Day 2427

Sometimes I get distracted by the smallest things. Today when I turned on the computer, I noticed that there was a fifteen second difference between the time on the computer and the time on my watch. Since both the computer and the watch receive a signal from the same NIST atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado, either the computer or the watch was wrong. The two displays should have been identical. It puzzled me that I didn't know which one was right. I rebooted the computer and replaced the battery in the watch, but the fifteen second difference remained. It was odd that this bothered me, since I could care less what time it actually was. This was an anomaly and it shouldn't have been happening. I get curious about things like this.

Last week at this time I was curious about a new app that lets me use my phone to purchase groceries and bypass the checkout line. I downloaded the app and was going to try it this week, but I completely forgot about it and ended up using the regular checkout line, just like I always do. I wonder how many weeks it's going to take before I remember that I have this handy tool in my pocket. We'll try again next week. Eventually, this thing will become second nature. I'm a creature of habit though. There's always a chance that I'll never use my phone to purchase groceries. I downloaded an app that lets me deposit checks to my bank using my phone two years ago and I still haven't used it.

It was so hot today that neither of the dogs wanted to walk very far. They did their business in a perfunctory way and returned to the house where it was air conditioned. When I was out with Dash, I saw a Great Blue Heron. Even the bird seemed hot. I made sure to water the lawn before the 10 AM water restriction deadline and started wishing for Winter to return. August is probably as bad as it gets. It's still hot in September, but the days are noticeably shorter. Hopefully, the air conditioner will keep working until October, when the weather gets nice again.

I started thinking about what I wanted my new website to look like and came to the inescapable conclusion that I didn't even need a website. Maybe I should just sell my domain to that company in Germany that makes the Sealander amphibious travel trailer. It figures that someone would use my name for a trailer that is also a boat. Who would want something like this? It's pretty expensive, not very big, and the literature says "for calm waters only." I bet more than a few of these things have sank. The unlikely vehicle must be getting more popular though, because I get e-mail messages almost every week asking for information about how to buy one.

It's time to go to the gym again. I should just quit taking Statins instead of going to the gym. One of the worst side effects from taking Statin drugs is that they cause muscle atrophy in some people. Even though I am active and get a lot of exercise, I have real trouble building muscle tissue. I know it's the Simvastatin. I keep asking my doctor if I can quit taking the pills, but he is obsessed with heart attacks and keeps reminding me that my Dad had a quadruple bypass at about my age. I guess I'll have to keep taking the Statins and just exercise a little harder tomorrow.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1735

Did you realize that while you were sleeping, U2 downloaded their entire new album to every iPhone in the entire world. I didn't believe this until I looked at my own phone and sure enough, there it was. I didn't buy or download the album myself. It just appeared on my phone. The same album was on Janet's phone and on every other iPhone in the world. I don't know how much it cost Apple to pull off this little stunt. I don't even know how it benefits them. I will admit though that this was pretty impressive.

Today got off to a slow start, which wasn't surprising since it was a Monday. By the time I had finished walking the dogs and eating breakfast, it was already 10:30 AM. It must have rained at some point during the night because Dash got exceptionally muddy walking through the soft ground. I usually clean the dogs paws with a damp rag before I let them inside. This mud was too much for a rag though. I had to hose him down. Since this is Texas, by the time I took the dogs out again for their evening walk, the ground was almost completely dry.

The lab work I had done at Baylor last week came back completely normal. My liver is doing just fine. Now I have no excuse to discontinue the Statins and Niacin. I'll be the first to admit these drugs are probably effective in controlling cholesterol. I just don't like the side effects of waking up with a dry mouth in the middle of the night feeling like I'm on fire as the Niacin dilates all the tiny blood vessels near the surface of my skin. Also, ever since I've been taking these new meds, my nose has been dripping like I've got a low level cold. It's irritating, but I guess it's better than a heart attack.

I only had one website to update today, so it was a good day to do some bookkeeping and pay bills. I don't know how economists can continue to say that we have low inflation. The cost of virtually everything I use on a daily basis has gone up. Often it has gone up a lot. Food costs more. Utility bills are higher. Gasoline is higher. Insurance is higher. I could go on and on. Just about the only thing that is cheaper are consumer electronics, but how many flat screen TV's do you need?

