Day 4772

I hate Bluehost. I practically spent all day trying to get my e-mail account to work and each time I called customer service their suggestions made the problem even worse. In the beginning only the laptop e-mail didn't work. All I wanted to do was enter the desktop settings in the laptop, but when I tried to sync the two computers, the bad laptop passwords got transferred into my desktop computer instead. Now both computers couldn't send or receive e-mail. Bluehost customer service wouldn't tell me what my good passwords were, so they advised me to delete my account and start over. When I tried this I had even more Bluehost passwords stored in my Apple Internet settings and none of them seemed to work. After a while nothing associated with Bluehost would work. I couldn't access sealander.com or even the Dalmatian Rescue website.

Customer service kept telling me that it wasn't their problem and to call AT&T instead. I knew this wasn't the issue, but I did call and AT&T ran some tests and said everything looked good on their end. Offshore customer service reps are frustrating to begin with. They are off in India or Malaysia and it is very hard to understand what they are saying. They must all be in a big room somewhere because you can hear lots of other service representatives talking in the background. The phone connection always seems very poor as well. I talked to three different Bluehost customer service reps today and none of them were able to help. They didn't even seem to want to help. These guys kept saying that I had configured my computer wrong. Nope. The computer was configured correctly. It could connect to everything else in the world, except the Bluehost servers.

I shut everything down, took my long walk, and ate dinner. This evening I tried to configure Apple Mail again using the same setting I'd been using all day and everything worked. I hadn't changed anything. Why couldn't Bluehost just admit to me that the problem was on their end? They kept trying to pass the buck and blame someone else. I'd switch my account but almost everyone is using offshore customer service these days. Most of these people are just reading from a script. I miss the days when you could call a real software engineer who actually understood your problems and could come up with a solution on the spot. Apple certainly isn't helping things either. There are settings stored in System Preferences, in your Browser Preferences, and in Apple Mail that all have to match. Sometime there are iCloud settings as well.

Needless to say, I didn't get my article about the Falcon Heavy launch to my editor today. I'll try again tomorrow, assuming that I don't lose all my setting again overnight. I can't believe how much time I wasted on this today. Dawn got a nice walk in the morning, but I took a much shorter walk about 3 PM because I was tired and more than a bit frustrated.

We're going to move the rescue Dalmatians to a new kennel tomorrow. They've been in  a temporary kennel for months now and Janet and I haven't been able to visit them. Now that the dogs have a permanent home again, we should be able to go play with them on a regular basis. We have some new dogs now and Janet and I should have a chance to meet them tomorrow. Visiting the dogs will be a nice change of pace from today's Internet woes. Today wasn't a total loss though. I did get everything from my trip unpacked and put away and did a load of laundry.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4699

It was chilly this morning. We got up a little later today, so we actually saw the sunrise on our sunrise walk with Dawn. Dawn likes the cooler weather, but I was ready to get back to the house where it was warmer. I never seem to be happy with the temperature. When it's hot, I wish it was cooler. When it's cold I wish it was warmer. I was happy with the skies though. It was a crystal clear morning with no pollen in the air.

After our weekend breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast, I did my weekly grocery shopping. Prices continue to rise. A case of bottled water was a dollar more than it was two weeks ago. My favorite beer has gone up in price as well. I wonder how long this will continue? These weekly price changes aren't dramatic, but they've been going on for months. Virtually everything costs considerably more than it did a year ago. Some prices have doubled.

I had been planning on going to the gym today, but changed my mind because the weather was so nice. By noon the temperature had warmed up enough so I could wear shorts again. My feet didn't bother me as much today, but I was pretty slow. I think I'm faster when I walk early. I didn't get on the road this afternoon until well after lunch. People are stopping me on my walk again to ask where the eagles are. I don't know why they think I would know, but I get asked about Nick and Nora, our two resident eagles, almost every day now. They are definitely in the area, but I've only seen them once so far.

I was paying some online bills this afternoon and discovered that my cable bill has disappeared. U-verse isn't even on the AT&T menu anymore. It looks like they are discontinuing the service and I am grandfathered in somehow. I finally found where my bill was hidden but it wasn't even labeled as U-verse. There was only a cryptic account number and an insanely high price. I could get AT&T's best streaming service for half the price of U-verse. I'll have to go to the store and ask about this next week. Websites just don't answer my questions anymore.

I tried to make a reservation for the Thanksgiving Brunch Janet and I like, but the hotel website didn't work and they never answered their phone. There was just a voicemail message saying that they'd return my call. Of course they never did. This seems to be a trend. Customer service is abysmal these days. You can never get anyone on the phone. Real people are rapidly being replaced by mobile apps. Hotels want you to use their app to make reservations. My doctors all use apps and patient portals these days. If you do manage to get someone on the phone, it's usually a call center in India. I hate all this. I have simple questions. I'd like to just pick up the phone and get a simple answer.

I'm beginning to sound like my Dad. He was always frustrated by the advent of computers and refused to learn how to use one. He said his old manual Royal typewriter was all he needed. He never got a cell phone and seemed happy playing vinyl records of his favorite symphonies on an old turntable. Maybe this is natural. I found change exciting when I was in my 20's. Now I wish things would stay the same, or preferably reverse direction so I could go back in time a bit. There was a time when everything seemed just right. That time has passed.

Daylight Saving Time ends tonight. We probably won't need lights on our morning walks for a while. I've always preferred Standard Time. I tend to get all my chores and activities done in the morning, so extra daylight at the end of the day has never mattered much. The days are still getting shorter, so we might need the lights again, but it will be nice walking in daylight for a while.

