Day 1017

I've pretty much caught up on things again. Even though I'm continually busy, I'm having increasing difficulty remembering who my clients are. I never see them anymore. I turn on my computer in the morning, check my e-mail and find out what I'm going to be doing that day. There isn't a connection to real people or real companies anymore. I do my research on the Internet. I do my work sitting in a quiet room with two Dalmatians. If I'm lucky, at the end of the day I send the finished results back where they came from using YouSendIt. If you've ever wondered if you could make a living in total isolation, I guess I'd have to say the answer is yes.

I kind of miss the days where you had to have five meetings before you could do anything. Maybe you guys still go to meetings. Not me. People stopped paying me to come to their meetings long ago. Maybe I wasn't attentive enough, or didn't take good notes, but most people eventually learned that I wasn't really necessary at their meetings. Once they discovered that I did just as well with no input whatsoever, they quit inviting me to their seminars and strategy sessions. Oddly, I still do almost exactly the same things that I've always done. I just don't talk about it much.

I wonder if I could even go to a meeting anymore. Most of them are a monumental waste of time. I think one of the primary reasons I started my own company is that I hated bosses who scheduled status meetings at 7:30 AM. Why? I don't think anything useful has happened before 9 AM in my life. I guess I can't have it both ways. If I snub my nose at meetings, it's a pretty safe bet that I'm going to continue working alone. Nobody likes people who rain on their parade.

When I finished my work today, I drove over to the doctor's office to schedule my annual physical exam. The nurse looked at my chart and told me to come back around Thanksgiving. Evidently, I had arrived way too early for my physical. I don't know why I've been feeling that I was overdue for this thing all week. Maybe I should have made an appointment to talk with the doctor about memory loss.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 889

I know I complain about the trials and tribulations of running a small business. I shouldn't. Actually, I have it pretty good, because I don't have to deal with the general public. I can't imagine anything worse than dealing with the general public in a big city. I was picking up something this afternoon at the little neighborhood jeweler where I take some of my watches for repair and was surprised that I didn't have to ring the buzzer to get in like I normally do. I asked the jeweler why his door was unlocked and he said the fire department made him do it because it was against fire codes to lock a retail building during business hours. The jeweler was mad and said that the rule just wasn't fair. He said that every time he left his door unlocked, he was robbed at gun point. I feel sorry for the jeweler and hundreds of small retail businesses just like his. This is what our city has become. Dallas isn't as bad as Detroit, but that's kind of like saying it's not as bad as Beirut or Baghdad.

I'm glad my customers are in Germany. I'm glad that they are in New York and other places far away. The folks I deal with may irritate me from time to time, but I don't worry that they are going to hurt me. Maybe doing your work over the Internet is a good thing. The Internet is a very effective filter. I like to filter out the bad in life. I can't really get rid of it, but I certainly don't want to deal with it on a day to day basis. I wish there was an industrial strength Dyson Vacuum Cleaner thingy for sweeping up the bad in life and getting rid of it permanently. I'd buy one.

I can't remember being nearly this busy last May.  Every day has been a continual stream of small tasks that need to be completed quickly. I feel like one of those hamsters running continually inside the little spinning wheel in their cage. I get a lot of things done every day, but somehow when I wake up the next morning, there is always more to do. This perpetual busyness would be great if I truly loved what I did everyday. Not very likely! Most days I'd much rather just curl up with a good book.

No rest for the weary, I guess. I bought some more industrial shelving for the storage warehouse today, but didn't have time to assemble it. I've noticed that the power steering fluid leak in my car is getting worse, so I'm going to have to schedule another expensive repair at the Land Rover dealer sooner than I expected. I don't know why the buyers are asking so many questions about the rent property. I didn't know the answers when I bought the place. I didn't know the answers when I lived there. And I still don't know the answers today.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day