Day 3473

I found out this morning that the article I finished yesterday about my trip to Kennedy Space Center has already been accepted for publication in the August issue of Spaceflight Magazine. I was stunned. All I could think was wow, that didn't take long. It isn't every day that you can write an article on Thursday, send it off, and get it accepted by an internationally recognized magazine on Friday. Some of you may never have heard of Spaceflight Magazine, but it's a big deal for people who follow astronomy and space. This well respected British publication has been around since 1956 and is still considered by many to be the authoritative reference for information about international space programs and commercial space exploration. It's not the New York Times, but for a space geek like me, it's exactly where I wanted to be.

This new development gave me hope that I may become a space journalist yet. Hey, it could happen. There was a time when I wrote so much about Dalmatians that I ended up becoming a contributing editor for The Dalmatian Quarterly. I loved that little magazine. Much later I became fascinated by watches and ended up writing frequently about the watch industry. I wrote hundreds and hundreds of articles about watches until that ship finally sailed. I haven't written much lately, but the blog keeps me in practice.

I've kind of been on Cloud 9 all day thinking about what might lie ahead. I may never be published again, but that's not what typically happens. One thing very often leads to another. I learned long ago that if something falls in your lap, you must seize the opportunity and run with it. I'm definitely going to apply to attend more of these NASA events in the future. I won't get accepted for all of them, but persistence does pay off. One of these days I'll be watching a launch again and I'll write about that one too.

I was excited to find a brand new breakfast restaurant this morning right in my own neighborhood. I noticed this place while I was driving toward the once trendy restaurant that has fallen off the map lately. I immediately turned around to try the new place, but unfortunately it wasn't open yet. The reason it looked open was that there was a training meeting for new employees going on. The manager told me that the restaurant will be opening for business on Monday. Guess where I'll be going next Friday morning?

Has anyone seen that new movie Yesterday? Some people love it and others hate it, but this sounds like something that I might actually go see in a theater. I love the unlikely premise that after a freak bus accident during a strange and largely unexplained global blackout, a struggling singer/songwriter wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. For some reason this guy still remembers, starts singing their songs to a world that has never heard of The Beatles and becomes an overnight success. Kind of a wacky little fantasy film, but I've always loved the music. I think I'll go see this film.

Another hot day. Another sweaty walk. Another uneventful breakfast away from home. Life is good though. I'm a happy camper today.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3369

When I was walking Dash today, a couple stopped us and asked me if I knew the area. "Kind of," I said. We're lost, the guy said and we can't find our car. This seemed strange to me. There aren't very many parking lots in the park and they are all clearly defined. I asked the couple if there were any buildings they could describe near where they parked. They mentioned a few that I recognized. They were on the opposite side of the lake. "You guys are at least eight miles away from your car," I said. "It's over there," I told them, pointing at something near the horizon. The couple seemed discouraged. How could somebody walk so far without having any idea where they were going? I have a pretty good sense of direction, so getting lost this way seemed almost incomprehensible to me. I wished the couple luck and continued my very slow walk with Dash. It was questionable who was going to get home first.

The World War II bombers flew overhead again today. At one point a B-17 made a low pass right over our heads. It would be tempting to go see these planes again, but I'm sure they would look exactly the same as they did last year. Maybe I'll go and see Apollo 11 tomorrow instead. It's playing now at several theaters in Dallas. I've heard a lot about this new documentary. It was made using 177 reels of pristine and previously unseen wide screen 65 and 70 mm Panavision footage recently discovered at the National Archives. Who knew that NASA even made these films. There is nothing new about the story of Apollo 11. I think this is a movie you see primarily for the cinematography. I typically just download movies on iTunes and watch them on my computer. This is something that would definitely look better on the big screen.

Janet had an all-day Dalmatian Rescue event to attend, so I spent most of the day babysitting Dash. You just can't leave him alone for long periods of time anymore. Sometimes he can get up on his own, and other times he can't. If he panics and starts struggling to get up, he can hurt himself. Everything got done today, but sometimes it took a while. It took a handful of treats to just lure Dash to the park this morning. I could tell he wanted to walk, but he also wanted Janet to lead the way. Dash can be very stubborn at times.

I accomplished virtually nothing today. I was able to go out and get groceries after I was convinced that Dash was sleeping soundly. There wasn't much on my list today, so I was able to get back home fairly quickly. Dash was still asleep in exactly the same place when I returned. There were all sorts of things I should have done today but I just didn't feel like it. The house is relatively clean, most of the March bills are paid, and the roof is dry. I'm not quite ready to deal with my taxes yet.

I guess the big decision tomorrow is whether to go to the gym or the movies. It would take too much time to do both. I don't really have strong feelings about either alternative. We'll see how the day goes. Since I fell asleep for about thirty minutes while writing tonight's post, it might be a better idea to just take a long nap.

