Day 3568

The older you get, the harder it is to tell whether the aches and pains you feel are completely normal or a sign that something's wrong. When I wake up in the morning I hate to move, because it feels so comfortable to just lie there doing nothing. As soon as I'm up and about, my joints start telling me that I've seen better days. The aches and pains are real. My ankles hurt when I walk long distances, but I suspect that there's nothing wrong. I wear really light Nike Air shoes now because they're easier on my feet but they don't provide the firm ankle support that my old heavy hiking boots did. I'm sure that there is something wrong with my shoulders, but I'm not certain what to do about it. I haven't been good at keeping up with my physical therapy exercises and I don't even want to consider surgery. Everybody I know who has had shoulder surgery never regained a full range of motion. Basically, old bones just aren't as resilient as young bones.

I probably should start going to physical therapy again for my shoulder. It did help a little when I was doing the exercises every day. I'll ask my doctor to recommend someone the next time I see him. I really need to improve my range of motion, but it's hard to do exercises that are painful. I'm not very motivated. It's easier when someone is forcing me to do the right thing.

I've got a dental appointment in the morning and an appointment with the eye doctor later in the month. Doctors always tell me I'm doing great. What does that mean? They probably just mean that I'm doing pretty good compared to other people my age. I remember feeling a lot healthier when I was younger, but it was probably just an illusion. I actually had more medical problems when I was young than I do now. At least I'm eating healthy and taking care of myself these days. Hopefully, I'll never wind up in the ER again.

October is here, but where is the nice Fall weather? Today still felt like Summer. I think my walks will be a lot more enjoyable when the weather is cooler and I don't have to change my clothes as soon as I get back to the house. I keep telling myself that sweating is good for you. At least that's what I hear. Sweating during exercise is supposed to reduce the risk of developing kidney stones, prevent colds, and detox your body. Sounds good to me.

I wonder if I'll have time to take my walk tomorrow? I might not even have time to drink my smoothie. I should have made my dental appointment during the afternoon. These days even 11 AM can seem pretty early. How did I ever used to go to work every morning? I need to ask the dentist whether braces could benefit someone my age. I feel like my teeth are getting out of alignment. Does it even matter? Probably not.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2019

Today was stressful. Dot's platelet count was normal and she got the green light to continue her Palladia treatment, but the nurse had trouble finding a vein and Dot ended up having a big hematoma on her neck. I had the doctor look at it and she said Dot would be fine. The big swelling had to be uncomfortable though. Dot was also surprisingly shaky today, considering how strong she's been for the past week. There's really no rhyme or reason to this at this point. Dot has good days and bad days. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better tomorrow.

Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow as well. It's sucks getting old. Although I've fixed the screen door half a dozen times before, it has never been as difficult as it was today. I couldn't even raise my right arm enough to reach the top hinge and remove it so I could get the door off. My shoulder has really deteriorated since the last time I did this. I finally got the hinge off by standing on a chair, but it was so much easier when I could reach above my head with both arms. Carpel tunnel has taken its toll as well. I usually attach the screen mesh to the door using a staple gun and than attach the wooden trim back to the door using a different type of staple gun that shoots little brads into the wood. These are heavy duty staple guns, but I've never had trouble using them before. This time I often had to use both hands to squeeze the handle hard enough to fire a staple. To make matters worse, there were mosquitoes everywhere. I had to go back inside and change into long pants and a long sleeve jacket to avoid being eaten alive. It was 100 degrees too, so I was soaked with sweat by the time the job was finished. The door looks nice though. Hopefully, I won't have to do this again for a while.

I found a less expensive source for Dot's Palladia drug online and asked her oncologist if she'd write a prescription so I could purchase the chemotherapy pills this way. I was surprised when she was very reluctant to let me use the online source. She said that she couldn't guarantee that the pills would be effective. "They might have sat in the heat too long, or even be past their expiration date," she told me. "But these are sealed bottles in the pharmaceutical company's original packaging," I said. I knew that this was a reputable pharmacy, because I'd done my research. "Well, could you sell me full, sealed bottles like the ones I see here on the website," I asked? If I received sealed bottles from the manufacturer, I wouldn't have to pay the cancer center's $40 hazardous material handling fee every time I renewed my prescription. "We can't do that," the oncologist said. "We have to count the pills and repackage them to make sure you get the right amount." This made even less sense. I'm pretty sure the count would be right in a factory sealed manufacturer's bottle. Actually, I remember now that the cancer center miscounted Dash's chemotherapy pills once and gave me five fewer pills than I should have gotten. Five pills doesn't sound like much, but at $25 per pill, it can add up. The whole conversation was frustrating to me.

I watered the lawn this morning because it was really starting to get hot and dry. I shouldn't have bothered. As I write this, the dogs are both huddled under my desk and we are right in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. I wasn't expecting this storm and it caught me completely by surprise. Actually, quite a few things caught me completely by surprise today. My breakfast was good this morning though. No surprises there.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1828

It was another wet, cold day. As soon as the dogs finished their breakfast, they hopped right back in bed again. They didn't want anything to do with this day. Since they wouldn't budge, I just crawled back in bed myself. Eventually we pulled ourselves together and took our morning walk. I always have trouble getting the dogs outside on damp days, but once we're on our way they show no desire to return home again. I think the smells must be more intense in damp weather, because they both love to smell things.

