Day 4800 - Valentines Day

Only two hundred days to go. I should have established a less ambitious blogging goal back in the beginning, but I still think I can do this. In less than a year I will have written a daily post for 5000 consecutive days.

I wasn't surprised to see the roof start leaking again when we woke up this morning. We got a lot of rain last night. Thunder and lightning woke me up several times and I always got up and checked for leaks. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep. The leaks didn't start until I was having breakfast this morning but it didn't take long for the water to make a mess of things. We had water running down a wall again, making it impossible to capture in a bucket. Luckily this leak was in a hallway where we have brick floors.

It was still raining early this morning, so Dawn didn't get her usual sunrise walk. We didn't forget her though. When the rain ended, Dawn got a nice walk later in the day. I didn't take my usual long walk because I was too busy dealing with roof leak problems. I did get my 10,000 steps though. Just barely.

All in all the leaks weren't nearly as bad as the previous two rain storms. The pumps on the roof were working well too. When I started seeing clear sky, I climbed up on the roof and swept away the remaining standing water. So far, so good. The leaks have finally stopped and I don't see any more rain in the two week forecast. If the roof gets completely dry again I may try to patch the obvious holes with the remaining Armor Flex silicon coating I have left. I doubt that this will fix the problem, but maybe it will help.

I still haven't gotten an estimate for replacing the roof from the roofing company, but I wasn't expecting anything until the end of the week. Prices were pretty high when I replaced the roof the last time and I expect that they are even worse now. I don't have much of a choice though. You just can't live in a house with leaks all over the place.

Although I had the best of intentions to quit climbing on the roof, it looks like this unpleasant chore is still going to be a part of my future for a while. I'm more careful these days but I'm also more clumsy. I definitely don't want to end my days by falling off a roof. Maybe by Summer we'll have a new roof and I can put this all behind me.

We didn't have our usual Valentines cupcakes this year. Janet had a class this evening and we were both tired anyway. Hopefully tomorrow will just be an ordinary February day. I'd like to hear something about the Crew-6 launch soon so I can make plans, but I'll be happy enough if nothing happens at all tomorrow. As long as the house stays dry, I'm good.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3704 - Valentines Day

I wasn't going to go to Sprinkles this year, but then I remembered that Dawn had never had a Pupcake. I had to go. Pupcakes for the dogs has been part of our Valentines Day tradition for a very long time. It was nice that we have a dog around the house so we can continue this tradition for another year. I got some cupcakes for us as well, but this year the day was about Dawn. Janet and I are both really happy to have her as a houseguest.

It was a beautiful day, but the temperature was only in the twenties when I woke up this morning. No pipes froze and it was back above freezing by mid morning, but this was still very cold by Dallas standards.  I'm glad I removed all the water from the roof a few days ago. It would have all turned to ice by now.

I tried the new neighborhood restaurant this morning and it was terrible. I like a good breakfast taco as much as the next guy, but this wasn't the place for me. There was certainly plenty of food. I got my meal in one of those tin foil pie pans piled high with Chorizo, breakfast potatoes, and refried beans. There was a stack of flour tortillas so I could roll my own breakfast tacos, but the food got cold before I could finish it. I'm sure this gutbuster of a meal was exactly what most people wanted, but I should have gone back to the hotel and had French Toast. I wish I knew I was in the mood for a soothing meal before I had consumed a huge plate of Chorizo.

Janet had already left for the gym by the time I returned home. We've been leaving Dawn at home for short periods of time so she will gain some confidence about being alone. Dawn was fine, but I could tell she was glad that her people had returned. She gave me a big Dalmatian smile and started wagging her entire body. I waited until Janet returned to go on my walk. There was no sense in leaving Dawn alone again.

It didn't take me long to realize that this morning's breakfast was going to give me a major case of heartburn. When will I ever learn? I need to be eating cottage cheese and peaches for breakfast instead of  chorizo and refried beans. I thought that a long walk might settle my stomach, but all I got was sore feet. I should have listened to Dawn. I could tell she wanted me to take a nap with her.

