Day 4925 - My Birthday

I turned 75 today. Any way you measure it, that's getting old. I think I'm hanging in there though. We started the day early to avoid the heat. Dawn got a nice sunrise walk and then I had my regular breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit. Right after breakfast I mowed the grass. I did both the front and back yards and was finished before 9 AM. The temperature was already in the mid-eighties, but it was still overcast so I decided to take a short walk and get my steps before it got really hot.

I'm definitely slowing down and am not as fit as I used to be, but I felt good that I was still able to do this much on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year. My Mom had already passed away before she reached 75 and my Dad had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and a host of other ailments by his 75th birthday. I'm basically still reasonably healthy. I try to walk six miles every day and am staying active. Who knows how long I can continue this, but nothing is stopping me at this point. I still hope to be attending launches at Kennedy Space Center when I'm 85.

I'm glad we walked Dawn really early this morning because it was way too hot for her to be outside later in the day. It looks like this heat wave is going to continue for the rest of the week. Luckily our air conditioner is working well and I think the insulation we added to the roof is helping keep the house cooler. I'm glad we didn't have to deal with the power outages that plagued other parts of the community after last week's storms. This is not the time to be dealing with power outages.

It was a low key and largely uneventful birthday, but I felt good about it. I didn't do much during the afternoon. I took a shower and looked at my birthday messages on Facebook. I'm not a big fan of social media anymore, but I still think these birthday messages are a nice thing. Nobody sends cards anymore. I got one birthday card from my Luddite sister who has probably never even looked at Facebook. Later in the afternoon I tried to take a nap with Dawn but she wasn't in a celebratory mood. As soon as I went in the bedroom, Dawn went out in the kitchen.

Janet and I went out for dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant. We've been there for birthdays before and the food is always good. The prices were a bit higher and the portions were slightly smaller, but what else is new. All restaurants are doing this. At least the place was still in business. A lot of our favorite restaurants didn't survive the pandemic and are no longer here. Our waiter seemed disappointed that we weren't having dessert, but we had cake at home. We wanted to include Dawn in the birthday celebration.

After some cake and a glass of champagne, I did what I always do every evening. I wrote a blog post. Since I will have reached my 5000 Day goal before my next birthday, this might be my last birthday post. We'll see what happens.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4195 - My Birthday

I'm 73 years old today. I'd be lying if I said I felt young, but I guess I'm still in pretty good shape. At this age you feel grateful for each additional year. Too many friends and co-workers are already gone. Almost all the teachers I had in college have died. A number of classmates are gone as well. Way too many people I know have succumbed to cancer. I guess my friends were a cautious lot. Almost nobody I know died doing something reckless or foolish. I hope to be around for quite a few more years, but I don't take anything for granted now. After 73 years you learn that the world is full of surprises.

Today was fairly relaxing and largely uneventful. Janet had an event to attend today and left the house early, so Dawn didn't get a walk. I've tried to walk her by myself, but she won't leave the yard unless Janet is nearby. It's sad that Dawn is still uncertain about me after all this time. She has clearly had some really bad experiences with men. 

I did my usual grocery shopping this morning. Prices keep going up and up. I'm going to have to learn to shop the sales like Janet does. My shopping list seldom varies and it just seems ridiculous to keep paying more for exactly the same things. The price of gas keeps going up as well. It's probably a good thing that I don't drive much.

I did drive to the gym this afternoon only to discover that it was closed. I guess I should have read the sign on the door a little closer yesterday. The gym is open on Saturday, but only until 1 PM. My gym used to be open seven days a week and had fairly long hours. It can't be Covid that's keeping them closed now. I think they are just trying to cut costs and save money. 

It was hot outside, but after I returned home I decided to take a long walk anyway. I needed to get my steps in somehow. I was glad it was a windy day. The warm breeze kept me a little cooler. There weren't a lot of people in the park this afternoon, but there are always a few families having picnics. Maybe some people don't mind the heat. These groups having picnics and barbecues always seem to be having fun.

When I looked at my Apple watch this morning it said Happy Birthday and a bunch of balloons scrolled across the screen. Technology has certainly changed the birthday experience. I'm always surprised at how many birthday greetings I get on Facebook. Some of these people I've known since childhood and others I've never even met. I can't even remember when Facebook started the birthday greetings, but it seems like they've been around forever. I don't particularly like Facebook, but I do like the birthday messages. I try to remember to acknowledge other people's birthdays as well. It's a small thing, but it does make you feel connected.

