Day 4349

I keep hearing that the shelves are going to be empty this Christmas, but that doesn't seem to be the case around here. When I did my shopping this morning, the stores were full of Christmas stuff. Nobody seems to be waiting until after Thanksgiving anymore. Christmas tree lots are already up and running. Stores are full of gifts. Some of our neighbors have already put Christmas lights up.

I keep worrying that Dawn might be having an adverse reaction to the new meds she's taking. She seemed slower on her walk this morning. She spit out the cookie I always give her before I leave on my own long walk. She certainly doesn't seem any friendlier toward me. I guess the real test will be tomorrow when she rides in the car to go on her Sunday outing. It's hard to evaluate Dawn's mood anyway. To me, she is always acting weird. 

It didn't take long to get my shopping done today. There were no lines at the gas pump. The shelves were well stocked. And I didn't have a long list anyway. It did take a long time to complete my walk unfortunately. The weather was nice but my feet hurt again today. My pace was pretty slow today. Even old, overweight people were passing me on the trails.

I was wrong when I said we weren't going to get any Fall color this year. The trees are just turning a little later than usual. I saw lots of reds and yellows today. I didn't see the eagles unfortunately. I didn't even see the regular group of ducks and geese. I am seeing Kestrels again and the White Pelicans have started to become active. I like it when the animals are active. They keep my mind off the human side of the equation.

I wonder why there are so many for sale and for rent signs in the neighborhood. The population seems a lot more transient than it used to be. Janet and I seems to be the only people who have been here forever. A lot of the older neighbors have either passed away or moved on to assisted living. I don't know what the young ones are doing. I don't know hardly any of them because they don't stay here long enough.

I also wonder why almost all modern cars look the same and why there are so many people walking babies in strollers? It's a different world now. I hear police and fire sirens constantly these days but I don't see as many airplanes overhead. I don't think that air travel has completely recovered yet. Maybe everybody is just out on the highways. I've never seen traffic this bad in all the time I've lived here.

My Fitbit battery ran out this morning. It bothered me a bit because I didn't get any credit for my long walk. I'm definitely hooked on checking my stats. Every morning I check to see how many hours of deep sleep I got and how long I was in a dream state. I dream a lot, but from what I can remember the dreams are never very satisfying. When I was young I had flying dreams. Now I seems to be constantly lost. I'm always looking for my car in a parking garage or riding up and down elevators looking for my room in a hotel. I think Dawn has lots of dreams too. She often wakes me up at night while barking in her sleep.

The vet called with Dawn's test results. Everything looks normal. I hope she enjoys her Sunday outing tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of her new meds but I do want her to be happy. If she is less anxious it's probably a good thing. 

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3293

Dash kept kicking me last night and waking me up. He must have been dreaming. Occasionally, he woke me up in the middle of my own dreams and I started remembering snippets of other dreams. There were so many. It kind of startled me that my brain had stored away all my dreams. Are dream memories just like any other memory? If so, I probably have more memories of things that never happened than of things that actually occurred.

I am often lost in my dreams. I'll spend forever looking for my room in a huge hotel. Sometimes I'm looking for my car in a large parking garage. There are several memories where I go from deck to deck on a huge ship looking for a friend. I always wake up before I find what I'm looking for.

I've occupied more dream houses than real ones. I know every inch of these imaginary homes. Some are quite simple and contain only one room. Others are incredibly elaborate. Most of these dreams are pleasant. I am getting ready for bed or trying to find a toothbrush. Just ordinary domestic stuff. There are several dreams where I'm trying to stop a roof leak though. Once, the roof actually collapsed.

There are many journey dreams where I am traveling through a large city or along a long road. Sometimes the city has tall buildings like New York or Chicago. Other times there are lots of casinos, like Las Vegas. There is one city that is located by the ocean and I'm always trying to locate a path to the beach. Sometimes I'm changing trains or busses. I'll often look for a specific number on a bus, but I never know where I'm going.