I think my shoulder must be worse than I thought. Today was my first physical therapy session and some of the initial stretching exercises brought tears to my eyes. You'd think it would be easy to lie on a table and bring my hands behind my head, but it just wasn't happening. I could see my therapist wince every time she heard popping sounds coming from my shoulder as she manipulated the joint. We did a series of simple exercises to loosen the muscles around the joint and after about fifteen minutes I was able to rotate my arm about 15 degrees further behind my head. This is going to be a long, slow process. For the past several years, I've been compensating for the loose shoulder by tensing the muscles on the right side of my back in an attempt to keep the joint in place while I walk the dogs.  Now these muscles are very tight and are restricting a full range of motion. I think things are worse than they used to be, because I remember I could do some of the stretching exercises we tried today as recently as three years ago when I had physical therapy before. At any rate, I promised to do my exercises the best I could and I will see the therapist again next week. I still don't want to consider surgery at this point.

I wanted to check on a package on the UPS website today and discovered I couldn't log in because I'd forgotten my password again. I hate sites that keeping asking you for a ridiculous combination of upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special symbols before they'll approve your password. I can never remember these complex passwords. What's even worse is that many sites don't allow you to re-use a password that you have used before. It doesn't take long to completely run out of easy to remember password ideas. I'll be glad when you can just use a fingerprint or retinal scan to identify yourself. Apple is getting there with its new fingerprint recognition technology, but so far you can only use your fingerprint to unlock the phone. You should be able to use it for everything.

I wish I could teach Dash to read the weather radar. I thought I'd found a nice little window between rain showers to take the dogs out to do their business this afternoon. Dot, as always, peed and pooped quickly and efficiently. Dash was oblivious to the approaching rain and dawdled around until the rain caught up with us. He eventually pooped, but we were all drenched by then. By the time I finally got the dogs back in the house, cleaned their paws, and dried them off with a bath towel, the only sensible thing to do was take another nap. We ended up right where we started, in a big dog-pile on the bed.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1823

I was very impressed with my physical therapist today. She was thorough, informative, and was able to map out a comprehensive two month treatment program that should lead me toward greater mobility. It turns out that there is a lot more wrong with me than I thought. My shoulder problems were obvious, but there were also still problems with my neck and left hand. The therapist said that I didn't exhibit any of the classic symptoms associated with carpal tunnel syndrome and suspected that I have damaged or injured some of the small bones in my hand instead. She said that my right shoulder wasn't dislocated, but that the shoulder muscles on that side of my body were extremely tight and were preventing the shoulder joint from operating properly. The remedy is lots of supervised stretching exercises.

Some of you may remember the horrible problems I had with my neck during a trip to Las Vegas a few years ago. The physical therapy I had after that painful incident worked amazingly well, but it wasn't pleasant. They gradually stretched my spine, so that the soft tissue that had become encapsulated or pinched between the vertebrae were freed and my neck could move again. At one point they put me on a machine that seemed very similar to a medieval rack and literally stretched my entire neck. Yikes! I hated those sessions, but they worked. I've never really had a problem with my neck again. I think I've got a lot of uncomfortable stretching in my immediate future.

My cold seems to get worse every day. I guess it isn't really getting worse. It just continues moving to the next phase. My initial fever seems to have ended. My sore throat isn't as bad either. Unfortunately, these symptoms have been replaced by a terrible runny nose and a persistent headache. When I get a bad cold, it almost always lasts at least a full week. I've still got several days to go before the worst is over. I was really hoping that I'd start feeling better before this weekend's back-to-back Santa Paws photo shoots, but that's not going to happen. I need to remember to throw a big roll of paper towels and a large sack of cough drops in my lighting bag tonight. At this rate, I could probably be part of the photos, as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I haven't felt like cooking all week, so I picked up a barbequed pulled pork sandwich at Central Market's new little in-store restaurant on the way home from my physical therapy appointment. The sandwich and accompanying fresh sweet potato fries looked delicious, but I don't think I appreciated my dinner as much as I should have. A bad cold destroys your sense of taste. I could have been eating cardboard. What I should have done was skipped dinner entirely and just gone to bed early.

