Day 2581

It was fifteen degrees when I woke up this morning. Wisely, we decided that there was no need to walk the dogs right away. Dot still had to make her morning race to the back door to pee, but we were back inside twenty seconds later. As soon as the sun came up, the temperature started climbing. When we all finished breakfast and were finally ready to walk, everybody thought that twenty two degrees was a lot nicer than fifteen.

It's amazing what a difference having a good dehumidifier has made in our lives. Normally, during cold Winter days like this, every window in the house would be dripping with condensation. The condensation got so bad in cold weather that it was starting to rot some of the windowsills. After lowering the average humidity in the house by about 20%, the windows are now clear and dry in all types of weather and the closets aren't damp anymore. I wish I'd known about the benefits of having a dehumidifier when we bought the house. So many things were ruined by moisture over the years. I had a beautiful old Vox Mark VI teardrop guitar that was totally destroyed by storing it in a damp closet for over a decade. Live and learn, I guess.

We restarted Dot on the initial loading dose of her Incurin pills this morning. It's too early to see any results yet, but I'll be looking for them. A medical emergency caused her to become incontinent several years ago after being on IV fluids at the cancer center for almost four full days. I don't remember how long it took the Incurin to work the first time, but I do remember how happy we were when she stopped peeing all over the place. Dot's vet cautioned us not to be overly optimistic, but hopefully these synthetic estrogen pills will work their magic again.

I wonder if traffic is ever going to return to normal? When I was running errands today, it seemed like everyone was still doing their Christmas shopping. Roads were crowded and parking lots were full wherever I went. Shouldn't the holiday rush be over by now? Maybe things will get better when schools are back in session. Maybe the traffic will get worse though. I forget how this works. I think Dallas is a much bigger city than I like to imagine it is. Things have changed a lot in thirty years.

Even though walking the dogs in freezing weather burns off a lot of energy, I need to start going back to the gym. I haven't been for several weeks because Christmas and New Year's both fell on a Sunday. I know that visiting the gym once a week isn't much of a commitment to fitness, but it's all I can manage at the moment. I'm not a slacker though. My fitness tracker still says I average about 12,000 steps a day.

Can you be a Luddite and still like gadgets? That's me. This time of year I'm always fascinated by the new things that make their debut at the CES show in Las Vegas. 3-D printed cars and cheap solar power are cool. I'm probably all in on any technology that allows people to live independent, productive lives off the grid. Technology that connects people together makes me nervous. As metaphors go, I like the image of the lone wolf. I don't like thinking of myself as a bee in a beehive. This is the challenge of growing older. How do you remain independent while your body is deteriorating and forcing you to become more dependent on others? My Dad never found the answer to this question. I probably won't either.

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2573

When I was eating breakfast this morning I ended up sitting next to the kitchen and overhead three of the cooks talking about guitars and amps. It seemed apparent that all of them had either been in a band or were still in a band. My ears always perk up when I hear someone talking about guitars. I love guitars. I kind of wanted to join the conversation, but the guys looked very busy and I was a little too far away to be heard anyway. Musicians don't talk about music the same way fans do. They usually talk about gear.

One of the guys was talking about a certain brand of strings meant to be tuned an octave above the standard tuning. Another mentioned that he once had an all-white Marshall Super Lead amp like Randy Rhodes used to use. He then mentioned that his amp was a cheap copy, which made sense since the limited edition Marshall tribute amp was hugely expensive. All three of the guys seemed to like Randy Rhodes, which reminded me that I once did a fashion photo shoot at the home of Ozzy Osbourne's drummer. Maybe this was after Randy Rhodes died, but I'm not really sure. The drummer's girlfriend was a model and they lived in a huge home with almost no furniture and some pet rabbits hopping all over the place. The drummer seemed to spend most of his time playing with radio controlled model cars when he wasn't on tour. This is why I enjoy my Friday breakfasts. I just listen to other people's conversations and lose myself in memories. Now that I know that the cooks are musicians, it kind of explains why the restaurant makes its own mix tapes instead of subscribing to a plastic sounding SiriusXM channel like other places.

