Day 3535

We're home. Texas has a little bit of everything. We traveled from some of the most congested areas of the country to some of the most remote. While we were in Fort Davis I kept wondering why people keep retiring there. The entire population seems to be retirees. As we navigated lunch hour traffic in Austin and a little later the evening rush hour on our return to Dallas, I had my answer. West Texas offers the antithesis of city life. People willingly deal with wells that occasionally run dry, problematic septic tanks, bears, forest fires, 40 mile drives to the supermarket, and a dearth of entertainment just to get some peace and quiet. The Davis Mountains were one of the most peaceful places I've been in my life. I'm sure the people who live there have plenty of problems, but they aren't city problems.

Fredericksburg is charming, but it definitely is not remote. The place is almost a suburb of Austin. We couldn't figure out whether the place was growing or shrinking. A lot of businesses were boarded up and we saw plenty of vacant buildings, but there was also a lot of new construction going on. The place reminded me of Gatlinburg without the Smokey Mountains. The main reason to return would be the museum. If you are a history buff, The National Museum of the Pacific War is like going to The Louvre. Before leaving town this morning, we returned to see some of the areas we failed to see yesterday. Someday we might return to see the rest.

I doubt that we'll return to Luckenbach any time soon. You almost have to go there though. If you live here you've heard the song a million times. It's one of those earworm songs. Willie, Waylon, and Kenny Chesney all sang it. I think Alvin and the Chipmunks did too. We wandered around the general store looking at tourist junk, thought about having a beer, but didn't, and then headed for home. We also stopped in West, Texas to pick up some Kolaches at one of the town's many Czech bakeries. That's also something you do if you live in Texas.

While we were in West, I used my phone to turn on the air conditioning at our house. We usually leave it off while we are away. By the time we got home, the place was nice and cool again. Even though I'm an old school analog kind of guy, I'll be the first to admit that today's technology is kind of amazing. I'm hooked. I would never travel without GPS anymore. I can write the blog from anywhere in the world. Having a watch that can take an electrocardiogram is pretty cool. So is being able to control your appliances from your phone.

Life is complex. Everything involves some sort of a trade off. I'd like to have all my advanced gadgets, but still live in an isolated place like Fort Davis that is so remote that some of these gadgets won't even work. One thing about a long road trip through Texas is that you realize you have a lot of options. Texas is huge and if there is something you like, I suspect you can find it here. I've found my place walking around a little lake in Dallas. I might start spending a little more time seeing other places though. Why not?

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2278

Curiosity finally got the better of me. When I was driving to breakfast this morning, I turned right instead of left and pulled into the parking lot of the new restaurant across the street from my regular place. Yes, despite my loyalty, I abandoned ship. Hopefully, the consequences of turning right won't be as disastrous as they were for Dr. Who when Donna Noble made a wrong turn and then had to go back in time to convince herself to turn left and save the world. I liked the new place. Instead of breakfast tacos and migas, this place featured locally sourced meat and eggs. Apparently this is what hipsters like to eat, because the place was filled with men sporting long beards and man buns. I ordered cinnamon pancakes, bacon, and homemade biscuits and gravy. Everything was delicious. I won't abandon my breakfast restaurant, but I'll return to this new place whenever I'm in the mood for comfort food.

I can't figure this weather out. The day was punctuated by short fierce storms interspersed with longer periods of relative calm. During one of these calm periods, I thought the rain was finished and decided to clear the water off the roof again. As soon as I was finished, another squall swept through town and erased all my efforts. I'll never learn. I cleaned the car when I saw a patch of blue sky in mid-afternoon and then got it dirty again when I had to go out and pick up the take-out meals I had ordered for dinner. At least I was able to walk the dogs without getting wet. These relatively dry walks and my cinnamon pancake were probably the silver lining to a day filled with some some very dark clouds.

I had some website work to finish today, but it wasn't really enough to distract me from the terrible weather. I think I'll abandon any future plans to remove water from the roof or clean the car until I'm convinced that the skies have cleared. I've really wasted a lot of time dealing with water issues and accomplished absolutely nothing. I'm still trying to get Dash to go outside and pee and Dot hasn't pooped since breakfast. It's been that kind of day.

I'm worried about Dot. She has been stumbling a lot today and seems to have difficulty standing without assistance. Some of this weakness is caused by the weather, since the damp, cool air aggravates her arthritis. My fear is that the cumulative effects of her chemotherapy is starting to wear her down as well. We've got one more week to go before we do another scan to see whether the Palladia pills are working. Then we've got to decide whether all this is worth it. I wish we could ask Dot what she wants. I'm guessing that she wants to live as long as she can, because she still seems to enjoy her life and doesn't appear to be depressed at all. As long as Dot wants to keep going, I'll do my best to help her.

