Day 1823

I was very impressed with my physical therapist today. She was thorough, informative, and was able to map out a comprehensive two month treatment program that should lead me toward greater mobility. It turns out that there is a lot more wrong with me than I thought. My shoulder problems were obvious, but there were also still problems with my neck and left hand. The therapist said that I didn't exhibit any of the classic symptoms associated with carpal tunnel syndrome and suspected that I have damaged or injured some of the small bones in my hand instead. She said that my right shoulder wasn't dislocated, but that the shoulder muscles on that side of my body were extremely tight and were preventing the shoulder joint from operating properly. The remedy is lots of supervised stretching exercises.

Some of you may remember the horrible problems I had with my neck during a trip to Las Vegas a few years ago. The physical therapy I had after that painful incident worked amazingly well, but it wasn't pleasant. They gradually stretched my spine, so that the soft tissue that had become encapsulated or pinched between the vertebrae were freed and my neck could move again. At one point they put me on a machine that seemed very similar to a medieval rack and literally stretched my entire neck. Yikes! I hated those sessions, but they worked. I've never really had a problem with my neck again. I think I've got a lot of uncomfortable stretching in my immediate future.

My cold seems to get worse every day. I guess it isn't really getting worse. It just continues moving to the next phase. My initial fever seems to have ended. My sore throat isn't as bad either. Unfortunately, these symptoms have been replaced by a terrible runny nose and a persistent headache. When I get a bad cold, it almost always lasts at least a full week. I've still got several days to go before the worst is over. I was really hoping that I'd start feeling better before this weekend's back-to-back Santa Paws photo shoots, but that's not going to happen. I need to remember to throw a big roll of paper towels and a large sack of cough drops in my lighting bag tonight. At this rate, I could probably be part of the photos, as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I haven't felt like cooking all week, so I picked up a barbequed pulled pork sandwich at Central Market's new little in-store restaurant on the way home from my physical therapy appointment. The sandwich and accompanying fresh sweet potato fries looked delicious, but I don't think I appreciated my dinner as much as I should have. A bad cold destroys your sense of taste. I could have been eating cardboard. What I should have done was skipped dinner entirely and just gone to bed early.

I saw on the Internet today that NASA is going to provide full press credentials to a select group of bloggers, so they can write about an upcoming satellite launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base. I think I'm going to apply for this press pass. If NASA accepts your application, you will get to interview space scientists, take a special tour of the Vandenberg launch facilities, and watch the launch itself from an up close VIP location. I've always been a huge fan of the space program and all NASA wants is a chance to expand their social media presence in new and different ways.  Hey, I'd be more than happy to write about a satellite launch on the blog. This isn't a contest or a prize. It is just chance to get official NASA press credentials. The only downside is you have to pay for the trip to California for the launch yourself. This is a media event, so I guess that Some Assembly Required would have to pick up the tab. It would certainly be exciting to be accepted though. I hope I do better on this than I did on the Amtrack Writers in Residence grant. That didn't go too well. Too bad I didn't get accepted for that one. Then I could have taken the train to California.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1185

I had a photo shoot today. More employee photos. Taking employee photos used to be a bread and butter item for my company, but plastering employee pictures all over your company website is gradually falling out of fashion. More and more people are discovering that these photos are way more trouble than they're worth. First of all, employees come and go. Once you've made a commitment to having all your employees featured on the website, you are constantly updating and changing things. All this activity is good for me, but it's not necessarily beneficial for the company. Even if the employees don't leave, they get married, divorced, promoted, change their hair color, or do something else to warrant a change on their page. I only have a few clients left who are still enamored with employee photos. I bet by this time next year, I won't have any. I don't even recommend employee photos anymore.

I asked my vet today what was the source of the muscle spasms that she said were probably causing Dot's rear legs to go out. She said the very same things that cause my own periodic neck and lower back problems. I took that to mean that she wasn't really sure. I still don't know what caused my terrible neck problems in Las Vegas a few years ago. My physical therapist told me that entrapped soft tissue in my neck vertebra was causing the pain. How did the tissue get entrapped in the first place though. I'll probably never know for sure. Dot could have easily strained a muscle walking up a steep hill just before her legs went out, but maybe that wasn't the cause at all. She's walked up that same hill day after day with no problems whatsoever.

