Day 3648

I'm trying to expand my horizons. I went to a different part of town and tried a German restaurant for breakfast. The place was crowded with affluent older people and the food was pretty good. This was not like the food I used to eat when I worked in Germany. I had a big plate filled with smoked pork chops, eggs and skillet potatoes. I remember Germans started the day with much lighter fare. In Erlangen I always ate a piece of toast and a single soft boiled egg in an egg cup like all the other locals.

When I returned home, I watched a video of the Starliner launch that I'd really wanted to attend in Florida. I has planned to watch today's launch live on NASA TV, but slept through it. Things didn't go so well. A spacecraft clock got confused and sent the capsule into the wrong orbit. It will be unable to dock with the space station and they'll probably have to do the important orbital test all over again. Oops. Boeing has certainly had its share of high profile problems. First the 737 mess and now this. The big Artemis rocket I visited in New Orleans is also a Boeing project. I bet the Starliner failure will slow Artemis down as well.

It was another cold day. I wasn't that eager to take my walk this morning, but I didn't want to sit around and do nothing. I put on two coats and a pair of gloves and off I went. I wonder if I even have a warm enough coat for winter nights at the observatory. It's much colder in Fort Davis than it is here.   There was light rain in the forecast today, but I managed to complete my walk without getting wet. Today I saw a very tiny woodpecker I need to identify and a tree with strange translucent orange berries. The woodpecker flew away but I did get a picture of the berries.

I learned today that Amazon videos won't play on Safari, Firefox, or my TV. Janet has no problems watching them on her iPad, but the only way I could get them to play was to download a new version of Chrome. I don't really like to use Chrome. After a little research, I discovered that all the problems I was having had something to do with digital rights management. Evidently my older computer doesn't play well with the new rules. Oh, well. As I said yesterday, I'm not all that interested in movies anyway.

Every year around this time I need to decide whether to renew my Avid subscriptions. Last year I decided to drop Media Composer and this year I'm dropping Pro Tools as well. These licenses are expensive and I just don't use this stuff anymore. I have to admit that it's finally getting easier to acknowledge I'm retired. Who was I kidding. I'm not going to shoot any more corporate videos. I don't even know any corporate people these days.

I still can't figure out why I don't sleep as well under blankets. It's counterintuitive. It seems like you'd sleep better when you are cozy and warm. Fitbit says otherwise though. Could it be that I'm sleeping just fine and my Fitbit just doesn't work under a blanket? As I learned from my Amazon Prime experience today, technology can be confusing.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3269

It was cold and rainy today. We got up early and managed to get Dash walked before the rain started, but I spent the rest of the day inside. I accomplished virtually nothing today. I turned on the TV during breakfast and the Bush funeral was still going on. I wonder how expensive this funeral was. The casket was riding on a special train today. I switched channels and the stock market was still crashing. It's pretty easy to see how expensive this is going to be. I turned the TV off and drank my smoothie in silence. It was that kind of day. I wonder why it always seems colder in the house on a rainy day? The furnace is working fine and the thermostat indicated that I should be toasty warm. Nope. I was cold all day. I put on a sweater but I couldn't relax. I kept looking at the ceiling and wondering when the roof was going to start leaking again. No roof leaks yet, but it hasn't stopped raining yet.

An old client that I hadn't talked to in years called in a panic today. Evidently their office manager abruptly walked out and quit and nobody else at the company knew the passwords to anything. How did they expect me to still know their passwords? I think these guys fired me five years ago. I wished them luck and tried not to laugh. They should have treated their office manager better. They should have treated me better too.

Since it was a very slow day, I watched the latest episode of the National Geographic Channel's Mars show. I think I've finally figured out the format for this show. In every episode there is a disaster on Mars that is used as a teaching moment to illustrate how similar disasters here on Earth could destroy the planet. In today's episode an unknown pathogen in the water on Mars was causing the crew to get sick and die. The parallel story on Earth was about how warming weather is causing anthrax spores to be released from the soil in Siberia which is also also causing people to get sick and die. Something like this happens in every episode. It's a miracle we aren't extinct yet.

Dash seems to be sleeping better now. He stays in one place for long periods of time and hasn't pooped in the bed for several days. This morning, he slept until 6 AM and then went outside and did his business like a normal dog. Are we doing something right, or is this just blind luck? It's really hard to tell. You'd think with Dash sleeping better that I'd be sleeping better as well. This doesn't seem to be the case. My Fitbit said I got virtually no sleep last night. Maybe the Fitbit is wrong. I do remember having a dream, so I must have been sleeping.

A lot of software and domain names come up for renewal at the end of the year. I'm thinking of letting some things expire this year. I haven't used Pro Tools or Avid Media Composer in several years. Do I really need these expensive subscriptions? There are several domains I have never used at all. Maybe this would be a good time to start simplifying my online world as well. I've got a week to decide. I always like to be ready for any contingency, but if I was smart I would just acknowledge that I'm not going to be doing much video editing anymore and let the Avid subscriptions expire.