Some dreams are so detailed that I used to spend years wondering whether they were real. In one, I used to spend Summers with an older couple at the end of a long dirt road. I went back to this place for several Summers and would help with the gardening. Did this couple befriend me or employ me? I used to write the couple letters in my dreams buy I can't remember what they said. My dreams really got confusing when they involved showing my portfolio to potential employers. Did some of this actually happen? The flying dreams couldn't have been real, but what about the dreams where I was setting up equipment with my band?

I wonder why all these dream memories came flooding back last night. It was an ordinary night where I kept waking up and checking to see if Dash had pooped on the bed yet. Dash actually slept well last night and didn't need to go outside until it was almost morning. I can't say the same for myself.

It was really cold today and there is rain in the forecast again. This is disappointing, but what can you do? It's Winter. At least it wasn't raining when I went to the gym. I need to remember to strategically position a few buckets on the floor before I go to bed tonight. If it rains hard enough, the roof leak is sure to return.

Although my dreams are weird, they share one thing in common with everyday life. There never seems to be any resolution. During the day, I'm dealing with endless water problems and during the night I'm endlessly looking for something I never seem to find.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3090

When I woke up this morning, I distinctly remember taking Dash outside in the middle of the night. Something was odd though. Were there really three cats, two rabbits and a raccoon in the yard? I remember seeing these critters when I waved my flashlight around. That's when I knew this was a dream. I never take a flashlight outside with Dash at night. It's weird that I would have such a realistic dream about something I do anyway. My dreams used to be much more exciting than this. When I was young I used to dream that I could fly. Now I dream about taking my dog out to poop.

That wasn't the only thing strange that happened last night. At some point I woke up to hear my watch beeping. I looked at the screen and there was a countdown saying that in ten seconds the watch was automatically going to dial an emergency number. I managed to abort the countdown in less than ten seconds and the next day went online to learn more about this strange function. Apparently, the Apple Watch has an emergency mode that will automatically dial 911 and leave a message with your GPS location if you press and hold one of the side buttons. I must have inadvertently pressed this button in my sleep. I certainly don't want to end up calling 911 in my sleep, so the first thing I did this morning was learn how to disable this function.

Although it was a strange night, it was a pretty normal day. We had a nice walk this morning before the temperature started to rise. Dash did well today. He loves cool morning with a nice breeze. Since we got an early start today, I managed to get to the gym early as well. I should do this more often. I seem to have more energy early in the morning. I've started going on the basketball court as soon as I arrive. This way I have a chance to shoot free throws for a while before those guys arrive for their regular Sunday pick-up game.

There was plenty of time to do Sunday chores when I returned home, but I didn't accomplish much. I sucked out the water that had seeped under the tiles in the shower with the wet/dry vacuum and then I made some repairs on another pair of Dash's protective boots. I've found that I can double the life of these boots by gluing on strips of tire repair rubber when the boot material starts to wear thin. I've repaired three pairs of boots so far and I'm getting better at it. Shoe Goo holds the patches on better than rubber cement, but it is very messy to work with. Shoe Goo is not my friend.

On my way to the gym I listened to an episode of Freakonomics where scientists are starting to reevaluate what separates humans from animals. Apparently very little distinguishes us from other animals. Over 98% of our DNA is identical to monkeys. Monkeys have been taught to use money and tend to follow some of the same basic economic rules that we do. According to this show, even fish share some of the qualities that we've long thought were reserved exclusively for humans. I've always felt this way. This doesn't mean that animals are perfect. Nature can be very cruel. Dolphins are known to murder their own kind. Many animals are carnivores. Nevertheless, animals are sentient creatures and we should start treating them that way. Many species have developed complex language and communicate with each other. They think and have feelings. This is all very clear. So, why do I still like bacon?

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2973

My fitness tracker tells me when I dream at night. It appears that I don't get much deep sleep, but I dream quite a bit. I wish I could click on this dream timeline and recall the dreams. I occasionally remember dreams, but most evaporate a few seconds after I wake up. The few dreams I do remember all involve being lost. I walk endlessly down hotel corridors looking for my room. I can't find my car in parking garages. I get separated from Janet on cruise ships and can never find her again. Sometimes I am walking Dash and he runs away. I wonder why this is such a common theme?

