Day 2252 - Valentine's Day

We got to sleep in until almost 8 AM this morning, which is almost unheard of. Both dogs slept soundly. There were no accidents during the night. And best of all, after our morning walk, we had bacon for breakfast. Who could ask for more. I didn't make it to the gym today because I had to catch up on a lot of Saturday errands that got postponed by yesterday's photoshoot. It was no great loss though. I didn't really feel like going to the gym anyway.

When I was out running errands this afternoon I noticed that I had another nail in one of my tires. Damn. It's almost impossible to avoid getting nails and screws in your tires in Dallas. Janet has had three nails in her tires during the past year and I've had two. I don't know where these nails come from, but they're everywhere. The situation has gotten so bad that I've even thought of investing in a set of run-flat tires. I can't imagine changing a tire on the side of the road in this city. The traffic is so bad that you'd probably get killed. The tire is still holding air, but getting it fixed is the first thing on my to-do list for tomorrow.

I'm apparently not the only one who has made Sprinkles Cupcakes a Valentine's Day tradition. Every time I go to the store on this day there is a huge line out front waiting to place their order. The wait wasn't so bad today, because it looked like it was going to rain any minute and even though the cupcakes are delicious, they are not worth getting wet for. I didn't even have to pay for the cupcakes today because Janet discovered a gift certificate she won in a charity silent auction quite some time ago. I thought the certificate had probably expired, but the store honored it and even told me that I could redeem the gift certificate a little bit at a time since I really only wanted four cupcakes today, plus another two small ones for the dogs.

I received an e-mail from a veterinarian this afternoon asking if I was still interested in designing a website for him. I had initially contacted this guy over two years ago and then just assumed he wasn't interested because I never heard back from him. This just goes to show that some things take time. I'm always delighted when these sleeper cell jobs come back to life. I've made tons of contacts over the years, but I just don't have the energy or inclination to make cold calls anymore. There are certainly a lot more people out there that I haven't heard from in a long time. If even half of them still remembered me, I could be busy for a long, long time.

Dot is ageless. I took this Valentine's Day portrait of her quite a few years ago, but she still looks absolutely the same today. Dash looks pretty young too, but that's probably because he actually is a lot younger than Dot. We're all getting older though. Now Janet is the only one in hte family who isn't taking blood pressure medication.

Tomorrow is President's Day. Is this a holiday for all the presidents, or just the ones like Washington and Lincoln who used to have their own holidays? It's a weird holiday. The post office is closed, but FedEx and UPS are still making deliveries. Some banks are closed, but others remain open. Mattress stores seem to love this day, because they always seem to have huge President's Day sales. For me, it's just another day, I hope I can get my tire fixed.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1858

I got a lot done today. I attribute the day's success to seeing the sun again. We had a great walk this morning. It was still chilly outside, but with shadows on the ground and the sun on my face, it all seemed reasonably comfortable. My shoes were still muddy when we returned, but it was no big deal. All is forgiven when there's lots of sunshine. Janet went to breakfast with me for the first time in recent memory. She liked the food, but I don't think she'll become a regular. My go-to meals have too many calories.

I was a little surprised that I've never heard anything further from the new client that was supposedly headed my way. The initial inquiry was from an ad agency, which probably explains everything. Ad agencies are notorious about not following up on things. I probably won't hear from them again until late on a Friday afternoon when they have some kind of rush deadline that will ruin my weekend.

On days like today, I'm not sure how many new clients I could handle anyway. I was almost late for my physical therapy appointment because I had trouble finishing my writing assignments. I got a lot done, but I'll still have to do some additional writing this weekend. When I returned from therapy, I had a big website update to complete. There were 24 new pictures that needed to be resized in Photoshop, plus captions and bios under each picture. Everything was uploaded to the server just in time to begin feeding the dogs their dinner and give Dash his Palladia chemo medication before taking our evening walk.

