Day 3321

I got a bill from my web hosting company today. I've been a good customer. So why was my bill 30% higher than it was three years ago? This happens again and again. Companies continue to screw their best customers while simultaneously offering special deals to attract new customers. It doesn't make sense. The storage warehouse, the phone company, the cable company, and even my gym tend to raise prices annually for existing customers while at the same time offering special promotional prices to new customers. This is backwards. I've always thought the most loyal customers should get the best rates.

I play by the rules. I always pay my bills on time. I watch my weight. I monitor my blood pressure and cholesterol levels and do what it takes to stay within acceptable guidelines. I even make my bed every morning. Maybe this is why it seems normal to me that the Chinese government wants to surveil and classify every one of it's billions of citizens. Wouldn't you want to know who the good people are so you could reward them? Our country tends to do the opposite. We romanticize bad behavior, making heroes out of everyone from Bonnie and Clyde to Walter White. Hey, what could be more American than a high school chemistry teacher who turns himself into a drug kingpin.

When I go to the gym, I'm pretty sure that the other customers play by the rules, just like me. I see the same people over and over again. They are so dutiful, striding purposefully on their treadmills and stairmasters. I don't know who any of these people are, but we definitely need more of them. I'll take someone on a treadmill any day over someone riding around on a motorized shopping cart stocking up on Cheetos.

Dash got me up early enough this morning to see Venus and Jupiter close together in the predawn sky. Dash has been so good recently that I'd almost forgotten that every night is a potential disaster. He woke up as he was pooping in bed this morning and tried to get off the bed. This was a mistake. Since he wasn't fully awake, he stumbled and fell in the poop. Instead of an easily contained mess on a puppy pad, there was poop everywhere. I had to go outside and hose off the soiled bedding before it could go in the washing machine. While I was doing this, Janet was cleaning Dash. By the time we got everything cleaned up, it wasn't worth going back to bed again. So much for sleeping in late on Sunday morning.

I was going to clean the house today, but it took too much time to clean and dry all the laundry. Vacuuming can wait. Hey, Dash got two walks and all the poop is gone. That should be enough for one day. I still can't tell if the new My Pillow I got is helping me sleep because Dash keeps waking me up all the time. I don't think those happy people in the My Pillow commercials spend all their time cleaning up dog poop.

The weekend went quickly. It always does. Now it's back to five more days of fruit smoothies. At least the park will be empty again. It was super crowded today because the weather was so nice. Lots of people ask about Dash's red boots when the park is busy. I usually just tell them that Dash is old. I've learned that very few people are interested in a long winded explanation involving neurological disorders, heart problems, Plavix, and bleeding risks.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2284

I woke to the sound of distant thunder. With rain on the horizon, we quickly got the dogs ready, so they could take their morning walk before we all got wet. It wasn't a long walk, but everybody did their business and we got back home again without being struck by lightening. The rain didn't last long, but it will probably be back tomorrow. This is just normal Spring weather in Texas.

After breakfast, I took care of a few new website requests and confirmed Dot's appointment tomorrow at the cancer center. I was glad I made plans to get a haircut today, because there wasn't much else to do. I often do a little shopping at Northpark when I get my hair cut, but I had no desire this afternoon. I drove straight to the salon and was back home again an hour later.

While I was in the chair, I overheard a young millennial talk to his stylist about trying to decide whether to take a vacation or stay in town to study for a test. Nearby an older women was talking to her stylist about selling a large house to live permanently in a motorhome with her husband. Occasionally, I have things to say myself, but today I just listened. I didn't even stop at the Apple Store on the way home. Jeez, I usually love the Apple Store. I hope this isn't a sign that I'm becoming more reclusive. I'm reclusive enough already.

The refrigerator was pretty empty and I thought about picking up some Thai food for dinner. Then I remembered I'd have to go out in rush hour traffic to pick up the to-go order and decided to make a sandwich with the few remaining leftovers instead. It wasn't a great dinner, but it seemed appropriate, since it wasn't a great day either.