I saw on the Internet today that NASA is going to provide full press credentials to a select group of bloggers, so they can write about an upcoming satellite launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base. I think I'm going to apply for this press pass. If NASA accepts your application, you will get to interview space scientists, take a special tour of the Vandenberg launch facilities, and watch the launch itself from an up close VIP location. I've always been a huge fan of the space program and all NASA wants is a chance to expand their social media presence in new and different ways.  Hey, I'd be more than happy to write about a satellite launch on the blog. This isn't a contest or a prize. It is just chance to get official NASA press credentials. The only downside is you have to pay for the trip to California for the launch yourself. This is a media event, so I guess that Some Assembly Required would have to pick up the tab. It would certainly be exciting to be accepted though. I hope I do better on this than I did on the Amtrack Writers in Residence grant. That didn't go too well. Too bad I didn't get accepted for that one. Then I could have taken the train to California.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1822

I finally went to the doctor today. I apparently don't have a high enough fever to have the flu, so the nurse told me I just had a nasty cold. I always feel slightly embarrassed when I go to the doctor with cold symptoms. Many of the nurses I deal with have young children and they are around sick people all day. It's not surprising that many of them seem to have perpetual colds themselves. When I come to them complaining about feeling lousy, I'm sure they just think I'm being a big baby. I still think people should stay out of circulation when they have a cold however. It would sure help keep me from getting one.

I asked the nurse if I could spread my cold to others when I do Santa photos this weekend.  Apparently not. I am already out of the infectious phase, although the feeling miserable phase could last for over a week. They said a steroid shot would make me feel better, but the cold itself would last just as long. I didn't take them up on their offer. There's no reason to take steroids unless it is absolutely necessary. I feel the same way about the dogs. Steroids are a powerful anti-inflammatory, but they are still basically bad news. I stay away from them.

Since I have my initial consultation with my new physical therapist tomorrow morning, I decided to go out for breakfast today. For the rest of the day, it seemed like Friday. I almost forgot about Dot's Thursday therapy session, but Dot seemed to remember. At the appointed time, she was standing by the door. Both dogs seem to have remarkably good biological clocks. They always seem to know when it's time to do something that involves them. They are especially accurate around dinner time. If I'm even five minutes late with their dinner, I never hear the end of it.

Dot did really well on the treadmill today. Hopefully, I will do equally well with my own therapy tomorrow. I've had physical therapy for my bad shoulder before. The therapy definitely helped, but it was quite uncomfortable. Basically, the whole idea is to slowly stretch the shoulder muscles until you eventually have a full range of motion again. It takes a long time, but I still prefer this option to rotator cuff surgery.

I had to re-write an instruction manual for one of my client's products today. They thought the manual was poorly written. I thought the product itself was poorly designed. I did the best I could to clarify things, but I don't think anybody is going to find this product easy to use. That's the way it goes in my business. You really don't get to pick your battles. Sometimes I wished that I did something genuinely useful like my veterinarian friends. Veterinarians have a lot of stress in their lives though. They deal with life and death issues almost every single day. My life is almost exactly the opposite. I just do silly, useless shit, but at least it isn't stressful. Wondering when this cold is going to end is about as stressful as it gets around here.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1821

I'm beginning to realize that you're never really finished with cancer. The best treatments today can slow down the disease or hold it in check, but it can always reappear at any time. Dash did great at his evaluation and we received our last two month supply of his Palladia chemo pills. In the beginning, I thought that when we reached the end of this year of chemotherapy, we would be done forever. Not according to the oncologist. He explained to me today that when active treatment is completed, it is more important than ever to keep monitoring and evaluating the patient to make sure that the cancer hasn't returned. I suspect that Dash, and probably Dot as well, will be going to the cancer center every three months for the rest of their lives. This is really no different than it is with people, but I was still hoping that at some point we would officially "beat" the disease.

I felt better this morning, so I didn't bother going to the doctor and getting a Tamiflu prescription. This was probably a mistake. By early afternoon I felt miserable again. I tried gargling with salt water, hot tea, cough drops, and another nap with the dogs, but nothing seemed to work. I still have trouble accepting the fact that colds are just part of life. I never get colds when I'm sitting at the computer with the dogs under my desk. I always get colds whenever I do something with other people in the Winter. I feel like saying "Please don't invite me to join you for anything if you're sick." That would be rude though. I'm sure nobody wants to get the flu. They get it just like I did.

I had some website revisions to make today, but it was a pretty slow day. I used the extra time to get my December invoices in the mail and go to the bank. The check I deposited today certainly didn't last long. A few hours later I spent almost the same amount of money paying for Dash's chemotherapy pills. At least when the Palladia pills are finished, these periodic visits to the cancer center won't be so expensive.

I hope Dash's vet is feeling better when we go for our physical therapy session tomorrow. She was sick last week and I could have caught the flu from her. I really think I caught it from Santa though. Santa was really sick last weekend. We couldn't have canceled the photoshoot though. We book these things months in advance and the show must go on. No matter how I feel this weekend, I will be taking pictures again.

Maybe I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow instead of Friday. I have my first evaluation with my new physical therapist on Friday morning and I hate to rush breakfast just to meet a doctor who is sure to make my shoulder hurt.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1812

I felt like I spent most of the day just trying to stay warm. The temperature was in the 20's this morning with 20 mile per hour winds. This made for a ferocious wind chill factor. We always walk, no matter what the weather, so I put on several layers of warm clothes, bundled the dogs in their warmest dog coats, and off we went. We didn't stay outside as long as we usually do, but it certainly felt like a long walk. It goes without saying that we were all glad to return to a pleasantly warm house.

