Day 2994

OK. I voted. I've never really liked primary elections because the candidates viciously trash each other and then act surprised when all their negative ads come back to bite them in the general election. Aren't you guys supposed to be on the same team? Both parties are guilty of wanting to win at any cost. I received so much negative advertising during this primary season that I basically think all the candidates are worthless. I'm convinced that we would be better served if the vast majority of politicians didn't start out as lawyers. Lawyers just want to win. It's a game to them. I'd rather be represented by somebody who owned a pizza restaurant or walked dogs for a living than a lawyer.

Hey, I still voted though, even though Janet probably shamed me into going to our neighborhood polling place. I've had a spotty voting history over the years. I didn't vote regularly when I was younger. I just didn't think it mattered which party won. There are times when I would have preferred a monarchy. Our adversarial system seems to promote rancor and discord. I'm not surprised we're a divided country. We talk a good game about working together, but nobody really makes the effort. It's much more satisfying to just trash the other side.

I spoke too soon about my cold being over. I woke up in a cold sweat again last night. I thought I must have a fever, but my temperature was only 96 degrees. Weird. The sheets were damp, so I went back to sleep on some dry towels and changed the bed in the morning. Janet and Dash never woke up, which is probably a good thing. I'm definitely tired of feeling lousy. Unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do to shorten the duration of a cold. You've got to just let it run its course. Most cold remedies only provide very temporary relief.

Dash is still being moody. He barks at me while I'm eating breakfast. When I take him outside, he refuses to walk. It took me forever to clean all the bedding this morning and as soon as I finished making the bed again, Dash hopped up and used the bedspread as a dishrag to wipe his dirty snout. I think Dash misses having another dog around. He was much better behaved when Dot was in the house.

The repair I made on my fitness tracker didn't even last one day. Apparently superglue doesn't stick very well to silicon. I really like the Jawbone UP trackers, but they aren't made very well. My desk is littered with broken ones. I'm not doing a good job of fixing anything these days. I'm starting to see frost on the inside of the freezer again and there is still an annoying dripping sound inside the toilet tank. I'm treading water at best. Basically, all the broken things are winning.

In case you were wondering, I never got around to working on my taxes today. I did take a nice picture of a Cedar Waxwing though. Oh, well. There's always tomorrow.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1673

The wheels of justice turn exceedingly slow. I arrived at the courthouse around 8 AM this morning for jury duty. By 9:30 AM, everyone sitting in the central jury pool had been administered the oath and assigned to a court. The rest of the day was spent in a lengthy and often tedious Voir dire process. I'm sure the attorneys eliminated some people as soon as they opened their mouth, but nobody was excused until well after 5 PM. This came as a shock to many prospective jurors who expected to be back at work by lunchtime.

This was a murder trial and the proceedings took forever as lawyers for both sides tried to find jurors who would be sympathetic to their case.  I don't think anyone wanted to be selected for this case. It appeared that a gang member had murdered another gang member and the defendant, who was in the courtroom, looked somewhat menacing. The defense lawyers asked prospective jurors if they could still be fair and impartial if they knew the testimony was coming from someone who had already been convicted of another crime. They asked us if we thought a uniformed police officer automatically has more credibility than someone with gang tattoos. Both sides asked us so many questions about what we thought constituted self defense that a lot of people, including myself, began to worry that this might turn into another Trayvon Martin trial. Nobody wanted to be on that type of jury. I was sitting on the front row during the selection process, so the judge said we would automatically be on the jury unless the prosecution or defense lawyers used one of their ten allotted strikes to eliminate me. As the day progressed, I became worried that I would be seated on the jury, since I really didn't have any good reasons why I couldn't serve. Luckily, one of the lawyers didn't think I would help his case and I was eliminated at the last minute. I was relieved. I wouldn't have wanted to be on this jury.