Ruthie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2914

The weather turned nasty today. As the day progressed, it continued to get colder and around mid-afternoon it started to rain. Since it rarely snows in Dallas, this is how I remember Winter. There is something about a cold winter rain that is particularly miserable. It's hard to warm up on days like this. Since Janet doesn't like me to crank up the heat, I'm walking around the house wearing a wool skullcap and duck down camping booties. I need to find the little ceramic heater I keep under my desk in the winter. The little electric heater works like gangbusters but I've become reluctant to use it as I grow older. I'm much more forgetful now and I'd hate to start a house fire by forgetting to unplug the thing when I go to bed at night. Dash is also a problem. He likes to sleep under my desk during the day and I don't want him to inadvertently burn himself. For the moment, the wool hat is doing a fine job of keeping me warm.

What's the one thing you should never do on a rainy day? Maybe you should avoid washing the car. Well, that's exactly what I did this morning. In my defense, it wasn't raining earlier in the day, but I kind of knew the rain was coming. What can I say. I like a clean car. I'm definitely less likely to go anywhere tomorrow. The car will probably just sit under the carport until everything is dry again.

We had a nice walk this morning, but Dash and I got caught in the rain on our afternoon walk. We should have made it home before the rain began, but I keep forgetting how slow Dash has become. Dash used to speed up when it started to rain. Now, he just keeps poking along, smelling every wet bush along the way. Rain must intensify smells, because Dash spends a lot more time smelling things on rainy days. When we got home, I dried Dash off and threw our wet gear in the dryer. I still haven't warmed up yet.

One of the many things I dislike about winter is that it's much harder to find the dog poop in the yard. The poop blends in with all the leaves on the ground and just disappears. When Dash goes out at night, I have to mark the spot with a colorful piece of plastic. Otherwise, I'll never be able to find it in the morning. There's always one surefire way to find poop in the yard. Just wander around the yard for a few minutes and it will inevitably wind up on your shoes. Yes, I got dog poop on my shoes today. It kind of fit the mood of the day.

I used to watch movies on cold winter days, but the only thing I'm even vaguely interested in seeing is Bladerunner 2049 and it won't be available for streaming until sometime next year. Remember how excited I used to be about Dr. Who? I'm not even interested anymore. I didn't watch the last season at all and I doubt that I'll watch the new season either. I don't know if the show has changed or I have changed, but the writing seems terrible now. The show doesn't seem whimsical or inspired. It just seems stupid. Of course, the shows I do watch seem stupid too, but I just use them to go to sleep. Nothing puts me to sleep quicker than an old episode of Perry Mason or The Twilight Zone that I've seen ten times already.

If the weather clears up, I'll go to the gym tomorrow. If the weather gets worse, I'll take a nap with Dash. Sounds like a plan to me.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2880

Sometimes I wonder about the repetitive nature of my life. I tend to do the same things over and over again. It's not that I lack imagination. It just feels comfortable to repeat familiar things. My regular Sunday excursion to the gym feels so familiar that I bet I could do my routine blindfolded. I always use the same machines, in the same order, for the same amount of time. The only thing that changes is how tired I feel. Sometimes my workout seems easy. Other times it is a real effort.

I usually hate using the hand bicycle for the first five minutes. As my body heats up, I begin to forget I'm exercising and start to daydream. I wonder about the other people in the gym and why they are there. After ten minutes of this I start thinking about being done and push a little harder. For the last five minutes my heart rate is elevated the way it should be and I am sweating.  When I'm finished with the hand bicycle, I shoot baskets on the court. I try to shoot ten free throws before I return to the machines. Sometimes this goes quickly. Other times I can't seem to connect and it takes forever. When I'm on the treadmill I start slow and gradually increase the speed and incline at regular intervals. When I've put in twenty minutes on the treadmill, there are a variety of resistance machines I like to use. Even though my time on the basketball court varies from week to week, it always seems to take 62 minutes to finish my routine. My watch says I burn about 450 calories, but it feels like a lot more.

Dash must have felt like he needed some exercise this morning as well, because he seemed very eager to walk when we got up this morning. He actually seemed more interested on going out the back door than in having his breakfast, which was unlike him. We got him suited up and off we went. Janet and I have learned that when Dash wants to walk, it is best to take advantage of the opportunity. As soon as we got to the park, Dash headed straight for the shoreline. We had a surprisingly long walk this morning and Dash still didn't seem that tired when we returned home. I'm not sure what this all means, but I hope it's a good sign.

It was a dreary day with scattered light showers. There was no point in washing the car or doing something on the roof, so I vacuumed the house instead. I wish the house looked clean after I vacuumed, but it always looks exactly the same. The only proof that I've done anything at all is a canister full of dog hair and dirt. I'm always amazed that Dash can shed so much while still maintaining a healthy, full coat of hair. I vacuum up enough dog hair every month to make a new dog, but Dash always looks exactly the same.

