Day 2598

For several months there has been a small message at the bottom of my Google+ profile asking me if I'd like to try the "new" Google+, along with a slightly ominous warning that the original Google+ was going away soon. As is usually the case, I didn't bother to try the new version because I liked what I had just fine. Today, Google made good on their promise. The old familiar layout was gone. Facebook does this sort of thing too and I've never understood why. I'm never happy when a restaurant changes their menu, or an auto manufacturer changes the design of a car I like. Just when I get familiar with something, somebody else decides to yank it away. Apple is the worst about yanking things away that I've grown to like. Every time I look at a new computer it seems to have less than the previous model. First, the take away the DVD burner, then the SD card slot disappears, along with USB ports and a lot of other stuff I use on a daily basis. I'm just waiting for them to take away the keyboard. So, do I like the new Google layout I've been forced to use? Of course not.

I got up early this morning to look for Mercury in the pre-dawn sky.  I could see the moon shining through some thin clouds and I could barely make out Saturn nearby, but the sky wasn't clear enough to find Mercury. I may have missed my opportunity to view this illusive planet for a while. I think there will be clouds tomorrow morning as well.

I felt like going back to bed after I came back inside and put my binoculars away, but it was already time to get Dot up. It's getting harder and harder to get Dot up in the morning. She used to be eager to start her day as soon as she heard Dash and Janet in the kitchen, but now she sleeps through all this. Depending on when we go to bed at night, there is a small window of time where I can safely get Dot outside to pee. If I wait too long, she will pee all over herself in her sleep. This morning, I put a tasty dog treat under her nose and when she started to yawn and wake up I gently lifted her up by the handle on her harness and off we went toward the back door. I have to make sure that the door is open first, because there isn't time to fumble with the door handle. Oddly, once she pees, she seems wide awake and ready for her breakfast. I wish I was wide awake in the mornings. I think I dislike getting up early even more than Dot.

I had another website to update this morning, but the day was basically pretty slow. I've learned to make the most of the three hours of peace and quiet I normally have after breakfast. Both dogs take a long nap after their morning walk, but getting them to leave me alone in the afternoon is almost impossible. I need to get a haircut, but I'm wondering when I'll find the time. Jobs with deadlines always take precedence over shopping and haircuts. Even though my workload has slowed down considerably, there is usually still enough to fill my morning. I've become very reluctant to leave Dot in the afternoon. If she struggles to get up while I'm gone, she can become very stressed and might even injure herself. Dot doesn't need this, but the consequences of being her guardian are making my world smaller and smaller.

It was so warm today that I decided to wash the car. I'm sure this means that it will rain tomorrow, but the car does look nice for now. Washing the car doesn't really count as being away, since I'm so close to the house that I can easily hear when Dot gets restless. I used my time wisely today. I finished my website project, made a quick trip to the vet to pick up more Allopurinol for Dash, and got something for dinner on the way home at the neighborhood vegan take out place. It wasn't an exciting day by normal standards, but my standards aren't normal anymore. Dot pooped outside today and I only did one load of laundry. I'd call that a win.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2485

I wrote another letter to my Luddite sister today. I do this about once a month. Anything more often would seem excessive. I've grown to like these old fashioned hand written letters. They make me realize that there is really no need for instant answers. Speed and quality are two different things entirely. Wandering through a library looking at dust jackets on potentially interesting books seems more satisfying than reading reviews on Amazon. Waiting for a letter seems much more satisfying than being forced to instantly reply to an e-mail. I don't like how the Internet has sped everything up and destroyed our power of concentration in the process. Maybe I'm a Luddite as well. If the Internet ceased to exist, it wouldn't bother me one bit.

I discontinued Dot's physical therapy today. Maybe this is temporary and maybe it's permanent. I just don't know. What I do know is that the trip downtown take more out of her now than she gets back from the therapy. Lately, every visit has resulted in a perceived loss instead of a gain. I think it's time for a rest.

Dot had a lot of accidents today, so I did a lot of laundry. At one point I even had to take Dot outside and clean her off with a garden hose after a particularly nasty mess. I keep thinking that I should be able to anticipate and even master these incontinence issues, but nothing has been very predictable. I try to make sure she sleeps on a disposable pad and even put one under her while she's eating her meals. She never gives much warning when she needs to go unfortunately and I often get caught by surprise.

I picked up a new LED bulb for a kitchen fixture today because the existing bulb has been flickering for weeks. I thought that LED bulbs were supposed to be completely trouble free, but apparently not. I've had quite a few fail on me and have subsequently learned not to buy the cheap Chinese brands. I got a Philips bulb this time, but failed to notice the color temperature of the bulb on the packaging. I like the daylight balanced bulbs better, but the warmer tungsten balanced bulbs seems to be getting more popular. Oh, well. It's not worth taking the bulb back. I guess I can live with one yellow bulb mixed in with a bunch of white ones.

I wonder why Apple made so many changes with IOS 10? A lot of the changes seem purely cosmetic. There's a different kind of clicking sound when you turn the phone off. You no longer swipe from left to right to unlock the phone, but are asked to press the home button instead. Why?  I hate to see things change like this after I've gotten used to using the old system. I could understand if the changes made things better, but I think the designers just got bored and wanted to do something different.

I get bored frequently, but seldom see a need to arbitrarily change things. People used to kid me for continuing to use a very old version of Photoshop. I knew this version backwards and forwards though and could make it do things that friends with the latest updates still hadn't mastered. I see little point in racing into the future until we have learned from the past and mastered the present. I think this is what my sister is trying to tell me. She writes a good longhand letter.

Hobbs is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day