Day 1673

The wheels of justice turn exceedingly slow. I arrived at the courthouse around 8 AM this morning for jury duty. By 9:30 AM, everyone sitting in the central jury pool had been administered the oath and assigned to a court. The rest of the day was spent in a lengthy and often tedious Voir dire process. I'm sure the attorneys eliminated some people as soon as they opened their mouth, but nobody was excused until well after 5 PM. This came as a shock to many prospective jurors who expected to be back at work by lunchtime.

This was a murder trial and the proceedings took forever as lawyers for both sides tried to find jurors who would be sympathetic to their case.  I don't think anyone wanted to be selected for this case. It appeared that a gang member had murdered another gang member and the defendant, who was in the courtroom, looked somewhat menacing. The defense lawyers asked prospective jurors if they could still be fair and impartial if they knew the testimony was coming from someone who had already been convicted of another crime. They asked us if we thought a uniformed police officer automatically has more credibility than someone with gang tattoos. Both sides asked us so many questions about what we thought constituted self defense that a lot of people, including myself, began to worry that this might turn into another Trayvon Martin trial. Nobody wanted to be on that type of jury. I was sitting on the front row during the selection process, so the judge said we would automatically be on the jury unless the prosecution or defense lawyers used one of their ten allotted strikes to eliminate me. As the day progressed, I became worried that I would be seated on the jury, since I really didn't have any good reasons why I couldn't serve. Luckily, one of the lawyers didn't think I would help his case and I was eliminated at the last minute. I was relieved. I wouldn't have wanted to be on this jury.

The dogs were relieved as well when I finally arrived at the vet around 6:30 PM to take them home again. I had to board them for the day, because I knew I'd be away too long to leave them alone. Nobody, including Dot and Dash, though I'd be down at the courthouse this long though. It was a very long day. Both dogs were indignant when I picked them up after their normal dinner time, but all was forgiven when I fed them as soon as we got home,

Since the judge admonished us several times not to say anything to anybody about the case if we were selected as jurors, I began to worry about the blog. What was I going to write about? Sometimes murder trials can go on for a long time. I even told the bailiff that I was a blogger and had posted something every day over five years without missing a single day. I wanted to know the specific ground rules, because as I told him, I had to write something every day. I wasn't going to let a murder trial stop me. If I couldn't write about the trial, could I write about the judge, or the other jurors? Maybe this is what eliminated me. Or maybe they didn't like that I had a hard time believing everyone truly enters the courtroom on an equal basis. Who knows? Maybe they though it was strange that in over a dozen visits to this courthouse, I had never been selected to sit on a jury. I'm still a jury virgin. Whatever the reason, I was glad to be able to go home at the end of the day and return to my normal life. They asked me to answer their questions honestly and I did. I'm glad they didn't ask if I thought the defendant was guilty, because he sure looked guilty to me.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1670

I think even the dogs would agree that the dog days of Summer have arrived. It's hot. It's dry. All the wildflowers behind our house have dried up an gone to seed. Without rain, the ground in the park starts to crack and deep fissures appear in the soil. I've got to keep an eye out for these cracks when I walk the dogs. They are often quite deep and are hidden beneath the patchy prairie grass. As the cracks grow, I've seen dogs step in them inadvertently and injure their leg.

When I was grocery shopping today, I stopped by the vet and made a day boarding appointment for next week while I'm on jury duty. When the dogs were younger, I would have just left them at home, but Dot is old and frail and I still worry about Dash getting an itch and scratching at the slowly healing cancer scar on his neck while I'm away. I don't know why taking care of a sick dog should be any different than taking care of a sick child, or an elderly grandmother. The dogs are more important to me than most people anyway. I think I should be exempt from jury duty, but it's not going to happen. The courts love people my age, because they don't have as many excuses. I've seen retired people actually eager to sit on juries, because they didn't have anything better to do. I'm not one of those people. I don't trust the court system and don't even like to go near a courthouse.

