Day 3257

I was in a pretty good mood today until I went on the roof. What a mess. I haven't been up on the roof for over a month. It was covered with wet, soggy leaves. The leaves sopped up some of the standing water from recent rains, but this didn't help matters much. Wet leaves are much heavier than dry leaves and are difficult to remove. I've been avoiding this task because it is so pointless at this time of year. Many leaves have already dropped from the Oak and Elm trees in the back yard, but many more are still on the trees. All it will take is one windy day to put me right back where I started.

After I cleared the leaves and standing water from the roof, I looked for the source of the leak. I couldn't find anything. The repairs the roofers made this Summer still looked pretty good. The water is coming from somewhere though. I wonder how long it will take me to get the roofers back again? I'm probably not their favorite person right now.

With the grass mowed and the leaves off the roof, I hope I can forget about outdoor chores for a while. I just don't have the energy for this stuff anymore. Just climbing up on the roof is a chore. I don't use a ladder, since there are decorative indentations in the brick walls. It's kind of like rock climbing to get up there, but it's hard on the shoulders these days. I need to remember that I injured myself rock climbing back in college. It's a tiny climb to reach the roof, but it would still be a nasty fall if I slipped.

Dash was in good spirits this morning and wanted to walk down by the shoreline again. I'm amazed at how much energy he has sometimes. These longer walks are murder on his protective boots, but that's OK. We've ordered more. I still have no idea why some days are better than others with Dash. He slept well last night and managed to make it outside to poop. Knock on wood, but so far today there has been no poop in the house at all.

My grocery list was small this week. I kept thinking I was forgetting something, but all I came home with was fresh fruit for my breakfast smoothie. It seems weird that I'm gaining weight because I'm really not eating that much. I should probably eat less, since dog walks can no longer be considered exercise. Dash walks so slowly now that the walk sometimes doesn't even show up as activity on my Fitbit.

I'd be out in California now if NASA had selected me to write about the Mars landing. It's just as well that things worked out as they did. Even though Janet has retired, I don't feel comfortable about leaving Dash for several days. The trip would have been expensive and with a monster snow storm brewing in other parts of the country there is a good chance that flights could be disrupted early next week. OK. I know I'm just making excuses. Some day, I'll resume participating in these NASA social   media opportunities. For the time being, I can still watch the Insight landing on my computer.

I definitely need to go to the gym tomorrow. It will probably take more than one trip to completely erase Thanksgiving dinner, but I've got to start somewhere. Dinner was delicious, but I've felt sluggish all day. I thought removing the leaves from the roof would provide all the exercise I needed. I guess I was wrong.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3133

It's going to be a long Summer. I tried to get up early this morning, but Dash and I didn't make it out the door until 7 AM. This was about a half hour later than yesterday, giving the sun just enough time to creep above the horizon before we returned home. It's amazing how quickly things start heating up once the sun is up. I feel like I'm in some dystopian science fiction movie where the mole people only come out at night to avoid  a malevolent sun that is starting to go supernova.

I think the new coating on the roof has had plenty of time to dry. Maybe it's time for a little rain. Unfortunately, there is no rain in the forecast. I think we'll have triple digit temperatures for the rest of the week. Dash did OK on his walk, although he did get a little hot. I'm glad we didn't wait until 7:30 to get started.

The battery store was open this morning, so I got the uninterruptible power supply for my computer repaired. Damn, this thing is heavy. I've got another uninterruptible power supply that needs new batteries as well, but I'll save that for another day. While the technician was replacing the batteries, he told me that the store no longer replaced laptop and iPhone batteries. This was disappointing news. This place only used to charge half as much as the Apple Store. I asked the guy why they decided to quit offering this service. He said Apple products were difficult to work on and they weren't making enough money.

Since the battery store wouldn't replace the battery in Janet's laptop, I had to take it to a more expensive computer repair shop. They said the computer was old and they would have to special order a replacement battery. I kind of expected this, but I didn't expect them to make me come down to the store and give them a deposit. I still don't know why they wouldn't take a credit number over the phone. While I was at the store, I noticed some old Apple towers on display like I used to use. "Do people still buy these," I asked? The store manager laughed. "No, she said. A customer brought these in for recycling and I thought they would make an interesting history lesson." Oh, well. So much for the computers in the storage warehouse. I told the manager that if she wanted a history lesson, I could bring her enough old Macs to start a museum.