I'm glad the weekend is here, although Saturday and Sunday aren't much different than any other day when you're freelancing. I like to think of the weekend as a restful time, but I'm not kidding anyone. All my clients know that I'm still here, and if they need something, they're not shy about asking me. The oral surgeon initially wanted to remove my wisdom teeth on a Friday, so I could have the weekend to rest. Rest on weekends? You've got to be kidding. I tried to explain that my office didn't shut down at 2 PM on Friday afternoons, like his did and that weekends were often the busiest days of the week for me. I don't really care when they do the surgery, as long as they do it at 10:30 in the morning. Any earlier and I won't be able to walk the dogs. Any later and I'll get hungry, since I can't eat before surgery.

I had a different therapist today, since my regular therapist had a scheduling conflict. This therapist was stronger and gave my arm some serious tugs. I actually think this approach might be better. My shoulder got this bad in the first place because I was always trying to avoid pain. If the therapist tries too hard to avoid causing pain as well, I probably won't accomplish much. It's a fine line though. Too much discomfort will cause more inflammation and make the whole situation worse. Maybe I just need pain as a yardstick to measure things. I've kind of lost the whole concept of pleasure.

I did manage to find Comet Lovejoy last night. I couldn't see it with the naked eye because of the city lights, but it was fairly easy to spot with binoculars. Right below the Pleiades was a soft luminous smudge that had to be a comet. Either that or my binoculars were dirty.

Selby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1856

I think we're setting some kind of Texas record for unrelenting grey days. It's been colder before, and I can remember a January or two with more snow. This is the gloomiest January I can remember though. The combination of dark, grey skies and cold, damp temperatures just saps your energy. All I really want to do these days is crawl under a very warm blanket.

The naps will have to wait however. Not only is my plate full of writing assignments, I think I may have acquired a new client as well. New clients are a rarity these days, since I'm no longer looking for them. This doesn't stop things from falling in my lap occasionally. If this new deal works out, it will involve more writing about luxury goods. I actually enjoy writing about luxury goods, mostly because it is infinitely superior to writing about Walmart or Dollar General.

I've decided I need a little point-and-shoot camera. I've virtually stopped using my big professional cameras for personal photos, because they are just too much trouble to lug around. It's almost embarrassing how often I use my phone instead of a "real" camera these days. The camera on my iPhone is about as good as professional digital cameras were fifteen years ago, but on the plus side, it's always in my pocket. The frustrating thing about the iPhone camera is that there is no optical zoom, and it is almost impossible to focus on certain subjects. I still don't understand why the wizards at Apple aren't able to come up with a phone camera that offers manual focus and exposure control. Maybe nobody else wants these things. At any rate, I think if I had a small cigarette case sized camera with a 30x zoom in my pocket, I could capture a lot more interesting images.

Just when I was about to tell my physical therapist that I had too many exercises to remember, she gave me three new ones. Each of these stretching exercises serves to remind me just how weak my right shoulder has become. It all happened so gradually that I wasn't really aware that I was losing both mobility and muscle tone. The shoulder doesn't hurt when I'm not trying to lift things, so inch-by-inch I just quit using it and began relying on my left arm instead. I never should have done this, but hind-site is always 20-20. I think the main reason I'm putting myself through all the discomfort of rehabilitation is that I never want to become one of those people who walks into a supermarket under their own power and then insists on using one of the store's electric scooters to drive around and shop sitting down just because it is easier. That's not me. I'll continue to walk five miles a day with the dogs and climb up on the roof to get the water off until I drop.

Hopefully my creaky body won't give out tomorrow, because I've got lots to do. Dot has her physical therapy day tomorrow and I continue to think that she's making more progress than I am. Dot probably still has energy because she sleeps sixteen hours a day. As someone who rarely gets more than six hours of sleep, sixteen hours sounds pretty good. I'd probably have insomnia though.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1359

I had a new business meeting this morning. I am being asked to develop a new website, and before I got started, I wanted to get everybody's input. One guy said the website need to be a lively forum that generated lots of discussion. Another guy said it need to showcase the organization's mission and values. A third guy wanted a transaction site where people could pay for things and make appointments. One group wanted a blog, and a small contingent wondered if there was any point in having a website at all.