I discovered a new place to try for breakfast tomorrow. Chili Rellenos Crepes sound delicious right now. The rain has got to stop first though. I'm not going anywhere in this weather.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2916

Today was kind of dull compared with the drama of yesterday's power outage. Minor disasters always get my adrenaline pumping. That being said, I'm glad the power has returned. It was another damp, grey day, but at least the lights were on and the furnace was working. My tolerance for cold weather seems to decrease with each passing year. I remember much colder Winters when I first moved to Dallas, but I complain a lot more now. It would be fine with me if I never see snow again.

I tried to get started on my new website project today. I looked at sites the client liked. I looked at their existing site. The longer I looked, the more I began to realize that there was nothing wrong with the existing site. Hmm. This might be a problem. It's hard to fix something that isn't broken.

I got another e-mail from Avid saying that my Pro Tools subscription was about to expire. I renewed the subscription again even though I can't remember using Pro Tools at all last year. It's really hard to turn loose of things that used to be the foundation of my business. Realistically, I may never use Pro Tools again because nobody hires me to write jingles or produce commercial music anymore. Oh, well. I'm ready if the need arises. I feel the same way about my large production printer. I keep buying ink for the monster, even though it is much more cost effective to get large posters printed online. Keeping these memories alive is getting expensive.

A friend in the neighborhood told me that he and his wife still remembered a Christmas card I'd sent them years ago. It had to be many years ago, because I haven't mailed out cards for over ten years. Times have certainly changed. Janet still gets a few cards from friends and relatives, but I just get those cards that your dentist and insurance agent send out. When we got our first Dalmatian, I used to make photo cards featuring Spot. Everybody liked Spot. Over the years the mailing list got smaller and eventually disappeared. Christmas is pretty low-key these days. We'll get Dash some fancy dog treats and have a nice Christmas dinner. Then I'll put the tree away until next year.

I hope it warms up soon. During cold spells, I feel like hibernating until Spring like a bear. I used to want to move to Wyoming, but I'm convinced that I could never handle the Winters. I went to high school in Alaska, so I'm familiar with cold weather. I just don't like it anymore. I always use to wonder why so many old people moved to Florida when they retired. Now I know.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I'll probably stare at the computer for a while, hoping to come up with an idea for my new website project. The weather app on my phone says it's going to rain. That's not welcome news. I'm not going to even bother to go up on the roof again until the sun comes out. I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2746

It takes longer and longer to do less and less. I distinctly remember getting more accomplished during the day, but I'm not exactly sure how I did it. Maybe traffic wasn't as bad. Maybe I didn't spent so much time rinsing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Maybe there was a time when the dog's paws weren't always muddy. Whatever the reason, life used to seem simpler, even though what I actually did was more complicated.

It rained most of the night. The storms were loud enough that I had trouble sleeping. The sound of thunder would wake me up and then the sound of Dash snoring next to me made it hard to get back to sleep. I was glad that Dash slept through the thunderstorm, but I wish he was a little quieter. It was still raining this morning, so the day was basically planned around the weather radar. Eventually, Dash got walked and I made French Toast with a loaf of leftover bread I found in the refrigerator. The day got off to a slow start, but at least I didn't have to mow the grass. It was way too wet for that.

I helped Janet run errands again this afternoon. This actually works out pretty well. Janet gets to get out of the house for a while and I don't need to remember exactly what to pick up at the store. I've offered to do the shopping for her, but this seems to work out better. Janet is definitely a more efficient and organized shopper than I am. I'm glad my responsibility is limited to going to the hardware store and buying all the bulk items at Sam's Club. I don't think I have the patience to go from store to store looking for bargains. There's a whole world of coupons that appear on your iPhone and little rewards program identifiers that fit on your key ring that I'm not even aware of.

When the errands were complete, I resumed upgrading my computer. With the latest operating system installed, I now need to find out which of the many applications I use can be upgraded as well. I started with the front of the alphabet which brought me straight to Avid. Avid products are always difficult to upgrade because of the complicated licensing arrangement they use. I finally managed to get the newest version of Pro Tools working, although it took forever for the software to recognize that I actually did have a perpetual license. Maybe tomorrow I'll upgrade Media Composer. At this rate, it's going to take me a long time to get to the Microsoft products.

I think the weather is supposed to get better tomorrow. If it's a nice day, I'll go to the gym and see if there's anything cool on sale at the REI store. I'm not even going to bother going up on the roof until the rainy season is over. There is no point to sweeping all the water off if it's just going to rain again tomorrow. I know there's a lot of standing water up there, but nothing is leaking. Let's just hope we get some dry days soon.