Maybe I am lost. I certainly flounder around a lot during my waking hours. Today I felt like I was sleepwalking. Each day seems like the previous one. I walk Dash. I make my morning smoothie. I clean up the dog poop in the yard. I turn on the computer and pretend like I'm working for a while. Dash gets lunch. I take a shower. If there are bills to pay, I take them to the post office. Dash gets an early dinner at 3:30 and then we take an afternoon walk. He gets the remainder of his dinner at 4:30 after we return and then I see if there are any leftovers in the refrigerator for my own dinner. The only time I watch TV is while I'm eating. Today I sent out my February invoices. This didn't take long. There are fewer and fewer invoices each month.

My day has become so repetitive that the thought of doing something new makes me apprehensive. I've been taking care of sick dogs for so long that I associate something new with something bad. As long as Dash stays the same, we're fine. New behavior is usually alarming. I feel the same way about the house. If things stay the same, we're fine. Something new usually involves a water leak or a broken appliance. If I were starting the blog today, the title would probably be "What new kind of hell is this." I dread the thought of anything new.

I do try to take a new photo every day. Maybe I'm hoping that if the narrative becomes too repetitive, the photo will keep things interesting. Today, I encountered a very inquisitive squirrel. I don't know if he was looking at me or Dash, but we were definitely invading his territory. I'm looking forward to Spring and a return of the wildflowers in the park. There are very few things to photograph on cold, grey days like this.

I'm going to need to go to the store tomorrow. I've run out of coffee and the refrigerator is looking bare. I usually get Sprinkles Cupcakes for Valentine's Day, but neither of us eats dessert anymore. It hardly seems worth the trouble of standing in line for overpriced cupcakes if we aren't going to eat them.

I've noticed that my WiFi only crashes if I'm looking at Facebook. That's weird. I can be doing anything else on the computer and the connection is solid as a rock. I wonder what this means? I think all the autoplay movies in my timeline are causing things to go wonky, but it could just be that I'm spending too much time on Facebook.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2490

Forget what I said about wishing I could remember my dreams. I actually remembered a dream pretty clearly when I woke up this morning and it was pathetic. Somehow when I went outside to check the mail, I discovered a man building an elaborate rock garden in my front yard. I asked the man what he was doing and he told me that the yard needed something extra and that he would send me a bill. I argued with him for a while and then went back inside to discover that I wasn't in my own home anymore, but was at a housewarming party at the home of Dot's veterinarian. Dot wasn't at the party, but I did remember seeing a large Persian rug under the dining room table with a woven Dalmatian pattern. I asked if I could have the rug and then I woke up. This was nothing like the dreams I used to have many years ago where I had the ability to fly.

I always make a grocery list when I go to the store, but when I got home today, I noticed that I failed to buy several items that were clearly marked on my list. It wasn't like these items were out of stock.  I just completely forgot about them, even though I looked at the list at the store. This isn't like me. I'm usually very methodical. Is this how Alzheimer's begins? If I got Alzheimer's, probably nobody would know the difference. I don't remember much anyway.

Dot seemed was a bit stronger today. I don't know causes her dramatic change in energy levels from one day to the next, but I'm always glad when she has a good day. Maybe it's as simple as a change in temperature. Fall is definitely here and Dot loves the cooler weather. I had to wear a jacket for the first time on our morning walk. I think the temperature was in the low fifties when I woke up. I bought several Winter jackets at dirt cheap prices when the sporting goods store was going out of business earlier this Summer. I wasn't sure if I'd actually wear these coats then, but it turned out to be a good purchase. The feather light insulated jacket was perfect for mornings like this.

Couldn't we just have a do-over on this presidential election? Both candidates keep getting worse and worse. Even the two independent candidates are embarrassingly bad. I bet if there was a way to vote on just canceling the election and starting over, the measure would pass overwhelmingly. I don't buy the argument that you've got to vote for one of these candidates because the other one is worse. I think we need to admit that we have failed miserably as a country and just start over.