I've given up on spotting the comet. I looked again tonight, but there's just too much dust and haze on the Western horizon where the comet is supposed to be located. Oh, well. There's supposed to be an even brighter comet headed our way toward the end of the year. Maybe I'll be able to see that one.

Even with my out-of-the-office photo assignment, I still managed to get a few articles written. I need to convince my client to start actually sending me to some of these events I'm writing about. Hey, I may be wrong, but it seems like interviewing people on the spot would make a much better story than just looking up facts on Wikipedia and then embellishing them with my imagination.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 660

I shot some more videos for my physician client today. This time the subjects were sleep disorders and the effectiveness of digital X-Rays. My plan is to put a video on every single page of the website. The doc speaks very easily on camera, but it's hell to get him to write something on paper. I'll have a much better chance of completing everything this way.

I'm going to have to rethink how I price things. About six months ago I started doing what I called placeholder jobs at low prices to tide me over between the real jobs that paid the rent. The whole idea was that this would even out my month-to-month cash flow and eliminate the feast-to-famine existence I had been living. Well, the little jobs kept growing and growing and now I'm so busy that I don't have time to go looking for the big jobs I need. This is not a good situation, because I'm maxed out doing low budget website revisions, writing assignments and pro-bono animal rescue work. I need to either start charging more, or find out where those illusive big jobs are hiding.

When I was walking the dogs today, a neighbor told me that I looked real stiff and asked what was wrong. Jeez, I thought I was looking a lot better. If people still think I look stiff, I must have looked like a total zombie three weeks ago.

I finally got my service representative to return my call at Land Rover and I made an appointment to take my car in for service next week. It used to be real easy to get hold of my service guy, but there are two empty desks in the service department now. I don't know how people ever expect jobs to return when companies all over the country simply aren't replacing people anymore. The new normal is simply to have the remaining people work a little harder when someone leaves. If you have a job, you're probably overworked and if you don't have a job, you're probably not going to get one. That's just the way it is.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 659

When I went to physical therapy today, they put me on a machine that looked suspiciously like a medieval rack. I felt like I was in a Monty Python movie. My head was in some kind of restraint that was attached to a chain which tugged on my neck at periodic intervals. Although the whole thing sounds horrible, the machine was actually pretty gentle and actually seemed to help with the neck pain. The physical therapy guy seemed worried that I might panic and gave me a kill button to push if I felt I needed to stop the machine. He said some people felt uncomfortable being left in a room with a machine tugging on their head. I told the physical therapist that I'd be fine and that there was a good chance I'd be asleep when he got back. I found the whole process kind of relaxing.

I actually wished I could have stayed at the physical therapy place longer, because work was anything but relaxing. Every project I worked on today seemed either totally meaningless, redundant and unnecessary, or just plain wacko. I'm sure that most of you have had these type of days yourselves. Usually, the higher up the food chain the request originates, the wackier it is. I much prefer working with people down in the trenches. At least they are realistic about what can be accomplished in a day.

We're back to having dog training class in the dark again. The sun had already set by the time we arrived this evening. It's going to be this way until Spring. There are some lights in the park, but it's pretty dim. Dash doesn't like the dark either. He always seems much more reasonable when we have daylight classes in the Summer.

Google+ was filled with tributes to Steve Jobs this evening. I never got to know the guy like a lot of the silicon valley types, but he changed my life in some very fundamentally ways. I bought one of the very first Macintosh computers in 1984. I've had at least one Mac on my desk ever since. Before the Macintosh, I used to write things on a yellow pad and have a secretary type them up. Life was relaxed and often fun. Now my phone has a more powerful processor inside than the Apollo rockets that went to the moon. The Mac on my desktop is more powerful than early defense department supercomputers. Instead of assistants, I've got software that will do anything. Computers have enabled almost all of us to accomplish things that would have been impossible even ten years ago. They haven't made life any easier though. My own life is busier and more stressful than it's ever been. On days like today, I feel like a serf in a science fiction version of the middle ages.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 641

We took the dogs to the Wags and Waves event at Hawaiian Falls today. Somehow, I thought that Dot and Dash would really like the water this year, since they were curious about it last year. No such luck. When we would get in the water with them, all they wanted to do was get out again as fast as they could. There were hundreds of dogs splashing around and having a grand time, but our two wanted nothing to do with the water.