I thought today would be a good day to vacuum the house, since basically the floors were covered with dog hair and leaves. It was getting to the point where I couldn't avoid this task any longer. I've become convinced that all the people who think a Dyson vacuum cleaner is wonderful have a maid that does the cleaning. This machine is difficult to maneuver, even more difficult to clean, and has a long heavy cord that is always getting tangled up in the furniture. The dogs were asleep when I started vacuuming, but that didn't last long. For some reason both dogs like to follow me around when I'm vacuuming. I had to stop the vacuum every few minutes and gently move Dot out of the way. Moving around was actually good exercise for her, but it made my job harder. She was always getting stuck in precarious positions and as the house became cleaner, I began to worry that she was going to poop on my freshly cleaned rugs. Eventually, I finished the task I'd been postponing for so long. The Dyson canister was completely full of dirt and the house looked exactly the same as it did before.

It has gotten cold again. This weather is driving me nuts. One day it's freezing outside and the next day it is balmy and warm. I've literally been alternating between using the air conditioner and the furnace. It would be nice to have a little consistency in my life. The weather isn't consistent. My work isn't consistent. And Dot's pooping schedule doesn't even come close to being consistent. I hope my Friday restaurant stays consistent. After my first breakfast restaurant lost it's magic, it took me quite a while to find this new place. I don't want to do that again.

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I probably should. My problem is that I'm not very big on self-improvement. I'm happy with my weight. I certainly don't want to become a kinder, friendlier version of myself. I'd like more money, but that's probably more of a wish than a resolution. I'd like Dot to get healthier, but that's a wish too. Maybe I'll just make a New Year's wish...

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1620

I would have preferred to sleep in this morning, but Dot had other ideas. When Dash and I didn't get up immediately, she started barking at us. Dot was ready to walk. I've learned not to ignore a barking Dalmatian, because they'll just keep barking forever. I put the leashes on and we were on our way by 6:30 AM. It was just as well that we left the house early. There was a breeze and the temperature was still nice and cool. When the weather is this pleasant, Dot is still able to go the full two miles. Maybe that was why she was so eager to get started early.

As soon as we return from these morning walks, these two high energy dogs immediately go to sleep. I don't know if they are worn out, or just lazy. It's probably a little bit of both.

While the dogs were sleeping, I went out for breakfast. I parked between a Ferrari and a beat up Kia. When I got inside, I couldn't tell who belonged to which car. Everyone looked the same. It's that kind of place. Breakfast was delicious as usual, and when I couldn't linger any longer, I went to the grocery store and got some fresh food for the weekend.

I got such an early start this morning that it was only 10 AM by the time I returned and sat down at the computer to finish the week's work. When I completed my website revisions for the week, I decided to tackle a tedious retouching job I'd been avoiding. I usually try to avoid doing complicated work in Photoshop when I've got deadlines. Today was as good a day as any however, since I haven't had a tight deadline all week.

There's a big meteor shower tonight, but I won't be able to see it since it's cloudy outside. I probably wouldn't see much anyway. The sky never really gets dark in the city. You can see the moon and the bright planets, but that's about all. I could go out in the country to watch the night sky, but I probably never will. My fascination with astronomy is about the same as my obsession with guitars. There's a lot of interest, but not much action.

We've got a three-day weekend on the way. There are supposed to be thunderstorms on Memorial Day, but you never know here in Texas. Two days from now, the forecast could be completely different. I'm hoping for another nice day.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1112

I plugged in the guitar and played a little blues today. There certainly wasn't much else to do. It was a very slow day. The good news was that I hadn't entirely lost my chops. The bad news was that playing guitar for any extended length of time with Carpal tunnel hurts like hell. Who knows though. Maybe playing with a wrecked left hand will give my riffs a note of authenticity.

I wonder how many years of sitting in a little room and writing inconsequential advertising it takes before you go stark raving mad? When you factor in that my primary diversions are sweeping standing water off the roof and killing cockroaches that wander into the house, maybe I've passed that threshold already. At least it was a bit warmer today. The dogs didn't even have to wear their Winter coats.

I was amused today when I noticed that the stock market had a substantial rally when the President came on television early in the afternoon to say that everyone was close to striking a deal on the fiscal cliff. Of course five minutes after the market closed, some senators came on TV and essentially said "just kidding." There is no deal tonight because nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. I have a feeling that this impasse could go on for weeks or months.