Yesterday we had a birthday dinner. Tonight we had our traditional birthday cupcakes. Dawn had her own pupcake as well. I can't even remember how long it's been since we had a cake. Cupcakes are so much easier. When there are only two people, a cake will go stale long before you can finish it. We had some champagne with our cupcakes so I feel sleepy now. It's been a nice day. Actually, it's been a pretty nice year. Covid restrictions certainly didn't change much for me. I've been avoiding people for years. I got to go out to McDonald Observatory twice during the lockdowns and down to Kennedy Space Center once. If I can do the same this year, I'd be a happy camper.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3099 - My Birthday

How did this happen? I'm seventy years old. That seems impossible. Just yesterday people were still calling me a forty-something. Where has the time gone? I shouldn't complain though. I'm still here. My Mom never reached this age and my Dad already knew he had Parkinson's Disease by the time he turned seventy. All things considered, I'm still pretty healthy and there is no reason not to enjoy my remaining years.

Birthday's are pretty low key these days. My insurance agent and dentist are the only people who send cards anymore. Lots of people send birthday greetings on Facebook though. I love the birthday feature on Facebook. Without it, I could never remember anyone's birthday.

Janet took me out for dinner tonight. We ate early, so there would still be time to walk Dash when we got home. Our meal was great. I never would have discovered this place even though it is located nearby. My knowledge of restaurants is limited to breakfast. Janet still works though and takes people to lunch. She knows where all the cool restaurants are.

She also knows what I like. My birthday gift was a trip to the Houston Space Center. This is perfect for an aging space nerd like me. When Janet retires (again) later this Summer and can stay with Dash, I'm going to enjoy visiting mission control, standing next to a Saturn V, and maybe even having lunch with an astronaut.

I wonder if the landscaper knew it was my birthday? Much to my surprise, he and his assistant came over today. They were very nice and said that they would have been here earlier if they hadn't been so busy. The replacement grass wasn't installed today, but they measured what was needed and said they'd be back on Friday. Sounds good to me.

Dash seemed very relieved when we returned from dinner tonight. We weren't gone that long, but he isn't used to being alone anymore. He knows he is a special needs dog and one of us is always around in case he stumbles or has a seizure. I thought that Dash would probably poop in the house while we were gone, but he waited until we returned to poop in the house. Poor guy. He doesn't enjoy having an accident. Incontinence goes hand in hand with aging though. In dog years, Dash is a lot older than I am.

I can't say that turning seventy is as much fun as turning 25 or 30, but it does have a silver lining. I am now permanently exempt from jury duty.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2734 - My Birthday

The weather surprised me this morning. When I took Dash on his morning walk, we got caught in a downpour. I knew it was going to rain today, but when I looked at the weather radar when we got up, it appeared like there was plenty of time for a walk. The storm wasn't heading directly toward us either, so I thought I was safe. By the time we got home, Dash and I were both soaked. Dash just got a bath yesterday too, but that's the way it goes in life. You've got to be prepared for the unexpected.

I'm getting prepared for my role as Janet's nurse while she recovers from surgery. All I can do at this point is continue cleaning the house. The doctors keep stressing how important it is to avoid an infection. Our house is hardly a clean zone, but it's probably better than the hospital itself. Most people who get infections get them while they are actually in the hospital. Today I scrubbed the shower stall. I learned that soap scum is really hard to remove completely. It seems to get hard as enamel over time. Everything looks a lot better now, although it would have been better to just re-tile the entire bathroom.

Dash seems to be adjusting to our smaller family. He's starting to take normal walks again and now that Dot's exotic food is gone, he's stopped being a picky eater. I'm sure he's still lonely at times, but so am I. The best thing either of us can do is just continue living each day as normally as possible.

Today was certainly normal. It didn't seem like a birthday at all. If it weren't for all the birthday messages on Facebook, I might have forgotten that I am sixty-nine years old. A lot of things about Facebook still irritate me, but I kind of like these birthday messages. It's nice to know that people haven't completely forgotten about you.

