Day 3035

It's amazing how long it takes to do nothing. Maybe I accomplished something today, but it would be hard to prove. I found a place that sells the weird silicon glue I've been looking for in a smaller more affordable size. I was just about ready to order the glue online when I discovered that the seller wanted to charge $18 to ship the small 1/2 ounce tube. Jeez. The glue itself only costs $11. This seemed ridiculous, especially since you could easily put the small tube of glue in a bubble pack envelope and mail it with two first class stamps. I canceled the order and did some more looking until I eventually found a place in town that stocked the glue. Do I want to drive 20 miles on a busy freeway to pick this stuff up, or pay way too much for shipping? It's a tough choice.

I heard on TV that the supreme court is hearing a case tomorrow that could end up forcing online retailers to charge sales tax. That would really suck. I have purchased computers, cameras, and electronic equipment online for years specifically to avoid paying sales tax. Sales taxes, gasoline taxes, property taxes, cigarette taxes, and much, much more never seem to be enough. The government always wants more. We'll see what happens, but I'm going to be real disappointed if I have to pay sales tax when I order something from Sweetwater or B&H Camera.

I made an appointment to take Dash tomorrow morning for his rabies booster. He's so old now that I don't think he needs the shot, but it's the law. At least the city doesn't require the vaccine every year like they used to. You only need a booster shot once every three years now and many vets think that the vaccine is actually effective for up to seven years. Dash has had a bad reaction to some immunizations in the past, so I never look forward to these shots as he becomes old and frail. I wish these decisions could just be between the vet and the pet's owner. Why does the government need to get involved?

Our neighbors are having to replace their sewer line. What a mess. Since our houses are about the same age, I've started to wonder about the condition of our own sewer line. We've already had problems with our water lines, so it's something to think about. When our house was built in the mid-1950's, they used copper pipes inside the house and heavy cast iron pipes outside. These pipes were pretty durable, but everything rusts or corrodes eventually. I wonder how the PVC pipes they use today will look fifty years from now? The plastic pipes will probably be fine, but I can't imagine that the purple glue they use to join these pipes together will last that long.

I have only a single outstanding invoice now. When even the slow and delinquent payers are current on all their accounts, do I even have a business left? Probably not. I'm a pretty good dog nurse, but I'm really going to have to find something to do with myself when the business officially dies.

Becker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2889

I went to the store where my online order was supposed to arrive and wasn't all that surprised to discover that it didn't come on today's truck either. The person who was helping me said, "We do happen to have one of these in stock." What? Why was I buying online if what I wanted was already in the store? I bought the item they had in the store and told the clerk to return the online purchase if and when it ever arrived. The clerk was surprisingly friendly about this weird transaction and said it happens all the time. "I'm sorry to cause all this trouble," I said. "I looked last week and you didn't have this on the shelves, so I ordered online." "It was probably here," she said. "We don't keep everything on the shelves."

I'm glad I went to the website meeting today. Somehow, I had a completely different idea in my head of what I was supposed to do. If I had started to build the site yesterday, I would have had to throw everything away and start over. I have a much better idea of what everyone wants now. It looks like this will be a work in progress for quite a while, but that's OK. I needed something to keep me busy anyway.

The imaging lab called today to remind me to not drink any coffee before I go in for my Calcium Score Screening tomorrow. The test is to measure plaque build up in the arteries. I wonder how caffeine would affect the results? I'll need to leave a note on the kitchen table tonight. I'm such a creature of habit that I could easily drink my first cup of coffee automatically before it even registers that this is something I'm not supposed to do. I think I would have preferred if they told me not to eat. I really need my coffee in the morning.

I wish I'd been able to finish my work on the roof while the temperature was in the 80's. It's been cold and damp all week and I have a feeling that things are only going to get worse. Fall is going to turn to Winter soon. I may have already missed my best opportunity to get this done. I guess there is no rush to use the remaining coating, but I do worry about that little note I saw on the label that says the product should be used within 72 hours after opening the container.

It's hard to remember when I could walk and feed Dash without a lot of elaborate preparation. We have our new routine now, but it sure is complicated. All his gear needs to go on in exactly the right order, or it won't fit properly. The Rough Wear Web Master harness needs to go on first, because the knee brace attaches to the harness. The rubber boots always have to go on last because you can't fit the knee brace if the boots are already on. I have to remember the socks too. The socks go under the boots to keep the rubber from rubbing his paws and creating raw spots. I'm getting faster at all this, but it takes a while.

Feeding is equally complicated. Dash will only eat the Castor and Pollux stew in the morning. He seems to like the Whole Chicken Thigh recipe the best. At lunch he will eat 1/2 cup of dry food if it is mixed with a crumbled up rice cake. If the rice cake isn't there, he won't touch the dry food. At dinner, we feed him Hills ID wet food. He likes his dinner split in two parts with a walk in between. It took a lot of trial and error to come up with this complicated formula, but it works. He's getting good nutrition now and maintaining his weight. I guess this is as normal as it's going to get.