I never did get started on my Solar Orbiter story today. I'm so slow that I ran out of time. I guess I was busy enough. I just didn't do what I intended. I paid some bills and took them to the post office. I went to Sprinkles and got cupcakes. I picked up some things for dinner at the grocery store. And I tried with limited success to bleach the stains from our recent roof leak out of the kitchen ceiling.

I'm sure my story would be easier to write if I had a deadline to meet. Deadlines motivate me. My recent trip was fascinating and there is definitely a story here. I just need to get it done before the Solar Orbiter becomes old news. Maybe tomorrow. The only thing that could stop me from writing tomorrow is roof repairs. The roof repairs do have a deadline. I need to find this leak before the next rains arrive.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3339 - Valentine's Day

Traditions die hard. I continue getting cupcakes at Sprinkles and a small orchid in a pot every Valentine's Day. I've been doing this for years even though we seldom eat sweets. I used to have to stand in a long line that snaked outside the store to get my cupcakes but Sprinkles isn't as trendy as it was five of six years ago. The line was very short today, but the cupcakes are still delicious. I used to be able to keep the orchids alive for several seasons. They would bloom again and again. Now they always die after a month or two. The orchids are definitely cheaper than they used to be though. Maybe there's a correlation. Sprinkles makes cupcakes for dogs too. I always get a few, while wondering if they are really safe. Dogs aren't supposed to have sugar, but I wouldn't be surprised if these weren't just small human cupcakes. Hopefully the frosting is just cream cheese or something.

Dash has gotten more enthusiastic about his daily walks. I hope this is a sign that he is feeling better. Something has changed. On most days he doesn't need to follow Janet anymore. This morning he confidently headed out the back gate on his own and I completed the entire walk by myself. It doesn't always go this smoothly, but Dash definitely does seem in better spirits. We stopped wearing the leg brace when Dash started using the Help 'Em Up Harness. It was difficult to attach the brace to the new harness and Dash was walking so slow that it didn't seem to matter anyway. I wonder if it is easier for him to walk without the brace? The whole idea of the knee brace was to keep a partial cruciate tear from becoming worse. We thought the brace would make it easier for Dash to walk, but maybe it did the opposite. Caring for a sick dog is always a learning experience. Occasionally, Dash ends up being the teacher.

I wonder if I am going to be perpetually tired. It certainly seems that way. This morning Janet woke me up and said that Dash looked like he was ready to walk. You hate to miss these opportunities, so I quickly got dressed and off we went. By the time we returned, it was much too late to go back to bed again. I slowly drank my morning smoothie, stopping from time to time to clean up poop. Dash has plenty of time to poop on these long meandering walks, but he often waits until he's home again to do his business. He doesn't do this on purpose. An incontinent dog just isn't able to plan ahead.

I had to turn the air conditioner on this afternoon. The temperature was in the high 70's today. A few weeks ago it was below freezing. I've given up on predicting Texas weather. I've often worn a t-shirt and shorts in the same week I've needed my warmest down parka. I check the weather app on my phone every morning before we take our walk, but even that isn't always helpful. Sometimes it seems like it's ten degrees colder down by the lake than it is in our back yard. Basically, you can end up wearing Summer clothes in the Winter in Texas, but you never end up wearing Winter clothes in the Summer.

I didn't really think Galentine's Day was a thing until I saw a whole row of special "Galentine's" cupcakes in Sprinkles today. I wonder if these were day old cupcakes? I think Galentine's Day was yesterday. It seems weird to me when made up holidays from old TV sitcoms become real and start being celebrated. It happened with Festivus too. Maybe in the future all our holidays will originate on TV shows.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2974 - Valentines Day

I don't understand AT&T at all. A couple of guys came out to bury the fiber optic line today. After they'd been working for a while I went outside to see what they were doing. Much to my surprise, they were laying an entirely new cable. "Why aren't you burying the cable that is already hooked up," I asked? "That's just the temporary cable," one of the guys said. They didn't hear me when I mentioned that both cables were exactly the same. "Aren't you going to hook the new cable up," I asked when they were finished. "We don't know how," one guy told me. The other guy said that someone else would come back later in the week to connect the new cable they just buried. Jeez. That's three trips for one cable. I don't get it.