After breakfast, I went to the storage warehouse and got the props and equipment we'll need for this weekend's Santa Paws photo shoot. The various light stands, poles, backdrops, and equipment seems to get heavier each year I do this. One of these days, I'm going to just start taking these pictures with my phone. I think I'm good for at least one more year however, so I'll continue to keep hauling the heavy equipment and lights from location to location.

I got a call from the physical therapist my doctor recommended asking me a few questions about my shoulder. It's looks like I'm approved for physical therapy, but I'll have to wait a few more days to find out for sure. If everything works out as expected, I'll be able to have supervised physical therapy at the same gym I go to every week. This will be convenient and I might even learn whether my current workout is doing more harm than good. I don't really expect my shoulder pain to magically go away, but it would be nice to see a little improvement. All I really want to do is avoid rotator cuff surgery.

Dash is getting low on his supply of chemotherapy pills again, so I made an appointment at the cancer center for his next follow-up exam. I'm almost certain that the oncologist will want to renew Dash's Palladia prescription for an additional two months, but we're finally getting near the end of this ordeal. After two more months, Dash will have had a full year of chemo treatment and that is the maximum amount of time the cancer center recommends. The hair on Dash's neck never grew back after his radiation treatments earlier this year, but other than that, he is completely back to normal. It will be good to put this all behind us.

I updated some websites today and will probably update a few more tomorrow. I kept busy to stay warm. My success with the Ikea furniture yesterday emboldened me to try and fix a broken drawer on my Dad's old workbench. I couldn't find the small screws and wooden dowels I really needed, but luckily there's always Superglue. I wish I'd remembered to bring home the ceramic heater when I was getting my photo equipment earlier today. If it's this cold again tomorrow, the little heater will keep my warm feet while I work.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1789

It occurred to me today that I'm not going to be able to keep going up on the roof indefinitely. I never use a ladder and make the climb using indentations in the 50's modern brick facade as toeholds to get to the top. It's kind of like rock climbing and works pretty well, except when I pull a muscle like I did today. It certainly wasn't a serious mishap, but now my good shoulder is sore. It's irritating watching my body slowly deteriorate. I used to be able to run five miles without getting seriously winded. When we first moved into the house, I used to mow the grass by hand with an old fashioned push mower. I couldn't begin to do that anymore. I wonder how much longer I'll be able to climb up on the roof?

It looks like we are going to escape the Polar Vortex that is going to send temperatures tumbling in the northern part of the country next week. It's still going to get a lot colder though. The onset of Winter is making me really appreciate the mild Indian Summer days we've been having this week. It was absolutely beautiful today and the dogs enjoyed the mild weather as much as I did. It's still t-shirt weather this weekend, so it's hard to believe that the temperature is going to be in the 30's next week.

I got a package in the mail this morning containing the fancy WiFi thermostat that the folks at Klout sent me. After a quick look inside the box, I immediately realized that this wasn't really a free gift after all. The thermostat looked way too complicated for me to install, so I'm going to have to call the HVAC guys and have them come out and make a service call. Oh, well. I need to have the furnace cleaned anyway. Honeywell wants me to write about my experience with the thermostat on Twitter and the blog. That's certainly not a big deal, since I'll write about just about anything. I'm wondering if the whole thing was a mistake though. Janet and I never agree about how hot or cool it should be in the house. With a thermostat you can control with your phone and even your voice, we'll be constantly changing the temperature. We'll probably wear the thing out.

Even though the show seemed to receive rave reviews on the Internet, I found the season finale of Dr. Who a bit confusing. I guess I was expecting something a bit more definitive than Clara and the Doctor just going their separate ways after each tells the other a lie near the end of the show. For a while I thought that Clara really was the previous doctor as she claimed, but that turned out to be a lie as well. And why does the Master always keep returning? I thought he died several seasons ago. Maybe with my simple mind, I ought to stick to watching those old Perry Mason reruns. Somebody always gets murdered during the first five minutes and then Perry always wins his case in court. The formula never varies.

I should probably go the gym tomorrow, but there are a lot of other things I should probably do as well. I guess I'll just see how my shoulder feels in the morning.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1757

I kept thinking it was Wednesday today. With so little to differentiate the days anymore, it is an easy mistake to make. Friday's stick in my mind because I go out for a great breakfast. Thursdays I generally remember because I take Dot downtown for her physical therapy session. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday just run together.

I had lots of work to do today, but work doesn't leave the same kind of memories as a good meal. For sanity's sake, I prefer to forget most of the things I work on and depend on my computer to resurrect these projects when it becomes necessary. This is why I take backups and archiving seriously. I have dual backup hard drives and alternate them every other day, just in case. Without these meticulous backups, any garden variety computer crash could ruin me. A lot of people talk about living in the moment, but I really do. The only thing I know about yesterday is that it was very likely exactly the same as today.

Ever since the power outage I've been looking at generators. Most people evaluate generators by their power output, price, and gas tank size. I just look at how heavy they are. With a bad shoulder and carpal tunnel in my wrists, I need something I can lift. I think 60 pounds would be about my limit. This is pitiful, considering the heavy speakers and amplifiers I used to routinely lift when I played in the band, but that's just the way it is. Since your typical generator can weigh several hundred pounds, I am looking at Inverters. This type of design is much lighter and still provides enough power to meet my basic needs. As an added bonus, some types of Inverters can be hooked together in parallel to double the power. Maybe I'll get one tomorrow.

