Showing posts with label overheard conversations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overheard conversations. Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2019

Day 3417

Today was mostly about food. I went back to the hotel for breakfast this morning. This is the place I always go when I'm in the mood for French Toast. At the table next to me were two guys wearing expensive suits. They seemed to be bankers or hedge fund managers. They were mad because they couldn't do business in Iran. They were also mad because of the high taxes in New York. It was hard to tell whether they were Democrats or Republicans. Their conversation pretty much confirmed my opinion that business doesn't really care who is in power. They just want to know what the rules are so they can learn how to exploit them.

I took my walk after I returned from breakfast. So far the weather forecast has been wrong all week. I was worried about rain when I woke up, but the skies were actually starting to clear by the time I started walking. I'm seeing lots of nesting ducks now. They must have gotten a late start this year. I'm also seeing a lot of turtles. Every submerged log in the lake seems to have a turtle sitting on it. I frequently see Red Eared Sliders, Yellow Mud Turtles, and Missouri River Cooters. Occasionally I see large snapping turtles, but I keep my distance from these guys. Water turtles are surprisingly difficult to photography. As you approach, they almost always slide off their log and go back in the water.

Three miles doesn't seem quite so far anymore. When the dogs were healthy I used to take longer walks. Maybe I will again. I'm not really trying to walk fast, but I've already managed to take five minutes off my elapsed time. I can see a time where I increase the distance to five miles. I can also see a time where I get bored with all this and quit walking entirely. Right now it just seems like a good way to spend my time.

Janet and I went out for dinner this evening. We used to do this frequently, but it's been a while. Once cooking special meals for the dogs and getting them to eat became a complicated ritual, we quit going out entirely. Our dinner tonight was delicious but neither of us eat this much anymore. I'm stuffed. We're going to have to start ordering one meal and splitting it. One dinner would have been plenty tonight. Especially since both of us like seared scallops.

I'm glad I didn't stay up late to watch the Space X launch last night. It got canceled again. The CRS-17 Mission was one of those events I could have applied to watch in person as a guest of NASA. I'm glad I didn't. This launch has been postponed again and again. It was originally scheduled for October of 2018. The people who got accepted to blog about this event have probably had to reschedule their flights and hotel accommodations quite a few times by now. If NASA continues their outreach program for bloggers and social media influencers, I'm definitely going to send in my application when opportunities arise in the future. Why not? I certainly don't have anything better to do.

This week has gone quickly. I've spent an inordinate amount of time looking at the weather radar lately, but the rainy season should be over soon. By June I won't be complaining about the rain anymore, I'll be complaining about the heat.

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

Friday, January 27, 2017

Day 2601

I was seated near a couple of writers at breakfast this morning. It appeared that these guys had agents and publishers and had written several books each. They weren't happy though. As I ate, I listened to them loudly complain about how they were being ignored by their publishers, weren't receiving their royalties, and were being plagiarized by their peers. I felt like asking them why they didn't just go into advertising if they felt so miserable about their profession. I kept my mouth shut though, because I knew this idea would have been met with disdain. You could tell these guys both thought they were "real" writers. I guess everyone who has a way with words thinks about writing a novel, but I have few regrets about choosing to write jingles for commercials when I was the age of the two complainers sitting next to me. Writing advertising has actually been fun. Writing a novel that nobody wanted to publish probably wouldn't have been fun at all.

Dot has started peeing in her sleep again. We lowered her Incurin dose last week like we were told to do, but apparently only the highest dose has any effect on her. This isn't good. I'm going to call Dot's vet and see what she thinks, but I can't imagine keeping her on the initial loading dose forever would be a good idea. It's sad to watch Dot deteriorate. It was sad to watch my Mom and Dad deteriorate too. Aging is relentless and more than a bit cruel. I'm amazed that Dot still seems happy, but it sure would be nice if her body would cooperate a little more.

I had to re-do parts of the website I updated yesterday because I didn't do a good enough job proofreading. It's weird. These days I have all the time in the world to do a job properly and I still make mistakes. I often don't see my own mistakes until somebody else points them out to me, and then they're embarrassingly obvious. I'd like to think I'm still as sharp as I was in my 30's, but the truth is that I'm operating with a few less brain cells. Familiar problems are still easy to deal with, but don't ask me to solve a calculus problem or learn a new language. Those days are over.

