Day 3734

I'm glad my gym was still open this morning. There were a few additional signs about wiping down the machines after use, but just about everyone did that anyway. The only changes I noticed were that the water bottle and paper cups had been removed from the water dispenser and all the magazines had been removed from the magazine rack. All the gym rats were still there. I don't think anything would deter these people from exercising.

The gym seemed comforting and familiar, but the grocery store certainly didn't. I've never seen the shelves so empty. Bottled water, toilet paper, cleaning products, diapers, and many other items were completely gone. There was a long line of people waiting for something at the back of the store. I don't know what they were waiting for. When I got my items and left the store, the line was still there and nobody had moved.

When I went to pick up a prescription at a pharmacy located inside a different grocery store, the situation was the same. Empty shelves everywhere. Conditions like these are what causes panic buying. You can't help but thinking that all the other people must know something you don't.

Before I headed home again, I went to Home Depot to look for an in-line dimmer switch for a floor lamp in the living room that had broken. Apparently they don't make these things anymore. I needed to find something to turn the lamp on and off and ended up buying a WiFi plug that claimed it would let me switch things on and off with my phone. The high tech switch turned out to be even harder to connect to the network than our new petcam, but I ultimately got it to work.

It's raining pretty hard now, so the time I spent on the roof removing all the standing water this afternoon was a totally wasted effort. Janet said the pumps on the roof were working while I was gone, but they must not have been working well. There was a lot of water on the roof. This roof is almost as frustrating as the virus. The problems never seem to end.

Janet and I both thought we had plenty of food on hand, but rumors are swirling now about a 14-day lockdown. We both made a list of things we might need if the grocery stores and restaurants were closed and will go shopping again tomorrow. Most of the things we like to eat are only available fresh, but a lot of fresh meat and vegetables can be frozen. We'll try to be creative. Neither of us plan on eating canned beans for the next month.

Dawn doesn't appear to be afraid of storms at all. There is lots of thunder and lightning right now and she is snoozing calmly on the bed. Dawn has seen some hard times in her life, but she seems to have learned to handle almost anything. She is one of the most calm and well adjusted Dalmatians I've ever seen. If the world continues to go to hell in a handbasket, she'll be good to have around.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you already know that I'm not a big fan of globalism. I wonder if people will start listening to me now? We need to start making the things we need ourselves again and quit being so dependent on China. What we are seeing now is what happens when you outsource everything just to save a few bucks. It is unbelievably that we get most of our medicine from China. Who let this happen? We need to rethink a lot of things as a country. I hope we can finally put and end to all our political bickering and get to work.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2395

Independence Day ended as it began, with a horrendous thunderstorm that lasted for the rest of the night. I didn't get much sleep. Dot got so upset that I thought she was going to have a stroke. Dash was pretty upset too. This was some of the most intense thunder and lightening I've ever seen. The storm went on for hours and this morning I heard that some parts of town had gotten up to four inches of rain.

The U-Verse TV didn't work when we woke up this morning. Rebooting the receiver didn't fix things. Rebooting the router didn't help either. Nothing worked. Oddly, the U-Verse land line phone and the WiFi network were just fine. I called technical support and they said they needed to do some tests. After they tried to reboot the router remotely, everything went dead. Somehow they fried the entire gateway. The tech support guy claimed that last night's storm had damaged the router, but I think they ruined it themselves. Luckily, I had a spare router that AT&T sent me last month. I had been reluctant to install it because I knew I would have to re-pair every single wireless device on the network.

Since the router I'd been using was toast, I really had no choice. I spent the rest of the day configuring the gateway and then painstakingly reattaching all the devices on the network. Some devices were easy to reattach, but others were insanely difficult. A wireless office is convenient when it's working, but it can drive you crazy when something goes wrong. If I had it all to do over again, I'd just hook everything up with Ethernet cables.

After I finally got everything working again, I heard something on the weather report saying that there were more thunderstorms in the forecast for tonight. That's all I need. After spending all day getting my network running again, I certainly don't want to fry my new router tonight. I don't want to deal with two storm phobic dogs either. If the storm is bad enough, I really worry about Dot and Dash. When they go into panic mode, it feels like I'm only inches away from a medical emergency. Hopefully, things will be a bit calmer tonight. I really need some sleep.

I did manage to update some websites today, but I don't remember much about the assignments. All I remember is struggling to get the wireless thermostat working again and cleaning up dog poop. When I watched the Juno orbit insertion maneuver last night on NASA TV, I couldn't help feeling a bit envious of the folks I was watching at the Jet Propulsion Lab. I felt the same way when I watched the New Horizons spacecraft rendezvous with Pluto and as I held my breath watching Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity make successful landings on Mars. Ad people often think they are doing something important, but it's all just smoke and mirrors. These scientists at JPL actually are doing something important.

I don't expect to get a lot done tomorrow. It's Dot's physical therapy day and each week these sessions seem to take longer and longer. There are things I'd rather do, but the therapy is important. Maybe the weather will be nice tomorrow. Maybe Dot's won't poop in my car. A little good news tomorrow could go a long way.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2381

I knew it wouldn't last. My Internet service has become erratic again. It was so nice to have a reliable, fast network for about a month, but now things are just as bad as they ever were. Speed will slow to a crawl. The WiFi will go out entirely for no apparent reason. I'll call technical support and after I've waited on hold for ten minutes, everything mysteriously returns to normal as soon as I start speaking to a service representative. It's frustrating.