I'll probably go mall walking tomorrow. We'll definitely take Dawn on her Sunday outing and get ice cream cones. I like the continuity of a regular routine. There is far too much randomness and chaos in today's world.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4375

It's feeling like Ground Hog Day again. Every day the same frustrations occur over and over. My feet continue to hurt despite wearing the special shoes that the orthopedic surgeon recommended. My FedEx package remains lost despite calling them twice a day and begging for additional information. I keep walking longer and longer, mostly because it keeps me from thinking about all the aspects of modern life that irritate the hell out of me. Just about everything we as a society are currently doing is wrong. It just seems weird that so many people see things differently than me. In my heart I know I'm right.

I don't know what I am going to do about my FedEx package. The company really doesn't seem to care about their customers. Instead of trying to improve service, they seem to have put all their efforts into insulating themselves from customers. I'm actually impressed at how clever they've been at preventing me from finding out the status of this package that I know is sitting in a warehouse less than twenty miles from where I live. It is impossible to talk to anyone in the warehouse or even to a supervisor. You always get routed to an offshore call center where contract workers are employed to be friendly without really telling you anything. I'm starting to suspect that they dropped and broke my star tracker. I'm starting to get asked about what's inside the package. Today I was told that if the package didn't arrive within three or four days from now, I should ask the shipper to file a claim for damages so they could be compensated for the lost package. "But the package isn't lost," I reminded the call center agent. "I can tell from looking at the tracking history on my FedEx account that it's sitting in your Hutchins warehouse." "You scanned this package again this morning," I added. None of this gets me anywhere, because the call center representatives are forbidden from transferring my call to someone local who might actually know what is going on.

I feel like FedEx has stumbled onto a fiendishly clever plan to drive me crazy. I've always cared more about objects and gear than people. I want this star tracker. I've been waiting for it since last March. Maybe there is a holiday rush for delivery services. Maybe the driver had a bad day. Maybe the warehouse facility is understaffed. I still keep thinking that this should be a no brainer. The package initially didn't get delivered for some reason. It should have been redelivered the next day unless something is going on that they aren't telling me. I have many reasons to be suspicious.

I'm in such a bad mood that I don't even feel like going to rocket launches or out to the observatory anymore. My feet and shoulder hurt so much that I'm not even sure I could make the long drive to West Texas. It wasn't a pleasant drive even when I was feeling better last year. Florida is a different story. SpaceFlight Magazine seems to be under new management and they don't appear quite as interested in me these days. Hotel and rental car rates continue to increase as well. People are traveling again and flight are often full. It's a mess. I think I liked traveling more when the world was completely locked down.

The weather has been just as weird as everything else this Winter. One day it is 70 degrees and the next day it is freezing. The changes from day to day can be dramatic. Today was quite warm. I was able to take my long walk wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Just a few days ago I was wearing a down jacket. This inconsistency certainly isn't helping my overall mood. I don't mind having four seasons, but the seasons need to behave. Winter should be cold. Summer should be hot. And Spring and Fall should be nice. So far, we seem to be packing Winter, Summer, Spring, and Fall into a single month.

It's been a long day, but I've finished my dinner and taken this week's trash out to the curb. I'll probably just have shredded wheat for breakfast again even though I've been planning to resume my Friday restaurant breakfasts for weeks now. I'm really proud of Dawn. She seems to be doing a better job of adjusting to her new life than I am.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3558

Two days before my billing cycle ends AT&T tells me that I've used up my data plan for the month and as a courtesy they've added $20 to my bill so that I'll still have data access on my phone for the next two days. Jeez. Couldn't they have given me the option of just going without a data plan for two days. I never would have missed it. I seldom use my data plan anyway. The only reason I ran out last month was that I used my phone as a WiFi hotspot for my laptop while we were in Fort Davis.

I called customer service to complain, but the guy I talked to had no interest in refunding my $20. He tried to sell me an iPhone 11 instead. I have no problem with the electric company, the gas company, and the city water department. The phone company always irritates me though. Everything they do seems like a rip off. What are you going to do? Even a budding Luddite like me needs a phone.

Maybe my data plan ran out today because I kept having problems with the app that lets me bypass the checkout lanes at the grocery store. Everything I tried to scan in the produce section kept giving me an error message saying "must use cashier for this item." I finally gave up and used the cashier for everything.

I keep reading about the new Land Rover Defender, hoping that I'll like it better. I've been waiting for this thing to arrive for a long time and I'm so disappointed. It doesn't look like an indestructible off road vehicle at all. The design looks like something you'd take to the grocery store or use to pick up the kids after school. I have no doubt that the new design is more reliable than my old Defender. That thing broke down all the time, but it was part of the charm. Why does everything need to be computerized these days. If I wanted a computerized car, I'd just go buy a Tesla.

When I'm sleeping I'm always wandering around lost in my dreams. When I wake up, I'm taking long walks in the park. Sometimes it feels like I'm spending all my time walking. There is definitely a Forest Gump quality to all this. It's too bad that all the walking I do in my dreams doesn't count as exercise. It probably barely counts as sleep. They say that REM sleep isn't as beneficial as deep sleep.  I spend a lot of time dreaming, but according to Mr. Fitbit, I don't get much deep sleep at all.

I didn't accomplish anything today, but I did keep moving. Tomorrow I'll move even more. Sunday's have become my 20,000 step day. Years ago, the band used to practice on Sunday. Then there was a time when I would use Sundays to build up my photography portfolio. Now I just walk. Priorities change when you've got nothing to prove.

Rowe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3499

It's weird to go this long without talking to anyone. I don't spend a huge amount of time talking with Janet but I rarely talk to anyone else. Usually there isn't a need. After I finish the blog each evening there is nothing more to say. I guess I must have talked to the dogs in the past when Janet was traveling. The house is strangely silent now.

