Day 2744

I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my accounting software today. This somewhat ancient software is what is preventing me from upgrading my desktop computer's operating system, which would allow me to upgrade everything else. I'm very reluctant to touch accounting software, because if something goes wrong, years of records go down the drain. To play it safe, I decided to install the new software on my laptop first. If everything worked there, I could then proceed to upgrading the operating system on my desktop computer and install the accounting software again. Since a lot of single user licenses only allow you to install software on one computer, I had to call customer support to make sure my plan was even possible. The lady I talked to didn't seen to know very much, but eventually she told me to go ahead. I clicked the download button on my laptop and went to walk Dash. When I returned, my session had timed out and my download was only partially complete. No wonder I don't do this kind of thing very often. Another call to customer support got the download started again and I had something I could experiment with.

Everything seems to work, so I'll upgrade the main computer tomorrow. Hey, what could possibly go wrong? Every time I do a major system upgrade I am faced with a problem I never expected. There are hundreds of applications on the main computer and I can almost guarantee that five of them won't work anymore after I upgrade the operating system. Like it or not, you are forced to upgrade every once in a while. I'm doing this mainly so I can use my web design software again. Over time, everything will work out fine, but sometime tomorrow I'm going to think I made a big mistake.

I knew software upgrades would be complicated, but I thought grocery shopping on weekdays would simplify things. Until Janet recovers, I'm doing all the shopping, but there's no reason I need to do it on Saturday. I thought the stores would be empty on Thursday afternoon. Much to my surprise, they were just as busy today as they are on the weekends.  Oh, well. It seemed like a good plan. Maybe things are always busy in Dallas. I really didn't accomplish much, because I'm going to have to go back to the store this weekend anyway to pick up the fresh produce.

I was going to call the landscaper today, wash my car, and order more ink for the large format printer. I didn't do any of these things because I got completely sidetracked by the complicated software upgrade process. At least I remembered it was Thursday and took out the trash. Tomorrow, I'll drive Janet down to Baylor for another doctor's appointment. Maybe I'll go out to breakfast, but I kind of feel like fixing French Toast at home instead. Either way, I'll need to walk Dash very early. It's getting so hot that I don't feel comfortable walking a dog in the middle of the day. Staying inside doesn't bother Dash at all. He seems to enjoy his new role as Janet's bedside companion.

Maybe when I get all the computers upgraded, I'll become more productive. It's not very likely, but it could happen. I'm probably just going to be mad when my old software starts crashing.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2312

When I was working on a website update this morning, I noticed that one of the design tools I use to create mobile friendly sites was about to expire. The software you need these days is increasingly available only on a subscription basis. I guess I'll need to renew my expensive subscription for another year, even though I don't make that much money designing websites anymore. It's frustrating. I still need my cameras, editing equipment, and sophisticated software, even though my workload has decreased precipitously. It won't be long before it costs me more to maintain my business than I actually make from the business.

Today was a chemotherapy day for Dot. When I was giving her the Palladia pills, I noticed that there weren't enough left to make it until her next exam date. I have a feeling that the cancer center miscounted the pills last month and gave me too few. Of course, they didn't actually give me the pills. I think they cost about $20 each. The question now is did I already pay for the missing pills or not? I called the oncologist and asked what to do next. It looks like I'll have to go to the cancer center and pick up the missing pills tomorrow. I bet I'll have to pay for them too.

I moved my trash can to a different position on the street this week in hopes that the trash crew will notice it tomorrrow morning. My theory is that the truck was turning the corner when they skipped my trash last week. Maybe they didn't see it. It's possible. Of course, maybe they know that I have OCD and just ignored my can to drive me crazy. Hopefully, I'll have better luck this week.

I was going to go back to the sporting goods store that is going out of business to see if I could find some more bargains, but work got in the way. Today's website update was kind of complicated and took a lot of time. This job requires new photography too, so I'll have to schedule a time to go take pictures of new employees next week. Most of my clients have abandoned their employee pages, but a few still seem to like to show the world how quickly their staff turns over. I never recommend employee pages anymore. It looks embarrassing when people keep changing every few weeks.

