog. The last time I looked at the stats, it showed that I only had two readers per day. That can't be right. This used to be a really popular blog back in the day.

I'll probably wind up right back where I started, writing my daily journal with a ball point pen in a little leather book. Writing is still a useful skill. I have a terrible memory and if I want to know what I was doing back in 1985, it's all there somewhere. I saved all the journals, just like I've saved all the negatives from decades of photography before the digital world was invented. I used to spend hours and hours in the darkroom. I don't think I've developed a roll of film or printed anything in twenty-five years but I used to be pretty good at it.

I don't know why I'm feeling nostalgic today. I guess the world in the rear view mirror seems more appealing than the world looking forward. I haven't turned into a prepper yet, but the future does look bleak. I think I'd be happier if I could bring myself to turn off the computer for good and quit watching cable news. I'm pretty good at amusing myself doing simple things and definitely don't need a daily diet of bad news. 

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3786

The big event of the day was watching the Blue Angels do their flyover of Dallas. We walked Dawn a little later this morning, so we would be in a good position to see the planes around 11 AM. It was all over pretty quickly. We did see the Blue Angles, but they weren't very close. If you were downtown you probably got a good view, but our vantage point in the park was a little too far away. I've seen Southwest Airlines planes on final approach that were more exciting. Oh, well. It was a nice day and it was still something to do.

Dawn seemed tired on her walk because it was a lot warmer at 11 AM. We're going to have to continue walking very early. Like all of our Dalmatians, Dawn really doesn't like the heat. She will drink water from a bottle though, which is something that Dot and Dash never learned to do. We'll go back to walking early again tomorrow morning. It just seems to work better.

I discovered recently that one of the astronomers I met at McDonald Observatory has an amazing Instagram account. I guess I knew he was into astrophotography, but I never realized his images were so amazingly beautiful. I wrote the guy to complement him on his photography skills and also mentioned that my article about observing with him at one of the large telescopes was going to be published in Sky and Telescope. We made plans to get together again at the observatory when life returns to normal. Lord knows when that will be though. He didn't think that the observatory would reopen to the public until later in the Fall at the earliest.

I'm disappointed that the response to the pandemic has become almost completely political. That didn't take long. Each side has staked out their positions and both seem to have valid points. Unfortunately, there seems little room for compromise. The longer this drags out, the more entrenched each side becomes. It seems almost impossible to find out what is really going on. There are powerful forces at work here. I don't care what you believe. You are being manipulated. We should be united like our parents and grandparents were during World War II. It's not happening though. When this is over, we will be more divided than we were before.

I grew up during the cold war. Our adversary was the Russians and our anger as a country was directed outward. Almost everything we did, including landing on the moon in 1969, was focused on beating, humiliating, or bankrupting the Russians. Without the cold war, we probably wouldn't have even gone to the moon.

Perhaps it was for the best that we directed our anger outwards in those days. We are an angry people. We always have been. Today we have directed this anger inward and it is destroying a great country. We are literally cannibalizing everything our parents worked so hard to create. The Russians and especially the Chinese must be laughing at us now. If our self-destructive behavior continues, they will achieve the world domination they want without having to lift a finger. If you like conspiracy theories, it is pretty plausible to believe that the Chinese unleashed this virus on purpose, knowing full well what would happen next.

I'm still waiting on a FedEx package. I don't think it is going to come today. In the grand scheme of things this isn't a big deal. Waiting for the package will give me something to do tomorrow.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2865

There was frost on the ground this morning. That's close enough to Winter for me. I was cold when I woke up this morning, but was happy to hear the furnace running. Cold weather brings back memories of recurring furnace problems, ice storms, and power outages. My memories of snow are fading. It just doesn't snow down here anymore.

We got an early start this morning. Even though Janet got up extra early to go to this year's Race For The Cure, Dash still wanted her to feed him breakfast before she left. Since Dash was wide awake, I ate breakfast early as well. We were both ready to walk before the sun came up. Dash has a coat he usually wears in the Winter. So far, I can't figure out how to put it on over all his other gear. Luckily, it wasn't that cold this morning. I did wear a down ski jacket and wool hat though. I like to stay warm.