Dot really seems to have turned the corner. She has been accident free for almost a full week now. I'm starting to let her sleep wherever she wants now as long as I'm in the house. This is probably a mistake, since dogs are so unpredictable, but Dot is a lot happier having free rein of the house. Janet says I spoil these dogs. Of course I do.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1731 - 9/11

Every year at this time, NBC re-broadcasts the September 11, 2001 Today Show in its entirety. Every year I continue to watch this broadcast while I'm eating breakfast and I'm just as horrified as I was on the day I saw the events unfold on live TV. Thirteen years and several wars later, terrorism is still just as much of a problem as it was then. It's sad. As long as we continue thinking that the terrorists are just a few bad apples in a generally good basket the problem will never go away. The real problem is that a big chunk of the world is still living in the Middle Ages. Do we have the resolve to address the problem the way a Winston Churchill or a Harry Truman would have? I doubt it.

I managed to get one of yesterday's missing websites reinstated on a new server and back online toward the end of the day. Now I need to do the same thing with five more domains and we'll be back where we started. I'd like to think we'll be back where we started anyway. The reality is that there are probably dozens of little inconsistencies that I'll need to resolve in the days ahead. I know I'm going to have to re-write some online forms. Just about every hosting company seems to handle these things differently.

Dot had another good day at her physical therapy session. She can consistently do a twenty minute workout now and each week we increase the speed of the treadmill slightly during her interval training. I know that Dot would rather just take a long nap, but this is very good for her. Her muscle tone is improving and I honestly don't think any of our dogs were this strong at Dot's age. Her vet is pleased at how quickly the Incurin is starting to work as well. Dot has gone three days without an accident now. After two weeks we can start gradually reducing the amount of Incurin she receives until all she requires is a very low maintenance dose.

I go down to Baylor for another blood test tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that this new lab work will give me the ammunition I need to discontinue my Statin drugs. I don't like the side effects of statins, but if my liver panel comes back normal, I'm sure all my doctors will want to continue them. Statins and Niacin are much more effective at controlling Lipids and bad cholesterol than anything else on the market.

I got two new writing assignments today. I haven't done a lot of writing this summer, so it will be nice to have a change of pace from all the website work. I've got a big photo shoot scheduled for Saturday as well. I'm glad the dogs are getting better now. A month ago I wouldn't have had the time to do these things.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1728

I received a letter from my sister today telling me that her dog had died. Apparently, it had an undetected tumor very similar to Dot's abdominal cancer and the tumor ruptured. Very sad. I wonder why so many dogs end up having cancer at some point in their life. I've heard that up to 50% of all dogs eventually have some sort of cancer. I wonder why? Is it the food we feed our dogs these days? Is it the environment? Or are dogs just naturally predisposed to develop cancer? We were lucky to have caught Dot and Dash's cancer in time, but Janet and I have lost pets to cancer too. Spot died of cancer and so did Greta. Spot lived an additional three years after having surgery to remove the tumor, but it had already metastasized, so the cancer eventually returned. Greta never recovered from the surgery and died in the hospital.

Today was definitely a Monday. The day got off to a slow start and never picked up speed. I paid some bills, made some appointments for later in the week, and answered my mail, but that was about it. I was disappointed to discover that one of Dot's protective sleeping pads was wet when we woke up this morning, but then she made it through the rest of the day without another accident. Go figure. Things are definitely better than they were three weeks ago, but the road to recovery is certainly a rocky one. I'm still not sure if Dot's new medication is having any effect yet.

I must have exerted myself a little more than I thought I did at the gym yesterday. My arm has felt sore all day. Lately, I've been feeling like I'm falling apart. I need to go to the dentist. I need to have physical therapy for my dislocated shoulder. And I'd really like to stop taking the Statins my general practitioner has me taking to lower my cholesterol. I was fine with Zetia and Welchol, but the combination of Statins and time-release Niacin is driving me nuts. Taking large amounts of Niacin causes the small blood vessels to dilate and creates a flushing sensation that makes you feel like you're on fire. You are supposed to be asleep when this happens, but since the dogs wake me up a lot, I often have to deal with flushing. I wish the doctor would switch me back to my old meds, but every time I tell him how much I hate Statins, he tries to scare me with heart attack stories. This usually works. I know too many people my age who have already had a heart attack.

