Day 3240

So I get in my car this morning to go to my doctor's appointment. I'm late as usual. I press the ignition button and immediately get a Low Coolant warning light on my dash. Do I ignore the warning and proceed to the doctor's office, or cancel my appointment and go looking for some antifreeze? This is how people wind up getting towed to the dealership. I decided to keep going and just make sure that the car didn't overheat. Everything turned out OK, but I hate situations like these.

As far as I can tell, my physical exam went OK. There were no surprises anyway. The phlebotomist was great today. I didn't feel a thing. It's still surprising that my new doctor and my old doctor seem so different. Each has their own priorities. Some tests that my old doctor routinely preformed are considered unnecessary by the new doctor. He's added some new tests that the old doctor never bothered with however. Who is right? I guess it's all a matter of who you trust. I'm screwed because I basically don't trust anybody.

After my appointment, I immediately drove to the Land Rover dealer to ask them about the coolest level. The warning light actually went out after the engine warmed up, so I didn't think the problem was serious. My service adviser topped up the reservoir with antifreeze and told me to give him a call if the warning light came on again. He said the sometimes an air bubble gets trapped in the cooling system and causes a false reading. He also said the coolant level actually was pretty low, so who knows what is going on. I'll keep an eye on things in case I have a leak. At any rate it was certainly easier to have the dealership take care of this for me than to go to Auto Zone and wonder which of twelve brands of antifreeze to buy.

I never ate breakfast at all today. By the time I returned home, it was way too late and I wasn't very hungry anyway. I'll return to my smoothie tomorrow. Dash did get a walk this morning, but he seemed kind of lost as soon as we got to the park. I had to return to the house and get Janet to walk with us so he'd have someone to follow. Lately, he's been very tentative about walking unless he has someone to follow. I think his vision has gotten much worse in the past several months.

Evidently, I need to worry about my own vision as well. My doctor made an appointment for me to see an ophthalmologist. He said it was important to see an eye doctor at least once a year since I was being treated for diabetes. I've always thought I was pre-diabetic but my doctor said to stop kidding myself. "If you're taking Metformin," he said. "you've got some form of diabetes." I'm a long, long way from needing to take insulin, but I do need to be careful. I probably need to go back to my rigorous, no sugar, no wheat diet too, but I do love bread, pasta, and dessert.

I'm glad I'm moving to the new storage warehouse. When I went back to the old warehouse today, the entry doors at the back of the building wouldn't accept my code and the manager didn't know when they'd be able to get things fixed. I had to carry my stuff all the way to the other side of the building to load the car. I hope the get the door fixed before the movers arrive. My move is going to be more expensive if the guys can't park their truck near my unit.

Dash had a cut on one of his paws this morning. Even though he wears a special sock under his protective rubber boots, his feet still manage to get scraped up. It's frustrating. He needs to stay active, but he also needs to stay protected. Any type of bleeding is not good at all.

It was really a long day. I should have no problem sleeping tonight. I hope that Dash feels the same way.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2588

Every time I run my Saturday errands, I'm reminded of how much I dislike living in a large city. I still have fantasies about living in the middle of nowhere with a deep artesian water well and an acre of solar panels, but living comfortably off the grid like this is never going to happen. The older people get, the more they need to be near doctors. I doubt that I'd be lonely living off the grid, but if I ever had a heart attack or a serious fall, I'd be dead before the EMT's arrived. I was talking to a friend of mine last week who has enjoyed living in a small town in Arkansas for over 40 years. He and his wife are thinking of moving to Little Rock, because that's where their doctors are. That's what happened to my sister too. She and her husband sold a beautiful forest home in rural Ohio and moved to Florida for better medical care. This the bleak reality of modern life. There are fewer and fewer rural doctors and absolutely no state of the art rural research hospitals.

I watched the Falcon 9 launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning on the Internet. I was glad to see that Space X had a big success today, after the devastating explosion they experienced last year. It's amazing that they have live video cameras inside these rockets now. The return of the first stage booster to the floating barge in the Pacific was all shown live in real time. If I was young, I'd love to work for a company like Space X. I think going to Mars would be a lot more inspiring mission in life than getting people to eat more burgers and drink more soda. That being said, I don't really regret spending most of my life in advertising. I'm a shallow person, so advertising is a perfect fit.

