Day 1978

We began walking Dot and Dash together again, and just as I expected, Dot was much more energetic and seemed determined to keep up with Dash. Both dogs are incredibly stubborn. She just didn't want to walk by herself while Janet was away. We walked the dogs very early since Janet had a training seminar she needed to attend. I took the opportunity to go out for breakfast, since the rain kept me away yesterday. The dogs just went to sleep since they were both tired after their walk.

The ground is still too wet for me to mow the grass, so I decided to write another article on my to-do list before I ran my regular Saturday errands. While I was writing, I noticed that Dot was licking the blanket in her dog bed. Not a good sign. Sure enough, a few minutes later she began trying to throw up and began her frantic behavior again. I still don't know what causes this, but I suspect she might try to eat food crumbs that have fallen to the floor and end up swallowing a bunch of lint and dog hair instead. This might not be the cause of her problems at all, but it sure seems plausible. Dot is obsessed with food and a lot of it falls out of her mouth as she becomes older. Now that there are throw rugs everywhere to keep Dot from slipping on the bricks, it is much harder to keep the floors clean. At any rate, I sat outside with Dot until she become calm again and then she and Dash had their dinner, took another walk, and everything was back to normal.

Janet and I has an animal rescue fundraiser to attend tonight and I was a little nervous leaving Dot alone with a house full of rugs and carpets she could eat. I knew she was very tired and it seemed to be a safe bet that she would just sleep while we were gone. We weren't going to be gone long anyway. I think I enjoyed the annual wine tasting event more when I could still drink wine, but the food was good and so was the cause. We've been going to this event for over nine years now and it seems to get better every year.

Dot was still sleeping calmly in exactly the same spot where we left her when we returned, but I'd still like to get to the bottom of this strange grass eating frenzy. Something specific has to be causing this behavior. The episodes are so sporadic that it's hard for me to see a pattern. The vets mostly just tell me to give her a Pepcid AC and call them if the frantic behavior gets worse. They don't know what is causing this either.

I'm still working on my mobile friendly test site. I was making pretty good progress until Dot started trying to throw up. Despite the minor dog emergency, I did learn how to make translucent drop-down menus where you can still see a hint of what is underneath the menu. I don't know why writing structured HTML and giving everything a CSS class seems so difficult for me, but I'm slowly getting there. It takes a long time, because when I make a mistake, I need to figure out why things didn't work out as expected. I don't want to continue making the same mistakes over and over again.

All-in-all it was a good day. I had a delicious breakfast. The dogs returned to walking together again. Dot recovered quickly from her upset stomach. The Wine on the Roof fundraiser was enjoyable and both dogs are already tucked in for the night. Maybe I'll even get a good night's sleep. That would be nice.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1600

There were a ton of events to attend this weekend, but we were too tired to even think about most of them. A decade ago, I could have spent the entire weekend wandering around the big guitar show at Fair Park. It hardly seemed worth it though when I haven't even taken the Stratocaster out of its case in several months. Janet and I usually go to the annual Dalmatian Rescue crawfish boil, even though we never eat crawfish. This year, it all seemed too complicated. Dot can't take the heat anymore. Dash is still too sick from his radiation treatments. The event seemed way too far away this year and both of us were really tired. The event was a  no show.

The only event we made an appearance at today was our vet's Wine on the Roof animal rescue fundraiser. We've gone to this event every year since it started. It's hard to believe it's been thirteen years now. Times have changed. Our house is too full of clutter to bid on silent auction items anymore, and I haven't had a glass of wine in five years. It's still a good cause though, and the event is only a few miles from our house. Janet had some wine. I grabbed a few little sandwiches from the buffet table. And we watched a pet fashion show where dogs and cats were dressed up like characters from fairy tales. Less than an hour and a half later, we were back home.

If I had written the blog earlier in the day, I would be asleep by now. Unfortunately, earlier in the day I was sitting at my desk trying to figure out how to put together the new website that is due on Tuesday. I wish I'd kept my big mouth shut and hadn't told my client that it would be easy to replicate the look of a Wordpress site she likes using HTML. Now, that I'm actually looking at the code, it isn't going to be easy after all. Oh, well. I actually didn't mind working on the website project this afternoon, since my other alternatives were mowing the grass or weeding the gardens. I didn't actually finish the website today as I had hoped, but at least I made significant progress. I did fall asleep at the computer for a while, but it was that kind of day.