I got my first payment from Shutterstock today. Hey, it only took me a year. I guess this isn't so bad, considering that I only uploaded about ten photos to the stock library. I wish I could get motivated to upload hundreds, or even thousands of pictures. If I had more pictures available, this might end up being a decent form of passive income. Unfortunately, I lost interest in Shutterstock about two weeks after I joined. I got tired of having to extensively tag each photo with a long list of keywords before it was even approved. It was also pretty irritating when many of my favorite images got rejected for poor focus or excessive grain. I love shallow depth of field where only a small part of the image is in sharp focus and grainy images never bothered me at all. What do I know though? It is nice getting a check, so maybe I'll upload some more pictures.

Today wasn't a bad day at all. The weather was perfect. Even though Dot pooped in the house, she managed to avoid making a mess. For my part, I managed to get caught up on all my web assignments. Janet even fixed some delicious trout for dinner. I will have to go back to the grocery store tomorrow to pick up the items that mysteriously vanished from my memory today, but this is no big deal. A few more days like this would be just fine.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1941

I wish I'd stop having dreams about being lost or losing things. For decades, I've wandered around in my dreams trying to find my car in a parking garage, trying to find my room in a large hotel, trying to find a connecting flight at an airport. The list goes on and on. Last night I picked out two pair of pants in a clothing store and then lost them before I could get to the register. You'd think it would be easy to find these pants, but I never did. These dreams aren't scary. They're just irritating. I hesitate to analyze any of my dreams. They probably mean something, but not anything I'm eager to know.

We got up earlier than usual today. I'm not sure if Janet had to go to work early or if I was just trying to avoid the rain. It was windy and warm this morning and I could see the moon through thin clouds. There was no pretty sunrise and I just had cold cereal for breakfast when I got home. It was that kind of day.

Don't get me wrong. Parts of the day were very good. Dot did great at her physical therapy session and her vet continues to be impressed with her progress. She walked almost ten minutes in the underwater treadmill and this was in addition to a pretty impressive morning walk. She made it all the way to the entrance to the park this morning. It's not really that far to the park entrance, but this was still a personal best for Dot. She even walked up a gentle hill today to help strengthen her leg muscles. For the most part, Dot is able to walk on her own. We only have to help her if she is trying to climb over a curb or encounters an obstacle.

I've noticed that Dot rests more comfortably in the house, now that she's getting to go outside again. I let her sleep outside her pen now, as long as I'm nearby to keep an eye on her. I'm still housebound, but life is starting to seem a little more normal now. I was thinking that Dot was almost ready to start staying alone for short periods of time and then she managed to get her leg tangled up in her harness today. I quickly unsnapped the harness and freed her stuck leg, but the incident made me nervous about leaving her alone. Maybe it would be better to put her in a small safe area and take the harness off completely if I have to leave the house.

I only got one of my writing assignments finished today, but there is still plenty of time to complete the other. It's hard to get a lot done when Dot has physical therapy. She's only in the treadmill about ten minutes, but it take time to get her situated in the hammock where she rides in the car. It takes time to dry her off after her water therapy, and it takes lots of time to navigate the Dallas traffic. It's a good thing I'm seldom in a hurry, or this whole process could be very frustrating. I actually like going to the vet and don't particularly care how long it takes. These Thursday afternoons are a nice change of pace. I hope Dot enjoys the outing as well.

This week went quickly. I've already taken this week's trash out to the curb for tomorrow morning's garbage pickup and am looking forward to another meal at my breakfast restaurant. I'll have to get up early again so I can walk Dash and get to the restaurant when it opens at 7 AM. I don't even mind getting up early anymore. It's certainly better than weird dreams about being lost.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1771

When we were taking our morning walk, we encountered a work crew laying concrete for the new bicycle superhighway that is replacing our favorite path. The sun had just risen and there was just enough ground fog reflecting the sunlight to make it look like the crew was working with molten lava instead of concrete. I found the image strangely beautiful, but I'm not really looking forward to the completed bicycle path. Most of the cyclists the dogs and I encounter are very rude. They like to ride as fast as they can on the narrow trails and seldom slow down or even try to get out of the way of people walking their dogs. We've almost been run over by cyclists several times. These Type-A maniacs will love the new concrete bike path. The dogs and I will have to find an alternate route.