I'm glad the big ice storm in Oklahoma and Kansas is well north of us. Our weather wasn't great today, but at least nothing was freezing. Although it never actually rained, there was a mist in the air that left my jacket wet after I walked the dogs. I wonder how long our roller coaster weather is going to continue? I think constantly alternating between warm and cold days is making me sick. I feel like I'm coming down with a cold again. The humidity keeps changing too. It was over 90% this morning, but less than 20% a few days ago. We've certainly had colder winters, but I can't recall such sudden changes before.

I cooked French Toast for Janet this morning. My cooking repertoire is very limited, but I do make good French Toast. Bread is kind of the forbidden fruit in my current diet. I try to avoid bread and seldom eat pizza anymore because the starches in bread break down quickly and enter the bloodstream as glucose. Bread spikes blood sugar levels faster than many candy bars. It's too bad the stuff is so delicious. I could live on bread if it didn't put me on a fast track toward becoming a diabetic.

The dogs kept me busy today, but there were no messy accidents. Knock on wood, I guess. The day isn't over yet. I've discovered that Dot can easily sleep an extra hour on weekends without needing to get up to pee. As long as everyone else is asleep too, she's fine. The day officially starts at our house whenever Janet gets up. Hopefully, we'll all sleep in late tomorrow as well. I always enjoy an extra hour of sleep. I'll go to the gym unless it's raining and then I'll end the day by watching British comedies on PBS that I've already seen a hundred times. It's not all that exciting, but you wouldn't be reading this if you were looking for excitement.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2388

They say if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait five minutes. I can see where that saying came from today. We got an early start on our morning walk and it was really quite pleasant outside. There was a cool breeze and the ground was covered with dew. It was definitely worth the effort to get up early. Dot had more energy and so did I. The sun peeked over the horizon just as we arrived home and almost immediately, the humidity started to rise. By the time I finished breakfast, it was hot and muggy. I was listening to the Cicadas and getting ready to water the grass when I heard thunder off in the distance. Within an hour, the sky darkened and the wind started to rise. The sudden thunderstorm caused some wind damage a few miles away and left a lot of water on the ground. Then it was hot and sunny again. The abrupt changes kept the day interesting, because there certainly wasn't much else going on.

On days like this I tend to get lost in the Internet. One idle search leads to another and all the sudden I'm reading a strange forum where people are talking about the accuracy of home A1C meters. I guess it makes sense that I would be thinking about blood sugar levels and diabetes. I'm not a diabetic, but have been in a high risk group for many years. I like the idea of monitoring my own glucose and A1C levels, but hate the idea of continually pricking my finger to draw blood. Maybe I'll wait a while to start testing myself. The consensus on the forum I was reading was that that home A1C meters were notoriously inaccurate. They say that you can significantly improve your chances of avoiding diabetes with a low carb diet that emphasizes fresh vegetables and eliminates bread and wheat products. I tried this once and it works, but there was only one problem. I love bread.

I also watched some videos of today's final qualification test of the new Space Launch System booster in Promontory, Utah. NASA invited some people to view this test and I probably could have gone myself if I had the time and money. I've quit applying for NASA press credentials for the time being. Dot is too fragile to leave for any extended period of time and it's quite expensive to get to remote places like Promontory, Utah anyway. At some point in the future, I would like to return to being a NASA groupie. There are actually quite a few opportunities for people who are active on social media to observe and write about NASA's many space related activities. I still get e-mails about opportunities to cover upcoming launches and tests, but now is not the time. I only mention this for folks who worry that I'm becoming a house bound hermit. It's not true. When the time is right, I could easily see myself going to four or five of these events a year.

It was sad to hear about the attack at the Istanbul airport today. This seemed so similar to the attack in the Brussels airport earlier in the year. I'm glad I had an opportunity to visit Europe in more peaceful times. I've been to Turkey before, but I doubt that I'll ever find myself there again. The world has become far too volatile. I remember my travels in Greece and Turkey well. I never dreamed back then that it would come to this.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2096 - 9/11

I left the house this morning fully intending to try the new restaurant. I came to an intersection where if I turned left, I would be headed toward the new restaurant and if I turned right, I'd be on my way to my regular place. The left lane of the cross street was bumper-to-bumper cars as far as the eye could see. The right lane was practically empty. I turned right and headed back to familiar territory. This is probably how I found my Friday restaurant in the first place. If I turned left, I would pass three schools on my way to the new restaurant. In the other direction there were no schools and very few cars. I always tend to follow the path of least resistance.