Dash had a good day. He wasn't as listless and lethargic as he was yesterday and even seemed to enjoy a short afternoon walk. The pain pills much be working. His neck still looks red and raw, but he isn't trying to scratch at the wound anymore. Hopefully, having a two day rest from the radiation will give him time to rest and relax.

I don't know what we'll do tomorrow. If today was any indication, we'll probably sleep in late. There is still a lot that needs to be done, but I doubt that it all needs to be done tomorrow.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1599

Little things can make a big difference. The oncologist went over Dash's treatment in detail with us today and was very reassuring. Even though Dash is very uncomfortable at this stage of his treatment and looks like he has a third degree burn on his neck, he is evidently still one of the lucky ones. The oncologist told us that the side effects from radiation treatment could be much, much worse. The radiation kills cancer cells, but it injures a lot of healthy cells in the process. Most of this injured tissue heals when the radiation is discontinued, but it can look pretty alarming when you're right in the middle of treatment.

Cancer treatment still seems pretty crude, compared to the high-tech pills I've been taking to combat my Hepatitis-C. The Sovaldi pills work directly at the DNA/RNA level to turn the reproductive mechanism of the virus on and off with minimal side effects. Chemotherapy medications by contrast are basically just poison. They are probably where that phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" came from in the first place. The whole experience certainly seems to have made Dash stronger. Even though he is weak and tired now, he still seems to enjoy going to the cancer center, where he has made friends with the other sick dogs and continues to get lots of attention from all the nurses. When this is all over, I'm wondering if I might be able to bring him back occasionally, just to visit with the other dogs. He's going to enjoy being healthy again, but I think he's going to miss this place.

Work went smoothly today. There was a lot to do, but there were no meetings or phone calls, so I was able to quietly work my way through the day, one problem at a time. I'm more or less caught up with my writing assignments, but I've still got a website prototype to design and code by next Tuesday.  This is a very simple website, so it will probably only take me a day to put the whole thing together. Maybe I ought to get started this weekend though. It's never a good idea to begin a new website project a day before the deadline.

This is going to be a busy weekend. There are several animal rescue events on Saturday, lots of weekend errands and chores, and the dogs still can't be left alone for long stretches of time. I wish I had time to go to the big guitar show in Fair Park this weekend, but like I said, there's still a website that need to be designed. It would be nice to get back to the gym before I gain any more weight as well.

The Milkweed plants have returned for another year. The curious little green balls of tiny flowers are popping up all over the meadow behind our house. They call the plants Antelope Horn here in Texas, because of the small purple horn shaped flowers. They are basically just Milkweed though.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1237

Why do people bring aggressive dogs to a dog park? Why do these same types of people keep aggressive dogs in a quiet neighborhood with small children and well behaved dogs? I think I know the answer. Most of these people are in denial. They think their dogs are just fine and that everybody else is the problem.

Why do I bring this up? Well, there were some aggressive dogs at the dog park this morning and their owners were too busy texting and talking on their phones to even notice what their dogs were doing. There are two types of people who go to dog parks. One group is always aware of what their dogs are doing and spend lots of time throwing balls and playing with their dog. The other type immediately sits down on the nearest bench and begins reading a book or playing games on their phone. These folks have no idea what their dogs are doing, even when they get in trouble.

The people with bad dogs in the neighborhood are even worse. They typically blame everything on the other neighbors and refuse to take responsibility for their dogs bad behavior. Usually you can't do anything about these people until after something bad has happened. Something bad did happen this week. A woman who has large, very aggressive dogs lost control of one of them and it immediately bit another neighbor's dog who was walking on a leash nearby. These two aggressive dogs live nearby and I've been afraid they are going to get loose and come after Dot and Dash for quite a while now. I wish there was an easy way to get people who kept vicious dogs banished from nice neighborhoods. Unfortunately, there isn't. We are a tolerant society and there are no laws that prevent someone from acting like a jerk. Personally, I wouldn't mind a world like the one depicted in Minority Report where crimes are prevented before they happen. Waiting until someone has actually been harmed is a little too late for the victims.