A video crew wanted to get an interview with Dot and Dash at the Dalmatian Rescue booth. Ann and Janet didn't want to do the interview because they don't like being on camera. I didn't want to do the interview because my neck is still stiff and I look like a zombie. Lucky, Travis was there. Travis is usually up for anything, so with any luck, his interview segment with Dot and Dash will be on TV somewhere this evening. Even though the event lasted all day, we all left a little after 2 PM. Lots of dogs were having fun, but we didn't make much in donations today. Anyway, when Dash is ready to go, you might as well just go.

Even though Saturdays are busy errand days, I really didn't do much today. I got my grocery shopping done when we returned from the water park and used the rest of the day to take a nap. I wish I'd start feeling better soon. Right now, a nap is about the only thing that seems to work.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 640

When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to discover that it was already 9 AM. Either I was really tired, or Janet was very quiet getting ready for work this morning. I didn't hear a thing. The dogs aren't very good about getting me up in the morning either. They'd already had their breakfast and everything before Janet left for work, but when I woke up there was a dog sleeping on either side of me.

I feel so run down that I don't even feel like eating anymore. I didn't even make coffee this morning and last night my dinner consisted of half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The neck pain continues to get a little better every day, but at this rate, it will be weeks before I'm back to normal. It would be so nice to just wake up some morning feeling great again. Maybe someday.

I've decided to go ahead and buy Avid Media Composer while they are still having their special promotion for Final Cut Pro users. Work has declined for just about every video producer I know, but I don't think you can give up. I'm a good video editor and I have to think that I will continue to get production jobs if I am ready when the need is there. For the moment, I am going to use this slow period to learn all the ins and outs of my new Avid software.

It rained again today. It wasn't a long rain, but it did cool things down a bit. Maybe the worst of our long Summer heat wave is finally over. I'm glad I got the dogs walked this evening before the rains began. I could see dark clouds on the horizon at our halfway point, but we managed to make it back again before Dot started panicking. Luckily, there wasn't much thunder and lightning this time, so she's fine. Both dogs are sitting on their dog beds now, waiting for us to call it a day.

Phantom is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 639

It was twenty degrees cooler today. I was really surprised when I took the dogs out this morning, because there wasn't much to explain the mild weather. No overnight storms. No big cold front. It was just nicer today. I wish I could convince Dash to take it easy on these walks. He tugs and pulls on the leash and is making it an uphill battle to get my neck back to normal. At least my neck pain isn't getting worse though, so maybe I can learn to deal with my rambunctious dogs.

I went to another seminar about the Panasonic AG-AF100 camera this afternoon. I'm getting closer and closer to purchasing one of these cameras because it meets my needs almost perfectly. Too bad I don't have a big video job in the pipeline to make the decision a little easier. This is really a good camera. It records high definition video to an SD memory card. It can use all the Olympus lenses I already use for my still camera. It has time code, professional microphone inputs, a built-in vectorscope and much more. For the purchase to make sense, I just need some more of the corporate video jobs that used to be my bread and butter business.

My bread and butter business now seems to mainly consist of low budget, quick turnaround website design and equally low budget writing assignments. It's weird to actually be making less money than I was ten years ago, even though I'm much busier than I was then. This seems to be a common problem though. Everyone from other photographers and advertising freelancers to the guy who frames my pictures tells me they are having the same problem. Basically, this economy totally sucks.

I had to rewrite an article I did yesterday, so that means that the article I was supposed to write today gets put off until tomorrow. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly tomorrow because now I've got two articles that need to be written, plus at least four websites that need changes. If only I could trade places with the dogs. They just slept on the bed all day.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 638

I have a compressed disc in my neck. This isn't quite as serious as a slipped disc, but it goes a long way toward explaining my recent neck problems. My doctor showed me a variety of exercises I could do to relieve tension and rebuild strength in my neck muscles, but it's going to be a long, slow process, whatever I do.

I didn't have much luck getting my meds reduced. Apparently, one set of pills is helping to keep plaque from building up in my arteries and another set is keeping me from developing diabetes. Since I wouldn't welcome either a heart attack or diabetes, I will be a good boy and continue to take all my meds. Since statin drugs do have a tendency to cause muscle loss over time, my only alternative might be to join a gym and work on building those muscles back again.

I couldn't wait to get finished with dog class tonight. Dash was just fine, but I wasn't quite ready for the evening's exercises. My neck is still pretty stiff and any exercise that involved running was still a bit painful. I should have just stayed home, but it's hard to take one dog to class when the other doesn't get to go. It's easier to deal with a little neck pain than it is to deal with Dash if he was the one who got left behind.