I saw a trailer for a movie called Salyut-7 that I would like to see. Unfortunately, the film is Russian and doesn't seem to have been released in North America yet. One of the interesting things about this movie is that there are 20 minutes of weightless scenes that were supposedly shot in space. The rumor is that it was more cost effective to actually shoot the film in space than to create the complex digital effects that were used in films like Gravity. I wonder if this is true? It will probably be a long time before I get a chance to see for myself. Salyut-7 is available on several Bit Torrent sites but my computer would be riddled with viruses if I ever tried to download it. I'll just wait until it shows up on iTunes.

I noticed that it's been two years since we had that awful water leak under our foundation. I wonder why the bad things are so much easier to remember than the good things?

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2782

I was in no hurry to do anything today. We woke up late and took a leisurely walk with Dash. When we got home, I made pancakes while Janet cooked some bacon. Dash's appetite has returned and he is eating all his meals again. It was a relaxing, largely uneventful Sunday morning.

Instead of vacuuming or doing yard work, I went to the gym after breakfast. This week's workout seemed a little easier than last week's, so maybe my body is starting to repair itself. They are doing some remodeling at the gym and they removed the water cooler for some reason. I didn't realize how much water I drink. Every time I finished a routine, I really missed that water cooler. The progress I made today made me seriously think about going to the gym three times a week. I've certainly got the time. I've got the incentive as well. Too many of my friends have already died. The older I get, the more I realize that my top priority needs to be staying healthy. I've had my chance to make money. I think that ship has already sailed.

I noticed that the Apple Store has started selling RED cinema cameras. I don't know why this seemed significant to me, but it certainly says something about the ubiquitous nature of film in our society. When a store in the mall starts selling the same equipment that major Hollywood cinamatographers use, it means that everyone wants to make a movie. Most of my Facebook feed is videos now. To me, this is irritating because it slows my computer down, but I think this is what people want.  I wonder if I'll ever make a movie again? I made some good documentaries back in the 70's, but the desire just isn't there anymore.

This lack of desire puzzles me. I'm still curious about things and like to learn, but there is no desire pushing me forward. I guess I could just listen to TED Talks for the rest of my life, but I'd like to expand my horizons a little more than that. I certainly don't want to sit in a chair and watch college basketball for ten years like my Dad did. Piano lessons are an option. I'd consider joining an astronomy club, but you can't see the stars during the day and I hate driving at night. I've just started thinking about what to do next, so this is a work in progress. Just don't ask me what I'm passionate about. You'd be very disappointed in my answer.

It's supposed to rain all next week. This would be a good opportunity to clean out my office. I don't even know where to start. The Beta-SP editing bay is just a waste of space now. The stuff is too expensive to throw away and too obsolete to ever be used again. I've thought about buying flight cases for the equipment and putting it in the storage warehouse, but that would just be throwing good money after bad. I wonder how long it will take me to realize that the equipment is worthless? Ditto for the large production printer and all the film cameras. They are all worthless. I don't think people even collect this stuff.

To be honest, I probably won't do a lot of downsizing during the rain. Removing thirty years worth of stuff is pretty overwhelming. It's more likely that I'll just worry about the roof leaking while I'm watching Netflix movies.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2651

I found a website update request from four days ago that I hadn't gotten around to yet. I was surprised that I'd forgotten about this because I'm usually very prompt. When I took another look at the e-mail, I saw the fatal words "there's no rush on this" and immediately knew what happened. I have to approach every job as a rush job or I'll just forget about it. I made the changes the client requested and apologized for the delay. Don't ever tell me to take my time. You may not hear from me for a year.

Dot threw up again this morning. She's been throwing up more frequently now and that's never a good sign. I'm not sure what's going on, but I think she's drinking too much water. When she gets restless, Dot goes back and forth between her bed and her water bowl. She doesn't seem to know what to do, so she does this over and over again. I'm right there with her, holding up her rear legs, but I hate to take her away from the water. She takes such tiny sips now that maybe she's not actually drinking too much. I'd hate for her to get dehydrated.

I guess I've got one more question to ask the oncologist. Does the vomiting have something to do with her cancer? Is she just drinking too much water? Or is this something else entirely? It only seems to happen about once a week, but when she was healthy she would only throw up about once a year.

I'm not doing so well myself. When I woke up this morning my neck hurt and I could barely move my right arm. I did my stretching exercises and things got a bit better, but I'm thinking that I need to go back for another round of physical therapy. My physical therapist would probably be horrified at the way I'm using my arm these days. Holding up Dot's rear legs tends to pull straight down on my shoulder joint, which is weak already. I hope I don't have a rotator cuff injury. It's all speculative at this point, because I don't really have time to go in for physical therapy anyway.

It's getting harder and harder to get anything done during the day. Dot is increasingly restless and I need to spend more time attending to her. When Dot is moving around, there is more chance of a mess, so I'm doing more laundry and cleanup as well. It's all very tiring. I've started taking short naps when Dot is asleep. Sometimes it's the only rest I get.