Flaky WiFi service wasn't the only frustrating thing today. One of my client's employees has decided she wants to design websites and asked me for the access codes to the sites I manage for her boss. This means one of two things. Either the client is going to take their website management in-house, or I'm going to be asked to re-create everything from scratch in a few months after the new designer has managed to screw the website up. There's a third possibility too. They might actually ask me to help them take their business away from me. This has actually happened before. Rudeness apparently knows no boundaries where third party contractors are concerned.

I paid the rest of the June bills today. There's still some money left, but I had to move some funds from the production account to the operating account to avoid becoming overdrawn. It's kind of sobering to realize that there just isn't a lot left over at the end of the month anymore. What do you do when everybody and their uncle thinks they're a photographer, filmmaker, or web designer? It's almost impossible to take a bad picture with today's automated digital cameras and apparently drag and drop website creation is the new hot thing with all my clients. I need to learn something really hard that nobody else wants to do. Right now it seems like everybody with a smart phone and a few graphics apps thinks they can do my job.

I walk so much that my latest pair of hiking boots is already starting to show some wear. I like these shoes, so I took them to a shoe repair shop in the neighborhood and had shoe taps put on the heals. I used to do this years ago when I wore cowboy boots a lot, but it never occurred to me to put heel taps on a Vibram sole work boot. These things will probably fall off in a week, or scratch up the floors in our house, but it's worth a try. Something about the way I walk just destroys the heels of my shoes. Maybe this will help.

I'm going to have to get Dot ready for her physical therapy appointment a little earlier tomorrow. The vet had to bump us into an earlier slot because of a conflict. Hopefully, this new schedule won't throw a wrench in the works. I'm beginning to wonder how long it is wise to continue the water therapy. Dot doesn't have as much energy now and the trip downtown takes a toll on her. I wish I could ask her what she wanted to do.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2354

I wish Steve Jobs were still alive. I never used to have problems with operating system updates, but lately the new Apple OS and IOS updates are so buggy that they seem like Beta versions. I'm almost scared to update my phone anymore, because each new IOS update seems worse than the previous one. The combination of buggy system software, spotty U-verse service, and a brand new hosting company has created a perfect storm of bad news. Just about every morning when I boot up my computer, I'm greeted with a new problem. Was my phone causing the problem? Does the WiFi router need to be re-booted again? Have I configured my webserver wrong? It's hard to even know where to begin.

I was in tech support hell for hours this morning, trying to track down why my e-mail wasn't working and I couldn't even access my own website. I finally ended up talking to a very knowledgeable IP guy who told me to call my ISP and tell them to check the routing path and clear it if necessary. This sounded easy enough, so I called AT&T and made the request. "This is beyond the scope of my capabilities," said a voice that sounded like he was talking to me from Pakistan. "I can give you the number of our paid subscription support if you'd like." "You mean that after all I pay you guys every month for U-verse service, you want to charge me extra to unscramble my flaky internet connection?" "I'm sorry," said the hard to understand voice from Pakistan. "Would you like me to send you a brand new router at no charge?" This was crazy. "You mean you guys would rather send me a new router than reset my connection." I said. I hate dealing with tech support. I've still got the problem I started out with this morning. There a new router on it's way to me that I probably won't be able to install correctly. To add to my problems, I can't decide whether to upgrade my phone to IOS 9.3.2 because I read an article that said it could turn your phone into a brick.

Since it didn't appear that my connection problems were going to be resolved quickly, I went to the battery store and special ordered a new battery for my little WiFi hotspot. T-Mobile said these batteries weren't made anymore and tried to see me a new hotspot. They were just being lazy.  I knew this battery was available somewhere because I've been replacing weird batteries for years. The new battery will arrive next Wednesday. The little WiFi hotspot is slow, but it is very reliable. Without it, I would have missed quite a few blog posts over the years.

The weather has been horrible this week. It's so humid and muggy outside that it feels like you could cut the air with a knife. My dehumidifier is working overtime to keep the air comfortable inside. Dot doesn't like the heat and humidity. I've been having a hard time getting her outside anyway now that she's become weaker, and hot, humid weather just adds to the problem. She did poop outside today, which was a small blessing. I just got lucky. When I had her outside after lunch, a big truck drove down the alley behind our house and got her so excited that she immediately started to poop. I wish I could schedule someone to drive down the alley every time I had Dot outside.

The plumber is coming back tomorrow to fix the leaking sink. This should only take a few minutes since the problem is just a compression fitting that wasn't tightened enough. The plumber better not try to charge me for this additional service call. He should have checked his work the first time he was here. After unnecessary car repair charges and a ridiculous attempt to charge me for resetting my router this morning, I'm not in the mood for unwarranted extra charges.

