Day 2776

Dash threw up again late last night. We don't know what is causing this. It seems to happen about once every two or three weeks. He almost always throws up in the middle of the night after spending a very normal day. There is usually no advance warning. He just wakes up after sleeping normally, wants to go outside and eat grass, and then throws up. Sometimes he seems a bit unsteady on his feet and we think he must be having another vestibular episode. Other times it just seems like he has an upset stomach. This has been going on for a long time and he has been examined from tip to tail. Sometimes the vets think vestibular disease nausea is causing the vomiting. Other times they think he is eating the wrong food and that we should change his diet. Dash almost always feels better after he has vomited and goes right back to sleep. By the time we are able to get him to a vet, he usually seems quite normal. It's frustrating because something is clearly wrong and nobody seems to know what it is. Last's night's episode didn't seem like vestibular disease at all, but I still couldn't come up with a better explanation.

Dash was fine today. It was almost as if last night never even happened. I know he was sick because I cleaned up the vomit. We also took him on a short walk around midnight down our very dark street in hopes that it might settle his stomach. I remember looking up at the stars as we walked down the street and feeling a bit sad that it wasn't really safe to have an interest in astronomy in some parts of this city. I never would have said this when I was younger, but when I hear sirens and helicopters late at night, I feel much more comfortable just staying indoors.

I had to renew a prescription at my primary care physician this afternoon. This was a bit awkward, because this was the doctor that fired me as his web designer last week. I talked to the practice manager for a few minutes and told him that there were no hard feelings on my part. I even told him to call me again if the younger son screwed up the website as much as the doctor's older son had a few years earlier. Yes, this was the second time this doctor has fired me to turn over the marketing to one of his children. They had to hire me back to repair the damage the first son did. If this happens again, I'm definitely going to raise my rates.

I finished watching season one of The Expanse today. I thought I might be able to watch season two on Netflix, but Google was wrong. The series wasn't available on Netflix after all. Oh, well. I guess I'll have to go back to the overpriced iTunes Store after all. No wonder Apple is so rich. They overcharge for everything. Apple's high prices have always frustrated me, but I keep coming back. I like their phones and computers better, and they always seem to have more of the shows I like on iTunes.

I hope Dash sleeps well tonight. It always worries me when something goes wrong in the middle of the night. With any luck, we'll all wake up early and take another sunrise walk. I'll drink my fruit smoothie, water the grass, and check the mail. Dash will take a long nap, but I'll still need something to do. I'll probably end up downloading season two of The Expanse even if it is too expensive.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1619

I think one of my clients has fired me. They haven't told me yet, but I see all the signs. The workload has slowed down. I'm starting to get that weird "it's not you, it's me" vibe from the client. And most telling of all, I saw an ad today searching for my replacement. Oh, well. I thought I did a good job. For the most part, I even enjoyed working with these guys. Nothing lasts forever though. I learned that a long time ago.

What I work on changes continually. At the first of the year I was doing mostly writing. Now, after almost two years of inactivity, my photography business has mysteriously come alive again. It's hard to believe that when I started my company in 1990, I was doing big budget network TV commercials. Things ebb and flow on an almost daily basis and I've never been able to predict what's coming next. That's why I wear many hats. I'm still busy, but I no longer look for new business. I've grown tired of updating Photoshop and Dreamweaver every year, and when clients start demanding a faster, cheaper, younger version of me, I'll know it's time to retire.

Until then, I'll just take things one day at a time. Today I helped one client find some pictures for a brochure and helped another edit an article she wrote. The weather was nice and the dogs got two very pleasant walks. I was hungry and finished off the last of the fresh food in the refrigerator. Tomorrow I'll go to the store again. I found some bleach in the utility room and cleaned up the blood stains Dash had made on the wall the day he came home from the cancer center with a bloody tail. Yes, I know that was several weeks ago, but it takes me a while to get around to things.

I've already taken the trash out to the curb for tomorrow morning's pickup and washed a load of towels as well. There are still several website revisions to complete, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow. It's always nice to have something to do on Friday. I'd watch TV if there were anything worth watching. I miss the days when there were shows like Firefly, Farscape, Babylon 5, and Lexx on TV. Nothing like that anymore, because young people seem to prefer zombies these days. There's still Dr. Who of course, but new episodes are few and far between. I think I've seen all the old episodes five times by now. I watch them every morning while I eat breakfast. I've practically memorized these old shows, but they're still better than watching the news.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1487

One of my regular readers suggested that I should quit complaining about the weather and just read a book on rainy days. That's easy for her to say. She's retired. When I retire, I'll probably do a lot of reading. Since I'm still working, I deal with problems like losing clients instead. Another website client went bye-bye today. I've gained a few website clients this year as well, so I'm basically even for the year, but this slow erosion of my online business is still troubling. I lose a lot of these jobs when my client's kids graduate with their worthless marketing degrees and want to do the website themselves. Yes, parents don't just let the kids continue to live at home until they are 27, they give them jobs when they graduate as well.