Other than Dot and Dash having a few close calls this morning, it was actually a very nice day. The weather was near perfect and I got a ton of things done around the house. The grass has been mowed, there is a big stack of clean towels in the linen closet, and the carpets have all been vacuumed. I even got a chance to watch the new Dr. Who episode that I recorded on the DVR Saturday night. The crawfish boil yesterday was a big success and we raised a lot of money to help deserving Dalmatians. I haven't seen the numbers, but I assume the wine tasting party for the other rescue group was an even bigger success, because it was well attended and extremely well organized. No a bad weekend at all. We helped some dogs, had some fun, and still managed to complete all our weekend chores.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1236

With two back-to-back charity events to attend, it was a very busy day. I didn't eat any crawfish at the crawfish boil and I didn't drink any wine at the wine tasting event, so the entire day was a little strange. Since we took Dot and Dash to the first event, there was still plenty to do. When Dash was inside, he wanted to go outside and when he was outside, he wanted to go inside again. All Dot wanted was a plate of crawfish. I read way too many negative things about feeding a dog crawfish on the Internet last night though, so she didn't get any. The dogs certainly didn't go away hungry. People were feeding them treats all afternoon.

I discovered today that a new medication my doctor wants me to take actually prevents all the other medications I take from being absorbed by the bloodstream. You'd think the doctor would have noticed this. The drug is safe enough, it just doesn't work when taking anything else at the same time. It looks like I've got a whole new batch of unanswered questions now. It never ends.

I was way too busy today to run my normal Saturday errands. I'll have to get caught up on everything tomorrow. The dogs will get their weekly visit to the dog park first, but there is still a long list of things I need to take care of this weekend. I certainly hope I don't get sick. I almost never catch colds anymore, except when I'm around large crowds of people. That would definitely be today.

Dot and Dash are already sacked out on the bed. They had a big day and seem determined to catch up on their sleep, now that they're home again. I may join them soon. I'm tired. Even though I didn't indulge in as much eating and drinking as the rest of the guests at today's events, the day still wore me out. The little activity wristlet I wear shows that quite a few steps were taken today.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1235

It's been a good day. I was more than a little surprised when my regular doctor basically agreed with the big changes my liver specialist and nutritionist have been making since my last visit. This doctor, who seldom sees a pill he doesn't like, actually agreed to take me off one of my medications entirely, and reduce another by half. He seemed genuinely impressed that I've lost twenty pounds and been able to stick with a radically different diet and lifestyle for over three months. Things are looking up. It's been quite a journey so far, but I really think I'm making progress.

Today's sunny skies and warm temperatures probably contributed to my good mood. Thursday's brief return to Winter weather is gone now. It looks like smooth sailing ahead.

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. Two different animal rescue groups are having big fundraising events and Janet and I are going to both of them. Both of these events are centered around delicious food and drink that are now on my forbidden list. The first event is a Louisiana style crawfish boil and I can no longer eat shellfish. The second event is a big wine tasting party and I can no longer drink. Oh, well. You can't have everything. Dot and Dash will be able to go to the crawfish boil with us, but I don't think they'll be eating any shellfish either. According to locals, crawfish aren't bad for dogs unless they happen to eat the shell, which is sharp and non-digestible. They are much too rich for most dogs though and can cause diarrhea. That's enough reason right there not to give any to Dot and Dash.

I've just about caught up with all my writing assignments. Getting caught up is a double edged sword though. This means I'll probably have to mow the grass this weekend. That's probably all that's going to get done around the house though. By the time we go to two animal rescue events, do the grocery shopping, and go to the dog park, it will be Monday again.

The new grass and vegetation in the back yard is green and growing. The yard has never looked better. It's much too early to tell whether the dogs will tear the yard up later in the Summer like they usually do, but for the moment, I'm optimistic.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 872

Today was a dog rescue marathon. We started out with a crawfish boil benefit for Dalmatian Rescue. Crawfish is an acquired taste and I can't honestly say that I've acquired it. Luckily, the Dalmatians have lots of friends from Louisiana and the event was a huge success. You can only have a real crawfish boil at this time of year, because this is when the crawfish are in season. We boiled over 150 pounds of crawfish which were served with the traditional new potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. I saw some diners go back for at least five heaping platters of the critters. You eat crawfish by twisting off the tail and sucking out the meat. It doesn't really taste like shrimp. It doesn't taste like lobster either. I know people in Texas who treat fresh crawfish like caviar, but personally I'd prefer a cheeseburger. It was a great fundraiser though. We made a lot of money for the dogs and everyone was happy.