This reminded me of the Dr. Who episode called "Turn Left" where Donna Noble has to go back in time at a critical moment and convince an earlier version of herself to turn left at an intersection to reverse a chain of events that was going to destroy the world. I don't think turning right at my intersection this morning will cause anything drastic to happen, but it did make me wonder how today would have turned out if I turned left instead.

I probably made the right choice. I didn't have time to experiment today. When I got back from breakfast, there was barely time to take a quick shower and check my e-mail before it was time to take Dot to the cancer center for her Ultrasound scan. The oncologist said that the tumor was stable and not growing, so it was safe for Dot to discontinue her chemotherapy. She agreed that Dot looked stronger and wants us to monitor Dot's condition with a follow-up Ultrasound scan every two months. Sounds good to me. I'm really encouraged to see that Dot is getting stronger again. Admittedly, we're taking baby steps, but this is so much better than seeing her slide even further downhill.

It was a very different day fourteen years ago. We hadn't met Dot yet, but she was a very young puppy on the verge of becoming lost and abandoned. I hadn't started blogging yet and wasn't eating very healthy either. I'll always remember looking at the kitchen TV in stunned disbelief as I watched the twin towers fall while I ate a plate of French Toast floating in a sea of maple syrup. I would soon learn that I was on the road to diabetes and needed to change my ways. Watching the Today Show while eating that big plate of French Toast was the end of innocence in so many ways. The world has never been the same since. Dot found Janet and I through the Dalmatian Rescue organization and her story had a happy ending. I don't think the world was as lucky as Dot. We are still facing almost all the same problems we faced on September 11, 2001. Two wars certainly didn't help much. In retrospect, we should have left dictators like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi in place. They were the only thing keeping a population of zealots that were still living in the Middle Ages in check. We've opened Pandora's box, and as the world descends into chaos, I'm not sure that anyone has a plan to close it again.

I certainly don't have any solutions.  There are too many of us on this planet and we keep making more. We are consuming the planet's resources at an alarming rate. Some of use are living in the twenty first century while others are still living in the fourteenth century. This can't end well. It really shouldn't be surprising that I prefer the company of dogs. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if that giant asteroid hadn't wiped out the dinosaurs sixty five million years ago. Maybe the dinosaurs would have done a better job of things.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1716 - Dot's Birthday

Dot had a big day. We started the day by returning to our regular route for the dog's morning walk. I walked Dot and Dash together and Dot had no trouble going the full distance. We walked a lot slower than usual, but nobody was in a hurry. Dot also got to go back to training class this evening. This was the first time she's returned to the class since her surgery and she seemed to enjoy the outing. We didn't do all the exercises, but she seemed eager to participate in some of the easier routines. When we got home, we all had cake.

I'm still not sure how old Dot is. Janet says she turned 13 this year, but I thought she was 13 last year. Maybe it's like a woman's 39th birthday. Dot might end up being 13 forever.

I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before.  It's easy and it's delicious. When I was worried about my blood sugar levels, I stopped eating wheat products for over a year. Since grain converts to sugar during digestion, cutting bread out of my diet brought my blood sugar levels back to normal very quickly. I also lost a fair amount of weight. All this is good. The only problem was that I have always loved bread. Now that my liver is functioning normally again and I have significantly improved my chances for avoiding diabetes by eating a healthy diet, bread has become a bigger temptation than ever. I haven't pigged out on French Toast with Maple Syrup yet, but I do enjoy the occasional sandwich. Even though this morning's grilled ham and cheddar sandwich was delicious, I'll be back eating my oatmeal tomorrow. Dot won't be eating cake again for quite a while either.

I wish I was was busier at work, but it's probably been good that things are slow now. I've spent so much time this Spring and Summer caring for sick dogs and driving them back and forth between various vet appointments that I don't know where I would have found the time to do my normal workload anyway. Tomorrow is another physical therapy day for Dot. She's gotten strong enough now to do a full twenty minute workout on the underwater treadmill. It's amazing how well she's doing physically. You'd never know she was a senior citizen until you saw her pee all over the house. If we can ever resolve her incontinence issues, I think Dot will have made a full recovery.