I think I'll go back to the hipster restaurant tomorrow. The place isn't as fancy as the restaurant I tried last Friday. The silverware is non-existent and there are only three tables, but the food is fabulous. The first time I ate here, I thought all the customers seemed a bit odd. Now, I realize that's why I like the place. I fit in.

When I was paying bills this afternoon, I realized that I simply have to get some more business. The money I used to spend buying cameras and microphones is now used to pay vet bills. I hate feeling broke. In theory, it shouldn't be that hard to get new business. The website I was working on this morning was quite complicated and I knew exactly what to do. There ought to be plenty of other people who could use these skills. I'm sure these people still exist, but I'm not going to meet them in my current reclusive state of mind. I tend to avoid people at all costs. Hmm. I think I've answered my own question. It's a no brainer. If you avoid talking to people and never answer your phone, you're not going to grow your business.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1649 - Summer Solstice

It doesn't really seem like the longest day of the year. The sun should be setting right about now, but since it's cloudy outside, it seems like sunset occurred quite a while ago. Solstice is a big deal to some people I know, but it's just another Saturday to me. The only Summer Solstice that seemed very memorable to me was years ago when I was going to high school in Alaska. My family was living in Fairbanks at the time and on June 20, we got in the car and drove north as far as we could. We almost had 24-hour daylight in Fairbanks during the Summer, but not quite. On this particular Solstice I remember climbing up a hill just above the Arctic Circle near midnight with my Dad and watching the sun still shining, low on the northern horizon. Winter skies were pretty cool as well. There were lots and lots of auroras to be seen.

There was nothing that exciting today. I saw a rabbit and a couple of ducks in the park. That was about it. It's amazing how quickly we can go from too much rain to not enough. We're gone a couple weeks without significant rain and the ground is already getting parched and dry. I made sure to water both the front and back lawn today. I'm determined to keep the grass growing as long as I can this year. We don't have an automatic sprinkler system, but I did put mechanical timers on the little oscillating sprinklers attached to the garden hose. I like these timers. There are no batteries or electricity required. The entire thing is just a simple clockwork mechanism that you wind up and then it turns the water off thirty minutes to an hour later.

I called in some prescription renewals this morning and the pharmacist told me that some of them needed doctor approval again. My GP has been renewing these things one month at a time until I go in and have another physical exam. I already made an appointment for an exam next month, but I guess I've actually got to have the exam before my doctor will go back to renewing my meds for a year at a time. I really liked my team of liver doctors. They really believed that a good diet and lots of exercise were the keys to good health. I don't think my general practitioner has ever met a pill he didn't like. He's always trying to prescribe something new for me. I'd really like to find a reputable doctor who could find a way to ween me off of all my meds. I'm tired of taking pills. I guess I shouldn't be too disparaging about the pharmaceutical industry though. As much as I hate pills, I need to remember that it was a pill that cured my Hepatitis C.

I took some stuff over to the storage warehouse today and spent a few minutes looking around. There are a lot of things I should probably just get rid of. It's just not useful anymore. I don't imagine that people are going to start using tape machines again. I still have tape machines from the days when I did a lot of video editing. Everything is file based now though. The tape machines are museum pieces.  Old software is pretty useless too. I have tons of software still in the original boxes from the days when you installed it using floppy disks. Some of this software was pretty cool, but absolutely none of it runs on modern computers. Framed photographs that never sold at gallery shows are taking up a lot of space too. Lord only knows why I have so many electric trains.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. There's an animal rescue website to update. I need to do some cleaning around the house. Maybe I'll go to the gym. One of these days, I'm sure the dogs would like to go to the dog park again as well.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1064

I used to be real careful about the software I installed on my computer. Before using something new, I would typically wait until a friend had already installed the same software on their computer with no ill effects. Only then would I go to the store and pick a box off the shelves to install on mine. Now my computer has developed a mind of its own. It's starting to act a lot like my phone. Almost every week I'll launch a familiar tool and receive a message saying a new version is available. Would you like to download the new version now, says the message. If I ignore this message, it will just reappear again the next time I launch the software. I've gotten in the habit of downloading and installing the updates just to make the irritating message go away. As a result, when I begin to use my supposedly familiar software, I often find that a favorite feature has been replaced by something I never wanted in the first place.  I know that somewhere off in the cloud there are people looking out for my best interests, but I would rather make these decisions myself.