I ended up getting cupcakes after all. I'm superstitious and I hate to mess with tradition on symbolic holidays. As usual, there was a long line at Sprinkles. Every single woman in line was texting someone or checking their Facebook page. None of the men were. This probably means something, but I'm not going to hazard a guess.

I went to pick up a prescription on the way home from the cupcake store. "Medicare won't let us fill this prescription until Saturday," the pharmacist said. "But I'm out of pills," I told her. "You shouldn't be,"  the pharmacist told me. I couldn't convince her that I only had two pills left. I think they miscounted the number of pills they gave me 90 days ago, but there is no way of proving it. Whatever. I guess I'll just skip a few days.

I did get Dash's prescription filled. It's always easier to deal with veterinarians than with my own doctors. I often wonder why veterinary medicine is so much more straightforward and affordable than human medicine. Probably it's because insurance isn't involved. Once insurance companies enter the picture, prices tend to skyrocket.

I was going to pick up something for dinner at Central Market, but I couldn't find a parking place anywhere. Not only were all the spaces filled, there were dozens of car circling around waiting for people to leave. One long line was enough for today, so I gave up and went home. There wasn't much in the refrigerator, but I made some pasta with a leftover meatball, some olive oil, and a piece of cheese. My creation was surprisingly good. It's too bad I don't like to cook because my own meals are almost always better than the take out dinners I live on during the week.

I've started watching the Olympics because it's getting hard to avoid it on TV. Curling is surprisingly interesting. It took me a while to figure out what the brooms and all the sweeping was about. Did the sweeping make the rock go faster or slower?  Apparently, sweeping the ice decreases friction and makes the rock go faster and straighter. The game is kind of like shuffleboard, but involves a lot of finesse and strategy. Admittedly, curling is not as exciting as watching Shaun White do back-to-back 1440s, but it's an intriguingly pleasant game I can watch while I'm eating dinner.

I wonder when the fiber optic technician is going to return. I never dreamed this installation would be so complicated. A fiber optic connection is very fast, but I'm not even sure I need fast anymore. I rarely upload or download huge files anymore. I'd rather have rock solid reliability than speed. I was actually happy enough with the 2800 baud modem I used back in the 1990's.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2619 - Valentine's Day

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. It was raining quite hard, so walking the dogs was out of the question. Apparently, Dot and Dash thought going out in the yard was out of the question too. Dot peed on the porch and Dash wouldn't go outside at all. I don't blame them. It was wet and very cold.

I was hoping that the rain would quit before I made my annual trip to Sprinkles to get Valentine's cupcakes, but it never did. Actually, the rain turned out to be a good thing this year, because there wasn't a line. There is almost always a long line at this place. I can't even remember how long Valentine's Day cupcakes have been a tradition at our house, but it's been a long time. On the way home I stopped at Central Market and got an orchid in a pot. I joined a long line of tired looking men holding flowers and chocolates. The men were from all walks of life, but they all had that slightly confused look in their eye that told me they weren't sure if they got the right thing. Of course we did the right thing. We didn't forget.

Sick dogs and an all day rain aren't a good combination. Dot seemed totally unaware of the rain and took just as long looking for the right place to pee as she does on a warm sunny day. I just about froze taking her outside today. Dash did his business quickly, but always managed to find the muddiest part of the yard before he came inside again. I was constantly cleaning dogs, floors, and rugs today. This weather certainly isn't doing me any favors. My cold seems to be getting worse.

Work continues to be slow, but I did manage to get my February invoices in the mail today. It occurred to me this weekend that I'd be a lot busier if I actually started looking for work. Like that's ever going to happen. I hate cold calling. Most of my friends and contemporaries have retired. And millennials irritate me. I don't think websites really matter anymore either. When everybody has one, they just become a contemporary version of a Yellow Pages ad. People are spending all their time on Facebook anyway. I mostly visit websites to find an address or a phone number these days. The design of the website doesn't matter nearly as much as how easy it is to navigate. Like it or not, what I do has become a commodity.

