Day 1220

Around 8 PM last night I thought I saw a flash of lightning on the Southeast horizon. I'm always a bit worried about lightning at dog training class since our class takes place on top of a hill. Everyone walking their dog is a potential lightning rod. I didn't hear any thunder, so I thought the storm was still far away. It wasn't until this morning that I realized what I saw was actually the flash from the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. Something similar happened back in 2003, when I heard the sonic boom from the space shuttle Columbia exploding overhead. I had no idea what that was either until I put the pieces together while watching a news broadcast several hours later.

I'm a big complainer. Ordinarily I would be complaining about the water leaking through the roof as a result of last night's severe storms. The recent events in Boston and West put everything in perspective though. I've got nothing to complain about at all. Actually, I'm quite lucky. When I was walking the dogs today, I noticed that a huge oak tree that Dash loves to pee on had become uprooted during the storm and fallen directly across the path. We have stood under this tree many, many times. It's just lucky that we weren't nearby when it fell.

I almost passed out when I was up on the roof sweeping the water away this morning. It's generally not a good idea to pass out on your roof. I'm almost certain that the lightheaded, fainting sensation was caused by the carvedilol I take. These meds slow down the heart rate and can make you quite dizzy if you stand up quickly from a squatting or sitting position. When I'm up on the roof, I'm constantly squatting to look for a leaking seam, and then standing up quickly again. I guess I'll have to avoid going up on the roof right after I take these pills.

I went to the battery store to pick up a replacement battery for a power drill this afternoon. The original battery was made in Japan, but I noticed that this new one was made in China. I'm seeing more and more of these Chinese batteries, even though some manufacturers specifically warn against using them. The instruction manual for one of my digital cameras even says that using Chinese replacement batteries will void the warranty. What are you going to do though? Everything is made in China these days. The only batteries that are made in the United States that I've heard of recently are the lithium ion electric car batteries made by A123 Systems. Oh, I forgot. That company filed for bankruptcy recently, so their batteries will probably be made in China soon as well.

I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. It's been a long week and I'll be glad when its over. I'd like to do a whole lot of nothing this weekend, but the Dalmatian Rescue group has another Casino Party. Hopefully, that's the only thing that's going on this weekend. We don't need any more rain either. I'm tired of the rain. Like I said, I'm not complaining, but Mattie looks exactly the way I feel.

Mattie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 906

I'm thinking of pairing down my collections. A wiser decision would probably be to stop collecting things entirely. I've collected stuff since I was a kid. When I was young, I collected Dinky Toys. When I was in architecture school, I started collecting chairs. When I became an adult and had a real job, I started collecting art. Over the years, I've collected things as esoteric as the first editions of all John Fowles books, and as ridiculous as brass scale model trains. There are even people who say the only reason I have friends is so I can collect memories. I don't know why guys collect things. Just about every guy I know collects something. Probably guys collect stuff for the same reason women buy shoes. It's just in their DNA.

The only thing I managed to collect today was another cell phone bill, an electric bill, and a new batch of website revisions. I'll deal with all of these things on Monday. Today, I wrote the articles on my to-do list and got my June invoices in the mail. Oh, I also had a delicious stack of pancakes for breakfast. After a month of experimentation, I've reverted to my original breakfast restaurant and I'll probably stay there for a while.

Janet doesn't want me to mow the new grass in the backyard, because she thinks I'll kill it. It needs to be mowed eventually though. With all the rain we've been having lately, the grass is doing fabulously. I haven't measured it or anything, but it's getting pretty tall. How tall are you supposed to let St. Augustine Grass get anyway? I don't know.

I've noticed that every time Thomas Hawk mentions my name that I get hundreds of new followers on Google. I hope that I don't run out of pretty things to photograph. Early in the year there was an abundance of beautiful sunsets. Then there were some spectacular foggy mornings. Lately, I've been photographing Texas wildflowers. This year, wildflowers are abundant, since the weather conditions are ideal. The Summer heat is on its way though. A month from now, all the flowers will be dried and withered. I'll need to find something new to photograph. Air conditioners would probably be a good subject.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 682

I woke up sleepy after watching all eleven innings of the Rangers game last night. It's hard to believe that the Rangers came within one strike of winning the World Series twice in that game and still managed to lose. I guess I do understand though. It seems like I've been one strike away from success quite a few times in my life.

I'm glad it's Friday. It's been a tiring week, and today was no exception. After finishing the required October article for the writer's group I participate in, completing another watch article, dealing with a few web problems and walking the dogs, all I had time to do was sweep the standing water from last night's rains off the roof. Where did all the fun go. Lately, I just feel like one of those Hamsters spinning on a wheel in their cage.

I'll have to admit that this evening was fun though. We took the dogs for their long promised dinner at Cafe Lago. The dogs absolutely love this place and we think the food is pretty good ourselves. The unique thing about Cafe Lago is that the head chef for the restaurant cooks the dog's menu as well. The doggie items on the menu are absolutely delicious and completely safe for dogs to eat. Dot had the meatloaf tonight and Dash had the roasted chicken. I couldn't resist ordering my favorite Cuban Pulled Pork Sandwich again. I've never been to Cuba, but I can't imagine that this sandwich would taste any better in Havana.