If we can stay awake until midnight, Janet and I will bring in the New Year with some champagne and a selection of cheese. I can't imagine standing out in the cold for hours to watch a mirrored ball drop, but seeing the event on TV in a warm house with a flute of champagne in your hand is actually kind of nice. 2012 certainly wasn't that memorable, but maybe 2013 will be better. Remember 1999 when Y2K was supposed to bring the world grinding to a halt on New Year's Eve? Nothing happened. People still say "party like it's 1999" though. What's that all about?  I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like 1999 when we all sail over the cliff a little later this evening.

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope your first New Year's resolution is to continue reading this blog for another year.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1102 - Winter Solstice

You can tell Christmas is just around the corner. When I went out for breakfast this morning, the restaurant was filled with people wearing reindeer sweaters and colorful vests with Christmas ornaments embroidered on them. At any other time of year, these outfits would seem ridiculous, but they all seemed pretty normal today.

After breakfast, I needed to do a little shopping and immediately discovered that everybody in Dallas was driving around doing the same thing. The traffic was horrible. When I got to the mall, things got worse. Half the parking spaces had been turned into valet parking lots. The valet parking was virtually empty, but the rest of the parking lot was a zoo. Whoever had the bright idea of  turning most of the mall into a giant valet parking lot should get a big lump of coal in their stocking. It's hard enough finding a parking place on a normal day. With a bunch of holiday entrepreneurs trying to charge you $10 for what was normally free, it was impossible.

Remember when I told you that I lost one of my web maintenance clients several weeks ago. Well, I had my exit interview today. It turns out that one of the reasons I lost the account was that the new guys offered something called "reputation management."  Evidently, if someone writes something bad about my client on Yelp, these guys can make it go away. Whatever happened to reality? Everyone wants to manage reality these days, by putting their own spin on things. It's getting harder and harder to know what's actually real. Somebody says something and then somebody else with an opposing point of view immediately sets up a counter-initiative to discredit what was said. It's all very confusing.

The dogs don't like it when I play my guitar. I can do a lot of other things and they'll stay sleeping on the bed, completely ignoring me. When I get out the guitar though, they immediately start to bother me until I put the thing away again. I don't know if it's my poor playing that bothers them or the fact that I'm having fun without them. I think Dalmatians invented "It's all about me."They want everything to involve them.

Today was the shortest day of the year. I'll look forward to the days gradually lengthening and growing warmer again. I hate to have to rush, just to get the dogs walked before the sun goes down. I know it's a long time until Spring, but I'm ready for it already.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 934

Today was a somewhat social day for a solitary soul like myself. I went back to the cool restaurant for breakfast this morning and ran into a photographer friend who lives in the neighborhood. He and I could easily have talked about the declining revenues of commercial photographers, or what to do with old film cameras, but we found something far more interesting to chat about: the behavior of our dogs.

I find these little neighborhood restaurants fascinating. They are all located with a few miles of my house. They all have a basically similar menu. But each restaurant seems to attract a completely different group of people. The cool restaurant seems to attract advertising people, which isn't surprising, since advertising people are drawn to trendy things like moths to a flame. The restaurant with the good bacon seems to attract school teachers. I never dreamed that school teachers had so much time on their hands until I started going to this place. Surprisingly, the restaurant with the best food doesn't attract anybody at all. The place does a good dinner business, but nobody seems to come for breakfast. In another surprise, the restaurant with the unhealthiest menu seems to attract the very people who need healthy food the most. I actually like all these places, but still think my own cooking is the best.

I was starting to look like Don Imus on a bad hair day, so I went and got a haircut this afternoon. Morning and afternoon conversation is kind of a rarity for me. My hair stylist likes to talk about vacations and family problems. I don't like to talk about either of these things, but do my best to keep up my end of the conversation. I often think I could save a fortune by just going to a regular barber, but a good haircut is one of those little luxuries you really hate to give up. Betty is expensive, but she never fails to make me look younger, so I guess it's worth it.