The stock market hit another all time high today. I hope this rally continues, but I suspect that it won't. It's always hard to know when to sell. You want to ride a rally as long as you can, but you don't want to be the last one to leave a sinking ship. My opinion changes from day to day. Tax cuts and deregulation will definitely be good for business, but chaos isn't good for anyone. Maybe I should sell a few things just in case.

I sure hope it warms up tomorrow. The combination of dark gray skies, wet dogs, and a bitterly cold wind do nothing to improve my mood. The cupcakes sure were delicious though, and I think Janet liked the flower.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2252 - Valentine's Day

We got to sleep in until almost 8 AM this morning, which is almost unheard of. Both dogs slept soundly. There were no accidents during the night. And best of all, after our morning walk, we had bacon for breakfast. Who could ask for more. I didn't make it to the gym today because I had to catch up on a lot of Saturday errands that got postponed by yesterday's photoshoot. It was no great loss though. I didn't really feel like going to the gym anyway.

When I was out running errands this afternoon I noticed that I had another nail in one of my tires. Damn. It's almost impossible to avoid getting nails and screws in your tires in Dallas. Janet has had three nails in her tires during the past year and I've had two. I don't know where these nails come from, but they're everywhere. The situation has gotten so bad that I've even thought of investing in a set of run-flat tires. I can't imagine changing a tire on the side of the road in this city. The traffic is so bad that you'd probably get killed. The tire is still holding air, but getting it fixed is the first thing on my to-do list for tomorrow.

I'm apparently not the only one who has made Sprinkles Cupcakes a Valentine's Day tradition. Every time I go to the store on this day there is a huge line out front waiting to place their order. The wait wasn't so bad today, because it looked like it was going to rain any minute and even though the cupcakes are delicious, they are not worth getting wet for. I didn't even have to pay for the cupcakes today because Janet discovered a gift certificate she won in a charity silent auction quite some time ago. I thought the certificate had probably expired, but the store honored it and even told me that I could redeem the gift certificate a little bit at a time since I really only wanted four cupcakes today, plus another two small ones for the dogs.

I received an e-mail from a veterinarian this afternoon asking if I was still interested in designing a website for him. I had initially contacted this guy over two years ago and then just assumed he wasn't interested because I never heard back from him. This just goes to show that some things take time. I'm always delighted when these sleeper cell jobs come back to life. I've made tons of contacts over the years, but I just don't have the energy or inclination to make cold calls anymore. There are certainly a lot more people out there that I haven't heard from in a long time. If even half of them still remembered me, I could be busy for a long, long time.

Dot is ageless. I took this Valentine's Day portrait of her quite a few years ago, but she still looks absolutely the same today. Dash looks pretty young too, but that's probably because he actually is a lot younger than Dot. We're all getting older though. Now Janet is the only one in hte family who isn't taking blood pressure medication.

Tomorrow is President's Day. Is this a holiday for all the presidents, or just the ones like Washington and Lincoln who used to have their own holidays? It's a weird holiday. The post office is closed, but FedEx and UPS are still making deliveries. Some banks are closed, but others remain open. Mattress stores seem to love this day, because they always seem to have huge President's Day sales. For me, it's just another day, I hope I can get my tire fixed.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2251

The photoshoot went well today. All things being equal, I might not have chosen to place a lot of cats in a big pile of sand. As you might expect, the cats immediately thought the sand was a catbox. It might have been better to select dogs that weren't scared to put their head through a hole in the painted backdrop too, since the whole concept was based on animals putting their heads through cutout holes in the backdrop. These were minor things though. You can't really expect animals to anticipate what the art director had in mind.

The team I was working with was great and eventually we were able to make everything work as intended. I'm glad I was only taking the images today. Since the animals didn't really want to take a group shot, we had to photograph them all individually and will reassemble the group portrait in Photoshop. If the animals had been cooperative, this afternoon's photo would have been a piece of cake. Now, it's going to take someone a long time to recreate the illusion of animal harmony through the magic of Photoshop. I wonder what people did before Photoshop? It has saved me again and again.

