Day 2819

I spent the day mending fences with clients, solving odd website problems, and trying to keep Dash from continually getting stuck in corners with his cone. I wish Dash would quit trying to lick his wound whenever I take the cone off, but I guess that's what dogs do. Dash hates wearing the cone and I try to take it off whenever I can, but he's not being very cooperative. Whenever I turn my back, he's quietly licking his injured dewclaw again.

It was actually enjoyable to be working on websites today. I like to stay busy, but work is hit and miss these days. Usually when I'm busy, it's because someone has a crisis. Most of my bread and butter work has gone away. I should have stayed in architecture. My writing work has declined because younger people don't read, and my design work has declined because there are too many easy alternatives to hiring someone like me. Every time I turn on the TV I see ads from GoDaddy promising that you can build your own business website for next to nothing in less than an hour. It's hard to compete with that.

I suspect that my career would be nearing an end by now even if I'd stayed in architecture. Many of my classmates from architecture school have already retired. Some are traveling. Some have taken up painting. Some have died of cancer. At least I'm still alive. I don't have a house filled with floodwater either, so I guess I'd better quit complaining.

I was kind of astonished by the new iPhone X introduction today. Would you pay $1000 for a phone? I saw some pundit on one of the business shows try to rationalize the exorbident price by saying that unlike your car, which just sits in your driveway most of the time, your phone is an essential part of your life and you couldn't function without it. Have we really come to this? I could get along just fine without my phone. I got one phone call today and it was on my old land line. Staying connected is overrated.

I postponed jury duty again. Eventually, I will have to serve, but I'll keep delaying things as long as I can. Sitting in the jury pool room is one of my least favorite things. I don't know why I keep getting jury summons. I've been called many times and have never been asked to sit on a jury. I don't seem to be what the lawyers are looking for. I probably wouldn't make a good juror anyway. I think everyone is guilty.

The shower didn't leak this morning. I don't know why. My latest theory is that there is a very slow leak and it takes about three days for enough water two accumulate under the tile floor that it starts leaking out of a crack. I may be wrong. I don't have any theories about why Dash continues to lick his paws. He used to lick them even before his injury.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1313

It's hard to believe that it's been 44 years since we landed on the moon. I still remember those grainy pictures of Neil Armstrong slowly exiting the Lunar Excursion Module like it was yesterday. I was in college at the time and watched the landing in the ballroom of the university student union because I didn't have a TV of my own in the rooming house where I lived while going to architecture school. Those were good times. The Summer of 69 was a magical period in history when anything was possible. A month after the moon landing was Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix and Neil Armstrong defined my world. A few years later I graduated, completely convinced that both the moon landings and the spirit of Woodstock would last indefinitely.

I was wrong of course, but I'm certain that the optimism I felt during the Summer of 69 contributed to my early success. It was easy to get a job back then. I was hired as a junior designer by a well known architect in Seattle. I was given an opportunity to make documentary films. Nothing really seemed like a struggle. I don't think I would have fared nearly as well in today's world.

I still can't really tell you how the kid who thought he was going to be the next Richard Avedon wound up taking pictures of Dalmatians instead. It's been quite a ride though and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Actually, taking pictures of Dalmatians is quite enjoyable. Janet and I photographed one of our new rescue dogs today. Sterling is a young guy who seems to be filled with the same exuberant optimism I felt in 1969. It was hard to get a good picture though, because Sterling wouldn't stay still. Hopefully, I captured the happy boy that he is. He should find a home quickly.

Later in the afternoon when I took Dot and Dash on their afternoon walk they both heard a loud thunderclap off in the distance. The noise triggered their storm phobia and I could barely hold on to them as they tried to make a hasty retreat back to the house. I tried my best to get the dogs to slow down, since this was exactly how Dot lost a nail last year. It never did rain very much, but the thunder alone was enough to convince Dot and Dash that the sky was falling. I got under a blanket with them and watched a cooking show on PBS until they calmed down.

I made another attempt to figure out what was wrong with the garbage disposal today. I took the faceplate off the control panel for the oven and other kitchen gadgets and tried to trace the wiring for the disposal. No loose or burned wire found. Everything seems completely normal. The disposal still doesn't work though. I added making an appointment with an appliance repairman to next week's to-do list.

It's hard to say whether the dogs will get their Sunday trip to the dog park tomorrow. The mornings start out clear and sunny and then by mid-afternoon little thunderstorms start springing up all over town. We'll see what happens. So far, it's been a nice weekend.

Lady Jane is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 524

I had lunch today with Jeff, a classmate of mine from architecture school. We hadn't seen each other for almost thirty years, and it was fun comparing notes on how our lives had converged and diverged since we left school. We both loved Paris and had spent considerable time there. We both wondered how long we were going to keep working, yet had no real plans to retire. We both loved Macintosh computers and had a humongous number of apps on our iPhones. There were differences too. Jeff was a senior partner in a large architectural firm in Minneapolis and had thirty people working for him. I worked alone with two dogs.

When I try to explain what I've been doing for thirty years between bites of a bacon cheeseburger, I realize that I've actually done quite a lot. I've traveled and worked in Europe, learned to fly an airplane, had several successful gallery shows, produced TV commercials with everyone from Richard Petty to Tom Landry, made two documentary films, and written four unpublished books. At the end of the day though, the little room where I currently work is not all that different from the little room where I studied all those years ago across the hall from my friend Jeff. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

When I got back from lunch and was getting ready to go back to work, I ended up stepping in a big pile of dog vomit under my desk. One of the dogs had thrown up their breakfast. Maybe the morning storms had upset Dot. It was more likely that the culprit was Dash though. He's the one with the sensitive stomach. I think the dogs birthday dinners the other day might have been too rich for them. At any rate, one or both of the dogs really made a mess of things. When I went in the bedroom, there was poop on the carpet along with more dog vomit. The dogs were evidently sick on both ends. I used up the rest of my bottle of Nature's Miracle trying to get the stains cleaned up. I just don't get it with these dogs. Most of our house has virtually indestructible brick floors. When the dogs get sick though, they inevitably make a mess on the carpets. They won't go anywhere near the bricks when they are sick.

When I went up on the roof today to sweep away the standing water from this morning's storms, I think I spotted where all the bees are coming from. I can't get near it though. Too many bees. Maybe Jeff has his own version of bees and dog vomit. We didn't talk about this though. It was much more fun to talk about Paris.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day