I had almost forgotten that this was what beginnings were always like. Most of my clients have been with me for so long that there is seldom any need to talk. My input these days usually consists of "You know our business. Just make it work."

This new project sounds interesting. It also sounds difficult. Sometimes difficulties challenge me. Other times they make me put my head in my hands and start muttering "Why me?" We'll see what happens. At least I'm being given enough time to put some serious thought into this.

Dot was back in the underwater treadmill today. She seems to like the water therapy and did really well today. When I see her move her legs during the interval training sessions, I remember how fast she used to be when she was a young dog. Dot was always a dog who loved to run. It must be hard on her not to be able to do many of the things she enjoys so much. Considering her age, Dot is still remarkably strong and agile though. She is probably the healthiest Dalmatian we have ever had.

It's been such a busy week that I haven't been able to get to the gym at all. If I want to finish my normal writing and website chores, I only have time for one out-of-the-office activity. On days like today, where I pulled out of the driveway to run errands or go to meetings on four separate occasions, keeping on schedule is a lost cause. It seems like I used to do my job much faster, but maybe I'm just imagining things. All I know is that there just aren't enough hours in the day anymore.

I have to have another MRI tomorrow. The imaging is a pretty painless process, but I'm still not looking forward to it. When they inject you with the contrast dye, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I don't like having to put my arms behind my head when they slide me into the tube either. I've still got a dislocated shoulder and one of my arms doesn't really want to go behind my head. It could be a lot worse though. I'll take a MRI over a biopsy any day of the week.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1043

I hate it when your body starts to fall apart. I'm finally getting used to the carpal tunnel in my left hand, and then I wake up this morning with exactly the same pain in my right hand. How could that happen overnight? Maybe one of the dogs slept on my hands. Maybe the bad dreams I've been having are seeping into my muscles and bones. I don't know what caused this, but it's irritating. I guess that I'll have to start doing my stretching exercises on the other hand as well.

I spent most of the day writing. I've covered some subjects I write about so thoroughly now that new articles are starting to sound a lot like stuff I've already written. That's the danger of being considered an expert in a given subject. You just end up doing the same thing over and over again.

A friend told me today that he couldn't work on a certain piece of business for ethical reasons. Then he asked me if I'd like to work on it instead. Yeah, sure. Whatever. Everyone knows that I have no ethics to speak of.

Apple introduced a cute little iPad today and the stock went down 18 points. What was that all about?  I think people expect too much these days. Maybe folks thought this new iPad costs too much. Maybe they thought it was too much like a Kindle or a Nook. Hey, it was a cute little iPad. I wouldn't mind having one. The stock should have gone up.

I think people are expecting too much from the upcoming elections as well. If you believe all the people on Facebook, the world is going to end if one candidate or the other gets elected. I don't think so. I know who I'm going vote for, but if the other guy happens to win, life will continue more or less as usual. The country is so divided now that we're going to be locked in a gridlocked stalemate for a long, long time.

There's a new lens I'd like to get for the video camera. This lens has gotten fabulous reviews, but it happens to be the manual focusing variety. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be unfortunately. A lens I can't even focus properly isn't going to be very useful. I wonder who's going to win this little dilemma: practical John, or gadget boy? 

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 953

What a weird day. I finally arranged a meeting with the client who unceremoniously dumped me earlier this month. I wanted to find out what had happened. Before I could even get a word in edgewise about how shabbily they had treated me, my former client started asking me how they could get the website back to the way it used to be. Apparently, the new guys had made such a mess of things in just two weeks that the client wanted to hire me back. This was certainly fine by me. The whole meeting had kind of a "let's just forget this ever happened" tone to it. That was fine too. I've been in situations where I felt like saying "let's just forget this ever happened" myself.

It looks like I got the job to cover the big fashion event in Las Vegas too. I may be doing a lot more than I thought I would, but it doesn't really matter, since I'll be working on a day rate. I'm used to being busy and I'll get as much done as I possibly can in eight hours.