I had a conversation with the electrician this afternoon about the light in my backyard. He can't figure out what is going on either. There is no logical reason why the light would come on normally at dusk every evening and then arbitrarily shut off again around midnight. I asked the electrician whether he could just hard wire the light so I could turn it on and off with a switch in the house. He said yes and then added that I probably wouldn't like the expense. Instead of running a wire to the house, he recommended a WiFi switch on the pole, so I could turn on the light with my phone. Jeez. Whenever I'm looking for a simple solution, people inevitably recommend something complicated instead.

I think I know why I'm gaining weight. When there's nothing to do, I tend to find myself in the kitchen eating crackers. I'll check the stock market on TV and then grab a few crackers. I seem to do this on an hourly basis. To avoid boredom and reduce the risk of getting fat, I took a nap with Dash this afternoon. I think this confused my Fitbit. It doesn't seem to be used to people who sleep during the day.

Jewel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3074

I'm gaining weight. It probably didn't help that I had Beignets with breakfast this morning. I still try to eat healthy, but it's getting harder. I'm not really a Kale and Quinoa kind of guy. My diet hasn't changed all that much, but my daily activities have. When the dogs were young and healthy, we used to walk at least six miles every day. Dalmatians are active dogs and we kept a pretty brisk pace. Now there's only one dog and he is incredibly slow. Dash and I are lucky if we travel two miles these days.

In theory, there's nothing preventing me from still walking six miles a day. I could easily go on a walk while Dash was sleeping during the day. I have no desire to do this, unfortunately. Walking the dogs was a duty that I enjoyed. It was clear that the dogs needed me. When there was a problem to be solved in my professional career, I always felt the same way. I enjoyed a career as a photographer and filmmaker. Somehow doing these same things as a hobby has little appeal. When someone asks me "What do you like to do for fun?" I seldom have an answer. What is fun anyway?

Are you getting a ton of irritating e-mail from companies and websites saying that they've changed their privacy policies? It's all because of the GDPR. The European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation has changed everything. Personally, I don't think the Europeans realize that privacy is just an illusion. It doesn't exist anymore. Artificial Intelligence needs massive amounts of data to function and your robot overlords are going to get that data one way or another. China, not Europe, holds the keys to the future. They are already using sophisticated facial recognition technology to identify billions of people. In the future, payments will be made with retinal scans, not money. Stores will know what you are going to buy before you even enter the door. I don't necessarily like this, but it's coming. Just to be safe, I've removed all remaining online forms from my websites. I don't want to be ever accused of collecting any information on anybody.

Dash and I were surprised by an unexpected thunderstorm this afternoon. The sun was shining this morning when we took our morning walk. I was expecting clear skies all the way through the Memorial Day holiday. It wasn't meant to be. Around lunch time the sky became ominously dark and I began to hear thunder. We didn't lose power, but the lights did flicker for a while. This was more than enough to throw Dash into a panic. It took a while for me to calm him down, but eventually he settled down under a blanket with me and we rode out the storm. If I had anything else to do, this would have been frustrating, but life is pretty slow now. Comforting a dog under a blanket seemed as good a way to spend the day as anything. We both went to sleep after a while and when we woke up, the rain was gone.

There is a huge sale going on at REI, but there is absolutely nothing I need. I have a feeling that this is going to become a recurring theme. When collecting things and accumulating gear I don't really need fails to give me pleasure, it's probably time to reassess everything.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2032

Dot did well during her physical therapy session today. We talked about what was causing her to limp and came to no firm conclusions. The vet agreed that the limp could be caused by a wide variety of things, including an underlying neurological problem, too much exercise, or the Palladia pills she's taking. I'm going to ask Dot's oncologist if it would be OK to discontinue the pills for a month after her next ultrasound scan. If there are no adverse effects from postponing the chemotherapy for a while, at least we could determine if this was the cause of her lameness. For the time being, we will decrease the distance she walks slightly, while still having her climb small hills each morning to strengthen her leg muscles.