It is particularly quiet right now because U-Verse is down again. Usually this is our most expensive utility bill but the service is not particularly reliable. I'd switch to another provider, but Spectrum is even worse. The worst thing about U-Verse is that when you do have a problem you have to talk with an offshore customer service representative who can barely speak English. It's very frustrating to talk with someone on the other side of the world when you know there's probably just a problem with the line a few blocks away. I try to avoid calling these people because the problem sometimes fixes itself in a couple of hours. I always have an alternate way to get on the Internet. AT&T disappoints me frequently but my trusty little T-Mobile WiFi hotspot hasn't failed me yet.

The water level in the lake has been slowly dropping all month. It's been very dry. Today I noticed that one of the shallow bays had completely dried up. Like the age spot on my arm, this also seemed to happen overnight. I haven't seen the water level this low in many years. I guess we need some rain.  The odd thing was that it wasn't particularly hot today. On the news they even said we were having a cold wave. It's strange to think of 80 degree temperatures as a cold wave, but this is Texas.

I was happy to see the cooler temperatures. I knew they wouldn't last long so I made a point to mow the grass this afternoon. There is still a big dead spot where the huge pile of brush used to be but maybe it will fill in if we ever get some rain. This is the perfect time to make repairs to the roof, but I haven't received any of the silicon coating the roofer promised yet. Probably there will be a can of the stuff on my doorstep on the day it rains.

It's hard to find anything to photograph in the middle of July. The meadows in the park are becoming brown and dry. Most of the wildflowers are gone now except for the Firewheel plants and a few Morning Glories. I did find a Buttonbush that had seen better days. The spherical flowers would have been much more impressive if I'd found them a month ago.

I hate how clumsy I've become. I cut my finger with a kitchen knife while I was slicing a watermelon this afternoon. I rarely even eat watermelon but I had to go slicing one today. I guess I learned my lesson. This wasn't a bad cut but it feels like a paper cut right on the tip of my index finger. Irritating. I'm feeling this thing every time I type.

Every year I get this small gift card from the electric company. It's some kind of rebate for being a good customer. I wish they would just lower my bill a little instead. I almost always buy stuff online now, so I never know what to do with this card. To make matters worse, the card always expires a few months after the electric company sends it out. It's about to expire now so I need to go out and buy something I don't need before it becomes useless like it did last year. Maybe I'll do this tomorrow. Hey, I already mowed the grass. I need something to do.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3427

Some workmen digging in the alley behind our house cut our fiber optic cable today. This was inconvenient because all of the sudden our phones, television, and internet were gone. AT&T told us that they buried the cables these days so they would be maintenance free. Good luck with that. I called the customer service number and waited forever to talk with a real person. An automated mechanical voice kept telling me to stay on the line while they ran some tests. I would wait and then a while later the mechanical voice would say that they were experiencing technical difficulties and to call back later. If I could have talked with a real person I could have told them immediately that the tests would never work because the line wasn't connected to anything. The workmen had cut it in half. Eventually I was able to schedule a service call by calling a different number. I certainly wasn't expecting anyone to cut through my buried fiber line, but this is why I still keep the little T-Mobile WiFi hotspot that I used to use on business trips. It's slow, but it usually works.

It's been a month to the day since Dash passed away. Since we no longer have a Dalmatian of our own, Janet and I have been visiting the rescue kennel when we have time. We went up this afternoon to play with the dogs. I was hoping to see the quiet little girl who crawled in my lap the last time we visited, but she already has a foster to adopt. I didn't think this girl would stay at the kennel long. She was adorable. We played ball with the remaining dogs who were anything but quiet. They were full of energy and loved the attention. The kennel staff told us that we were welcome to visit and play with the dogs any time we wanted. They said that they were usually too busy to spend this much individual time with the dogs and that it was good for them to get the extra attention. Over time we will learn more about each dog's personality and it might help them find a good home.

On our way back to town we stopped at Costco so I could get my membership card. Evidently I can get a card because Janet is a member. Janet likes this enormous store but I usually stick to places closer to home. It doesn't hurt to have the card though. Who knows. There might be a bargain some day that I just can't pass up.

When we got back to the house there was an AT&T technician waiting for us on the front porch. "But our service appointment isn't until Wednesday," I told the guy. "I wouldn't know about that," the technician said. Then he added "If you can give me access to your back yard, I can fix your cable today." This was a baffling, but welcome surprise. It looks like I can watch Perry Mason tonight after all.

I'm still taking long walks every day. I wonder if I can keep this up during the Summer. It was warmer today and I could definitely feel the heat. I don't think these walks will be nearly as enjoyable when the temperature is over 100 degrees. I need to make the most of this limited window of opportunity. Spring is beautiful in Texas, but it doesn't last long.

I need to quit checking the stock market on days like today. The market was a disaster. I have no control over the market whatsoever. I need to stick to photographing butterflies and petting Dalmatians and hopefully everything will be fine.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3395

Every year around this time I get an e-mail from GoDaddy asking me to confirm the contact settings for a domain that isn't mine. Every year, I try to call GoDaddy to find out what is going on. I can never connect with customer service because I don't have the correct customer ID or PIN number. "I'm sorry, we can't authenticate your records," an automated voice says and then the line hangs up. I want to tell somebody that of course I don't have the right customer ID because I'm not a customer. The utter futility of dealing with automated customer support systems says everything you need to know about the world we live in today. Good luck if you want to call someone and ask a simple question. It's almost impossible. I'll probably get the same stupid e-mail next year.

