Day 1774

When I went to breakfast this morning I couldn't figure out why I was having so much trouble parking my car. Jeez, I come to this place every week. I should be able to park here blindfolded. When I got out of the car, I noticed that the restaurant had re-striped the parking lot and every single parking space was exactly one foot narrower than it was the week before. Sad. Maybe they can squeeze an extra Prius or two into the parking lot now, but what is the point if nobody else can even fit between the white lines? A couple of F-250 Super Duty pickups in the lot didn't even come close. They were so far over the line that only a motorcycle could park in the next slot. When I got my meal with a plastic fork, instead of the customary metal one, I knew the dreaded restaurant consultants had struck again. I don't know why people are so compelled to squeeze every last dime out of their business. It's often the little things, like a decent sized parking place, that customers like the most. When you take these things away people notice. I predict that metal silverware will be back next week. Nobody likes a plastic fork.

I had to drive down to Baylor Hospital for another periodic blood test at the liver center today. When I arrived, I noticed three huge fire department Hazmat trucks and four police cars parked in front of the main building with their lights flashing. There were also about a dozen uniformed officers and a camera crew in the general vicinity. When I checked in at the liver center, I was asked to sign a document saying that I hadn't visited Africa in the past 30 days. I told the receptionist I had never visited Africa in my life and in light of recent developments it was unlikely that I would ever visit the place. I also asked about all the Hazmat trucks parked out front and she just shrugged and said it could be anything. I guess this is the new normal now. When I got home there was absolutely nothing about this dramatic little incident on the local news. It was probably just another false alarm.

I've been trying to terminate my account with one of those companies that monitors security alarms for over two years now. They were overpriced and just didn't do a good job. I send them an official letter requesting that my account be terminated and was assured that I had done everything correctly. Thee only problem was that my account kept being auto-renewed year after year and I kept getting invoices. Whenever I called to complain, the company would apologize profusely and tell me they were aware of the problem and that it would be taken care of. After being assured six months ago by the head of the accounts receivable department that my account was indeed terminated and that I had a $0 balance, I get another call today, saying I owe them $300. I called the same lady who told me that everything was fine last time and explained the situation. She told me that everything was fine again and told me to ignore the phone call. Somehow I don't think this is over. This entire company is brain dead.

Sometimes I think the entire country is brain dead. There is mounting evidence that our government is brain dead. I heard recently that Asians were the fastest growing segment of our population. Large corporations are importing them in record numbers because they just can't find enough people who already live here to fill the highly technical positions these companies need. I have said for a long time that the Chinese will be the first to land on Mars. We're over here fighting about raising the minimum wage at McDonald's when thousands and thousands of really high paying jobs are going unfilled because people graduate from our schools with no real skills. We could learn something from the Chinese, but nobody's listening. I'm glad I was a war baby who had a trouble free childhood in the 1950's and an exciting time coming of age in the 1960's. Things have certainly gone downhill since then.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1469

I think the recession is over in Dallas. People are certainly buying things this year. I decided to brave the crowds and do some Christmas shopping this afternoon and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people at Northpark. My plan to avoid the crowds by shopping while everyone else was at work was a total failure. Evidently, very few people are at work this week. I'm not good with puzzles, but I could have solved Rubiks Cube in less time than it took me to find a parking place inside the giant shopping mall parking garage. They should ban people from taking their gigantic Ford F-250 Super Duty pickups into these parking garages. They don't even fit between the white lines. Every time I thought I'd found a place to park, there was a huge pickup truck in the adjacent space, leaving me no room to park my much smaller giant SUV.

I thought I was going to have a very light week, since tomorrow is Christmas Eve and many of my clients are on vacation anyway. I was just as wrong about this as I was about avoiding the Christmas crowds. When I turned on my computer this morning, there two new articles and a big website revision waiting for me. So much for taking it easy this week. I guess nobody really takes it easy during Christmas week. In my experience, this is always a very hectic time of year.

I feel sorry for that girl who had her life ruined by having a single snarky tweek to her less than 200 followers re-tweeted by Buzzfeed to the world. This is mob justice at its worst. The ironic thing is that she could have said exactly the same thing on her blog and nobody would have noticed. Nobody reads blogs anymore. A quick Google search will reveal that on any given day, there are literally  thousands of much more offensive tweets and Facebook status updates. Buzzfeed just chose to cast a spotlight on this one. This is why I prefer to write about dogs. The world has become a pack of sharks who flock to the smell of blood in the water. I don't like it. If I could borrow Dr. Who's Tardis for a few minutes, I would make a quick retreat to the much kinder world of Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver.