The weather forecast says the rain will continue thru tomorrow. Then we are supposed to have four days of sunshine before the Spring rains start again. That's about as good as you're going to get during the rainy season. We'll hope for the best.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1585 - Good Friday

Good Friday seems to be an optional holiday. The stock market was closed today, but the post office was still delivering mail. The Interstate Battery store, where I was going to replace my lawn mower battery, was closed, but Dash's cancer center was still open. Janet's office was officially closed, but most people went in to work anyway because they were busy. All over town, some businesses were closed and others were open in a random sort of way. This is probably just what happens to religious holidays in an increasingly secular world.

I surprised the staff at my favorite breakfast restaurant this morning by ordering something different. I must have been really bored this morning, because I always order the same thing at this restaurant. Maybe I should take a chance more often, because my alternate choice was really pretty tasty.

I wonder if there is an effective way to get telemarketers and scammers to leave you alone? I've been feeling inundated with scams lately. Phishing scams are growing increasingly sophisticated. I get dozens of these each day. It's gotten so bad that I almost don't trust any e-mail  receive these days. Today I got a realistic looking confirmation of a hotel reservation I never made. Two hours later, I got an unsolicited credit card in the mail, with a letter urging me to activate it immediately to avoid fraud. Nope! Not going to do that. Many of these phishing scams try to alarm you enough to call a fake help line were telephone operators try to grab even more of your personal information. It's such a shame that our society has come to this. If spammers and scammers put as much energy into starting a legitimate business as they did trying to cheat people, our economy would probably be booming.

I got an e-mail today telling me that my company had been recognized as a 2013 Texas Excellence Award recipient by the US Trade & Commerce Institute. I looked on the web and there really is a US Trade & Commerce Institute. Sadly, I suspect this is a scam too. There are quite a few companies in the business of selling pretty looking, but entirely bogus professional awards to excessively vain people. The pretty crystal award, which recognizes my company for "Excellence in Marketing" would certainly look good on my desk, but I'm a bit suspicious. I don't pay any attention to marketing whatsoever. What a joke! Hey, the only award I want would be to get in the Guinness Book of Records for "Most Consecutive Blog Posts."

Today wasn't very productive, but I need to start looking at the glass as half full rather than half empty. I didn't resolve any of yesterday's vexing website issues, but I did discover something new and very tasty to eat for breakfast and Dash continues to do well at his radiation treatments. He only has two more weeks to go!

Mattie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1056

Occasionally, I look at the profiles of people who appear on my Google+ stream and become envious of how idyllic their lives seem. Then I look at my own profile and realize that it's not that different from the rest. I guess appearances can be deceiving. I think even the scrupulously honest often put the accent on the positive to avoid depressing those around them. I do this myself sometimes. It's good to have a positive attitude. I just don't always believe you.

The fog was thick as soup when I took the dogs out this morning. I though I'd take a good camera with me on our walk and try to get some pictures before the fog lifted. What a disaster. The big camera around my neck was continually getting tangled in the dog's leashes. When I did find something to photograph, Dash would tug on the leash just as I was pressing the shutter and ruin the shot. If I spent too long looking through the viewfinder, I would inevitably look up to see one of the dogs eating something disgusting at our feet on the ground. I did get a few decent shots, but it was hardly worth the effort. It is much easier to take pictures with a cell phone when you are walking Dalmatians.

I didn't have much better luck trying to find out why the State of Missouri is telling me I owe them money. After sitting on hold for an inordinate amount of time, I finally was able to speak with someone in the state's tax office. They weren't much help. All they could tell me was that they had received a 1099 form with my name on it. They couldn't tell me what I supposedly owed, or why I was on their list. I kept telling the official that I had never lived in the state of Missouri in my life and that I had already paid all my taxes for the year in question anyway. My very rational argument seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Sadly, I think this is the shape of things to come. Government agencies at all levels are strapped for cash and they are getting more and more creative in their attempts to reel in the money they need. I've already noticed that the Dallas County government is quick to raise real estate taxes whenever house values go up, but they are very reluctant to lower taxes when real estate values go down. Income taxes are only a small part of the total picture. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? It's appalling how much of your phone bill goes to pay a bunch of weird hidden taxes. Are you concerned about the price of gas? If you could just get rid of all the taxes they place on gasoline, you could fill your tank for a very reasonable price. I don't think I would mind paying taxes so much if I could control where my money went. I have very little control of where my tax money goes however, and neither do you.