My sister told me recently that she and her husband were going to sell their rural home because of health problems and move to a place where there was better health care. I find this sad, because I know they loved living off the grid and spent years and years building a wonderful retreat in the middle of nowhere. When my parents sold their home and moved to an assisted living facility they really had no choice. Medical issues made the choice for them as well. I think about this from time to time. I'd love to live in the middle of nowhere, but I'd never want to be far away from a good veterinarian. Several of my dogs would have died if a large, full service veterinary hospital wasn't just a few minutes away. It would be nice to have a top quality research hospital nearby for Janet and I as well. I've already seen how much of a difference a good medical team can make. Basically, getting old sucks and there is very little you can do about it.

I must be moving up in the world on Klout. I got a notice today that they were sending me a Honeywell programmable WiFi thermostat for the house. This is certainly fancier than the bag of dog food they sent me last time.

Cupcake is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1741

I think the dogs are recovering better than I am. My shoulder hurt today, so I confined myself to the treadmill and other lower body exercises when I went to the gym. I have all the symptoms associated with a rotator cuff tear, although this has never been diagnosed conclusively. When things get bad, my doctor usually gives me a steroid injection and then recommends resting the arm until a full range of motion is achieved. Unfortunately, resting the arm is hard to do when you walk two Dalmatians twice a day. Usually the pain is manageable, but I probably overdid things yesterday when I cleaned up the roof and mowed the lawn. It's irritating that my life has become a daily diary of aches and pains, but I really can't complain. So many people have it much, much worse.

There wasn't much on the agenda today. Other than walk the dogs and go to the gym, I didn't do much of anything. Dot and Dash gave us a break this morning and were content to sleep in, rather than get us up at the crack of dawn like they usually do. It was nice to get a full eight hours of sleep for a change.

There was a bit of excitement last night when a cicada got inside the house as we opened the door to let the dogs back in. These loud, flying bugs are not what you want buzzing around your living room. I finally managed to catch the thing, but the dogs would have loved to get the bug first. At this time of year, cicadas and June bugs are everywhere and Dash has developed a taste for them. Like Spot and Petey before him, he loves to catch and eat the bugs alive. It's disgusting. To make matters worse, every time Dash manages to eat a cicada, he has runny poop the next day. You'd think he'd learn that these things upset his stomach. He's just like I was before I finally made the connection between pizza and heartburn.

I've been wondering where the wasps have gone this Summer. Every year, the wasps return in May or June and build huge nests under the eaves of our house. I haven't seen many wasps this year, but I found them all today. They've moved into the greenhouse. I guess I never noticed, because the only thing I use the greenhouse for anymore is a place to store the lawnmowers. I could have left the nests alone, but I've been stung by these wasps enough times to consider them the enemy. I got out a can of Raid and quickly sprayed all the nests before retreating to the house. I think most of the wasps are dead, but the remaining ones are pretty mad.

The annual Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament is next weekend. It's hard to believe that a year has passed since the last tournament. It's even harder to believe that a decade has passed since the first tournament. I guess I'll be taking pictures again. I definitely won't be playing golf. The game is a mystery to me.

Rover is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1726

We started the day with a gentle breeze and ended with a thunderstorm. In between were all the usual errands and chores you'd normally expect on a Saturday. Even though I'm not a big fan of rainy days, I was glad to see the storm arrive. The yard was starting to look really dry. The dogs and I got lucky on our evening walk and managed to return to the house about five minutes before the deluge started. As soon as the thunder and lightning began, Dot and Dash retreated to their safe haven under my desk. I was sure that all the commotion would make Dot pee, but it didn't. She actually had a very good day with no accidents at all.

We started Dot on the Incurin medication this morning, but it was pure coincidence that her incontinence wasn't much of a problem today. The vet said that it would take up to two week before we would start to see results from the medication. It wouldn't be realistic to see results on the very first day. Dot was just having one of her good days. It could all change tomorrow.

I went to the neighborhood health food store to pick up some more Stevia for my morning coffee. While I was there, I asked when they were going to have another cholesterol screening. As you probably know, I'm addicted to having my blood tested and would never turn down a low cost cholesterol screening. The store owner told me that they weren't doing the screenings anymore because the Phlebotomist who drew your blood during these tests died of a heart attack last month. This was a young, seemingly healthy guy who was well aware of the risk factors for heart disease. I was shocked. No wonder my general practitioner is so concerned about heart attacks. My Dad had a heart attack. Several of my friends in the advertising world have already had heart attacks. Lately, it seems like every few months I learn of another acquaintance who has just had a heart attack. We are all worried about terrorists these days, but we will probably just die of a heart attack.