I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. Probably nobody would care if I just let it grow, but long, wispy white hair doesn't look good on anyone. I tried to make the appointment during a time when Dot is usually asleep, but it would be just like her to surprise me. Oh, well. I won't be gone that long. The need to get back home in a hurry will keep me from visiting the Apple store and spending money on something I don't need. The Apple store is near where I get my hair cut and it is always tempting.

I'm already starting to get mail with "important tax information" stamped on the envelope. It's hard to believe that tax season is just around the corner. I save all these letters in a big manila envelope but I seldom read them. Taxes have become so complicated that I don't even attempt to understand them anymore. I just hand the envelope to my accountant in early April and hope for the best.

It's time to buy more puppy training pads for Dot. I buy these things by the case at Sam's Club now. Five years ago I never would have dreamed that there would come a time when my life would be centered around pee and poop, but life is full of surprises. I think we've all seen that lately.
 
Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day
 
Watch of the Day
 

Friday, December 30, 2016

Day 2573

When I was eating breakfast this morning I ended up sitting next to the kitchen and overhead three of the cooks talking about guitars and amps. It seemed apparent that all of them had either been in a band or were still in a band. My ears always perk up when I hear someone talking about guitars. I love guitars. I kind of wanted to join the conversation, but the guys looked very busy and I was a little too far away to be heard anyway. Musicians don't talk about music the same way fans do. They usually talk about gear.

One of the guys was talking about a certain brand of strings meant to be tuned an octave above the standard tuning. Another mentioned that he once had an all-white Marshall Super Lead amp like Randy Rhodes used to use. He then mentioned that his amp was a cheap copy, which made sense since the limited edition Marshall tribute amp was hugely expensive. All three of the guys seemed to like Randy Rhodes, which reminded me that I once did a fashion photo shoot at the home of Ozzy Osbourne's drummer. Maybe this was after Randy Rhodes died, but I'm not really sure. The drummer's girlfriend was a model and they lived in a huge home with almost no furniture and some pet rabbits hopping all over the place. The drummer seemed to spend most of his time playing with radio controlled model cars when he wasn't on tour. This is why I enjoy my Friday breakfasts. I just listen to other people's conversations and lose myself in memories. Now that I know that the cooks are musicians, it kind of explains why the restaurant makes its own mix tapes instead of subscribing to a plastic sounding SiriusXM channel like other places.

I thought today would be a good day to vacuum the house, since basically the floors were covered with dog hair and leaves. It was getting to the point where I couldn't avoid this task any longer. I've become convinced that all the people who think a Dyson vacuum cleaner is wonderful have a maid that does the cleaning. This machine is difficult to maneuver, even more difficult to clean, and has a long heavy cord that is always getting tangled up in the furniture. The dogs were asleep when I started vacuuming, but that didn't last long. For some reason both dogs like to follow me around when I'm vacuuming. I had to stop the vacuum every few minutes and gently move Dot out of the way. Moving around was actually good exercise for her, but it made my job harder. She was always getting stuck in precarious positions and as the house became cleaner, I began to worry that she was going to poop on my freshly cleaned rugs. Eventually, I finished the task I'd been postponing for so long. The Dyson canister was completely full of dirt and the house looked exactly the same as it did before.

It has gotten cold again. This weather is driving me nuts. One day it's freezing outside and the next day it is balmy and warm. I've literally been alternating between using the air conditioner and the furnace. It would be nice to have a little consistency in my life. The weather isn't consistent. My work isn't consistent. And Dot's pooping schedule doesn't even come close to being consistent. I hope my Friday restaurant stays consistent. After my first breakfast restaurant lost it's magic, it took me quite a while to find this new place. I don't want to do that again.

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I probably should. My problem is that I'm not very big on self-improvement. I'm happy with my weight. I certainly don't want to become a kinder, friendlier version of myself. I'd like more money, but that's probably more of a wish than a resolution. I'd like Dot to get healthier, but that's a wish too. Maybe I'll just make a New Year's wish...