The dogs were relieved as well when I finally arrived at the vet around 6:30 PM to take them home again. I had to board them for the day, because I knew I'd be away too long to leave them alone. Nobody, including Dot and Dash, though I'd be down at the courthouse this long though. It was a very long day. Both dogs were indignant when I picked them up after their normal dinner time, but all was forgiven when I fed them as soon as we got home,

Since the judge admonished us several times not to say anything to anybody about the case if we were selected as jurors, I began to worry about the blog. What was I going to write about? Sometimes murder trials can go on for a long time. I even told the bailiff that I was a blogger and had posted something every day over five years without missing a single day. I wanted to know the specific ground rules, because as I told him, I had to write something every day. I wasn't going to let a murder trial stop me. If I couldn't write about the trial, could I write about the judge, or the other jurors? Maybe this is what eliminated me. Or maybe they didn't like that I had a hard time believing everyone truly enters the courtroom on an equal basis. Who knows? Maybe they though it was strange that in over a dozen visits to this courthouse, I had never been selected to sit on a jury. I'm still a jury virgin. Whatever the reason, I was glad to be able to go home at the end of the day and return to my normal life. They asked me to answer their questions honestly and I did. I'm glad they didn't ask if I thought the defendant was guilty, because he sure looked guilty to me.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1652

Another rainy day. I don't think I would mind the rain so much if the dogs were better sports about it. They not only hate the rain, they are fearful of it. It's not a good combination. I tried to time their morning walk between showers and was mostly successful. Dot is very practical on these rainy day walks. She does her business quickly and is immediately ready to turn around and go home. Dash, on the other hand, is oblivious to an approaching storm until he actually gets wet. Then he freaks out and wants to run all the way home, which of course Dot can't do anymore. I'm always happy when I get the two of them back home in one piece without getting drenched.

I got another jury summons today. I wish they'd just leave me alone. It's a huge waste of time to spend the day sitting in the jury pool. I never get picked to sit on a jury panel anyway. I've been doing this for years and years and lawyers for both sides don't seem to think I would be beneficial to their case. Almost inevitably, I am dismissed about 3 PM to go home without serving on a jury at all. Maybe I can postpone this summons one more time, but I have a feeling that I may have used up my allotted excuses.

There were more animal rescue websites to update this morning. I still think these websites are important, but I'm beginning to wonder if anyone reads them. Increasingly, adoptions and rescue communications are being handled through Facebook. Facebook just works better, because that's where the people are. Facebook has proved more effective for fundraising, for showcasing adoptable animals, and for raising awareness about important issues. I'm pretty sure that the only time people visit the rescue websites is when there's a link to them on Facebook.

Sadly, I could say exactly the same thing about this blog. I think there are only three people left in the entire world who actually leave comments on the blog itself. The rest see my posts only when they are syndicated to Facebook. In retrospect, I think blogging was most popular before social media existed. I remember lively discussions on all sorts of blogs that are largely silent now. Back in the day, even my business website got lots of comments and feedback. That would be unheard of now. Most businesses can't even get their customers to leave a short review on Yelp. Clicking on the "Like" button is all you're going to get these days. I'm as bad as the rest of you. All I do is click on the "Like" button, although I do wish sometimes there was a "Dislike" button as well.

I just looked at the weather report and it is supposed to rain for the rest of the week. Maybe this would be a good time to get to know those "hundreds of channels" I supposedly now have access to on my Roku streaming stick.

Rio is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1401

I continue to be surprised at how much I'm enjoying these Wednesday morning networking breakfasts. By all rights, I shouldn't be enjoying them at all. I'm not a morning person. I'm not very businesslike. And I'm definitely not very good at small talk. Perhaps I just enjoy breakfast in all of its myriad forms.

Today's presentation was from a trial lawyer member of the group about how to prepare yourself to give a deposition. This seemed to be useful information for almost everybody in the room, which just goes to show you what a litigious society we live in today. I found the entire presentation fascinating and wish I knew this information six months ago when I actually might have needed it.

Dot did very well at her physical therapy session today. She was strong enough to start using the underwater treadmill again and seemed to enjoy the exercise. She had an acupuncture session as well. I can't imagine being as relaxed as Dot with several dozen needles in me, but the treatment seems to be effective. I never though I'd see the day when Dot looked forward to a vet appointment, but she likes her physical therapy vet. On these Wednesday trips, I don't have to coerce her to get in the car at all.