I got the Epson 4880 working again this afternoon. I don't know why I spend so much time and money keeping this large format printer functional. I'll probably never have a gallery show again. I won't be doing store window posters for local retail clients either. I feel the same way about my video editing equipment. I hate to give up on these things, even though they are rapidly becoming analog artifacts from a distant past. It's kind of sad to me that all you need is a phone these days. I was much happier when it was essential to have 500 pounds of cranky, difficult to use equipment. The printer and the tape decks will eventually wind up in the storage warehouse with the 4x5 Sinar view camera, a relic from the day when I would spend 30 minutes composing a single image in the camera and then another two hours processing the large sheets of film in the darkroom.

It's time to hit the gym again. It feels like my shoulder has recovered enough from last week's torture to go through my workout again. I feel the same way about my dislocated shoulder as I do about Dot's incontinence. I'm not sure if these things will ever really get better. You can't let a little pee or pain stop you though. I think Dot understands better than I do that you've just got to make the best of things and keep moving forward.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1722

It sure seemed like Monday today. That's what happens when you have a long weekend. Whatever day you return to work seems like Monday. It wasn't a terribly busy day but it had that unfinished quality about it that Monday's often do. I made an appointment at the Apple store to get the battery on my phone replaced. I have serious doubts that I'll actually get a battery installed tomorrow, but you've got to start somewhere. I also ordered a complete set of ink cartridges for the Epson 4880. I've never had all eight cartridges run out of ink at the same time before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I don't know why I even bother with this printer anymore, since the ink is quite expensive. Maybe deep down I still have a desire to make large Giclée prints like I did six or seven years ago.

I don't think I'll ever sleep normally again. Even if we do end up giving Dot pills to help control her incontinence, we won't ever be able to completely trust her again. Accidents happen. Since I don't have the heart to make Dot sleep in a crate away from the rest of the family, I am resigned to spending extra time every evening preparing the bed with a vinyl drop cloth under several layers of protective pads. The dogs actually like the protective pads that Janet sewed for them, so we had to make one for Dash too. They have a soft terry cloth surface and a protective waterproof back, making them great little dog beds. Every evening they go on the bed and every morning they come off again. There is a spare pad in case there is an accident during the night. I think we've thought of everything. It's just very time consuming.

I need to get a second opinion about my shoulder. I've been putting off doing this forever, since I'm afraid I'll be told that I need surgery. I really don't want surgery on my shoulder, but I don't want an arm I can't lift above my head either. Also, I'm sure that just about any doctor would tell me that the first thing I need to do is stop walking the dogs with a dislocated shoulder. That's just not an option. I don't like hospitals either. Increasingly, hospitals are where you go to get sick, instead of to get better. Just about everyone I know who has had to go to the hospital recently has ended up getting some sort of infection from all the antibiotic resistant germs that infest hospitals these days. My health plan basically consists of avoiding sick people and it seems to work pretty well. My shoulder still hurts though, so I'm faced with a dilemma.

I wonder if the watchmaker has finished with my watch yet? It's not that I need it or anything. Picking it up would just give me something to do on a dead day. Tomorrow I've got my appointment with the Genius Bar folks at the Apple store. Thursday is Dot's physical therapy day. Maybe I'll call the watchmaker on Friday and see what's going on. It's nice to have at least one thing to do every day.

In case I give the impression that I'm sitting around idle, I'm not. There are still plenty of website revisions and updates each and every day. These are getting too boring to write about though, so you won't hear much about these in the future. The fact that I prefer to tell you about dog pee than what I'm currently doing at work tells you all you need to know about my business. Maybe it is time to retire.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1666

The dogs certainly kept me busy today. They both had vet appointments in different parts of town. Dot did fabulous during her water therapy. She continues to amaze me and has got to be one of the most physically fit senior Dalmatians I've ever seen. She seems to respond well to acupuncture too. I think it relaxes her. Today she went right to the little blue yoga mat in the acupuncture room after her treadmill workout and lay down in the center, waiting patiently for the doctor. I'm really proud of how well she's doing and even the vet thinks she's an inspiration.

Dash's visit to the vet was a little more prosaic. No Chariots of Fire music for him today, although the visit was necessary. He needed his anal glands expressed again.

I got started on a new website project today. No Chariots of Fire music for me either, although I am very happy to have the work. This new site is part of an extended family of sites where I have already completed the master design. The job ahead is more about replicating and adapting things than it is about inventing anything new. There's still a lot of work to do, but I should be able to complete this site in two or three days. Several years ago I would have posted something about a new project like this on my Facebook business page. I don't even bother anymore. After Facebook changed it's algorithm, absolutely nobody sees these business page posts unless you run an ad or pay to promote the post. Forget that! I'm sure you'd much rather see a picture of Dot on the treadmill anyway.

My shoulder is killing me today. I can't think of anything I've done recently to aggravate the old injury, but sometimes it doesn't take much. I don't think this dislocated shoulder is ever going to fully heal. I doubt that it's going to improve much while I'm still walking Dalmatians every day. I need to start going to physical therapy myself again instead of just driving Dot to her therapy sessions. I probably would have started therapy sessions already, but the physical therapist I really like sold his practice and moved out of town. Now I've got to find someone new and you already know how much I like doing new things. I really can't postpone physical therapy too much longer, or I'll be driving the car with one hand again.