Dot was surprisingly strong today. Several times she got up from her bed by herself and surprised me by wandering into the office or the kitchen to see what I was doing. I was impressed that I didn't have to support her rear legs while she was eating dinner this evening. She wobbled a little, but managed to stay on all fours as she slowly and methodically ate her meal. She even pooped outside after dinner. Even though this was a good day for Dot, it's going to be hard to decide whether to continue her chemotherapy when I meet with the oncologist tomorrow.

It's also going to be hard to decide whether to return to my regular breakfast restaurant or try something else on the menu at the new place across the street. The new menu looks tempting, but I'd hate to see the old place go out of business because I was a fickle and unloyal customer. Most of the places I like tend to go out of business anyway, so I like to do what I can to support them.

The trash has been taken out to the curb. The dogs are ready for bed. I'm caught up on work for the week and a have a fresh new haircut. As long as it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'm good to go.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2272

I think I'm going to have to call the plumber again. In one end of the house the kitchen sink drains slowly. In the other end of the house, the shower drains equally slowly. This probably means that the entire waste water line needs to be snaked out. I'm always nervous about doing this because the cast iron pipes are fifty years old and the rotating snake that is used to clear debris can also damage the pipes. After our last plumbing disaster, I don't want any more plumbing problems under the slab.

I guess I'm tired of problems in general. I'm forgetting things that I always used to remember. My business is slowing down. The house is falling apart. The dogs have become very high maintenance companions. My own body no longer cooperates with me. It's tiring. I go to bed tired and I wake up tired the next morning. The golden years are a myth. Maybe the notion of a comfortable, carefree retirement has always been a myth for most people. My parents certainly didn't have an easy time of things as they got older.

I certainly don't expect a politician to fix things. When I listen to all the promises from the current crop of candidates, they just sound pathetic. Don't these folks realize that the country has essentially become ungovernable? We have allowed ourselves to become so polarized and divided that we are just a bunch of tribes pretending to be a unified country. People's loyalties are to their tribe these days, not to the country as a whole. I'm not sure this can be fixed. Whoever wins the upcoming election will face a large and vocal group of people on the other side trying to block everything they do. My tribe will probably end up just being the other old people. I'll vote for anyone who promises to strengthen Medicare and Social Security and cut my taxes to zero. Lofty speeches about making the country better for our children will go in one ear and out the other because I don't have any children. I'm sure young people with children will think differently.

Dot had a few accidents in the house today. These accidents have become so frequent that cleaning up poop has become just like dusting or vacuuming. I can't even remember any more whether we're having an accident free day or not. It just seems like the washing machine is going constantly. I guess it's a good thing that I'm getting more efficient at cleaning Dot up and changing the rugs and bedding. Dot can't help her incontinence, so there's no point in getting upset about it. 

All in all, it was just a normal Saturday. The dogs got taken care of. I went out and got some groceries. I did a little cleaning and wasted too much time looking at Facebook. I was mildly interested in tonight's election results, but only mildly. Tomorrow, I'll probably go to the gym. I've run out of excuses for avoiding the place.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2271

My breakfast restaurant seems different now. The food is still good, but something has changed. Maybe it's just that the coffee is served in paper cups now. The old baristas who jumped ship and moved across the street used real coffee cups. The music has changed too. The place used to play Austin indie rock. Now I hear 70's anthems by Journey and Foreigner. I'm a loyal person, but maybe I'll have to try out the new place across the street as well.

I might not be being fair to the restaurant though. For the past month or so, I just haven't been that interested in food. I initially thought this was because of the flu, but I'm better now and I'm still not very hungry. I typically go to the grocery store to pick up food for the weekend after breakfast and today I found myself just wandering aimlessly from aisle to aisle. Nothing seemed appealing.

Actually, the entire day was kind of aimless. I tried to glue a variety of broken things back together and then I took a watch to the watch repairman to get fixed. There was no real need to do this, since I still wear the Apple Watch all the time. Nevertheless, it seemed like a productive thing to do. I hadn't seen this watch repairman in almost two years and was a bit surprised to see that prices had doubled. Oh, well. I guess you've got to do what you've got to do to stay in business. The last time we talked, we both agreed that our respective businesses were going downhill. Today, when we were catching up on things, we both agreed that things had gotten even worse. Maybe fixing my watch will keep the guy in business a while longer.