I was sad to hear that the little Israeli lunar probe crashed on landing today. It almost made it. The main engine cut out just a few hundred feet above the lunar surface. I was hoping that this inexpensive, privately funded spacecraft would make it. The moon, or anywhere else for that matter, shouldn't be the exclusive purview of big governments.

I was also disappointed that Julian Assange was arrested. Assange should be viewed as a hero instead on an enemy. Everything he has revealed on Wikileaks has turned out to be true. Governments, including our own, shouldn't be able to hide under a cloak of secrecy when they are doing something wrong. There are no good guys in Washington. They all claim secrecy is vital for national security when the truth would damage them. On the other hand, they clamor for "full disclosure" when they think the truth would damage their opponents. It's disgusting.

At least there was some good news today. The second falcon heavy launch was a resounding success. The satellite went into orbit and all three of the booster stages landed successfully so they can be used again. Elon Musk has been able to do something that has so far eluded every government space agency in the world. We need a lot more people like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs and a lot fewer folks  like we've got in congress right now.

Dash continues to be a mystery. I don't understand how he can continue to walk in the park when he can barely stand up at home. The contrast is astonishing. He needs assistance on his walks, but his legs move properly and when he is moving he can support his own weight. Even when he can barely stand up in the mornings, he still tries to head for the back gate. These walks seem really important to him.

I wish the walks weren't so exhausting. As soon as we return home Dash's legs turn to jelly. He immediately goes to sleep. It is often hours before he moves again. We were able to get him to eat some chicken and even some Hills ID yesterday so the diarrhea has subsided. If he gets really hungry, he'll eat, but he just doesn't have much of an appetite. I've seen all these signs before. Dash is slowly shutting down. I don't know how much time he has, but he has made it clear that he's not ready to go quite yet. We'll do our best to keep him comfortable and happy for as long as we can.

I finally made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. If Dash does well in the morning, maybe I'll go out for breakfast too. Who knows at this point. I can kind of relate to Dash's loss of appetite. The reasons are different but I've lost interest in food too. In case you're interested, today's watch used to belong to Alice Cooper.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3253

I got a letter saying that I needed to change my pharmacy to continue getting the "preferred rate" on prescription drugs. This has happened before. I wonder what goes on behind the scenes at insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Prices and procedures are always changing with no explanation. Are generic drugs really the same as their brand name equivalent? Why do Dash's pills cost substantially less than mine? Often he takes the same pills that humans do. All I know is that healthcare has become way too complicated and is much more expensive than it needs to be. Jeez. I don't want to change my pharmacy for some stupid bureaucratic reason. I like my pharmacy. I need to check and see what this "preferred rate" really is. It may be nothing. The government always likes to scare you into doing things their way. I'm always willing to pay a little more to do things my way.

I was surprised to see that half the junk I took out to the curb yesterday is already gone. All the metal objects are gone. People drive by and scavenge the bulky trash piles. I guess they sell the metal at recycling plants. The city seems more than happy with this practice because there is less trash for them to pick up. The whole thing seems kind of sad to me, but what do I know. You know the old saying: one man's trash is another man's treasure. I did haul some pretty heavy metal objects to the curb yesterday. There was no copper though. It was only steel. Can you make money scavenging steel from trash piles? Like the true cost of prescription drugs, this is probably something I'll never know.

I had to leave the house for a meeting at noon today. Once again, it was hard to get ready in time. By the time I clean up all the poop, make the bed, walk Dash, eat breakfast, and take a shower, it is almost always noon. It's getting harder and harder to do more than one thing a day now. Today's meeting wasn't even necessary. My business bank wants to start selling me investments now that I'm retired. I keep telling them that I already have all the investment advice I need, but they are persistent.    I wonder why they don't understand that I want from them is the kind of service they were giving me fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, nobody wants to provide the type of service they offered fifteen years ago. That ship has sailed.

How do you prescribe bed rest for a dog? I'm having a hard time getting the cut on Dash's paw to heal, because he is always scraping the scab that is trying to form. He wears socks in the house now, but they are always falling off. The boots are too heavy to wear around the house, but the boots are what keep the socks on. At least the wound is trying to heal now. Dash just isn't a very good patient.

I woke up to find poop in the bed again last night. Dash didn't even wake up. Sometimes when the poop is firm I can pick it up with a poop bag without leaving a stain. I did this last night and just went back to bed without waking anyone up. I did wash the bedspread in the morning, but it still looked pretty clean. I don't know if I'm becoming better at cleanup or just more casual about poop. When stuff like this happens every night, it's hard to get very upset about it.

I've got my eye exam tomorrow. I think my eyes are still pretty good, but I have a tendency to rationalize my body's slow deterioration. I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if I needed to wear glasses. I just hope I never have macular degeneration like my Dad.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3249

It's been quite a challenge getting Dash's paws to heal while still continuing to walk him. The least little scrape causes them to bleed again. Even walking around the house is starting to cause problems. I found some extra soft socks and we are only using new boots now. Mostly the bleeding has stopped, but I still see little drops of blood on the floor from time to time. The cuts are minor and will definitely heal over time, but cuts like these are much more problematic when you are taking blood thinners.

Even though Dash doesn't stay still at night, I'm going to try placing a puppy training pad under his butt before I go to sleep. It couldn't hurt to try. It's really getting old cleaning blankets and bedding every day. Dash didn't even wake up when he pooped in the bed last night. This is actually a good thing. If he starts staying asleep when he poops, I can put a puppy pad under him and cleanup will be easy.

It was a little warmer this morning, which made our morning walk chilly but pleasant. I'm enjoying this weather. For the second day in a row there wasn't a cloud in the sky. After checking to make sure Dash's paws were OK after our walk, I left for breakfast. Even though I almost always order the same thing, I'm still enjoying going to the hotel. It's pleasant there. The staff knows me by name now. Since most customers are travelers, I'm one of the few regulars.

