Day 3024

Dash seems stable enough now to leave alone for a while, so it seemed like a good time to get a haircut. My hair isn't as thick as it used to be, but it still seems to grow pretty fast. Haircuts are the only time I go to the mall these days. Every time I visit, I notice that stores have disappeared. A lot of the high end watch boutiques are gone. So is the Pirch store. I never had the money to buy anything in these expensive stores, but they were fun to visit. Every big name clothing designer still has a store these days, but very few of these ritzy boutiques seem to have any customers. They're empty most of the time. How do they stay in business?

I wonder about these things while I'm having my hair cut, but the stylist and I mostly just talk about our pets. She has cats and I have dogs. The common bond is that we both prefer animals to people. Actually, just about everybody I know prefers animals to people. When you look at how people behave, how could you think otherwise?

I stopped at the Apple Store after my haircut and looked at phones. I played around with the iPhone X for a while and really wished it had a home button. It seemed too big to fit comfortably in my pocket as well. Maybe I'd better buy an iPhone SE before Apple discontinues this sensibly sized model. It doesn't have a fancy camera like the iPhone X, but it's still twice as fast as my current phone.

Dash was still sleeping when I got home. He really sleeps a lot now. This is one of the reasons I think it is so important to continue our walks. If Dash stops moving, his muscles are going to atrophy very quickly. The vestibular disease and a bulging disc in his spine have already made his rear legs very weak. He doesn't need the Help Em Up Harness yet, but I'm going to have to bring some rugs home from the storage warehouse this weekend. We're starting to have mobility issues. Dash seems much steadier on the carpet. The bricks are becoming treacherous.

The stock market had another good day, but it didn't leave me feeling all that comfortable. The analysts say that extreme volatility is the new normal. Volatility will never seem normal to me. I long for a world where the pace is slower and most things are predictable. I don't think that's where we're headed, unfortunately. The future is going to be more like a Mad Max movie than Leave it to Beaver.

They say there will be thunderstorms tomorrow. I hope the forecast is wrong. I haven't been able to patch the leak in the roof yet. Actually, I haven't even been able to find the leak. I haven't been able to find the roofer either. A short rain shouldn't be a problem, but if we get a soaker there is going to be water on the living room floor again. Oh, well. I did buy a new bucket.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. If it doesn't rain and Dash eats his breakfast, we're off to a good start.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2871

There were several hundred people standing in front of the Apple Store this morning, all waiting for a chance to buy the new iPhone X. I used to stand in these kind of lines, but it's hard to get that excited about a phone anymore. I did go in the store and took a look at the new phone, but I didn't feel compelled to buy one. After a few minutes I continued on my way. There was only one reason I came to the mall this morning. I needed a haircut.

My stylist usually talks about her cats, but today she wanted to tell me all about Live PD. I've never seen this show, but couldn't help wondering whether reality TV shows like Live PD and Cops are real or staged. Who knows? It's kind of ironic that shows like these are considered real while the evening news is considered fake. It's hard for me to tell what's real these days. Often nothing seems real.

I look presentable now, but few people will notice. The only interaction I've had with other people lately has been with repairmen and doctors. Sadly, I think that I may be talking with one of these repairmen again soon. The refrigerator seems to be getting warmer again. Maybe this is just part of the automatic defrost cycle and everything is normal. I'll wait until Monday to call the appliance repair shop. I'm hoping that I don't have to disassemble the freezer again to defrost the evaporator coil.

The refrigerator wasn't my only disappointment today. I thought I was going to be able to repair the damaged areas on the roof, but there was still water seeping out from under the elastomer coating, so I ended up having to remove more of the old coating instead. Luckily, the weather is supposed to remain clear through the weekend. If I can ever get the damaged areas to dry out, the repairs should go quickly.