I'm a little nervous about doing the CAT scan tomorrow. The last time I had a scan they made me put both arms behind my head before they slid me into the tube. It was uncomfortable then and probably impossible now. My shoulder has gotten worse and my right arm just isn't that flexible anymore. There is no way I can stretch my arms out behind my head these days. Should be interesting.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2842

It's getting harder and harder to see and touch something in a store before you buy it. Specialty products are almost never available in retail stores anymore. Everything is online. We ordered some new protective boots for Dash because the description sounded perfect on the website. When the boots arrived in the mail today, they were a lot different than I imagined. They were certainly sturdy, but they were also stiff and heavy. Dash doesn't lift his rear legs very well anymore, which is why we wanted him to wear the protective boots in the first place. When I got him fitted with the new boots, he immediately started stumbling. The boots were too stiff and heavy for him to walk normally. We'll have to return these boots, but if we could have tried them on in a store, we never would have bought them in the first place.

The boots we're a failure, but at least Dash is walking today. He wouldn't walk early in the morning like he normally does, but while I was having my smoothie this morning, I could tell he was ready to go outside. I put my drink in the refrigerator, got Dash's harness, put on the old boots, and off we went. He actually took a pretty decent walk and his boots only came off twice. I'm learning to keep a careful eye on his rear legs when we walk. The boots aren't hard to put on, but they are almost impossible to find if they become lost in the grass.

I went ahead and purchased the new mother board for the refrigerator. I figured that if this expensive part didn't solve the problem, the remaining parts that might cause the evaporator coil to freeze are all pretty cheap. I miss the days when washers, dryers, and refrigerators were controlled by simple mechanical switches. Now, just about everything has a computer inside of it. You can't fix these mother boards. You can only replace them. I've already had to replace the mother board in the dryer when a power surge fried it.  

Power outages and surges are common in our neighborhood. I have surge protectors and filtered power for the computers, put it's too much trouble to protect everything this way. I depend on electricity, but I don't really trust it. I have experienced too many power outages and had too much equipment ruined by leaking bad batteries. I'm intrigued by the idea of electric cars, but I don't think I'd ever buy a Tesla. The thing is powered by 6216 lithium ion batteries. What could possibly go wrong.

It's been a long day, even though very little happened. I fell asleep after dinner and almost forgot to take the trash out. Actually I forgot is was Thursday as well. We may not need to start Dash on the Cerenia pills again. He is still challenging to feed, but I can tell he is eating better. I must be eating better as well, because I'm starting to gain weight again. That won't stop me from going out for breakfast tomorrow. I'm hungry for pancakes and sausages.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2790

I finally went back up on the roof today. What a mess. In addition to the usual two inches of standing water, there were twigs and small branches everywhere. The neighbor's pecan tree is starting to drop nuts as well. As soon as I got things cleaned up, I called the roofer again. There are at least half a dozen new places where the elastomer coating has deteriorated or torn. I am so tired of water problems. Over the years, the vast majority of problems we've had with the house have been water related. There have been roof leaks, underground plumbing leaks, shower pan leaks, dishwasher leaks, and toilet leaks. Water leaks are inevitably followed by mold and mildew. I'm sick of it all. I wish there was a way to buy a house that came with a 100 year guarantee against any form of water damage.

I was finally able to contact the watchmaker who has had three of my watches for almost five years now. I told him that I had given up on him and that I would come by and pick up the broken timepieces. He immediately apologized for the lengthy delay and said that if I could give him one more month, he would have all three repaired. I have actually heard this before, but what have I got to lose. I can't even remember what these watches look like anymore. I'll call him again at the end of the summer.

It was still raining this morning when we woke up and although Dash had slept like a baby during last night's rain, he immediately became frightened when he heard a distant thunderclap. This complicated our morning routine, because Dash won't eat when he is scared. I like Dash to eat his breakfast before I start fixing mine, because as soon as he sees me fixing something, he immediately loses interest in what is in his bowl. I fooled him this morning. I got out a bunch of pots and pans as if I was fixing my own breakfast and then fixed his instead. He eagerly ate his meal, took his morning pills, and then wanted to go on a walk. I ended up eating pretty late this morning, but at least I got Dash walked before it started raining again.

The shower stall still leaks a little, but I think I made a huge improvement. The problem is that if there is any leak whatsoever, my repairs will ultimately fail. Moisture will gradually seep under the ceramic tiles again and cause the silicon caulk to come loose. I don't even care if the repair lasts forever. If the musty smell starts to go away and I don't have to mop up small puddles after I take a shower, I'm happy. When the repair disintegrates, I'll just fix things again.

I've just about resolved all my computer upgrade problems, but I still can't print on DVD's. I don't know why this bothers me so much. I haven't had a need to  make a label for a CD or DVD in almost a year. Nobody even uses DVD's anymore. Losing this capability still frustrates me. I have a printer that lets you print directly on blank discs and I used to use it a lot. Upgrading to Sierra has made this printer obsolete.