I'm sleeping better these days, but my dreams are becoming so mundane that they're starting to include people and situations from everyday life. This had got to stop. Life is boring enough as it is, without dreamland becoming a six hour extension of my daily routine. Where are those flying dreams I used to have? We need some of those.

I spent most of the day writing and will probably do the same tomorrow. My assignments are quite familiar by now, but my mind still goes blank occasionally. When I can't think of anything, I'll hop in the car and take a bill to the post office or a check to the bank. When that doesn't do the trick, I'll go pick up a prescription at the pharmacy or go grocery shopping. I never go very far, because the dogs don't like being left alone and I don't like negotiating Dallas traffic. I think I've come as close to being a hermit in a big city as you can get.

I got a notice from Shutterstock today asking me to send them a W-9 form so they could report my earnings. What? I think I've made a total of $14 from Shutterstock since I've joined. Since you have to meet a $100 threshold level before most of these stock photo sites will actually pay you anything, maybe I'll be sending in that W-9 form about five years from now.

The weather is beautiful right now. It's usually about 65 degrees when we wake up in the morning and then warms up to around 80 degrees by mid-afternoon. The dogs love to spend time in the back yard during the Fall. It is tempting to just leave the back door open so they can come and go as they please. Unfortunately, there are far too many critters in the yard. If I left the back door open even five minutes, the living room would be filled with wasps and there would probably be a squirrel in the kitchen. As soon as I shut the door to keep the wasps out, the dogs want to come in again. As soon as they're both inside, they want to go out again. Back and forth we go, but at least the weather is nice.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1745

I finally saw our elusive possum. I got up last night about 2 AM to get a glass of water and there he was, methodically perusing the yard right outside the living room window. He wasn't digging anything up, but he sure was looking for something. This must have been a young possum, because he was much smaller than I anticipated. It's a good thing the dogs were both asleep, because possums move really slow. I asked our vet today if these animals posed a rabies risk like bats and racoons, but she said no. They are marsupials and are not carriers of rabies. This is good to know, but I still wouldn't want the dogs to tangle with one.

I've been having strange and complicated dreams lately. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of them. When the dogs wake me up during the night, I'll often think "this is a weird dream," and then the dream just vanishes about ten seconds later. I can't remember anything at all. I wonder if I'll recall these dreams later in life. I can't remember any recent dreams, but some of my childhood dreams are quite vivid. A few are so real that I occasionally wonder if they actually happened. It's hard to tell. All these dreams are floating around somewhere in my mind, but they are only accessible after a long period of time has passed. During those fleeting moments when the dream is fading away, I often notice that Dot and Dash are dreaming too. I wonder if we're all dreaming about the same thing?

Dot had another good physical therapy session today. We're back to our regular routine of a twenty minute workout in the underwater treadmill, followed by acupuncture. The vet was happy that Dot was responding well to the Incurin treatment and I was happy that there were no embarrassing fleas on Dot this time. I'm really glad that things are getting back to normal.

Today was busier than I expected. In addition to Dot's vet appointment, there were articles to write and several last minute website revisions. The fact that I got everything done with only a half a day of actual computer time means that I'm becoming more productive again. I think it helps that I don't have to get Dot up and outside to pee every few hours now. In fact, Dot gets indignant if I try to take her out too often. She gives me this look that says "Hey, I can hold it now. Leave me alone."