I forgot what day it was again. For most of the day I thought it was Wednesday. I guess it doesn't really matter. All these days seem the same. I still haven't watched The Expanse. I haven't downloaded Arrival or Passengers either. Maybe I'll skip Passengers, since it got terrible reviews. Maybe I'll skip all these movies. Dot doesn't stay asleep long enough to watch a movie anyway.

Doc is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2631

When I got up at 5 AM this morning I thought about waking Dot up and taking her outside to pee. Everybody was sleeping so peacefully that I decided not to disrupt things and went back to bed myself. It was a mistake. Three hours later Dot woke up in a puddle of pee. Dot's bladder can no longer cope with a weekend schedule. I got her up and took her outside while she leaked all the way to the back door. I think we set a new record for number of rugs washed in a single day.

I didn't sleep well last night at all. Just before I went to bed around midnight, I discovered that the furnace wasn't working. I knew it was going to be a cold night, so I was determined to fix the thing before I went to sleep. Easier said than done. Several years ago my HVAC guy taught me how to fix several common furnace problems myself. I think he took pity on me since I was calling them so often. The repair didn't get off to a great start. I couldn't find the special tool I use to get the cover off the furnace. I couldn't find any fine grit sandpaper either.

The flame sensor on our furnace gets dirty a lot. This is always the first thing I look for. When the sensor is dirty it can't detect the pilot light flame and shuts the gas off. It's basically a safety device. There is an enormous amount of dust in the utility room, since we are constantly doing laundry. A normal flame sensor will stay clean for years at a time. Ours goes bad every six months. The fix is easy enough. You carefully remove the flame sensor and clean it with an emery board or a piece of fine grit sandpaper. Too bad the sensor is located in such an awkward place or this repair would be a piece of cake. Eventually, I got the balky cover off the furnace and removed the flame sensor. I didn't have any sandpaper last night, but figured that one of those abrasive kitchen sponges would do. I cut a small piece off the sponge and carefully scraped the dirty coating off the sensor. An hour later, I turned the furnace back on and fired it up. It worked.

I must be a glutton for punishment, because this morning I decided to remove all the accumulated soap scum from the shower stall. For some reason soap scum becomes hard as a rock on the glass shower doors. It's almost impossible to remove. Janet bought some sort of motorized scrub brush that she saw on TV recently and I thought I'd give it a try. Even though the commercial said that this thing could clean dirty tiles in seconds, it wasn't up to the task. I had to use the same abrasive sponge I used to clean the flame sensor and a lot of elbow grease. The shower stall still isn't sparkling clean, but it looks a lot better.

By the time I finished my housecleaning chores I was too tired to go to the gym. I went anyway because it was Sunday. I always go to the gym on Sunday. The hour I spent cleaning the soap scum off the shower doors was much more strenuous than the hour I spent at the gym, but I'm sure my workout did me some good anyway. I've become a believer in going to the gym on Sunday. Hey, it's not like I have anything important to do on Sunday anyway and it's always relaxing to shoot the basketball.

I hope we don't have another hard freeze before Winter is officially over. Everything is growing so nicely now that it would be a shame if freezing weather caused all the wildflowers to die. The redbud and dogwood trees are in full bloom and I've already seen several wildflowers that don't usually appear until late March. So far, this is the earliest Spring I can remember. 

I didn't even watch the Oscars tonight. Janet usually likes to watch these awards shows, but she didn't watch either. I used to love the world of movies and movie making. Janet and I would go see a new film almost every weekend. I don't know if movies have changed or if we have changed. I do know I'll never see La La Land. No interest whatsoever. I still enjoy science and science fiction, so I'd probably enjoy Arrival and Hidden Figures. I'll never see these films in a theater. Someday when things are exceptionally slow, I'll probably rent them on iTunes and watch them on my computer. The big screen has lost its magic.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2553

Everything was crowded today. Traffic was slow. Parking lots were full. And stores were extremely busy. Apparently, a lot of people haven't discovered online shopping yet. I wasn't even Christmas shopping. All I had to do was get gas, stop by the storage warehouse, go to the post office, and do my grocery shopping. From now through Christmas, these simple errands are going to take a lot longer.

I picked up Janet's puffy coat while I was at the storage warehouse and brought it home. There were some winter coats of mine there as well, but they were too heavy and bulky. I wonder why I ever wore those coats. The lightweight down jackets I wear now are so much better. I've finally learned to dress in layers on cold days. Instead of one humongous, heavy winter coat, I wear several much lighter ones. I wonder why it took me thirty years to learn this?

We got to sleep in a little later today. It was only an extra hour, but it seemed to make a difference. It always helps when Dot doesn't poop during the night. Today, she waited until I was getting her up for breakfast to do her business, which was actually very convenient. Everything landed right on a nearby puppy training pad, which I quickly rolled up, bagged, and threw away. Small saves like this are all it takes to make me think I'm going to have a good day.