Maybe tomorrow will go smoothly. I'm not counting on a trouble free day, but it would be nice.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2344

I was listening to the TED Radio Hour on the way to the gym this afternoon and the topic was Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs. The theory is that there is a hierarchy of human needs and that the most basic needs must be satisfied before you can move up the pyramid to the next level. I forget who was talking on the TED stage, but he caught my attention when he said that the foundation of all human needs was a need for sleep, illustrating his premise with all sorts of bad things that happen to people who don't get enough sleep. Next up the list was a basic need for safety and security. When these needs were satisfied, the next level included a need to belong and share a sense of community. This was as far as I got before I arrived at the gym, but the talk was a little unsettling. If the foundation of a satisfied life was getting enough sleep, feeling secure, and having a sense of belonging to something larger than myself, I was screwed. I never get enough sleep, so maybe the illusive self-actualization at the top of the pyramid isn't in the cards for me.

I don't know if there is a hierarchy of dog needs, but Dot and Dash must be doing pretty well. Both of them get an enormous amount of sleep and must feel pretty secure since we take care of all their needs. Maybe this is why Dot still seems happy despite her many disabilities. On any given day, the dogs do seem happier than I am. They also seem to have a unique ability to live in the moment. I don't think that living in the moment was listed on Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. but it does seem pretty important.

We are nearing the peak of the wildflower season now. Almost every day when I take Dash on his longer "boy's walk," I see something new. Today I noticed that the Purple Leatherflowers have returned. This is a type of Clematis that looks like a small purple bell. I've always enjoyed seeing these flowers, but they don't last very long. It's too bad that Dot can't take these longer walks anymore. They are almost always the best part of my day.

Going to the gym will never be the best part of my day, but the experience is strangely satisfying for a guy that hates to exercise. When I'm on the treadmill, I gradually increase the angle of the machine, so that the end of my one mile walk, there is a neat little ascending ramp graphic displayed in LED lights on the treadmill's dashboard. I always turn the crank on the hand bicycle forward for one minute and then backwards for one minute until I've finished a mile on this machine too. It usually takes exactly twenty minutes. I try to shoot five baskets in a row from the free throw line on the basketball court. I've almost never done this, but sometimes I get pretty close. I never shoot until I hear a dull thud from dribbling the ball on a small dead spot on the floor. This invisible spot marks the perfect distance for me. All the machines have similar rituals. You get the idea. I like repetition and am a bit superstitious.

I did no vacuuming or yard work today. There's plenty of time for that during the week now. I did make some small website updates and added a third camera to the list that can now be controlled by a tablet or smart phone. There's actually a reason for adding WiFi capability to these cameras. At some point, I want to place a camera on a tripod in a corner of the yard near the bird bath were small animals congregate, so I can take pictures of them without scaring them away.

I have a meeting with my financial adviser tomorrow. I'm going to try to listen with an open mind, but I'm not a happy camper. Even in today's volatile and unpredictable market, I should be doing a lot better.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2343

Wouldn't it be nice if there was someone you could call who always had the answers you were looking for? I'm continually faced with situations where something should work, but just doesn't for some unexplained reason. Instead of asking a nearby knowledgeable friend, I am forced to spend hours searching the Internet for the advice of strangers. Today, I was having trouble getting a camera to connect to the WiFi network so I could control it from my phone. This shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, since I've done this many times before. Today it just didn't work. According to Google, lots of people seemed to be having the same the same problem, but opinions varied widely. Some people thought the camera was at fault. Others though the app on the phone was worthless because it hadn't been updated in our years. Then there was those who said that nothing was wrong at all and that their camera was connecting to WiFi just fine.

You have to resolve these problems through a process of elimination. Is there something wrong with the U-verse connection again? Did my latest IOS upgrade ruin all the older apps on my phone? Did I just not read the instructions correctly? After a lot of fruitless experimentation, I discovered that I needed to reboot my phone. I should have tried this first, since it seems to be the universal solution for all electronic problems. I am constantly rebooting the WiFi router, the DVR, the computers, the phones, and even the thermostat. Why are these connections to the cloud so fragile? I never had to do this five years ago.

Janet and I both think Dot is getting stronger, but I wonder if we are imagining things. The differences we are seeing are subtle at best. I've always believed in the placebo effect. If you really want to believe something, you generally can. Dot does seem a bit steadier this week. On the other hand, she is still senile and poops all over the place. I had a big mess to clean up last night, but strategically placed disposable pads are making the process easier. I don't think there's a lot we can do medically at this point. Instead, we provide a kind of doggie hospice care. We're not going to make Dot well again, but we can keep her happy.

It didn't rain as much as I expected today. Actually, it hardly rained at all. This doesn't mean that we've got clear skies ahead unfortunately. The long range forecast says it's going to be a wet and stormy week. We'll see. The forecast was certainly wrong today. Whatever is going on definitely appeals to the butterflies. I hardly saw any butterflies last year. This Spring, they are everywhere.

I suppose I'll go to the gym tomorrow. It all depends on whether I can go to sleep tonight. I'm ready. All I need to do is empty the water out of the dehumidifier, brush my teeth, and try to slip a puppy training pad under Dot's butt without waking her up.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2311

It's amazing how much time can be wasted trying to get electronic devices to play nice with each other. Everything is connected these days, but the connections don't always work. Sometimes Bluetooth is the problem. Other times it is the WiFi network. Occasionally the electricity goes out and everything goes down. Today I couldn't access one of my clients websites. I was about to call the hosting company when I decided to try an alternate WiFi connection and discovered that everything was fine. Why was T-Mobile working and AT&T U-Verse wasn't? It was weird that most websites appeared to be functioning normally, but a few appeared to be blocked on U-Verse. I unplugged the router, re-booted everything and five minutes later, I was up and running again. I never did figure out what the problem was.