I wish they had iPads when I was first learning to play the guitar. I've installed GarageBand on my iPad and am using it to practice playing my new guitar. It's fabulous. The iPad is small and unobtrusive and yet the GarageBand software faithfully emulates half a dozen well known guitar amps. If I play through earphones, I don't bother Janet either. So far, I'm having a lot of fun relearning things I forgot twenty years ago. The best thing is that playing doesn't bother my hand as much as I though it would. I'm beginning to think the exercise might actually be good for my Carpal Tunnel.

So, for those of you who think I'm too negative, I've had a good day. I had breakfast with a friend, got a haircut that made me look younger, and took a trip down memory lane with my Stratocaster. Not bad for a Friday.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 928

Summer has its own set of rules. The other day, someone was asking me why I wear black t-shirts almost exclusively during the Summer. I guess they were expecting to hear that I admired Steve Jobs, or that I thought it looked stylish or something. The truth is that black is just about the only color you can wear outside during Texas Summers that doesn't show huge ugly sweat stains under your armpits after about five minutes. You still sweat of course, but it doesn't look like it.

We tried to get up and photograph the new Dalmatians at the Velvet Snout early this morning, but beating the heat was a futile effort. It was hot in the middle of the night last night and it's still hot right now. I took the pictures quickly today, so the dogs could get back inside again.

Do people tag you on Facebook a lot?  I hate to be tagged, because usually someone has dredged up an old picture that is so dismal it makes me look like warmed over death. Nobody needs to see my high school pictures again. Imagine my surprise when I looked at my wall this morning and saw an old picture that I actually liked. Someone had posted a picture of me playing in a band long, long ago. I couldn't remember where the picture was taken, or even the name of the band I was playing in. It was definitely me though. I recognized the Vox Mark VII guitar that I bought from the earnings of a high school summer job. I wish I had taken better care of that guitar. It would be worth quite a bit now if it hadn't gotten ruined by moisture when I stored it away in a damp closet for ten years. This was before I even moved to Dallas, mind you. Water damage problems have followed me around for a long time.

It's amazing how quickly things go from one extreme to the other here in Texas. At the beginning of June, we were drenched with rain. The grass and the shrubs were growing like wildfire and I thought we were finally going to have a decent Summer. Now, just a few weeks later, everything is bone dry. I need to remember to deep water the Photinia Bushes in the backyard and the Wax Myrtle out front. I got behind on things last Summer and a few trees died as a result. Not this year. We'll just have a humongous water bill instead.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 921

I finished this month's assignment for my writer's group this morning and turned it in. I've written some good things, as well as some not so good things, for this group, but I don't think I would have written anything at all without the discipline of an assignment and a deadline. Sometimes I wonder if there's anything I still do for the sheer pleasure of it. There certainly isn't much. In the early 1980's I loved to write songs. I wrote and recorded tons of original songs during this period. There were some who said I had a promising career ahead of me in Nashville. I signed several publishing contracts with obscure record labels, but never made a dime from my music. There was one fatal flaw in my plan to become a famous songwriter. I couldn't sing. Labels were looking for promising singer/songwriters, not the next Bernie Taupin.

Several years later I became very excited about becoming a fashion photographer. I left the advertising world and spent two years putting together a portfolio. My work was good enough to land me a job at a leading photo studio. I didn't become the next Richard Avedon however. I shot catalogs. Catalogs were boring and mundane. I quickly returned to advertising where there was at least a thin patina of glamor.

The last time I was really excited about something was during the mid-1990's, when I convinced myself that I wanted to make another documentary film. I started going to film festivals and was even asked to be a speaker at SXSW in 1997. The film never got made. I had already made several extremely low budget documentaries in the 1970's, but by 1990 I had grown too practical. Documentaries don't make money and I wasn't willing to risk my life savings on a project that didn't even matter anyway.

When I hear people on television self-help shows tell their audience that the key to success is to follow your passion, I just don't buy it. Anything that I was even mildly passionate about ended up costing me a fortune. I never made a dime by following my heart. Fortunately, I've done extremely well doing things I hate. I've done so well doing things I hate that it's made the world topsy-turvy for me. When I meet someone who tells me that they love what they do, I generally don't believe them.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, I visited another guitar store today. I actually took a couple of guitars off the wall and started playing them. I can't play well anymore. If you heard me this afternoon, you'd probably agree that I suck. Holding the guitar in my hands brought back memories though. There was a time when my chops were pretty good. I miss those days. When I was a good guitar player, I never thought about the staggering cost of health care. I never worried about whether I'd have enough money to retire comfortably. I didn't really worry about anything. I just played.