It looks like I've got quite a few writing jobs for the rest of the week. My doc says I need to work on my posture while I'm at the computer and take longer breaks away from the monitor as I work. This is easier said than done, but I'll give it a try. I spend so much time staring at a computer screen for my work that I can easily imagine that stress and bad posture were part of the problem. Here's to a relaxed, stress free working environment. Now, if I can just keep from falling asleep on the job.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 633

We’re in the air and on the way home. I hope that what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas. Pain is such a relative thing. Everyone has their own threshold. Maybe I’m a total wuss. On the other hand, maybe I’m a total idiot who took a Vegas vacation when he should have been in a neck brace. At any rate, I think I may have passed my own personal threshold when I found myself spending several nights in an expensive hotel, sleeping in an upright chair because it was the most comfortable place I could find.

We had a lovely dinner at Canaletto last night. I think it was a signal that the worst was over. The Northern Italian Ravioli was light, fresh and satisfying. I ate everything and actually felt like doing something after dinner. We went outside again to see a beautiful sunset, and then it rained. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by Madame Tussauds. I'd never been to a wax museum before and it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. You never get a sense of how large or small people are by looking at pictures. The wax figures are absolutely accurate. A lot of famous Hollywood people turned out to be much smaller than I thought they'd be. At some point, I came face-to-face with Richard Petty and I was stunned. I'd spent some time with Richard in the mid 90's when I was making a series of Pepsi commercials that featured the legendary NASCAR driver. I stood a few feet away from the wax figure and the effect was so real that I almost expected Richard to start talking. Not all the wax figures were this real, but this one brought back some fond memories.

I think Janet is going to be mad at me for a while for turning into the Howard Hughes of the Mirage. I seldom left the room, but that’s just the way it was. Things didn’t really start getting better until I gave up on the pain pills in total disgust and decided that “cold turkey” couldn’t be any worse. Almost immediately, I started feeling better. All the pills were doing was making me loopy. I was starting to see bugs flying around the bathroom that weren't even there. I’m so mad that my doctor gave me a big bottle of Tramadol when this medication obviously had no effect on my type of neck pain at all. Janet told me that she was worried sick that she’d come back from the casinos and find me OD’d on the floor. It probably was a very good thing the pills didn’t work, because if they actually did what they were supposed to do, I would have taken a lot more of them.

It will be great to see the dogs again. We’ve both really missed them this week. Dot and Dash always looked happy enough when we looked at them on the webcam, but I’m sure they’ll both give us one of those “how could you” looks as soon as we get them home. Luckily, dogs forgive very easily; especially when you remember to put dog treats in your suitcase.

Janet’s been having trouble with her computer and I told her that I’d take it to the Apple Store for her after she went to work tomorrow. “It’s Friday John,” she told me. “What day did you think it was?” Lord only knows. I don’t think I left anything at the hotel though.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 631

If I told a veterinarian that one of my dogs was showing signs of pain in the spinal area, they would tell me to bring the dog in immediately for a CAT scan so they could identify the pinched nerve. When my doctor finally called me back and I explained my condition to him, he told me to put an ice pack on it. This, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with out medical system today. Veterinary Hospitals are for profit businesses that attract customers by providing the advanced services people want at prices they can afford. Doctors and hospitals operate by a completely different business model. Their customer isn't the patient. It is the insurance company that ultimately pays them. They know exactly what the insurance companies will approve and what they won't approve and design their care accordingly. I certainly don't blame the doctors. They're just trying to make the best of a very bad system. It is the insurance companies that are the bad guys.

I didn't tell my doc that I'd already tried an ice pack yesterday. The ice really didn't deaden the pain very much and the ice bag leaked as well, soaking my shirt with cold icy water. I think I'll stick with Bengay rub and my pain pills till I get home.

We had breakfast at the Bellagio this morning. I've always thought this was one of the prettiest hotels in town. The fountains are a work of art in themselves, and if you look up over your head in the main lobby, you'll see the most spectacular blown glass chandelier you could ever imagine by glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Today, there were giant umbrellas hanging all over the place. I have no idea what the umbrellas meant, but they were quite pretty.

