Day 2513 - Halloween

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Halloween is a non-event in our neighborhood. When we were walking the dogs this evening, we saw one young trick-or-treater walking down the street with his Mom. That was it. There weren't a lot of decorated houses this year. I didn't even buy a pumpkin to put on the front porch. The holiday seems to have morphed from an occasion where children go door to door in search of candy to an occasion where young adults can indulge their fascination with cosplay. I have a feeling that adult costumes outsell children's costumes now.

I got my website project finished today. When I'm doing these things, it occurs to me that I'm still pretty good at what I do. It's a shame that these skills are no longer in demand. People don't even get excited about websites anymore. Everybody has one, but they have largely become like Yellow Pages ads. Small businesses need a website so that when someone Googles their name, something shows up. I buy stuff from large online retailers like Sweetwater and B&H. I order pizzas and Pad Thai online from local restaurants. That's about it though. I'm not even curious about most websites.

I'm not a political person, but I am curious about this election. The whole thing has become like a real life version of House of Cards. Every day when I turn on the news in the morning, there is something new that is even more astonishing than the stuff I heard the day before. I thought that some of Trump's blunders would be hard to top and then along comes Anthony Weiner. It's amazing. Both sides are running elaborate and very sophisticated disinformation campaigns. About the only news you can trust is coming from hackers. Even Snopes, a site I used to trust to give me the unvarnished facts, has been discredited. I can't tell the real news from the Onion anymore on Facebook. Just yesterday, I read an article where a democratic fundraiser said he witnessed Bill Clinton having sex with a cow during a cocaine party. I wasn't expecting that.

I got my property tax bill today. I'd forgotten about that one. It never ends. Every time I start to think that I'm finished with all these unexpected expenses, another bill arrives. At least we don't have a state income tax in Texas. I'd be really frustrated if I had to deal with rising Obamacare premiums along with all the other taxes we have to pay. I think I became eligible for Medicare at just the right time.

Going to the vegan take out store on Monday afternoon has become a new part of my weekly routine. I pick up enough vegetarian meals to supplement the leftovers in the refrigerator. There's always something new on the menu, so I'm getting a chance to try a lot of things I've never had before. I felt like Cajun food today, so I picked up a container of red beans an rice and some jambalaya with broccoli. I've never had jambalaya without shrimp or sausage before, but the vegetarian version looked interesting.

The dogs kept me busy today. Dash refused to walk in the dark this morning, so I had to give him his long morning walk after I finished breakfast. Dot seemed to have more energy than usual, and she kept me busy walking her back and forth around the house and backyard. There was the usual poop to clean up and meals to prepare. It was actually a pretty normal day. It didn't seem like Halloween at all.

Roxie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 434

Whenever I turn on the TV lately, it's hard to tell whether I'm looking at Wisconsin or the Middle East. People are angry everywhere. My natural reaction is simply to turn off the TV and go on about my business. Unfortunately, that doesn't always solve the problem anymore. I can't even drive from one side of the city to the other anymore without encountering a bunch of road rage impaired drivers. I don't know what people expect. The world is just not going to become any simpler, whatever we do. There are so many of us now that we may never collectively agree on anything again.


All this chaos is one of the main reasons I have grown to prefer the company of dogs. Helping find a dog a home is a simple thing, but it is satisfying. I usually don't feel like rioting at the end of the day. I was happy this afternoon to discover that the ConnectionPoint Systems FundRazr team has featured our Dalmatian Rescue fundraising success story right on the landing page of their website. This "success story" is good exposure for Dalmatian Rescue and the money we raised using the FundRazr has definitely helped one of our dogs get some very expensive surgery that he needed to return to living a normal life.

All I want is to live a normal, uneventful life myself. Maybe that's all the rioting people on TV want too. It's not going to be easy though. We've managed to build a house of cards that the slightest breeze can blow over. Today Baidu and Apple, my two best stock picks in several years, dropped like stones on the winds of uncertainty. The news wasn't even all that bad, but people still didn't like it. That's why I try to provide the dogs with as much certainty as I can. They need it too. This evening, they had their dinner at 4:30 PM and took their evening walk at 5 PM, just like they always do. We'll do the same thing tomorrow too. Sometimes it is good to be boring.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day