Day 1849

I got on the phone this morning and literally begged the appliance repair folks to expedite the shipment of the part needed to get my washing machine working again. In an era when you can get literally anything overnight using FedEx or UPS, it just doesn't make sense to wait a week for a washing machine part. After making my case, the company agreed to fix my machine on Friday. I still don't understand why they couldn't have fixed it today. Delays like this are one more reason I hate the whole concept of just-in-time sourcing. Nobody inventories anything anymore. Repair shops used to have huge warehouses full of parts. They don't want the expense of maintaining an inventory these days and prefer to just order things as needed. It's another sign of the apocalypse as far as I'm concerned.

When I went to my physical therapy appointment today I asked the therapist if everybody's shoulder made loud cracking and popping sounds like mine does when I'm doing the stretching exercises. "No, you're the worst I've ever seen," she told me. She also added that the next time I had a shoulder problem, I definitely shouldn't wait five years to look for a solution. The dentists I've been seeing have been basically telling me the same thing. What can I say? I'm great at taking care of the dogs. Not so good at taking care of myself.

I'm ready for Summer. I don't know how you Northerners can stand these frigid temperatures. One week of sub-freezing weather has just about brought me to my knees. The temperatures are still in the high twenties, but when you factor in the wind chill it feels closer to zero. I still don't understand why the dogs appear to like this weather. They get cold on longer walks, but when we follow our normal route, the seem to take the chilly weather in stride.

Work is getting busy again. I had several writing assignments today, along with one big website revision. This work, along with my physical therapy appointment and two dog walks completely used up my day. I was trying to explain to my physical therapist that it was difficult to find time for all the stretching exercises and she seemed perplexed. Most people think that if you work out of your house, you have an almost unlimited amount of free time. Not true! I had a lot more free time when I worked in an office. You really have to manage your time wisely if you want to make a decent living while still being a world class dog butler to two demanding Dalmatians.

The laundry is already stacking up. I'll readily admit that I'm obsessed with doing laundry. I hate seeing dirty laundry lying around the house. I can't stand a dirty car either and am always washing mine. Oddly, a dirty house doesn't bother me at all. Go figure.

Vegas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1035

Have you tried to buy a discontinued product lately? It used to be that you could often buy discontinued products for years after they'd been replaced. When stores kept their own inventories, they would often tempt you with fantastic closeout prices, just to get the items of their shelves. Everything has changed now. Most merchants have adopted "just in time" inventory policies and keep a bare minimum of products on their shelves. They depend on computers to tell them which products are popular and on the FedEx delivery man to deliver fresh supplies each morning. This makes it very easy for manufacturers to make products vanish almost instantly when they've been discontinued.

I only mention this because I've be trying to find some of those little square iPod nanos. They weren't discontinued all that long ago, but they've totally vanished from store shelves. I'm not surprised that you can't find these things at the Apple store anymore, but you'd think Fry's, B&H, Best Buy, or Radio Shack would have a few left. Nope! It's like the little square nano never even existed. I guess I could still find something on eBay, but I've grown weary of the bidding process. I prefer a transaction I can complete in twenty seconds.

Our beautiful Indian Summer continues. The days are noticeably shorter now and the leaves are starting to turn. I've started noticing more bird activity as well. Since I've already managed to get good pictures of all the critters that aren't scared of the dogs, it might be time to invest in a longer telephoto lens. There are lots of animals I routinely see in the distance, but can never approach because of Dot and Dash.

It was a typical Monday. There were very few requests all day. I used the extra time to finish up the few remaing projects from last week. As far as I can tell, I'm all caught up now. I wouldn't mind if tomorrow is a slow day as well. Of course, if the inactivity continues throughout the week, I'll start to get nervous. Being on your own is always a delicate balance. You want to make sure that there is always enough work to pay the bills, while still trying to avoid the overloads that drive you crazy.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 465

Welcome to the strange new world of manufacturing on demand. I found out today that since the new heat pump I need for my rental property isn't one of the common models you usually see at Home Depot or Lowes, nobody carries it in their inventory anymore. If I want one of these units, I have to order one and then the factory will build it for me. This obviously doesn't make my renter very happy, since it means another two or three weeks without an air conditioner. This seems to be the way things are done in the manufacturing world these days, however. I had the same thing happen several years ago when I needed an odd and hard to find faucet for the same rental property. It took almost a month to get this faucet manufactured and installed. I hope the air conditioner factory works a little faster.

Isn't is odd that the more "advanced" our society gets, the more we have to give up. Nobody wants to maintain a warehouse or stock inventory anymore. It isn't just building supplies either. Even clothing and shoe stores don't carry much merchandise anymore. If the store is out of stock, it's very likely that they will tell you to just buy the item you're looking for on the Internet. Personally, I liked things a lot better when every store had a big stock room in the back. Of course back when every store had a big stock room in the back, people would pump your gas for you too. I'm not old enough to remember when the milk man came to your house every day, but that must have been nice as well.

It seems to be taking me longer and longer to get the employee updates up on the websites I manage. As people have gotten to know me, they've started asking me to retouch their pictures before I put them online. I try to oblige when I can, even though it takes a bit longer. I don't know why companies do these employee pictures anyway. Nobody ends up liking their picture. I can't really blame them. If I come to take your picture on a day when you're wearing hospital scrubs, don't have any makeup on and just finished cleaning up dog vomit, you probably aren't going to look your very best either.

There is a message on my answering machine from my ex-wife saying she's going to be in town this weekend for the NCAA basketball tournament and would like to have breakfast with Janet and I. What was she thinking? Maybe it would be best to just ignore this call.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day