The weather is still cold and rainy. So far, I've avoided turning on the furnace, mostly because it would be nice to have at least one month with reasonable utility bills. The day to inaugurate the furnace is coming soon though. I may turn it on tomorrow if it's as cold as it was this morning. Hopefully the furnace still works. Sometimes it fires right up and other times it needs a little help.

A cold house does keep me wide awake though. I didn't even come close to falling asleep at the computer and breezed right through my website and writing assignments. I noticed that the clouds seemed to be lifting a bit towards the end of the day. If it clears up tomorrow, I'll need to go up on the roof again and clear the water away. I'd rather go to the gym again instead of just pushing the big broom around on the roof, but we'll see how the day goes.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1306

I'm a little apprehensive about flying into the San Francisco airport these days. I'm even more apprehensive about being selected for jury duty. I'd hate to be selected as a juror in a high profile trial. These things have turned into gladiator events with the media whipping the proponents for both sides into a frenzy. In today's increasingly polarized society, it wouldn't matter whether you reached a verdict of guilty or innocent. Whatever you decided, half of the country would hate you. The courts don't make much of an effort to protect their juries either. Once the trial is over, everybody knows who you are.

I probably don't have much to worry about though. Although I have sat reading magazines in the jury pool room more times than I can remember, I've never been selected for a jury panel. Usually, as soon as I declare my occupation as "writer," I am dismissed. Twice, I made it as far as the Voir dire process, but the lawyers on both sides didn't like the way I answered their questions. I'm not exactly sure what most lawyers are looking for in a jury, but I'm definitely not it.

Even more worrisome than being selected for a jury is the thought of being tried by one. It's a sobering experience to walk into a Walmart and realize that the motley crew of shoppers inside might someday constitute a jury of your peers. This frightening thought has been more than enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.

The dogs hogged so much of the bed last night that I found it difficult to sleep. I had so little room that I might as well have been sleeping on a 2x4 plank. When Dot and Dash were younger, they would curl up in tight little balls when they slept. Now they stretch their legs out as far as they can. It doesn't leave much room for the people. I probably didn't need a lot of sleep last night though. I certainly didn't do much today. It was way too hot. I made juice out of the remaining supply of tangerines. I put clean sheets on the bed. I went to the store and got another month's supply of trash bags and paper towels. The dogs got a short walk too. When the temperature is 102, you try to keep everything you do outside on the short side.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1158

I kind of wish that the lawyers hadn't canceled my deposition today. It would have given me something to do. More importantly, it would have given me something to talk about. As it stands, there isn't much to talk about at all. The weather turned cold again. The work-front turned quiet. There weren't even any overheard conversations when I went out and had a veggie omelet at my favorite breakfast restaurant.

Out of boredom, I drove over to my nutritionist and asked him why my potassium levels continue to rise. Jeez, I like bananas, but I certainly haven't been eating that many bananas. He told me I wasn't drinking enough water. In fact, he told me that I should be drinking twice as much water as I am now. Damn! I really don't like water. I guess what has happened is that as I've been slowly been eliminating beer, wine, liquor, lemon aid, soda, and all sorts of other tasty beverages from my diet, I haven't been replacing the liquids with water. I never really noticed the change, since I am seldom thirsty, but it evidently made a difference. Now, I've got to drink a lot of water in addition to all the other stuff I'm doing. You'd think there'd be a least one vice that was actually good for you, So far, I haven't found any.

Wasn't it weird that the ten ton meteor that injured thousands in Russia arrived on the very same day as that asteroid that nearly hit us today. I wonder if the meteor was a chunk that fell off the asteroid? Maybe this is how it will all end someday. They say than an asteroid hitting the earth was what wiped out the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were pretty tough. I bet a much smaller asteroid could wipe us all out pretty handily. We probably won't need a stray asteroid to finish us off though. I'm sure we'll figure out how to totally screw up the planet all by ourselves. Here's something to think about. That Russian meteor came to earth only 60 miles away from a massive Russian nuclear facility that currently holds tons of weapons grade plutonium. In cosmic terms, that's almost a direct hit.

