Day 2410

Go outside and take a look at the moon. 47 years ago today Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the lunar surface with less than a minutes worth of fuel left. They navigated their way from the earth to the moon using a computer that was less powerful than the one you currently have in your phone. More than half a billion people watched live as Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” For one short moment in time, the world was united and the world was proud.

I was one of those proud people.  I was still in architecture school and had my entire life ahead of me. I never would have dreamed that almost half a century later we would leave the moon behind and never return. What happened? I think we were at our best when we were explorers and adventurers. We are at our worst right now. Nothing unites us the way Apollo 11 did. No politician is bold enough to commit the nation to accomplish the impossible in less than ten years. John Kennedy was my favorite president. Sadly, I don't think his own party would elect him today. He wasn't politically correct. He was an unabashed nationalist. I think John Kennedy would be appalled that we never returned to the moon.

The dogs got a little excitement today. The electric company arrived at the house around mid-afternoon and informed me that my electric meter had gone bad. I asked the guy at the front door how they knew the meter had gone bad and they told me that the meter sent them a fault warning. There aren't any meter readers anymore. The meter sits quietly behind my house, electronically informing the power company whenever I turn on the television, or cool down the house. The meter knows too much, so I hope nobody ever gets elected who decides I'm an energy waster and rations my power. It's already happening with water. I thanked the electric company guy for installing the new meter and apologized for the barking dogs. Somehow I think that this new meter isn't going to lower my electric bill at all.

I had some website updates to complete today, but I have a feeling that the slowdown in my business is permanent. As I watch Dot's slow decline, I am simultaneously witnessing my own decline. I hope I'm not witnessing the decline of my country as well. All I know is that July 20, 1969 was a much better time than July 20, 2016. I know you can't turn back time, but maybe you can change direction.

I canceled Dot's physical therapy session again today. We did increase the length of her walk a little though. So far, she's doing well. This is the kind of progress I understand. Tomorrow, we'll repeat the process and start all over again. In 1969 I was convinced that we'd have colonies on Mars by now. What I didn't know is that 47 years later, my life would be focused around Dalmatians and that the moon would just be a soft light shining through my window.

Lady Jane is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 392

Although the day ended well, it certainly didn't get off to an auspicious start. I woke up with a clever new plan to transfer my huge image files over to my new computer. I'll spare you the geeky details, but I'd just started the file transfer process and was fixing breakfast when a guy from the power company unexpectedly shut off the power to the house. Of course, the computer, the external disc array with all the pictures, and everything else that was turned on in the house immediately died.

When I ran outside to find out what was going on, Dash immediately took advantage of the situation and ate my breakfast. I should have put the food on top of the refrigerator or in the microwave oven like I usually do, but I was in a hurry to catch the electric company guy before he disappeared. It turns out they were installing new electric meters with built-in WiFi so they wouldn't need meter readers anymore. The new meter automatically transmits how much electricity you are using back to the electric company in real time. This is exactly why the whole jobs situation isn't going to be resolved any time soon. It doesn't matter who controls the house or the senate. The reality of the situation is that companies not only don't want to hire new employees, they're actually bending over backwards to get rid of the ones they already have. These days just about everybody would much rather have a machine do the job than a person who expects health care and a 401K.

After the dogs quit barking and the house returned to normal, I went to have lunch with my friend Harry. Harry is the only person I know who has had a book on the New York Times best seller list. It's still a bit of a mystery to me how my friend made the transition from advertising copywriter to best selling parenting author, but I'm definitely impressed with his success. Harry now has eleven books in print. We used to talk about local advertising gossip when we got together. It's probably a sign of the times that today we traded iPhone apps and speculated about how to use Twitter to promote our businesses. A few years ago neither of us even knew what social media was. Now it's pretty clear that's it's going to shape our future.

My luddite historian sister thinks that things like e-mail and Facebook are tools of the devil and still expects me to send her hand-written letters. I think she's out of touch. Like it or not, Facebook has become the new neighborhood. I know lots of people who haven't even bothered to get to know their flesh and blood neighbors, but they couldn't imagine not checking their Facebook status every morning. It's a brave new world out there. I guess you either embrace it or get left behind.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day