We had a little birthday celebration after dinner tonight. Dash and I had a cupcake and Janet had some pineapple slices. Janet's new diet seems remarkably similar to what I was eating while I was being treated for Hepatitis C.  Doctors emphasize eating healthy almost as much as they emphasize avoiding infections. I lost a lot of weight while I was avoiding sugar like the plague. I had to give up bread as well, because it almost immediately converts to glucose in your body. I maintained the spartan diet for over two years, but I'm eating pancakes and desserts again. I'm still not sure whether cutting out sugar actually made me any healthier.

You'd think that each additional year would make me a little wiser, but I'm not feeling very wise tonight. I'm humbled by how much there is that I still don't know. I guess the goal now is to keep learning more than I forget. It's going to be an uphill battle because my mind is like a sieve. There are hundreds of books that line the walls of my office and I've already forgotten what's inside most of them. I guess I could re-read everything, but I probably won't. I'll definitely keep writing though. Reading is good, but writing is even better.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2379 - My Birthday

Every once in a while, my birthday coincides with Father's Day. I remember my Mom used to tell my Dad that I was his Father's Day present. I'm convinced that sometimes he would have preferred a new fishing rod or even a case of beer to a somewhat rebellious son who never listened to his old man. Hey, what can I say. We don't always get to choose. I eventuality became a responsible and quasi-respectable adult, but I still think Dad would have preferred someone who wanted to follow in his footsteps.

I'm 68 this year. There are days when I feel 86. One reason that I'm often tired is that I haven't slowed down all that much. I haven't retired and still try my best to please the few clients I have left. My body has seen better days, but I still walk three to five miles a day. Today should have been a day of rest, but instead I found myself up on the roof clearing away standing water, working out at the gym, and vacuuming the house with the Dyson. It might have been my birthday, but it was also Sunday. This is just what I do on a Sunday.

The gym was virtually empty today. I guess the other members were doing Father's Day things. Janet asked if I wanted to go out for dinner, but I really didn't. We stayed home and she fixed a delicious meal. We had pork chops, corn on the cob, new potatoes, and of course a birthday cupcake for dessert. I vaguely remember more elaborate parties, but I don't miss them. Today was exactly as it should be.

I'm not always a fan of Facebook, but I do like their birthday reminder thing. It's nice to hear from people in my past who I thought had forgotten about me. I don't get out much anymore, but the birthday greetings create an illusion that I'm still connected to a much wider world. Most of my Facebook friends are former co-workers, people who own Dalmatians, watch collectors, and fellow bloggers. Thanks to all of you who took the time to say hello today.

Dot perked up a bit when she discovered that she and Dash were going to get some birthday celebration treats, but for the most part she seemed unusually tired today. She was slow and stumbled a bit on her morning walk, so we curtailed the evening walk entirely and let her rest. I really hate to see her decline. I can tell that she still has the desire to do things, but her body often lets her down. Maybe after some extra rest today, she'll be able to enjoy her walk tomorrow.

Tomorrow we start another year. I hope Dot makes it to my next birthday. I'd like to see my business pick up a bit, but I'm not going to spend much time marketing myself. I'm thinking about becoming a vegetarian, but I doubt that I have the will power. I just like bacon too much. There will be some exciting days and a lot of boredom. Whatever happens, I hope you guys will join me for the journey.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2377

I treated the yard for mosquitoes today. It's too early to tell whether the spray treatment works, but the entire yard now smells like a giant Citronella Candle. I tried to pick a time to spray the yard when I knew the dogs would be asleep, but as soon as I finished, they both woke up and needed to go out and pee. The bottle says this stuff is completely safe around pets, but it would have been nice if they'd given the yard a chance to dry before we tested that theory. I wiped their paws off with a rag and they both went back inside and resumed their nap .

Breakfast was enjoyable this morning. I'm trying new things, and so far the experiment seems to be going well. It may not seem earth shattering to try something different for breakfast, but for me it is. For over three years I went to the same place and ordered the same thing every Friday morning. Those days appear to be over now, whether I like it or not. I didn't really ask for this variety, but maybe it's for the best. At any rate, my Eggs Benedict were quite tasty this morning.

I'm still wondering whether I'm going to run out of money this month. I paid the Visa bill and my annual homeowners insurance today, but the Mastercard bill with the humongous car repair charge hasn't arrived yet. It's going to be a close call. I guess I don't really need to pay my credit card bills in full every month, but partial payments seem like a slippery slope. I've always paid my bills on time. If something ever happened where I couldn't, I think it would be a very ominous sign.