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

Friday, August 5, 2016

Day 2426

My Friday morning breakfasts are kind of a reality check. I don't spend much time around people anymore, so it's kind of interesting to see what's on their mind. I sit in my corner and mind my own business at the restaurant, but people are loud. I hear everything they say. If you listen to TV a lot, you'd probably think that everyone spends their day talking about politics. I never hear people talking about politics. They talk about real estate a lot. I think everyone in Dallas is either buying a house, selling a house, or remodeling a house. People in this city are obsessed with real estate. The conversations float around me like bird songs. People are planning weddings. The are thinking about upcoming vacations. The are looking for assisted living facilities for their parents. Some are interviewing for a new job. I've learned that most people cannot say five words in a row without using the word "like."

If restaurant conversations are any guide, I think that most people are basically good hearted and that few of them spend much time dwelling on the events of the day. I never hear people talking about terrorism or immigration. I did hear two young guys talking about quantitative easing once, but I don't think they were moguls. After a few minutes their conversation shifted to whether it was better to shop at Kroger or Albertsons. I tend to think that the things I hear at the restaurant are real and the things I see on Facebook aren't. I could be wrong though.

I paid a few bills today and did a little bookkeeping. The bills never end. I always pay my bills on time, but I hate being practical and frugal. It doesn't come naturally. I wonder if I would have done things differently if I'd known thirty years ago that my skill set would eventually become worthless and that the stock market would become volatile and unreliable. I genuinely thought that I wouldn't have a care in the world by now, but life is full of surprises. At least I'm still reasonably healthy. Maybe taking another path wold have been more financially lucrative, but I can't really complain. Until very recently, the company did very well. I just didn't anticipate getting old.

I took my hiking boots to the shoe repair shop today. For some reason I really wear down the heals of my shoes quickly. Why don't they make shoe soles out of the same type of rubber they use to make car tires? The tires on my car will last a minimum of 40,000 miles, but the soles of my shoes are lucky to last six months. When I was younger I had a pair of Italian Vibram soled boots that easily lasted ten years. I don't think they use the same type of rubber anymore. Those boots were indestructible.

My fitness tracker says I was asleep from noon to 2 PM yesterday. Excuse me? I have no memory of this. I thought I was mowing the grass. The troubling thing is that I'm really not sure. Maybe I was taking a nap and completely forgot about it.

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

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Day 2284

I woke to the sound of distant thunder. With rain on the horizon, we quickly got the dogs ready, so they could take their morning walk before we all got wet. It wasn't a long walk, but everybody did their business and we got back home again without being struck by lightening. The rain didn't last long, but it will probably be back tomorrow. This is just normal Spring weather in Texas.

After breakfast, I took care of a few new website requests and confirmed Dot's appointment tomorrow at the cancer center. I was glad I made plans to get a haircut today, because there wasn't much else to do. I often do a little shopping at Northpark when I get my hair cut, but I had no desire this afternoon. I drove straight to the salon and was back home again an hour later.

While I was in the chair, I overheard a young millennial talk to his stylist about trying to decide whether to take a vacation or stay in town to study for a test. Nearby an older women was talking to her stylist about selling a large house to live permanently in a motorhome with her husband. Occasionally, I have things to say myself, but today I just listened. I didn't even stop at the Apple Store on the way home. Jeez, I usually love the Apple Store. I hope this isn't a sign that I'm becoming more reclusive. I'm reclusive enough already.

The refrigerator was pretty empty and I thought about picking up some Thai food for dinner. Then I remembered I'd have to go out in rush hour traffic to pick up the to-go order and decided to make a sandwich with the few remaining leftovers instead. It wasn't a great dinner, but it seemed appropriate, since it wasn't a great day either.

Dot was surprisingly strong today. Several times she got up from her bed by herself and surprised me by wandering into the office or the kitchen to see what I was doing. I was impressed that I didn't have to support her rear legs while she was eating dinner this evening. She wobbled a little, but managed to stay on all fours as she slowly and methodically ate her meal. She even pooped outside after dinner. Even though this was a good day for Dot, it's going to be hard to decide whether to continue her chemotherapy when I meet with the oncologist tomorrow.

It's also going to be hard to decide whether to return to my regular breakfast restaurant or try something else on the menu at the new place across the street. The new menu looks tempting, but I'd hate to see the old place go out of business because I was a fickle and unloyal customer. Most of the places I like tend to go out of business anyway, so I like to do what I can to support them.

