Day 1653

I moved a client's site from one server to another today. After I pointed the DNS to the correct address, uploaded all the files, and configured the server, everything worked perfectly. The client never even realized the site was offline. I was amazed. Usually, when I try this, there are all sorts of snags and it takes days before things start to work properly again. Even more amazing was that I only had to make a single call to tech support during the entire process and wasn't even put on hold for a long time. Complicated things like this give me hope. Maybe I'm not getting senile after all.

The rain continued today. It would rain for an hour and then stop for an hour, as wave after wave of showers passed through town. The intermittent showers gave me plenty of time to walk the dogs, and since there was no thunder, they eventually settled down and forgot it was raining. Since I had no place to go and the roof no longer leaks, I eventually forgot it was raining as well.

Moving the website took quite a bit of time, but it was tedious and somewhat boring, so I found myself entering contests again. I keep telling clients that they ought to consider online contests. They're about the only thing that gets me to visit a website these days. When I'm bored, I'll enter anything that promises a free guitar, camera, or a chance to get published. That's probably why I get so much spam. I like so called "creative" contests the best. There probably isn't a chance in hell of winning, but I enter anyway. Today I entered a contest that promised that the winner's photographs would be sold as framed limited editions in a major furniture store chain. After I picked a photo and entered, I discovered that to win, you had to convince other people to vote for your entry. That immediately turned the contest into a game and I hate games. I would have preferred that a panel of photo experts judged the entries or something. I'm not going to win this one.

Remember that Amtrak Writers in Residence program that I was telling you about earlier this Spring? This was the program where Amtrak paid selected writers to travel around on their passenger trains and describe their experiences. Well, I wasn't a winner here either. I got a short letter from Amtrak a few days ago thanking me for my entry and encouraging me to enter again next year. I don't know why I kept thinking I was going to get selected for this. Especially since over 8,000 other writers entered. Hey, I like trains and I have plenty of time. I guess the other writers were thinking the same thing.

I'll start on a other new website project tomorrow. I guess I should be glad that I've still got plenty to do, but it infuriates me that I've had to lower my rates to a pittance to compete with all these mass produced template sites. The weird thing is that if I had won that Amtrak Writers in Residence grant, I would have been paid even less for my time than I'm getting for this website. Writing on a train seems glamorous though. Sometimes a little glamor can make all the difference.

Shiner is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1171

I kept myself busy writing for most of the day. Writing would be a very pleasant occupation if there were more money in it. Writing used to be a lot more lucrative for me. Truthfully, nobody ever paid all that much for the writing itself, but there was usually travel involved, plus lots of needless meetings that could be billed out as well. That all changed after the dot.com crash. Most of the self-important middle managers who scheduled all the needless meetings got fired and all that was left were the words on the page. That's the way it remains today. Microsoft Word files travel back and forth electronically and eventually a check arrives in the mail.

Although most of the glamor is gone, writing is still a very pleasant way to spend the day. It certainly beats dressing up in a suit and making Powerpoint presentations to an audience of vultures eager to steal anything that resembles an idea, so they can claim it as their own.

As I was eating breakfast this morning, I watched the pope fly away in a helicopter to begin a monastic life of quiet contemplation. I wouldn't mind living a life of quiet contemplation. Especially if I were living in a beautiful castle overlooking the sea, surrounded by carefully manicured formal gardens, and waited on by two full time secretaries and four domestic servants. Not a bad life at all.

The pope probably doesn't have Dalmatians though. Dalmatians have a certain beauty all their own.  I amused myself today watching Dot and Dash try to find the possum they saw in the yard last night. The possum was long gone the minute the dogs started barking at it, but that didn't deter them one bit. When they weren't possum hunting, they occupied themselves lounging on the new velour blankets Janet got them this week. They both love soft things. I guess it makes sense, since they have a pretty soft life.

One of my favorite breakfast restaurants closed its doors for the last time this week. It was sad to see the place go out of business. I knew the owner and she had poured her life into building a great little neighborhood eatery. The food was fantastic, but I guess there just weren't enough customers to make a go of things. The restaurant business is hard. It's probably even harder than writing for a living.

No wildflower pictures today. Just houseplants. I've always been fond of orchids.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1108

Somebody please send me a little glamor. I spent the day chopping a big sheet of ice up on the roof into little blocks I could remove. When I got cold, I would come back inside and write articles that seemed a lot like the metaphorical equivalent of blocks of ice. The whole process reminded me of the woodpeckers I see on our morning walks. Such industrious little birds, but there must be a better way of finding food and sustenance.

A note to the folks who depend on me to write their fake press releases. I've got a nice wool Ralph Lauren tux that still actually fits. You might consider actually sending me to a few of those glamorous events instead of just asking me to pretend I was there. Another note to those who continue to send me Christmas cards long after they have fired me. Wouldn't it have showed a lot more Christmas cheer to have simply kept me on your payroll a bit longer?

While I was eating breakfast this morning, Dot had to go outside and pee. When I let her back inside again, her paws looked like they were wearing clown shoes. Big, brown oak leaves had cemented themselves to a layer of sticky red clay that was all that remained from this Summer's St. Augustine turf. The whole mess, in turn, cemented itself to each of Dot's paws. She looked ridiculous and I had to laugh, despite the fact that it took me at least fifteen minutes to clean her up again.

This is the trouble with Winter. It's just so messy. I don't mind the cold nearly as much as I mind the mess. Every Winter I am continually wiping condensation off of large expanses of single pane glass, so the window sills won't rot. There is a continual load of laundry running from all the towels I use to clean mud off the dogs paws. I never seem to catch all the mud on their paws either. I'm always discovering muddy little surprises on the bedsheets, the sofa and the dog beds. The zippers on my Winter coats always keep breaking too. I've got to take another coat to the tailor tomorrow.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I'm already thinking about what to order for breakfast. There's a short week to look forward to as well. I always like a week with a holiday right in the middle.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day