Day 2971

It snowed for about two minutes today. I hope that's all we get this Winter. I delayed going to the gym a bit because it was so cold that I was afraid the roads would ice over. I needn't have worried. Within two hours the snow was gone and the roads were completely dry.

After converting to a high speed fiber optic network yesterday, I was disappointed to discover that my WiFi can still crash. Damn. Since only one computer was affected, I began to suspect that the network wasn't the problem. I did some more research and learned there have been ongoing compatibility issues between AT&T and certain Apple operating systems. As usual, nobody seemed to agree on what the solution was. Some people thought the new IPv6 internet protocol was the problem and suggested that I turn it off. I never knew it was on by default. Maybe this happened when I upgraded to Sierra. I eventually figured out how to revert to IPv4 and rebooted my computer. So far, so good.

I hope we haven't upgraded our network for nothing. We've now got a connection capable of streaming 4K movies, but we don't even have a 4K TV. I asked Janet if she noticed any difference in our new service and she said no. I guess that makes sense. Standard definition movies play pretty well on a much slower connection. The only reason I wanted the faster connection was to eliminate WiFi crashes. That didn't happen. Oh, well. I think this is all Apple's fault.

I've noticed that the younger people at the gym are all doing interval training. They have short periods of intense activity followed by short periods of resting. Maybe this is better than spending twenty minutes on the treadmill slowly raising your heart rate. I guess I do circuit training. I move from one machine to another, concentrating of a different set of muscles each time. I never vary the intensity. I don't know if I'm cut out for interval training. Any activity that involves physical or mental intensity seems foreign to me. Even when I'm exercising, I prefer a steady, consistent pace.

I also prefer that all dogs be on a leash. Dash seemed eager to take an afternoon walk, but shortly after we got started, he saw two dogs running loose in the park and refused to go further. We had to turn around and go home. The dogs were probably harmless, but I couldn't get Dash to leave the house for the rest of the day. I wonder if people who let their dogs off leash in a public place even realize how much trouble they cause for others?

I haven't watched the olympics at all this year. I keep forgetting that it's on right now. I used to like to watch the ice skating, but I don't even know who the top skaters are anymore. Occasionally, I'll see something about the olympics on TV, but it's more about Kim Jong Un’s sister than about the performers. I only mention the olympics because they were showing the curling competition on TV at the gym. I saw a YouTube video recently showing team USA curling with cats. Is this a thing? I suspect the video involved some clever CGI, but it could be real. Almost anything could be real these days.

I thought the third season of The Expanse was going to start soon, but it looks like I'm going to have to wait until Summer. Right now Summer couldn't come soon enough. I'm sure that as soon as it arrives I'll be looking forward to Winter again. I'm apparently not very good at living in the moment. I'm always waiting for something better.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2970

Wow. Fiber optic Internet is really, really fast. Back when I got my first DSL line, people talked about fiber to the home the same way they talked about flying cars. It was kind of the holy grail of connectivity, but nobody really thought it would happen. I guess the future is here.

The first thing the installer did when he arrived was step in dog poop. I was embarrassed, but the guy liked dogs, so all was well. I try my best to keep the yard clean,  but in the Winter it is virtually impossible. If you don't clean up the poop immediately, it just disappears in the leaves.

It always takes longer to upgrade a network than I expect. There are holes to be drilled, mysterious boxes to be installed, and things that need to be configured. I was glad that I got to keep my old router, so I won't have to reconnect everything to the WiFi network again with a different password. It took a while, but the network works just like it did before. It's just faster.

It's amazing that the actual fiber optic cable is so small. How can so much information travel through such a tiny wire? I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that upload speeds are just as fast as download speeds. This was never true with U-Verse or DSL. I could have really used this feature back when I was spending my days uploading websites and sending huge video files to clients.

The fiber optic network is a success, but I wasn't quite as lucky with my refrigerator search. There are apparently no special President's Day deals on the model I've been considering. I saw hundreds of great deals in the store, but the salesperson said specialty appliances, like the odd size refrigerator I need seldom go on sale. "They know you need this one," she said. "They don't have to sweeten the pot with a deal." I know this is true, but it is still depressing. I get very few special deals.

The weather has been almost as erratic as the stock market this year. It's driving me crazy. One day it's seventy degrees and the next day it's twenty degrees. I bet the AT&T technician wished he'd installed the fiber optic cables yesterday. It was forty degrees warmer. It kept getting colder and colder as the day progressed. Another arctic cold front has arrived and I can't wait for it to move out of the area. I think the temperature could be in the teens by morning.

The cold doesn't seem to bother Dash. We took two very icy walks today and he was having a lot more fun than I was. I worry that the cold might make his shivering episodes worse, but they don't seem to be related to the temperature. The shivering and tremors Dash has been experiencing lately appear to be neurological in nature. I hope the tremors don't get worse because there is nothing I can do to stop them.

We had Chili for dinner tonight, which appears to be the prefect cold weather meal. I'm wearing my down booties around the house all the time now. Strangely, my foot doesn't hurt as much when I wear these things. They must improve my circulation. Now, all I need are some down gloves for my hands.  I still don't understand how Northerners deal with ice and snow. All it takes to shut me down is for the temperature to dip below freezing.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2969

We're upgrading to a fiber optic network. When the technician came out today, he convinced me that fiber was the way to go. It's three to four times faster than the copper connection I have now for the same price. I'm sure that AT&T will raise the price later, but they keep raising the price on my slower connection anyway. I never did find out why my WiFi has been crashing lately. The technician said I'm getting a good signal and the router seems OK. I suspect that I just have to many things hooked up to my WiFi network. The new fiber optic connection is supposed to fix all this. We'll see. Every time I've upgraded my network before, there have been a host of unforeseen problems. I guess four times the speed for the same price is worth the gamble. Don't be surprised if you hear me complaining later though. It's really hard to get a network running smoothly.