When I took an Instagram picture this morning, I noticed that something had changed. The format of the pictures was different. Why do people keep changing things? The old Instagram pictures were the perfect size for the blog. These new ones looked like they would have to be cropped and enlarged. After I thought about it a bit, I realized what Instagram had done. They'd changed their latest app update to optimize pictures for the newest iPhones. Since I have an older phone, I got left in the dust.

There were more app update surprises when I checked my blood pressure later in the day. The Withings app on my phone now had a Nokia brand. Didn't Nokia used to make phones? When I put the wireless blood pressure cuff on my arm, I got a message saying that I need to update my hardware before I could proceed. If I knew it was going to be this much trouble, I would have waited until next month to take my blood pressure.

At least nothing has changed with the refrigerator. It still appears to be keeping food cold. Based on the last tike I defrosted the evaporator coil, the temperature should be warming up again if there was still a problem. The temperature in the refrigerator is still 40 degrees and there is no visible ice on the back side of the freezer compartment, so maybe everything is working properly again. I hope so. There are plenty of other problems to solve.

We forgot that today was National Drug Take Back Day. There was a pile of expired meds that we wanted to get rid of and the collection location was near our house. It's too bad we forgot. Everybody probably has expired meds in their medicine cabinet. You usually end up taking all the antibiotics you were prescribed, because doctors make a point of telling you to take them all. Pain pills are different. They usually just say "take as needed" on the bottle. Dentists are notorious for prescribing too many pain pills. You don't tend to throw these pills away when you quit taking them. Instinctively, you keep them in the medicine cabinet, thinking "Well, what if I'm in pain again. I may need them." Usually you forget about them after a while and they go bad.

I looked on the DEA website to see if there was another collection location and it just said to throw the unused pills down the toilet. What? I thought the whole point of the take back program was to keep you from throwing pills down the toilet. I've always thought throwing pills down the toilet could pollute the water supply. Shows what I know. It turns out that the real pollution problem comes from people peeing. I guess this makes sense. Millions of people are taking millions of meds and their bodies aren't processing everything. Neither is the sewage system. One more reason there are to many people in the world.

On that happy note, I'll call it a day. I got one more pair of rubber dog boots repaired today and found everything on my grocery list. not bad. It was a little cold, but I'm not complaining. The furnace still works.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2263

I fixed myself French Toast and sausage patties for breakfast, but I think I overestimated the effect that a little infusion of variety would have on my day. Today was basically exactly the same as yesterday. I made the bed. I cleaned up poop. I took a dog to the vet. I wrote another article. That was about it. Since it was Thursday, I also gathered up the trash and took it out to the curb.

I could tell that Dot has lost a little more energy when we had our water therapy session this morning. The decline has been subtle since we resumed her chemotherapy, but there definitely is a difference. It's going to be tough to decide whether to keep taking the Palladia pills or discontinue them again. I guess it depends on whether they are actually helping to slow the cancer growth. We will probably continue the pills until it's time to take another scan and measure the two tumors again. Since we have already established a baseline rate of growth, it should be possible to determine whether the addition of Palladia helps or does nothing. If the chemotherapy is working, we continue it. If the results are ambiguous, as they often are when you're dealing with cancer, we'll discontinue the Palladia. Dot is running on empty when it comes to her strength and energy level, but she still wants to live. Hopefully, with the help of Dot's oncologist, we can strike a balance that will keep her walking while continuing to fight the cancer. It's hard to make these kind of decisions, but it's not really fair to ignore them.

I read an article today that said there are a growing number of people making six figure incomes by posting pictures on Instagram and Pinterest. Evidently all you have to do is get 200,000 followers and post a continuous stream of selfies. When you develop a following, manufacturers will pay you to take selfies with their products. Somehow, all the success stories seem to involve young women taking pictures of purses and shoes. I doubt very highly that any men are making $100,000 a year on Pinterest.  I find this all a bit disheartening. I feel like Don Quixote by spending hours each day writing this blog for a few dozen readers. It's all tilting windmills.

I find myself losing interest in food. I hope this is temporary. Looking forward to meals is one of the few things that has kept me going this Winter. Most of my energy is used up taking care of the dogs and it's hard to get excited about anything else. This is when I should be writing new songs and assembling images for a gallery show. It's not going to happen though. I've just lost interest.

