Day 1726

We started the day with a gentle breeze and ended with a thunderstorm. In between were all the usual errands and chores you'd normally expect on a Saturday. Even though I'm not a big fan of rainy days, I was glad to see the storm arrive. The yard was starting to look really dry. The dogs and I got lucky on our evening walk and managed to return to the house about five minutes before the deluge started. As soon as the thunder and lightning began, Dot and Dash retreated to their safe haven under my desk. I was sure that all the commotion would make Dot pee, but it didn't. She actually had a very good day with no accidents at all.

We started Dot on the Incurin medication this morning, but it was pure coincidence that her incontinence wasn't much of a problem today. The vet said that it would take up to two week before we would start to see results from the medication. It wouldn't be realistic to see results on the very first day. Dot was just having one of her good days. It could all change tomorrow.

I went to the neighborhood health food store to pick up some more Stevia for my morning coffee. While I was there, I asked when they were going to have another cholesterol screening. As you probably know, I'm addicted to having my blood tested and would never turn down a low cost cholesterol screening. The store owner told me that they weren't doing the screenings anymore because the Phlebotomist who drew your blood during these tests died of a heart attack last month. This was a young, seemingly healthy guy who was well aware of the risk factors for heart disease. I was shocked. No wonder my general practitioner is so concerned about heart attacks. My Dad had a heart attack. Several of my friends in the advertising world have already had heart attacks. Lately, it seems like every few months I learn of another acquaintance who has just had a heart attack. We are all worried about terrorists these days, but we will probably just die of a heart attack.

I got the Epson 4880 working again this afternoon. I don't know why I spend so much time and money keeping this large format printer functional. I'll probably never have a gallery show again. I won't be doing store window posters for local retail clients either. I feel the same way about my video editing equipment. I hate to give up on these things, even though they are rapidly becoming analog artifacts from a distant past. It's kind of sad to me that all you need is a phone these days. I was much happier when it was essential to have 500 pounds of cranky, difficult to use equipment. The printer and the tape decks will eventually wind up in the storage warehouse with the 4x5 Sinar view camera, a relic from the day when I would spend 30 minutes composing a single image in the camera and then another two hours processing the large sheets of film in the darkroom.

It's time to hit the gym again. It feels like my shoulder has recovered enough from last week's torture to go through my workout again. I feel the same way about my dislocated shoulder as I do about Dot's incontinence. I'm not sure if these things will ever really get better. You can't let a little pee or pain stop you though. I think Dot understands better than I do that you've just got to make the best of things and keep moving forward.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1488

I woke up with a nosebleed this morning. For most of my life I wouldn't have given something like this a second thought. Now that half my friends have had heard attacks and I have a primary care physician who is obsessed with heart attacks, it's hard not to be a hypochondriac. It seems like there's always something that isn't working the way it should. I try not to worry about my health though. After all, there are other things to worry about, like water on the roof, clogged printers, and unexplained engine noises.

Janet likes to walk the dogs on weekends, so I went up on the roof to inspect the downed tree while everyone was away.  The tree is still there of course, but I'll have to give the roofers credit. There doesn't appear to be any damage to the roof at all. Despite some nasty icy weather and  falling tree limbs, the new roof has held up pretty well.

It's really hard to anticipate what the weather is going to be like in January here in Texas. Although we had temperatures in the single digits last week, it was in the mid-sixties today. It was nice to be able to go outside without bundling up, but the ground was still muddy. It remains to be seen whether the dog park will be open tomorrow. Sometimes they close the park even on nice days when the ground is muddy. If the dogs have any say in this, it will definitely be open.

I went to Home Depot and got a new furnace filter today. It irritates me to pay $19 for a furnace filter, but I guess it's my fault. I'm always compelled to buy the best instead of the cheapest. I could have gotten a filter for $4, but it looked completely worthless. I used to have some great electrostatic filters for the old furnace. They were made from sturdy aluminum and I would wash them out every month and use them again and again. With today's practice of only keeping the most popular items in inventory, I just can't find these things anymore. I'm sure I could find something on the Internet, but I still like the idea of a hardware store that has everything. Trust me on this. Home Depot does not have everything. They don't even come close.

There was nothing very eventful about today. That's a good thing though. There are clean sheets on the bed. A big pile of towels has been washed. All the weekend errands are done. The printer is even working. Dot and Dash are happy and full of energy today. What more could you ask for?

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1371

It was an unlucky day for a lot of people. Before I even heard about the mass shootings at the Navy Yard in Washington DC, I saw a man fall off his bicycle after an apparent heart attack while I was walking the dogs in the park this morning. The good news was that it only took paramedics about four minutes to get to the scene with an ambulance. The bad news was that the fellow cyclists who tried to administer aid on the scene probably made the man's condition worse.

Later in the day, I saw a cement truck run into a Mini Cooper. You can guess who won that confrontation. The cement truck driver seemed very distraught. I don't know if he was worried about the other driver, or that the cement in his truck was going to harden, because he had to stay at the scene until the police finished their accident investigation.

