Day 1644

So, what did we learn today. For starters, if the dogs don't sleep well, the people don't sleep well either. Dash woke me up three times last night, wanting to go outside. I don't know what goes through this dog's mind when he has to poop, but I wish he was more straightforward about doing his business. The first time he scratched at the door, he just stuck his nose outside and smelled the air. The second time, about ten minutes later, he went outside and stared at the moon for a while. The third time was the charm. I know he means business when he races around the yard four or five times and finally finds the perfect spot. I have to sit outside with him during this entire process or he won't do anything.

Shortly after I'd finally gotten back to sleep again, I was awakened to the sound of my car alarm. A large possum had either fallen or jumped on the car and set the alarm off. Strangely, this has happened before. Our yard is full of critters. Once or twice, racoons or feral cats have fallen out of a tree and landed with a huge thud on our roof. That will wake you up as well. You can tell that the dogs are getting older. Things that go bump in the night used to freak Dot out and cause a frenzy of alarmed barking. Last night, both dogs slept through the entire thing.

Summer has definitely arrived. Every day gets a little warmer and every walk gets a little slower. I try to get up early and make sure that the dogs get at least one decent walk before the sun heats things up, but even these early morning outings are starting to get hot and muggy. Dot tires quickly in the heat, so I have to be careful not to go too far. She still enjoys walking though, so these morning walks are an essential part of our day.

Today definitely lacked focus. I answered some of my e-mail, updated two websites, and at one point, became so bored that I went outside and washed the car. I'd like to be a little busier, but not too much busier. What I'd really like is consistency. The trouble with being a freelancer is that you are totally forgotten about until someone else gets themselves in a bind. This usually creates a feast or famine atmosphere where you are either working long hours trying to get your client out of a jam, or doing nothing at all. Maybe I'm being too picky, but I don't think so. There are times when being in advertising just sucks.

If I was industrious, I'd go to my storage warehouse tomorrow and start throwing away things that are no longer useful. Nah. That isn't very likely. Things just go in the storage unit. They never come out. It would be fun to get started on a brand new website project tomorrow as well. That probably won't happen either. I'm sure I'll design a few more corporate sites before I shut the business down for good, but these jobs are getting harder and harder to find. I've already worked with just about everyone I've ever met in my life and I'm not meeting many new people these days. The way I see it, I can either get depressed about all this, or just go to a guitar store tomorrow instead.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1035

Have you tried to buy a discontinued product lately? It used to be that you could often buy discontinued products for years after they'd been replaced. When stores kept their own inventories, they would often tempt you with fantastic closeout prices, just to get the items of their shelves. Everything has changed now. Most merchants have adopted "just in time" inventory policies and keep a bare minimum of products on their shelves. They depend on computers to tell them which products are popular and on the FedEx delivery man to deliver fresh supplies each morning. This makes it very easy for manufacturers to make products vanish almost instantly when they've been discontinued.

I only mention this because I've be trying to find some of those little square iPod nanos. They weren't discontinued all that long ago, but they've totally vanished from store shelves. I'm not surprised that you can't find these things at the Apple store anymore, but you'd think Fry's, B&H, Best Buy, or Radio Shack would have a few left. Nope! It's like the little square nano never even existed. I guess I could still find something on eBay, but I've grown weary of the bidding process. I prefer a transaction I can complete in twenty seconds.

Our beautiful Indian Summer continues. The days are noticeably shorter now and the leaves are starting to turn. I've started noticing more bird activity as well. Since I've already managed to get good pictures of all the critters that aren't scared of the dogs, it might be time to invest in a longer telephoto lens. There are lots of animals I routinely see in the distance, but can never approach because of Dot and Dash.

It was a typical Monday. There were very few requests all day. I used the extra time to finish up the few remaing projects from last week. As far as I can tell, I'm all caught up now. I wouldn't mind if tomorrow is a slow day as well. Of course, if the inactivity continues throughout the week, I'll start to get nervous. Being on your own is always a delicate balance. You want to make sure that there is always enough work to pay the bills, while still trying to avoid the overloads that drive you crazy.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day