I'm helping Janet find a new iPad. It's surprising how hard it is to just go to a store and buy one of these things. Most stores, including the Apple Store, want you to buy online and then they'll ship it directly to you later. Depending on the configuration you choose, delivery can take from three days to over three weeks. It's a shame that stores don't carry much inventory anymore. Shopping was so much easier when you could go to a store and know that they'd have everything you needed right in the store.

I'm pretty confident that I have everything I need at home tomorrow. Dash has plenty of food. There's still a good supply of fresh fruit for my smoothie. There are enough leftovers from tonight's dinner to feed me tomorrow. I'm good. If I get really bored, there's always Netflix.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2219

Today was full of little surprises. I got a bill for something connected with last November's water leak repairs. I thought this whole episode was completely finished, but apparently some companies are even slower about getting their invoices out than I am. Hopefully, this is the last bill. I want to put this disaster behind me so I can be ready for the next one.

I discovered that I actually won something on the Powerball ticket I purchased last week. I only won $4 for matching a single number, but that was enough of an incentive to go to the nearest 7-11 and get a few more tickets for tomorrow's billion dollar drawing. I redeemed my $4 prize, added another $6 I had in my pocket and got five more tickets. You could actually make a pretty good documentary by going to a random 7-11 and interviewing people getting lottery tickets. There's always a line of people buying them when there's a big jackpot. I've noticed that even though the odds are impossible, everyone thinks they are going to win. You realize quickly that playing the lottery is a very regressive tax. It is always poor people who buy the most tickets.

My other surprise today was that I unexpectedly have some work to do. With a new website update and three new articles to write, I might have enough work to keep me busy for the rest of the week, especially if I'm not in a hurry. I wish the website jobs had bigger budgets and the writing jobs were more frequent, but I'm not complaining. I'd much rather spend my day writing than cleaning up dog poop.

I ordered a small adapter that lets me lets me use my movie lights using a different type of battery. I really don't need a V-mount to Gold-mount converter, but it didn't cost much, so I thought I could afford the indulgence. I don't have to worry about becoming addicted to drugs, or alcohol, or chocolate. I do need to worry about buying things I don't need. I love getting packages in the mail. My Dad had this same affliction as he got older. Maybe we both have the hoarder gene. At any rate, when I get bored, I go online and buy something. I seldom spend much money and rarely need what I buy. It's just something to do.

I didn't bother to listen to this evening's State of the Union address. I just didn't feel like hearing more platitudes about how great things are when the reality is quite different. I've never seen the country more divided in my lifetime. We can't seem to unite behind anything these days. My parent's generation united as one to win World War II. A later generation inspired by John Kennedy went to the moon. Now, we just argue with each other. This isn't really about Democrats or Republicans. It's about a great country that has dissolved into a bunch of ineffectual tribes. Self indulgent people are more loyal to their tribe now than to the country as a whole. This can't possibly end well.

I'm not a joiner and don't have a tribe. Maybe that's why I see things a little differently. If I win the lottery, I'm not going to tell you about it. I'll quietly continue walking my dogs and minding my own business. I'll probably always remain a somewhat detached observer, but it would be nice to observe a little more harmony in the world.

Suzie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2173

It's official. 2015 is now the rainiest year in Dallas history. When I look out my window, it's easy to see why. Some parts of town have had over six inches of rain during the last 24 hours. It rained more than usual this Spring. It rained more than usual this Summer. And it is definitely raining more than usual now. The traffic was horrible today. I saw five accidents on my way to the grocery store this afternoon. Last night was a lot worse, when three people died after they were swept away by high water. I try to stay inside on days like this.

The weather may be getting worse, but Dot's condition is definitely getting better. She didn't throw up at all today and is still holding down her food. We are continuing to feed her the Hills I/D and are gradually increasing the amount she is allowed to eat. Getting back to her regular diet couldn't come quick enough for Dot. She is very focused on food. I still don't know what caused all the vomiting. With dogs it could be almost anything.

The cold, damp weather gave me an extra incentive to make a decision about a dehumidifier. After talking to a patient, very nice customer service representative at an air quality specialty company for about twenty minutes, I finally decided on the best model for our house and ordered it online. It was hard to find a dehumidifier that had everything I needed. Some units were too big and noisy. Others didn't have an internal water reservoir, so they constantly had to be hooked up to a drain hose. Many of the smaller, high capacity units were designed to be installed in a crawl space under the floor. These don't work very well if you don't have a crawlspace. The dehumidifier I initially wanted turned out to be too small for our house. I wondered who would buy this rather expensive, built like a tank unit if it wouldn't dehumidify our rather small house. The customer service representative told me that police departments loved the compact machines and used them to dehumidify their gun safes. In the end, I never could find a commercial dehumidifier that would work well in our house and ended up buying a much less expensive consumer model instead. Hopefully it will last at least a couple of years.

I kept thinking it was Saturday all day. I didn't go out for breakfast this morning because Janet was off work today. We slept in a little later as well. My initial reaction was to get Dot up as early as possible, since there had been no accidents by the time I woke up. She was sleeping so peacefully though, that I decided to let her sleep as long as possible. We all got an extra hour of shut-eye until Dash eventually started barking for his breakfast. We got lucky and found a forty-five minute break in the rain right after we ate, so the dogs got their morning walk as well.