Later in the day, my weather radar app quit working and I had problems syncing my new activity tracker. Life was much simpler when the most complicated machines I had were an IBM Selectric typewriter and a Leica rangefinder camera. Mechanical things used to break too, but the failures were much more predictable. Now, the problem could be anywhere. Is there something wrong in the cloud where your data is being stored? Is there something wrong with your security settings? Is the pet cam causing interference with the WiFi router? Usually I can fix things myself while I am waiting on hold for thirty minutes to talk with someone from tech support. Life in the digital age is still frustrating though. I make my living online, but I was happier before the Internet existed.

For the third week in a row Dot pooped in the car on the way to her physical therapy appointment. I walked her around in the yard forever before we left, trying to avoid another accident, but to no avail. She wasn't ready to go. Two things seem to make Dot poop; excitement and stress. A ride in the car can cause both. It wouldn't do much good to give her a sedative before we left the house, because it's not a good idea to be sleepy when you are walking in the underwater treadmill. I really don't know what to do. Chemotherapy, acupuncture and exercise help, but you can't fix old age.

I usually know the names of the flowers I photograph, but I'm drawing a blank on the clusters of tiny white blooms that pop up in the grass seemingly overnight when it rains. It's been a rainy week, so these things are everywhere. I'll figure out what they are eventually. By June they'll all be gone. Until then, I hope it stays cool. Dot is enjoying her morning walks again now that the weather has cooled down a bit. She walks very slowly now, stopping every few feet to smell things along the way. It takes Janet and I forever to make our one mile circuit through the park each morning, but I think Dot still enjoys being outside.

One problem with moving Dot's therapy appointment to Wednesday is that I don't know what to do on Thursdays now. When I wake up on Thursday lately, I initially think it is Friday. It's disappointing to realize that I've got to wait another day to go out to breakfast.  I supposed I could go out to eat two days a week, but there are still bananas and strawberries in the kitchen to use up before they go bad. I'm so structured that a single banana can keep me from doing something spontaneous.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2200

Today felt like a holiday, but it didn't really feel like Christmas Eve. I went out to breakfast this morning, because I knew the place would be closed tomorrow. The roads were empty and so was the restaurant. It was quite pleasant. Breakfast almost felt like I was on a road trip somewhere and had stopped at a small roadside cafe in Wyoming. I savored the quietness, because I knew it wouldn't last.

Later in the morning, I took Dot to her physical therapy session. The clinic was closing early for Christmas, and we were the last appointment of the day. Dot's vet had the flu and wore a mask so she wouldn't give her cold to me. I felt bad for keeping the appointment because she probably could have gone home earlier if it wasn't for us. Dot seemed tired today, so we kept the treadmill at a slower speed. I was a bit tired as well. Both dogs kept us up last night. Dash had gotten into something the day before, and had diarrhea during the night. He kept scratching at the door to go outside about every ten minutes for a while. Not to be outdone, Dot pooped in her bed. By the time the sun came up, both dogs were back to normal and seemed just fine.

I thought I might be able to fix the sliding glass door myself by using a metal file to smooth out some irregularities in the track. Logically, this should have worked, but it didn't. It looks like I'll have to contact a professional. Since I couldn't really fix anything today, I decided to just wash the car and call it a day.

Apparently colder weather is on the way, but it certainly didn't arrive today. It was in the mid-70's for most of the afternoon. I wore shorts when I took Dash on his afternoon walk and turned on the air conditioner briefly when it got too hot in the house. This would have been a good day to clean up the yard, but I sorted through a stack of old mail in the office instead. I really ought to start opening mail when I receive it. In today's stack of mail, I found a letter from my bank saying that I needed to renew my safe deposit box. The letter was dated sometime in October. I'm sure the bank probably just automatically renewed the box for another year and deducted the rent from my account. I'll need to check though, because I'm just guessing on this.

I think I finally fixed the problem I've been having with WiFi reception on my phone. It took quite a bit of research on Google and a certain amount of guessing, since the problem could have been caused by any number of things. The phone still works after I reset everything, so I must have done something right. Now that I have installed a more modern operating system on my main computer, fixed my phone, and upgraded the software on my watch, maybe I can start the new year with all my devices working properly for a change.

Janet baked a pumpkin pie this evening, so there is a holiday smell in the house. There are more presents for the dogs under the tree than for us, but that's the way it should be. Maybe we'll get to sleep in tomorrow morning. That would be a nice Christmas present from Dot and Dash. We'll have Christmas dinner at home this year and whatever happens, we're looking forward to a quiet, enjoyable day.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2043

Having the cable guy in the house with a dog who can't walk and is suspicious of strangers, along with a friendly escape artist who will dart through any open gate or door and disappear, was not an experience I'd want to repeat any time soon. I'm sure the service technician would agree. Dot barked incessantly the whole time, causing Dash to race excitedly around the house. I couldn't keep the dogs safely corralled in one room because the technician needed to check the entire network. I had to keep moving the dogs from room to room. I had a hard time hearing what the technician was telling me above all the commotion, but it appeared that the router had gone bad. I really didn't want to replace this piece of equipment, because then I would have had to reconnect everything in the house with the WiFi network all over again. There's a lot of stuff on the network. I've done this before and it's a pain. The technician told me that she might be able to configure the new router from a backup copy of the old router's settings and save me the trouble of starting over, but that this procedure only worked 50% of the time. This seemed strange to me, but I told her to go for it. What did I have to lose? All I was really worried about at that point was Dot pooping in the house.