A trip to the bank was on my to-do list today. I had to clear up a snafu that I probably caused myself by not listening carefully when I opened a new account several months ago. I thought I had one kind of account, but I actually had another. I could have sworn that I opened an account that had no fees associated with it. Nope. I've started noticing fees and charges I wasn't expecting. Eventually I managed to get the fees removed but they shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Getting my bank account straightened out was easy compared to getting a new TV remote from AT&T. I don't know why you can't get a TV remote at an AT&T store. That would be too easy. I had to talk with an offshore customer service representative who couldn't speak English very well. At first he tried to change my U-verse plan. Then he tried to sell me a TV remote. It took forever to explain the my remote was broken and he needed to send me a replacement for free. Who knows if I will get a new remote in the mail. I'm not counting on it. I could barely understand this guy.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and watched another episode of Mars. I was hoping that this series would be like The Martian. The script isn't nearly as good as Andy Weir's novel. This is definitely not something i could binge watch. After a single episode, I was ready to start repairing dog boots again.

I'm still tired a lot, but I'm sleeping better now. I don't know what has changed. Dash continues to wake me up every night. I'm just getting back to sleep a lot quicker.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3045

Dealing with customer service is becoming increasingly difficult. It is a challenge to bypass the automated response systems and the offshore help desks to reach a knowledgable person who can actually help you. If you persist, occasionally you succeed. I was determined to get the illusive Fedex Ground package delivered today. The first person I talked to was out of the country. I asked this person to transfer me to someone who could actually make something happen and ended up talking to someone in Pennsylvania. This person transferred me to a supervisor in Texas and after about 45 minutes I finally ended up talking to the manager of the local shipping terminal about ten miles from my house.

When I finally reached someone locally who had the ability to call the delivery driver on his cell phone, I was able to provide detailed directions to my house and the package eventually got delivered. It shouldn't be this hard to get a company who's entire business is dedicated to delivering packages to actually deliver something. While I was going through customer service hell, I learned something I didn't really want to hear. Fedex Ground doesn't use their own uniformed drivers anymore. They farm out their deliveries to independent contractors. The whole setup sounded a lot like Uber for packages. Jeez. No wonder service has deteriorated. Why are so many companies determined to cut costs to the bone, no matter what happens to quality or service? The local terminal manager I talked with admitted that this new system didn't always work very well, but that there was nothing she could do about it. Corporate had decided that subcontracting their business to a third party was more profitable.

When I got one problem solved, I discovered that I had another. Several days ago, I bought a replacement for my broken activity tracker from a third-part reseller. Unfortunately, when I opened the box and plugged the thing into a charger, it wouldn't hold a charge. The battery was completely dead. In retrospect this makes sense. Jawbone has been on the verge of bankruptcy for several years now. They stopped manufacturing fitness trackers in 2016 and any remaining products have been sitting on the shelves for a long, long time. A quick Google search revealed that I had bought a brick. It was impossible to fix or replace the dead battery and equally impossible to get a replacement from a company that doesn't exist anymore. I'm going to try to return this piece of junk to the reseller, but I doubt that the want to see it again. No wonder I got such a good price. They've probably got a boatload of these things with completely dead batteries.

There was a bit of good news today. Dash slept peacefully last night and didn't have any coughing or breathing problems. I heard from Dash's doctor at the cancer center and he said that as long as the condition doesn't get worse, we don't need to do anything immediately. He wants to make sure that Dash is completely free of blood clots before we attempt to deal with the enlarged heart. I wonder if Dash knows how fragile he is? Despite his many problems, he still seems like a happy camper.

I saw a hawk catch and eat a mouse today. The mouse didn't have a chance. A little further down the road I noticed that the Purple Martins have driven the Sparrows out of the Martin Houses in the park. It was an ongoing battle for a while, but apparently the Purple Martins won. The animal world can be ruthless, but our own world is far worse. Two police officers were shot yesterday at a Home Depot where I frequently shop. They didn't have any more of a chance than that mouse.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2545

Everything seemed so busy today. The restaurant was crowded when I went out for breakfast this morning. There was a long line at the pharmacy when I went to pick up a prescription. Even the AT&T store was crowded when I went to exchange a broken TV remote control. I asked the pharmacist why she thought there was such a long line today and she said today was the day when all the Christmas parties started and people were running their errands early so they could go to a party tonight. Could be. I wouldn't know. I haven't been to a Christmas party in years.

Here's how life has changed. I've exchanged TV remote controls before. These things seem to break frequently. It used to be that the store had a big box of remotes back in the stock room. They'd give you a new remote out of the box and throw the bad one away. Now, a guy fills out a lengthy requisition form on an iPad and they ship you the new remote from somewhere in California. When the new remote arrives, you are supposed to return the defective remote in the same box and ship it back to California. Wouldn't it be easier to just keep a box on remote controls in the back of the store?

While I was filling out my application for a new remote control, the sales guy casually mentioned that my U-verse service was going to be discontinued next year. Did I want to sign up for the new replacement service? Jeez. It's taken me years to get U-verse to run reliably. Now that everything is finally pretty dependable, they're discontinuing it. "I'm sure you'll like our new fiber optic service even better," the sales guy told me. That wouldn't be hard, since I never liked U-verse at all. I would have discontinued U-verse several years ago if it weren't for the fact that Time Warner is even worse.  Who knows. Maybe the new fiber optic service is great. I bet I'm going to have problems getting my office network working again though. It's almost inevitable that some of my old equipment won't want to play nice with AT&T's new equipment.