In between these calamities, I managed to get a lot of work done. I'm still making steady progress on the new website I'm currently developing for a client. I ordered more ink for the large format printer. I paid my third quarter estimated taxes and got a check in the mail to the IRS. Since there weren't any writing assignments due today, I even found time to go to the gym. For the first time, I managed to score three baskets in a row while I was waiting for one of the weight machines to become free.

I still don't know whether there's a new car in my immediate future. I think I've narrowed things down to two choices, but there is nothing decisive to swing my decision one way or the other. If it weren't for the fact that the Defender could fall apart at any minute, I might not make any decision at all. I know the time is right through. I have a feeling that sometime within the next several weeks, I'll be driving by the dealership and buy something on impulse.

Tomorrow looks like another busy day. I've already got several requests for website revisions and Dash needs to go to the vet again. One of my doctors has been sending bills to the wrong insurance company too. I've got to get that straightened out as well. At least the weather is improving. I saw the first hints that leaves are starting to change color today. Could Fall be right around the corner? Maybe it's time to buy some pumpkins and put them on the front porch.

Phantom is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1141

I don't know how I used to survive without weather radar apps on my phone and tablets. I totally depend on these things now. Even on days like today when the rain never seems to stop, I manage to find little pockets of calm when I can walk the dogs.

I used to live in fear of being struck by lightning when I found myself miles from home with two panic stricken Dalmatians in the middle of a sudden thunderstorm. This doesn't happen anymore. I carefully plot wind direction and speed using the radar apps and take the dogs outside during lulls between the passing squalls. I tell Dot and Dash that we don't have much time. They know they only have eight minutes to pee, poop and finish their business before we have to be home again. So far this new plan works fabulously. The dogs storm instincts are much better than mine anyway. They only panic if they think I don't know what's coming and am leading them into danger. Today, although everything got soaked; we didn't.

There's not much to do on a rainy day. Since I don't like to drive in the rain, I'm usually just stuck inside with the dogs, waiting for things to clear up. Luckily, I had plenty of writing and website work to keep me busy today. One of the charities I work with has a new volunteer who is full of energy and new ideas. This is great for the charity, but I'm not sure how great it will be for me. My workload has already increased. Things were easier when my contacts were just as tired and overworked as I am. I seldom get behind if I'm working with someone who is in even worse shape than I am.

I'm having lunch tomorrow with a friend who had a heart attack recently. Hopefully, he can give me some tips that can help me avoid the same fate. When friends and I used to have lunch, the talk usually centered around fast cars, music, and weird things our clients did. Now the conversation always seems to be about who has had the scariest near death experience. Talking about health problems has its benefits though. I usually think I'm falling apart until I listen to other people's trials and tribulations. Then I realize that things aren't so bad after all.

The weather radar on my phone says that the storms are almost over. That's good!  Maybe I'll get a decent amount of sleep tonight.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1122

I got the Apple Lombard back today. It worked perfectly. Well, actually it didn't work perfectly. I couldn't connect to the Internet anymore. Unbeknownst to me, during the years that the Lombard sat unused in my closet, WiFi standards had changed and the built-in Airport WiFi card didn't work anymore. This was kind of ironic, since it was this computer that practically invented built-in WiFi. I don't even think you could even buy a laptop with built-in WiFi before the Lombard.

I don't want to keep kicking a dead horse, but this is just one more example of how little respect that old electronics get in today's world. Old computers get about the same amount of respect as soured milk or stale bread. It doesn't seem fair to me. Vintage guitars and amplifiers are revered by musicians. Vintage mechanical watches are often worth much more than their contemporary counterparts. Even old vinyl record albums have their fans. When I tell people that I still have a working Osborne-1, all I get are glassy stares. Nobody even cares.

I got a call from a friend today that I hadn't seen in a while.  When I rhetorically asked him what had been happening in his life since we last talked, he told me that he'd had a heart attack, was unable to work for almost a year, sold his house, and was now on permanent disability. Whoa! I wasn't expecting that. This guy was very athletic and I always thought he was healthy as a horse. Apparently, so did he until the heart attack hit him. I think that our health is much more fragile than most of us would like to admit. It was also disconcerting to realize that, unlike my friend, I didn't even have long term disability insurance. I'm not even sure it matters if you're a writer though. Insurance companies are getting pretty tough. Most of them tend to think that if Stephen Hawking can still write, then other writer's disabilities must be trivial.

The weather was much nicer today, and so was my mood. The roof is clear and dry again. The buckets are gone in the living room and the house looks more or less normal if you don't look up at the ceiling. Even the dogs stayed clean today. The only fly in the ointment was my visit to the muffler shop. I was going to get the rattling catalytic converter replaced, but when the technician pounded on both converters with a little hammer and told me he thought it was the left hand converter that had gone bad, it gave me pause. For months I've been driving around thinking that the right hand catalytic converter was the bad one. I'll have to think about this one.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day