I'm trying to get Dash prepared for the end of Daylight Saving Time. When we go back to standard time, it will be dark when we normally take our evening walk. It's hard to get all his protective gear on by myself, but I was able to get him outside for a mid-afternoon walk by waiting to suit him up until I knew he needed to pee. Instead of stopping so he could pee in the yard, we headed straight for the back gate. This worked pretty well, and as soon as we got to the park, we had a nice normal walk. I hope I can get him used to this new schedule, because we're not going to be able to wait for Janet to come home from work after the time changes.

Dash is walking very slowly. He seems to enjoy stopping and smelling things every ten feet, but I worry that his heart might be giving him problems again. I never rush Dash these days. If he wants to take an hour to walk around the block, that's fine. I've certainly got no place to go. The only things on my schedule are a seemingly endless list of broken things to fix around the house.

It would be nice if the refrigerator cools down again on it's own tonight. It would be even nicer if I can complete all my roof repairs tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be nice, but I don't really trust    weather forecasts anymore. If water gets under the bare areas I've exposed, I'm really in trouble.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2870

I left the house early this morning so I could get my lab work done before I ate breakfast. Like I always do, I asked these new guys if they could tell me my blood type. I think it's ridiculous that I'm almost 70 years old and don't even know my blood type. I've literally had hundreds of blood tests, but this is one test that nobody wants to do. "Insurance won't pay for it," they tell me. Why not? It seems like useful information that everyone should have. Apparently, the normal way to find out your blood type is to donate blood at a blood bank. This won't work for me. Nobody wanted my blood for decades because I had Hepatitis C. Blood banks probably still don't want my blood. The nurse said it would cost me $100 extra to run the blood type test. "Never mind," I told her. I don't know why this irritates me so much, but the fact that doctors have taken gallons of my blood to run complicated tests and refuse to do this simple one represents everything wrong with modern medicine to me.

While I was walking toward the elevator in the parking garage, I passed a section where every single car was a Porsche. This seemed odd. The place looked like a dealership. There were several Panamera's, a bunch of 911's, a Macan, and two Cayene's. I looked a little closer and wasn't entirely surprised to discover that this was the reserved parking area for doctors. Even my old doctor in the hood drives a Porsche. I'm amazed that it hasn't been stolen yet.

It's still hard to get used to a medical facility where the lobby isn't crowded and everyone is polite to me. I only had to wait a few minutes before they took me back to the lab for blood work. I have to drive a little further, but I think I'm going to like this place.

I fixed my regular breakfast smoothie when I got home, but it was more like lunch than breakfast. Since it was a warm, clear day, I had planned to spend the afternoon repairing the roof. I don't know why I thought I could do this quickly. Nothing happens quickly on the roof. I started by cutting out the section that had gotten ruined by the rain. When I cleared away the debris, I noticed that there was water seeping out around the edges of the square hole I had made in the coating. I'm beginning to think that there is a thin layer of water under the entire roof. I removed some more of the rubbery material, hoping that I would find the end of the water, but the asphalt under the elastomer coating was damp everywhere I looked. I gave up and went back inside. It was clear that I wasn't going to be able to re-coat this damaged area today. Luckily, there is no rain in the forecast. I'll let things dry out for a few days and try again.

I had a lot more success with the large format printer in my office. I finally managed to get the thing unclogged and running normally again. This is a pointless exercise since I don't make large prints anymore, but I can't stand the idea of having a large nonfunctioning piece of equipment taking up space in the office. The printer will clog again, but if I get the urge to make a huge print within the next two weeks, everything should be fine.

The gift card people finally refunded our money. It took four months and they were rude the entire time. They lost our documentation twice and basically treated us like we were the scammers. All I've got to say is don't ever buy a gift card at a grocery store. This scam is well documented on the Consumer Reports website. It is apparently not that hard for someone to get your information before you even buy the card and when you go to use it for the first time, the money is already gone.

I'm going to get a haircut tomorrow. This is the only time I go to the mall. I"ll probably stop at the Tesla store for a few minutes and look enviously at the Model X. Maybe I'll stop at the Apple Store to and see if I'm tempted by the iPhone X. In both cases, I'm guessing the X stands for x-pensive.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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