Day 4798 - Superbowl Sunday

That was a good game. I wasn't a huge fan of either team, but the game was competitive right down to the final seconds. I do think the best team won. I spent most of my career working in the advertising industry and I'd be the first to admit that I don't understand superbowl commercials anymore. Traditionally, these commercials are supposed to be the best of the best, but they are no longer funny or memorable. There wasn't a Budweiser commercial with Clydesdales and Dalmatians either. I still think Prince and Michael Jackson had the best halftime shows. Rihanna didn't even come close. It was a good game though. Hard to believe that Patrick Mahomes is only 27 years old.

Other than watching more football than I normally do, the rest of my day was pretty normal. We had a nice early morning walk with Dawn, ate a big weekend breakfast, and then I went mall walking. The mall seemed virtually empty today. A lot of the window displays have changed. Several stores seem to be featuring raincoats. I guess this makes sense. It is the rainy season here in Dallas. 

I still walk a lot slower indoors than I do outdoors. It's a mystery. I think I'm walking faster until Fitbit tells me otherwise. I don't spend a lot of time looking in the windows anymore. I've practically memorized everything. Mall walking is still a nice change of pace from my regular walks in the park. I wouldn't do it if the stores were open though. I prefer going to the mall when the stores are closed.

Dawn got her Sunday outing today. She seems to know that this is her day. She gets all excited about 30 minutes before we are ready to leave. You can tell she is excited, but as soon as the car starts she immediately goes into panic mode. I don't think we could ever take a long car trip with Dawn. Dawn doesn't really calm down in the car until she gets her ice cream cone. She's pretty normal after that.

The leaks have stopped. I put all the buckets away today. We've got a reprieve until the next rain storm, but unfortunately there is more rain on the horizon. It's supposed to rain again as soon as next Tuesday or Wednesday. These leaks are getting old. I'm really hoping that the roofing company I contacted gives me a decent bid so we can finally put an end to this madness.

I still haven't heard anything about the Crew-6 launch. I hate waiting until the last minute to learn whether I've been credentialed or not, but there's not much I can do about it. I like to think that the articles I write are of some value, but they're probably not of any consequence. Attending a launch still feels like work though. That's good. I'd hate to think that all I've got left are hobbies.

Tomorrow it's back to shredded wheat for breakfast and more long walks in the park. I should make an effort to add more variety to my life, but I probably won't. I like consistency, as long as we aren't talking about consistent rain. 

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4434 - Superbowl Sunday

Not a lot to complain about today. My team didn't win the Superbowl, but other than that it was a great day. Something in the air has changed and my allergies are gone. At least they're gone temporarily. The weather was nice today. By early afternoon the temperature was 65 degrees. My feet didn't bother me a lot either. I took three walks and managed to get 22,000 steps.

Before our Sunday outing with Dawn, Janet wanted to try giving Dawn gabapentin to see if it would help with her anxiety in the car. Our vet told us to give her the pills two hours before any anxiety provoking event and that they would wear off about four hours later. We can use the gabapentin as needed without having her take it all the time. 

I've always been a sceptic about any type of mood altering drug, but I'll have to admit that the pills did seem to work. The gabapentin took the edge off of Dawn's anxiety without doing anything dramatic. Dawn was still alert, had fun smelling things, and enjoyed her walk. There was still a little anxiety in the car, but the difference was dramatic. She seemed more relaxed about her walk as well. The one segment of the walk that made her nervous previously seemed normal now. All in all, this seems to be a safe and practical way to reduce stress in the car. 

The lady at the drive thru window finally noticed Dawn in the back seat and gave her a free pup cone this morning. Dawn thought this was a great idea. Usually we order two cones, eat some ourselves, and then give Dawn the rest. Today Dawn still got to share our cones and then had another cone all for herself. The gabapentin certainly didn't affect her taste for ice cream. I don't think she had much to complain about today either.

After I finished my long walk, I attempted to bleach away the brown stains in the living room ceiling. I must have learned something from my past attempts because I didn't make a mess this time. The ceiling looks much better now, but unfortunately the source of the leak is still up there somewhere. If we have another hard rain, I'm sure the stains will reappear. If I were younger I might make a further effort to find this leak. I've tried though and it seems hopeless. I really need to just give up this fight and have a new roof installed. I'm sure there would still be standing water on any new roof, but with a good enough warranty it probably wouldn't even matter. My goal now is just to avoid going up there and risk breaking my neck.