I'm making good progress on the animal rescue site I'm currently revamping. This new site will be a lot simpler and easier to navigate than the site I initially designed over twelve years ago. One thing that I've learned over the years is that people don't really care how clever you are. They just want to find what they are looking for as fast as possible. Sure, it's nice to have a pretty looking site, but that's not usually why people are visiting. Hopefully, this new version I'm designing will connect stray dogs and cats with potential new owners even better than the original version.

Training class was kind of a mess tonight. Our teacher was gone for some reason and nobody else seemed to want to step up to the plate and lead the class in his absence. Dash and I certainly didn't help matters any. We didn't want to lead the class any more than anyone else did. Somehow, we managed to muddle through most of the exercises anyway. Dash actually did pretty well tonight. He's a self-starter. Since he never listens to me anyway, he was right in his element with a leaderless class.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 883

I've already gotten two offers on my rent property. What this seems to prove is that there is always a price where something will sell. The real estate market isn't dead. Current prices are just lower than most sellers, including myself, would like. The difference between actually selling your house and having it sit on the market forever is just a matter of setting a realistic price based on current values. That being said, my house hasn't actually been sold yet. I've just gotten offers. Selling real estate seems to be a complex game of offers and counter offers, inspections and financing. A deal can fall apart at any point along the way. I am encouraged though. Especially since several friends told me to expect to have the house on the market a long, long time. There are two houses in the same neighborhood that have been on the market over 300 days.

The corollary to this sad tale of falling real estate prices is that you can always find work if you are willing to work for less than you might like. A lot of the unemployed expect to eventually get their old jobs back. It just isn't going to happen. Globalization and new technologies have destroyed those old jobs just as effectively as the financial meltdown of 2008 destroyed the selling price of my rent house. There is work though. There is always work if you are willing to do it. The ironic thing is that I'm busier than I've been at almost any point in my career, but I'm effectively making less per hour than I was 25 years ago. To me, this all sucks big time, but since I'm not Dr. Who and I don't have a Tardis handy, there is no way I can recapture the glory days.

What the hell. Things change. You've got to keep moving. It's better to keep reinventing yourself and adapt to changing times that to pretend is is still 1985. I present a new website design tomorrow. I got another new client today. Neither of these opportunities represent a financial windfall for me, but they do allow me to continue. I know I'm going to be disappointed with the final selling price of my rent house. I'm continually disappointed by the performance of my stock portfolio. This is the world we live in though. On the bright side, if I ever buy another house, it probably won't be that expensive.

We didn't go to training class tonight. Maybe if I had two very obedient dogs, I could take both of them myself. That isn't the case however. Dash is still a handful for me. I hate to leave Dot behind, so we all just stay home on nights when Janet isn't around. The dogs seem happy enough. They are both asleep on the bed. I'm happy enough as well. There are no mosquitoes biting me and I'm inside, away from my allergy problems. We'll wait until next week to return to class.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 847

I got a new client today. As often happens, I also learned something about an industry I didn't even know existed. My new client makes the tools that allow high-tech computerized lathes and milling machines to rapidly carve things like apple keyboards out of blocks of solid metal. I watched as massive half million dollar machines shaped blocks of tungsten steel into the precision tools needed for automated manufacturing. It was kind of amazing that all this was going on in an inconspicuous warehouse district about five miles from my house. Evidently, there are only two shops with these sophisticated capabilities in the entire North Texas area and their customers come from all over the world. My job is to build the company a website that works as well as their machines. I like complex mechanical things, so the assignment sounds like a fun project.

A number of loose ends got tied up today. My taxes are finished and it looks like I'll be getting a refund. I reached an agreement with my former tenant and it looks like I'll be sending her a check for a portion of her security deposit. I paid some more bills and I had hopes of getting my April invoices out before I ran out of time. Sometimes life seems like nothing more than moving money from one pile to another. It comes in and it goes out again. I never seem to be able to hang on to the stuff for very long.