There's a mosquito buzzing around my office that I can't seem to find. I know I'm going to wake up with a mosquito bite in the morning, but it's not worth the trouble to get out the stepladder and a flyswatter to get rid of the irritating bug. It's a sign that it was a pretty good day if the mosquitoes don't bother me. Hey, if Thursday was OK, Friday should be great. You guys already know how much I love Fridays.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1728

I received a letter from my sister today telling me that her dog had died. Apparently, it had an undetected tumor very similar to Dot's abdominal cancer and the tumor ruptured. Very sad. I wonder why so many dogs end up having cancer at some point in their life. I've heard that up to 50% of all dogs eventually have some sort of cancer. I wonder why? Is it the food we feed our dogs these days? Is it the environment? Or are dogs just naturally predisposed to develop cancer? We were lucky to have caught Dot and Dash's cancer in time, but Janet and I have lost pets to cancer too. Spot died of cancer and so did Greta. Spot lived an additional three years after having surgery to remove the tumor, but it had already metastasized, so the cancer eventually returned. Greta never recovered from the surgery and died in the hospital.

Today was definitely a Monday. The day got off to a slow start and never picked up speed. I paid some bills, made some appointments for later in the week, and answered my mail, but that was about it. I was disappointed to discover that one of Dot's protective sleeping pads was wet when we woke up this morning, but then she made it through the rest of the day without another accident. Go figure. Things are definitely better than they were three weeks ago, but the road to recovery is certainly a rocky one. I'm still not sure if Dot's new medication is having any effect yet.

I must have exerted myself a little more than I thought I did at the gym yesterday. My arm has felt sore all day. Lately, I've been feeling like I'm falling apart. I need to go to the dentist. I need to have physical therapy for my dislocated shoulder. And I'd really like to stop taking the Statins my general practitioner has me taking to lower my cholesterol. I was fine with Zetia and Welchol, but the combination of Statins and time-release Niacin is driving me nuts. Taking large amounts of Niacin causes the small blood vessels to dilate and creates a flushing sensation that makes you feel like you're on fire. You are supposed to be asleep when this happens, but since the dogs wake me up a lot, I often have to deal with flushing. I wish the doctor would switch me back to my old meds, but every time I tell him how much I hate Statins, he tries to scare me with heart attack stories. This usually works. I know too many people my age who have already had a heart attack.

I wonder if it's normal to think about food so much. I'm not gaining weight and I don't eat all that much, but lately I spend more time thinking about what I'm going to eat next than about what I'm going to do next. For much of my life I've always had a big editing, photography, or music project that consumed my thoughts and time. I just don't find myself as interested in these things as I used to be. I sure do think about what's for dinner and what's for breakfast though. My dreams have changed too. I know they've changed, but unfortunately I forget them about ten seconds after I wake up. One day, maybe I'll remember these dreams and all will be revealed.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1314

I helped Janet get her laptop ready for making a presentation on a big flat panel TV and was a bit surprised that I'd never tried to hook up a laptop to our TV before. I guess that just shows you how important presentations are to me these days. I don't think I've made a formal presentation or even shown my portfolio to anyone in almost ten years. Hey, if you don't already know what I do, it's probably a little late to show you now.

Hooking up the Macbook Pro to the TV was much easier than I thought it would be. I went to Fry's and got a Mini DisplayPort adapter and some HDMI cables. I hooked the computer up to the TV, set the computer screen to mirror mode and all of the sudden I had a huge image of the computer screen on the TV.

It's to bad that it wasn't this easy to figure out why the garbage disposal isn't working. I'm going to have to leave that task to an appliance repairman who will hopefully come out and fix things very soon. A garbage disposal doesn't seem like a very essential appliance until you've got a non-working one still hooked up to your plumbing. I'm discovering that the sink clogs up very quickly when the garbage disposal isn't doing its job.

Dot and Dash really enjoyed their trip to the dog park today. Dash saw a dog that he recognized and liked and proceeded to race around the park showing his friend how fast he was. Dot took advantage of the mild weather to sniff every tree in the park. She seemed to have more energy today than she usually does.

I wish I had more energy than I usually do. Mowing the grass today was tiring. I think I've reached some sort of plateau with my new diet and exercise regime. I saw dramatic incremental improvements for a while, but now not so much. I think from now on out, it's going to take a lot more effort to continue losing weight while I'm building my strength and adding muscle mass. I probably don't actually need to lose any more weight, but I do need to keep working on building my strength.