I was disappointed that Cincinnati didn't win today's game. I never followed either team very closely, but Cincinnati seems like a better city than Los Angeles. I can't find much to like about LA anymore. I can't find much to like about the current crop of Superbowl television commercials either. Most of them didn't even make sense. Today's advertising creatives don't seem to have a sense of humor. Their attitude appears to be lets spend a lot of money, create a lot of action, and make a lot of noise. The halftime show certainly made a lot of noice.  Call me old fashioned but I would have preferred hearing the Eagles sing Hotel California to this. The soundtrack to today's chaotic life has no melody.

I imagine that the power company crew will be back to trim our trees tomorrow. We still don't know whether they will cut the trees down or just make a mangled mess of things again. I suppose we will go visit the kennel dogs, but it depends on what's going on in the yard. I don't really feel comfortable leaving Dawn alone if the yard is filled with the sounds of trucks and chain saws.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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4063 - Superbowl Sunday

I expected Tampa Bay to win tonight, but I didn't expect the game to be a complete rout. Kansas City was completely humiliated. It just goes to show that you should never count the old guys out. Experience beats youth almost every time. At 43, Tom Brady never looked better. At 68, Bruce Arians is one of the oldest head coaches in the NFL. No risk it, no biscuit is what Bruce always says. I think Elon Musk would agree with this philosophy. Jeez. Rob Gronkowski even came out of retirement to play this year. Lets hear it for the old guys.

The NFL could learn a few lessons from the old guys when it comes to halftime shows. What on earth has happened to music. Do today's artists even have a clue? Personally, I don't think there has been a truly great halftime show since Micheal Jackson. Prince came pretty close when he sang Purple Rain in a driving rainstorm, but Michael Jackson is still the king of pop. Bruce Springsteen put on a good show. Bruno Mars put on a good show. That's about where it all ended. Recent Superbowl shows have been uniformly terrible. I couldn't even hear the Weeknd's vocals. The sound was muffled and there was way too much reverb. OK, I'll admit it. I've never even heard of the Weeknd. Who is this guy? And what on earth was that chorus of guys wearing jockstraps on their heads? 

I can't say much for the ads either. Superbowl ads used to be one of the best things about the game. Not anymore. The quality of Superbowl ads has been slowly deteriorating for years, but this year hit a new low. Usually car ads are the worst, but this year two of them were the best of the lot. I liked the humorous GM ad taking on Norway and I liked the serious Jeep ad about coming together in the middle. Most of the rest of the ads were crap. This is what happens when you cancel Stan Richards. There used to be Tom Brady's in the ad industry as well, but giants like George Lois and William Bernbach just don't exist anymore. 

After we finished walking Dawn, Janet and I took our long walk together. There is one particular duck we see frequently that we've always called the Lonely Duck because she never seemed to be part of a group. All the other ducks want nothing to do with this one. Today we watched the Lonely Duck chase four larger ducks off a little island. The four ducks had a conference and all went back after the little duck, but she lowered her head and held her ground.  She ran straight toward the larger ducks and they all scattered and started running toward the water. That wasn't good enough for the little duck. She started swimming toward the larger ducks and chased them entirely out of the lake. This performance explains a lot. We're not going to call her the Lonely Duck any more. From now on, she's the Mean Duck.

Tomorrow is Dawn's first anniversary living with us. A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Dawn is a well loved member of the family and we are convinced that she really likes it here, but she's still scared of everything. I don't think this is going to change. She is an older dog and has a lot of bad memories. You have to be careful not to make sudden movements or talk too loudly. She's always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Dawn has quite a personality though and always makes us laugh. In an odd way, I think we were all meant for each other.

Next week ought to be interesting. It's going to continue to get colder, although I don't think there is snow in the forecast anymore. Janet and I get our Covid shots next week. Will we get the Pfizer or the Moderna version? I still have no idea which of the two is better. If anyone does know, they're certainly not going to tell us at this point. We'll see how it goes. Hey, if we get to travel again, I'm good.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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