I am interested in going out for breakfast tomorrow. This is a good sign, since it means that my stomach has finally quit rebelling and my extended bout with the flu is just about over. I'll probably go vote after breakfast. Don't ask me who I'm voting for though. I think the old rule about no talk about politics or religion at the dinner table should extend to social media. I wish I didn't know who many of you are voting for. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. 

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2231

If you happen to follow my Instagram account, you've probably noticed that certain images appear again and again. On Sundays, there is often a picture of a basketball. On Thursdays, you frequently see Dot exercising in the underwater treadmill. On Fridays its almost always a picture of my breakfast. Although these pictures are similar, they are not the same. Each one records a specific event that will never happen again. To me, repetitious pictures like this are an affirmation. They are a way of saying that I'm still here. Life itself is fairly repetitious. The sun comes up every morning and sets every night. We brush our teeth, we shower, we fix our meals, over and over and over again. Some try to escape this monotony with wild adventures. I celebrate the tiny little nuances that make even the most repetitious event unique.

Today was like most Sundays. We slept in a little later and waited until after sunrise to walk the dogs. I can eat a bigger breakfast on weekends because I know I'm probably going to work it off. According to my fitness band, Sunday is the most active day of my week. Today when I vacuumed the house, I not only cleaned the rugs and carpets, I got down on my knees and cleaned baseboards, under tables, and even under the bed. I'll have to admit that Janet shamed my into this additional cleaning, but the house does look pretty nice now.

On my way to the gym this afternoon I stopped by the REI store again. I'm kind of fascinated by the stuff inside this store. I got a pair of mountaineering pants. I'll never go near a mountain with these clever pants, but they seemed perfect for walking dogs. The knees in my regular jeans wear out way too fast because I'm always kneeling down to get Dot's harness on and off or clean Dash's paws. Maybe these heavy duty, reinforced pants will last longer. Shoes wear out pretty fast too with two walks a day over rough terrain. I finally retired my old dog walking boots and started wearing a new pair this morning. The odd thing was that I'd had these new boots for over a year. A receipt in the box said I bought them on January 12, 2015. This is typical of me. I tend to wear old clothes as long as I possibly can, because they become more comfortable with age, but I always have a replacement waiting in reserve.

I wonder if I'm going to be able to see Mercury during the short window of opportunity I have between now and early February? I went outside around 6 AM this morning with a pair of binoculars when I knew the planet would be above the horizon, but once again it was obscured by clouds. For the past several days skies will be crystal clear around midnight, then around dawn clouds will roll in. Later in the day the clouds will burn off and it will become clear again. I'll try again tomorrow.

I need to remember to order printer ink tomorrow. The longer I wait, the harder it will be to unclog the printer. I'm not sure how busy I'll be tomorrow. If there aren't many websites to update, I might see if The Martian is available on Hulu. I currently watch old TV shows on Hulu, but haven't used it yet for pay per view movies. I've noticed that falling leaves are starting to accumulate on the front and back porch. It might be time to use the blower again. Janet couldn't find rubber snakes this weekend either, so she got a rubber lizard to protect her car. We'll see how that goes. The pooping birds are definitely still around. They made a mess of the lawn furniture yesterday. All this may sound insignificant and somewhat boring to you, but it's really not. I'm already looking forward to my banana and strawberry smoothie in the morning.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1405

Dot seems to grow older by the day. She still likes to go to the dog park, but she's never active anymore. She mostly just moves slowly from tree to tree smelling things. She seemed exceptionally tired today and we didn't stay at the park very long. When we returned home, she slept for most of the afternoon. The girl still has her moments though. She bounced back after dinner to bark at the neighbor dog and was still eager to go on her evening walk.

I know exactly how Dot feels. On most days I feel exceptionally tired as well, but so far, I still seem to bounce back when the occasion calls for it. At least I don't have to go to work on Sunday, like Janet did today. I pulled weeds in the garden beds while the dogs were resting in the back yard, but that was about it. I try not to even think about websites and writing on Sunday.