It's dragonfly season again. I'm surrounded by dragonflies when I walk Dash in the park. These critters are hard to photograph because they are small and never stay still. I managed to catch one sitting on a blade of grass this afternoon. It only rested there for about a second and then it was gone. I didn't have time to focus perfectly, but at least I got the shot. I usually only get one good dragonfly shot a year. This one isn't it. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2571

Jeez. I completely forgot about my blogiversary this year. It was two weeks ago and it never even crossed my mind until today. Can you believe I've been doing this since 2009? Years ago, a blog's anniversary date used to be a big deal for many bloggers. Obviously this is not the case anymore. I didn't even remember the date myself.

I'm getting better at managing the dogs by myself, but it sure would be nice if they'd be more consistent. I never know what to expect when I wake up in the morning. Dash is moody. Some days he will race out the back door and other days he won't even get out of bed. It's hard to tell which dog wants their walk first, but it's easier to get Dot started immediately after she's finished her breakfast. Dash is lazy and usually doesn't mind sleeping a little longer. One way or another, everything gets done. I'm just glad that I wasn't very busy this week.

I decided to renew my Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer subscriptions for another year. It would be a miracle if I actually needed either of these applications again, but it's hard to abandon them. Maybe it's just a matter of professional pride. I want to be ready if the call comes. I'm not even sure  the latest version of Media Composer runs on my current computer. Each new edition seems to require faster processors and more memory.

Janet returned to Dallas today. In a perfect world I would have cleaned and straightened the house before she arrived, but it's far from a perfect world. At least things don't look much worse than they did last week. We got two new rugs almost a month ago to replace a large one in the living room that was becoming worn and haven't even found time to exchange them yet. The new rugs are still sitting rolled up by the front door. It's hard to get ahead of the game when Dot is always pooping on something. I wish the house had a big laundry room with giant commercial washers like some of the veterinarians have. I could keep them running full time.

Dot doesn't look like she's almost 17, does she? She tires easily and we stop to rest frequently on our walks, but she definitely hasn't given up yet. In her own mind, or at least what's left of it, she still thinks she's a young dog. Walking Dot is a strange experience. Occasionally I feel like she is a marionette and I'm the puppeteer holding the strings. She enjoys these short walks though. They are the high point of her day.

Only three more days and 2016 will be over. I'm strangely optimistic about 2017. The dogs both survived this year and I became a little more adept at dealing with adversity. I'm ready for a new year. Work slowed down quite a bit, but somehow I'm still able to pay all the bills. Maybe the nice little stock market rally we've been having will continue. Maybe Dot might actually make it to her 17th. birthday. I don't really expect all that much, so I doubt that I'll be disappointed.

Dot & Petey are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2551

Remind me to never move up north. We woke up to temperatures in the low 30's with a brisk wind. It might as well have been 40 below zero to me. Even though I went to high school in Alaska and have spent a Winter in Idaho, I have completely lost my tolerance for cold. We put Dash's quilted fleece coat on before we walked this morning, but couldn't figure out how to put a coat over Dot's bulky harness. Neither dog seemed to mind the cold. Actually, they seemed to enjoy it. I quickly learned to keep a warm coat next to the door in case Dot needed to go outside. She spent just as much time wandering around aimlessly as she does in warmer weather. I followed dutifully behind, holding up her rear legs, while whispering "for the love of god, please hurry up and pee," to myself.

Dash had a vet appointment this morning. He's starting to have trouble hopping in the car, so it's only a matter of time before his legs start to go out as well. All Dalmatians seem to have this problem as they get older. This wasn't what we went the the vet for, however. All Dash needed today was to get his anal glands expressed. We need to do this at least once a month. Nobody knows why his glands fill up so quickly, but he's had this problem all his life. I'm getting better at scheduling. I made an early appointment so we'd be away while Dot was sleeping. It worked well. She was still asleep when we returned.

Luckily, the furnace is working great this year. Even though it was near freezing outside, the house was toasty warm. I stayed inside as much as I could. There were several website updates that needed attention today, but there was nothing very demanding. I slowly and methodically worked my way through each update and found that I still had time to install the Pro Tools software I downloaded yesterday when I was done.

Avid software updates are always a nightmare. You have to make sure to delete all previous software versions before you start, including lots of pesky little invisible files. Avid has their own uninstaller program, but it doesn't work half the time and you have to do a Google search and discover how other people have learned to delete the files manually. There is also Avid's complex licensing procedure. My iLok dongle often says I don't have the proper software license, even though I really do. When you jump through all the hoops and finally get the software installed and running, you often get a warning message saying that you don't have enough computer memory to actually use it. My Pro Tools 12 installation was a success, but somehow I lost all the plugins from my previous version. Oh, well. I'll deal with that problem later.

I found an old B&H gift card that was going to expire next week and used it to buy another UP3 fitness tracker. The price of these things has dropped dramatically, so that probably means Jawbone is going to discontinue them soon. It's a shame that Jawbone can't seem to make a durable product. The UP3 gets terrible reviews because the clasp is poorly designed and the band inevitably falls off and gets lost. I'm definitely not the only one this has happened to.