For those of you who are wondering, I chose to ignore the rain and go out for a decent Friday morning breakfast anyway. The dogs pretty much made the decision for me. They were so dirty at the end of their morning walk, that I decided a little more dirt wouldn't make one bit of difference. I cleaned the mud off the dogs and then proceeded to get mud all over the freshly washed car. The eggs were sure good though.

I finally managed to talk to my neighbors about the tree on my roof. They are nice people and appear to still be making an effort to get the tree people to come out and remove the tree. I can't really complain. I've been having my own problems with one of the oak trees in the back yard. My own tree guy promised me that he'd come out before Christmas and clean up the mess made by the power company guys during they ice storm. It seems like it's been quite a while since Christmas now, and he's still not here.

Although it wasn't a terribly productive day, I still managed to make it to the grocery store and get my January invoices in the mail. I'll have to remember to take the newly departed client off my monthly invoice list. It would be embarrassing to keep billing them after they fired me. Hey, at least it's Friday. I have no idea what the weekend has in store for me. It probably depends entirely on the weather.

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1024

I lost another website account today. My soon to be former client went to a conference and was pitched by one of those companies that offer standardized, template driven websites geared to a specific industry at very low prices. I patiently tried to explain to my client that all those cheap bells and whistles would be of limited value if their competitors all had exactly the same website. This argument went in one ear and right out the other. Apparently, one of their competitors had actually recommended this web developer to them. They didn't care if their website looked exactly like 100 other websites. They just wanted the cheap bells and whistles.

Inexpensive template websites have become the bane of my existence. I still do everything from scratch, and just can't compete with this mass produced approach. I feel like one of those obscure auto companies who were hand-building cars in a garage right after Henry Ford invented the assembly line. I still have some really good customers who seem happy with my work, but the writing is on the wall. I get e-mail everyday from companies offering to re-design my own website for free. I get other e-mails offering to host the site for as little as $9.95 a month. It's becoming a commodity driven business and I'm becoming a dinosaur.

Maybe I ought to just stick to writing. I think the bloom is off the rose when it comes to comes to photography, video editing, and website design. It's become increasingly easy to do these things yourself. People still don't like to write, however. Hell, they don't even like to read anymore. I actually have more writing jobs than I did a few years ago. I guess there still isn't a convenient iPhone app that will do your writing and thinking for you.

Although I missed the political debates last night, I couldn't avoid seeing everything rehashed on the morning news shows today. The pundits were right. Obama was definitely off his game. The guy looked like he was sleepwalking through the entire debate. The debacle serves him right if you ask me. He's been spending way too much time partying with the likes of JZ and Beyonce.

Jersey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 945

Not really a great day. When I was monitoring the websites I manage this morning, I happened to notice that one of them had been completely replaced with another design. That caught me by surprise. Hey, I'll be the first to acknowledge that clients come and go. I've lost clients because they grew larger and wanted something so fancy that I was unable to deliver it. I've lost clients because they became smaller and no longer wanted to pay my fee. I don't think I've ever lost a client because I did shoddy work. It bothers me that these guys nuked my site and hired another design firm without ever calling me to say there was a problem. The last time I talked to these guys, I had just finished some updates that they requested and was told to expect some new bios for two new employees. Everything seemed fine. Obviously it wasn't, because it appears that I've been fired.

Personally, I just think it is extremely rude to dump a vendor without any sort of a notice or explanation. If there was a problem, I'm sure it could have been resolved. Most problems can be resolved fairly easily. I'm still not sure what is going on, since the client didn't return my calls. I do have my suspicions however. I know that one of the client's children works at the firm that did the new website. That's life. I've never been one to cry over spilled milk, so I'll just move on.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I wrote a few articles. I prepared to re-launch another client's website after an extensive makeover. I went to the bank to deposit a few small checks that probably won't even pay this month's electric bill. I didn't deal with the bug problem yet though. I'm going to save that loathsome task for a day when I have a bit more positive energy.

If you asked either of the dogs, you would never have guessed that anything was wrong at all. They're both sprawled out on the bed right now, lost in dog dreams. To them, it was another perfect day.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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