I did think about going to the gym again this afternoon. It turns out that Sunday afternoon is the perfect time for me. For the second week in a row, the facility was practically empty and every machine was open. The basketball court was empty as well, so I didn't need to worry about taking up some young hot shot's valuable court time. Janet likes to take group classes at her gym, but I prefer to have the place to myself. I never did anything important on Sunday afternoons anyway, so this new activity is working out pretty well. I still don't know why I'm the only person who likes to work out on Sunday afternoon, but I'm not going to spend much time questioning things. I'll just enjoy this pleasant situation while it lasts.

The Wednesday business group I joined recently seems to think LinkedIn is important. I never cared much for LinkedIn myself, but I've started building up a connection list just to go along with the flow. I'm not going to get very far with this group by telling them that LinkedIn is worthless. Truthfully, the more time I spend with social media, the more useless all of it seems. Facebook is where I look at pictures of Dalmatians and see which of my high school friends died over the weekend. Twitter is where I relentlessly spam people with my writing and stories. Instagram is where I take pictures of my food. Google+ is where I find out what new technology I'm going to be wanting next. I'm not sure what I'll use LinkedIn for. I can't imagine the place actually bringing me any business.

I hope I get some sleep tonight. I'm a light sleeper anyway, and lately every time Dot or Dash coughs, I wake up thinking they might be having a seizure. Last night I woke up five times. The dogs were fine. I've got to get beyond this, since there isn't much I can actually do during a seizure anyway. We'll see what happens tonight. I'm tired enough that I ought to sleep like a log.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1135

When the dogs and I returned from our walk this morning, there was a process server waiting for us on the front porch. I was served with a subpoena. WTF? Why would anyone sue me? I am one of the most unlikely people on the planet to get involved with a lawsuit. I don't do much of anything and I rarely even see people. When I read through the legal documents I had been served with, I discovered that I wasn't being sued after all. Instead, I was being asked to give a deposition. It was one of my clients who was being sued and they apparently decided to drag me along for the ride. According to Janet, this probably wasn't a wise decision. She doesn't think I should even be allowed in a courtroom. "You talk too much," she tells me. When I told her about the deposition, she admonished me to just answer the lawyer's questions. "Don't try to regale the court with all your weird long-winded theories," she said. "It won't end well."

I saw some kids painting on the trunk of a dead tree the other day, so this morning I walked over to the tree to get a closer look at their handiwork. It actually looked kind of cool. Especially when framed as a square Instagram photo. This chunk of tree art reminded me of my friend Chuck in Seattle. He used to tell me that anything was art if you put it in a nice frame. To prove his point, he gathered up a bunch of trash he found on the street, flattened it out, and had the debris professionally framed. The resulting "pictures" eventually wound up in a gallery show and ended up getting good reviews.

Erykah Badu drove by in her big black Porsche Panamera while the dogs and I were walking past her house this morning. Sometimes I'd like to be a celebrity driving a big black Porsche. It probably isn't all it's cracked up to be though. I'm probably better off just walking dogs and taking pictures of painted tree trunks. I remember meeting Richard Petty once back in the days when I was doing Pepsi commercials. He was a real nice guy and insisted on eating Kentucky Fried Chicken out of a big bucket with me and the film crew at lunch instead of going off with the clients to a fancy restaurant. The guy seemed so tired though. You had to yell in his ear because he was stone deaf from years of racing. Whenever there was a break in the filming, his business manager put him to work signing autographed posters. All day long he signed these things wearing a special glove so he wouldn't get carpal tunnel. What kind of a life is that? I bet celebrities get sued a lot too.

I've got to go see the doctors at the liver institute tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to that at all.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 997

A hunger for over-easy eggs on a bed of spicy pulled pork lured me back to the cool restaurant this morning. This place has delicious food and I'd go there a lot more often if it weren't for all the cool people. I'm sorry guys. Your breakfast is good, but I find the cacophony of plastic flip flops, yoga pants and tattoos a bit jarring. Would it kill you guys to wear decent shoes and put on a little makeup? Maybe I'm different. I'll take a crisp white hotel tablecloth, a quiet dining room, an attentive waiter, and some well prepared Eggs Benedict any day of the week.

