Day 3428

For better or worse, I've settled into a routine. I make the bed, I eat breakfast, I take a long morning walk, I take care of the day's unavoidable necessities, I eat dinner, I take an evening walk, I write the blog, and I go to bed. It fills up the day pretty well. I've been doing this over and over again for several weeks. I'd like to think that I'll expand my horizons after a while, but who knows.

Today's unavoidable necessities were mowing the grass and removing the remaining water from the roof. Every time I mow the grass I think I ought to just hire a yard guy like all the other neighbors, but then I realize that mowing is really just walking and it doesn't seem so bad. Keeping the roof dry is a little easier now that it's warmer outside. A lot of last week's rain had already evaporated, so I was able to clear the remaining water in less than twenty minutes. Running the two pumps religiously whenever it rains helps as well. I must be doing something right since we've had a lot of rain this Spring and the roof hasn't leaked for quite a while.

I also took some things to the storage warehouse that Janet was about to throw away and paid my mid-month bills. All in all it was a pretty busy day. I managed to rack up over 18,000 steps without even going to the gym.

The guys who fixed my fiber optic cable told me that they'd take care of canceling the Wednesday appointment I'd made earlier. Today I got a phone message from AT&T saying that a repair crew would be out tomorrow. I didn't even bother calling back since I would probably just complicate matters further. This is probably why my U-Verse bill is so high. Every time I've had a repair, there seems to be confusion like this. I wouldn't be surprised if a crew comes out tomorrow and installs the same line all over again.

If I had more faith in my car, the weather, and the other drivers on the road I might start taking some road trips. When I was in college I had an International Harvester Metro Mite Van. I drove all over America and from one end of Canada to the other. The truck wasn't very reliable, but it wasn't a problem. There were International Harvester dealers with excellent mechanics in every little town. These guys mostly worked on tractors, but my little truck never presented a problem for them. Somehow I don't think I'd have the same success driving a Land Rover through rural America. It's kind of ironic. Land Rovers are supposed to go anywhere but you never see them outside of big cities.

I'll probably end up going nowhere, but at least I'm thinking about traveling. Thinking about something is always a good starting point. I hope I make the cut and get selected to go to the Falcon Heavy launch this summer. Going to Kennedy Space Center could be the catalyst I need to do many other things. With any luck I should find out by the end of the month.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1326

I need help. Maybe you guys could help point me towards my next car. I love my Defender 90, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that keeping an eighteen year old car roadworthy and reliable is a losing proposition. The Defender has entered that phase of a car's life where is ceases to be transportation and becomes an expensive hobby instead. I'm getting tired of guessing which part is going to fall off next, but I can't find anything even remotely affordable that I would rather drive.

My taste in cars has always been rather eclectic. At one time or another I've owned an International Harvester Metro-Mite Van, a silver Citroën Maserati, a Citroën DS-21, a humongous diesel Ford F-350 dually crew cab pickup, a white Ford Bronco identical to the one OJ drove during the famous low speed chase, and of course the Defender 90. I've always been partial to cars that look like they could survive a Zombie apocalypse. I almost bought a Hummer H-1 once, although I hated the H-2 and H-3. I'm fond of the Mercedes Geländewagen as well, but this one is a bit pricy for someone like me. There just aren't many vehicles available that are built like a tank, have full time four wheel drive, and can carry a full size metal dog crate in the back. The Defender is perfect. I just wish Land Rover would bring some new ones back to the United States again while I'm still alive.

As you might guess, I'm still trying to find a new vibration damper for my aluminum V8 engine. By the time I eventually find this illusive part, it is almost inevitable that something else will have fallen off the car and need my attention. I'm tenacious though and made another trip to the Land Rover dealer this morning to get this issue resolved. This was only one of many errands on my list today. I also stopped by my doctor's office to get my blood tested, paid a visit to my equipment supplier to look for a mattebox, and got some weekend groceries at Central Market.

Like last week, I didn't make it to my favorite breakfast restaurant until almost noon. While I was waiting for my meal I listened to three guys at the next table talking about the George Zimmerman trial. As strange as it may seem, one guy was explaining the trial to the other two, who had never even heard about it. On the other side of me was a fat little girl wearing sunglasses who looked exactly like Honey Boo Boo. She had an entourage of adults sitting with her who were continually taking pictures of the kid with their cell phones. This probably wasn't really Honey Boo Boo though. I bet is was just a normal family who likes to post status updates of their grandchildren on Facebook every five minutes.

One of my clients asked me to take some companies who had gone out of business off his website customer list today. I probably ought to do the same thing with my own website. Quite a few of my customers have either gone out of business or been gobbled up by bigger companies over the years. A long list looks better than a short list though. Maybe I'll just leave things the way they are.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day