Lots of people brought their dogs to the crawfish boil. There were fifteen to twenty Dalmatians at the event and every one of them was extremely well behaved. A few people fed crawfish to their dogs, but since many of them had driven a long way to the event, I think they had visions of the dogs throwing up in the car on the way home. The dogs did get lots of dog biscuits though and had plenty of ice water in their bowls. Since the afternoon was warm and the event was outside, most of the dogs just looked for the coolest spot they could find and took a nap. Dash didn't really want a nap though. He wanted to eat everyone's nachos. He had no interest in the crawfish, but he seemed to love the smell of nachos.

This evening, we went to animal rescue event number two. This one was the annual Wine on the Roof fundraiser held by East Lake Pet Orphanage. Wine on the Roof was a lot fancier than a crawfish boil, so Janet and I had to dress up for the event. There was a silent auction, a live auction, a pet fashion show and all sorts of awards and presentations. Oh, there was also lots and lots of wine. Too bad I can't drink anymore. I had a couple of glasses anyway, just to get in the spirit of things. Alcohol gives me terrible heartburn these days though, so I'm careful not to overindulge. I think this is my body's way of telling me to stick with the program and lay off the booze.

It was a very busy day, but tomorrow will be even busier. Janet and I are determined to finish landscaping the back yard tomorrow. It is supposed to rain a lot next week, and it would be nice to have all the grass in place before the rain starts. Based on what we have done already, we should be able to finish in one more day. It's going to be a long day though, and I'm tired already.

Bunny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 509 - Mother's Day

I think last night's Wine on the Roof party was the most enjoyable of these events I've been to yet. The weather was perfect. Everything was extremely well organized. The award recipients were gracious and after each of their acceptance speeches, nobody regretted giving them their award. It was a nice evening. It hard to believe I've been involved with these things for ten years now. To me, it still just seems like yesterday that we were planning the first one.

Since it was Mother's Day today, the dog park was pretty empty. Everyone was probably having a special brunch with Mom when we arrived with Dot and Dash. The dogs had a great time though. I think they like the park better when it isn't crowded with too many dogs. Dash actually played with a few dogs today and although Dot is seldom playful, she certainly enjoyed the beautiful Spring weather.

This afternoon, I finally threw away about seventy-five pounds of old magazines, advertising samples and ancient financial records that have been cluttering my office. I don't really think I need American Express receipts from 1987 anymore. I don't need advertising samples from companies that don't even exist anymore either. I can't believe I did so much work for Memorex Telex. Where is Memorex Telex these days? Out went years of Communication Arts and EQ magazines, along with a surprising number of of old French Vogue magazines and a few old Esquires and Atlantic Monthly magazines that I must have saved because someone I knew had gotten a story published in them. I saved a few old AdWeek magazines with pictures of a much younger me drinking cocktails at various advertising functions. I threw away a lot more though. The ad agency world and me are ancient history now.

As a result of my efforts, I now have room to store away some photo backdrops and camera equipment that has been sitting in a corner on the office floor for months now. I've still got a long way to go, but I am determined to have a nice working space again by the end of the year. If I was really brave, I would just tell Janet to throw away everything that irritated her the next time I went away on a business trip. I'm sure I would be alarmed when I returned, but I probably wouldn't be missing anything of real value. Everything I need to do my job is on this computer now. It's actually been here for over five years. I am still surrounded by paper, but only because I've spent a good part of my life writing and designing things that were meant to be printed on paper. One of these days, I'm going to have to acknowledge that paper has become irrelevant. My clients don't use it anymore. My bank and my accountant don't want it anymore. The post office still delivers piles of it to me everyday, but I throw 99% it straight in the trash.

I was a big step for me to finally be able to throw away most of my paper ad portfolio. I haven't really lost anything though. The same stuff is already on my iPad.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 508

Tonight is the big Wine on the Roof fundraiser for East Lake Pet Orphanage. This is the event that the big poster featuring the dog and cat as Rhett and Scarlet from Gone with the Wind was created for. This year's guest of honor is Loretta Swit from the old M.A S.H. TV series. Radio personality Richard Hunter will be there as well. The event seems to grow every year. I remember doing the very first poster for these events over ten years ago when 13" x 19" was considered a large size. This year's poster is six feet tall. That's not the biggest change to me however. The big difference between those early events and this one is that I can't drink any more. A wine tasting event is much more fun when you can drink the wine.

My bee stings have stopped hurting and started itching. I don't know which is worse. Now I feel like I've got a bad case of poison ivy. I guess I ought to just get used to it, since I'll probably come in contact with the stuff within the next two or three weeks anyway. I see large patches of poison ivy now whenever I walk the dogs. All it takes is a few minutes of idle daydreaming on my part, and the dogs will walk through a big patch of the stuff and the urushiol oil will get all over me when the dogs curl up with me to go to sleep.

