Day 3242

The move is complete. I was really happy with the movers I hired. They were on time, courteous, and stayed within their estimate. They even helped me pack the loose items in boxes. I picked these guys because they had the best Yelp reviews. I guess that's how you do things these days. A few good Yelp reviews don't mean anything, but when they're all good you can usually rely on the results. I need to remember to leave a good review myself. I'd use these guys again.

The new storage unit is slightly smaller than the old one. It is twenty square feet smaller to be exact. This is unfortunate, because the metal industrial shelves don't fit quite as well. The movers and I eventually found a place for everything, but this new unit is a lot closer to being full than I had hoped. It's a good thing I threw away a lot of empty boxes. If I had kept everything, I don't think it would have fit.

After the movers helped me arrange the shelving and place the really heavy items on the lower shelves, they left me to sort out the rest. I was happy with this, because it allowed them to stay near the low end of their estimate. I spent the next two hours filling the shelves with a large assortment of boxes on the floor and then I dragged my aching body home and took a nap. Hopefully, my lower back and shoulder will recover soon. Right now, I feel a hundred years old.

This ended up being a very long day because it started around 4:30 AM by cleaning up poop on the floor. As he often does these day, Dash went outside to pee and went back inside and immediately pooped on the living room floor. He doesn't do this on purpose. I just don't think he's aware that he needs to poop until it starts coming out. Dash went back to sleep, but I wasn't so lucky. I stayed in bed and watched TV for a while until it was time to get up and give Dash his morning walk.

We tried to pack Dash's rear paws with gauze this morning before putting his socks on. In theory, this should have eliminated the possibility of abrasion, but one of his paws still bled a little when we returned. The boots are wearing out faster too, because Dash's paws are turning under more as he walks. Basically, his rear legs continue to get weaker and there's nothing we can do to stop it. If Dash would learn to ride in the car, I could take him downtown for water therapy like I used to do with Dot. This is out of the question though. Dash is horrible in the car.

I was so tired today that I felt I deserved pizza and a beer for dinner. Janet loves pizza, but it always gives me heartburn. Occasionally, it's worth the heartburn. I took a Prilosec and hoped for the best. The pizza was great. We'll see how well I sleep tonight. I wish I had an iron stomach. I love pasta and bread, but they have to be reserved for special occasions now. Anything that includes tomato sauce as an ingredient is a red flag. I can't handle tomatoes at all.

I'm glad I completed the storage warehouse move. I guess it was worth it. Even after paying the movers, I ended up saving quite a bit of money. I still don't understand why the old warehouse had no  interest in keeping me as a customer. I was a good customer. They seemed determined to get rid of me by raising my rent every single year until I'd finally had enough. My new storage unit is about the same size and I'm only paying about half as much.

I hope Dash has a good night. I really need to catch up on my sleep.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3237

It's easy to tell when I've been a little too ambitious. Every joint in my body aches. Today I thought I'd combine a workout at the gym with a workout at the storage warehouse. One of these activities would have been enough.

I certainly don't get much exercise on my morning walks with Dash these days. He's become incredibly slow. He still seems to enjoy his walks and I let him take all the time he needs. He stops about every ten feet to smell things. If the smell is particularly interesting, he sometimes forgets about his rear legs and falls over. I'm beginning to think his vision is failing and he's smelling his way along the path. Today he bumped into a clearly visible fence. He might have just had his head down smelling things, or maybe the glare of the rising sun obscured his vision. It's not like Dash to collide with a fence. I hope he's not going blind.

I did really well on the basketball count today. There is no rhyme or reason to this. I did use a different ball today because I couldn't find my favorite one. Maybe the new ball explains things. I bet I would have done terribly if I'd gone to the gym after the storage warehouse. Moving wore me out today.

My goal this afternoon was to disassemble some of the metal industrial shelving, move it to the new warehouse and then put it back together again. In theory, this should have been easy, but it wasn't. The shelves were heavy and once I took them apart, they were very difficult to assemble again. A couple of the metal parts had become bent and the holes for the bolts didn't line up anymore. Apparently these shelves weren't meant to be assembled more than once. I didn't have the right tools with me either. Instead of a hammer and a heavy pair of pliers, I settled for a rock I found in the parking lot. Eventually, I got the first shelf reassembled at the new warehouse. It's not very pretty, but it will work. I hope I never have to move these things a third time.

