Day 3736

I'm still getting used to the new normal. Lots of people were walking their dogs in the park today. There were more people without dogs as well. Hey, exercise and fresh air are good things. There was a lot less traffic as well. In Dallas that's a great thing. It's ironic that now that the roads are finally clear, there is no place to go. I feel bad for all the restaurants and small businesses in our neighborhood. Nobody is going anywhere. I wonder if some of these restaurants will survive.

The grocery stores are still doing well. If you're going to get the coronavirus, it will probably happen in a grocery store. This is the only place left where people tend to congregate. Everyone is still looking for water and toilet paper. I saw several people waiting for the bus carrying big packages of toilet paper and nothing else.

I don't think I need to worry about a lack of fruit and fresh vegetables. The produce aisles in most stores are still well stocked. Apparently, people can go without food, but not without toilet paper. I'm having trouble finding distilled water for my coffeemaker. Is there anything special about distilled water? I initially thought it would be easier to find than regular bottled water. I can't find rubbing alcohol either. I guess people started buying that when the stores ran out of hand sanitizer.

My life hasn't changed much. I've been living in a semi isolated state for decades. Even when my business was busy, I rarely saw clients face to face. Most of my business was conducted over the Internet. It's amazing how much you can get done when you aren't distracted by meetings and office politics. I have a feeling that when this pandemic has run its course, a lot of people aren't going to want to go back to work. Working from home isn't so bad.

I'm really glad I got to attend the Solar Orbiter launch and spend a week out at McDonald Observatory before the world changed. Those were the only trips I had planned this Spring anyway. Lots of people's vacations are being rescheduled as we speak. This is definitely not the time to be visiting Italy or taking a cruise. This won't last forever though. I have a feeling that there are going to be some tremendous travel bargains later in the year.

I hope that large companies and our own government are finally starting to realize that it's not a good idea to outsource production to countries that can make the stuff cheaper. Wouldn't you rather pay a little more for your medicine in return for the security that it was always going to be there when you need it. We could solve so many problems if we made our own stuff again. I can remember when every little town had a factory. It was these thousands of factories that kept people employed and helped our parents and grandparents win World War II.

Mistakes have been made, but hopefully we can learn from them. Personally, I hope that things don't return to normal when all this is over. I like the fact that there is dramatically less traffic on the roads. Maybe we'll all discover that we don't need to drive as much. They say air quality has improved as well. There are already dramatic air quality improvement in China because their factories aren't churning out an endless supply of things we don't really need. Could we solve the global warming problem just by consuming less? It's worth a try.

I hope I don't get the virus. I hope you don't either. Until the panic subsides, I'll just continue doing what I've always done. I'll make my smoothie in the morning. I'll take long walks by myself. I'll get to know Dawn a little better. And I'll write my blog in the evening. As far as I'm concerned, life is good.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2240

I felt something bite me on the neck while I was sitting at the computer this morning. When I looked in the mirror, I discovered it was a tick. Damn. This is the second time this year I've found a tick crawling on me. Ironically, the dogs are completely free of ticks. Now that we've finally found an effective flea and tick preventative for the dogs, I think the ticks have started looking for greener pastures. Apparently, I look pretty appetizing.

The adapter I ordered arrived today, but unfortunately it didn't fit very well. It was supposed to snap into place on top of a battery plate to allow a different type of battery to be used. The connection was just too snug for a reassuring snap. I could press the thing halfway into place, but that was it. I called the manufacturer and the service representative told me to press harder and that if the adapter broke, he'd send me a new one. This wasn't very reassuring. I suspect that if I look very closely, I will find the words Made in China stamped on the poorly fabricated piece of junk.

This must have been my day to talk with customer service representatives because when I finished talking to the guy from the lighting company, I got a call from the company that makes my fitness band. "Are you still having problems," she asked. Of course I was still having problems, so we spent the next twenty minutes talking about possible solutions. I'd already tried most of the things she'd suggested, so the conversation basically went nowhere. After we'd talked for a while, she told me that my fitness tracker was out of warranty and she couldn't replace it anyway.