We're going to go see Rod Stewart tonight. Jeez, this guy makes me seem young. The guy's a senior citizen and he's dancing around the stage like Mick Jagger....who is also a bona fide senior citizen. Go figure. At any rate, I wish I had a little of whatever they're taking. Most of my memories of Rod Stewart are from the earlier years when he was playing in the Jeff Beck Group with Ron Wood. I also remember Every Picture Tells a Story being one of the best albums of the early 1970's. It will be fun seeing if the guy still has his chops tonight.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 630

Taking a trip to Las Vegas while I was suffering from severe neck pain probably wasn't the smartest thing I've even done. How was I to know? Vegas almost always works for me. Although it might seem implausible to some, the place relaxes me. I always learn something new when I'm here. Las Vegas is probably the one place on the planet where people of every race, religion, age, social status, and belief system can happily share the same space without a hint of a problem. Spent an hour sitting on a bench watching people walk by and you can paint a fairly accurate picture of where the world is headed. You can always tell who the successful countries are by what languages you hear the most in the casinos. Not surprisingly, I'm hearing a lot of German and Mandrin. I've never seen so many people from mainland China in Las Vegas before. There used to be a ton of Japanese tourists, but it appears the Chinese have taken over the lead in decadence.

That's one thing you have to remember about America. We may have lost our edge in manufacturing and technology, but we are still totally world class when it comes to decadence. People come here from all over the world to learn from the masters. This morning I saw a group of Chinese having their pictures taken in front of an under construction sign for the new Kardashian Khaos store. The store wasn't even there yet, but people were still fascinated.

This has been my weirdest trip to Las Vegas yet. I feel like I've taken a ride in the Tardis and gone forward twenty or thirty years onto my own future. I'm walking around just as slowly and painfully as the legions of stooped old men you see in the casinos who are too proud to use one of those electric scooters. I'm confidant that the current pain in my neck will be resolved shortly, but there will come a time when it will be like this every single day. That's certainly what happened to my Mom and Dad. By the time each of them died, they were ready to go. The pain had beaten them.

I've got a call into my doctor to ask him if I should cut my trip short and come home now. I'm kind of in uncharted territory here and I don't want to do anything that could make things worse. It will be a miracle if he even returns my call. I don't seem to be a very high priority to doctors. Oddly, if I had called my vet about the dogs, I can almost guarantee that the call would be returned within fifteen minutes. Dot and Dash get much better medical care than I do.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 628

I’m writing this at 38,000 feet. I doubt that I’ll be able to post the blog until we land again, but it’s a good time to write. I don’t know how Janet managed to get us upgraded to first class without paying any more. She’s a lot better at travel planning than I am. I’d almost forgotten how much nicer first class is than coach. I don’t get up to the front of the plane much anymore. There’s plenty of room for your feet up here. The flight attendants are nicer. They even serve you a real meal. I could get used to this. I’m sure the next time I fly, I’ll be right back in coach however. If my clients are paying, I’ll definitely be back in coach.

I think it took longer to get the dogs ready for the boarding kennel than it took to pack our own bags. We packed their food, their meds, their dog treats and their toys. I’m sure Janet probably threw in a few dog blankies into their bag as well. I think we’ll be able to watch them on a webcam when we arrive. I’ve learned that live webcams aren’t very reliable though. About half the time when I go to view one, it has already crashed.

Janet is convinced that if I could just learn to relax, my neck pain would go away immediately. I don’t think it’s this simple, but I’m certainly willing to give it a try. When we get to our hotel, I’ll probably just upload this and immediately go to sleep with my special u-shaped pillow wrapped around my neck.

Tomorrow is another day. I may feel fabulous tomorrow. The hotel mattress is probably a lot better than our mattress at home, which has been ruined over the years by large dogs jumping all over it. Just a good night’s sleep would probably make a world of difference.

Domino: today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 627

Well, it was back to the doctor for another muscle relaxer shot this morning. I woke up feeling just about as bad as I did yesterday. I don't think that my head is getting the proper support when I sleep, because these neck spasms always seem to be worse in the morning. This time, I made sure they gave me some Tramadol along with the muscle relaxers and by afternoon, the pain seemed a lot better.

It probably is stress that is causing the problem. I've got a trip coming up and I never travel well. I always wait until the last possible minute to pack and plan and consequently, the final hours before any sort of a trip are usually a madhouse. Janet is exactly the opposite. She's usually packed and ready to go a full week ahead of time. I'm usually still not packed and ready to go when I'm walking through the TSA scanners at the airport. At any rate, I really hope I can get this neck pain issue resolved before I leave. It's not going to be a pleasant trip if I still feel the way I do now.