A lot of yesterday's unfinished business got taken care of this morning. I wrote a letter to my sister and finished all the website updates that I had started yesterday. I had no trouble uploading the new files to the server today, so apparently the  problem that practically took down the entire hosting company has been resolved. This must have been a really major service outage. I checked around midnight, just before I went to bed last night and all the sites were still down. Somebody stayed up late and fixed things though. Everything is fine now.

I don't know how you Northerner's do it. The temperature hasn't even dropped below freezing yet and I'm already in full Winter mode. I've got a little ceramic heater under my desk to keep my feet warm. I wear sweaters around the house. I'm always checking the furnace to make sure it is running smoothly. The dogs seem to enjoy the cold weather, so I have to make sure there's a warm coat near the back door when I take Dot out to pee. Winter has barely begun and I'm already looking forward to Spring.

I wonder if I can avoid vacuuming tomorrow? I'd rather go to the gym. Actually, I'd really rather download Arrival and watch it while the dogs are sleeping. The movie isn't available on iTunes yet, so I'll probably just stay on schedule and do my Sunday chores. Heaven forbid that I would ever drive to a theater and watch the movie on a big screen. I'll just wait.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2233

It's a good thing I had my movie today. Absolutely nothing happened. It was cold and grey outside. The phone didn't ring. There were no deadlines to meet. It was a perfect day to watch The Martian. It was a long movie so I waited until the dogs took their even longer morning nap after breakfast. Coincidentally, this is also when I tend to get the most work done. Almost like clockwork, both dogs sleep soundly from about 9 AM until 1 PM, when they wake up again for lunch.

I'd already read Andy Wier's book, so I was wondering how a story with very little dialog would work as a film. Drew Goddard leaves out quite a bit in the screenplay, but still managed to transform one of the best books I've read in a long time into a nail biting and compelling script. I'm old enough to remember when Ridley Scott and his brother Tony directed television commercials at RSA. If you were in advertising during the late 1970's and early 1980's, Ridley Scott Associates was the gold standard for commercial production companies. Before he went on to direct groundbreaking movies like Alien and Blade Runner, he created the famous 1984 commercial which ran once during the Super Bowl and launched the Apple Macintosh computer. I loved that commercial. With all this in mind, I was expecting a lot from this movie and I wasn't disappointed. I really should have seen it in a theater, but for me a large, high resolution monitor in a dark room was almost the same thing.

I hope The Martian does something to rekindle interest in space. I remember clearly the excitement that the race to land a man on the moon generated. It was one of the few things in my lifetime that genuinely seemed to unite people around the world. A few years after Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility, the real life drama of the the failed Apollo 13 mission seemed to capture the world's attention in much the same manner as Mark Watney did when the world learned he was stranded on Mars. We are explorers. I think we need to direct our energies outward again. We're spent far too many years looking inward.

The only thing I explored today was how to use my old Olympus camera lenses on a new Panasonic camera. Manufacturers have virtually stopped making digital cameras with optical viewfinders. Everyone is migrating to the new smaller mirrorless cameras. Since I like the Panasonic GH4, I've been trying to salvage some of my favorite older lenses and use them with this micro 4/3 format. With the right adapter, you can use just about any lens manually, but I wanted to keep using the auto-focus and image stabilization features of newer lenses. I tested an adapter today that was supposed to let me do this, but I was disappointed. The auto focus of my favorite Olympus lens still worked, but it was so slow. I think it's back to square one with this idea. It's too bad that expensive technology becomes obsolete so quickly. Back in the film era, my Nikon cameras and lenses served me for decades. It doesn't work that way anymore.

Dot seemed kind of shaky today. I always worry a lot when she's having a bad day. There's no way to stop this slow, degenerative process she's going through, but I sure wish there was a way to slow it down a bit more. Dot seems to react to sunlight and warmth the same way I do. I'm hoping that when the weather improves, she'll get her mojo back.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1865

Have I mentioned that Janet retired at the first of the year? Since she's no longer working fourteen hours a day, we've been going to more movies. Today we saw American Sniper. I can understand why this movie has become a box office hit, but fail to grasp why it is so controversial in certain circles. This is a well made film in the tradition of Saving Private Ryan and Hurt Locker. I find it sad that we live in such a polarized society that everything from the car you drive, to the food you eat and the movies you watch is seen as a political statement. It's a movie! Get over it.

While waiting for the feature to start we sat through half an hour's worth of trailers for upcoming features. Each one was a more violent version of a movie I'd seen ten or fifteen years ago. There was a new Terminator movie, a new Mad Max movie, and a new movie by the director of District 9 that seemed exactly like District 9. Doesn't anybody like movies like Secretariat and Remains of the Day anymore? I'd rather see Old Yeller again than any of these apocalyptic blockbusters.

