Day 2488

I had to move a client's website from one hosting company to another today. In theory, this should be an easy process, but it never is. There is always some weird configuration issue when I'm trying to access a new server with my FTP application. I spent hours on the phone with technical support trying to figure out how to upload the site. We finally figured out that the login information the client had provided me with was incorrect. This happens a lot. I finally got everything working correctly, uploaded all the files to the web server, and was getting ready to point the DNS to the new name servers when I got an e-mail from the client. He told me that he had just gotten a better deal from his old hosting company and he didn't want to move after all. What a wasted day.

Sometimes I think that my Internet clients are just trying to drive me crazy, but in reality, they are nice people who just aren't very technically savvy. That's all I've got left. My sophisticated clients left long ago, moving their complex and growing sites to big interactive agencies that provided all kinds of fancy services I wasn't able to offer. This consolidation within the industry has just about destroyed small shops like mine. When I hear politicians say they are going to bring back jobs, I wonder how they are going to do it. Big companies continue to swallow up smaller companies that don't have the same economy of scale. Customers aren't very loyal and continue to take their business to whoever can offer the most for the least. If service jobs like mine are disappearing, manufacturing jobs are never coming back. People are so eager to get a huge flat screen TV for $200 that they don't care how many jobs are destroyed in the process.

Maybe it's just as well that my business isn't what it used to be. Taking care of an incontinent, senile old dog who can't walk anymore is an enormous effort. I could never leave the house for half the day to go to meetings like I used to. Business travel is out of the question. As much as I hate to admit it, my little writing jobs and the few remaining website clients I have left are just about all I can handle.

Dot got a lot of rest today, but still had trouble standing and walking. She was very shaky on her morning walk around the block and stumbled several times. The accidents are getting more frequent too. When I ask the vets how to slow down this inevitable decline, they sometimes suggest pain pills, but seldom offer any real solutions. You just can't stop the aging process. I still wonder if the water therapy might help, but I hate to keep dragging her around town and making her miserable.

I wonder if my trash will get picked up tomorrow. I switched to a different garbage can and tried not to pack the big black trash bags so tightly. I have no idea if this will work, but I'm getting tired of taking my trash to a dumpster. Complaining to the city is worthless. They just ignore you. As far as they're concerned, the new robotic garbage trucks are great. It's a brave new world out there. I can't depend on the garbage man. My mail carrier doesn't bother to deliver the mail at least one day a week. Nobody seems to give a shit anymore.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2135

I lost another website management account today. There isn't much left to lose at this point. Janet tells me that I just need to go out and get more business. I tell her that she ought to feel very lucky that she still has a skill that isn't easily replaced by a 99 cent iPhone app.

I probably could go out and build up my writing business if I wanted. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has come up with an app that will automatically write good original content for you. Website design is another kettle of fish. There are already so many sophisticated WordPress templates and pre-built solutions available for almost nothing, that very few people see any benefit to starting from scratch anymore. When I lose a website account, it is not because someone is doing better work than I am. It it almost always because someone has offered their services far cheaper than I ever could. There just aren't many economies of scale when there is only one of you. I'm learning the hard way that it's hard to compete with dirt cheap. As my once loyal client told me this morning, "Thanks for understanding. This was such a fantastic deal, I just couldn't pass it up."

The world has fundamentally changed. I miss the days when my clients started every other sentence with "I'm not very creative, but.."  Now, everyone thinks they actually are creative. Truthfully, there is probably an abundance of creativity out there, but life was better when I had a monopoly on this activity. It's no fun being the Wizard of Oz when the whole world is behind the curtain with you. People are so pleased with their Instagram filters and slow motion iPhone videos, that I don't see a huge demand for my services in the future.

Dash's vet had an emergency when we arrived for our appointment this morning. We had to wait a while in the lobby and I noticed that there were a lot of new faces at the clinic. This is another way the world has fundamentally changed. Nobody stays at a job very long anymore. Everywhere I go, there are always lots of new faces. Luckily, Dash's vet is still a familiar face. Dash has been seeing her for years. I asked about the emergency and evidently a dog had come in with symptoms of a seizure and kept falling over. After ruling out epilepsy and vestibular disorders, the vet thought the dog had ruptured a disc in it's neck. They would need to do an MRI to make sure however. If it was a ruptured disc, the dog would need surgery. The dog's owner apparently didn't want to spend the money and was thinking about putting the dog down. This happens a lot and it always makes me sad. Personally, I don't think you should even have a dog, or a kid for that matter, if you can't afford to take care of it properly. A dog is a big responsibility. So far, we've been able to provide everything that Dot and Dash need, but there could easily come a day when the piggy bank is completely empty. It happens.

It would be nice if someone called tomorrow and wanted me to do a video project that would keep me busy till Christmas. It would be nice if Dot woke up and started walking on her own again too. Some things just aren't going to happen. I wish Dot would tell me her secret. Maybe she doesn't know what lies ahead, or maybe she doesn't care. She just seems happy.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1491

I don't have a lot of stress in my life. What little stress I do feel is usually caused by the dogs. They both worry me at times. Dash woke us up three times last night to go outside. He apparently had diarrhea. When I asked the vet today if we should cancel his dental procedure because of his upset stomach, she said no. When I came to pick him up this afternoon after the anesthesia had worn off, his nurse asked me if he might have eaten some blueberries recently. Apparently, he pooped what appeared to be blueberries along with a little blood while he was at the vet. Maybe he did get into some blueberries. I don't know. Both dogs are counter surfers and if you turn away for an instant, they'll eat whatever is on the table. We certainly do have blueberries around the house. I eat them almost every morning with my oatmeal. I guess blueberries aren't toxic to dogs, but they can irritate their digestive system. 

Dot causes a different type of worry. I'm fairly confident that she won't poison herself by eating strange crap she finds in the park, but she's old and very fragile now. Every time I take her on a walk, I wonder if it will be her last. Her physical therapy vet says that the walks are important and that gentle walks will help keep her muscles from atrophying. I believe this, but she still gives me a scare now and then. Today, she squatted to pee on our evening walk and couldn't get up again. Instead of panicking, or trying to carry her home, I just sat with her for about five minutes. When she was ready, she got up on her own and walked the rest of the way home as if nothing had happened. Something did happen of course, and I can't ignore it. Dot and I have an understanding. She wants to keep going and I'll do my best to help her. I've never seen a dog with so much willpower. If I had Dot's determination, I'd probably live to be 100.

I had a lot to do today, but it wasn't overwhelming. I answered e-mailed questions, updated websites, and wrote two articles. Those simple tasks, along with transporting Dash to and from the vet, took up the entire day. I continue to wish that I had more time to aimlessly pursue personal projects, but maybe that's not in the cards for the moment. 

At tomorrow's business networking breakfast we are each supposed to describe our biggest business problem in two minutes or less and let the group propose a solution. It won't take me long to describe my problem. I'm spending way too much time doing low paying jobs. I'm not sure what the solution is though, since my entire industry has radically changed in the last ten years. Nobody wants to pay for copywriting anymore because it's way too easy to steal somebody else's writing on the Internet. A lot of people actually actually seem to prefer cheap template websites and even cheaper stock photography. I'm screwed. I have a feeling that if the folks in this networking group needed my services, they'd want to pay even less than my current clients. Maybe I should take a welding course.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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