I seem to get most of my work assignments on Fridays now. I'm not complaining, but it would be nice if I were able to spread the work out during the week. As it stands, I often end up working weekends even though the office is dead quiet during the rest of the week. I have a couple of new assignments this weekend. Some of the assignments could probably wait until Monday, but I have a feeling that I'll be working this weekend anyway. My compulsion to turn work assignments around as soon as I receive them is almost as strong as my compulsion to pay bills on time.

I've got a birthday coming up this weekend. I've always been a typical Gemini with a need to have two of everything. Lately, the things that come in pairs seem to be bad knees and sore elbows. It's a bitch celebrating a body that is falling apart. Hey, I'm still here though. Every time I look at Dot, I realize it's all about attitude. If she can keep hanging in there, so can I.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2012 - My Birthday

I'm 67 years old. When I started blogging, I was still a little reluctant to reveal my age. I work in an industry that worships youth and I thought that my age was starting to hurt my business. I don't really care anymore. We all get older. Even though we are both old and tired, Janet and I can still run circles around most Millennials. I wear my age like a badge of honor now. I grew up in the best of times. I got to experience Woodstock, the moon landings, the Beatles, and president Kennedy firsthand. The Internet was so new that when I first began designing websites, one of my early creations was included in a book listing the top 1000 websites in the entire world. Jeez. Now, there are probably more than 1000 websites in my own zip code.

The world has definitely changed. My parents took long car trips in the Summer and we visited almost every National Park. None of us wore seat belts. I climbed trees when I was young and walked to school when I got a little older. On the Fourth of July we bought M-80s and Cherry Bombs. On Halloween we wandered around the neighborhood for hours at night in strange homemade costumes and nobody got hurt or abducted. Our parents didn't drive us to ballet lessons and soccer practice. They just told us to go outside and play. The world was a safer, much kinder place and I grew up confident and secure as a result. It was the best of times. Although it sucks to watch as your body and mind slowly begin to deteriorate, I wouldn't trade places with today's Millennials for all the money in the world.

Giving the dogs their daily meds just got a little more complicated. Dash still takes the most pills. He needs phenobarbital for seizures, allopurinol to prevent kidney stones, benezepril for high blood pressure, levothyroxine because he lost his thyroid gland to cancer, and doxycycline to cure his Lyme Disease. Dot only takes Palladia, but chemotherapy is more complex than all Dash's meds put together. When I give Dot her pills, I have to put on purple rubber bio-hazard gloves, pen Dash temporarily in the bedroom so he won't inadvertently grab one of the pills by mistake, and then wash everything I've touched before I put the pills away again. I hope that Dot tolerates the Palladia well and doesn't suffer from any of the potential side effects. Palladia, like any cancer drug, doesn't work for everybody. We'll discontinue the drugs if they make Dot miserable. She has lived a long and happy life. The quality of the time she has remaining with us is much more important than the length of time. I just want her to be happy.

My own meds aren't complicated, They are just expensive. When I went to get some prescriptions refilled today, the pharmacy declined my credit card. WTF? I always pay my balance in full every month and was puzzled why anyone would decline my card. I called Visa when I got home and they told me that they had flagged the pharmacy transaction as suspicious since the dollar amount was much higher than usual. I told the Visa lady that I thought the amount seemed suspicious as well. "I am in the Medicare Doughnut Hole," I said, "and the cost of my meds has literally doubled overnight." The Visa lady said she was sorry and reinstated my card. I still don't understand what this Doughnut Hole is all about. When I had private insurance, my prescription costs always stayed about the same. Medicare Part D is different. They pay for a while. Then they quit paying while you're in the Doughnut Hole phase. Eventually they come back and pay for virtually everything in the "Catastrophic" phase, after they feel they have punished you enough. Only the government could create something so needlessly complex.