The trash has been taken out to the curb. The dogs are ready for bed. I'm caught up on work for the week and a have a fresh new haircut. As long as it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'm good to go.

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

Friday, January 22, 2016

Day 2229

If you're old enough, you probably remember car trips where your parents told you to count the cows you saw out the window. This used to keep me occupied for hours. Attention spans are shorter now, so I imagine a new kind of game is needed. Maybe you could have the kids count the number of times the people at the next table in a restaurant use the word "like" in a conversation. You know what I'm talking about. When I was having breakfast this morning, two girls at the next table must have used the word 100 times within five minutes. "I was like you've got to be kidding, and then she was like no way, and then like you wouldn't believe what happened next..." This went on and on and on. Every single sentence used the word "like" on one way or another. When did this start? I even hear people talking this way on TV now. We don't read. We can't write. We've forgotten how to speak coherently. I don't hold out a lot of hope for the future.

I did like my breakfast in the old fashioned sense of the word. It was delicious. On my way home, I stopped by the grocery store and picked up the ingredients to make burgers for dinner. I thought I'd try some heirloom tomatoes, since I've always wondered what they tasted like. I thought they'd be better than ordinary hothouse tomatoes, since they're more expensive. Nope. They weren't very tasty at all.  I'm still wondering what's so special about heirloom tomatoes.

Today was mostly spent wrapping up a bunch of loose ends, so I wouldn't have anything hanging over my head this weekend. I finished my remaining website projects, wrote a letter to my sister, paid a few bills, picked up another prescription at the pharmacy, and went to the Dollar Store to look for rubber snakes. It was a fairly productive day. The dogs got walked. I'm caught up on work. Dot pooped outside. And I finally received a reply from the watch winder company. I still haven't found the rubber snakes though.

I was disappointed to hear that the watch winder company won't repair the two defective units I inquired about. They said they are too old to fix and that parts are no longer available. This may be true, but I was still hoping that they would replace the winders like they did with the first one I sent them. I guess one replacement watch winder is all you get. It's hard for me to get very upset about this however, because I'm not all that interested in watches anymore. Like most things in my life, it appears like collecting watches was just a phase I went through.

It's supposed to be clear tomorrow, so maybe I'll get up early and look for Mercury in the Eastern sky. I don't know why it's a big deal for me to see Mercury because it's just a faint little speck of light.  I like following the planets though. If I didn't live in a city and the skies were darker, I'd probably be out with a telescope looking for Uranus and Neptune.

I forgot to order printer ink today, so the large printer is sure to be clogged on Monday. I'm sure there's still water on the roof as well. If it warms up this weekend, I'll take care of that. I need to think of something fun to do as well. I think The Martian is out on DVD now. Maybe I'll go look for a copy when I'm running errands tomorrow.

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

Friday, April 24, 2015

Day 1956

Good grief. We're under a tornado warning again. As soon as I heard the news, I began recharging my phone, laptop, and tablet. Strong storms and power outages go hand in hand in this part of the country. I'm slowly learning to stay prepared. We're eating dinner in a hurry too, in case the oven goes out. I wish the dogs had taken my advice and taken an early walk. They just stuck their nose out the door and didn't even go outside. I guess they could smell what was coming.

I feel better about Dash's limp. I called his oncologist today and asked about the possibility of bone cancer. He told me that it was very unlikely that Dash's type of cancer would ever spread to the bone. He also said it was unlikely that Dash would succumb to a completely different type of cancer at this point in time. It seems increasingly likely that the limp is caused entirely by the torn paw pad. The oncologist said that his own dog had injured a paw pad once and that it took several weeks to heal. "Give it time," he told me and asked me to call him again in several weeks if Dash's condition didn't improve. This specialist is always very busy. I was amazed that he spent ten minutes talking with me. Dot and Dash have some great doctors. I"m convinced that they get far better medical care than I do myself.