The bird was fairly cooperative. Maybe the art director can change the concept to feature the bird. I was able to get lots of shots of the bird sitting exactly where he was supposed to be. This still leaves three dogs, a large cat, and lots of puppies and kittens who had no interest in being where they were supposed to be. When these animals are eventually composited into position, I think the photo will make a cute promotional poster. I'm still not sure how they'll use the photos of the kittens pooping in the sand though.

Since I spent most of the afternoon at the photoshoot, I wasn't able to finish my normal Saturday errands. It looks like I'll be doing the grocery shopping tomorrow instead of going to the gym. I wish I had time to get Valentine's Day cupcakes today. We always get cupcakes at Sprinkles on Valentines Day and I'm sure there will be a huge line at the store tomorrow. I could always just pick up some cupcakes at Kroger, but it wouldn't be the same. You could tell the difference immediately.

Janet left this evening in a long dress to go to some special work event. I think it was some sort of awards show. By the time she returns, the rest of us should be asleep unless Dot refuses to poop. I've taken her outside three times already this evening and she appears to be just as stubborn as the dogs at the photoshoot this afternoon. I'm tired and would really like a good night's sleep, so I'll take her outside a few more times before I give up entirely. The night is young.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1522 - Valentine's Day

To a dog, Valentine's Day is just like any other day, except that sometimes you get dressed up in silly costumes, and other times you get an extra treat after dinner. Ours usually get a Sprinkles dog cupcake. These look exactly like the Sprinkles cupcakes for people, except that they are for dogs. I hope they are made with dog safe ingredients and aren't packed with sugar. I've never really asked. Dot and Dash sure like them though.

This morning, when I was driving home from my breakfast restaurant, I noticed a lot of men washing their cars, so I decided to wash mine as well. Men seem to like to wash cars, especially on a nice day. There is something satisfying about a clean car. It is well within the realm of possibility. A clean house is nothing but a pipe dream. With two Dalmatians and clutter everywhere, I've given up on ever having a clean house.

Dot is just about back to normal now. Her eyes are bright and her energy has returned. The only problem I'm having now is figuring out where to keep her, so she'll be safe when I have to leave the house. When I look around the house, there are lots and lots of cloth or leather things a dog could chew on if they got in one of those frantic chewing moods. For now, I put up some dog gates and confine her in a hallway area where there are brick floors. There is no need to confine Dash, but since he likes to sleep on the bed when we're gone, he ends up being confined too. Dot's temporary hallway pen blocks his exit. Neither dog seems to mind this arrangement since they sleep most of the day anyway.

The complex boarding arrangements add even even additional time to my daily dog care routines. Now that I'm walking each dog separately and creating separate spaces for them every time I leave the house, there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. No sane person would spend this much time being a dog butler, but you guys probably figured out that I'm not entirely sane quite a while ago.

I paid a bunch of bills this afternoon and now I feel poor again. Money seems to flow in and out of my hands like the tide. I need more lucky breaks like I got at the grocery store this morning. I ended up getting a $30 Filet mignon for $9 because somebody mistakenly mislabeled it. I didn't even realized that I had selected such an exclusive little piece of beef until I heard two butchers conferring about the price. They were good to their word and let me have the price marked on the case. I think they took that $9 sign down as soon as I left.

It looks like we've got a three day weekend with decent weather coming up. I'm still not sure what President's Day is all about, but I'll take any excuse I can get not to work. Who knows, the dogs might even get two trips to the dog park.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1509

I shot lots of pictures of dogs in tutus today. You get a different crowd for Valentines Day pet pictures than for Santa pictures. There were very few big dogs and no families. Everybody was pretty young today. A lot of people wanted to have their picture taken with their dog. Your first thought is that the picture is going to be a gift to a special someone of the owner. Then you realize that the dog actually is the owner's valentine. That's OK, I guess. I've seen surveys saying that dogs are increasingly the significant other in many people's lives.