I was sad to hear that John Glenn died today. It was hard to believe he was 95. He looked so young when I watched Friendship Seven rocket into orbit in 1962. This was only five years after the Russians launched Sputnik 1 in 1957. I remember that too. Things happened quickly when going into space was a priority. Now we're moving at a snail's pace. I wonder if I'll still be alive when we finally make it to Mars?

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2550

These days are getting longer and longer. The dogs are typically pretty good in the morning. After breakfast and a long walk, they're usually content to sleep the rest of the morning. This brief quiet time is when I get most of my work done. Things begin to fall apart after lunch. Dot will usually sleep until 1 PM and occasionally as late as 2 PM. After that, she is determined to stay up for the rest of the day. This would be great if she could walk, but she can't. She has perfected a pitiful look and bark that summons me from my desk every time she needs something. All afternoon we walk from her bed to the water bowl in the kitchen and then out the back door. Sometimes she pees when we go outside, but usually she just pees in her bed. Every time she sits or lays down I have to make sure there's a puppy training pad strategically positioned under her.

Dash gets bored now because I don't have time anymore to take him on brisk five mile walks like I used to. When dogs get bored, all they want to do is eat. I've had to split their dinner into two smaller courses spaced an hour and a half apart so we can make it through the afternoon in one piece. It may seem silly, but it works. Usually, Dot and Dash will go back to sleep for a short while after the first half of their dinner. This is when I run errands and go to the post office. After they finish their two part dinner, they both get an evening walk. Dot only walks to the end of the street, but her short walk takes just as long as it takes to walk Dash several miles. Lord, that girl is slow.

Janet usually helps with the evening walks, but she's really busy during the holiday season and often gets home late. Now is as good a time as any to learn how to make this work by myself. When Janet leaves to visit her family for Christmas, there won't be any choice. Walking Dot alone has been slow going so far. She likes to follow Dash, but there is no way I can walk the two dogs together while holding up Dot's rear end with the harness. We're learning though. We did a little  better today than we did yesterday.

I finally figured out why my fitness tracker app was still tracking steps even after I lost it and the battery ran out. It turns out that the UP band app on my phone also receives information from my Apple watch. It wasn't ghost data after all. It was just information from my watch. Cloud computing has made everything so interconnected and complex that I have no idea what is going on anymore. My appointment calendar seems to be everywhere now. Text messages appear on my watch and I can answer my phone in the car by pressing a button on the steering wheel. Who knew that the watch was sending information all over the place too.

I tried to download some new Avid software before my upgrade subscription runs out in a few days. I forgot my password to the download site and had to request a new one. After I finally got the lengthy download started, our Internet went out. I had to start the download all over again after I rebooted the U-Verse router and re-established the connection. Was the latest version of Pro Tools worth all this trouble? Maybe. I didn't use Pro Tools at all this year, but next year I might start getting audio jobs again. You never know.

I'd love for tomorrow to be peaceful and productive, but I'm probably just going to be spending most of my time cleaning up poop. We have our tree up now, but I'm definitely not feeling the Christmas spirit yet.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2549

Sometimes I wonder why you guys continue reading. Very little happens these days. I'm OK with that because I'm afraid the next big news will be bad news. I still have the occasional writing and website assignments, but mostly life revolves around keeping Dot comfortable. She continues to slowly deteriorate and there is very little I can do at this point to change the outcome of this story. Although Dot is weak, she still seems happy. Often, I think she is happier than I am. I could learn a lot from her determination and resilience. I don't have many strong desires anymore, but I'm determined to help Dot continue her journey as long as she's willing. Who knows. Maybe she'll make it to her 17th birthday.

Today was mostly spent avoiding the rain and trying to stay warm. In the Summer I always think it would be nice to move to Wyoming, but when cold weather arrives I have second thoughts about northern Winters. Maybe I've already found the best place to live. Texas has a low cost of living compared to many states. It only snows a few times a year. There are bugs and snakes here, but it's not nearly as bad as Florida. I really think the perfect place to live only exists in my imagination.

One of my Dalmatian Rescue friends gave me her old UP band when I lost mine last weekend. She said it was broken, but thought I might be able to fix it. It didn't want to sync with my phone at all and there were some weird error lights flashing. I'd seen these error lights before on an earlier UP band I'd owned and thought I'd try a hard reset. The reset made the error lights go away but it still wouldn't sync with my phone. Since this looked like an early model band, I thought I'd try the very old Jawbone app on my first generation iPad. This worked like a charm. The fitness band synced with the old app and started counting steps again. It was actually kind of enjoyable to work my way through this process. I like fixing things.

Since it is nearing the end of the year, renewal notices are starting to arrive for the subscription software I've been forced to use. The main two I need to decide whether to renew are Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer. I renewed my license last year, but never used either application all year. Will I use Pro Tools next year? It's hard to decide these things. The software licenses are kind of pricey, but much less expensive than letting them lapse and having to buy the software all over again. I've been keeping current on business software because I refuse to acknowledge that my business is dying. It is basically finished though. Kaput. It's hard to imagine finding new clients at this point. Someday, I'll have to come to grips with this.