Dot worried me today. She fell on our morning walk and I had to help her up. She lost her footing when her rear foot landed on a loose rock and just fell over. I have to remember that even though her energy levels have improved and she acts like she wants to chase squirrels again, she is still pretty fragile. It's a tough job to let her feel like she's a young dog again while still carefully watching every single step she takes. Dot's OK now. I just need to remember where that loose rock is.

Dash is nearing the end of his chemotherapy treatment and now that there aren't many Palladia pills left in the bottle, I noticed that I was short by five pills. These pills are so expensive that you'd think that they could count them correctly. I called the cancer center and when they checked their records, they discovered that they were short a few pills when they renewed Dash's prescription three months ago, and just gave me the pills they had. I wish they had told me this at the time. At any rate, I went up to the cancer center to get the remaining five pills and then picked up some food for dinner at Central Market on the way home.

I only have one more day to familiarize myself with all the mysterious buttons on the production camera before my video shoot on Sunday. It's not like I have been consciously putting off this important dress rehearsal. I just keep running out of time. Walking the dogs, doing my physical therapy exercises everyday, meeting my work deadlines, getting the water off the roof, and even writing this blog takes a lot of time. Some days I take it all in stride. Other days, I get really tired.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1844

Janet and I went to a movie this afternoon. It's been so long since I've been to a movie in a theater that it seemed like a whole new experience for me. Maybe it was a new experience. I certainly haven't been to a theater since they stopped screening 35mm prints and began building high resolution 4K digital cinema systems. Everything was so clear. It was like watching an enormous Apple retina screen with immersive surround sound audio. I've watched DVD's on my computer for so long, that I'd forgotten how mesmerizing a really good theater can be.

I'm generally very detached when I watch movies on my computer. There are dogs barking in the background, interruptions from clients calling on the phone, and of course I'm always aware that I'm really just sitting at my desk in the office. It's different in a theater. When the lights dim, I get sucked in and become much more involved with the story. Tears frequently roll down my cheeks in dark theaters. I certainly wiped my eyes a few times today as we watched The Theory of Eveything at the Angelika Film Center. This story, based on the memoir that Jane Wilde wrote about her life with Steven Hawking was both uplifting and incredibly sad. Eddie Redmayne was amazing as Steven Hawking and Felicity Jones was mesmerizing as Jane. I seldom watch movies like this because they make me cry, but I came out of the theater thinking that I really ought to read A Brief History of Time.

The rain continued today as expected. We were able to find time to walk the dogs when there was only a light mist, but the rain never really stopped. At times there were drenching downpours with thunder and lightning in the distance. At other times the rain slowed to a drizzle, but it is still raining right now. The weather app on my phone says the skies will be clearing tomorrow, but I don't really trust this thing, since it also said the skies were clearing when I got groceries this morning. I got drenched.

The city passed a new ordinance recently that forces merchants to charge you a nickel every time they put your purchases in a bag. This is supposed to decrease littering. Imagine my surprise when I went to Central Market and they bagged my groceries in nice heavy paper bags like they always do without charging anything extra for the bags. "Don't you guys have to charge for bags like everyone else," I asked. "No,"  the checkout clerk told me. "We're exempt because our bags have handles." I laughed as I headed home. This is one more example of government at work. Somebody thought they were doing something good and all they ended up doing was rewarding well-off people for shopping at upscale markets like Central Market and Whole Foods, while making things more expensive for the folks who still shop at Kroger. Sadly, this ordinance is not going to stop littering anyway. People who litter could care less about city ordinances.

It's getting to the point where I have to ask Janet what day it is when we wake up in the morning. Somehow it's very confusing when Christmas and New Year's fall on a Thursday. Everything is out of whack. Today seemed like Sunday, while tomorrow is only Saturday. Go figure.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1408

I've been pleased to discover that most of my old dress suits still fit perfectly. I haven't worn some of these suits for decades. When I put my phone in the pocket of a grey Armani suit this morning, I realized that the last time I wore this suit, the iPhone hadn't even been invented yet. I guess the suit hadn't gone out of style though, since one of the sharp dressed lawyers at this morning's breakfast meeting shook my hand to say hello and said "nice suit."

I had to answer several complicated questions via e-mail after I returned from the meeting and began to long for the day's when  my clients preferred to talk on the telephone. A wide variety of things that you could explain in five minutes over the phone seem to inevitably take thirty minutes of typing to get the same point across.

Dot seemed slow and stiff on her morning walk. I don't think she has arthritis, since the stiffness comes and goes. She doesn't limp or have an ACL tear either. Some days she has lots of energy and still seems like a young dog. On other days, she can barely walk from one end of the house to the other. By noon, Dot was completely back to normal, so we went ahead with her scheduled water therapy session. The short movie we made today shows how well she extends her legs underwater. Since the water makes her buoyant and takes a lot of the weight off her legs, it gives her a much wider range of motion than she would normally have. The video is in slow motion so we could study her gait.



