Day 3529

Every time I go to the bank I wonder what has happened to jobs in this country. There are lots of empty offices and very few employees. All I needed this morning was to go to my safe deposit box, but I had to wait forever because there was only a single banker helping everyone. Next to his office were six identical vacant offices. The tellers cages were equally empty. There was only a single teller on duty.

This is happening everywhere. There are fewer cashiers at the grocery store. There are fewer employees selling stamps at the post office. Even my new breakfast restaurant seems to be doing more with less. I noticed this morning that there is no full time cashier. When you are ready to pay your bill you walk over to the empty cash register stand and after a while a waiter will notice you and come over to take your money. Unemployment is supposed to be at an all time low. I wonder where everyone is working? I don't think they are working at ad agencies. There are significantly fewer agencies in Dallas than there were when I moved here in the 1970's.

I thought it was going to rain for a while this afternoon, but all we got were a few ominous looking clouds. No rain hit the ground. The clouds didn't even cool things down very much. It was still a hot and very humid day. When I start hoping for rain you know something is wrong. It has been dry way too long and the grass in the front yard is looking pitiful. I'll take my chances with the roof. We need some rain.

I lost another friend to cancer today. The list keeps growing. It's amazing to me how many former classmates and coworkers are gone. It's alarming how many of these people were actually younger than I am. I guess I should focus on the equally amazing number of people I know who have survived something serious. Life is never entirely fair, but I try to remember to enjoy the time I have left on this earth. It's not going to last forever.

I wonder why there's not more concern about all the fires in the Amazon rain forests? Jeez. This is where our oxygen comes from. You can't get more basic than that. The sad thing is that these fires weren't caused by drought or lightning strikes. They were set by humans who want more farmland and cattle ranches. With all the talk about climate change these days you still don't hear much serious discussion about the real cause of all our problems. The problem is overpopulation. There are simply too many people on this planet. It is not sustainable. We have become an invasive species who are rapidly destroying everything. We all need to quit having babies for a while.

I'm still concerned about the weather in West Texas. Two of the three long range forecasts I'm following predict clear skies. Unfortunately the third says there's a 50% chance of rain. Why can't you weather experts agree on these things? I want clear skies when I go to the observatory. I should be concerned about the wild gyrations in the stock market, but I've given up on stability in the market. The market overreacts to everything these days. I try not to overreact to anything, but it's getting harder.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2074

I don't think the stars were aligned today. Janet got the third nail in her tire this month and Dot pooped all over the place. Now that Dot is feeling a little stronger, she doesn't poop in her bed as much. Instead, she gets up and poops on the carpet as she is heading for the back door. If I notice that she is up, I will take her outside immediately, but I slept through the whole thing last night. When Janet got up to take a shower this morning, she stepped in the poop, but I didn't wake up then either. I was really tired.

Needless to say, there was lots of laundry to do today. I washed the dog blankets, two little rugs, and Janet's house slippers. I took a much bigger rug outside and hosed it off. I think this rug is a lost cause though. We will probably have to throw it away. When I finally got the house cleaned up and smelling good again, it was almost time to take Dot downtown for her physical therapy session. I took her outside for a good ten minutes to make sure she didn't have to go again. She did nothing. As soon as we were on our way and stuck in busy traffic, she pooped again in the car. What a mess. Now, I'll have to start carrying a spare protective pad with me in the car. I asked the vet if there was any pill that worked for poop the same way that Incurin does for pee. The Incurin really did cure Dot's urinary incontinence. Evidently, our current problem isn't the same. Dot just doesn't have the strength to empty her colon anymore. It's not her fault, but it does make life difficult.

It didn't rain much today, but we got a huge amount of rain last night. This meant I had to get up on the roof again. I was pleased to see that the patches the roofers made last week seemed to have held up pretty well. I think the roofer has changed brands of the elastomer coating material he uses, because this new coating seemed to be much stronger than the original material. It actually kind of looked like what he promised in the first place. I'll have to call the roofer tomorrow and see what's going on. I know that some of you are convinced that I'm going to kill myself up on the roof, but this is the least of my worries. I'm far more concerned about getting attacked by an aggressive loose dog in the park, or getting involved in a traffic accident with one of the thousands of idiot drivers on Dallas roads. At least my work on the roof is somewhat under my control.

I got some new writing and website assignments toward the end of the day, but I'm not going to worry about them until tomorrow. Even when I'm a day late, I'm still more responsive than anyone else I know. The world just doesn't seem to work anymore. People are either perpetually tired or they just don't care. Sometimes I look around and think I'm witnessing a global burn out. No matter what people are doing, they always seen rushed. I get put on hold a lot when I call my clients these days. There seems to be lots of activity, but nothing actually gets accomplished. How did things get this way?

I have some friends who live near where all those forest fires are located in Washington State. I hope they don't get burned out. I complain about the weather a lot, but at least we don't have hurricanes, forest fires, and mudslides. I can't decide whether I want more rain tomorrow or not. It's a lot of trouble to get all that water off the roof, but even after last night's downpour, the yard still looks dry. I guess I hope it does rain tomorrow, but that it doesn't start until I've finished walking the dogs and returned from my breakfast restaurant. I'd like to wake up refreshed tomorrow morning after getting six hours of deep sleep, This would be so much nicer than waking up in the middle of the night to the smell of dog poop.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1766

My Facebook feed seems to have divided into two camps: those who think we're all going to die and those who are already sick of hearing about Ebola and want to go back to nonstop LOL cats. I don't feel comfortable at either of these extremes, but I am still a bit incredulous at how this drama is unfolding. So far, it still seems a lot like a bad Michael Bay movie.

I hear that the CDC is seriously considering putting the 70 healthcare workers who came in contact with Thomas Duncan on the TSA no fly list with all the terrorists, while they still refuse to even consider a ban on air traffic to and from West Africa. This is insanity. Hey, I've got an idea! If our government is so determined to let these infected people leave the hot zone, let's forget about all the thermometers and just hook people up to a lie detector instead. If you're lying about exposure to the disease, you don't get in. Pretty simple. If the screeners happen to snag a few people who are lying about things totally unrelated to Ebola, don't let them in either. We've got enough lying bastards in this country already.

I guess I just fundamentally don't understand the rainbows and unicorns crowd who wants to go back to LOL cats on their Facebook page and think we are all overreacting. Maybe I've watched too many apocalyptic science fiction movies. Maybe I continue to think the glass is half empty when it is really half full. I may not know the full story, but I still think we've dropped the ball on something that is very serious. This is a forest fire. You know how they fight forest fires? They create wide firelines that the flames cannot cross and let the fire burn itself out. Nobody would ever take a burning tree and move it to a new forest.

Dot seemed visibly stiff at her physical therapy session today. She still may be a bit sore from her fall yesterday, but our vet thinks she may be suffering from degenerative myelopathy. This slow-onset condition is very common in older dogs and often results in leg weakness and poor muscle tone. Since the spinal nerves gradually deteriorate with this disease, it is important to keep Dot moving to minimize the effects of muscle atrophy. I really think the acupuncture and water therapy with the underwater treadmill are helping. Dot still faces a lot of obstacles, but she is doing better than any senior citizen Dalmatian I've ever seen.  The old girl is pretty remarkable. As long as she has the will to keep going, we're going to do everything possible to ensure that she can.

I ate canned food for dinner tonight instead of going to the grocery store for fresh veggies like I usually do. This was probably pure hypochondria on my part, but I'll make up for my overreaction by going to my favorite restaurant for breakfast tomorrow, just like I always do.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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