I paid some bills today and made a few quick calculations to make sure I still have enough left over to pay my property tax later this month. Christmas is coming and Dot has another big exam at the cancer center next week. Those bills won't come until January though, so I guess I'm OK. It would be nice to have a month with no big bills at all, but that's not going to happen.

Hopefully, the weather will improve a bit tomorrow. It was hard getting either dog to walk today. Rain or shine, tomorrow will probably be very similar to today.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2327

I enjoyed breakfast this morning. I returned to the hipster cafe and for a moment it felt like I was back in Seattle. It was a dark rainy morning and the place was filled with young people in plaid shirts sitting silently nursing their coffee while some slide guitar blues played on the sound system. Forty years ago I used to eat breakfast in the original Starbucks at First and Pike before I went to work at a downtown ad agency and the ambience felt the same. Everything old is new again I guess.

Occasionally, I really miss Seattle.  This is where I made the transition from architecture to advertising. Young architects don't make much money and when I realized I could double my salary almost overnight by becoming an advertising copywriter, I never looked back. It was surprisingly easy to get a job. Nobody majored in advertising in college back then. I once had an art director partner who used to be a Navy fighter pilot. One of my supervisors used to be a wrestling coach. Everyone was an extremely good bullshitter. I didn't have much of a portfolio at the beginning. I just told them I was an architect and I was in. Good times. It was just like that Mad Men show on TV.

Seattle was where I discovered music. I started writing jingle lyrics at the ad agency and decided I wanted to become a songwriter. I met a lot of musicians and had a great time, but never became the next Bernie Taupin. I did gradually start acquiring gear like I saw at the studios where we recorded the jingles however. Some of the gear, like the vintage multi-track recorder that just came back from the repair shop, still exists. I spent quite a bit of time on Google this morning searching for a PDF copy of the instruction manual for this recorder. When it returned from the shop, I realized that I no longer remembered how to use the machine. I've been using Pro Tools for so long now that using an actual analog tape recorder seems a bit like alien technology. After quite a bit of searching, I found a copy of the manual and downloaded it. Wow. This was a complicated machine. I must have been a lot smarter in my twenties and thirties.

Since it seemed a bit ambitious to re-learn audio engineering before lunch, I moved on to something much simpler. I installed the new cartridges in the big production printer and began the cleaning routine to unclog the lines. The printer works again. The tape recorder works again. I'm not sure that I'm running on all cylinders though. I find it harder and harder to begin anything that is remotely arduous or ambitious. I hope I don't become like my Dad. He was an excellent wood carver and continued to buy carving tools almost until the day he died. Somewhere along the line he got Parkinson's Disease and could no longer use the tools. They just sat there and accumulated dust in their original boxes. I don't want my gear to wind up that way. It needs to be used.

There were more tornado warnings today, but the really bad weather stayed to the West of us as it traveled rapidly to the Northeast. We got enough rain to scare Dash, but not enough to wake up Dot. Since she is almost deaf now, she slept peacefully through the storm. I'm glad I figured out my air conditioning problem yesterday, because it would have been hard to get a technician to come to the houes today. I canceled the emergency service call and rescheduled a regular Spring system checkup for early next month.

It's hard to believe that April is almost over. Summer will be here before you know it. I need to learn to appreciate the rain because it isn't going to last. In just a few months from now, I'll be begging for rain.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2198

I thought I'd finished my Christmas shopping yesterday, but I forgot something important. Yup. I didn't have any wrapping paper. I got back in the car again after breakfast and went to the Container Store. They had an entire store full of overpriced wrapping paper. I found what I needed and went back home again. Hopefully, I really am finished with shopping this time.

I was surprised to find a UPS package on my doorstep from a distant cousin I rarely see. I was even more surprised at the contents. One of my elderly aunts had passed away not too long ago and this cousin was the executor of her estate. He send me decades of family photos that I never even knew existed. I should have known they existed, since I was in many of them. It seemed strange that this aunt, who I hadn't seen in years, kept a much better record of my family than I did. I should have asked her to tell me the story behind these pictures while she was still alive. Now she and her brothers and sisters are all gone. It's odd. I've been a professional photographer for many, many years, but I've never kept a family album. There are very few pictures of me as an adult at all. I do have thousands of pictures of my dogs though.

I knew there were going to be problems with Dot when she went to bed without doing her business last night. Sure enough, she pooped in her bed around 3 AM, and then pooped again in the kitchen a few hours later when she was eating her breakfast. As messes go, this was a big one. Hopefully, she will be back on schedule for a while. It's sad to see Dot's neuropathy progress. There is no cure and her condition will gradually get worse. The spinal surgery helped. The water therapy we do every week continues to help, but the nerve damage is still there. The only comforting thought is that Dot is still happy and doesn't seem to be in any pain. I just try to make each day as easy as possible for her.