Enough about the end of the earth though. I'm more concerned about putting an end to the bugs that have invaded my house. I saw only one bug today, and that was a dead one. This is a dramatic improvement from this time last week. This is one battle I'm going to win. I think I'll eventually win the battle against diabetes and liver disease too. It just might take a little longer.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1140

It's hard to believe that it's been 27 years since the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. It seems like yesterday. I was still working in an ad agency at the time, but only four years away from starting my own company. We all watched in total disbelief in the agency conference room as the shuttle disintegrated on live TV. Space flight has always been dangerous. I was an avid fan of the Apollo program when I was in college and was devastated when a fire destroyed the first Apollo capsule, killing all three astronauts. Years later, I actually heard the sonic boom as the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas during re-entry. I was walking the dogs at the time and didn't even realize what the loud noise was until I turned on the TV when I got home. Despite all the danger, I still wish we had become a spacefaring nation instead of a nation of whiners. It would be nice to see a colony on Mars during my lifetime. I have my doubts that this will ever happen though.

The law works in mysterious ways. I got a letter telling me that my subpoena had been withdrawn. Then, less than two hours later I got a call telling me that I had been subpoenaed all over again. WTF?  When I asked what was going on, the lawyer told me that after giving the matter some thought, they felt bad about having me served and decided to withdraw the first subpoena. He said they usually only served people who they thought would be hostile witnesses. OK. That sounds good to me. When I asked why I received a second subpoena, he said "Well, we still need your testimony."

I really can't figure out the weather we're having this winter. One day, it's bitter cold and I have to put on the dogs winter coats before we venture outside. The next day it could be sunny and seventy degrees. Back and forth like this it goes. Today was totally confusing. For most of the day it was gloomy and grey like you'd expect on a Winter's day. The temperature was 75 degrees though. This was much more like Summer.

Temperatures aren't the only thing that's been confusing me lately. I've been trying to come up with a healthy, low cholesterol diet that I can maintain indefinitely. It's not as easy as it seems. Yeah, I know I should eat oatmeal for breakfast, snack on raw walnuts, have plenty of fresh fruit, and substitute fish for red meat whenever I can. All this sounds great. I just haven't been able to put everything together in a tasty but brainlessly easy to follow menu yet. I did have some walnuts today though.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1137

Why do people want to get me involved in their legal troubles? I already have plenty of doctors who are trying to scare me. The last thing I need are a bunch of lawyers trying to do the same thing. It was hard for me to get anything done today because attorneys on both sides of this lawsuit I got the subpoena for were calling me to ask what I'd told the other side. My answer was simple. I just did exactly what the court order told me to do. No more, no less. At least both attorneys agreed that this was the best thing to do. One of the lawyers asked me who the opposing lawyer was. When I told him, he said "Oh, I went to law school with him. He's a great guy." Small world, isn't it.

Sometimes I think I'd make a good lawyer. This is usually just when I'm watching old episodes of Perry Mason though. Janet, who knows much more about the law than I do, tells me that I'd make a terrible attorney. She's probably right. I can't even get picked for jury duty. When I tell people that I'm a writer during voir dire, the attorneys from both sides shun me like I had the plague.

It was another foggy day today. The fog didn't lift this time though. It was grey outside all day. I meant to take my car to the Land Rover dealer this afternoon, but ran out of time. I went to Autozone instead and bought another quart of oil. This is probably how the roof problem got so bad. I just keep putting things off.

Did any of you buy Apple at 700?  I'm sure glad I didn't. I was very tempted to buy the stock several times when it seemed invincible. Reluctantly, I followed my financial adviser's advice and resisted the temptation. I think I owe the guy an apology, because he apparently knew a lot more about Apple than I did. He kept telling me that Apple was going to fall, while I kept thinking that it was headed straight toward 1000 like some of the analysts were predicting on TV. Oh well, live and learn.