I haven't quite finished my Christmas shopping, but I'm definitely not going back to the mall again. I've had enough of that craziness for one year. I'm no sure what I'll do tomorrow. It's kind of a vacation day, but I've still got work to do. When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was the day. We opened our stockings on Christmas Eve morning, went to church in the evening, and then opened our presents under the tree much later the same evening. Christmas Day was almost an afterthought. I can't remember if I ever believed in Santa Claus.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1102 - Winter Solstice

You can tell Christmas is just around the corner. When I went out for breakfast this morning, the restaurant was filled with people wearing reindeer sweaters and colorful vests with Christmas ornaments embroidered on them. At any other time of year, these outfits would seem ridiculous, but they all seemed pretty normal today.

After breakfast, I needed to do a little shopping and immediately discovered that everybody in Dallas was driving around doing the same thing. The traffic was horrible. When I got to the mall, things got worse. Half the parking spaces had been turned into valet parking lots. The valet parking was virtually empty, but the rest of the parking lot was a zoo. Whoever had the bright idea of  turning most of the mall into a giant valet parking lot should get a big lump of coal in their stocking. It's hard enough finding a parking place on a normal day. With a bunch of holiday entrepreneurs trying to charge you $10 for what was normally free, it was impossible.

Remember when I told you that I lost one of my web maintenance clients several weeks ago. Well, I had my exit interview today. It turns out that one of the reasons I lost the account was that the new guys offered something called "reputation management."  Evidently, if someone writes something bad about my client on Yelp, these guys can make it go away. Whatever happened to reality? Everyone wants to manage reality these days, by putting their own spin on things. It's getting harder and harder to know what's actually real. Somebody says something and then somebody else with an opposing point of view immediately sets up a counter-initiative to discredit what was said. It's all very confusing.

The dogs don't like it when I play my guitar. I can do a lot of other things and they'll stay sleeping on the bed, completely ignoring me. When I get out the guitar though, they immediately start to bother me until I put the thing away again. I don't know if it's my poor playing that bothers them or the fact that I'm having fun without them. I think Dalmatians invented "It's all about me."They want everything to involve them.

Today was the shortest day of the year. I'll look forward to the days gradually lengthening and growing warmer again. I hate to have to rush, just to get the dogs walked before the sun goes down. I know it's a long time until Spring, but I'm ready for it already.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 888

I almost got my car towed today. I went into an office tower to pay a bill and when I came out less than five minutes later, there was a big orange sticker on my windshield that said my car was scheduled to be towed away in two minutes. I pulled the sticker off the windshield and got out of there fast. As I left, I noticed a small sign that said there was no parking allowed in lots 3 & 4. All cars must park in lots 1 & 2 it said. Lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 were all identical. There were other cars already parked in the same lot that I parked in too. Of course, some of these other cars also had orange stickers on their windshields when I returned to the parking lot. I still don't know what was so special about parking lots 3 & 4. There was no explanation. I did notice what appeared to be a homeless man sitting in a beat up old car with all the windows open. He was watching each car that entered the parking lot. I bet the building management had hired him to slap the orange stickers on errant cars like mine. I don't think I'll be going back to this building anytime soon. Next month, I'm just going to mail my payment in.

The rest of the day was uneventful. The dogs got their walks. The new grass in the back yard got watered. A load of laundry got done. A few more invoices got sent out. I updated two websites and wrote a watch article. That was about it. Even though it was a completely normal day, I found myself getting bored as the day wore on. Repetitive tasks wear you down, no matter how interesting they might have been in the beginning. I'd love to work on something completely new and different. If I can't even get caught up on the old tasks however, a switch to something new seems very unlikely.

The synchronizers on my Defenter 90 are starting to go out. I have to double clutch to get from first gear to second these days. At least I know how to double clutch and keep on moving, but I still find this new development disconcerting. I vaguely remember two service technicians laughing when I first bought the car, talking about how the Defender turned from reliable transportation into a money pit once the transmission and transfer case started to go. Maybe I won't even notice the difference. To me, the car turned into a money pit years ago.

The neighborhood dog friendly restaurant happened to be closed on Mondays, so we took Dash to a nearby pet store to pick out some special treats for his birthday. We brought home some yummy dog treats, but Dash seemed disappointed that we didn't get him a ferret or parakeet instead. He was trying so hard to get at the cage with all the birds in it that I'm surprised the manager didn't kick us out.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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