I installed the new version of Pro Tools this morning. I added a few essential plug-ins, made sure everything worked and then quit the application without making any music at all. It will probably be months before I even think about Pro Tools again. I don't know why it is so important for me to stay current with Pro Tools, Media Composer, Final Cut Pro and a few other tools that my business used to depend on. I was a good editor, but I've kind of lost my chops, since it's been a while since anyone's needed me to open up these applications and actually use them. I'm sure that there will be a day when I'll get bored enough to open Pro Tools again and learn to use some of the fancy new features. Maybe I'll write a song again some day. That would be nice. It's such an uphill battle. To write a song again, I'd have to get my keyboard out of the storage warehouse and teach myself to play piano again.

I paid the last of the December bills and took them to the post office. With this year's humongous plumbing bills, dental bills, and cancer treatment bills behind me, maybe now I can finally get ahead of the game. Oh, wait. There isn't time. The year is already over. I'm sure that next year will bring a whole new set of surprises. I guess I'll wrap packages tomorrow. It would be a good idea to get them wrapped before Christmas.

Two sisters are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2197

We started the day walking through a thick layer of ground fog in the park. Fourteen hours later, I still feel like I'm the one in the fog. Maybe it's brain fog. I did quite a bit today, but it still feels like I spent my time floundering around. Right after breakfast I went to the mall to finish the small amount of Christmas shopping I had left. I thought if I arrived right when the stores were opening, I could avoid the crowds. Apparently, other people had the same idea. I was amazed at how crowded things were at 10 AM. On a normal day, the place would be completely empty. Even though there were more shoppers than I expected, my instincts were right. I found a parking place without any problems, did my shopping, and was back home again in less than an hour.

Today seemed like a good day to upgrade Pro Tools, so I bit the bullet and downloaded the latest version from the Avid site. I always forget what a pain it is to install Avid software. There are multiple layers of registration and license codes. Before you can even begin, you have to download your new software license to the iLok dongle that Avid uses to prevent people from copying their software. I hate dongles. Why does Avid continue using them? Most manufacturers abandoned this form of copy protection long ago. I can never remember my password to the iLok license manager. I can't usually remember my password to the Avid download site either. When you are finally authorized to download the software, you are presented with a long list of items to choose from. It would be nice if they told you which of these things you actually needed. The software is huge and takes a long while to download. Today, my computer froze during the download process, so I had to reboot and start the whole registration and download all over again. What a waste of time. I don't know why Avid makes it so hard to upgrade. I might upgrade more often if they just made the whole process easier. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually install the software. Maybe in a month or two I might even use it.

Dot is way off schedule today.  She didn't poop after lunch and despite taking her outside four separate times, she didn't poop after dinner either. This makes me nervous, because it practically guarantees that she's going to poop in the house right when I'm in the middle of something else. It hasn't happened yet, but it will.

I watched the launch of the Space X Falcon 9 after dinner and was pleased to see a successful soft landing of the booster at Cape Canaveral. Elon Musk always said he could do this and he delivered today. Once this reusable rocket gets perfected, it will dramatically lower the cost of space travel. I hope that Space X continues to push the boundaries. I'd love to see someone land on Mars in my lifetime.

I should have returned to the lake with a camera after I finished walking the dogs this morning. Heavy ground fog is rare, and if you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, you can get some spectacular pictures. Being in the right place at the right time is difficult when you're walking Dot though. Maybe there was still enough time to take a few shots of boats half hidden in the mist, but I suspect that the moment had already passed by the time we returned home.

It certainly didn't seem like the first day of Winter. It was 70 degrees outside. Texas weather is always full of surprises. I'll take a camera with me tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll be surprised with more ground fog. I'm sure there will be more brain fog whether I find anything to photograph or not. Brain fog is pretty common these days.

Willows is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1945

I spent quite a while today getting re-acquainted with Pro Tools. I used to use this software frequently and knew it well. Not anymore. It's been several years since I've had a need to create or edit audio files. There was a time when I was always thinking about music. I wrote songs, played in a band, and knew my way around a recording studio pretty well. Once upon a time, I even took an audio engineering course and learned to run a 48-track SSL console. I've still got a lot of audio gear to remind me of those days, but I've forgotten virtually everything. Use it or lose it, as they say.

Maybe if I was more familiar with Pro Tools. I might start writing songs again, I thought to myself this morning. It's possible. I suspect it's the other way around though. If I started writing songs again, I might have a need to use Pro Tools. I still hate to forget things though, so I played around for hours with the software and was somewhat amazed at all it could do. Without an active project to throw myself into, what I rediscovered today will probably stay in my brain for about a month. Then I'll have to re-learn it all over again if I ever have the need.

It's hard to believe that I used to be able to program simple games in FORTH, create and render three-dimensional objects using Maya, and do architectural drawings using AutoCad. I had working versions of all these programs running on my Mac at some point, but it eventually became pointless to dabble with these complex applications. Unless you did computer animation for a living, you never really understood Maya. Unless you were an architect or engineer, there was little reason to master the complexities of AutoCad. Even veteran programmers didn't know what to make of FORTH, but to this day it is the only programming language that ever made sense to me. I suspect that the odd language appealed to me because the variables and basic operators were defined as words. A programming language based on creating things using words seemed magic to me at the time.  I even went to FORTH user groups for a while.