For the second weekend in a row, I sat inside and worked on websites, instead of braving the heat and doing yard work like I should. I did water the shrubs in the back yard along with the Wax Myrtle tree out front, but mowing the grass can wait. It's just too hot. The grass doesn't grow very fast in this weather anyway. I try to convince myself that by letting it grow longer, I'm helping the root system grow longer as well. I must be doing something right, because the grass is still green. Usually, by this time of year it's already starting to wither and turn brown.

I actually got quite a bit done on my latest website project this afternoon. There wasn't much else to do. After putting the groceries away, vacuuming the house, and doing a little coding on the new website, it was really tempting to spend the rest of the afternoon taking a nap with the dogs. Well, I guess it was a little more than tempting. I did take a nap with the dogs.

Tomorrow, I'll go to the gym. Sure, I had time to go today, but what was the point? I just wasn't in the mood.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1455

We've got power again! It's definitely been a long four days. Last night the temperature got so cold in the house that we gave up and went to a hotel for the night. It's hard to find a place that will take two 65 pound dogs, but the people at the Palomar couldn't have been nicer. They treated Dot and Dash just like any other guest. Dash was scared of elevators, but other than that, both dogs seemed to enjoy their night away from home. The dogs enjoyed sleeping in the big, fluffy hotel bed so much that I think they were disappointed when they returned to our own house today. We almost had to spend two nights in the hotel, but the power finally returned about 6 PM this evening. The house is still cold, but the temperature is steadily increasing at about three degrees an hour. By morning, we should be back to normal.

Since the house was still ice cold this morning, Janet let me use an empty cubicle at her office to work and we took the dogs to board for the day with our vet. Dot and Dash were disappointed that we weren't taking them to another posh hotel, but they'll survive. They are always well taken care of at the vet. Dash even got his antigen shot today, so I won't have to take him back again tomorrow.

Here's the difference between doctors and ordinary people. The last time I went to see the doctor I had an appointment with today, I had to wait over an hour and a half in the lobby because he got tied up in surgery. Today I was the one who was late. I was fifteen minutes late because of bad traffic and when I arrived, the doctor had already left for the day. So, I guess it's acceptable for me to wait an hour and a half and he can't wait fifteen minutes. I don't get it. I'm always the one who is expected to wait.

When I was driving home from my aborted doctor visit, I got a call from a friend in the neighborhood saying the power was back on. About five minutes later I got another call to say "never mind." The power had flickered out again. It appears that getting the power back on line is a tricky business. When I arrived home, the power was still out, but there were power company trucks everywhere. It was a power company crew from Alabama who eventually turned the lights on again. I asked one of the guys what it took to get all these people to Dallas on such short notice. He said it was just professional courtesy. He said if they got in trouble, Dallas crews would come down to help them. It's nice to know that the concept of professional courtesy still survives. It disappeared from the advertising world years ago.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1032

What a long day. The furnace installers were at the house from 9 AM until almost 4 PM. Since current furnaces aren't the same size and shape of those twenty years ago, most of the installers time was spent fabricating custom sheet metal work so that the new machinery would line up properly with the old vent system. When I first bought the house, it came with an ancient furnace that was quite large and very noisy. I quickly replaced this antique with a much more efficient model that ended up lasting over twenty years. The new furnace that was installed today was the smallest and most efficient of the three. Everything in life appears to be getting smaller. Cars, phones, computers, and now even furnaces are getting smaller. Hopefully, this is the last furnace I will need. I don't want to go through this ordeal again.

When the installers first removed the dryer and then the old furnace, I was appalled at all the dust that had accumulated in the utility room. There must have been an inch of dust under the clothes dryer. The dryer vent was full of dust too. The intake sheet metal ahead of the filters was coated with a thick layer of dust. I tried to vacuum and get rid of all this dust before the HVAC guys could put all the new equipment back in place again. Most repair people and installers could care less about dust. I knew they would just hook up the new furnace to the old dusty vents if I didn't clean them when I had a chance. I cleaned everything up while the installers were fabricating sheet metal out on the carport, but the room was so dirty that I completely clogged the vacuum cleaner. I had to take the whole thing apart to get it working again.