Today a saw a little kid pulling cookies and muffins out of a rack case at the restaurant and throwing them on the floor. His new age mom didn't even reprimand the kid. She just gave the guy at the register an isn't he cute look and handed him her credit card to pay for the mess. My mom would have whipped my butt if I ever did something like that.

It was a slow work day, but I did manage to get my September invoices posted and in the mail. I wonder if I'll ever get out of the endless cycle of paying bills and then earning just enough money to pay the bills all over again the next month? There's a good chance I'll be locked in this cycle forever if I can't overcome my lust for electronic gear. I got an e-mail from Sound Devices today with a preview of their latest and greatest field mixer. I have an earlier model mixer from this company. It has served me well and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Why do I want this new model then? I certainly don't need it. I dread the day the iPhone 5 is announced later this Fall. There nothing wrong with my current iPhone. In fact, the only thing I use it for is sending pictures to Instagram. I'm sure I'll figure out some reason why I just have to have the new improved model though. That's just the way it is with me. While you guys are reading a good novel, I'm reading catalogs filled with page after page of gear I don't really need.

It was 105 degrees outside today. That's pretty hot for September. Luckily, there's supposed to be a cold front headed our way. If it's cooler tomorrow, Janet and I plan to go take pictures of the new dalmatians in the rescue program. I think there are at least three dogs who aren't on the website yet. Taking dog pictures will break up the day a bit. Otherwise the day will just be a long list of chores.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 972

So far this month I've had four different clients tell me that I'll get paid a bit late this month because the boss left for vacation with a bunch of unsigned checks on his desk. This happens every August. Sometimes, I go on vacation myself, because everyone else is already gone. August is always the month with the highest electric and water bills and the least amount of money coming in. At least there's September. September's usually pretty good.

I finally reached the payout threshold on Google Adwords again. It took a while. Hey, if I could live on $100 a year, I'd be all set. Maybe you guys are getting rich, but so far, I haven't discovered the secret to making money online. I saw an article the other day that said "most people don't like to buy things on the Internet, they like to join things instead." So true. Almost every day I get one of those "join my cause" messages on Facebook. I never dreamed there were so many causes out there. Nobody is buying my Instagram pictures yet, but they sure are re-pinning them on Pinterest. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'm the same way. Things are much more interesting when they're free.

I got a request this morning to put a picture of an award that one of my clients had won on their website. Of course, the client failed to attach the picture of the award to their e-mail. A few years ago I would have wasted half the day sending e-mails back and forth trying to get them to send me the right picture. Today, I just spent ten minutes making something that looked like the award in Photoshop and stuck it on the site. I'm tired of making mountains out of molehills. Hey, I specialize in molehills. I can make a nice looking molehill with no input whatsoever.

Dash's bath didn't last long. I caught him out in the backyard this afternoon digging a big hole which he subsequently took a nap in. Our new grass was supposed to prevent all this, but it's August and the grass is already dying.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 970

I'm trying to eat more fruit. I've acquired a taste for mangoes lately and thought I'd buy a few while I was at the grocery store. Instead of doing the sensible thing and buying whole mangoes, I got a box of mangoes that had already been sliced. "How do you tell if these are any good," a guy next to me asked. "These look good," I said. "They're all nice and yellow." Shows what I know about picking fruit. When I got the mangoes home, they were as hard as raw carrots. I guess they weren't ripe yet, because they sure didn't taste like the exotic looking peaches I thought I was buying. This is the problem with buying fruit. I can never tell when fruits and vegetables are ripe. It's much easier to buy cheese, or frozen pizza, or chocolate.  Janet will probably come home with a nice ripe mango and ask me why I bought these.

I didn't get nearly as much done as I thought I would today. I get easily sidetracked by trivial things and this morning when I turned on the computer, I noticed that the favicon on my website was gone. Favicons are those little 16x16 pixel square images you see on the menu bar when you bookmark a website in a browser. It doesn't even matter whether your website has a favicon or not, but I was determined to figure out where mine went. I looked at the HTML code. I tried uploading a new favicon icon to the server. I looked on Google for alternate ways to code the favicon script. Nothing worked. I finally decided that my ISP must have just turned off favicon support on the Apache web server. I put my little favicon icon on a different server that I had access to and referenced the URL back to my landing page. Everything works now. Time spent on this worthless endeavor: three hours.