I wonder if it's normal to think about food so much. I'm not gaining weight and I don't eat all that much, but lately I spend more time thinking about what I'm going to eat next than about what I'm going to do next. For much of my life I've always had a big editing, photography, or music project that consumed my thoughts and time. I just don't find myself as interested in these things as I used to be. I sure do think about what's for dinner and what's for breakfast though. My dreams have changed too. I know they've changed, but unfortunately I forget them about ten seconds after I wake up. One day, maybe I'll remember these dreams and all will be revealed.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1655

When I was leaving the doctor's office today, I noticed a little piece of metal sticking out of my tire. This looked like something superficial that I could pull out with a pair of pliers myself, but since I was near the Land Rover dealer anyway I decided to drive over and let them get the piece of metal out of the tread. As soon as the technician began prying the little piece of metal out of the tire, I began to hear air escaping. I quickly learned that the tire was a total loss, due to the location of the puncture, and that I need a brand new tire. Yikes! This wasn't what I expected at all.

I sure was glad the dealer convinced me to purchase tire and wheel protection coverage when I purchased the car. I thought it was a big waste of money at the time, but in retrospect it turned out to be quite a bargain. It turns out that my fancy low profile nitrogen filled tires are quite a bit more expensive than the old truck tires I had on the Defender. I never dreamed a tire could be this expensive. I didn't have to pay for this one though, and I will always make sure I have tire and wheel protection coverage in the future.

My doctor visit was a bit disappointing. I thought I'd be able to convince the doc to discontinue a few medications, but instead he wanted to put me back on statin drugs to improve my cholesterol levels. My liver doctors had taken me off the statin drugs during my Hepatitis C treatment and I thought I was done with them forever. When I asked the doctor why he wanted to try statins and niacin again he told me that my new liver wouldn't help me that much if I had a heart attack. He also told me that my Cortisol levels were too high. "What causes that," I asked? "Stress." the doctor said. "You need to get rid of the stress in your life." "Well, how do you expect me to do that," I asked incredulously. "I don't know," the doctor said. "My Cortisol levels are even higher than yours." This made me smile. It almost made me laugh out loud.

I've always thought that I led a relatively stress-free life. Truthfully, it's just about impossible to avoid stress entirely in today's fast paced world. Prices of just about everything have increased a lot faster than wages. Everyone I know seems to expect more, while at the same time having less patience. Even the dogs seem to expect more. When I checked the baby monitor while I was at the car dealer, I discovered that they were both barking loudly. I laughed. Dot and Dash weren't alarmed about anything. It was their dinner time and they knew I was late.

It wasn't a very productive day, but I did make a little forward progress. I won't have to go back to the doctor again for a while, and I avoided a potentially dangerous flat tire on a Dallas freeway this weekend. I'm sure that's worth something. The dogs should actually be proud of me.

Rascal 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 1077

When I arrive for my physical exam, my doctor always starts the conversation by asking how I'm feeling. Today, I asked how he was feeling. Doc said he was tired. He'd been working ten hour days, since he was having trouble filling a couple of staff vacancies. The doctor and I have become friends over the years. We are about the same age and take a lot of the same meds. I understood exactly what he was saying. I work ten hour days a lot myself and am almost always tired.

That's the trouble with these annual physical exams. They don't make you any younger. At best, they just provide a road map for what to expect next. I've got my cholesterol and blood pressure under control. I've been immunized against all manner of terrible things. I eat a healthy diet and haven't gained any weight in years. Despite all this, it's still a long, slow downhill slide toward oblivion.

I appreciate how thorough my doctor is. I've learned a lot about medicine along the way by learning to interpret the mountains of tests I've been subjected to. It's fascinating stuff in a macabre sort of way. Since the dogs receive the same overprotective care that I do, I often get confused. Is it Dot that has the heart murmur, or me? Does Dash need to change his diet because of a fatty liver, or do I? Dash and I have both had kidney stones. And Dot and I both have problems with acid reflux. It gets complex.

There were a lot of website updates to attend to today. I'm glad that November is going out with a bang instead of a whimper. Business was slow during the first half of the month and it's nice to know that I haven't been forgotten. Cyber retailers certainly haven't forgotten me. My inbox was bombarded with Cyber Monday messages today. I even saw some new Apple laptops on sale. I didn't think that Apple ever put anything on sale. Although some of the deals were tempting, I didn't succumb to the ad onslaught. After a certain point, another technology toy doesn't change anything.

The doctor says that I need to start doing more exercise to combat the muscle atrophy associated with the Statin drugs I'm taking.  More?  You'd think walking five miles a day would be enough.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day