We had a nice birthday dinner with Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert. Janet surprised me with an Apple Watch for my birthday. I wasn't expecting anything and felt a bit guilty since we are both spending so much for the dogs medical care. I was delighted to get the watch though. 67 is a lot different than 37, but life is still good. Thanks to all of of you who sent me birthday greetings on Facebook today. You guys probably raised my Klout score by three or four points.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2011

I went and picked up Dot's chemotherapy medication after breakfast this morning. When Dash finished his year long Palladia treatment, I was hoping that I'd never see this drug again. The trouble with cancer drugs is that you can't be sure if they really work. The oncologist can cite all sorts of statistics, but in the end they are just statistics. You can still die of cancer even after extensive chemotherapy treatment and it's still possible to go into remission if you do nothing. My instinct is to find the best doctors and just do what they say, but the ambiguity of cancer treatment is still unsettling. Dot will initially take the drug for one week and then she'll have a blood test at the end of next week to determine if the Palladia has adversely affected her red and white cell count. If her blood chemistry looks good and she doesn't have excessive diarrhea, Dot will probably continue taking Palladia for the rest of her life, or until we run out of money. Chemotherapy can be very expensive.

I thought I'd get a lot done today since Dot had to cancel her physical therapy appointment because the underwater treadmill was broken. Unfortunately, I didn't get any more accomplished than any other day. Little things kept getting in the way. I'm beginning to wish that e-mail was never invented. Janet is continually answering work related e-mail at home and even with a smaller client base, I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with e-mail myself. I'd like to say "not my circus, not my monkeys" to everyone, but if you have a small business like I do, you quickly realize that the problems actually are your monkeys.

At least the weather was nice today. There was a cool breeze when we took the dogs on their early morning walk and the temperature was still reasonable later in the day when it was time for the evening walk. Tropical Depression Bill has moved on and there was actually lots of blue sky today. I don't think there is any rain in the forecast for tomorrow either. All this really means is that it's time to get all the water off the roof again. We got a couple of products to control mosquitoes recently that are supposed to be organic and pet friendly. I did a little research on the Internet and discovered that one of the products was probably as safe as it claimed to be, while the other one was poison. The second product was so hazardous that I can't believe that someone sold it to us as safe to use around dogs. It's hard to trust anyone these days. While the mosquito treatment products may be questionable, at least there was some satisfaction in learning that the food Dot and Dash eat was still the best available. I saw a recent independent study that tested and ranked over 2000 types of dog food and the brand our dogs have eaten for years was among the elite top 25. Hey, at least we're doing something right.

I finished another article today, but I still have several more to write tomorrow. There is a long list of websites that I still need to convert to a mobile friendly format. Since I am no longer doing this for free, the list might actually be shorter than I think. I don't think I'll ever completely catch up with everything. It's an impossibility. I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. Although the day happens to be my birthday, the important thing is that I'll get to go out for breakfast again.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1647 - My Birthday

I received hundreds of birthday greetings on social media today. At most, I'd met less than ten of these people in real life. I tried to think if I'd seen any of them during the past year and could only come up with a single name: a guy I accidentally bumped into a few months ago at a guitar show. That's the way it is these days. Facebook has become the new neighborhood. Real life is kind of a wasteland. I was delighted to hear from everybody, whether I'd met them of not. Among the strangers who wished me a happy birthday were dedicated people all over the world who do their best to rescue and care for abandoned Dalmatians. There were fellow bloggers, who just like me, continue to tell their stories to a world where fewer and fewer people read. There were people who like wristwatches and probably a few like you, who just like to read this blog. I'm glad I heard from all of you. You keep me connected.

I got an e-mail early this morning from a neighbor up the street, asking me if I knew anyone who had lost a Weimaraner puppy. I haven't seen anyone walking a Weimaraner in the park for a long time, but I sent the lady all the information I had about reuniting lost dogs with their owners. If you find a lost dog without any identification, I hope you check to see if it has been microchipped first. If the dog has been chipped, this is definitely the easiest way to find the owner. When I left to go to the gym later in the day, I happened to see a "Lost Puppy" sign stapled to a telephone pole. I stopped the car and went over to look at the sign. Sure enough, the lost dog was a Weimaraner puppy that matched the description in the e-mail exactly. I called the number on the sign and left a message saying that I thought I knew where the puppy was. When the dog's owner called back a few hours later, she said the puppy had already been found and returned. Evidently there were lots of "Lost Puppy" signs and one of them had been seen by a friend of the lady who'd sent me the e-mail. My neighbors might not agree about politics, or even about what goes on in the park, but they do agree about dogs. I'm lucky to live in a very dog friendly neighborhood.

I didn't stay at the gym very long today. The gym was crowded and Dot had already made me feel guilty for leaving by barking up a storm as I was preparing to leave. I was also worried about the lost dog and wanted to check and see if the dog and its owner had been reunited. There was nothing to worry about. Dot was sleeping soundly when I returned and the Weimaraner puppy was already home again.