Dot was panting more than usual today. We almost didn't give her a walk this morning, but she quit panting and seemed perfectly normal once we were outside. Later in the day, she started panting again, just walking around the house. I was going to take her temperature, but I couldn't find the dog thermometer. Eventually, I found two digital thermometers, but I wasn't sure which one was for people and which was for the dogs. I got this wrong once before and all the sudden we had two dog thermometers. You kind of hate to put a thermometer in your mouth after it's been in a dog's butt. 

I was confused about an upcoming photo shoot, so I called the client to get some clarification. She didn't really know what was going on either and told me to just show up on the specified day and go with the flow. OK. I can do that. That's basically what I do every day. It would be nice to know what I was supposed to do, but in all honesty it won't make a big difference. Sometimes work is actually easier when you don't know what you're doing.

Dot pooped in her bed twice today. She didn't even wake up when she had the accidents, which is definitely a new development. In the past, Dot was always aware of what was going on and made an effort to get up and move away from the mess. If this happens in her sleep now, it probably means that something is getting worse. There are all sorts of subtle signs that Dot is slowly going downhill, but since she still has her good days, it's easy to convince yourself that everything is fine. Every week, I make a list of new developments for the vet, but there not much more I can do to slow down the aging process. We just do our best to keep her comfortable and happy.

Maybe I'll have something exciting to tell you tomorrow. Nah. Just kidding. Nothing ever happens on Wednesday.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2165

I didn't have time to take a shower this morning because I was waiting for the HVAC guy to come over and give me an estimate for installing a whole house dehumidifier. The HVAC guy was running late, so he didn't make it over at all. Damn, I could have taken a shower after all. I tried real hard to be on time for Dot's physical therapy session, but I was late too. I just can't seem to get Dot out of the house in the mornings. If I point her toward the front door, she inevitably wants to go out the back door. I always oblige, because I think she might need to pee. I'd rather be late than have Dot pee in the car. For the second week in a row, I had to stop the car midway to the vet's office to re-position Dot after she had gotten stuck in an awkward position. Oddly, nobody seemed upset when we arrived fifteen minutes late. I suspect they were running late as well. It was just that kind of day.

There was extra laundry this morning because Dot pooped in her bed again. It's just as well that I didn't take a shower, because I discovered that there is still a leak in the shower pan. My caulking job appears to have failed. When people ask if life has returned to normal after the pipe leak, I just smile and say yes. It's easier to keep my mouth shut, because I know that nobody wants to hear what I really feel. At this point I don't think life will ever return to normal. I've kind of forgotten what normal is.

Even work was problematic today. For some reason only one of the four web cameras seemed to work after I created four new pages where customers could view the cameras online. Since the embed code for all the cameras was more or less the same, I couldn't figure out what was wrong. After talking with the client, we unplugged each of the cameras and then plugged it in again. This is what you do with electronic devices when you can't think of anything else. The reboot seemed to work. The client can see all the cameras now, although they still don't work in Firefox for me. Instead of scratching our heads for the rest of the day, we decided to tell people just to not use Firefox to view the website. Works for me. Very few people actually view the cameras anyway.

Janet had an office Christmas party tonight, so I had to improvise a way to take Dot on her evening walk without Dash at her side. I ended up walking backwards down the alley with a treat in my hand so Dot would follow me. Eventually her sense of smell kicked in and she started walking on her own, but it seemed to take us forever to go a single block. You have to be patient with Dot. If you try to hurry and don't give her plenty of time to poop on her own schedule, she'll inevitably go in the house five minutes after you return home.

I finally found a portable dehumidifier in a store that I could actually see and touch. The machine looked flimsy and was made entirely out of plastic. Yup. It was made in China. I remember the online reviews for this model said that the water reservoir was very hard to empty without spilling water on the floor. I tried to remove the reservoir on the showroom model and concluded that the reviewers were right. I'd be spilling water big time if I tried to empty this awkward plastic bucket when it got full. I still don't know what to buy, but I definitely know what I'm not going to buy.

As if to prove that this was not an auspicious day, a PVC pipe connected to an outdoor sprinkler system in the park broke right as Dash and I were walking over it on our evening walk. We were immediately soaked. Don't even ask why the city is putting a sprinkler system out in the woods in a public park. Just another example of your tax dollars at work.

I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. I don't really expect Friday to be any different than today, but it would be nice to start things off with an hour of relative peace and quiet.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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