Dot and I both had a very a busy day. Dot not only did well at her therapy session, she did equally well at dog training class this evening. For my part, I managed to answer all the questions I was asked in several lengthy e-mails, as well as make some website updates that were long overdue. Tomorrow is another day. I've got a several writing assignments tomorrow and a pile of bills to pay, but at least I won't have to get up early.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1336

My gym is about as close as I'll ever get to experiencing Ground Hog Day. Every time I go, there is an old man reading the same book while he pedals a stationary bicycle very slowly. There is always a very thin girl who is speed walking endlessly around and around the oval track. And then there is someone who looks a lot like a competitive cyclist putting an elliptical machine through its paces as fast as he can while continually turning his head from side to side. There are other familiar faces as well, but these three are amazing. No matter when I arrive, they are always there, doing exactly the same thing.

I got a new photography job today, but other than that, it was a pretty typical Monday. Monday's are almost a textbook definition of boredom. Very little happens on a typical Monday, so in lieu of productive work, I invent little chores. I water the lawn. I do laundry. I don't usually try to catch up on things, because I've caught up already.

I should just go to a movie on days like this, but there hasn't been a new movie that has caught my interest for a long time. I'm becoming paranoid about leaving the dogs as well. Now that both dogs are prone to have seizures, I have this fear that the one day I take off for a long time will be the day that something terrible happens and I won't be there when they need me to take them to the emergency vet. I shouldn't think this way, but once your mind starts going in this direction, it's hard to snap out of it. I find myself checking the nanny cam on my phone quite a bit while I'm at the gym. Today Dash was so still that I thought for a minute that he might be dead. Luckily the nanny cam has a zoom lens. I zoomed in all the way and I could see him breathing. Then, it was back to the hand bicycle for another twenty minutes.

I think my social media efforts might have plateaued. Have people finally discovered that I seldom post anything new on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook anymore? There's still something new every single day on the blog of course, but you, my faithful readers, are a dying breed. Hardly anyone bothers to read blogs anymore. I don't know if I should care about the slow, but steady attrition of followers on Twitter. It's not like I'm going to start doing anything new at this point.

My research on seizures has netted me a lot more questions than answers. It seems that medical science has discovered, mostly through trial and error, a variety of ways to control seizures and minimize their severity, but nobody really knows what causes them in the first place.

As you can see, there are so few wildflowers left that I've started taking pictures of rocks.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1126

I took my car to get a new catalytic converter today. The mechanics banged on the exhaust system with a wrench for a while and then told me there was nothing wrong. Although they didn't solve my problem, they did like my car. The muffler shop wasn't busy and I could have spent the rest of the day talking with the guys about Jeeps and 4-wheeling if I didn't have better things to do. I asked the mechanic what was making the rattling sound if there was nothing wrong with the catalytic converter. He told me that it could be anything and sent me on my way. In a way it was refreshing dealing with folks who were so open about not knowing what they were doing. In my experience, very few people really know what they are doing, but most of them try to fool you into thinking they know.

Today was the coldest day of the year so far. Since layering works well with me in cold weather, I tried the same thing with the dogs. First, I put on their black sweaters, which fit quite well and cover their bellies better than most dog coats. Then I added a thicker quilted coat on top. Dot and Dash get quite a bit of attention wearing this Winter garb. I think they are the only dogs in the neighborhood who wear two coats in cold weather. Most people think these coats are quite ingenious. The rest think they are ridiculous.

I had quite a bit of website and writing work due today, so I spent most of the day sitting at my desk, trying to stay warm. The heating vents don't distribute air very evenly, so when the office is comfortable, the rest of the house is unbearably hot. I'm sure this problem could be resolved by restricting the air flow to the living room and kitchen, but it's just not worth the trouble. I've never thought work was fun anyway and somehow having an uncomfortable work environment seems appropriate. When I finish my work, I can reward myself by fixing something to eat in the kitchen, or watching TV in one of the warmer rooms.

I must be one of the world's most unobservant people. Although the Internet was buzzing this morning about Jodie Foster coming out during her lifetime achievement award acceptance speech, I can't remember her saying anything about being gay. I'd never heard of Ben Affleck's Argo film either. Where did that one come from? I kept thinking that Steven Spielberg's Lincoln would win all the awards. Not that it matters anyway. I probably won't see any of these movies until they eventually wind up on the $9.95 discount DVD table at Fry's.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1073 - Thanksgiving

I always like it when Thanksgiving falls on November 22. This date brings together a confluence of Dealey Plaza conspiracy nuts, Dallas Cowboy football fans, and Paula Deen deep fried turkey chefs. It is Dallas at its best. Sometimes I go down to Dealey Plaza on November 22 and listen to the strange theories about Lee Harvey Oswald's real motives and hear about the mysterious second gunman on the Grassy Knoll. Today, I preferred to celebrate the day in a more traditional fashion: with a nice Thanksgiving meal.

