Showing posts with label normal life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label normal life. Show all posts

Friday, November 7, 2014

Day 1788

I suppose that in some sort of peripheral way, I am part of the media. I'm a writer and I have readers anyway. One thing I've noticed is whenever something alarming happens in my life, I get more readers. When things calm down and life becomes predictable again, readers drift away. I suspect this happens with the mainstream media as well. This would certainly explain why we are continually bombarded with stories about terrorism, Ebola, and celebrity meltdowns. People love a good disaster. In fairness, most people love stories about overcoming adversity too. They just don't like watching paint dry.

I hope my rather tame Friday adventures haven't become like watching paint dry for you. There is no need to show you another picture of my breakfast, because you've seen it already. My routine has remained unchanged for well over a year. I wake up, walk the dogs, take my morning meds, and go out to breakfast. On the way home, I pick up groceries for the weekend. I retrieve the garbage can from the curb when I hear the trash truck drive by, and finally I turn on the computer and see if there's any work I need to do.

I did mix things up a tiny bit this morning. On my way to the breakfast restaurant, I stopped by my general practitioner's office and had my lab work done in preparation for an annual physical exam later this month. They always want me to fast for these periodic blood tests, so getting the lab work done on the way to breakfast is perfect. With any luck, my physical will be the last doctor visit I make this year.

When I was walking the dogs this evening I saw a fire truck, a police car, and a cop on a bicycle all converge on the workers building the new concrete bike path in the park. Even though the lights were flashing on the emergency vehicles, there was no sign of a fire or altercation. Nobody was arrested or carried away on a stretcher. After about ten minutes everybody returned to their vehicles and drove away. I have absolutely no idea what was going on.

Dot appears to be back to normal. She was active and energetic today, with none of the reflux or heartburn problems she had yesterday. I probably worry about her too much, but once you've dealt with cancer, almost anything can seem like a precursor to the cancer's return. Let's hope that Dot and Dash can lead a normal, uneventful life for years to come. In my world, normal is good, even though it can seem like watching paint dry for some of you.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Day 434

Whenever I turn on the TV lately, it's hard to tell whether I'm looking at Wisconsin or the Middle East. People are angry everywhere. My natural reaction is simply to turn off the TV and go on about my business. Unfortunately, that doesn't always solve the problem anymore. I can't even drive from one side of the city to the other anymore without encountering a bunch of road rage impaired drivers. I don't know what people expect. The world is just not going to become any simpler, whatever we do. There are so many of us now that we may never collectively agree on anything again.


All this chaos is one of the main reasons I have grown to prefer the company of dogs. Helping find a dog a home is a simple thing, but it is satisfying. I usually don't feel like rioting at the end of the day. I was happy this afternoon to discover that the ConnectionPoint Systems FundRazr team has featured our Dalmatian Rescue fundraising success story right on the landing page of their website. This "success story" is good exposure for Dalmatian Rescue and the money we raised using the FundRazr has definitely helped one of our dogs get some very expensive surgery that he needed to return to living a normal life.

All I want is to live a normal, uneventful life myself. Maybe that's all the rioting people on TV want too. It's not going to be easy though. We've managed to build a house of cards that the slightest breeze can blow over. Today Baidu and Apple, my two best stock picks in several years, dropped like stones on the winds of uncertainty. The news wasn't even all that bad, but people still didn't like it. That's why I try to provide the dogs with as much certainty as I can. They need it too. This evening, they had their dinner at 4:30 PM and took their evening walk at 5 PM, just like they always do. We'll do the same thing tomorrow too. Sometimes it is good to be boring.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day