The park was full of butterflies today. It's that time of year. It's not easy to photograph butterflies when you're walking two rambunctious Dalmatians, but I did manage to get a few decent shots. My whole photography style has changed. I used to dedicate an afternoon every month or two to taking photos without the dogs. Now, I just take a camera along with me whenever we take our walks. Dot and Dash do ruin a few good shots, but there are so many more photo opportunities on long dog walks that I'm starting to capture things that I never though possible before.

I need to call a plumber soon. I can't decide whether to fix our own house or the rent house first. It would make sense to give my own leak top priority, but if the plumber goes to the rent house first, I won't need to deal with all the dog barking.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 786

I spent the morning updating pictures on one of the animal rescue websites I manage. The animals were all puppies and kittens when I initially put them online, but they had grown so much that they didn't look the same anymore. You'd like to think that all rescue animals find their forever homes quickly, but sometimes it takes quite a while.

After I got all the animals straightened out, I went to work on writing a brochure for my latest client. This was a small job, but I'm always a bit apprehensive when doing something the first time for someone new. Some people are happy with just about anything, while others are so picky that nothing will please them. You never really know what kind of client you've got until you turn in that first job.

I almost ordered some new gear today. When I went to the website to place my order, it said the item I wanted was out of stock. This was actually a good thing. By the time the object of my desire is back on the shelves, I may have lost interest in it. Hopefully, this is what will happen. I am continually buying stuff I don't really need at the moment, just so I'll have it in case I need it in the future. People who don't buy equipment at all and just rent what they need when the job comes along probably do a lot better than me. Unfortunately, I don't like to rent things. I'm always nervous that I'm going to break the rented equipment, plus it's just no fun if the gear isn't mine.

Have any of you other bloggers heard about Google Friend Connect being discontinued on March 1? Apparently, the service will still be available to those who host their blog on Blogger, but everyone else may lose their followers. I've always thought it was a good idea to have a Blogger blog, since I'm convinced that Google always takes care of its own first. I know people though who have Wordpress or Typepad blogs that still use Google Friend Connect however. I wonder what these people will do? It would be sad to spend years building a good follower base and then lose it all just because Friend Connect disappeared.

Maybe I'll go out for breakfast again tomorrow. I've enjoyed eating out on Friday morning for the past several weeks. I'd get fat in a hurry if I ate out every day, but I don't think one day a week could do a lot of harm.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 510

After a week out of the office, you might expect that today would be a mess. I thought the same thing, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I started the day out by discovering why one of the YouTube videos I uploaded last week mysteriously disappeared about an hour after it started running. You guessed it. The problem was me. I had made a typo in the video's title that led people to believe they were watching next year's trade show. Nope. I'm not Dr. Who. I just typed 2012 instead of 2011 on one of the supers. I'm surprised that I didn't notice this at the time. I'm even more surprised that nobody in the elaborate approval chain noticed it either. Luckily the problem was easy to fix. I re-edited the video right after breakfast and uploaded it again. Now, all the YouTube videos are up and running smoothly.

My first watch article is up and running on Larry Brauner's Luxury Watches blog as well. When Larry contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in blogging about watches for his growing empire of watch blogs, I was excited. Hey, I'm a pro. I'll write about anything, but getting a chance to write about something I am actually interested in is much more fun. I plan to write a new watch article every day for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, some of Larry's considerable social media expertise will rub off on me while we're working together. I'm really looking forward to working on this watch blog project in the months ahead.

I got an assignment today to design a website for the company that installed the new heat pump at my rent property last month. Too bad I didn't get the job a little earlier or I might have been able to negotiate some sort of trade-out for the expensive roof top unit that unfortunately I've already paid for. I'm always happy to get a new job however, no matter when it arrives. This is a new industry for me too. That's good! I'm really trying to expand my horizons this year, so I won't be totally dependent on veterinarians in the future.

I'm still not sure how I'm going to get paid for my week in Houston, but I'm feeling a lot more confident that I actually will get paid someday. People on two continents are looking into the matter.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day