I had a terrible dream last night. I frequently have dreams about being lost as I futilely try to find my way back to the dream's starting point. In last night's dream, not only was I lost, I also seemed to have lost my luggage and all my money. When I was young, I found myself lost in caves a lot during these types of dreams. Now I'm usually lost in labyrinth-like hotels. I guess that's an improvement of sorts.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1037

I was somewhat reassured after visiting with my financial advisor this afternoon. When I backed off and took a longer view of things, I realized that I wasn't in that bad shape after all. What the hell. I don't have any debts and I still make enough to pay the bills. I really shouldn't complain. The hard thing for me to deal with is that I've always been a saver and it used to be so much easier to tuck a little away for a rainy day. I miss the 1980's when 10-year Treasury yields were over 12% and the conventional wisdom was that the value of your house would go up forever.

Times sure have changed. Treasury yields are at a 112 year low and I don't even want to talk about the housing market. You can't give up though. My advisor and I put stop loss orders on several positions that have done well this year to lock in gains. We talked about what to do if Obama won. And what to do if Romney won. In either case, there would definitely be things to take advantage of and other things to avoid. I like to be prepared. What I don't like is living in a world of diminished expectations for the foreseeable future. I would love to see a return to the overwhelming feeling of optimism that prevailed when John F. Kennedy was president. We need grand dreams like we had back then. It doesn't need to be going to the moon, but it needs to be something equally grand. I think those kind of dreams died when Kennedy was shot in Dealey Plaza and never returned again.

I used to have grand dreams. My grandest dreams actually took place while I was asleep. I could fly and travel through time long before I even heard of Dr. Who. Now my dreams are pathetic. I'm usually just lost in a hotel somewhere, looking for my luggage. I wouldn't call my waking hours pathetic, but there are definitely on the dull side. I take pictures of flowers. I walk dogs. I make a little money to pay the bills. There are no more plans to win an Oscar for best documentary anymore. There are no plans to make any films at all. When conversations veer off into one of those "what are you passionate about" discussions, I don't even feel like talking.

Maybe if I were passionate about dog training like some folks in our Wednesday evening class, Dash might be winning ribbons again. I'm not very competitive, or very passionate. I just go to these classes because it's good for Dot and Dash to be around other dogs. Socializing with other dogs helps keep ours happy and well adjusted. The training exercises themselves are silly though. A lot of things in life are just silly.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 961

Someone asked me recently what I did for a living and I told them that I basically say "blah, blah, blah," using fancier words. I'm sorry that I don't have a more exalted opinion of marketing, but does it really even matter? I don't think so. I'm good at blathering though, so I'll probably continue to make a decent living.

I continually hear people say that the secret to happiness is to follow your dreams. If I took these people literally, I'd never get out of bed. Hey, I have great dreams. It's just dealing with being awake that's the problem. I continue to forge ahead though. My role models are the Energizer Bunny and George Mallory. When George was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, he famously replied "because it is there." Life is like that. It is simply there.

The weather report said it was going to be 110 today. The temperature actually only got up to 106, so I guess we got lucky. It's hard to believe at this point, but last Summer was even hotter than this. I think we set an all time record high at this time last year.  I can always tell that temperatures are reaching extremes when I see tractors mowing down the native prairie grasses in the park. Emotions run high about the small patches of native prairie that still remain in Texas, so the city is very reluctant to mow. When it's this hot and dry however, the danger of brush fires are high, so the grass has to go. We saw the mowers today. Oddly I also saw several egrets following closely behind the tractors. It's amazing how adaptable animals are. I think these egrets had discovered that when the prairie grass was disturbed by the mowers, bugs and other food were much easier to catch.

I picked up a nifty little carbon fiber tripod today for my upcoming job in Las Vegas. The whole thing weighs less than two pounds and folds down to just 13.4 inches. It still holds my heavy camera steady though. Amazing!  I just love technology. I also love bacon, so I'm trying to decide where to go to breakfast tomorrow.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 939

I decided to merge the blog with Google+ this morning. I'm not sure what the implications of this move are, but Google has made the whole process so easy and transparent that I'm beginning to wonder if they are making plans to just abandon the Blogger platform at some point. The blog looks pretty much the same, so I'm happy enough. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find some new readers.