Christmas pictures are almost always expansive, happy affairs. Families bring in four or five big, rowdy dogs, a few kids, and even a cat and then try to cram everything into one picture. Valentines Day pictures are kind of lonely by comparison. It's usually a single small dog accompanied one well dressed young person.

I made it through the day with no further injuries to my shoulder, but realized that you can't really do much with one arm. There were so many things today that just required two hands. Maybe abstaining from walking Dot and Dash and limiting my workouts to walking on a treadmill will help the healing process, but there are so many other ways you use your shoulder muscles every day. A host of simple little things like putting on your pants in the morning, drying your back with a towel after taking a shower, or putting groceries into a grocery cart all have to be re-thought. This is probably why my rehabilitation didn't work out so well the last time I dislocated my shoulder. There are simply too many things that need to be done and too few people to lean on for assistance. I hate to ask for assistance anyway. I've done things my own way and on my own schedule for so long no, that it's really hard for me to change my ways. I'll just do the best I can and try not to do anything stupid.

The weather is turning cold again. They say we might have freezing rain by morning. At least we managed to get this photo event, and most of the weekend grocery shopping out of the way before the bad weather arrives. I think this has been one of the strangest Winters in recent memory. We continue to alternate back and forth between days where you can wear shorts and other days when the roads are slick with ice. It is not uncommon to have 50 degree temperature shifts in a single day. Yesterday there were lots of people having picnics in the park behind our house. I doubt that there will be many picnickers tomorrow.

It's been a long day. I'm tired, but I think the day was a success. We made some money for Dalmatian Rescue. Everyone seemed very happy with their pictures. And most of the photo gear has already been stowed away until it is needed again. I'm looking forward to sleeping in late tomorrow morning. I really hope that Dot and Dash have the same idea.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1157 - Valentines Day

I stood in a long line to get overpriced cupcakes at Sprinkles. I remembered to get extra doggie cupcakes for Dot and Dash. I went and got a pretty orchid to put on the coffee table in the living room. Yes, it's Valentines Day. I may not have the most original ideas in the world, but at least I don't forget. I'll miss drinking copious amounts of peach champagne this evening like we used to do on Valentines Day, but I think my drinking days are over.

I'm hoping the invasion of bugs we've been having this Winter is over as well. I've been seeing fewer of the critters since I started squirting the encapsulated power bait into every crack and crevice I could find. Since it was pleasantly warm outside this afternoon, I escalated my coordinated bug attack to phase two. I sprayed the exterior bricks with a solution that dries on the surface and can kill roaches for up to three months. I only applied the solution to parts of the house that the dogs don't have access to. Hopefully, this will be enough.

The deposition I was supposed to give tomorrow got canceled again. I think this is the third time it has been canceled or postponed. Hopefully, the two parties will just settle this thing and leave me alone now. Since I don't have to go to court tomorrow, I think I'll go and have another tasty veggie omelet for breakfast. My first experience eating an omelet without any meat was so delicious last week that I'm actually looking forward to having something similar this week. I think my dietary efforts are starting to show some results too. I got some blood work back in the mail today and was quite encouraged by the results. My liver enzyme levels were much closer to normal this time. My glucose levels actually were normal for the first time in many months. My cholesterol levels were a little high, but since I'm currently not taking any statins or cholesterol medication as part of a test, even these numbers were encouraging.

The dogs loved today's Springlike weather. They both wanted to go outside and roll in the grass. There was only one problem. There isn't any grass. They had to settle for taking a nap in a pile of leaves instead.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 791 - Valentine's Day

You could tell that I didn't have much going on today. Once again, I waited forever in an impossibly long Valentine's Day line for some seriously overpriced cupcakes. Yup. I went to Sprinkles. I'm not complaining though. I really like these cupcakes. Sprinkles is a way to be genuinely indulgent without actually spending all that much money. Hey, you don't have to go out and buy a Porsche 911 or a Cartier Santos watch. Just go pick up half a dozen cupcakes at Sprinkles.