I also opened up a Pinterest account and began pinning all my Instagram pictures. I never really liked Pinterest before, but when I discovered how easy it was to take the pictures that are for sale in my InstaCanvas Gallery and pin them on a Pinterest board, I was all in. I've got so many apps connected to other apps now that I never know what's going to turn up on Facebook or Twitter. I still write the blog by hand each and every evening, but everything else you see online is more or less automated.

I think the dogs are going to get a bath tomorrow. They've gotten themselves so dirty that they feel sticky when you pet them. Dash is the dirtiest. I have a feeling that a few of his spots are just dirt and are going to wash off when he gets his bath tomorrow. We'll go to the dog park first. Giving dog a bath before you take them to a dog park would be pointless.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 969

Yay! My InstaCanvas Gallery is open now. Please go and take a look when you've got a minute. Practically every Instagram picture I've ever taken is up on the site. I don't know if I'll ever make a dime from this venture, but I certainly like the idea. Instead of selling high resolution JPEG files to other professional graphic designers, this place is selling reasonably priced mounted canvas prints that anyone could use to brighten up a kitchen or bedroom wall. If it's pretty and bright, it just might sell! It was brilliant of these guys to print the Instagram photos on canvas too, because canvas isn't a very high resolution medium anyway. It's perfect for low quality Instagram prints that originate from a cell phone. I really like the fact that you can sell any image you want. There's no nitpicking evaluation team over in Sweden or Canada continually rejecting your images because they are out of focus or contain too many artifacts. Hey, I may order some of these canvas prints myself, which is probably exactly what the Instacanvas people want me to do.

I thought I might have found a new breakfast restaurant this morning, but as I was walking toward the front door, I saw a little hand written sign that said No credit cards accepted. Cash or personal check only. Oops. I turned around and got back in my car. I haven't carried any cash with me for years. I have a feeling that I won't even carry credit cards soon enough. I'll probably be among the first people to start using those new apps where you just wave your phone at the cash register to pay for something. I just don't understand people who carry big wads of cash around in their wallet. It's inconvenient. It attracts the wrong kind of attention. And if you're like me, you eventually wind up losing it. Credit cards are much tidier. I have a complete record of everything I spend and there is only one bill to pay every month. My theory is that a lot of those people with wads of cash in their wallets don't like paying taxes. At tax time they just say "What cash?" and claim that it never even existed.

At any rate, I ended up going back to one of my regular neighborhood restaurants. Sitting several tables away from me was an older gentleman wearing a crisp white dress shirt, starched blue jeans with precisely ironed creases and a highly polished pair of cowboy boots. He looked quite distinguished in his own way. If the customers in that restaurant wanted to tell me something, I'd certainly listen to this gentleman first. Most of the other men were wearing ball caps, running shoes, and rumpled looking golf shirts. I certainly wasn't exhibiting any sartorial splendor myself, but maybe I ought to try a little harder. I still don't venture far beyond my Steve Jobs look, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans everywhere except weddings and funerals.

As I was driving home from breakfast, I noticed on the odometer that I'd only driven 15 miles this week. Jeez, I walked the dogs more than 15 miles this week. It wasn't that long ago that I was driving up to 500 miles a week. There just isn't a need anymore. I remember reading an article recently that said auto sales to young adults were down almost 20% this year because young people increasingly prefer their iPhones, 4G connections, and other high-tech gadgets to cars. Maybe something similar is starting to happen with the rest of the population as well. There just isn't much need to actually go anywhere these days. FedEx and UPS deliver what I need to the frond door. All my business is conducted over the Internet. It's a lot more convenient to talk with people I know on Facebook than to actually drive somewhere to meet them. You wonder where all this is going to lead. I certainly never thought I'd lead an active, busy life while only driving 15 miles a week.

J-Lo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 968

I got a couple of checks in the mail today that were part of a class action settlement that I didn't even know I was a part of. Apparently I was swindled by Merrill Lynch more than twenty years ago on a mutual fund transaction. We're not talking big money here, but the settlement was better than the typical discount coupon "good for a free dessert" that you usually get after these class action lawsuits. I'm convinced that class action suits were invented by lawyers to benefit other lawyers. The class, or injured party in these cases rarely gets a dime.