I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. I think one of the reasons I'm waking up tired every morning is all the weird dreams I've been having. I'm not much at dream interpretation, but these dreams are so consistent that they've got to mean something. I always seem to be wandering around looking for something that should be easy to find. I wander the halls of large hotels, looking for my room. I go from deck to deck on cruise ships, looking for my companion. Sometimes I just ride elevators up and down for the longest time. I've found myself in ad agencies where I used to work, looking for my office. Last night I dreamed that I was watching TV in bed and couldn't find the remote to turn the TV off. At first I wasn't sure that this was a dream, because I actually was in bed. When I woke up however, the TV was off and the only noise I heard was a dog snoring next to me. These aren't exciting dreams, but they are tiring.

I used my waking hours this afternoon to catch up on correspondence and finish some writing assignments. I'd already wasted half the morning watching back-to-back Dr. Who episodes while eating French Toast and sausages. Maybe travel would make things more interesting. One of my European clients caught my interest the other day by dangling the prospect of a trip to Singapore in front of me. The temptation was brief and tenuous at best, but it was enough to get me researching flights from DFW to Singapore. Wow! Singapore is a long way away. Travel time varies from around 24 hours to well over 48 hours, depending on how many stops you have to make along the way. One of the more popular routes to the Far East from Dallas goes through London. This seems backwards at first, until you look at a globe and realize the benefits of traveling over the pole. I'd love to go to Singapore to do the interviews for my new assignment, but somehow I have a feeling I'll be sitting right here at my desk, doing my research on Wikipedia.

The weather was beautiful for dog training class tonight. The nice weather didn't seem to impress the dogs however, because most of them weren't very obedient. The only thing Dash wanted to do tonight was the long down exercise, where the dogs had to lie down and stay in the same spot for five minutes. Dash is good at lying down and doing nothing. It is one of his favorite things.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 921

I finished this month's assignment for my writer's group this morning and turned it in. I've written some good things, as well as some not so good things, for this group, but I don't think I would have written anything at all without the discipline of an assignment and a deadline. Sometimes I wonder if there's anything I still do for the sheer pleasure of it. There certainly isn't much. In the early 1980's I loved to write songs. I wrote and recorded tons of original songs during this period. There were some who said I had a promising career ahead of me in Nashville. I signed several publishing contracts with obscure record labels, but never made a dime from my music. There was one fatal flaw in my plan to become a famous songwriter. I couldn't sing. Labels were looking for promising singer/songwriters, not the next Bernie Taupin.

Several years later I became very excited about becoming a fashion photographer. I left the advertising world and spent two years putting together a portfolio. My work was good enough to land me a job at a leading photo studio. I didn't become the next Richard Avedon however. I shot catalogs. Catalogs were boring and mundane. I quickly returned to advertising where there was at least a thin patina of glamor.

The last time I was really excited about something was during the mid-1990's, when I convinced myself that I wanted to make another documentary film. I started going to film festivals and was even asked to be a speaker at SXSW in 1997. The film never got made. I had already made several extremely low budget documentaries in the 1970's, but by 1990 I had grown too practical. Documentaries don't make money and I wasn't willing to risk my life savings on a project that didn't even matter anyway.

When I hear people on television self-help shows tell their audience that the key to success is to follow your passion, I just don't buy it. Anything that I was even mildly passionate about ended up costing me a fortune. I never made a dime by following my heart. Fortunately, I've done extremely well doing things I hate. I've done so well doing things I hate that it's made the world topsy-turvy for me. When I meet someone who tells me that they love what they do, I generally don't believe them.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, I visited another guitar store today. I actually took a couple of guitars off the wall and started playing them. I can't play well anymore. If you heard me this afternoon, you'd probably agree that I suck. Holding the guitar in my hands brought back memories though. There was a time when my chops were pretty good. I miss those days. When I was a good guitar player, I never thought about the staggering cost of health care. I never worried about whether I'd have enough money to retire comfortably. I didn't really worry about anything. I just played.

Boo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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