I get nostalgic when I try to re-learn something. I spent the entire afternoon playing with a little two track audio file, re-learning how to route compressors, equalizers, and other effects processors through the send and return buss. I was going to try working with a MIDI synthesizer, but then I remembered that all the synthesizers were in the storage warehouse. Since I have forgotten even more about playing the piano than about playing the guitar, I doubt that those synthesizers would have done me much good anyway.

I am curious about almost everything, but since I had no desire to become a full-time computer animation expert, multi-track recording engineer, or even a practicing architect, many of the skills I learned over the years just withered away. It was just too difficult to keep learning a lot of complex things you never used. I always returned to writing because there was no software involved. In a pinch, a yellow pad of paper and a #2 pencil will do just fine.

I'll probably be writing something for someone tomorrow. With all that has died on the vine over the years, I guess I should be glad that there is still one thing I do that people seem to need.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1940

I spent the day making plans for projects that may or may not ever take place. I have a client who likes to use a teleprompter, so I did some research on teleprompter systems that would work well with my camera. I eventually found something vaguely affordable that would attach to the 15 mm rods I use with my matte box. This system, like most these days, works in conjunction with an iPad. I have an old iPad I thought I'd use, but had trouble finding teleprompter software that would run on IOS 5.1.1. Yes, I have a first generation iPad that isn't even supported anymore. Most of the teleprompter software I saw needed at least IOS 7.0. I finally found something that would run on my old machine and downloaded it. That's enough for one day. If we ever do the video, I'll buy the rest of the system later.

Next on the list was trying to figure out how to route a Pro Tools music file through some old studio  equipment I used to use and then feed it back into the computer again. I've been meaning to do this for years, but never got around to it because of all the wires and interface boxes I had to hook up. There wasn't anything better to do today, so I got to work. Since I didn't really know what I was doing, it took me forever to get the digital signal out of the computer, into the old analog EQ and compressor I wanted to use, and then back into the computer again. I experimented with dozens of different configurations, making a huge mess of tangled wires, extension cords, and electronic boxes, until something accidentally worked. Now, the difficult part will be remembering what I did this afternoon when I actually need to use this technique six months or a year from now.

I probably could have solved today's problems a lot quicker if Dot wasn't in such a demanding mood. She was feeling good today, and didn't want to be in a pen at all. I decided to let her roam the house when she felt like it, always following close behind to assist if she started to slip. Every time I had a good idea about how to configure the audio system, Dot would decide to move about and I had to leave the computer to follow her. Dot really did well. She walked a little awkwardly, but didn't stumble at all. She even managed to sit down in a somewhat controlled manner a few times. If she continues to improve at this rate, I think it's just a matter of time before we can safely walk her on a leash without the special Help 'Em Up Harness.

I received two new writing jobs toward the end of the day, so there won't be any weird experimentation tomorrow. I've cleaned up the mess in the office and am happy that I learned something new. It's good to know that some of my old audio equipment can still be put to good use. Whether I'll ever actually use the old rack of outboard gear in a Pro Tools session is another matter entirely. At least I know I could if I wanted too.

I'm cooking more elaborate breakfasts now. You don't have to worry about me becoming a chef or anything, but I've definitely grown tired of cereal. I think I could live on eggs, sausages, cheese, and salsa. Just about everything I cook starts with these four ingredients. Looking back, I don't know how I survived on oatmeal for so long. A nice spicy omelet is so much better than oatmeal. That's why I fixed one this morning.

There are thunderstorms in tomorrow's forecast. I hope the forecast is wrong. It's hard enough getting Dot to her physical therapy session when the weather is perfect. Dealing with the dogs various storm phobias in the car is not a pleasant experience. I know I can't cancel or reschedule everything I do when it rains, but I'd like to. Rain is problematic. I think the only thing you should do when it rains is get under a blanket and watch a movie.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1413

Nothing big happened today. I took a small stack of documents to the new safe deposit box. I took an even smaller pile of shirts to the dry cleaner. And I picked up a single prescription at the pharmacist. Dot was tired today, so we took a small walk, instead of our regular much longer trek. I thought I was going to pick up a small puppy from animal control this afternoon, but someone else from Dalmatian Rescue had already arranged to pick up the dog before I could get my act together.

Work was equally slow. I had a meeting scheduled, but it got canceled. I made two small changes to client websites and answered a few e-mails, but that was about it. I should have used my time today to upload a large number of new pictures to Shutterstock, but I didn't. Once you get locked in a small frame of mind, it's hard to snap out of it.

I was just about to upgrade the computers to the new OSX Mavericks operating system when I saw a small notice on the Avid website saying that the latest versions of Pro Tools and Media Composer are not compatible with the new system. This always happens. Apple makes a big deal out of their flashy new system and none of the software I actually use for business works with it. Eventually the vendors come out with new, compatible versions of their software, but by then Apple is already off on another tangent. It's frustrating.