It's hard to fight progress though, so I usually just click the download button and learn to live with the results. I've come to the conclusion that it's a lost cause to make decisions by yourself these days. Sharing and collaboration are revered and everybody needs to be on the same page. Like it or not, we live in an age where an iconoclastic thought will never get you as far as a picture of a cute cat.

I've started to wonder how I can make my own thoughts appear like cute cats. As an experiment, I've uploaded some photos of mine to Google+ and then a few months later, uploaded exactly the same photos that are tagged with a currently trending Meme. The photo linked with a popular Meme always gets far more attention. The photos are absolutely identical, but the one without a popular reason to like it always gets ignored. This is counter-intuitive to me. Here I've been thinking that it was originality that got me noticed, when it apparently it takes a village after all.

I only mention all this because when I was taking Dash to the vet this afternoon for his antigen shot I got talking with the director of a rescue program I work with about the theme for an upcoming event. She wanted me to take a photo of a dogs paw pressed against a human hand as a symbol of people helping animals. Sounded like a good idea to me. When I got home, I opened up Facebook and immediately saw a picture of exactly what she was talking about in my stream. Weird. Had she already subliminally seen this picture, or does everything just happen in parallel these days?  Oddly, the fact that this visual idea has already been done will make it seem more powerful to some in the rescue group. There won't be the worry of being the first anymore.

Can you tell I'm rambling. Nothing really happened today. Oh, I did go to the shoe store and discovered that my feet have grown wider.  Boo. Apparently, I should be wearing an 8 1/2 extra wide now.

Puppies are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 542

Kudos to Ace Bees. It hasn't even been 48 hours since the beekeepers came out to the house and already all the bees have flown away. I guess I'm almost ready ready for stage two of the process. This is where I remove the special strip with the smell that the bees don't like and let the other neighborhood bees come and steal the rest of the honey. So far, everything has worked exactly the way the beekeeper said it would. Coincidentally, I received a message on my LinkedIn wall this morning from someone who lives in my neighborhood. He said he was sorry that I probably had inherited his bees. Apparently three or four months ago, he had a similar bee problem at his house and when his bees flew away, he though they might have flown over to my house. We'll never know for sure. Bees don't talk. It does make me wonder though were my colony of bees are going to make their next hive. Hopefully, it will be somewhere in the nearby park, instead of another house.

I certainly don't have any accolades for the company that sold me the Quark Express software a few days ago. When I discovered that they were indefinitely out of stock of the product, I tried to cancel my order today. The person I talked to on the phone told me that the company couldn't cancel the order because my order number corresponded to a different customer name. Everything looked correct when I logged in to my website account, but I couldn't convince the offshore call center people that I was really me. When I couldn't get the call center folks to give me the name and number of someone who actually worked for the software sales company here in the United States, I gave up and called Paypal for help instead. At least Paypal knows who I am. Maybe they can help me get the order canceled. One thing is certain. I'm definitely not buying anything from these folks again.

I happened to catch part of my favorite Dr. Who episode while I was washing dishes today. This was the show where the doctor and Amy Pond meet Vincent Van Gogh and take him back to the present day Louvre so that he can see for himself that he had succeeded as a painter. I don't know why this show resonates with me. Probably because I think that nobody will remember me after I'm dead either. Lots of TV today. Janet and I were watching the National Geographic Channel during dinner and happened to see a re-run of the show I did with the friendly goat. The last time I saw this show, I viewed it on an old 4:3 Sony Trinitron. The footage I shot looked great then. This time, I watched the show on a new 16:9 flat screen. Everything looked like it was cropped all wrong. I guess it makes sense. I shot the footage on a 4:3 Beta-SP camera. Oh well. I doubt that I'll be using a 4:3 aspect ratio ever again.

In an effort to clear out some additional space in my storage warehouse, I gave away four inkjet printers, two scanners, a CRT monitor and an old Acoustic Research turntable to a resale shop run by an animal rescue group I like. All these things that I gave away still work. Most of them actually look like new, but I doubt that anyone will want them. Nobody wants old technology. You can't even give it away to schools. There's probably a 99% chance that my old printers and scanners are already in a dumpster somewhere. At least I have now room to fill up the storage space with newer old junk.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day