Since the rain is supposed to continue all the way through Monday, I don't know what I'll do this weekend. I certainly have no intention to participate in the pre-holiday shopping frenzy. Why would you go to a store and stand in long lines to buy something you could get for the same price online anyway? There were tons of Black Friday deals in my inbox this morning. One looked way too good to pass up. There was a picture of a new model Mac Pro laptop with a price of $15. I immediately put this deal in my shopping cart and went to get Janet so I could show her this amazing price. By the time I returned, the price had gone up quite a bit. The Black Friday price was really $1500. The store sure fixed that typo in a hurry. I bet they had a flood of orders the minute the deal went online. I wonder if they'll have to honor the deal for the few people who were fast enough to check out before the error was corrected. I bet somebody's in trouble. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get a $15 Mac. I'm rarely fast enough for anything anymore.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2164

So, what did I learn today? For starters, I learned that a lot of water leaked out of our broken pipe last month. I received our first water bill since our plumbing problems began, and it was humongous. I called the city to see how to go about getting an adjustment on the bill and since I was dealing with a government bureaucracy, the procedure was about ten times more complicated than it needed to be. I'm supposed to go ahead and keep paying my bills like normal, and then fill out some paperwork and send it to a completely different department to apply for an adjustment to my bill. Supposedly, about three months from now the city will apply some sort of formula based on my historic water use averages and credit back some of this month's huge bill. I wonder if the people making the adjustment and the people currently taking my money even talk to each other. At least the problem is fixed now and I only have one wonky bill to deal with.

I was going to go look at dehumidifiers in several of the big box stores today, but discovered that nobody kept them in stock. Keeping an inventory is a thing of the past. Unless you're dealing with a popular day-to-day item, most stores force you to buy online these days. Some stores ship the item to a retail store where you pick it up. Other deliver it to your home. If you actually want to look at the item before you buy, you're out of luck. It's frustrating. The reason I wanted to buy a dehumidifier locally is that my UPS guy has a habit of breaking heavy objects by just dropping the package at my door. I've had to return a number of things delivered by UPS and FedEx because they were broken when they arrived. Fragile or Handle with Care stickers mean nothing to these guys.

Faced with the prospect of buying online, I started reading the online reviews more carefully. It appears that most people feel that dehumidifiers are too noisy, only last a year before they break, and are so poorly designed that you always spill water on the floor when emptying the water reservoir.  I remember one review in particular. "Your machine sucks water out of the air just fine," the review said. "It's too bad it immediately overflowed and spilled all the water it extracted on my new carpets and ruined them." Once again, you get what you pay for. With portable dehumidifiers you've got two choices. You can pay $1400 and up for a commercial machine designed to run 24 hours a day, or pay $200 for a consumer machine that will break in a year.

When I was running errands today, the Service Required light came on in my car. I hate this ambiguous message because sometimes it means that something is seriously wrong with your car and other times it is just a reminder that it's time for your next service visit at the dealership. I didn't want to take any chances since I have to transport Dot in the car tomorrow, so I drove over to the dealership and showed them the problem. There was nothing wrong at all. It was just reminding me about the service appointment that I had already taken care of last month.

I got a call from an IT guy today telling me that he had just replaced all the web cams in one of my client's buildings. This meant that the pages for viewing these cameras no longer worked. I told him I'd fix the situation if he'd sent me send me the information I needed to create new web cam pages. Ordinarily, this would be something I could do while I was talking to the guy on the phone. Not anymore. Since I've already converted this particular site to a responsive, mobile friendly format, it is much more complex to modify. There goes tomorrow. Between taking Dot to physical therapy and adding these four live cameras back to the website, that's my entire day.

It was clear this morning and I was surprised to see how far Jupiter and Venus have moved apart in the morning sky. The last time I looked, these two planets were almost touching. It appears that even the planets are moving faster than I am these days.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1698

Today was busy. My big task was replacing some door locks. I've been postponing this for over a year, because the door hardware is old and non-standard. I was afraid if I broke the old locks while removing the rusty screws and the new locks didn't fit, I'd be stuck with buying an entirely new door. I worked slowly and methodically, managing to remove all the rusty parts without breaking anything. Luckily, I measured everything correctly and the new locks fit like a glove.

Dot did pretty well today. There were relatively few accidents around the house and she had a great walk in the park this morning. We're still not going very far, but Dot enjoys walking along the shoreline. We took things slow and easy, giving Dot a chance to smell everything along the way. She may not be strong, but she definitely is happy. Janet found some waterproof material at a fabric store and we're going to try to make our own custom sized pee pads for Dot to sleep on. It seems like an easy enough task. We should be able to sew some absorbent cotton material to the waterproof backing and have something at least as good as the crib liners we've been using. The crib liners just aren't big enough and when Dot does her circling dance to lie down, she always seems to end up making a mess of the checkerboard of small pads I've laid out for her. No matter where I place the pads, she always winds up with her butt in a crack between two of the pads. One giant waterproof pad would be much better.