I spent most of the day designing a supposedly simple brochure for a client. They want to print the brochure using Vistaprint, but for some inexplicable reason Vistaprint won't accept Quark Express files. Why? I've been using Quark for decades. This venerable software used to be the gold standard for print designers. Apparently the software has fallen out of favor. I had to design the whole thing in Photoshop instead, which certainly wouldn't have been my first choice. It is cumbersome to have all these layers. The original brochure I was updating was done in PowerPoint and a lot of the images were created in Adobe Illustrator, but saved as a PDF. It was a mess. The actual design was pretty simple, but converting all the files to the proper size and format and remembering what layer they were on took forever. I hope everyone likes what I did today, because I definitely don't want to spend tomorrow doing everything over again.

I reluctantly confirmed my appointment for dental surgery next week. I was very tempted to postpone the surgery again, but I've got to get this done sometime. Since I was originally scheduled to have the wisdom teeth removed in late January, I guess I've delayed things long enough. I hope having this tooth removed solves the problems I've been having, but somehow I doubt that it will. Once you start going to the dentist, you have to keep going to the dentist.

While I was eating breakfast this morning, a group of guys at a nearby table were arguing about whether the original Star Wars trilogy should be viewed before or after the three prequel movies. There was a heated  discussion about whether the movies should be viewed in chronological order or in the order they were shot. Some said four, five, six, one, two, three. While others said, one, two, three four, five, six. They were serious. At another table, a group of older guys were talking about man caves. This pretty well summed up the state of the world today for me. It's hopeless.

I had weird dreams last night and woke up in the middle of the night worrying about Dash's leg. I hope I sleep better tonight. Actually, I'd like to sleep the entire weekend.

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

Friday, April 10, 2015

Day 1942

When I went to breakfast this morning, there was a group of older men sitting at the next table. Judging from their shirts and caps, they were all mechanics at a nearby neighborhood garage. Nobody in this group was looking at a cell phone. They didn't even seem to have phones. The men just talked and laughed and told jokes. Everybody used to be this way. Now, these guys seemed like the last practitioners of the art of conversation. I looked around and everyone else in the restaurant was texting or checking their Facebook feed. It's kind of sad that this is what the world has become. I don't think there's any turning back though. We have forgotten how to have a decent conversation.

When I was walking Dash this morning, we met Janet and Dot on the way home. Dot was walking up a small hill and doing great. She's so much happier now that she's starting to get her life back. These short walks are tiring for Dot, but you can tell that she enjoys them. The exercise is making a difference. The atrophy in her rear legs was so severe right after her surgery that her legs just seemed like skin and bones. Now she's starting to get some muscle back. I can already feel the difference.

I was unusually busy today. Usually Friday's are slow, but not today. In addition to my dog wrangling duties, I finished writing several new articles and managed to get my April invoices ready to mail. I've been hearing that Google is going to start penalizing websites that aren't mobile friendly later this month, so I did a little research to see how hard it would be to convert some of my older legacy sites. My own company website is probably one of the worst offenders. I haven't changed it much since the mid-1990's. As it turns out, older table-based static sites like these are some of the hardest to make mobile friendly. I never should of made my sites look like multi-column magazines. One of the reasons why single column sites and sites without navigation buttons are all the rage now is that they are so much easier to re-size.

It's hard to believe that the Apple Watch sold out in just a few hours on the very first pre-order day. It's just as well. I can't afford one now anyway. I bet a lot of companies wish they had Apple's mojo. You come out with an overpriced product with a battery that doesn't even last 24 hours and you still manage to sell more watches in a single day than Android does in a year. Maybe by the time I get one of these gadgets, Apple will have figured out how to improve the battery life.

I don't know what I want to do this weekend. Sleep would be nice. I haven't been getting much sleep lately. My UP band log says that I average 5 to 6 hours a night. Much of that is light sleep too. Since I occasionally fall asleep writing this blog, 5 hours clearly isn't enough. Light sleep is probably why I have all these weird dreams about losing things too. Who cares about a goal of 12,000 steps a day? I think my goal should be 8 hours of sleep every night.

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

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Day 1058

I went to get some lab work done this morning in preparation for my upcoming physical exam. On the way home from these mandatory blood tests, I drove by a new breakfast restaurant that I'd never seen before. It was odd that I didn't know about this place, since it was less than four miles from my house. I learned long ago however, that there are lots of thing I don't know about.

When I went inside, I was greeted by some very old people eating a late breakfast. They didn't look happy. Most were talking about last night's election results. "When do you think he's going to change the flag," said a white haired woman to her companion at the table next to me. "You know he's got his own flag." she continued. At the other end of the dining room I overheard a man say. "There's plenty of jobs. These kids today are just too damn lazy to work."