It's a good thing I boarded the dogs today. It would have been a nightmare with seven hours of non-stop barking on top of all the construction noise. The installers were in and out of the house all day long. I would have worried that the dogs would have gotten loose and disappeared out the front door. They were safe at the vet, but I don't think either of them enjoyed their little vacation. They were frantic when I picked them up at the end of the day and Dot pooped in the car.  One more mess to clean up.

Ironically, after an entire day was spent installing the furnace, the air conditioner is on now. A late Fall heat wave swept through town yesterday and the temperatures are in the high eighties again. It will be cold soon enough though. I'm glad everything is working now, before Winter arrives.

Since I was trapped in the house all day, I got a lot of writing done. There wasn't much else to do and I had some looming deadlines anyway. It all worked out pretty well. I'm going to take it easy this weekend though. Wouldn't you?

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 983

I should have stayed another day in Vegas. I guess I wasn't thinking ahead. By returning to the office before the work week was actually over, I opened a big can of worms. I started receiving requests before I even finished breakfast to finish projects that people thought were already late. Jeez, if I'd just stayed one more day. That would have been enough to postpone all these attempts to cram an entire week's worth of work into a single day. Sure, I'd still have to play catch up on Monday, but the weekend definitely would have been nicer.

Needless to say, I was very busy today. Between the phone calls and all the replies to e-mail messages, I managed to update three websites, edit 100 photos in Photoshop, and write another article. Did I get everything done? Nope.

The dogs must have had a good time at the boarding kennel. I can't think of any other reason why they were so active today. They got us out of bed at least an hour earlier than usual, and once they had everybody up, there were places to go and things to do. Usually Dot and Dash are lethargic on a hot day like this. Today they were eager for activity. They raced around the back yard, got us to take them on long walks, did some energetic counter surfing during meals, and generally acted like puppies.  Maybe playing with other dogs for a week did them good.

I forgot to take the garbage out to the street last night. I actually totally forgot that it was Friday today, until the calls to get back to work started pouring in. Forgetting to take out the garbage isn't a good thing. Now we'll have to wait until next Friday, while the can gets filled to overflowing with the remnants of our seemingly excessive consumption.

There was no breakfast outing at a neighborhood restaurant this morning. I was too busy working. I guess it's just as well that this little ritual was disrupted. I've been eating breakfast in restaurants all week long.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 979

I could learn to live this way. We just finished enjoying a wonderful dinner at Todd English's Olives Restaurant while watching the sun set through a nearby window against the backdrop of the spectacular Fountains of Bellagio. It was a nice ending to a relaxing and enjoyable day. I actually like living in hotels. Someone comes and makes your bed every day. They bring you clean towels and leave little chocolates on your pillow. What's not to like? 

We don't have a pool at home, so it's always enjoyable to take a swim after breakfast. When I'm in the water, I realize I should swim more often. I still have a dislocated shoulder and swimming would really help build up those muscles. I'd never swim at home though. There's too much to do. It's only on days like these that I realize how enjoyable being in the water can be. Yeah, I know. I live right next to a large lake. I'd never swim in the lake. Many say it's polluted and it's full of snakes anyway. I think the pools at luxury hotels are much nicer places to swim.

I miss the dogs. We watch them every day on the webcam, and you can tell they don't really like being boarded. We could never bring them to Las Vegas though. I haven't seen a single dog since we arrived. I wish the dogs traveled better in the car. We could take them down to the Gulf Coast and let them run along the beach. We've got a long way to go before we can get them to Padre Island though. Dash totally freaks out in a car and we're lucky to get ten miles down the road without a major panic attack. A long trip would be a nightmare. Since Dash is a rescue dog, we think his previous owners might have just dumped him on the side of the road and left him. He definitely doesn't have positive associations about riding in a car.