I needed to get some ink for a very old printer, so I thought I'd try to find it at Fry's, instead of ordering it online. Fry's isn't very popular anymore and a lot of their merchandise seems to sit on the shelves for years. I've found discontinued computer supplies there before, and sure enough, I found the ink I was looking for today. The large store was virtually empty. Half the fluorescent lighting in the ceiling was turned off to cut costs, and it felt like the air conditioning was turned off as well. It was kind of sad. Five years ago, this store would have been packed on a Saturday afternoon. Now, I guess everyone prefers to buy their electronic toys online. Slowly but surely, Amazon.com is destroying brick and mortar retail. I do most of my shopping online as well, but I'd hate to see the brick and mortar stores disappear. I guess I need to be more loyal about supporting the ones that are still around.

I'll probably go to the gym tomorrow. I need to go more than once a week, but I've had my hands full lately. I bet I burn up as much energy waterproofing the bed every night as I would on the treadmill anyway. Maybe I'll try to get a head start on next week's website work as well. It's too hot to spend much time outside. We had another triple digit day today. We were lucky to have a mild June and July. That's all over now, unfortunately. It looks like August is going to be a furnace.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1674

Someone has been sprinkling ground up bits of broken glass along several of the paths in the park. I don't know if this is to cause passing bicycles to have flats, or an effort to hurt animal paws, but it is definitely malicious. One more thing to look out for every morning. This city is wearing me down. Daydreaming is one of my favorite things, but it's just not as easy to absentmindedly daydream during our walks anymore. There's always something to look out for.

Dot worried me today. She was very slow and a bit stiff on our walk this morning. You could tell she wanted to walk, but just didn't have the energy. She went to sleep as soon as we returned home, but even her sleep wasn't restful. She kept changing position and groaning occasionally as if something was bothering her. There were no visible injuries. She was breathing completely normally. And she didn't appear under any stress. She just seemed tired. I'll ask the vet to check for any hidden warning signs, but I think she's just getting old. I know how she feels. It doesn't take much to wear me out either.

We don't get much mail anymore. I used to always look forward to getting the mail everyday, but the steady stream of magazines, circulars, and catalogs has almost come to a standstill. I think the battle for shoppers hearts and minds is over and that Amazon has won. Practically the only thing I get in the mail these days are bills to pay. Even the bills come with admonitions and enticements to get me to switch to online payments. Switch to online payments and we'll give you a $25 Starbucks card they say. No thanks for now. I still like printed statements. I prefer reading a book to looking at the same thing on a Kindle. I'd still rather read a magazine than visit a website. My days are numbered though. I've become a dinosaur.

A few more observations about my day at the courthouse yesterday. I think you can divide people into two categories. There are the ones who check their e-mail and texts obsessively. And there are the others who play Candy Crush Saga obsessively. I hate waiting and paced up and down the courthouse halls all day while the lawyers were deciding what to do with us. I was virtually the only person walking around though. Most people were just sitting on a bench and staring at their phones. They couldn't leave them alone for five minutes. It's kind of sad. I suspect the smart phone has already had an even larger impact on society than the automobile. For the Millennials, the phone has actually replaced the automobile as the iconic object of their generation.

Even though Dot was tired today, we still took both dogs to training class tonight. Dot spent most of the evening sitting in the grass with Janet, while Dash and I went through the exercises. Dot was happy. She doesn't like to be left out and there is no reason to leave her out of anything. We'll all just slow down a bit and let her enjoy her remaining days

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1392

This is the only time of the year when we don't need either the furnace or the air conditioner. For a few weeks, a rare condition exists where you can actually open the windows. I've learned to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts, because it certainly doesn't last long. Sometime later this month, I'll wake up freezing cold, turn on the furnace again, and discover that it is broken. Fixing the furnace is a Fall ritual at our house. It's hard to imagine the arrival of Winter without the furnace repairman arriving first.

I finally made it to the gym today. I'd like to go  more often and haven't yet figured out how others manage to go everyday. I was surprised at how full the place was today. With today's near perfect weather, I would have thought everyone would have been outside.

Since work was slow today, I used the opportunity to run some errands. I took some letters to the post office, picked up a prescription at the pharmacy, and got some new shoelaces for my dog walking boots. On the way back home, I stopped by Fry's to pick up more ink for Janet's printer. I've never seen the place so empty before. Many of the shelves were virtually bare and only four of the store's over fifty check-out registers were actually open. The place looked like a ghost town. I bet on-line retailers are killing this place. I used to buy a ton of electronic gear at Fry's myself, but it's easier and cheaper to buy online these days. Shipping is usually free, there is no sales tax, and everything is delivered right to your door.

I may have to get another nanny cam. When I set up the camera to monitor Dash while I'm away, I can't see Dot. If I point the camera at Dot, I can't see Dash. Apparently the dogs don't want to have anything to do with each other while I'm gone. Dash seems to favor the bedroom and Dot usually stays in the office. This is curious to me, since the dogs usually sleep right together while I'm in the house with them. Have I ever told you that Dalmatians are moody? They act just like people sometimes.