I'm a chameleon. I blend in easily at places like this. I blend in equally easy at restaurants where the patrons all sport tattoos, raise their own urban chickens, and have long discussions about sustainability. It's kind of sad. In a world that has gone tribal, I still haven't found my own tribe.

I'm not a religious person, but I feel more comfortable around Christians and Jews. Somehow, people that put their faith in a higher power seem much nicer to me than the secular humanists who have become convinced that they are the higher power. Although I strongly believe in the importance of family values, I haven't talked to my own family in years. On and on it goes. Although I have become very good at my chosen profession, it still hasn't stopped me from thinking that advertising is basically rubbish. It would be nice to believe in something, but I'm not sure what that would be.

In lieu of becoming a true believer, team player, or tribal chieftain, I have become a good observer. I see things that I think have meaning and I take pictures of them. I observe the world around me and write my observations down. I seldom make judgements about what I see. That's your job.

Maybe all this is why I appreciate the wisdom of dogs. Dogs are very good observers. Dot and Dash are extremely alert and notice everything around them. Lord knows what they actually believe.

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

Friday, October 5, 2012

Day 1025

The Cormorants and Coots have returned to the lake again. I find these seasonal migrations reassuring. At least something in this world stays the same from year to year. Truthfully, not very much in nature stays the same. I've noticed this year that Johnsongrass is slowly but surely erasing the beautiful native prairie near our house. Sparrows have occupied all the Martin Houses in the area as well. I wouldn't call these two things a sign of the apocalypse, but it's not exactly good news either.

I got lucky when I stopped by the cool restaurant for breakfast this morning. The place was virtually empty. I got to enjoy a delicious meal without overhearing a bunch of trendy people salt and pepper their conversations with words like sustainability and codependency.

Since some of my clients pay me in Euros, I never know quite what I'm going to make until I exchange the money for dollars again. I think I picked a good day today, since the Euro was down. Things were much better though before the Federal Reserve started printing money again and caused the dollar to weaken. It's way too complicated for me. Life was so much easier when I just went to work at an ad agency and collected a paycheck every two weeks.

One of Janet's charities is having an Octoberfest fundraiser this weekend. Janet will be working the event, but for me it will be a good excuse to have a rare special occasion beer with a bratwurst. I think my liver will forgive me for the occasional special beer. Honestly, I haven't had a drink since the last special occasion. Regular readers will know that these things don't happen all that often.

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

Friday, July 13, 2012

Day 941

I had breakfast at the restaurant with good bacon today. They might not have the healthiest food on the planet, but they certainly have some of the strangest customers. My waiter seated me next to a guy wearing a t-shirt that said "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Never mind that this quote, commonly attributed to Ben Franklin, is a misquote and the founding father never really uttered these words. What caught my eye was that the guy was sweating profusely, even though the restaurant was quite cold. On the other side of me was an exceedingly old man who was talking enthusiastically to his wife about the guns he wanted to buy at the next gun show. His wife said nothing, but had a look on her face that clearly said "Hey old man, if you keep this shit up for another five years, I'm going to shoot you with one of those guns."

Behind me, I overheard a group of sullen social services workers making disparaging comments about the people who used their services. Then one lady changed the subject and started talking about her dog and everybody became happy again. I don't think people can tell much about my mood by sitting next to me at a restaurant. I'm usually fairly impenetrable, although I have noticed that in certain Southern restaurants, a waitress will occasionally poke me on the shoulder and say "Put a smile on your face boy. Things aren't that bad." Today's pancakes and bacon were actually quite good. It didn't seem like Friday the Thirteenth at all.

The stock market definitely needs a few more days like today. Gold, equities, and many commodities all closed on the upside today. Usually, one of these things cancels the others out in my portfolio and I end up with nothing. Last month's dismal performance still leaves me down for the year, but things are starting to look up.

Work was fairly uneventful today. I did manage to finish a couple of small projects before the weekend, but truthfully, it wouldn't have mattered if I had waited until Monday to turn them in. I should have driven Janet's lunch over to her office, but I didn't notice that she had forgotten it until 3 PM. I guess it was a little late by then.

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