I've been trying to get ready for tomorrow's photo shoot. The first problem is always finding everything. Equipment I don't use very often has a tendency to disappear. It's important to have enough fully charged batteries to make it through the day as well. It's fairly easy to remember the camera batteries. It's the little things like the batteries for the flash triggers that I tend to forget. I always buy a new backdrop before these Christmas photo shoots, mostly so repeat customers won't have the same pictures year after year. When Janet and I unfolded the new muslin tonight, it didn't look like it was the right size.  We measured everything and it was the exactly same size as last year's backdrop. Maybe my eyes are just playing tricks on me.

I was working on a new article today when I realized that the subject seems very familiar. I looked through my files and it appears that I wrote exactly the same article last Spring. Did the client forget that we'd already covered this subject, or am I the one who's missing something? I sent the client an e-mail saying that we'd probably done this already, but I haven't heard anything back yet. Hope I didn't talk myself out of a job. This article would have been very easy to write.

I'll be real glad when these holiday photo shoots are over with. Each year, the equipment seems heavier and my aches and pains get worse. I thought last year might be my last, but here I am again. Janet is staying home this year, so I wont have to worry about Dot. All I have to worry about is whether I make it through the day.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2429

Dash got stung by a bee this evening. At least I think he got stung by a bee. We were taking our evening walk and all of a sudden he started limping on his right front leg. We were about three blocks from home, and he refused to put any weight on the leg the rest of the way home. He growled at me when I tried to examine the leg too. It was time for a trip to the emergency vet. Since I didn't have an appointment, Dash and I had to wait a long time in the lobby. During the hour or so we were waiting, Dash started to calm down and by the time the vet got around to seeing us, he seemed well on his way back to normal.

Basically we still don't know what is going on. It definitely could have been a bee sting, but there was no obvious redness or swelling. The vet said there were lots of things that could cause this sort of sudden lameness. It could be a soft tissue injury. It could be arthritis. Although unlikely, it could even be an early sign of bone cancer. I decided to wait to do anything further. We'll give him a Benadryl tonight and see how he feels in the morning. If he needs x-rays, we can do them during his next re-check at the cancer center. Dash probably does have arthritis. His rear legs are starting to get stiff and I wouldn't be surprised if he develops hip dysplasia as he grows older. It's always something with these dogs.

The last thing I expected today was a trip to the emergency vet, but I really shouldn't have been surprised. Nothing else went right today either. I wasted a huge amount of time trying to get AT&T tech support to show me how to enable port forwarding on my router. I knew how to do this on the old router that broke, but this new one doesn't seem to allow port forwarding. There ought to be a special place in hell for companies who outsource all their customer support. It takes forever to resolve the simplest of problems when you're talking with someone who doesn't speak English well. About one time out of ten, I manage to get a technician who actually knows something about technology. The rest of the time I end up talking with people who are just reading from a script. I don't think the guy I talked with today even knew what a router was. My conversation was definitely a wasted effort.

I had some website updates this morning, but they didn't keep me busy all day. I actually spent more time cleaning up after Dot, than I did modifying the websites. It was good to have something to do though. Days filled with writing and coding chores are definitely more satisfying than days where there is nothing to do but clean up poop.

I was going to get my safety inspection done today, but Land Rover said that I needed to make an appointment. Evidently they only do safety inspections in Friday's now. I made an appointment for Friday and then went up on the roof to check on last week's repairs. Our current dry spell has allowed the patches to cure nicely. From the looks of things now, I think the roof is going to be OK this Winter.

I hope that Dash is back to normal tomorrow morning. If he is still limping, I'll see if I can get him over to his regular vet for some x-rays. It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed. All I need to do now is see if I can take Dot's harness off without waking her up. I don't want to wake Dash up either. Everyone seems so calm now.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2374

Is it even possible to find a simple answer to a simple question anymore? I wanted to find out whether a nearby Apple Store could put a new battery in an iPhone while I waited. I found the number of the retail store, hoping to avoid Apple's automated phone system. It didn't work. After a brief message thanking me for calling the store, I was right back in the automated system. I hate these systems. Press 1 if you want to do this. Press 2 if you want to do that. You can spend hours navigating these systems and wind up no closer to the answer of your question than when you started. I eventually ended up talking to a real person in California who had no idea whether the local store could put in a battery for me. There is a whole generation of people who have never experienced the simplicity of asking a question and getting a quick answer. They don't even know what they're missing.

I got a letter from Panasonic the other day saying that they'd extend the warranty on one of my cameras for free if I'd fill out a bunch of forms, send them a purchase receipt, and cut the UPC code off the box the camera came in and send that as well. It sounded complicated, but what the hell. Like I said, I'm not very busy. They were quite explicit that if I didn't sent the box label from the product carton, which they said included the UPC code, model number and serial number, my warranty would not be extended. There was only one problem. The box the camera came in didn't have a label like this. I looked and looked, but it wasn't there. Of course there was no way to contact these people by phone either. That would be too easy.

I'm starting to dread days when nothing happens. The monotony starts to wear you down after a while. When the dogs are finished eating and taking their walks, they sleep so soundly that I occasionally wonder if they're still alive. I don't watch TV during the day anymore, because it is so universally terrible. The only phone calls are from telemarketers and the only thing I get in the mail are bills. The isolation is like a thick blanket and the silence can be deafening. There are occasional moments of panic where I worry that something might be wrong with Dot. There are occasional deadlines where I've got to concentrate on work for a few hours. Mostly there is just nothing though. I don't feel like engaging with anyone and I don't feel like starting any ambitious projects. I think the jury is still out on whether I will become an expert on doing nothing or whether it will drive me crazy.