All my work assignments came in toward the end of the day. I may not have had much to do today, but it looks like tomorrow will be very busy. Almost everyone wants some sort of change to their website and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a new article to write as well. Wednesday is always a lost cause, so it looks like I won't be able to get back to the gym until Thursday.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1361

The good news is that I got the Defender 90 back today. The bad news is that after a month in the shop, it still isn't fixed. Truthfully, I don't think it will ever be fixed. A car with 100,000 miles on the odometer just isn't going to run like a car with 100 miles on the odometer. I was so discouraged about my engine vibration problem that I got a quote for the Defender's trade-in value while I was at the dealership. The good news is that Land Rover Defenders hold their value better than any other SUV. Period! There isn't another vehicle that even comes close. The bad news is that I don't really want to trade the Defender for anything. I just wish it ran like new.

I guess I share the sentiments of another Defender owner who wrote "What can I say. Rain leaks in. Oil leaks out. The car requires constant maintenance and the interior is trash. But I love it." I feel the same way. The only other current vehicle that is even in the same league is the Mercedes G-Class.  Unfortunately, a Mercedes G-Class costs twice as much as a Defender.

My doctor's appointment later in the day was almost as disappointing as my trip to the Land Rover dealer. My lab reports have grown into such a large, complex document that I think even my doctor is confused. Many tests appear to contradict each other. Many others are inconclusive. There's still enough data which indicates that there are plenty of things wrong with me, unfortunately. Today's new lab reports were a mixed bag. There were a few new things to cheer about. And there were a few new things to worry about. When things are this inconclusive, the doctor and I just agree to schedule some more tests in a few months.

I've bought things online for so long that I kind of take the whole process for granted. Evidently, not everyone has perfected the art of online selling however. A got an e-mail today saying that a recent order of mine had shipped. When I checked the FedEx tracking number, I discovered that my order had already been delivered to Sedona, Arizona three days before I ordered it. When I called the company to find out what was wrong, I got a recorded message saying that the company was closed for the day due to an unexpected emergency. Maybe my order wasn't the only thing that had gone wrong.

There were quite a few website revisions for a Friday. Employees had quit and needed to be removed. Hours had changed and needed to be updated. A Google map pointed to the wrong location. Someone noticed, after looking at it for over a year, that their name was misspelled. I fixed everything and then did a little research on Wordpress. I read a review about a cool add-on that made it possible to develop Wordpress themes within a Dreamweaver environment. Great! This was just what I needed. When I went to download the clever app, it didn't exist. It had been discontinued two years ago because of licensing issues. Oh, well. I guess everything was too good to be true today.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1319

The plumber arrived promptly at 8:30 AM, right on schedule. Plumbers make a point of being on time. I see plumbing trucks all over town with big signs on the side saying "If we're late, we pay for the call." Unfortunately, a punctual plumber isn't always a perfect plumber. Sometimes nothing gets fixed at all.

That was certainly the case today. It didn't take long for my plumber to tell me there was nothing wrong with my disposal. "Your problem is electrical," he told me. He even took the disposal out and hooked it up to a wall outlet to prove that it still worked. "Can you fix it," I asked? "No, you'll have to call an electrician for that," the plumber told me. "Well, at least hook things back up the way you found them," I said.

When the plumber was hooking the disposal back up, he proceeded to blow a fuse, knocking out my kitchen TV and the coffee maker. Then he handed me a bill for $117 and left. Since the fuse he blew was one of the old fashioned glass kind that screws in like a light bulb, I had to search all over town to find a suitable replacement. My first try was a failure too. I brought home a fuse that had the wrong pitch on the screw-in threads and it wouldn't fit in the socket. By the time I found the corect fuse and went out for breakfast, it was lunch time. I had my eggs anyway, and then I called an electrician.

Yesterday I finally found the correct part number for the elusive engine part I've been trying to find for my Defender 90. I though I'd use this part number as a search term on Google and see what turned up. Much to my surprise, I found four places that still carried the hard to find harmonic balancer or engine damper as some places called it. Just to make sure I was buying the correct part, I called the contact number on each of the the websites instead of just clicking the "Buy Now" button. All four companies I called told me that the part had been discontinued several years ago and was no longer available. "Why is it still for sale on your website," I asked? The answer was always the same. It was just too much trouble to update the website. I asked one of the companies what would happen if somebody actually bought the part in question. "Oh, we just wouldn't fill their order," the guy said. Oh, well. So much for the digital revolution.

The day really didn't get much better. Dot got so worked up while the plumber was in the house that poop flew out her rear end whenever she barked. I had to clean up a lot of little poop bullets on the floor. Then, I broke my new push broom while sweeping water off the roof. I also broke my reading glasses while I was trying to replace the burned out fuse. On the positive side of things, neither dog had a seizure today and my car started nine times without incident while I was out running errands.  I'm still glad it's Friday.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1303

It's a good thing that most of my chores were inside today, because it was way too hot outdoors. Even though we got started at 7 AM, the dogs and I were drooping by the time we finished our morning walk. Dot and Dash sprawled out on the brick floor to cool off, while I made myself a pot of coffee and some breakfast.