I need to order a full set of ink cartridges and a new maintenance tank for the large format printer tomorrow. I've managed to use up all eight cartridges just doing cleaning cycles to keep the printer from clogging. Since the cartridges cost $57 each, I wonder if it is worth the effort. It's kind of insane to work so hard to keep this cranky printer running properly. Who knows? Maybe I'll have a gallery show again, but I probably won't. I may never make a huge print again. It's nice to have a good printer just in case though. I may not do much these days, but I'm certainly well prepared.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1158

I kind of wish that the lawyers hadn't canceled my deposition today. It would have given me something to do. More importantly, it would have given me something to talk about. As it stands, there isn't much to talk about at all. The weather turned cold again. The work-front turned quiet. There weren't even any overheard conversations when I went out and had a veggie omelet at my favorite breakfast restaurant.

Out of boredom, I drove over to my nutritionist and asked him why my potassium levels continue to rise. Jeez, I like bananas, but I certainly haven't been eating that many bananas. He told me I wasn't drinking enough water. In fact, he told me that I should be drinking twice as much water as I am now. Damn! I really don't like water. I guess what has happened is that as I've been slowly been eliminating beer, wine, liquor, lemon aid, soda, and all sorts of other tasty beverages from my diet, I haven't been replacing the liquids with water. I never really noticed the change, since I am seldom thirsty, but it evidently made a difference. Now, I've got to drink a lot of water in addition to all the other stuff I'm doing. You'd think there'd be a least one vice that was actually good for you, So far, I haven't found any.

Wasn't it weird that the ten ton meteor that injured thousands in Russia arrived on the very same day as that asteroid that nearly hit us today. I wonder if the meteor was a chunk that fell off the asteroid? Maybe this is how it will all end someday. They say than an asteroid hitting the earth was what wiped out the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were pretty tough. I bet a much smaller asteroid could wipe us all out pretty handily. We probably won't need a stray asteroid to finish us off though. I'm sure we'll figure out how to totally screw up the planet all by ourselves. Here's something to think about. That Russian meteor came to earth only 60 miles away from a massive Russian nuclear facility that currently holds tons of weapons grade plutonium. In cosmic terms, that's almost a direct hit.

Enough about the end of the earth though. I'm more concerned about putting an end to the bugs that have invaded my house. I saw only one bug today, and that was a dead one. This is a dramatic improvement from this time last week. This is one battle I'm going to win. I think I'll eventually win the battle against diabetes and liver disease too. It just might take a little longer.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 472 - April Fool's Day

I hate going to the doctor. It's always depressing. Even though my lab work was actually better than it was on my last visit, it's still pretty obvious that I'm already on the glide path to oblivion. Eating healthy and getting lots of exercise don't really make you any younger. They just postpone the inevitable a bit.

Today, we talked about cutting back on the sugar in my diet. It has to be done, because for the last year or so all the lab work indicates that I am pre-diabetic. I definitely don't want to become a diabetic if I can prevent it, but I certainly am getting tired of giving up all my favorite things. I've already given up bacon and alcohol. Now, I'm going to have to give up my morning waffles, drenched in a sea of maple syrup. Ironically, I didn't have this craving for maple syrup when I was drinking. My doctor say this is all pretty normal. The body immediately converts alcohol to glucose anyway, and when the alcohol is eliminated, the body tries to get the sugar some other way. When I has a glass of wine with dinner and a Martini before bed, I never felt like eating anything sweet. Now I want dessert after every meal. At any rate, I'm pretty good at giving up things. We'll just add sugar to the growing list of things I can no longer enjoy. Technically, sugar isn't even the enemy here. It is my desire to combine sugar with carbohydrates. Pancakes and syrup. Waffles or french toast with lots of syrup and whipped cream. Donuts. Not a great combination for maintaining proper blood sugar levels.

No April Fool's jokes today. Who knows? Maybe this week's lack of work was all an extended joke. I don't think so though. Things are just slow. I sure hope the economy picks up by Summer. So far, this year hasn't exactly gotten off to a stellar start. At least the stock market is hanging in there. An up day in the market can still balance out a bad day at the office.

I retrieved one of my neighbors dogs this afternoon. The friendly Chocolate Lab was just wandering around loose and appeared lost. I have returned countless neighborhood dogs to their homes over the years. I seem to be the only one around during the day. Kids leave the gate open. Parents leave the gate open. Dogs even learn how to open the gate themselves. Luckily, most of these loose dogs are very nice and it isn't hard to lure them home again. It's strange how casual many people are about their dogs however. I would never go off and leave my own dogs in the backyard when I leave the house. I feel much safer when they're inside sleeping on their favorite blanket.

Dalmatian of the Day

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