Amazingly, the backup proceedure worked. Even the WiFi thermostat and the weird WiFi Skype phone stayed connected. The technician was somehow able to trick new router into thinking it was the old router, so nothing had to be reconfigured or paired with the network. I'm a happy camper. I need to be real careful never to press the red re-set button on the back of the new router though. If I ever mistakenly restore the thing to its factory settings, it will forget everything and ask me for a different password while everything on the network becomes disconnected.

Once the technician packed up and left, the dogs calmed down and life returned to normal. Amazingly, Dot didn't poop in the house, although she was so upset that I thought she was going to have a stroke at some point. Dash didn't escape and run off, although I could tell that he was looking to see if the technician inadvertently left the front door open while she was working. It was hard to keep Dot and Dash in the same room while I was holding Dot's harness to keep her from falling while Dash was racing around, looking for opportunities to be bad. This would have been so much easier if the problem was with the outside line. I apologized to the technician about the dogs behavior, but I think she could tell that I had my hands full.

It's hard to believe that it's been 46 years since we landed on the moon. July 20 will always be etched in my memory because of what happened 46 years ago today. I thought I was an adult back then when I watched the landing on an old black and white Magnavox TV. What did I know? I was only 21. So much has changed and yet we still haven't returned to the moon. I was excited to see the first pictures of Pluto a few days ago, but I'd be even more excited if we had a colony on Mars. In 1969, most people were convinced that we'd have planted flags on several planets by now. When Stanley Kubrick made 2001, A Space Odyssey, he never would have dreamed that 2001 would actually end up being remembered for the attacks on the World Trade Center instead. I have a feeling that we'll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing without ever returning to the moon.

It's Dash's turn to go to the vet tomorrow. We need to do a test to make sure he's been cured of Lyme Disease. At least I think it was Lyme Disease he was exposed to. When I called the vet to make the appointment, I couldn't remember whether he'd been treated for Lyme or West Nile. Hopefully, nothing else will break in the house for the rest of the Summer. I don't know if I could handle another day like today.

Lady Jane is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1983

It's been a long day. It was raining again when we woke up this morning, so I had to wait until later in the day to walk the dogs. As usual, they refused to go outside and do their business while it was still raining. They acted agitated and upset until I got the bananas out, and then they both completely forgot that they wanted a walk. The rain was already diminishing by the time I finished breakfast, so I only had to wait an additional thirty minutes before the morning showers stopped and I could take Dot and Dash to the park.

When I finally got the dogs taken care of, I turned on the computer and discovered that the Internet was down. Actually, the entire U-verse service was down, because the land line phones and televisions weren't working either. I tried re-booting the router several times and when that didn't work, I called tech support. After spending forever in automated call center hell, I finally got to talk with a real person. AT&T couldn't get things working from The Philippines, or Malaysia, or wherever their call center is these days, so a technician is going to come out tomorrow. I hate it when the network goes down. Usually the problem turns out to be a defective router and when they replace it, I have to reconfigure every WiFi device in the house so all the devices can join the network again using the new router's password. Even the thermostat and several of my cameras are on WiFi now. It's going to be a lot of trouble to reconnect everything.

Luckily, I have access to an alternate WiFi network, so I could still get my work done today. Having U-verse down definitely slowed me down though. Just calling tech support took forever. In today's world, having a network outage is just about as bad as a power outage. This is why I always have a backup network. You can't really be a web developer without access to the Internet.

Dot did great today during her physical therapy session, but she hated riding to the vet in the loaner car. It's too small and the rear seats don't fold completely flat like they do in my car. I had to pull over to the side of the road several times to reposition Dot, because the slight incline of the folded rear seatback made her slide backwards and get stuck every time I went up a hill. I would never buy a small car. Large dogs and small cars just aren't a good mix. The old Defender 90 was the perfect vehicle for hauling dogs around in. The entire back of the car was completely flat and there was tons of headroom. Dot and Dash enjoyed riding around in that car. Too bad I couldn't keep it running forever.

I had been planning to do some additional work on my mobile friendly test site today, but several real jobs got in the way. I was surprised that I got as much done as I did, since I was uploading files using the much slower backup WiFi hotspot. Where there's a will, there's a way, I guess. I'm just glad it's Friday tomorrow. A week of relentless rain, car problems, dental problems, and a bad case of cabin fever have taken their toll on me. I'm looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend, even though I have no plans whatsoever.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1869

I made it. It was a long travel day, especially considering I was just going to California. I flew from Dallas to Los Angeles, changed planes and then took a little prop plane up to Santa Maria. Santa Maria looked pretty close to Vandenberg Air Force Base on a map, but I discovered that it wasn't that close when I actually got there. As it turned out, Santa Maria was only about fifteen miles from the North entrance to the huge base, but I needed to go to the South entrance. I could have taken a short cut directly through the base to the South entrance, but I didn't have my credentials yet, so I had to take a long circuitous route around the perimeter instead. I'd probably still be driving around aimlessly, if I didn't have GPS in the rental car. I'm certainly glad I didn't decide to drive up Highway 1 from Los Angeles. I was considering doing this at some point, but wisely reconsidered when I remembered what rush hour traffic was like in California.