Now that I think of it, this is the second time I've received money as a result of a class action suit against Merrill Lynch. Is it any wonder that people don't trust Wall Street anymore? The whole thing happened so long ago that I don't even remember buying the stock that was involved in this big brouhaha. Truthfully, I've made so many poor investment decisions over the years, that the performance of this poor manipulated stock was probably no worse than many of the honestly purchased dogs in my portfolio.

It was probably good that the greedy lawyers send me a little surprise moolah this month. My company certainly didn't bill out a huge amount in August. Every month when I take my humble stack of invoices to the post office, I simultaneously marvel that my small business is still relevant after all these years, while wondering how much longer I can continue on the small amount I currently bring in. I'm also wondering now if the good years would have been even better if Merrill Lynch wasn't quietly skimming money off the top.  I think I have the last laugh though. I'm still around, and Merrill Lynch isn't.

I'm wondering whether it's going to take 20 votes or 2000 to get my Instagram Gallery up and running. If any of you saw my pleas on Twitter or Facebook yesterday, I hope you voted for me. I actually think this might be a good thing. I've taken a ton of flower pictures that would look pretty darn good printed on canvas in someone's apartment. I also like the idea of an Instagram stock photo agency. I've been plagued with rejections from traditional stock photo agencies for years because they said the files I sent them contained "artifacts." Whatever! The images look good to me and they actually print out pretty well too. I think it would be a godsend to actually have a stock photo agency that was looking for poor quality photos. Nobody's Instagram pictures are all that good technically, because they all come from cell phones. This new Instagram Gallery might be exactly what I need. Finally, I wouldn't have to compete with someone's $25,000 Hasselblad.

I'm trying to think of someplace different to go for breakfast tomorrow. I think I've totally exhausted the menus of my four regular breakfast haunts. It's time for something new. Not necessarily better, mind you, just new.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 846

It's hard to get an early start when your dogs don't want to get up either. Dot and Dash have been my alarm clock for many years and when they don't feel like getting up, I'm always off to a late start. Today, we got started on our morning walk so late that I had to resort to eating cereal for breakfast. I'm a slow cook, so sometimes just eating cold cereal for breakfast will give me an extra forty-five minutes.

I don't know why I was in a hurry anyway. Not a lot happened today. I was a bit embarrassed that I complained so much about my bill with the electrician the other day. When I was writing checks this afternoon, I noticed that I had paid a similar bill for almost the same amount in 2008. The electrician hadn't raised his prices after all. They were always high. I wonder why this bill seemed so high and the earlier bill didn't? The only thing that I can think of was that I was making a lot more money in 2008 and being overcharged for something wasn't as much of a big deal. Oh well. Fair is fair. I paid the entire bill, even though I'd told the electrician two days ago that I wasn't going to.

I got a call from the accountant's office today. It looks like even though the company billed out twice as much as it did the previous year, I'm still going to have a tax loss. Bad investments and healthcare expenses largely offset any gains I made with the company. I don't know if this is something to celebrate or not. So, there's no big tax bill this year, but apparently I didn't make any money either.

Life goes on though. I have a new business meeting tomorrow. With any luck, I'll get an opportunity to design another website that I can continue to maintain in the future. I write new articles almost every day and make a deposit at the bank every two or three days. I'm just going to have to resign myself to the fact that even though I'm busy and often tired, I'm not making as much as I was fifteen years ago.

I saw today on the news that Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars. My first thought was a sincere hope that Facebook doesn't end up ruining Instagram. They're ruined plenty of good ideas before. Hey, I love this little app and use it all the time. My second thought was that I sure wish I had invented Instagram. Probably everyone in that entire company is a millionaire now. Amazing! This simple little photo sharing app on my iPhone is worth more now than the entire New York Times Corporation.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 784

I felt like I spent the entire day waiting. I'm exaggerating, of course. I really only spent several hours sitting in waiting rooms. That was long enough though. It doesn't matter what you're waiting for these days. If you're getting new tires put on at a tire store, you're going to wait. If you're going to see the doctor, you're going to wait. Even if you're just going to buy cupcakes at Sprinkles, you've going to wait. Of course, when people want something from me, they never want to wait. That's just the way it is.