Breakfast was pleasant today. I discovered a restaurant where I could order a child size portion of anything on the menu. The smaller plate was just right and I left happy. I don't know why I never thought of this before. Restaurants almost always give me too much food and since I was trained to eat everything on my plate as a child, I inevitably eat too much. Child size meals are less expensive too. It's a win/win for me.

I was startled  when someone called out my name when I was parking my car at the grocery store this morning. It turned out to be an old friend and former co-worker I hadn't seen in a while. Since we are the same age, I was expecting tales of boredom and retirement. Nope. The guy was driving a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet and said he was busier than ever. WTF. I kept wondering what I've been doing wrong.

Hey, I'm happy my friend is doing well. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins anyway. Nevertheless, the encounter made me wonder. Why have I essentially given up on business while other people my age still seem to enjoy the challenge? I don't really have any answers. I've enjoyed quite a few years of success, but I know I'll never make a cold call again. I don't really want new business anymore. I just want to be left alone.

With this kind of attitude, I need a stable, non-volatile stock market. I definitely don't need the turmoil we've seen this week. Some people are blaming the crash on Trump and they may have a point. The theory is that Trump's continual bragging about how successful the market was caused more small retail investors to start buying stock. Since market tops are historically defined by a surge in retail buying, the computers that control all the high speed algorithmic trading interpreted the increased activity as a market top and started selling. Once things started to snowball, it was impossible to stop. If you know how algorithmic trading works, this theory seems entirely plausible. One can only guess what new kind of hell our robot overlords have planned for us next.

Much to my surprise, the roofers returned today. I haven't seen these guys for over three months, so I'd almost forgotten about them. I took them up on the roof and showed them what was happening. They acknowledged that the original product they applied never performed as expected and I used this opportunity to try to get the company to put on a whole new roof. As I explained, there is simply no way to permanently fix this roof a few feet at a time. The guys who came out today said they'd talk to the company owner and try to come back in the Spring when it was dry. Who knows how this will end, but I'm going to try to remain optimistic.

AT&T is supposed to install the fiber optic cable and router tomorrow. Home Depot is supposed to give me a President's Day price and a delivery date for a new refrigerator. Also, an arctic cold front is on the way and temperatures are supposed to drop by 40 degrees. It should be a busy day.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2667

AT&T has spent a lot of money laying fiber optic cable in our neighborhood. Now they want people to start using it. I have been inundated with marketing messages urging me to switch to this new service. They seem to be using a carrot and stick approach. The carrot is the promise of super fast download speeds. The stick is the threat that I'm going to have to switch to fiber anyway, because my present service is going away in a few years. I never trust anything the cable companies say, because I've been disappointed too many times. On the other hand, it would be nice to have super fast Internet service. I did some research today and discovered that fiber to the home is still a work in progress. Some customers complained that the router the phone company supplied couldn't handle the increased speed. Other customers complained that their WiFi network had actually slowed down after switching to fiber. There were happy customers too, but not as many as I would have expected. If I'm going to be paying twice as much to connect to the Internet, the service had better be really good.

I waste a lot of time investigating things that aren't quite ready for prime time. I'd love to live off the grid, but solar panels are still horrendously expensive if you want to power an entire house. They don't work very well in shady areas either. Electric cars turn out to be very impractical if you don't want to spend a lot of time sitting around at charging stations. Don't even think about recharging your Tesla with an extension cord in your garage. 4K cameras often crop part of the image to get the increased resolution they promise. Batteries in your laptop never last ten hours. I get sucked in by promises again and again, but I'm learning to be more skeptical. I don't think I'll switch to fiber optic Internet service yet.

Dot still sleeps as much as she always has, but she's thrown me a curve this week. Lately, she seems to be active in the morning and sleeps in the afternoon. This is exactingly the opposite of what was happening last month. I thought she was sleeping while I was eating breakfast this morning, but I was startled by some plaintive barking coming from the back of the house. Somehow, she had gotten up by herself, walked to the bathroom, and fallen on the tile floor. Dot is just like the people in those "I've fallen and I can't get up" commercials. I'm continually retrieving her from places where she has gotten stuck.

The refrigerator was looking empty today, so I went out and picked up a bowl of noodle soup for dinner. I've become fond of Pho and Ramen dishes. The only problem with these Asian noodle dishes is that they are terribly salty. I've been on a low salt diet for years and one of my pet peeves is that chefs love salt. Whenever I eat out, I feel like I'm consuming way too much salt. It must be possible to make a tasty, flavorful Ramen without salt, but I haven't found it yet. Dinner was delicious, but I'll have to eat something bland tomorrow. I feel like I got my weekly dose of salt in one meal.

I'm not sure what to do about breakfast tomorrow morning. Last Friday was a disaster. I had to race home before I'd even taken a bite because I looked at the baby monitor and noticed that Dot had tried to get up and gotten herself in trouble. I felt a lot more comfortable leaving the house when I was confident that Dot would sleep for at least three hours after her morning walk. Now, all bets are off. I have no idea how active she's going to be tomorrow morning.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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