I almost took the pills that my new doctors told me to discontinue this morning. I need to hide these pills away somewhere, so I won't take them by mistake. I'm a creature of habit, just like my dogs.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1135

When the dogs and I returned from our walk this morning, there was a process server waiting for us on the front porch. I was served with a subpoena. WTF? Why would anyone sue me? I am one of the most unlikely people on the planet to get involved with a lawsuit. I don't do much of anything and I rarely even see people. When I read through the legal documents I had been served with, I discovered that I wasn't being sued after all. Instead, I was being asked to give a deposition. It was one of my clients who was being sued and they apparently decided to drag me along for the ride. According to Janet, this probably wasn't a wise decision. She doesn't think I should even be allowed in a courtroom. "You talk too much," she tells me. When I told her about the deposition, she admonished me to just answer the lawyer's questions. "Don't try to regale the court with all your weird long-winded theories," she said. "It won't end well."

I saw some kids painting on the trunk of a dead tree the other day, so this morning I walked over to the tree to get a closer look at their handiwork. It actually looked kind of cool. Especially when framed as a square Instagram photo. This chunk of tree art reminded me of my friend Chuck in Seattle. He used to tell me that anything was art if you put it in a nice frame. To prove his point, he gathered up a bunch of trash he found on the street, flattened it out, and had the debris professionally framed. The resulting "pictures" eventually wound up in a gallery show and ended up getting good reviews.

Erykah Badu drove by in her big black Porsche Panamera while the dogs and I were walking past her house this morning. Sometimes I'd like to be a celebrity driving a big black Porsche. It probably isn't all it's cracked up to be though. I'm probably better off just walking dogs and taking pictures of painted tree trunks. I remember meeting Richard Petty once back in the days when I was doing Pepsi commercials. He was a real nice guy and insisted on eating Kentucky Fried Chicken out of a big bucket with me and the film crew at lunch instead of going off with the clients to a fancy restaurant. The guy seemed so tired though. You had to yell in his ear because he was stone deaf from years of racing. Whenever there was a break in the filming, his business manager put him to work signing autographed posters. All day long he signed these things wearing a special glove so he wouldn't get carpal tunnel. What kind of a life is that? I bet celebrities get sued a lot too.

I've got to go see the doctors at the liver institute tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to that at all.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 968

I got a couple of checks in the mail today that were part of a class action settlement that I didn't even know I was a part of. Apparently I was swindled by Merrill Lynch more than twenty years ago on a mutual fund transaction. We're not talking big money here, but the settlement was better than the typical discount coupon "good for a free dessert" that you usually get after these class action lawsuits. I'm convinced that class action suits were invented by lawyers to benefit other lawyers. The class, or injured party in these cases rarely gets a dime.

Now that I think of it, this is the second time I've received money as a result of a class action suit against Merrill Lynch. Is it any wonder that people don't trust Wall Street anymore? The whole thing happened so long ago that I don't even remember buying the stock that was involved in this big brouhaha. Truthfully, I've made so many poor investment decisions over the years, that the performance of this poor manipulated stock was probably no worse than many of the honestly purchased dogs in my portfolio.

It was probably good that the greedy lawyers send me a little surprise moolah this month. My company certainly didn't bill out a huge amount in August. Every month when I take my humble stack of invoices to the post office, I simultaneously marvel that my small business is still relevant after all these years, while wondering how much longer I can continue on the small amount I currently bring in. I'm also wondering now if the good years would have been even better if Merrill Lynch wasn't quietly skimming money off the top.  I think I have the last laugh though. I'm still around, and Merrill Lynch isn't.

I'm wondering whether it's going to take 20 votes or 2000 to get my Instagram Gallery up and running. If any of you saw my pleas on Twitter or Facebook yesterday, I hope you voted for me. I actually think this might be a good thing. I've taken a ton of flower pictures that would look pretty darn good printed on canvas in someone's apartment. I also like the idea of an Instagram stock photo agency. I've been plagued with rejections from traditional stock photo agencies for years because they said the files I sent them contained "artifacts." Whatever! The images look good to me and they actually print out pretty well too. I think it would be a godsend to actually have a stock photo agency that was looking for poor quality photos. Nobody's Instagram pictures are all that good technically, because they all come from cell phones. This new Instagram Gallery might be exactly what I need. Finally, I wouldn't have to compete with someone's $25,000 Hasselblad.

I'm trying to think of someplace different to go for breakfast tomorrow. I think I've totally exhausted the menus of my four regular breakfast haunts. It's time for something new. Not necessarily better, mind you, just new.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day