Day 4625

We got more rain overnight, but it was over by morning. Dawn was able to get her sunrise walk and the temperature was nice and cool. I was surprised that the water level in the lake looked normal even though we've had an enormous amount of rain in the past few days. We must have timed things right this morning because we encountered no bicycles and very few runners. We did see a lot of ducks though. I wish every morning was like this. It was a very pleasant walk.

Since the weather was so nice, I decided to take a walk in the park instead of going to the gym. I left the house right after breakfast because I knew how quickly the weather could change if the sun came out. It was heavily overcast and there was a light mist, but even that was nice. It seemed like a treat to be able to walk without immediately getting hot and sweaty. It was surprising how quickly the meadows have turned green again after a few days of rain. There was very little standing water though. The ground was so dry that it probably immediately just absorbed all the water.

I was determined to get something done today. After a light lunch I went to the T-Mobile store and tried to update my non-functional Internet hotspot. The little hotspot quit working about a month ago because it was very old and still used 3G for connectivity. The phone company warned me that the unit was obsolete and would quit working when they pulled the plug on their 3G network. I've been avoiding having yet another expense, but I hate to travel without an Internet hotspot. The hotspot has been great when there are power outages at the house as well. 

The new 5G hotspot is a little bigger than my old companion but it still fits in my pocket. It took a lot longer for the T-Mobile guys to get me hooked up than I though, but everything is working now. It took a long time for them to find my account because they look for a phone number to find your records. The old hotspot has a phone number but I had no idea what it was. I just turn it on and connect whatever device I want to use to the hotspot WiFi. Eventually they found my account by taking out the SIM card and using the SIM card ID to find my account. Oddly the new hotspot uses the same phone number as the old one. The guys told me to write this number down in case I need it in the future.

On the way home I stopped at Home Depot and got a new extension cord so I could get the second pump on the roof working again. I got a heavier gage cord this time because maybe the old cord was too light to handle the pump's amperage. The heavier the cord, the more expensive it is. It's probably directly related to the price of copper. There was a display of electrical wire next to the extension cords and I was amazed at how expensive copper wire has become. I don't know why I was surprised. Everything is a lot more expensive now.

Hopefully I won't need to climb up on the roof again for a while. Both pumps are working now. It's amazing that doing one or two things can use up an entire day. Tomorrow I'll try to check a few more things off my list. The Artemis rocket is waiting for me and I've still got a lot to do.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2192

I got the Christmas tree up today. It seems to go up a little later every year, but that's OK. Putting up the tree reminded me that I still hadn't sent my out of town presents yet, so I went on Amazon.com for ten minutes and did all my shopping. What did people do before Amazon? They take care of the shipping. They'll wrap the package for you. They'll even enclose a little note if you'd like. Amazon and gift cards have revolutionized holiday shopping for me. I'll never spend hours wandering aimlessly through a crowded shopping mall again.

When I was picking up prescriptions at the pharmacy today, I noticed that my doctor has increased the amount of Metformin I take. The pills are larger now. Ordinarily, this would have alarmed me, but I read an article recently saying that researchers now think Metformin can slow the aging process and increase lifespan. I'll go with that. I need to take these findings with a grain of salt however. So far, the researchers have only tested their hypothesis on worms.

Every Christmas I get a $50 gift card from my favorite clothing store. These guys used to be a client and I'm still pretty loyal to them. On my way back from the pharmacy I stopped by the store to see what I could find. You have to spend at least $100 to use the $50 card, but it's still the same as a 50% off sale if you choose wisely. I used to be able to get quite a few clothes this way, but times have changed. Prices have really gone up for clothing that's not made in China. I looked around and saw some nice things, but had a hard time finding anything under $200. Is a $200 shirt nicer than a $12 shirt from Sam's Club. Definitely. Did I buy anything? Nope. I don't think I can afford this store anymore.

I finally got some new work assignments today. I've got an article to write tomorrow and there were several website modifications that I worked on today. Some people send me layouts that they've done in Photoshop and want me to match them exactly on their websites. Whatever. I can match just about anything. Even layouts that are butt ugly. Clients who think they are designers used to infuriate me. I don't even care anymore. We live in a world where everybody thinks they're a designer.

I'll be glad when all the leaves are finally off the trees. There are so many leaves on the ground now that every time I open the back door to let the dogs out, a bunch of leaves blow in the house. The leaves are everywhere. It probably didn't help matters when I pushed a ton of dead leaves off the roof yesterday and now they are on the ground too. I got out the electric leaf blower to blow them all away, but the only long extension cord we have now is up on the roof to run the sump pump. I found a smaller extension cord and was able to get the leaves off the front porch, but that was about it. Ironically, I almost bought a heavy duty outdoor extension cord at Home Depot last week when I was shopping for mini-blinds. I didn't buy it though because it was more expensive than the blinds. Do you see a theme here? Everything is too expensive these days.

Dot pooped in the house again. So what else is new? At least I did a deft save and caught her before she stumbled and fell in the poop. I could write a book on the best ways to clean up poop by now. This is not something I was planning to become an expert on, but sometimes you don't have a choice.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day