When I was walking the dogs this evening, we almost stepped on a huge snake. I need to get better at identifying these neighborhood snakes. Some are harmless and others are poisonous. It would be good to know which was which. In the mean time, we're going to avoid the shoreline and native prairie areas where most of the snakes seem to live. There are also lots of large hawks and owls in these areas. Maybe they'll eat the snakes.

We had Sprinkles cupcakes when Janet got home from work. These tasty little cupcakes have become somewhat of a birthday tradition. At a certain point we discovered that a big birthday cake was too much for two people.  These large, heavily frosted cakes just took up space in the refrigerator and eventually got stale. Cupcakes are much better.  It was a subdued birthday, but a nice one. I look forward to celebrating a few more.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1285

The first rule of home improvement should always be that after you buy the tools and supplies you need, you should never wait ten years to use them. I waited too long and none of the projects I started today turned out well as a result. I went back to Home Depot and got more supplies, but by then I was too tired to do the work. Oh, well. Probably these new supplies will suffer the same fate as the old ones I replaced.

Janet took me out for a birthday dinner tonight. She's been so busy that this was the first time she's had the time to go out in several weeks. We had a lovely, relaxed meal. It was probably as close as we've come to having an actual date for a long time. I had Wagyu Bavette with an arugula salad, asparagus, new potatoes and jalapeño cornbread. Wagyu Bavette is a lot like Japanese Kobe beef and is absolutely delicious. I drank sparkling water while Janet enjoyed a Cosmopolitan, but it was a small price to pay for having a functioning liver.

There are bees in our yard again. I don't know where the bees are coming from this time, but they sure seem to know how to find me. I've looked all over for the hive, but can't seem to find it anywhere. I wore long pants and a jacket in the 100 degree heat to avoid being stung while I was working on the house this morning, but the bees still hovered around, looking for an opportunity. Why is nature so adversarial? I always seem to be faced with stinging bees, grubs eating the grass roots, or poisonous snakes slithering through the yard. Oh, and then there are the cockroaches. I can't even begin to tell you how irritating the cockroaches are. When there are millions of them outside, there seems to be no way of preventing a certain percentage of them from getting inside.

From time to time I wonder about where I'd like to live next. I'd like a place filled with serene beauty, without being hassled by critters and bugs. Living on a beach would be nice, if it weren't for hurricanes. Living in the mountains would be nice, if it didn't get so cold. Living in a beautifully appointed high rise would be nice, if it weren't for the disagreeable homeowner's associations that come with these types of buildings. Been there, done that. I don't want a disagreeable homeowner's association questioning every move I make ever again. Maybe Shangri-La doesn't even exist. The sad truth is that I need to start seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty, and that's very, hard for me to do.

Tomorrow is dog park day. Dot and Dash have no problem enjoying simple pleasures like a trip to the dog park. Of course, they also have no problem abjectly hating simple chores like getting a bath. Maybe we aren't all that different. Life never gives you everything you want.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1282 - My Birthday

How did this ever happen? I've got a Medicare card in my wallet. I'm 65. My advancing age is somewhat confusing, since, at least in in my own mind, I'm still 19. Let's face it. A career in advertising and the absence of children in my life is not conducive to maturity. In many ways, I'm the boy who never grew up. I find myself in a weird sort of Twilight Zone. I have little in common with contemporaries who now share pictures of the grandchildren their own grown children have bestowed on them. I have even less in common with the current crop of young folks. They weren't even born when the seminal events of my life took place. Neil Armstrong's famous words, Ken Kesey's acid tests, and Jimi Hendrix's remarkable performance at Woodstock are all ancient history to them. They look at these things they way I look at Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

I'm certainly not crying in my beer about the situation though.  Oh, wait!  I can't drink beer anymore. My resolve to give up alcohol and change my diet has actually managed to turn back the clock in an odd sort of way. I feel much better than I did this time last year. I've lost twenty pounds. I have a lot more energy. And according to my doctors, my overall health has improved by just about any objective standard. There's even a much better treatment for hepatitis-c on the horizon, so maybe I can put eventually that behind me as well

I wish Dot wasn't so excitable. She got herself so worked up while the landscaping guys were here this morning sawing up the downed tree limb with their chain saws, that she tore a dewclaw. The vet got Dot patched up during her acupuncture appointment a few hours later, but she's got to learn to calm down. This wasn't the first nail she has torn or ripped out.

