Day 3286

There were only two people at the gym when I arrived this morning. This is a huge facility with a basketball court, a running track, and an Olympic sized swimming pool, so it's always weird to see the place so empty. Maybe everybody had Christmas plans. My own plans seldom change, so I hope this gym is still around five years from now. The giant hospital chain that owns the place could easily decide that it wasn't worth keeping the lights on for two people.

The weather was clear and cold today. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. There wasn't even much dew on the ground when we walked Dash this morning, so I felt like the the silicon coating on the roof might actually have a chance to dry properly. After breakfast, I went up and took a look and was mildly disappointed that falling leaves had become stuck in the elastomer as it was drying. The crew also missed a spot, but it wasn't in a critical location. Hopefully, we'll be ready for the next band of thunderstorms that are headed our way.

A spring broke in my Aeron Chair today and the back no longer stays upright. Damn. When I bought this chair many years ago, they were guaranteed for life. I've had the chair repaired twice by Herman Miller, but the last time was well over ten years ago. Even back then, the lifetime guarantee was becoming the stuff of myth. It was kind of like the legendary JC Penny battery. A few people knew of the guarantee, but nobody had actually seen a chair that qualified. I think my serial number is low enough, but I lost my purchase receipt long ago since I bought the chair right after it was introduced in the early 1990's. I wonder if it is even worth the effort to try and get another free repair?

Dash's poop stayed on the puppy training pads last night, but then later in the day he pooped on the carpet in my office. I don't know why it never even occurred to me that the danger of an accident was just as real during the day. I guess I'm going to need to place a puppy pad under him at all times now. When he wakes up from a nap, it seems to take a lot more effort for him to get up. Sometimes this extra effort causes him to poop. There are different techniques to cleaning the bricks, the carpet, and the bedding. I'm becoming an expert at all three.

I listened to a show about big data on the way to the way to the gym where a researcher had compared the results of large scale surveys with Google searches during the same period of time. His conclusion was that everyone lies when taking a survey because we lie all the time. Even though the surveys were anonymous, people want others to think well of them. We tend to say we voted even when we didn't and tend to say we care even when we don't. Conversely, there is no incentive to lie when you are looking for something on Google. If you lie, you won't find what you were looking for. So, I guess Google knows what we are really thinking, but the politicians don't. Sounds about right to me.

I felt like taking a nap when I came home from the gym, but I vacuumed the house instead. Hey, I put a few more steps on the Fitbit that way. Sundays are often 20,000 step days. I wonder if staying active just to get a higher Fitbit number is a subtle form of lying? Who am I kidding? Everybody knows I prefer napping to vacuuming.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2487

Today was busier than I expected. As usual, it took forever to take care of my morning chores and get the dogs situated, but when I eventually got around to turning on the computer, there was lots of work waiting for me. I saw that I now had the information I needed for a long overdue website update, as well as a request for a new article. When I started working on the website, I saw a notice that there was a software update that would allow my responsive, mobile ready websites to load up to ten times faster. The good news was that all my clients would love for their websites to load faster. The bad news was that I now had to learn something new. Oh, well. Progress marches on, I guess. When I finished my update, the site actually did load faster. It certainly wasn't ten times faster, but maybe the modest speed increase was worth forcing my tired brain to remember even more complex code that I can barely understand.

Most of the articles I write are for products that I would never use myself. It can be challenging to make overpriced junk seem like something everyone needs to have, but I do the best I can. I've done this for years and years and I'm pretty good at it. Maybe this is why I'm somewhat amused when politicians call each other liars. Of course they're liars. Our whole society is based on lying. How long would you last at work if you told your boss or supervisor what you really thought? Do you actually believe everything you hear on the news these days? I didn't think so. So, maybe I embellished things a little when I wrote my article. No real harm was done. Hey, maybe somebody really loves this product. I can say nice things about almost anything. I'll leave the disparaging comments to those folks who write restaurant reviews on Yelp.

Dot is really getting weaker. I don't know what to do. She desperately needs daily exercise to keep her leg muscles from atrophying further, but she's not strong enough now to walk as far as she used to. It's a vicious circle. A lack of exercise makes her weaker, which forces us to decrease her exercise even further. In theory, the underwater treadmill can still help Dot, but she needs to be relaxed for the therapy to do any good. Riding in the car causes a lot of stress for Dot, so it negates most of the benefits of the therapy. We hesitate to extend her short walk around the block, since it's clear that this is about all she can handle. Maybe this is as good as it gets.

Dash has his own problems too, but they are completely overshadowed by Dot's deteriorating condition. It's hard to remain upbeat when your dogs are fading away in front of your eyes and your business is fading away at an equally alarming rate.  Everything, including my own health, appears to be headed downhill. I imagine that the blog was more fun to read when it was more about beginnings than about endings. That's not the way life is, unfortunately. We all reach the end of the line eventually. For now, the challenge is finding beauty in a life of diminished expectations. I complain a lot, but I actually am extremely grateful for each additional day we are given. Dot is still here. Dash is still here. Janet and I are still here. Tonight we'll get some sleep and tomorrow we'll start over again.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day