I hope I'll get to watch Dr. Who this evening. Writing the blog has really cut into my TV watching time. I haven't seen any of the new Dr. Who episodes yet, and I've only seen one full episode of Project Runway this season. I never used to miss Project Runway, but there just doesn't seem to be time anymore. Maybe TV isn't as much fun now that I can't drink. We used to always have martinis while we watched Project Runway and somehow the show doesn't seem quite the same completely sober.

I decided to copy all the important software I use everyday over to my laptop this afternoon. You'd think this would be a routine, easy process, but it didn't turn out that way. Some things wanted to go back into demo mode even though the instructions said that a single license could be used on two computers. Quark Express and Quickbooks seemed the hardest to install. I finally got these two registered as well after a couple of calls to customer service, but it shouldn't have been this hard. I do feel better after doing this however. Now, I don't just have my files backed up, I have the applications I need to make the files backed up as well.

Domino: today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 626

I don't know what's wrong with me. I woke up this morning with terrible neck pain. It was so bad that it took me almost ten minutes to get out of bed. I couldn't move my head left or right. I couldn't lift my head normally either. It felt like a big watermelon on top of my body. To sit upright in bed, I had to cradle my head in my hands and use my arms muscles to lift my head off the pillow.

All this was not looking good. Luckily Janet was able to walk the dogs for me this morning before she left for work. While she was doing this, I drove up to my doctor so I would be there when they opened at 8 AM. The doctor didn't think there were any neurological problems. She seemed to think the pain was a muscle spasm and gave me a muscle relaxer shot along with a prescription for an other type of muscle relaxer that I could take for up to 30 days. The shot worked. I felt much better by lunch time. I'm not so sure about the pills though. When the shot started to wear off, I took one of the pills, but haven't noticed much improvement yet. Maybe if I'm able to get a good night's sleep tonight, I'll feel better in the morning.

When I went to my pharmacy to get the pills, the pharmacist said they were out and that they'd been on back order for almost a month. When I asked what I could do, he said I could buy the $65 name brand version of the muscle relaxer, instead of the $5 generic version. There was apparently plenty of the more expensive pills. I remember reading an article just yesterday about how hospitals and pharmacies are having an increasing problem keeping certain essential drugs in stock. The pharmacist said it was all true and that a lot of drugs people really need just aren't readily available anymore. At any rate, I bought the expensive drug. What choice did I have?

I still had some writing jobs to complete this afternoon, but when I got caught up on everything, I took a nap with the dogs. The muscle relaxers must have helped, because I finally got a little sleep. Last night I didn't get any sleep at all. My doctor thinks stress is causing the pain. I seldom think I'm stressed out, but sometimes my body tells me otherwise. How do you relax when you don't even think you are tense though? Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 625

I'm enjoying taking my daily Instagram pictures. These casual little pictures remind me that there are still small moments of beauty in even the most ordinary of days. I guess the whole purpose of this blog is to remind me of these same small moments, but it's easy to forget when your day mainly consists of tasks and responsibilities.

The postman knocked on the door this morning and told me that he thought I had a plumbing leak, because water was streaming down the driveway and into the street. It really wasn't a plumbing leak at all. I was just watering a tree in the front yard and had forgotten to turn the water off. This lapse of memory falls into the same category as forgetting to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer after a load is finished, or forgetting to take the trash out to the street. I wasn't going to tell the mailman, but these things are common occurrences around our house.

I downloaded the new 9.1 update to Quark Express this morning. This upgrade contains the new ePublishing module that lets you create Kindle eBooks and simple iPad apps directly in Quark. I'm really intrigued with having the ability to create my own eBooks without outside help. I've written a ton of stories and it would be nice to have them all in a book sometime. I wonder if anyone would buy an eBook from me though. Virtually everything ever I've written is already available somewhere on the Internet for free.

I woke up this morning with a stiff neck. I thought the pain would go away in an hour or two, but it's still here twelve hours later. I can't hardly move my neck at all without turning my whole body. Sometimes this happens when I fall asleep watching TV with a pillow elevating my head. Whenever this happens, I usually blame the dogs. They move around on the bed so much during the night that they're always waking me up. One thing about neck pain is that it makes you forget about hand and foot pain. Hopefully, I'll sleep properly tonight and feel better in the morning.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day