Day 2031

Have you ever noticed that when you see something sad on Facebook, it usually involves someone you know. When you see something happy, it is usually just a Meme that has already been re-posted thousands of times. Where do these Memes come from? They could come from outer space for all I know. I don't know anyone who ever started a Meme, yet they are everywhere. Lately, my feed has been filled with a combination of Memes and personal sadness. There seems to be an overwhelming number of dogs that have passed away or need a medical miracle to save them. People post poignant accounts of losing a job or dealing with illness, but only post cat videos and pictures of dogs misbehaving when things are going well. I don't get it. Maybe it's just me. I even find Throwback Thursday sad these days. My old co-workers post pictures of cool things they did thirty years ago. This probably just means that nothing very exciting is happening right now. So far, I have resisted the urge to share animal Memes or add my own ancient war stories to the Throwback Thursday clutter. I keep thinking that there is still something new and original to discover, but maybe I'm wrong.

Today was weird. The entire United Airlines fleet was grounded due to a computer glitch and a little while later, the New York Stock Exchange ground to a complete halt due to another computer problem. Nobody seemed to care. I think people would be more upset if Facebook was down for ten minutes than if the stock market quit working and planes weren't able to fly. We definitely live in very strange times.

Dot woke up feeling much better this morning, so we decided to let her take her regular morning walk. She did very well and I could tell she was enjoying herself, but unfortunately she started limping again shortly after we returned to the house. Maybe we did the wrong thing. I felt guilty as I watched her grow progressively weaker throughout the day, but she seem so strong this morning. It's hard to know what to do. With no exercise at all, Dot will become paralyzed again. With too much exercise she can easily injure herself. What I'm really worried about is that this setback might be caused by the Palladia pills. One of the side effects of taking Palladia can be lameness. I need to call Dot's oncologist tomorrow and see what she thinks. Lameness or having difficulty moving is a rare side effect and usually temporary, but it does happen. Everything we have done for Dot is to give her a better quality of life. If chemotherapy impairs her already limited ability to walk, it may not be worth it.

It looks like this entire week is going to be slow. I made some minor website updates this morning and got my July invoices out and in the mail this afternoon, but that was about it.  Tomorrow is Dot's physical therapy day, so she's going to stay home and rest while I walk Dash in the morning. There's no point in doing the therapy if she's already too tired. I hope that Dot's vet and her oncologist can reassure me tomorrow. She was doing so well. I really hate to see her starting to go downhill again.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1064

I used to be real careful about the software I installed on my computer. Before using something new, I would typically wait until a friend had already installed the same software on their computer with no ill effects. Only then would I go to the store and pick a box off the shelves to install on mine. Now my computer has developed a mind of its own. It's starting to act a lot like my phone. Almost every week I'll launch a familiar tool and receive a message saying a new version is available. Would you like to download the new version now, says the message. If I ignore this message, it will just reappear again the next time I launch the software. I've gotten in the habit of downloading and installing the updates just to make the irritating message go away. As a result, when I begin to use my supposedly familiar software, I often find that a favorite feature has been replaced by something I never wanted in the first place.  I know that somewhere off in the cloud there are people looking out for my best interests, but I would rather make these decisions myself.

It's hard to fight progress though, so I usually just click the download button and learn to live with the results. I've come to the conclusion that it's a lost cause to make decisions by yourself these days. Sharing and collaboration are revered and everybody needs to be on the same page. Like it or not, we live in an age where an iconoclastic thought will never get you as far as a picture of a cute cat.

I've started to wonder how I can make my own thoughts appear like cute cats. As an experiment, I've uploaded some photos of mine to Google+ and then a few months later, uploaded exactly the same photos that are tagged with a currently trending Meme. The photo linked with a popular Meme always gets far more attention. The photos are absolutely identical, but the one without a popular reason to like it always gets ignored. This is counter-intuitive to me. Here I've been thinking that it was originality that got me noticed, when it apparently it takes a village after all.

I only mention all this because when I was taking Dash to the vet this afternoon for his antigen shot I got talking with the director of a rescue program I work with about the theme for an upcoming event. She wanted me to take a photo of a dogs paw pressed against a human hand as a symbol of people helping animals. Sounded like a good idea to me. When I got home, I opened up Facebook and immediately saw a picture of exactly what she was talking about in my stream. Weird. Had she already subliminally seen this picture, or does everything just happen in parallel these days?  Oddly, the fact that this visual idea has already been done will make it seem more powerful to some in the rescue group. There won't be the worry of being the first anymore.

Can you tell I'm rambling. Nothing really happened today. Oh, I did go to the shoe store and discovered that my feet have grown wider.  Boo. Apparently, I should be wearing an 8 1/2 extra wide now.

Puppies are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day