Under the protection of the air conditioner, I actually managed to get quite a bit done. I managed to get all my July invoices posted and in the mail. I changed some contact information on a website. And I finished another article.

Since my to-do list went so smoothly, I went to the gym after I mailed my invoices. It's still a little disconcerting to see people ten years older than me with more stamina than I have, but I'm making progress already. I have a feeling that this is one lifestyle change that's going to stick.

I don't know why we bothered to go to dog training class tonight. The dogs were hot. The people were hot. And there were little flying insects biting everyone. Everyone brought buckets of water for their dogs to drink. We brought water too, but Dash seemed to think all the other dogs water tasted better. Somebody brought a kiddie pool and it was amusing to watch Dash try to work up his nerve to get in the water. You could tell he wanted to, but he is timid about everything. He would put one paw in the water and then another, but never two paws at once. When Dash finally got the nerve to put all four paws in the water, a big Labrador Retriever took over the pool and splashed all the water out.

When I was driving around today, I saw a Fedex truck flashing its lights behind me. When the truck pulled alongside, the driver waved at me and I recognized him as my regular delivery guy. You know you're buying too much stuff online when the FedEx guy recognizes you in traffic.

Who knows. Maybe the FedEx guy will bring me something tomorrow. I could use a diversion. It looks like all I've got to look forward to is a lot of work. I wish it was Friday tomorrow, but I've got to wait another day. I'm bored with the oatmeal already. I saw a recipe online where you take half of a fresh avocado and poach an egg in the center after you remove the seed. I think you just bake the avocado in the oven until the egg cooks. The picture showed the avocado with some cheddar cheese melted over the top. It looks good. Maybe I'll make this tomorrow.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1296

There was a package of socks on my front porch this morning. It says a lot that I'd rather buy something as utilitarian and easy to find as socks online instead of going to a store. I don't know how local merchants survive when everything from digital cameras to dog food is easy to find online. It's so painless to buy things this way. A few mouse clicks and the FedEx guy brings it to your door a few days later. The allure of online shopping is even stronger in the Summer. Who wants to park your car at the mall and return an hour later to find your steering wheel too hot to touch? People don't seem as patient in the Summer either. More cars cut you off on the highway and you'll get honked at or worse if you don't make those left turns at stoplights quickly enough. I think the entire city is in a bad mood on hot days like today.

I probably notice the traffic more on Wednesdays, because that's when Dot has her acupuncture appointment. Traffic slowed to a crawl on Central Expressway this afternoon when a wreck blocked traffic. As we inched along toward the vet, I kept wondering what would happen if our own car stalled out. I try to stay in the right lane, so at least I could get off the road if I had car trouble, but sometime that's impossible. Maybe I worry too much about driving around in the Summer with a dog in the dog, but there's so much that could go wrong when you're driving an eighteen year old Defender 90. If I had to get a tow, I'm not even sure the tow truck driver would let Dot ride in the truck with him.

Luckily, we made it to and from our acupuncture appointment without a hitch. Dot seems to like her treatments now. Even though her legs still seem weaker than they should be, I have to assume that the treatments are doing her some good. I wish I could say the same for myself. I got the results from last Saturday's blood tests back today and my liver enzymes are elevated again. I'm not sure what to do now. I'm already taking the recommend medications, eating the recommended food, and doing the recommended exercise.

Although tomorrow is a holiday, it's going to seem pretty much like a regular Thursday around our house. Janet has to work tomorrow and if the weather remains as hot as it was today, the dogs aren't going to want to go out of the house anyway. I'm pretty much caught up on my writing work. If nothing new comes in tomorrow, it might be time to watch another movie on Hulu.

Dash didn't do well in training class tonight. Actually, none of the dogs did. There was something smelly in the grass that the dogs wanted to eat. I couldn't tell what they were interested in, but there must have been something. Every ten feet or so, Dash had his nose in the grass, looking for some illusive treasure. No illusive treasures for me today. The high point of my day was getting a package of socks.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1233

Whenever I bent down to work with the dogs at training class tonight, I felt light-headed when I stood up again. Since feeling faint when standing is a known side effect of two medications I take, I think it might be time to reevaluate my meds. Carvedilol slows down the heart rate and Metformin lowers blood sugar levels. With the radical changes I've made in my diet, I may not need these medications anymore. Getting a doctor to agree with this assessment might be difficult though. Once doctors starting seeing positive results from the pills they prescribe, they are loathe to discontinue them. I wish I could find someone with a comprehensive knowledge of both nutrition and medicine. It would be nice to know with some degree of certainty how diet, exercise, and medicine interact but I have yet to find a doctor who truly respects the opinions of a nutritionist. When you give a medical doctor a list of the medications you take, they don't even know what to do with the herbal supplements. It's frustrating to say the least. I really think the side effects of some of the medications I take are actually mimicking the symptioms of the diseases they are meant to treat.