Texas weather keeps confusing me. This morning I wore a down jacket while I walked the dogs. By the afternoon, it had warmed up so much that didn't need a coat at all. It was practically T-shirt weather this afternoon. I hope the warm spell lasts through the weekend. We have a big outdoor Dalmatian Rescue event this weekend. It's an annual Mardi Gras pet parade and you never know what to expect because the date for Mardi Gras changes every year. This year it's a bit earlier than usual, but if this nice weather continues, everything will be fine.

I'm watching Westminster Dog Show as I write this. This year a Dalmatian actually made it to the finals for the best of show competition. Amazing. Dalmatians never seem to win this show. I can't even remember the last time a Dalmatian won the Westminster. Maybe this will be their lucky year though. As soon as I post this, I'm going to go root for the Dalmatian in the best of show competition.

The Sprinkles cupcakes were delicious. Especially with a glass of champagne. Valentine's Day is a weird little holiday. Nobody ever gets off work for Valentine's Day and yet it's quite important for many people. It's kind of like Halloween. Merchants love this day, even though nobody gets the day off. I think we should get off work on Halloween and Valentine's Day and just forget about President's Day. Who even cares about President's Day?

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 426 - Valentine's Day

I got an assortment of pink muslin backdrops, support poles, tripods and sparkly cardboard hearts put back in the storage warehouse until we need them again for our next photo event. Since I was already out and about, I decided to stop by Sprinkles and pick up some cupcakes for Valentine's Day. The store would have been empty if it weren't for the hundreds of other men standing in line ahead of me, doing last minute Valentine's shopping just like I was. The line snaked halfway around the block and once you were inside the store, there was a whole new line of people waiting to get up to the counter to pick up their cupcakes. I picked out what I wanted when I got inside the store and by the time someone was ready to take my order, my cupcake picks were all gone. I don't know what the fascination is with these overpriced pastries, but I bet this store is making a huge profit. At any rate, I picked out some alternate flavors, including two little dog cupcakes for Dot and Dash and was on my way.

The mail was full of interesting surprises today. I got a little card swiping gizmo that lets me accept credit card payments with my iPhone. Does anyone actually want to use their credit card to pay me? Not that I know of. Hey, if anybody ever does get a strong desire to send me money with their credit card though, I'll be ready.

My latest website project passed another approval hurdle today. With any luck, we'll launch the site by the end of the week. This means it's about time to start looking for new business again. I've got to make a special effort to get out and mingle more this year. Just about everybody I know is a client now. That's not saying much though. I don't know that many people.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 394

Today was full of good intentions. I called clients that I haven't talked to in a while. I continued my marathon effort to get all my photo files moved over to the new computer. I thought I was going to get some other stuff done as well, but I found out late in the day that we needed to get the Dalmatian Rescue Valentine's Day poster finished right away. D Magazine is apparently going to feature the photo event on their website and we need to get them a picture ASAP. I initially thought that photographing Dot wearing heart shaped glasses would look sweet, but the glasses we found were too big for her head and the picture just didn't look right. Plan B involved a goofy little headband that had two hearts on springs standing up like antennas. The picture is cute, but I still wish the heart shaped glasses would have worked.

I finally figured out how to get my company linked to my employment history on my Facebook page. For several months now, whenever you clicked on Sealander & Company on my profile it would take you to a weird, totally blank community page that I couldn't edit or delete. I had written Facebook about this several times but they never answered. I finally found some user forum on the Internet where other small business owners were having the same problem. Apparently none of these people had gotten an answer from Facebook either. Luckily, there was an answer, although it wasn't the one I expected. To fix the profile, you needed to download a third party add-on application for Firefox that let you view the code for the link that Facebook had established and then you could edit the link so it would point to the proper location. Seems like it would be a lot easier if Facebook just had a few customer service representatives like everybody else.

I'm beginning to understand why it has been such a problems to transfer all my image files. It took me ten years to get all these pictures into the computer. I guess it is a bit unreasonable to expect that I could get them back out again in just a day or two.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day