This might be the last lazy day I'll have while I'm in town. Tomorrow is a work day. I'm covering the WWD Magic show for one of my clients and since since this is the magic show, I'll somehow manage to transform myself tomorrow from an old guy in swim trunks at the Bellagio pool to a hip young fashion blogger. I'll admit I'm an unlikely fashionista, but I do like the industry. The Devil Wears Prada was one of my favorite movies and I seldom miss an episode of Project Runway.

I used to like playing the penny slots in Vegas, but they're all gone now. In the old days you could stretch out losing your money over an entire afternoon, while friendly waitresses brought you free drinks. Now the electronic machines literally suck the money out of you. I put a twenty dollar bill in a slot machine this morning and it was gone in less than five minutes. What's the fun in that?  I love Las Vegas for the food and the shows and the people watching. I'll leave the gambling to someone else.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 827

Most of today was occupied by getting U-verse installed. It was such a long, involved process that I boarded the dogs for the day. Dot would never have tolerated strangers moving things around in every room of the house. Since we were replacing all the phones, the televisions and the entire office network, I was expecting the worst. So far, the results have been largely favorable. The television works and we have a lot more channels than we had before. The Internet is quite a bit faster than it was before. The phones have built-in voice mail, so I don't need the answering machine anymore. I like a lot of the little things the best. When someone calls, the caller ID number shows up on your television screen. You can record an entire season of your favorite show just by clicking on a single button. The DVR automatically records each episode and then you can watch them whenever you want. So far, so good. It will probably take me months to learn all the available features but the main thing is that we are getting more services than cable for less money each month. As long as this complicated fiber optic system doesn't crash on us, I'm a happy camper.

I can't say that the dogs were all that happy today. Apparently, they both hate day boarding. When I picked Dot and Dash up after the U-verse installation was complete, Dot was panting like she'd been left out in the sun all day and Dash was making strange warbling bird noises. They were both very happy to return home again. Oddly, after all the boarding agitation, they were both very good at training class tonight. Dash had one of his best nights in months. We was even able to do some of his exercises off-leash. OK, I forgot to bring the long leash, but he did much better than I expected without it. Maybe I don't even need the long leash anymore. That would be great. If I could actually get to the point where I could trust this dog to come when he's called, it would be a miracle.

Now that the big household electronics upgrade is behind me, all I have to worry about are the washing machine repair and a potentially expensive trip to the Land Rover dealer. The mystery noise under the hood is getting louder, so I'd better take the car in soon.

The weather was beautiful all day. I'm sure the U-verse installation went a lot smoother than it would have if the technicians were trying to hook up new phone lines in a thunderstorm. I hope the nice weather continues. It should! After all, it's officially Spring now. Summer will be here before you know it, and that means I'd better turn my attention towards getting the rental property leased or sold.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 628

I’m writing this at 38,000 feet. I doubt that I’ll be able to post the blog until we land again, but it’s a good time to write. I don’t know how Janet managed to get us upgraded to first class without paying any more. She’s a lot better at travel planning than I am. I’d almost forgotten how much nicer first class is than coach. I don’t get up to the front of the plane much anymore. There’s plenty of room for your feet up here. The flight attendants are nicer. They even serve you a real meal. I could get used to this. I’m sure the next time I fly, I’ll be right back in coach however. If my clients are paying, I’ll definitely be back in coach.

I think it took longer to get the dogs ready for the boarding kennel than it took to pack our own bags. We packed their food, their meds, their dog treats and their toys. I’m sure Janet probably threw in a few dog blankies into their bag as well. I think we’ll be able to watch them on a webcam when we arrive. I’ve learned that live webcams aren’t very reliable though. About half the time when I go to view one, it has already crashed.

Janet is convinced that if I could just learn to relax, my neck pain would go away immediately. I don’t think it’s this simple, but I’m certainly willing to give it a try. When we get to our hotel, I’ll probably just upload this and immediately go to sleep with my special u-shaped pillow wrapped around my neck.

Tomorrow is another day. I may feel fabulous tomorrow. The hotel mattress is probably a lot better than our mattress at home, which has been ruined over the years by large dogs jumping all over it. Just a good night’s sleep would probably make a world of difference.

Domino: today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day