I was surprised at how pretty the countryside is in this part of California. There are lots of rolling, green hills dotted with what looked like small Live Oak trees. I was expecting urban sprawl, but this is a lot closer to wilderness. As I approached the base, the terrain flattened and the hills turned to farmland. The soil must be good here, because all the crops looked lush and green. It was weird to see crops growing in January. There was almost no signage on the farm roads that led to the base. Without the GPS in the car and some very explicit directions, I doubt that I would have ever found the elusive South entrance to Vandenberg.

Today's visit to the base was just a dry run. I have to get up very early to check in at the South gate tomorrow morning. This is where I pick up my credentials and join the other media mavens who will be attending the launch. If I'm late, they'll just leave without me. That's why if you have to get lost, it is a lot better to do it today than tomorrow.

I was hoping to have dinner with some of the others attending the SMAP launch this evening, but after driving around endlessly trying to find the correct entrance to the base, I didn't have the energy. I drove back to the hotel in Santa Maria, ate some dinner, and tried to get the WiFi to work instead. I brought a little WiFi hotspot with me, but the hotel seems to block it. It works when I'm driving around, but as soon as I get to my room, it quits.

I think I'm going to be on NASA TV sometime tomorrow, but I doubt if you'll see it. Very few cable companies carry this odd little channel. Tomorrow will be a bucket list kind of day. I'll get to see the rocket up close, talk to the scientists who designed the SMAP mission, and visit all sorts of interesting restricted areas on the base. I think the whole idea is that we're supposed to live Tweet about our experiences. You can't really say much in 140 characters though, so if you really want to know what happened, you'll have to read tomorrow's blog.

I thought I'd forget a lot of things on this trip, but so far all I seem to have forgotten are spare batteries for my wireless mouse and the password for my mobile hotspot. I thought the password was already loaded on my laptop keychain, but apparently it isn't. Oh well, I can always use my phone until the battery runs out. Oops. I forgot the little charger that fits into the car's cigarette lighter too.

I'm tired, but I feel like the day was a success. If you're reading this, it means I've figured out a way to get online. I just put in an early wake-up call at the hotel and I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow space bloggers just before sunrise at the Vandenberg South Gate.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1790

I wish I had a decent camera with me this morning. While I was walking the dogs, at least thirty bright green parrots flew directly over my head. These weren't small pet parakeets that escaped from a birdcage. They were large, full grown parrots that looked like they belonged in a Central American jungle. What were they doing in Texas? Especially when a major cold front is headed our way. I vaguely recall seeing a few birds like these last year, but never in large numbers like this. Being the kind of guy I am, I did a search for the birds on Google and discovered that they're called Monk Parakeets by some, and Quaker Parrots by others. A large colony of these birds, which are common in South America, have been living in our city at least since 2009. The parrot colony makes their home in an electrical substation just a few miles from my house. Now I'm wondering why I haven't seen them before.

The parrots weren't the only animals enjoying this unseasonably warm Fall morning. Dot and Dash had a great time on their morning walk, pausing to smell every tree and bush along the way. We saw plenty of ducks, squirrels, rabbits, and of course lots of other dogs and their owners taking advantage of the mild Indian Summer day.

The stars must have been aligned today. Nothing irritated me at all. I listened to an interesting Ted Talk on the radio on the way to the gym. I had a good solid workout with only minimal shoulder pain, and when I went to get groceries on the way home, the store wasn't even crowded. Janet and I found a nice place to have Thanksgiving dinner and made our reservations. I even put a fresh hypoallergenic filter in the furnace, so the air in the house should be a little cleaner for at least a couple of weeks. I was originally supposed to shoot a video for a client today, but the job got postponed. These days, I'm never disappointed when work gets postponed. Lazy days with surprise parrots are much better.

I'll make a few phone calls tomorrow and see what it's going to take to get the new WiFi thermostat installed. I'm actually kind of intrigued to have a thermostat I can talk to. I never talk to Siri on my phone, because asking a phone to do things for me still seems a bit ridiculous for someone with my lifestyle. A talking thermostat I could use though. I'm always concerned about the temperature.

Maybe I'll make myself a nice omelet tomorrow morning. Janet tells me I think about food too much, but it certainly beats thinking about Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or where my next job is coming from.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1694

It has become clear that instead of training our dogs, they have trained us instead. Both dogs are so stubborn that it is almost impossible to get them to adapt to different sleeping arrangements. Since we are going to have to live with Dot's incontinence for the next month or so, it is important to come up with a plan to keep our sanity. Doggie diapers didn't work. Neither has sleeping on the floor. Dot and Dash are convinced that the big king sized bed in the bedroom is theirs and they just allow us to sleep with them. It has become easier to turn the bed into a waterproof fortress each night than deal with the other alternatives.