The cold front that passed through town this weekend seemed to accelerate the seasonal changes that were already underway. All the trees are changing color now and some are already dropping their leaves. Hopefully, there will be a few nice photography days before the trees are bare again. Since we have a lot of large, mature trees in our yard, there are a ton of leaves on the roof in the Fall. If it didn't rain so much, I would just leave the leaves up on the roof until Spring. A thick stack of leaves is sure to add some insulation value. Unfortunately, the leaves do get wet and turn into a soggy mess that retains water forever. For the rest of the Winter, I will have piles of heavy, wet leaves to push off the roof in addition to the standing water that accumulates year-round.

Dash has a vet appointment tomorrow, so it is questionable whether I'll be able to make it to the gym as I had planned. You'd think with the simple, uneventful life I lead, it would be easy to schedule things. Somehow, it never is.

Abi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1213

It was another day of small discoveries. One of my doctors has been telling me for months now that I need start lifting free weights to rebuild the muscle mass I had lost to statin drugs. I never really felt that I had the time, and definitely wasn't looking forward to joining a gym. Much to my surprise, I discovered that I have all the time I need. I now have a set of small hand weights on my desk that I use whenever Photoshop or Final Cut Pro gets bogged down rendering something. With the nature of what I do most days, this provides me with a more than adequate upper body workout. I don't know if lifting weights while editing qualifies as multi-tasking, but it sure beats staring at a progress bar on the screen as my complicated video transitions slowly render.

While we're on the subject of video editing, I discovered an amazing app that turns your iPad into a sophisticated touch sensitive control surface for professional audio and video software like Pro Tools, Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, and Logic. Every time I get a big editing job, I toy with the idea of buying a dedicated hardware control surface. You can save a huge amount of time during an edit session if you don't have to use your mouse for everything. Unfortunately, the time-saving control surfaces can be quite expensive. The iPad app solves all that. For a small fraction of what you might pay for a dedicated controller, the clever app gives you full control of your editing software via WiFi.  It's all pretty amazing to me. Of course I downloaded the app. Now I've got a phone that can control my DSLR and a tablet that can control my editing software. Who would have thought?

I've been toying with the idea of trying some sort of vegetarian breakfast. I'm not sure what this would consist of, but I'll bet it involves Tofu. When you try to eliminate meat, dairy products, and wheat, your options become rather limited. Maybe eggs aren't so bad. Maybe a little meat isn't so bad either. I think the real problem for me had turned out to be wheat products. My body seems to convert wheat products straight into sugar. My love for pancakes and french toast is probably what put me right on the verge of diabetes. Now that I avoid bread, biscuits, pancakes and other things made with processed flour, my blood sugar levels are back in the normal range. I carry little packets of Stevia around with me when I go to Starbucks now. My somewhat impossible goal is to eliminate sugar from my diet entirely.

The weather is looking quite nice again. I'm not going to be able to put off mowing the lawn much longer. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to take the dead lawn mower batteries to the battery store and have them replaced. I should get the batteries for the cordless electric drill and the travel shaver replaced at the same time. Everything seems to depend on batteries these days.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1099

I got up extra early this morning, but it really didn't seem to make much of a difference. I still didn't get a lot accomplished. The problem with today's to-do list was that everything was tedious and time consuming. I did manage to get a new backup system in place, so I no longer have to worry about losing all my data in a hard drive crash. Not surprisingly, the very latest external drives were both faster and less expensive than the slightly older ones that would still connect to my computer. I wish I could have hooked up one of those superfast new USB-3 or Thunderbolt drives. Without them, it took me a long time to copy several terabytes of data.

It also took me an exceedingly long time to re-install Pro Tools, which happened to be the next thing on my list. Avid has never made it easy to install their software. First you have to get all the registration codes and serial numbers. Then you have to load all the codes into an iLok dongle that slips into an available USB port. Only then can you actually download the software.

I took a break from the computer tedium around mid-afternoon to take Dash to the vet. He's been waking us up almost every night around 3 AM, frantically wanting to go outside. When he gets outside, he eats grass and then throws up yellow phlegm. After he does this, he's completely normal for the rest of the day. After waiting in the lobby for almost an hour, we finally got a verdict on the strange behavior. Dash has sinus drainage. I have sinus drainage myself from time-to-time, but I don't need to go out in the yard and throw up. Oh, well. We'll give Dash some antihistamines and see if that clears things up.

I took a camera with me on our early walk, hoping to get some sunrise pictures. Unfortunately, the sun was already up. Hey, I'm not a morning person. Needless to say, I don't have many good sunrise pictures. Typically, it is the sun that wakes the dogs and I up each morning when it comes streaming through the bedroom window. I did manage to get a few nice pictures of geese swimming around in the lake. They must have gotten up earlier than I did.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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