Luckily, after my long wait to see the doctor, he told me that my latest lab results looked really good. I'd have hated to wait that long, just to hear bad news. Dash didn't have to wait that long to get his antigen shot, but nevertheless, the wait was about five times longer than the time it actually took to give the shot. After I got home, I tried to get everything done on my to-do list, so I wouldn't have people waiting on me. I don't want to be the pot calling the kettle black.

I need to look for some new trails for my walks with Dot and Dash. After uploading over 300 pictures to Instagram, I'm starting to run out of things to photograph. I saw an interesting looking tree this morning and realized that I'd already photographed exactly the same tree from almost the same angle just last month. The park is large though, so it shouldn't be hard to change my route and find some new objects of interest. I'll have to be on my toes if I try a new route though. The primary objects of interest for the dogs are horse poop and dead things. I know where all these road hazards are located on our regular route, but whenever we go someplace new, Dot and Dash are quick to put their superior sense of smell to good use.

I got an e-mail today from one of my best German clients. Yay! I'm glad these guys haven't forgotten about me. One good job from them equals about ten from my local clients.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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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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Day 717

Another gray Winter day. It wasn't that cold, but it certainly was damp. Seems like I spent half the day cleaning mud off the dogs paws. The dogs like this type of weather because all the smells in the park seem stronger. I've got mixed feelings. Damp shadowless days like this are great for photography, but I haven't properly waterproofed my boots this year. By the time I get home from our walks, my shoes and socks are completely wet.

Now that I've gotten in the habit of taking Instagram pictures everyday, I'm thinking about getting a better small camera to take with me on our walks. There's a lot more to photograph than I initially thought, but the iPhone isn't always the best tool to capture the images I'm looking for.

I spent a considerable amount of time writing today and got a lot done. Now, it's time to start packing all the photo gear for tomorrow's Dalmatian Rescue Santa Paws photo event. This event starts earlier than I'd like, but I don't have much choice in the matter. That's why I pack everything up the night before. Our regular Santa is out of town this week, so we have a new Santa tomorrow. Rumor has it that our new guy is a "professional" Santa. As long as he has a lot of stamina, he'll be fine.

I keep hearing on the radio that a major cold front is headed our way. It should start raining tomorrow afternoon, with sleet and possibly our first snow by Monday. I guess this makes sense. The big White Rock Marathon race in our neighborhood is this Sunday. For as long as I've lived in Dallas, it has virtually always rained for this event. I don't know what motivates those runners. I'd much rather be taking pet pictures than running a marathon in the rain.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 625

I'm enjoying taking my daily Instagram pictures. These casual little pictures remind me that there are still small moments of beauty in even the most ordinary of days. I guess the whole purpose of this blog is to remind me of these same small moments, but it's easy to forget when your day mainly consists of tasks and responsibilities.

The postman knocked on the door this morning and told me that he thought I had a plumbing leak, because water was streaming down the driveway and into the street. It really wasn't a plumbing leak at all. I was just watering a tree in the front yard and had forgotten to turn the water off. This lapse of memory falls into the same category as forgetting to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer after a load is finished, or forgetting to take the trash out to the street. I wasn't going to tell the mailman, but these things are common occurrences around our house.

I downloaded the new 9.1 update to Quark Express this morning. This upgrade contains the new ePublishing module that lets you create Kindle eBooks and simple iPad apps directly in Quark. I'm really intrigued with having the ability to create my own eBooks without outside help. I've written a ton of stories and it would be nice to have them all in a book sometime. I wonder if anyone would buy an eBook from me though. Virtually everything ever I've written is already available somewhere on the Internet for free.

I woke up this morning with a stiff neck. I thought the pain would go away in an hour or two, but it's still here twelve hours later. I can't hardly move my neck at all without turning my whole body. Sometimes this happens when I fall asleep watching TV with a pillow elevating my head. Whenever this happens, I usually blame the dogs. They move around on the bed so much during the night that they're always waking me up. One thing about neck pain is that it makes you forget about hand and foot pain. Hopefully, I'll sleep properly tonight and feel better in the morning.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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