Boo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 920

I could write a book about the breakfast choices in my neighborhood. Every Friday morning for the past three months, I've been sampling the menus of all the restaurants within a three mile radius of my house. OK, so I've only been to four different restaurants. There aren't a lot of restaurants close to where I live. Nevertheless, a full breakfast menu times four still gives you a wide variety of choices. After all this frivolous experimentation, I still haven't decided on a favorite breakfast destination. One restaurant has the best service. Another has the best ambiance. A third has the best food. And the fourth has the best coffee. None of them are very consistent. 

One thing I have learned is that restaurant quality can vary dramatically, depending on who shows up for work that day. In some restaurants, I've ordered the same thing over and over again, but it never comes out the same way twice. One restaurant never puts salt and pepper on the table because they think their food is seasoned just right. It isn't. Another restaurant is so stingy with the coffee that they make you pay a dollar every time they refill your cup. All of them use too much salt when they cook. All in all, the food is delicious though, and I've picked up some great ideas if I ever decide to cook on Friday again. I've kind of gotten addicted to eating out on Friday morning. It's a simple pleasure, but a very genuine one.

I had to run a bunch of errands today, and on the way back from the grocery store, I decided to stop in the local Guitar Center and look at guitars. I am baffled by the huge variety of absolutely identical looking Fender and Gibson guitars at totally different price points. You could buy a Fender Stratocaster for $300 or $3000. There is almost a mythology built up around why the more expensive versions are worth more. Was the guitar manufactured in Mexico, Japan, or the USA?  Was the wood aged and seasoned before it was shaped into a guitar body? Are the pickups hand wound? Did the electronics come from China? The list goes on and on. To the untrained eye though, the cheap Fender Stratocasters look exactly the same as their expensive cousins. If cameras were marketed this way, it would drive photographers crazy.

I'm amused at all the New York news anchors and talk show hosts going on and on about the awful heat wave they're having. They ought to come to Texas. The temperatures that New Yorkers are experiencing now aren't just a two day event in Dallas. We have to deal with 100 degree days for months at a time.  In addition to the heat, I also have to deal with mushrooms. Mushrooms are starting to appear everywhere in the new grass we just planted. Mushrooms normally grow in the dark. This isn't very auspicious. If I needed a sign that the St. Augustine grass isn't getting enough sunlight, this is probably it.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 919

Like many of you, I missed the Summer Solstice this year. It was yesterday. How did that happen? I thought the longest day of the year was always on June 21. Today still seemed pretty long and very hot anyway. I'm afraid that Summer has arrived in earnest.

During breakfast, I watched the "Girl in the Fireplace" episode of Dr. Who for probably the fourth time. This is one of my favorite episodes, surpassed only by "Vincent and the Doctor." What's the connecting link? Maybe it's just that both of these episodes take place in France. Paris is my favorite city. For many years a Citroën was my automobile of choice. I drove a Citroën in Seattle, and against all logic, I drove a Citroën when I first moved to Dallas. In a world of Ford F-150 pickups, this car definitely didn't blend in.

I don't know what it is about France. I'm drawn to Philippe Stark furniture, even though it is wildly impractical. I even have a French Porcher toilet. I wouldn't recommend French plumbing products however. When they start to leak, it is almost impossible to find replacement parts. It's pretty hard to find parts for Citroën automobiles in Texas as well. That's why I switched to Land Rovers.

I found myself thinking about guitars again today. I've got a birthday gift card that's burning a hole in my pocket. Maybe I can find myself a nice used Les Paul. A real Les Paul is probably too expensive. I'd likely have to settle for the less expensive Epiphone version. I'm getting way ahead of myself though. I need to go to a guitar store, sit down with a guitar, and see if I can still play. My carpel tunnel is getting pretty bad in my left hand. If it hurts to squeeze a tennis ball, I have a feeling that playing a guitar might not feel so good either. We'll see.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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