Dot pooped in the house so much today that I'm dreading taking her in the car to physical therapy tomorrow. I don't think she even realizes what she's doing anymore. This afternoon she woke up from a nap and came out to the kitchen to say hello, leaving a long trail of poop all the way down the hallway. I can't be upset with her though. Actually, I was pleased that she managed to stand up and start walking on her own.

I looked at the blog stats the other day and wasn't really surprised to see that there aren't as many readers anymore. Maybe people are getting tired of hearing about dog poop. Sorry. That's life. It's just what's happening right now. Cleaning up after Dot means that my loyal friend of so many years is still with me. I'd much rather have the mess than the empty void she'd leave behind.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2297

I'm beginning to wish that I could move Dot's physical therapy appointment back to Thursday. Traffic is worse on Wednesday. The vet clinic seems busier too. As a result, Dot and I spend at least an hour and a half longer away from home. It's not like I have that much to do anyway, but I never realized that switching our appointment would make such a difference. I'll have to admit that there are some benefits to the new schedule. I don't have to struggle to get Dot ready anymore. We leave right after I feed the dogs their lunch now, and it's always easy to get Dot up when there is a meal involved.

Dot seemed stronger than she did last week. She did really well in the underwater treadmill today. I'm convinced there is a reason for everything, but I can never figure out why Dot has good days and bad days. She has had some very good days after resuming her chemotherapy, which is somewhat counter-intuitive. She has also had bad days when she is relaxed and well-rested. The only thing for certain is that every day is a new day. I never really know what to expect.

The rain returned today. There were severe thunderstorms and even tornado warnings in the area, but luckily all we saw in our own neighborhood was a gentle, steady rain. Today's storms didn't last all day, so the dogs still got their normal walks. I'm sure there is water on the roof though. I'll deal with the standing water and a very dirty car when the skies clear again.

I think my transition to the new web server is just about complete. I've finished troubleshooting the online forms and all the e-mail accounts are working now. The only difference I've noticed in performance so far is that the new server occasionally gets overwhelmed by heavy traffic. It's just like U-verse in a lot of ways. The site will go down for a few minutes, but by the time I get through to customer service, everything is running fine again. Maybe big hosting companies are like the airlines and try to keep things as close to capacity as they can. At any rate, it's going to take a while to get used to this, since my old server hardly ever went down at all.

Tech support people are probably going to hate me as I grow older. I can already see that I'm turning into one of those irritating people who continually call with some esoteric, weird problem just to have someone to talk to. During my transition to the new web server, I've already called tech support half a dozen times. I'm a curious person and generally just wanted to know why things were configured a certain way. I used to have lots of geeky friends to ponder these issues with, but now tech support will have to do. Maybe somebody knows why the favicon has disappeared from this blog. The little icon is loaded on the server and the code I added in the blog header is correct, but the favicon doesn't show up anymore. One more of life's little mysteries.

A bigger mystery is where all the writing jobs have gone. Last year at this time, I was swamped with writing assignments. This year my work load has slowed to a trickle. I write about watches and the oil and gas industry a lot. Both of these industries have suffered setbacks in recent years. Hopefully, when the dust settles, the writing assignments will return. Life is easier when there's always something to do. It's also nice to have extra money at the end of the month.

I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow. I'm pretty well caught up on almost everything.
 

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2240

I felt something bite me on the neck while I was sitting at the computer this morning. When I looked in the mirror, I discovered it was a tick. Damn. This is the second time this year I've found a tick crawling on me. Ironically, the dogs are completely free of ticks. Now that we've finally found an effective flea and tick preventative for the dogs, I think the ticks have started looking for greener pastures. Apparently, I look pretty appetizing.

The adapter I ordered arrived today, but unfortunately it didn't fit very well. It was supposed to snap into place on top of a battery plate to allow a different type of battery to be used. The connection was just too snug for a reassuring snap. I could press the thing halfway into place, but that was it. I called the manufacturer and the service representative told me to press harder and that if the adapter broke, he'd send me a new one. This wasn't very reassuring. I suspect that if I look very closely, I will find the words Made in China stamped on the poorly fabricated piece of junk.

This must have been my day to talk with customer service representatives because when I finished talking to the guy from the lighting company, I got a call from the company that makes my fitness band. "Are you still having problems," she asked. Of course I was still having problems, so we spent the next twenty minutes talking about possible solutions. I'd already tried most of the things she'd suggested, so the conversation basically went nowhere. After we'd talked for a while, she told me that my fitness tracker was out of warranty and she couldn't replace it anyway.

Dot was panting more than usual today. We almost didn't give her a walk this morning, but she quit panting and seemed perfectly normal once we were outside. Later in the day, she started panting again, just walking around the house. I was going to take her temperature, but I couldn't find the dog thermometer. Eventually, I found two digital thermometers, but I wasn't sure which one was for people and which was for the dogs. I got this wrong once before and all the sudden we had two dog thermometers. You kind of hate to put a thermometer in your mouth after it's been in a dog's butt. 

I was confused about an upcoming photo shoot, so I called the client to get some clarification. She didn't really know what was going on either and told me to just show up on the specified day and go with the flow. OK. I can do that. That's basically what I do every day. It would be nice to know what I was supposed to do, but in all honesty it won't make a big difference. Sometimes work is actually easier when you don't know what you're doing.

Dot pooped in her bed twice today. She didn't even wake up when she had the accidents, which is definitely a new development. In the past, Dot was always aware of what was going on and made an effort to get up and move away from the mess. If this happens in her sleep now, it probably means that something is getting worse. There are all sorts of subtle signs that Dot is slowly going downhill, but since she still has her good days, it's easy to convince yourself that everything is fine. Every week, I make a list of new developments for the vet, but there not much more I can do to slow down the aging process. We just do our best to keep her comfortable and happy.