Dot seemed stronger today. She slept well and was much more energetic and engaged on her walk this morning. I initially would have thought that she'd feel bad right after taking the Palladia pills. This doesn't seem to be the case. It almost seems like she's at her worst two days after she's taken the chemotherapy pills. I could just be imagining things though. I like to have an exact, very predictable reason for everything and sometimes there isn't one. I might just have to live with the reality that Dot has good days and bad days.

I saw my first wild iris of the season today. I've been taking pictures of plants and animals in the park for so long now, that seasonal changes have become very predictable. I could almost tell you to the day when certain flowers will bloom. I find this predictability comforting. I keep thinking that if I were just more observant, I could predict everything. That's not going to happen though. Real life is pretty random.

I can't decide whether the political events that are currently unfolding are random or completely predictable. It seems implausible that a 74 year old socialist is a serious candidate for president. It seems ironic that Bernie could actually win if he just realized that he was in a win or lose contest with a woman who wants to win at all costs. If Bernie was as passionate about pointing out Hillary's rather obvious flaws as he is about the evils of the big banks, Hillary wouldn't have a chance. It seems equally implausible that the Republicans are spending all their energy trying to destroy the own front runner. The ironic thing is that if the Republicans had super delegates like the Democrats do, they wouldn't even have to worry about Donald Trump. Oh, it's ironic too that Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump share pretty much the same views on trade deals that destroy jobs and opportunistic foreign wars. No wonder that the establishment hates both of these guys. My only prediction is that whoever wins won't be able to fix anything.

I really need to go to the gym this weekend. No predictions on whether I actually will.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2264

When I went to breakfast this morning, something seemed missing. The place was half empty and when I entered the building, the coffee roasters where I always got my morning coffee were gone. I was confused at first, but it didn't take long to figure out what was going on. Directly across the street there was a brand new competitive restaurant. The little coffee company that shared space with my restaurant, along with half the customers seemed to have jumped ship. I even noticed a number of familiar cars parked at the restaurant across the street. I found this all a little unsettling. Where did these people's loyalty go? Like me, most of these customers had been coming here for years. Jeez, I skip one week because of the flu, and when I return, everything had changed. You know how I feel about change. Now, every time I go for breakfast I'm going to feel torn between a sense of loyalty for my familiar meal and a sense of curiosity about what's just across the street. I would have preferred that this didn't happen.

After breakfast, I went to the nearest early voting location and voted. I still can't figure out why the early voting locations have modern touch screen ballots and the regular voting locations still use paper ballots where you select your candidate by making a black dot in front of the name with a pencil. I'm still a little suspicious of the electronic ballots, but I suppose my vote gets counted. Like I expected, there were several pages of judges to vote for. I had no idea who most of them were. Unless a judge has gotten involved in a scandal and been on the local news, I'll probably never recognize their name. I vote for judges the same way I bet on horses. I just pick a nice sounding name and go for it.

Dot did not want to go to the vet today. I had a hard time getting her in the car and when we arrived, I had an even harder time getting her inside the building. Usually, she is fine about going to the cancer center, but not today. I could tell she was nervous when we were sitting in the lobby, but I couldn't figure out why. There were no scans today or anything that might be remotely frightening. I felt bad. Dot struggled while the vet tech tried to draw blood and ended up getting a hematoma in her neck. The oncologist wants to continue her chemotherapy for another three weeks and then do another scan to measure the growth of the tumor in her liver. We'll decide at that point whether this has all been worth it.

Although voting and Dot's vet appointment ate up a big chunk of the day, I still managed to get quite a bit of work done. I completed a big website update, balanced my checkbook, and picked up something for dinner at the grocery store. That seems plenty for one day. Although it was still quite cold this morning, there's already a feeling of Spring in the air. The trees are starting to bud and I'm already starting to see some early Spring flowers. Spring flowers are always a good thing.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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