Since there are only two of us, we seldom cook a big Thanksgiving dinner anymore. It is much more enjoyable to just pick a nice restaurant and see what they've got for dinner. Today, Janet and I went to The Mercury. The restaurant had a traditional Thanksgiving brunch and it was absolutely delicious. The meal started with Mimosas and fresh shrimp. Several hours later it ended with Creme Brulee and coffee. In between, I enjoyed prime rib, turkey, jalapeño cheese grits, creamed corn, braised brussel sprouts, asparagus spears in a champagne vinaigrette and an exceptionally fresh garden salad. It was a very nice meal.

When we got home again, Janet watched one of those holiday movies on the Lifetime channel while I finished up a couple of yesterday's writing assignments. I can't watch chick flicks anymore. They usually make me feel guilty about something. Towards the end of the day we both took the dogs on a long walk to work off some of our holiday meal. Even though it started to rain while we were walking, it was still a nice way to end a very pleasant day. I have finally learned not to eat too much on Thanksgiving. I try lots of things, but take very small portions. It's much better to feel pleasantly full than to be stuffed.

Since tomorrow is still a holiday, Janet is going to join me on my Friday breakfast excursion. We'll probably venture further from home than I usually do. As long as we avoid the hordes of Black Friday shoppers, we'll be fine.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1042

It was quiet when I woke up this morning. Janet had already left for work and both dogs had returned to the bed after they finished their breakfast. I must have been quite tired last night. I didn't hear any of the normal Monday morning activities. There wasn't much reason to get up early anyway. I've got a couple of projects on deck for tomorrow, but today was very slow.

Since there wasn't anything better to do, I decided to watch the Prometheus DVD I got this weekend. I'll have to say that I was a bit disappointed when the whole thing turned out to be sort of a prequel to the Alien series of films. I would think that there will be a sequel to this film as well. Everything is left pretty open ended with the one surviving character sailing off to continue her quest in a recovered alien spacecraft.

Even though I tried, I couldn't kill the entire day doing nothing. I answered the weekend's e-mail messages, did some minor website revisions for one of my clients, and did a little research for tomorrow's projects. This week could actually turn out to be a busy one.

Now that I've been looking at the park with a critical eye for over a year with my camera, I've noticed that plants aren't the only things that follow seasonal cycles. Not only are the trees starting to turn color at exactly the same time as they did last year, the animals are starting to behave the same way as well. The squirrels have started gathering nuts for the winter again and are much easier to photograph. When these squirrels are focused on a nut, even the dogs don't distract them. Huge flocks of starlings are beginning to roost in trees again every evening around sunset. The only thing that has changed since last year, was that a year ago I thought these birds were crows. I'm not exactly James Audubon, but I do learn a few things here and there.

Like many of you, I will watch the final presidential debate this evening. I don't expect to learn anything new. One side will be saying bin Laden, bin Laden, bin Laden, while the other side will be saying bin Ghazi, bin Ghazi, bin Ghazi. Maybe they'll be some talk about China as well. China is really the elephant in the room when it comes to world affairs. Nobody seems happy that China makes all our stuff and owns most of our debt. I don't know what any politician can do about the situation though. Politicians don't understand the nature of a Pandora's Box. Once you open the box, you can't close it again.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 917 - My Birthday

"Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64?" When I first heard these lyrics during the Sergeant Pepper summer of 67, I never dreamed I'd eventually be 64 myself. It was simply impossible. I was playing in a band at the time and thought I was ageless. My feelings of being impervious to age lasted a long, long time. I soon entered the world of advertising where youth is almost a prerequisite. When I was a 26 year old creative director, we used to wonder where they put the 40 somethings out to pasture. There simply weren't any old people in ad agency creative departments back then. Maybe there still aren't. At any rate, it should come as no surprise that I've always been reluctant to reveal my age. I have always looked younger than I am and have used this to my advantage for many years.

I think the jig is up, unfortunately. When you wake up feeling 70, it's hard to pretend you're 40 anymore. In the inner recesses of my mind, I may still be 18, but my body begs to differ. What a compendium of aches and pains I have become. There is a pill for every perceived problem, but I'm not really fond of pills. I think its actually the dogs that have kept me alive. I walk Dot and Dash five miles each and every day. Dalmatians are very strong and active animals. The daily exercise keeps the dogs happy and helps keep me in much better shape than I would be otherwise. As an added benefit, everything else I do during the day seems easy by comparison.

I was thinking of going to a daytime movie as a birthday treat. Janet doesn't really like science fiction and it would be nice to see Ridley Scott's new Prometheus prequel on a big screen. I should have known better. By the time I finished the day's writing and website work, a movie was out of the question. As usual, when the work is finished, the day is usually over. I heated up a pizza in the microwave and treated myself to the remaining Shiner beer in the refrigerator. When Janet came home from work later in the evening, she brought Sprinkles Cupcakes with her and we had a little party. All in all, it was a good day to turn 64. Even the stock market was up today.

Ironically, if I had been born one day earlier, I would have shared a birthday with Paul McCartney, who wrote the song I can't help humming today.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day