Maybe I'll have something exciting to tell you tomorrow. Nah. Just kidding. Nothing ever happens on Wednesday.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2217

It was 27 degrees when we woke up this morning. It's hard to get used to how quickly the weather changes around here. Less than a week ago it was an almost balmy 70 degrees. In between, we've had rain, wind, fog, bright sunny skies, and just about every type of weather imaginable. Today was one of the sunny days, so the cold didn't seem quite as bad. Almost nothing deters us from our daily walks. This morning, we bundled up the dogs in their Winter sweaters and off we went. Dot seems to enjoy the cold weather. She certainly took her time smelling things this morning. By the time Janet and I got home, we were freezing. Dot and Dash seemed fine though.

I made it back to the gym today. If I could ever manage to go at least three times a week, I think I might start making some real progress. As it stands, I'm just treading water. I realize that I really need to go to the gym. I just don't enjoy it. When I was younger, I was able to convince myself that yard work and other chores around the house were a good substitute for a formal workout. I doubt that this was ever true. Mowing the grass may make you tired but it really doesn't involve the muscle groups I need to work on. At any rate, I had a good workout today. Maybe I'm good for another week.

I know I complain a lot about customer service, but I've actually had a good customer service experience recently. I lucked out and got assigned a very thorough tech support representative at Google who is trying to resolve the intermittent outages I've been experiencing with my Blogger account. Since my blog only disappears sporadically for brief periods of time, it's not an easy problem to resolve. It's kind of like describing an odd noise to your car mechanic when it isn't always there. When you describe an intermittent problem, some people just think you are imaging things. To Google's credit, they have taken me seriously. I appreciate that. Maybe we'll eventually get to the bottom of this.

Nobody won the Powerball lottery last night, so the next jackpot will be over a billion dollars. I did have the Powerball multiplier number. Of course, that was the only matching number I had. Nothing else matched at all, so I won nothing. I guess I'll buy another ticket on Wednesday. What have I got to lose? The tickets are only $2. You can hardly buy a cup of coffee for $2 these days.

I haven't made any New Year's resolutions, but there are a ton of things I need to do this year. One of the large Red Oak trees in the back yard needs some major pruning. There are several dead limbs than could come down during any major wind storm. I need to get the sliding glass door fixed. I can barely open it now. One of these days, it's going to get stuck in the open position and I'll really be screwed. There are leaky faucets in one of the bathrooms that I've been meaning to replace for years. Maybe 2016 is the year it will actually get done. The rubber ring in the front loader washing machine door needs to be replaced and the ice maker in the refrigerator isn't working properly either. I'm certain that some of these problems will be resolved this year, but there will be new problems as well. With an old house inhabited by old people and old dogs, there are always going to be problems.

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2199

It was a quiet day. I don't think I'll hear from my clients again until the first of the year. I'm more or less caught up on things, so I spent the day catching up on correspondence and wrapping Christmas presents. Correspondence these days mostly consists of talking to customer service about broken things. My favorite weather radar application crashed recently, so I needed to figure out how to get it running again. Since the application is subscription based, I couldn't just download a fresh copy and start over. First, I had to prove that I actually had a subscription when no records of it seemed to exist. It was my fault, since I apparently forgot to register the software, but the whole process was still far more complex than it needed to be. The fact that I subscribed to this service in the first place shows how addicted to weather radar I am. I generally hate the entire software subscription model and stubbornly continue to use outdated copies of all the Adobe products to avoid subscribing to the dreaded Creative Cloud. It's a good thing I wasn't busy, because it took several hours to get the weather radar working again on all my devices.

Two more watch winders have broken, so I sent another letter to the watch winder company, asking for a return authorization number. Hopefully, they will fix these two like they did with the first one. The company was very nice when the first winder broke and sent me a brand new replacement at no charge. I wonder if they'll continue to be this nice when they discover that every product I've bought from them has turned out to be defective. Truthfully, I probably don't even need the watch winders anymore, since I've gone over to the dark side and wear the Apple Watch almost exclusively now. Judging from the reviews I'm probably in the minority here, but I really like the Apple Watch.

I finished wrapping my Christmas presents this morning and put them under the tree. Dalmatian Rescue used to do gift wrapping at local bookstores during the holiday season as a fundraiser and I got surprising good at wrapping packages. It's not a skill I use much anymore, but my packages do look clean and crisp. I doubt that I'll wrap any more packages until this time next year.

When we were returning from walking the dogs this morning, I saw the garbage truck coming down the street. WTF? My trash can was not out at the curb yet and neither were the cans of most of my neighbors. Why was trash pickup two days early?  Maybe it was because Christmas was on a Friday this year. At any rate, since the automated trash truck goes up one side of the street and then returns along the other side, I had time to get my can in place just before the truck picked it up and dumped it in the hopper. Of course the can was mostly empty. Most of this week's trash was still in the house.  It's silly to obsess about the garbage truck, but since the city only picks up once a week now, trash can pile up fast.

The humidity was so low today that I didn't even need the dehumidifier. Since the temperature was in the low 70's, I opened the back door and a few windows and let the dry outside air come inside. I used to just leave the back door open on rare days like this, but now I'm afraid that Dot will try to wander outside without her harness and hurt herself. A single unsupervised attempt to chase a squirrel could instantly erase months of physical therapy. I let Dot stay outside as long as she wants, but I'm always there to hold up her rear legs. There was only a small amount of poop to clean up today. It was a big improvement over yesterday's disaster. I'm getting almost as good at cleaning up poop in the house as I am at wrapping packages. I should add these skills to my resume.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day