Day 1848

As if today wasn't strange enough already, we had an earthquake in Dallas this evening. There have been small quakes in the area for the past month or so, but this was the first one I've actually felt. I was taking a short nap with the dogs after dinner I heard the windows and doors of the house start to rattle and shake. At first I thought the noise had been caused by a loud truck going by or maybe one of those kids who install huge bass speakers in the trunk of their cars. Then I remembered that there was no traffic on the road before the house started to rattle. "I wonder if this was an earthquake," I thought? Sure enough it was. So much for the theory that dogs can sense earthquakes before they happen. Dot and Dash slept through the whole thing.

Earlier in the day, I put a load of clothes in the washer, added soap, and pressed the start button. Nothing happened! I tried again and again and kept getting an error message saying that the door of the front loader wasn't closed. Damn! The door looked like it was closed properly. This happened once before and it resulted in an entire week without a washing machine. I hate going to laundromats, so I immediately called the appliance repair folks who fixed the machine the first time it broke. Luckily, I was able to get a repairman out this afternoon, but just like the first time this happened, the repairman didn't have the part he needed on the truck. The part has to be special ordered and it looks like I will be without a washer for a week again. I don't think I will ever buy a front loader again. If the door goes bad on a top loader, it's no big deal. You kind of need the door to stay securely closed on a front loader though.

I was hoping that Dash's exam at the vet this afternoon would be totally routine, but it turns out that he has a few issues that need to be addressed. I've known that Dash's blood pressure is a little high, but apparently it's getting worse. Some of this is caused because he becomes stressed when he goes to the vet. I'll need to find a way to take his blood pressure at home to see if this is serious. There were no crystals in his urine, which is a good thing. His pH levels were too high though, which is a bad thing. Alkaline urine can be caused by a urinary tract infection, a diet that is high in carbs or sugar, or half a dozen other causes. Both these tests were inconclusive and more testing will be required. All in all, Dash was still pretty healthy though. Janet and I checked Dash carefully for ticks before he went to the vet. The vet still found a tick on him. He seems to be a magnet for ticks. I have to check him every day.

I started to make travel arrangements for my trip to Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning and discovered that there is no easy way to get there from here. There are no direct flights to Santa Barbara from Dallas, and all the connecting flights seem to involve plane changes with long layovers at connecting airports. It might be easier to just fly to Los Angeles and drive to the base. Some of the connecting flights from Dallas went all the way to Portland, Oregon before connecting with a flight to Santa Barbara. This seemed ridiculous to me, so I'll try to find something better tomorrow. I thought making airline reservations would be as easy as doing a load of laundry. It was! Absolutely nothing was easy today.

Alle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1148

There's been a lot of controversy on the Internet lately about whether Allopurinol actually works to prevent bladder stones. For years this drug has been the recommended treatment to prevent recurrent urate bladder stones in Dalmatians. My vet recommends Allopurinol and I know many Dalmatian owners who use it. I've always considered the medication very safe. Unfortunately, now there are a group of vets who beg to differ. They say Allopurinol can actually cause the formation of struvite stones. Evidently, unless the pH of the dog's urine is completely neutral, the drug can do more harm than good. I only mention all this because Dash has always been prone to bladder stones. Now, we've got to decide whether to discontinue his Allopurinol treatment or keep on doing what we've been doing for years.

Medicine always seems to be this way. Doctors will tell you something for years and years and then one day you'll go in for a visit and your doctor will say "Never mind. Forget everything I've told you for the past ten years." This has happened to me before and it's always disconcerting. I like to think of doctors as infallible, but that is never the case. Medicine changes and doctors change their minds about a lot of things, just like the rest of us.

The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 14,000 mark several times today, but apparently my stocks didn't get the memo. I ended up down for the day as the market approached a record high. My Yum Brands shares got clobbered because the Chinese apparently have problems with the Colonel's finger lickin' good chicken. My Baidu shares, on the other hand, got clobbered because investors had problems with the Chinese. It's always disappointing to do poorly on a good day. I'm getting used to it though.

Maybe I'm just imagining things, but I think I'm already starting to feel better as a result of my new diet. I wake up with more energy and don't seem to be as tired during the day. The differences aren't dramatic, but I do notice a change. This is certainly enough of an incentive to keep going with my quest for a healthier lifestyle. Who knows. Maybe I'll even grow to like these changes.

A friend of mine mentioned that he might have a video project for me. That would be a refreshing change from all the drivel I'm writing now. I'd better not count my chicken before they hatch though. The new project might actually be worse than what I'm doing now. I need to find out more.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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