I prepared the bed well last night and we remembered to set the alarm for 2:30 AM, so we had a relatively trouble free evening. It takes forever to get everything ready. There's the long ramp at the end of the bed so Dot won't try to hop up and hurt herself. There's the fail-safe rubber sheet on top of the people's bedding, but under all the dog blankets. There are strategically placed pee pads for Dot to sleep on and Dash's favorite blanket at the foot of the bed, so he won't try to steal Dot's place in the middle of the night. Occasionally, this Rube Goldberg arrangement actually works.

I used to think that Dot woke up and moved about when she wanted to go outside and pee. I've been watching her behavior during the day and it has become clear that she only get's up after she's peed on something. She isn't trying to give me a warning signal. She's just trying to get out of the wet spot. I need to remember that dogs live in the moment. Dot has no idea why all this is happening to her.

I had quite a bit of website work to complete today. It was good to be busy, because without the work, I'd probably go stark raving mad. I've already got a long list of errands to do on Saturday when I can finally get out of the house again.

Actually, I'll be getting out of the house on Thursday, but I'll be taking Dot with me. We got the green light from the cancer center doctors to resume Dot's physical therapy. Hopefully, some gentle workouts in the underwater treadmill will help her regain some of the muscle tone she's lost in her rear legs. Dot is certainly doing her part to get stronger. She doesn't stumble as much now, and we are able to walk a little further each morning. As hard as it seems now, we are definitely making progress.

When I got my website revisions done today, I decided to relearn how to operate one of my cameras remotely using WiFi. I've had to learn this three times already, because I never use the feature. In theory, it seems really cool to be able to control every aspect of the camera remotely using my iPhone, but in practice I still prefer looking through the viewfinder. Maybe I'll use this fancy feature some day, but it won't be tomorrow. I'm sure when I find a reason to control my camera using my phone, I'll have to look up the instructions all over again.

It's raining now and both dogs are huddled under my desk. Life has almost returned to normal.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1452

A loud crash woke me up about 4:30 this morning. An ice laden tree had fallen on the roof. About two hour later, our power went out. It's about noon now and the power is still out throughout much of the city. Yes, Dallas is in the grip of another monster ice storm. We don't get snow like most places do in the Winter. We get freezing rain instead. Usually it starts at night, and by morning the roads are like ice rinks. Luckily, there is no need to leave the house today. Not much is open anyway.

Since I can't function without coffee, I walked over to a nearby gas station to get a cup. I was hoping to get a breakfast taco too, but the power to the Green Spot kitchen was out. I filled a to-go mug with coffee, bought a muffin to go along with it and walked back home again to eat my meager breakfast in the rapidly cooling house. Since our house is mostly floor to ceiling single pane glass, there isn't much insulation. Within two or three hours after a power outage, the inside of the house starts to feel a lot like the outside.

It's always difficult to deal with the dogs when things get icy. Neither of them have the good sense to poop in the yard, and on days like today, taking them in the park can be treacherous. I took Dash on a short walk when I got up this morning, but Dot had to stay home. She is too frail and unstable to navigate the icy conditions. Luckily, Dot will eventually poop in the yard when she really needs to. Dash thinks he needs to go on the park no matter what's going on with the weather. We didn't walk far this morning, but I saw dozens of trees uprooted. The heavy, wet ice clinging to the branches just knocked them over.

I have lots of work to do today, but I'm no sure how I'm going to get it done. The power is out. Our primary WiFi is out and I don't know how long the secondary WiFi connection will last. The laptop batteries are getting low as well, so I may be out of business pretty soon.  I haven't missed a day yet as a blogger, so I'll manage to get this posted one way or another.

I really hope the power company gets to our neighborhood soon. I'm bundled up in sweaters and the dogs are huddled under blankets on their dog beds in the living room. Janet is still trying to decide whether to go in to the office or not. I envy those people in the neighborhood who have fireplaces. I see smoke rising from chimneys up and down the street. No smoke rising from our place though. We don't have a fireplace. Since it's a lot colder outside than inside, Janet is moving the perishable food from the non-functioning refrigerator to a cooler on the back porch. I hear lots of sirens from fire engines and emergency vehicles going up and down the street. I don't hear any power company trucks unfortunately. It's going to be one of those days.

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1321

Today was pleasant. The weather was surprisingly mild for a July day in Texas. Janet fixed a nice breakfast. The dogs enjoyed their visit to the dog park. They even saw several dogs that they knew. When we returned home, I got the lawnmower out and mowed until the yard looked presentable again. I'm more or less caught up on work assignments too. The only thing that was missing today was a mid-afternoon Dr. Who marathon on BBC.

Since I finished my weekend cores early, I decided to brave the crowds at the mall and go looking for a better WiFi camera to monitor Dash when I'm away. I may have overdone it. The camera I came home with not only has a great picture, it also monitors sound, keeps track of the temperature and humidity, allows two way communication, and plays a lullaby on command. Yes, I really bought a baby monitor instead of a pet monitor. I guess people with babies are even more apprehensive than I am with the dogs, since this thing had features that had never even occurred to me before.

The icing on the cake was that the camera actually worked. Sometimes they don't. I read all the reviews and they were split 50/50. Half the people thought this was the best WiFi camera on the planet and the other half thought it was a worthless piece of junk. I bought the camera making the assumption that the 50% who hated the camera had never hooked anything up to a WiFi network before. Routers, firewalls, and wireless gateways aren't always friendly with each other and it is often difficult to introduce a new piece of equipment to the system. Luck was on my side today though. The camera works like a charm.