I noticed today that Thomas Hawk had given a +1 to one of the photographs I posted on my Google page. That almost made up for the dismal decline in my Klout score the other day. I try not to take the daily ebb and flow of the social media world too seriously, but it can be hard to ignore if your job is basically staring at a computer all day. I'd kind of like to believe that all the time I spend online actually means something, but it probably doesn't.

I took a quick peek at the game on the TV in the other room. The Rangers are behind 3 to 2 in the fifth inning. If the game is anything like last night's, the night is still young.

Abi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 577

I finally bit the bullet and got my Google+ profile set up today. Jeez, just what I need...one more chunk of social media real estate to watch over. My friend Larry Brauner convinced me that Google+ was important for bloggers though, and Becky Kopprasch had a neat tutorial on her blog showing how to conveniently move all your Facebook friends over to Google+ without a whole lot of pain. Two hours later I was good to go. The whole process was a bit more difficult than I expected. Before you can even sign up for Google+ you have to be invited. Then, you have to figure out how to attract friends. This is probably the hard part, because the last thing most people need is a second Facebook. Before I got my account properly configured, I found myself setting set a Yahoo account and a G-mail account as well. Somewhere along the line, I added Klout and Spotify accounts too. Maybe it's worth the effort though, because Google+ is totally integrated with Google search and participation will probably increase your Google ranking. Basically I've got a Google+ account now for exactly the same reason that my blog is hosted on Blogger: Google owns the Internet and I'm just along for the ride.

The rest of the day was pretty normal. I answered client's questions. I wrote some articles. I made a few website updates. I finished up the day by going to the bank and picking up something for dinner at Central Market. This is what I do every Friday. I'm supposed to write something on the topic of celebration for my writers group this month. My mind is a blank. I think the whole concept of celebration has become a bit fuzzy to me. Life isn't bad, but I'm certainly not giddy with excitement.

Maybe I should just quit watching television. Is anyone else sick of listening to politicians argue about the debt ceiling? That's all that seems to be on television these days. I'm tired of all the posturing on both sides. Jeez guys, just shake hands, make some sort of deal and move on. That's what most of us want you to do. I've had to make plenty of compromises in my life. I expect the people I've elected to do the same thing.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 534

I got a call from the FBI today, asking if I would be willing to be a character reference for a friend of mine who is in the middle of a background check for a high security clearance. The agent said they needed to have someone talk with me for about twenty minutes. I asked where they wanted to meet. "We're in Sacramento," the agent says. When I told him that I lived in Dallas, there was a long pause, and then the agent said he could transfer the interview to someone in my area. I told the guy that my friend could probably keep a secret pretty well. "Hey, I've known him for over five years and I still don't know what he does for a living," I say. The agent laughed and said someone would be calling me. Our government at work, I guess.

Dot's painting arrived in the mail today and it looked even better than the JPEG image I showed you guys a few days ago. Carolyn Finnell is a talented painter and we definitely want her to do a portrait of Dash as well. Several of our friends saw Dot's picture and said they would like paintings of their pets as well. I have a feeling that Carolyn might end up painting a lot more Dalmatians than she bargained for.

I might have to have a beekeeper come out and remove the hive from its mystery location inside my walls. The situation seems hopeless. I've sprayed three gallons of insecticide in and around the entrance to the hive and still the bees keep coming. The pest control store keeps telling me that lots of bees have been killed, but as long as the queen is still alive at the center of things, new bees will keep being attracted to the hive. So far, there seems to be an endless supply of worker bees willing to die for their queen. I'm still very reluctant to have the bee keeper come out though. He would have to tear a hole in the roof to get at where the hive is probably hidden. I have enough problems with my leaking roof already. If the beekeeper tears a hole in the roof, I'll probably never get it properly sealed again.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I probably say that a lot, but that's the way I feel. Every weekend this little hampster can finally get off the hampster wheel for a little while.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 443

I finally got all my ring binders and file folders full of receipts assembled and took them over to my accountant's office. I thought they would be pleased that I had finally switched over to the Quickbooks accounting software they've been trying to get me to use for the past several years. I asked if they could read the disk with the Quickbooks file I had made for them. "Sure, we can read it just fine," they told me, "but you've set up all your files wrong." I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I set the files up in a way that made intuitive sense to me. Whenever I do something that makes sense to me, it rarely makes sense to anyone else. When I asked if they could work with what they had, they said they could, but it would probably cost me a little more. Again, this is pretty much par for the course. At lease I can finally check this task off my list.

One of the animal rescue groups I work with has their big fundraising event of the year in May. I always do the promotional materials for this event and this year the theme is going to be based on the movie Gone With the Wind. Somehow at tonight's planning meeting, I agreed to recreate the classic 1939 movie poster with a dog dressed up as Clark Gable and a cat as Vivien Leigh. I have no idea how I'm going to get a cat to look up lovingly at a dog wearing a clip-on moustache and a white shirt open to the waist, but I've got about a week and a half to figure it all out. One thing is already certain. Dot and Dash aren't going to be in this picture. I couldn't bring either of them within ten feet of a cat without total chaos breaking out on the set.

I was supposed to start on my new annual report project today, but I never received the input material. I guess some things never change. Even back when I used to do a lot of annual report projects, I never got the input material on time. Hey, at least it's Friday tomorrow. I always like Fridays...mostly because the next day is Saturday.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day