Like most birthdays in recent memory, this was just another work day. I completed a big update to an animal rescue website and wrote an article about watches. I didn't have to go up on the roof, because it was quite nice today. The dogs enjoyed their walks and so did I.

After dog training class this evening, Janet and I has a birthday celebration, complete with some delicious Sprinkles cupcakes. The dogs got little dog cupcakes as well. Yeah, I know. Cupcakes have sugar in them. I did forgo the alcohol though. I think I'm all set for another year.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1279 - Father's Day

My Mom used to tell me that I was her Father's Day gift to my Dad, since my birthday periodically coincided with Father's Day. I don't think Dad was all that happy about this situation, since I was frequently a thorn in his side. Although we were never really close, I always thought my father was a good Dad. He was a loyal, honest man who never forgot his family. Although I've never been a Dad myself, I suspect that this is exactly how a Dad ought to be.

I got stung by another bee today. In the process, I discovered where the bees were coming from. A group of them had made a home in an old stepladder that I'd been using to fix some things on the house. No wonder I was getting stung. You'd think I would have noticed the bees before I started using the stepladder. Nope. Sometimes, I don't notice much of anything.

The bee sting didn't stop me from doing some much needed Sunday yard work. I mowed the grass, front and back, and then did some weeding in the yard. Now, the house looks just as good as all the other houses in the neighborhood. I removed the remaining water from the new roof, because I wasn't patient enough to wait for it to evaporate. The cheap broom I bought at Sam's Club yesterday worked a lot better than the much more expensive professional broom I had purchased earlier at a builder's supply store. Go figure.

Without our usual Sunday trip to the dog park, the day seemed a bit empty. I guess it wasn't really a big loss. It was so hot that Dot and Dash had little interest in going outside anyway. We watched a movie on Hulu instead. I think we've finally reached an agreement on how to share the bed. There was no barking or commotion during the movie anyway.

Tomorrow, it's back to work again. I need to remember to pay my quarterly estimated taxes as well. I'm going to try to get up early, so I can walk the dogs before it gets too hot outside. Early in the mornings, it's still quite nice. Later in the day is another story. The dog days of Summer are definitely here again.

Harshey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 918

I was invited to one of those business networking breakfasts this morning. In theory, these type of things seem like a good idea. A group of non-competing business owners get together for breakfast and agree to use each other as vendors and suppliers whenever possible. There is supposed to be only one member in the group for each type of business. You might be sitting at a table with a dentist, a real estate agent, a body shop owner and an insurance agent. This sounds like a good way to introduce your services to a receptive audience, but whenever I'm invited to one of these things there is already somebody else who does websites. Today, the other guy who did websites was making the morning's presentation. When I was introduced, I just said I did the same type of thing as the other guy.

I honestly don't know why I'm even invited to these things. I don't seem to fit in. I don't even want to fit in. While the others around the table are talking about their Spring ski vacations or the upcoming marriages of their kids, I'm just wondering when I can get home to walk the dogs. The last time I was excited to be around a group of people talking about their chosen profession was when I used to go to SXSW in Austin every Spring. Being around a bunch of talented indie filmmakers was exhilarating. I always came home from the festival wanting to make another film myself. Somehow, looking at a PowerPoint presentation describing yet another small business marketing plan isn't quite the same. I shouldn't complain though. Breakfast at the Park Cities Club is always great. If the breakfast were served at 9 AM instead of 7 AM, the whole thing might be worth a try.

A lot of people in our dog training class must have gotten caught in last week's big hailstorm. When we got to class tonight, everyone was showing their iPhone videos of the storm to each other. I'm still amazed at how much damage a twenty minute storm like this could cause. Janet finally managed to get her car into the body shop today, so we're both driving loaner cars at the same time. I just hope that there's not another hailstorm in the near future. I want to get these loaner cars returned safe and sound. I've already learned the hard way that damaging someone else's car is much worse than damaging your own.

I noticed that all the birthday greetings on Facebook yesterday caused my Klout score to go up three points. Hmm. Is this what Internet influence is all about? Maybe so. Probably the folks with really huge scores are the people who post all those LOL Cat pictures.

Alamo 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