It's really been dry this month. This is the time of year when I wish we had an automatic sprinkler system. There are always parts of the yard that I forget to water until I see a tree or bush looking droopy. By then it is often too late. Today I noticed that the Wax Myrtle tree near the front porch was losing some leaves, so I brought out a soaker hose and wet the area down. This tree has seen some tough times, but it always seems to survive. When I'm not forgetting to water it, the bag worms and climbing vines attack it. Oh, well. At least the back yard is still looking good.

I've got a meeting I need to go to tomorrow and the dogs have their training class in the evening. Hopefully, something else happens as well.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1657

Sunday is seldom a day of rest at our house. Lately, it has turned into the most physical day of the week. This morning, it was time to mow the grass again. I'm happy to mow, because that means the grass is still growing. With the unusual amount of rain we've had this June, everything is still nice and green. Last year, it was a different story. I am hoping that our cooler than usual Summer will continue, but if today was any indication, our pleasant, breezy days might just about be over.

After mowing the grass and doing a little gardening, I decided to go to the gym. Sunday is not only my favorite day to go to the gym, it is often the only day I have time to go. Since the gym is connected with a major hospital, I sometimes see people getting physical therapy there. Maybe I could get one of my doctors to refer me to one of the staff physical therapists. I'm certainly burning calories, but I don't know if what I'm doing is actually helping or hurting my shoulder. A good physical therapist could probably get me doing some exercises that would actually help my shoulder injury heal. After all these months, it's still more painful than it should be.

I'm starting to gain weight again. I'm certainly not getting fat, but a pound here and a pound there and that's how it all starts. The problem is twofold. First of all, unhealthy, fattening food tastes a lot better than kale and brussel sprouts. Secondly, I always eat more when I'm bored. If I'm in the middle of a big video editing project, or designing a challenging website, I seldom think about food at all. This year, most of my work has been of the general maintenance variety. I'm generally keeping something running, instead of creating something new. The more boring the task at hand, the more frequently I want to run to the kitchen and grab another handful of cashews. I'm still trying to keep my sugar and salt intake to a minimum, but unless you're buying fresh produce at a farmers market, almost everything is overloaded with salt and sugar.

I think I was at my best at maintaining my weight when I made a commitment to beating Hepatitis C. While I was in treatment, I had clearly defined goals. Doctors monitored what I ate. I got tested every two weeks, and the results provided a valuable incentive that helped keep me on the straight and narrow path. Now that my Hepatitis C has been cured, I'm not really sure where to go next. Part of me is genuinely proud that I dropped 30 pounds and can now wear the same sized clothes I wore in collage. The other part of me would love to go back to a steady diet of barbecue, beans, and beer. I'm not sure who will win this battle.

Actually, we are having barbecue next weekend. If you live in Texas, you've got to have barbecue on the Fourth of July. Dot's physical therapy day has been moved to Monday next week, so we'll be doing her acupuncture and water therapy sessions tomorrow. Life was easier when Dot's spa day was always on Wednesday, but things change. Things always change.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1545

Did you know that Amtrak has a writers residency program? They'll send selected writers on a free long distance train trip, and all the writer has to do in return is write about the experience. Hey, I'm in. I love train travel and writing about a train trip would be a piece of cake. Probably 10,000 other writers thought the same thing when they heard about this, but I filled out the application anyway. I think Amtrak is only going to pick 24 writers for the travel grants, but what do I have to lose? Like most government websites, the Amtrak site was a bit buggy. When I hit submit, my application just disappeared. I have no idea if it actually went through, since there was no acknowledgement of any kind. We'll see.

I'm back to doing my full workout at the gym. This doesn't mean my shoulder has healed completely. It's tolerable though. I figured that if I didn't get back on schedule soon, I'd lose everything I'd gained. I can already tell that I've got some work to do. My hour and a half at the gym seems a lot harder now than it did when I was going three days a week. Better something than nothing has always been my motto. As time permits, I'll try to work my way back to three visits a week.

The weather was beautiful today. I kept thinking "this time Spring is here for sure" for most of the day. I've been fooled before, however. Once or twice, we've had snow this late in the year. Hopefully, we won't get another freeze now. Trees are budding everywhere and I'm starting to see wildflowers in the park. It's definitely time to rake the leaves in the backyard, or better yet, get someone else to do it for me. I think I'll opt for the second option this year.

I thought for sure that  I would have heard the results from Dash's pathology report by now. I'll find out what is going on next week. It wouldn't be the first time a doctor had simply forgotten to tell me something important. I'll have to admit that I've been a bit reluctant to bug the vet about the results. Dash seems so much better after the surgery that I'd like to think he's out of the woods now. It would be a huge disappointment to discover that the surgeon hadn't gotten all the cancer and Dash still needs radiation or chemotherapy.