There are still five more of these large industrial shelves. I don't know if I have the energy to take them all apart. I think it's time to get another estimate from a mover. With a large truck and a couple of muscular guys you could move all of these shelves intact, without disassembling anything. When I finish this more it may be time to curtail strenuous activity like this. I'm too old for this shit. It's time to stop moving heavy boxes, climbing on the roof, and pushing a heavy lawn mower up a hill.

It was a strenuous day, but a shower, a nice dinner, and a slow evening walk with Dash helped me unwind. I'm happy with the morning part of today's time change, put not the evening part. It gets dark way too early. I walked Dash before dinner tonight while there was still daylight. This will be our new routine until Spring. There are still quite a few clocks to reset. Some of them probably aren't worth the trouble. In four months the time will be correct again.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 890

Politicians, are you listening? Please stop making those robo-calls to my house every five minutes.You guys are relentless this year. I must get ten calls a day. Day in and day out the calls continue. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. Your incessant badgering is irritating and the more I hear your message on my phone, the less likely it is that I will ever vote for you. Personally, I think if they played these robo-calls over and over again at Gitmo, they would be more effective than waterboarding.

One problem with managing dozens of websites is that occasionally everyone wants something at the same time. Today was one of those days. As soon as I finished making a change on one client's website, I got a request to change another. The website change requests today were almost as frequent as the political robo-calls.

At least the weather was nice today. I had a great walk with the dogs this morning. The temperature was mild. There was a nice breeze. Best of all, there was no pollen in the air and my allergies didn't bother me. I wish every day was like this, but I'm lucky if I get to enjoy three or four days a month without allergy related sneezing and wheezing. I'll take what I can get though. Today was perfect.

When I finished my webmaster and writing assignments for the day, I went over to the storage warehouse and started assembling another section of poorly made Chinese industrial shelving. I can't believe how flimsy these things are. The brand on the box says Gorilla or Rhinoceros or something. The blurb on the side of the box brags that the shelves are rated for commercial use and that each individual deck can hold over 200 pounds. That would mean that the six tier section I put together today should hold up to 1,200 pounds. Not very likely. The thing would crumple like tin foil if I loaded it with 1,200 pounds of stuff.

I don't know why poor quality bothers me so much, but it does.  Power tools are made of plastic these days. The bodywork on your car is half as thick as it used to be, and to add insult to injury, you are charged more for the flimsy material. Energy efficiency, they call it. All cameras should be made like Leicas and Hasselblads. All cars should be as durable as the old Saabs they used to make from Swedish steel. Who needs Wal-Mart at all? My problem is that I think my toaster should be just as good as my iPhone.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 881

What the hell? There was a clear blue sky this morning. The weather was beautiful. The roof was dry. Nevertheless, there was water dripping from the ceiling in the living roof when I woke up. This wasn't clear water either. It was stained a dark brown. The only thing I could figure was that this water had leaked through the roof sometime during last week's rains and then traveled along the wooden framing until it found a hole in the Sheetrock ceiling below and entered the house. Like Dr. Who said during the Waters of Mars episode, "Water is patient. Water always wins."

I assembled my new industrial shelving over at the storage warehouse this afternoon. There are three generations of industrial shelving over at the storage space and each new shelf is shoddier than the previous one. The first shelves I bought were so tough that you could stack them full of lead pipes if you wanted. They were made in America. The second set were manufactured in China, used thinner steel and had particle board decking. The shelves I bought this weekend were absolute rubbish. The steel was so thin and flimsy that it kept bending out of shape while I was assembling it. I think that the decking was made of plastic this time. All the shelves were exactly the same dimensions. They was all roughly the same price too. Somebody had just decided that if fewer materials were used in manufacturing, there would be more profit. This is the problem with a lot of stuff you buy from Lowes, Home Depot and Wall Mart these days. The prices are great. The quality, unfortunately is not always so great.

I took my watch back to the repair shop today. They apologized for charging me for the repair, even though they had done absolutely nothing. Easy mistake to make I guess. I've probably charged people for doing absolutely nothing myself. At any rate, they promised to make things right and do all the repairs I had originally asked for at no additional charge. I don't even know why I'm fixing this watch. There is nothing special about it and it will probably just gather dust again when the repairs are complete.

I had thought that there would be more room in the bed at night now that it's just me and the dogs for a while. No such luck. Somehow, Dot and Dash have figured out how to stretch out even further than they did before and once again I find myself scrunched in a corner on the edge of the mattress. I don't know how two Dalmatians can take up so much space.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day