The electrician is coming to fix the garbage disposal at 7:30 AM tomorrow. Lord knows why he wants to come so early, but it's just as well. Maybe he'll be able to get the faulty wiring fixed in time for me to take the dogs on a walk at their normal time and proceed with my Monday work day. You never know with electricians though. He may fix the problem in five minutes, or he may tell me that the entire house is not up to code and that everything needs to be rewired.

I hope I have time to go to the gym tomorrow. It's been more difficult to establish a regular schedule than I anticipated. Dash has a vet appointment every other Tuesday and Dot has a vet appointment every Wednesday. Walking the dogs and carting them around to their various appointments eats up a lot of time. Work is erratic too. Some days there is so much to do that I don't even have time to eat. Other days are so quiet that I have trouble staying awake. Workout or no workout, I'll be a happy camper if I have a working garbage disposal at the end of the day.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1300

I woke up this morning to a quiet house. Janet likes to walk the dogs on weekends and she had taken them on a morning walk before I'd even gotten out of bed. I don't know how the rest of the family can get by on so little sleep. No matter what's going on, I always feel like I could sleep a few hours more.

Once I did get out of bed, I tried to make myself useful by watering the lawn, making the bed, and doing some laundry. This was just the warm up act for the task I'd been dreading: repairing the Sheetrock in the living room. It's a shame that most of the drywall mud I applied today will just be sanded off a few days from now. It will probably take about three coats of the compound, each sanded smooth after it dries, before the repair starts to look decent. I'll be glad when I'm done. I'm not fond of messy work, and doing anything with Sheetrock is definitely messy.

The dogs had a great time at the dog park today. Dot had plenty of energy for a change and Dash even managed to find a playmate. I don't know how Dash chooses the dogs he wants to play with. He often rejects shy, gentle dogs like himself in favor of larger breeds that end up scaring him. Today, he found a young Irish Setter that he took a fancy to and the two dogs had a great time racing up and down the park. By the time we got home again, Dot and Dash were content to snooze for the rest of the afternoon.

I spent some of my afternoon re-learning how to use the WiFi function on one of my cameras. I like the idea of being about to completely control the camera with my phone, but I can never remember how to create a ad hoc network linking the phone with the camera. I need to remember how to do this, because I'll never be able to impress clients with my remote control camera skills if can't even remember how to sync the camera with the phone. When I finally figured out how to tap my phone and take a picture, it was time for dinner.

The day ended pretty much as it began; with a nap. I probably could have done more today, but Sunday is best enjoyed as a day of rest. Janet fixed a great dinner tonight. The dogs are happy. All is well with the world. Too bad tomorrow is Monday.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1188 - St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day isn't much of a holiday for someone who no longer drinks. All it meant to me today is that the park was much more crowded than usual and we had to keep our eyes open for people who didn't have their dogs on a leash. We saw one off-leash German Shepard loosely attached to a Frisbee throwing couple who wasn't paying much attention to him. Luckily, the dog was paying more attention to the Frisbee than to Dot and Dash. There were inattentive people with questionable dogs in the dog park as well. A pit bull who liked to play rough almost knocked Dot over. The dog wasn't mean, but its owner should have been paying attention. Usually dogs who come to the dog park are very well behaved, but holidays and nice weather bring out a totally different crowd. I prefer the quiet, uneventful days.

I'm getting tired of AT&T raising their U-verse prices while they continue to eliminate some of our favorite channels. I thought I'd try Hulu Plus as an alternative and see if we could get by without U-verse. Not as easy as you might think. First of all, the Internet gateway is provided by the U-verse modem, so it would be hard to get rid of U-verse entirely. Secondly, I discovered that I couldn't even connect to Hulu on our TV because the AT&T service technician had disabled the TV's WiFi capability the last time they were out to the house to fix the router. I knew that the TV used to connect to the Internet, because I've watched YouTube videos on it before. I put on my reading glasses, got out the manuals, and got to work. About 45 minutes later, I had the WiFi fixed and the TV hooked up to the Internet again. I clicked on the Hulu button and discovered immediately that it wasn't free. I guess that shouldn't have surprised me. Nothing is free any more. Hulu Plus does have thousands and thousands of TV shows in its database though, so it still might be a much better deal than U-verse.

I'm going to try to get as many out-of the-office errands done as I can next week, while I've still got the Land Rover loaner car. I don't know if I'll ever be able to trust the Defender again. Janet says it's time to give up on the car and buy something new. Maybe she's right. There's nothing out there that I like right now though. I keep waiting for Land Rover to introduce the next generation Defenders, but they keep pushing back the launch date. I thought they were going to introduce the new Defenders in 2014, but my mechanic tells me that it probably won't be until 2017 now. I doubt if my current car will last that long.

Next week ought to be interesting. The landscapers are coming to refurbish the back yard and I'm sure that both dogs will be obsessed with all the activity going on in their territory. I'm already trying to prepare myself for a whole lot of barking. Hopefully, I'll be able to confine Dot to my office for most of the day, so she can't actually see what what's going on outside. If I'm lucky, this will keep things a bit quieter around the house, but as you know, I'm not usually lucky.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day