It looks like tomorrow is going to be a work day whether I like it or not. There are a ton of things I'm behind on after my week in Houston. I guess I could put everything off till Monday, but I like to start off the week with a clean slate. Somehow if I'm still working on last week's jobs on Monday morning, I never seem to get caught up.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 483

Yay! I got the big trade show job in Houston next month. The project has already changed shape several times since I submitted my initial bid, but it's still a fabulous project for a very large company. I'll need to buy some new equipment to do the job properly, but I needed some new equipment anyway. It's a good investment. When friends ask why I've been spending so much time on blogs and Facebook and other social media destinations lately, this is probably the reason. Two years ago I didn't even know what social media was. Now, I'm getting hired to provide social media coverage of events. This seems like a good investment too.

The Wine on the Roof poster is finally done. Yay again. If you've been following this story, you'll notice that this thing has changed shape a few times as well. Now, it's a much more literal interpretation of the original Gone with the Wind movie poster. I had my doubts that I'd even get the three foot long poster printed today, because my printer is genuinely on its last legs. All's well that ends well though. In the process of printing the poster today, I finally found out what is wrong with my printer. Evidently the print head overheats and shuts the printer down with an error message when there is no ink inside the head. Ink serves a dual purpose of coloring the picture and cooling the print head. The fix for this problem? Well, it's either a simple $150 service call to reattach some loose wires, or $1100 and up for a brand new print head and pump. Unfortunately, the repairman has to come out and take the printer apart to see whether I got lucky or not. The printer is so old that I don't think it's worth it to spend a fortune replacing all the internal parts. Jeez, I've already done that with the Defender 90 and that's enough. I'm always up for reattaching loose wires though, so I'll probably have the guy come out and take a look. I wish someone would invent a small, cheap printer that would make very large, expensive looking prints. In my experience, almost all current large format printers are way more trouble than they're worth.

I saw an amphibious car when I was walking the dogs at the lake today. It's really strange to be walking along and see a half submerged convertible glide by you on the water. I don't remember the brand of the car, but I recall seeing pictures of one that looked like this. They were made in the 1960's and look kind of like a bathtub with wheels. A mile or so down the trail I saw something even stranger. It was a big two foot square sign featuring one of those square bar code thingies that are starting to pop up everywhere. All the sign said was "scan this for more information." I didn't scan the sign. Actually, I didn't even bring my phone with me. I hate to get calls when I'm walking.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 471

Everything is turning green. The grass in the backyard is growing nicely. The Dogwoods, Azaleas, Redbuds and other flowering trees in the park are in full bloom. I'd say that everything is coming up roses, if it weren't for the fact that I'm also seeing huge fields of poison ivy starting to grow as well. It's only a matter of time before one of the dogs wanders though a patch of of fresh poison ivy and transfers the itchy oil to me while I sleep. For some reason, the dogs never catch poison ivy themselves, but once the urushiol oil gets on their coats, I'm almost guaranteed to catch it within a week. Poison ivy isn't the only nuisance that returns every Spring either. The bees have returned as well. When I go out in the yard with the dogs now, I see tons of bees. They seemed to have arrived with the new grass, although I'm not quite sure why. We don't really have any flowers in the yard, but the bees sure seem to like something.

I finished my "Gone with the Wind" poster today. I was going to present it to the rescue group at our regular Thursday meeting, but the meeting got canceled at the last minute. I guess I'll just present the poster here. Just about everyone who goes to that Thursday meeting has become a blog reader anyway.

I'm starting to think that my bid for the trade show project in Houston has hit a snag. I haven't heard anything yet and the event keeps getting closer and closer. If I'm bidding against a local supplier in Houston, I'm at a disadvantage anyway, since they won't have to factor hotel and travel expenses into their bid. Truthfully, I wish I never had to bid against other companies. I think my prices are fair. Life would be a lot easier if customers either gave me the job or they didn't. I'm just not a very competitive person.

I made another wasted trip to the pharmacy today to pick up a prescription, only to learn that it was no longer renewable. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and prescriptions that expire too soon is right at the top of my list to talk about. Some of these things I'm going to be taking for the rest of my life. Why can't they just make the prescription for three or four years instead of for six months? I'm sure it all has something to do with money. If I didn't continually need to get my prescriptions renewed, I probably wouldn't go to the doctor nearly as often.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day