Day 3030

I started to get ready for Summer today. I called the landscaper to get the backyard looking decent again. I called the tree trimmer to get some dead limbs removed from the Oak trees. I called the roofing supply company to see if I could buy the elastomer coating in a small enough size that I could lift the can up to the roof by myself. I found the battery for the lawn mower and installed it to see if it would still take a charge. Nothing was actually resolved today, but at least I made a start.

I was pleased that I managed to find an inexpensive used MIDI keyboard controller that does everything I need it to do. Since this keyboard cost me less than a single one gallon can of the elastomer roof coating, I thought I got quite a deal. Best of all, when I got home from the music store and plugged the keyboard into my computer, everything worked perfectly.

I wish everything worked perfectly with Dash today. He was moody again and refused to take his afternoon walk. It was a beautiful day and Dash wasn't having any vestibular issues, so I don't know what was wrong. I know that Dash was feeling OK, because when Janet came home just before sunset, he abruptly changed his mind and wanted her to walk him. He likes it when we all walk together. It's all too complicated for me. On Monday and Tuesday, Dash was eager to take his afternoon walk. I guess I'll never know why today was different.

I feel kind of sorry for Mark Zuckerberg. Every time I turned on the TV today, there he was, testifying in front of a bunch of old people who basically knew nothing about technology. Why is everyone so outraged about privacy? There is no privacy anymore. Every time you go to the grocery store, fill your car with gas, or pick up a prescription at the pharmacy, you are being tracked. Surveillance cameras are everywhere and you'd be horrified if you knew how much Apple and Google already know about you. Zuckerberg is just a geek who invented a cool app that everyone became addicted to. It's your fault that he became a billionaire. Jeez. Nobody is forcing you to use Facebook. If you really value your privacy, stay offline altogether. If Cambridge Analytica sold your information to Target or Walmart nobody would care. This is all about politics. A wide variety of companies have been selling your information for decades and congress never even noticed.

Even more puzzling to me than the Facebook debacle is the situation in Syria. The only thing the Democrats and Republicans seems to agree on is that they would both like to bomb somebody. Why? Couldn't we wait a while? Nobody has even verified that the gas attacks were real. Isis and Al-Qaeda have staged these type of events before. They guys might not have a powerful army, but they have learned that provocative fake news can be even more powerful than bombs. Lobbing hundreds of cruise missiles into Syria isn't going to help anything. Even if the gas attacks are real, adding a bunch of bombs to the mix is just going to make the situation worse. I wonder how long it's going to take for our government to realize that it's time to come home. We've accomplished absolutely nothing in the Middle East and probably never will.

The dismal state of the world is one of the reasons I focus my energies on dogs. Dogs don't care about global politics. They don't even understand why they need to wear a city registration tag. All a dog wants is regular meals and a warm, safe place to sleep every night. If we're lucky, they enjoy our companionship as well. If these were our own priorities, the world would be a much better place.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3029

One thing leads to another when you've got too much time on your hands. Spending time last week trying to get an old MIDI keyboard controller to work has somehow rekindled my interest in music. I've been thinking about reassembling my songwriting studio. Some of the equipment is still sitting here in the office. Other stuff is gathering dust in the storage warehouse. Is this gear obsolete, or is it still usable? If it is usable, where would I put it? There isn't much space in the office anymore. It's easy to waste hours thinking about stuff like this. Today I reread an instruction manual for an old Yamaha synthesizer that has been sitting in a corner for years and still couldn't figure out how to use it. It didn't help that there wasn't a keyboard attached to the synthesizer anymore. Was this thing still useful? Who knows.

While I was trying to evaluate old music gear, I got a call from my friend in Kentucky who is going to help me liquidate one of my collections. This is my dilemma. I want to hang on to stuff and need to get rid of it at the same time. The logical part of my brain tells me that anything that has sat in a box for over five years really isn't necessary. The crazy part of my brain still thinks that everything in the storage warehouse will still come home again someday.

As I talked with my friend about the logistics of selling my collection, I realized that it wasn't going to be easy. Not a lot of people share my interests. There's no point in keeping a collection in cardboard boxes though. Especially if you've completely lost interest in collecting. I think the stuff will sell at my friend's store, but it might take a while. At any rate, I made a commitment to inventory everything and eventually say goodby to all the dusty boxes. It's time to start downsizing.

I think I've been eating smoked ham for too long. I'm starting to get heartburn again. This is frustrating, since I really thought I'd put my acid reflux problems behind me. I guess I could start taking Protonix again, but my doctors have warned me that taking a proton-pump inhibitor for an extended length of time is not a good idea. Probably a better idea would just be to start eating healthy, bland food again. I switched to a healthy, plant based diet when I was being treated for Hepatitis C and it took care of a host of problems. The only problem that remained was that I didn't really enjoy being a vegetarian. I've kind of slipped off the wagon now and am eating more red meat than I should.

Dash has his own diet issues. He's eating consistently again, but insists on boiled chicken breasts for breakfast now. He won't touch anything else. Today we tried to add some vegetables to his breakfast by adding peas to his chicken. Surprisingly, he ate the peas, but since he has trouble chewing, a lot of them fell out of his mouth. I've been finding little green peas all over the house today.

I saw a Red Tailed Hawk on our morning walk. I like these birds because they are loners like me. You never see a bunch of hawks sitting together on a telephone wire. Hawks usually hunt alone and other birds seem to defer to them. Mockingbirds, Blue Jays, and Starlings irritate me, but there is something noble about a hawk.

I hope I think of something useful to do tomorrow. Today was a waste. My brain is full of new information about MIDI keyboard controllers, but I still can't play the piano very well.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day