I think this is really what the election is about tomorrow. People want to control where their money goes. Each side has very different ideas of how to spend the tax money we send them. If you don't happen to agree with these ideas, you can start to feel like you vote isn't worth much. It doesn't have to be this way. I'm convinced that if people could decide where their tax money would go when they paid their taxes in the first place, we wouldn't have the divisiveness we are experiencing today. Hey, if you want to fund the military with your taxes, go ahead. If you want to fund social programs, send your tax dollars there. Roads and bridges seem important? That's OK too. If you just let the people decide for themselves where their tax dollars went, a lot of current problems would vanish. Some programs would thrive. Others would vanish. So be it. The people would have spoken. With something this direct and simple, maybe we wouldn't need congress at all.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 900

I could tell you about my blood test this morning. I could tell you about all the vacuuming I did this afternoon. I suspect you've heard all that before. Maybe I'll try to give you a little advice instead. After 899 days of telling you what I do, it might be time to tell you what I think. I don't give advice very often. Why should I? Absolutely nobody listens. Humor me though. It's Day 900 and it's time for  something different. My advice to you...

1: Quit spending money you don’t have.

So many of today’s problems are caused by a national desire for instant gratification. High school kids think they need a car. College kids expect a high paying job when they graduate. Young couples get a $300,000 mortgage on a “starter home. Our entire country spends more than it takes in. It wasn’t always this way. Our grandparents didn’t live like this. They managed to raise families in modest homes with a single bathroom. Instead of using credit cards with reckless abandon, they typically paid using cash, while occasionally putting something special away on layaway. Ironically, our grandparents were probably happier than we are. Rich is a relative term. If you always spend a little less than you make, you’re eventually be rich.

2: It’s not a secret if you tell anybody.

I grow weary of people telling me that something is confidential. I’m bemused when I see someone who still believes that privacy even exists. Privacy left the building long ago. Do you ever watch MI-5 on the BBC channel? In this show, top British spies continually solve puzzling crimes and mysteries by snooping on people’s activities using the country’s burgeoning CCTV network. This is where we are headed. If the IRS doesn’t already know everything about you, Google and the credit bureaus can certainly fill in the blanks. It’s just a matter of time before Google creates a global panic by revealing that it has compiled a database with the personal porn preferences of over a billion men worldwide. Hey, if you really want to keep something a secret, don’t tell anyone. Ever.

3: Learn to compromise.

It’s not all about you. Everyone thinks they’re special these days. They were brought up that way. Parents told them they were special. Teachers told them they were special. A cult of individuality was born and several generations of very self-centered children entered the adult world thinking, “It’s all about me.” These spoiled children expected to get exactly what they wanted in the workforce and in their relationships. That’s what they had been taught. When everyone was going for the gold, the bronze had no value. Slowly, the art of compromise was lost. Our politicians became deadlocked. Our relationships increasingly ended in divorce. Our employers got disgusted and began looking for a more agreeable workforce in China. Hey, it’s not all about you. It never was.

4: Believing in something doesn’t necessarily make it true.

Christians. Jews. Obama supporters. Global Warming. The Tea Party. The Taliban. Isn’t it all a bit confusing? If anyone actually had the answer to anything, why would there consistently be so many conflicting points of view? It’s comforting to believe in something, especially if others believe the same thing. Belief isn’t the same as truth however. Belief is just another manifestation of mind over matter. At least religious people understand that their beliefs are nothing more than blind faith. The worst believers are the secular humanists, who have somehow managed to get faith, religion, science, objectivity and prejudice muddled together in an unholy stew. Believe in yourself! Don’t get a big head about it though. It’s still not all about you.

5: Don’t aspire to be happy. Just choose to be happy.

A lot of people think they’d be happier if they had more money. Others want to be thinner, more popular, or in a better relationship. We are an aspirational society, but sometimes our aspirations can be counterproductive. I’ve known multi-millionaires who were catatonically depressed. I’ve known people with one leg who seemed much happier than I was. I think the happy people around me just chose to be happy. We can’t really select the cards we are dealt in life. We can fight and struggle and attempt to swim upstream, but eventually the current always wins and we are swept out to sea. Happy people just enjoy the journey.

6: Success doesn’t mean much if you have never experienced failure.

Is success learning to read road signs in French, or discovering that E=MC2? I think any successful person will tell you that success is entirely relative. Without a few setbacks along the way, you probably won’t even be able to recognize success when it finds you. Success can be large, or it can be small, but it you are afraid to fall, you probably won’t experience success at all.

7: Don’t wait too long to do the things you want to do most.

My Dad was a zoologist. He always wanted to travel to Africa and see giraffes and elephants. When he died and I was settling his estate, I cleaned out his safe deposit box and discovered an expired passport and visas to all the countries he wanted to visit. Dad knew where he wanted to go. He just kept putting off the journey. There were books to write. There were kids to put through college. The passport got dusty and Dad got Parkinson's disease. He waited too long. Don’t wait too long to do the things you want. Your time on this earth is limited.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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