Unexplained light-headedness wasn't my only frustration today. I was totally confused by my U-verse bill. It was supposed to go down this month, but it actually went up. When I called customer service to see if I could figure out what my bill was actually supposed to be, the customer service representative became equally confused. There are so many weird state and local taxes added to your phone bill every month that I'm not sure anyone knows what's going on. Phone companies continually offer incentives to keep you as a subscriber. Municipalities keep changing the tax rates. And as a result, your bill never seems to be the same. When I finally figured out what was going on, I was disappointed. Although my bill was higher than I thought it would be, it was lower than it could have been. Phone and Internet bills are kind of like the national deficit. They always keep going up.

One of the articles I wrote today was about the possibility of an Internet sales tax. I'd hate to see this happen, but it probably will. One of the main reasons I buy so much stuff online now is to avoid the sales tax. States and municipalities are hungry for additional revenue though and they see online retailers as a good place to find it. An Internet sales tax is coming, so if you've got your heart set on a new camera or computer, you'd better buy it now.

Dot was really peppy today. I'd like to think her surprising burst of energy was the result of her new heartworm medication. It's probably too early to tell though, since the dogs just got their monthly heartworm pills this morning. I'll hope for the best though, just like I do with my own condition.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 930

I didn't think much would be happening this week, and I was right. There were no phone calls today. With the exception of the usual spam, there were no e-mail messages either. It was a very quiet day. 

Days like this are dangerous, because I get bored and inevitably buy something online. Sure enough, about ten-thirty this morning I found myself wandering over to the Sweetwater site and looking at gear. I didn't want to spend much money. I just wanted to kill time. After wasting way too much time daydreaming, I ordered a nifty little interface that lets me use my iPad as a guitar amp.

With no deadlines to meet, I got started on my new website project. It turns out that the goal of distilling a complex site into something simple is a bit harder than I thought. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of pages on the existing site, and they all have been online forever. Since the old site does very well in Google search, I really hate to scrap it. I decided that I will just leave the old site on the server for Google to find while building a parallel new site on the same server. In the end, only the index page will be overwritten. This means I can never build a new page with the same name as one of the old pages. If there is a page called staff.html, the new page that replaces it has to be called employees.html, or something that won't overwrite the old page. Eventually, when all the newly designed pages get popular with the search engines, I can scrap the old pages. This all sounds like a good plan to me, but somewhere along the way, my client will probably throw me a curve ball that will render the whole strategy useless.

I'm such a predictable person. If you could see what I fixed for breakfast, you'd know how my entire day was going to go. When I eat cold cereal with a little fruit on top, I'd usually just rather go back to bed. If I fix eggs and sausages, it's going to be a productive but largely uninteresting day. If I fix French Toast, I probably woke up with a glimmer of an idea and may even appear to be inspired. Days when I eat out are the best of all, but this is only because it's Friday. If French Toast inspires me, you may ask why I just don't eat the stuff every day. I guess the short answer is that my favorite French Toast, sprinkled with powdered sugar and drenched in real maple syrup is the equivalent of a giant neon sign that says "Welcome Diabetes."

I fundamentally don't understand all the earnest looking cyclists who whiz by me every morning while I'm walking the dogs. I don't understand people who can't wait to get back to the gym. Yeah, I've heard all about endorphins and all that. I still prefer butter. Did you guess that I had cold cereal for breakfast this morning?

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 731

I couldn't have picked a worse time to get a haircut. Trust me. At 4:30 on a Friday afternoon just before Christmas, the Northpark Mall is a zoo. I though I'd get a terrible haircut, since it was the end of a long, hectic day, but Betty was in surprisingly good spirits and gave me one of the best cuts I've gotten all year. After I got my hair cut, I still had to go to Central Market for some groceries and pick up my dry cleaning. By the time I got home to walk the dogs, it was completely dark.

Why didn't I do all these errands earlier, you might ask? It's just that time of year. I just can't seem to get caught up. I spent most of the day transcribing all the video clips from my interview with the oil and gas executive last Tuesday. It was a tedious job, but it was absolutely necessary. My memory is like a sieve. Some stuff sticks, but most short-term memories float right on through and are quickly forgotten. Luckily, what I captured on tape was pretty good, so I think I'll be able to turn this into a reasonably decent article. While I was transcribing the interview, more website revision and watch article requests arrived, so I'll have plenty to do next week. If I was more ambitious, I'd have plenty to do this weekend, but I think I need a break.

I've got most of my Christmas shopping finished. Since I buy almost everything online these days, Christmas shopping is not nearly as onerous a task as it used to be. It's hard to imagine what I did before Amazon.com came along. Thank you Amazon for making my life a little easier.

The dogs need a bath this weekend. They don't smell bad or anything, but they're both starting to itch and scratch again. Dalmatians have sensitive skin and they seem allergic to just about everything. Maybe I'll get some good pictures this weekend. I've started carrying a very small camera with a large sensor around with me on our walks and it is starting to produce results. We startled a flock of birds this morning and I don't think I could have ever captured them flying away with my iPhone.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day