I can't say that I'm a real fan of Daylight Saving Time. Why do we need this time change at all? The time is just what is is. Pretending that it's an hour earlier doesn't really change anything. Before the time change, the sun was coming up when I woke up in the morning and I still had a chance to photograph some cool looking sunsets on my evening walks with Dot and Dash. Now, it's dark again in the morning and way too light in the evening.

In case you think nothing pleases me, I was pleased with dinner tonight. Janet cooked steaks and they were delicious. Dot and Dash seemed a bit miffed that they didn't get a big steak too, but we've learned the hard way that people food isn't good for them. I think they'll survive.

Val is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1531

Dot and Dash had a great day. Our mild Springlike weather continues, making it possible to give the dogs several long walks, in addition to the trip to the dog park they'd both been anticipating. It was beautiful today. The redbud and dogwood trees are already starting to bloom, and if you looked closely, you could see tiny green buds on most of the other trees as well. I hope all this early growth isn't cut short by a final hard freeze, but it usually is. That's just the nature of things in Texas.

When the dogs had finished smelling every tree at the dog park, we came home and I finished the writing assignment that threw me a curve yesterday. It all seemed to go smoothly this time and within an hour I was ready to go to the gym.

I think my shoulder might be as good as it's going to get. I was able to go back to my old workout routine this afternoon and everything seemed fine. The shoulder still hurt, but it hurt before the injury too. The important thing was that it was able to bear weight and wasn't falling out of the socket anymore. I'm more careful now and try not to do things that would pull my right arm away from my body. All in all, I think it is better to stay active. If I babied the shoulder too much and did nothing, it would probably be worse on my body in the long run than what I'm doing now.

Janet fixed cheeseburgers for dinner. I did eat a kale salad as a token gesture to good health, but that was about it. There are few things better than a good cheeseburger and fried onion rings. It's not the healthiest thing in the world, but you could do a lot worse. Good lean beef, artisan cheddar cheese, some fresh heirloom tomato slices, and a little arugula on a freshly  baked whole grain bun. That sounds healthy doesn't it?  There's got to be more to life than oatmeal and kale. If I can ever get my liver working properly again, I might even enjoy the ocassional glass of wine with dinner again. That would be nice.

Tomorrow is the big day. We can't feed Dash anything after 10 PM tonight, since he will probably have to be anesthetized for his CAT scan tomorrow. I'm trying to keep an open mind, since almost anything could happen. Depending on what the oncologist finds, he could come home with a bottle of pills to take for a week and be good to go, or he could be rushed into emergency surgery. I don't know how parents with small children handle these situations as well as the do. We've had a lifetime of different Dalmatians, and I always remember the medical emergencies the most vividly. Spot had a tumor inside his spinal cord and I thought he might be paralyzed for life. It was a long, tough surgery, but he bounced back to lead a normal life. Much later, he was back on the operating table again with intestinal cancer. A six inch section of his small intestine was removed and he survived that as well. Petey almost died after he got pancreatitis from eating a duck's foot he found in the park. Greta did die after liver surgery failed to completely eliminate the cancer that was growing there. I'm hoping for the best with Dash. He had a very tough life before we rescued and adopted him. We promised him that things would be better now, and we'll continue to do our best to keep that promise.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1525 - President's Day

Yup. It did turn out to be a cleaning day. I kind of figured it would. I spent the day doing a host of little things that I've been putting off for months. I cleaned soap scum off the shower tiles. I took the handles off the bathroom faucets so I could clean off the accumulated soap and mold that had gotten inside the fixtures. I cleaned the toilet. I went to Home Depot and bought a new garden hose and spray nozzle to replace the leaky one in the back yard. I cleaned the bird shit off my car again. None of this was very exciting, but since I have the same degree of affection for cleaning toilets as I do for most recent presidents, I guess it made sense to do these things on President's Day.

I finally figured out were to find the serial number on my UP band, so I could write Jawbone and ask them to send me a new one. Then I saw something on the Internet about how to revive a dead Jawbone battery. I followed the instructions and amazingly the band started to charge again. I'd already sent the letter saying that the band was broken, of course. It remains to be seen whether they'll send me a new one.

I don't know whether my shoulder is ever going to get better. I was so worried about walking the dogs and working out at the gym, but it is the simple, unavoidable things that are the problem. Making the bed is a problem. Putting on socks is a problem. I climbed up on the roof today to sweep off some water, and that was definitely a problem. I've had a shoulder that tended to go out of joint for at least ten years. If I was careful, it never really hindered me much. My recent injury was definitely the worst I've had, but there have been others. I can make the muscles around the shoulder stronger, but that's about all. The ball and socket joint has been loose for a long time and will probably always be loose.

The dogs are finally learning to sleep in late. Now that they are mastering this new routine, it's back to work. Janet will return to getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and the dogs will be confused again. Maybe we'll all go back to sleep for another hour after Janet leaves for work. It's hard for me to come up with a good reason to get up early. What is the point? I usually have lots to do, but I can set my own schedule. Hey, why get up early when you have the option of staying up late?

I saw my first Daffodils today. I bet they won't last long. This always happens in Texas. The flowers get confused and then Mother Nature lets them know who's boss with one final blast of arctic weather.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day