Day 1205

The day started out with a roof leak in the living room and kind of went downhill from there. I had to have an insurance agent over to the house today and the dogs set some sort of new record for continuous barking. The agent liked dogs and thought he could win their trust by feeding them treats. What the hell. It sounded like a good idea to me. A half a box of dog biscuits later, Dot and Dash stopped barking about guarding the house and immediately started barking for more biscuits. Both dogs were a total embarrassment. You never would have known that they'd been in obedience training for almost six years.

Dot made matters worse by getting herself so worked up that she pooped in the living room. The old girl has trouble controlling her bowels when she gets too excited.

There was a lot of website work today. It was all stuff that the clients probably thought was trivially easy for me to implement. In reality, everything that was asked for today was fairly difficult. I'm still not done. On days like this, I have to bite my tongue and repeat to myself "The client is always right."

The one roofing company that I thought might actually have the solution to my problems refuses to return my calls. The last time I talked to them, I got the strong impression that they weren't interested in residential work, but I haven't given up yet. It's frustrating. Several companies are eager to put on a roof just like the leaky one I have now. But how about a roof that can be actually guaranteed against leaks for ten years? Well, those guys aren't interested in me. They just want to do hospitals and football stadiums.

My accountant called today and said he needed some information from when I bought my rent house back in 1978. Yeah, right! That information is going to be real easy to find. He needs the information to complete tax preparation on the sale of this property, but that doesn't make it any easier to find the documents he needs. I had to really scratch my head to even remember when I bought the place, or what I paid for it.

I had to pick up a part for the Defender at the Land Rover dealer this afternoon and while I was at the dealership, I noticed a brand new Defender 90 on the showroom floor. I asked how they got this car, since Defenders aren't imported to the U.S. anymore. The salesman said they were selling it for a collector who bought the car in Europe. What really caught my eye was the price. They were selling this this simple, utilitarian jeep with roll-up windows and no interior to speak of for $74,000. That seemed like an insanely high price for a car that looked exactly like mine. I asked why the price was so high and the salesman said this European version was very rare and he thought they'd get the price. This seems just as crazy as vintage guitar prices, but whatever. I may have to re-think my plan to get another Defender some day. This one was out of my league entirely.

I'm starting to think that my 'spider bite' is actually an early case of poison ivy or poison oak. I think I'd rather have a spider bite.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 561

I didn't get the bed made until 6 PM this evening. It was really that busy today. The entire day was a blur of writing assignments, off-site meetings, web design projects and household chores. A trip to the vet with Dash was squeezed in there somewhere too. I like to stay busy, but there are limits to what I can do. It would be nice to have a little more time. If all the overnight panic projects simply became "next week would be fine" projects, everything would run a lot more smoothly.

I'm glad I didn't run out and buy Final Cut X the day it was released. I've started reading the reviews and apparently everyone hates it. I haven't seen so many people universally reject an Apple product since the old Apple Cube computer, which unfortunately I did happen to buy. I guess I'll continue to do my editing on an older version of Final Cut Pro and save my money to buy Avid Media Composer.

It was so hot at dog training class this evening that everything, including the dogs, seemed to be moving in slow motion. When people called their dogs, a lot of them appeared not to hear. The dogs just continued to lie in the grass with looks on their faces that clearly indicated they'd rather be inside, sitting near an air conditioning vent.

Dash's painting arrived in the mail today and it looked even better than the JPEG picture we'd seen earlier. The new picture joined Dot's painting and lots of porcelain Dalmatian figurines on a display cabinet in the living room. There is so much Dalmatian stuff on this cabinet now that it almost looks like one of those Buddhist home altars for people who have decided to worship dogs instead.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 512

Another rainy day. I'm sure my regular readers know all about rainy days by now. The dogs are huddled under my desk, shivering and barking at every thunderclap. Standing water is accumulating on the roof. I try to remember to save my files often during heavy rains, because you never know when the power is going to go out. The area is so wooded where we live that tree limbs often fall on power lines during bad weather and knock the electricity out. At least I got the dogs walked early this morning, before the rains started. This evening was hopeless. There is still thunder and lightening all around us. Like it or not, the dogs are just going to have to poop in the yard tonight.

I've been so busy lately that I didn't even know what day it was today. When Janet came home, she mentioned that there would be no dog class tonight. Dog class is on Wednesday. I've been walking around all day thinking is was Tuesday. I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm going to be doing exactly the same things every day this week. I'm spending a lot of time on the new website I'm designing, since I promised my client that I'd have it ready to show by Friday. I'm still writing a new watch article every day as well. I could probably write two or three articles a day, but this is a long-term, ongoing project and I need to leave time for my other work. So far, writing about watches has been fun. I know a lot about watches and the writing comes easily. I'd probably make a good brand manager for a watch company. Actually, I probably wouldn't make a good brand manager. After over twenty years on my own, I don't think I could drive to work every morning and report to a boss ever again. The only boss I've had for many years is the exceptionally bossy Dot, who never fails to let me know if I'm even five minutes late with her dinner and her walks.

I got my May invoices out today. It's weird how some clients are so consistent that they pay on exactly the same day every month, while others just let the bills sit there for two or three months. Maybe it's just me, but I think if a company is consistently two or three months late in paying their invoices, there's got to be other things wrong with them as well. The trade show folks certainly aren't among these laggards. They've worked out all the international payment complexities and promised to have a check to me by the end of the week. Yay! That's the way it ought to be.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 386

Today was a quiet day of preparation for the year ahead. I installed new software. I backed up old files. I got all the printers running again. I even finished a couple of retouching projects that I've been avoiding for weeks because they were so tedious I didn't want to do them at all. National Geographic finally found the missing forms I needed to sign in order to get paid. If you read these forms out loud, it would take longer than the entire length of the show I worked on. I sign a lot of these kind of forms. They all basically say the same thing. I agree to relinquish all rights to whatever I was working on until the end of time. It used to bother me to sign over the rights to my creative work, but I've come to realize that it's never wise to bite the hand that feeds you. Work is work. Anyway, nothing is stopping me from doing whatever I want on my own time.

I was looking through my closet today for a suit that was still in style. Now that business casual is de rigueur in offices large and small, about the only ocassion you get to wear a suit anymore are weddings and funerals. We're going to a friend's wedding this weekend, so I need to find a suitable suit. I must have really liked double-breasted suits at one point, because I found plenty of those. These suits were really popular from the early 1980's to the mid 1990's, but you seldom see anyone wearing one today. Too bad. I always liked the look of a double-breasted suit. I finally found a nice looking single-breasted Valentino suit that met Janet's approval. She always afraid I'll pull something out of my closet that looks like a Saturday Night Fever flashback. Not to worry. I don't think those clothes fit anymore.

Dash did great in training class tonight. Tom, our teacher, mentioned twice that he was really showing improvement. This almost never happens. Dash must have been been in a good mood. Or maybe he's been making his own New Year's resolutions. It would certainly be nice if Dash happened to make a resolution not to bark so much this year.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day