I finally finished editing all the images for my client's multi-media project. We've got enough pictures now for a nice slide show or a short Ken Burns style movie. If they want a slide show, I'm going to try to convince them to get one of those little Chromecast streaming sticks and just link it to pictures in a Google album. I've tried this and it's a super easy way to make a quick, professional looking slide show. When you select the Chromecast stick as the input source on your TV, the Google photo album you select will end up being the default screen saver. I used to spend days creating lobby presentations for clients and the first time I tried using Chromecast, I had a great looking presentation up and running in less than five minutes. I never thought it would happen, but I'm I'm finally willing to admit that I don't really need a DVD drive anymore. Netflix, Chromecast, Apple Music, and a host of other cloud based solutions are just so much better.

I traded my Apple Watch for the larger model. Why? Who knows. Truthfully, probably the only reason I exchanged the watch was because I could. I was perfectly happy with the smaller watch, but I like this slightly larger version too. Really, they're both pretty much the same. Hey, it gave me something to do after I brought Dot home this afternoon, it didn't cost very much to upgrade, and now I've got a bigger watch. I'll have to figure out something else to occupy my time tomorrow.

The reason it's been a slow week is that my writing assignments have dwindled to almost nothing. I finally discovered why today. The person who sends me most of the writing assignments is on jury duty. She must have gotten selected for a trial because she's been out of the office for quite a while. At any rate, when I resume cranking out articles, I'm be just as busy as I ever was. I actually ought to be grateful for the opportunity to take a breather. It's been nice not having much to do for a while.

This week has gone really quickly. I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. It will be nice to eat in peace without two barking dogs on either side of me. I created a monster when I started feeding Dot and Dash a banana while I ate my breakfast. Now, if the don't get their banana, they bark and howl until I peel and slice one up for them. Are these dogs spoiled? Of course they are. I've got to figure out another way to deal with this breakfast commotion though. Dot is gaining weight again. With her weak rear lags, we've got to be especially careful about her weight. She really doesn't need to be eating bananas and extra kibble after she's finished her regular breakfast. I've thought about solving the problem by just going out for breakfast every morning, but then I'd be the one gaining weight.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1657

Sunday is seldom a day of rest at our house. Lately, it has turned into the most physical day of the week. This morning, it was time to mow the grass again. I'm happy to mow, because that means the grass is still growing. With the unusual amount of rain we've had this June, everything is still nice and green. Last year, it was a different story. I am hoping that our cooler than usual Summer will continue, but if today was any indication, our pleasant, breezy days might just about be over.

After mowing the grass and doing a little gardening, I decided to go to the gym. Sunday is not only my favorite day to go to the gym, it is often the only day I have time to go. Since the gym is connected with a major hospital, I sometimes see people getting physical therapy there. Maybe I could get one of my doctors to refer me to one of the staff physical therapists. I'm certainly burning calories, but I don't know if what I'm doing is actually helping or hurting my shoulder. A good physical therapist could probably get me doing some exercises that would actually help my shoulder injury heal. After all these months, it's still more painful than it should be.

I'm starting to gain weight again. I'm certainly not getting fat, but a pound here and a pound there and that's how it all starts. The problem is twofold. First of all, unhealthy, fattening food tastes a lot better than kale and brussel sprouts. Secondly, I always eat more when I'm bored. If I'm in the middle of a big video editing project, or designing a challenging website, I seldom think about food at all. This year, most of my work has been of the general maintenance variety. I'm generally keeping something running, instead of creating something new. The more boring the task at hand, the more frequently I want to run to the kitchen and grab another handful of cashews. I'm still trying to keep my sugar and salt intake to a minimum, but unless you're buying fresh produce at a farmers market, almost everything is overloaded with salt and sugar.

I think I was at my best at maintaining my weight when I made a commitment to beating Hepatitis C. While I was in treatment, I had clearly defined goals. Doctors monitored what I ate. I got tested every two weeks, and the results provided a valuable incentive that helped keep me on the straight and narrow path. Now that my Hepatitis C has been cured, I'm not really sure where to go next. Part of me is genuinely proud that I dropped 30 pounds and can now wear the same sized clothes I wore in collage. The other part of me would love to go back to a steady diet of barbecue, beans, and beer. I'm not sure who will win this battle.

Actually, we are having barbecue next weekend. If you live in Texas, you've got to have barbecue on the Fourth of July. Dot's physical therapy day has been moved to Monday next week, so we'll be doing her acupuncture and water therapy sessions tomorrow. Life was easier when Dot's spa day was always on Wednesday, but things change. Things always change.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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