Day 4897

I'm back in Dallas. Today was mostly a travel day. There was no need to get up super early this morning. I walked to a Cracker Barrel restaurant down the street from my hotel, ate my breakfast, and then packed my bags to leave. It was supposed to rain today, but the day looked pretty nice to me. I always enjoy my visits to Titusville. It's a quiet little town compared to Dallas.

Orlando is anything but quiet. Every time I go to the Orlando airport, I wish I'd applied for TSA Pre a little earlier. I do have an appointment now, but it's not until late in June. I'll never understand why every airport seems to have different rules for what has to come out of your bag. Dallas Love Field is easy compared to Orlando. Today I had to open my suitcase at the security checkpoint because my camera tripod apparently looked like a suspicious object. Everyone behind me was in a hurry and I almost forgot to put my computer back in the suitcase. In Dallas I don't even have to take the computer out of the bag. Sometimes I don't even need to take my shoes off. I don't know why I didn't get TSA Pre several years ago. It seems like a bargain every time you get delayed at the security checkpoint.

I don't go to concerts or sporting events anymore, so airports are about the only place I still encounter crowds. Being around a lot of people doesn't give me a lot of faith in the future of humanity. Mostly people are nice, but everyone seems impatient and in a hurry. Why are there so many fat people? The last time I was in Italy, it seemed like the entire country was thin. In America it's exactly the opposite. Maybe it is because everyone is always eating. People are constantly eating at airports. Even the ridiculously high prices for airport food doesn't slow them down. People seem addicted to their phones. I am usually the only one at the airport, or on the plane not using a cell phone. They are all playing games, watching movies, or texting someone.

The Orlando airport is filled with children. They are either going to or coming from Disneyland. Going to Disneyland must be on every small child's bucket list. I often see large families on the way to Disneyland and wonder how they can afford it. The place is not cheap anymore. Little girls returning from Disneyland are often wearing princess dresses and little boys are carrying toy lightsabers, I shouldn't be critical though, since I've been to Disneyland myself. Janet and I once went to the Disneyland in Paris.

I'm well on my way to becoming a frequent traveler. I've started to get picky about planes. The 737-800 is a much better plane than the 737-700 because the overhead bins are larger. Occasionally I'll fly on a 737 MAX, but that just seems like a longer version of the 737-800. Nobody leans their seat back while flying anymore. It seems to be an unwritten rule that you must leave your seat in the full upright position for the entire flight. Maybe people are just trying to be courteous. Planes are always full these days. It's been a long time since I've been on a plane that wasn't completely full.

I love attending launches at Kennedy Space Center, but I'm glad to be home again. Maybe I'll sleep better tonight. Hotel beds are always too soft for me. I need to remember not to eat breakfast tomorrow because I  have an early doctor's appointment for a semi-annual physical. I also need to gather documents for my driver's license renewal. It didn't seem like I needed so many documents before real ID became mandatory.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4868

It was a dreary, rainy day. It never rained hard, but there was a constant drizzle for most of the day. It was too wet to take Dawn on a sunrise walk this morning, but we did take her down into the park to poop and pee when we woke up this morning. She still doesn't like to do her business in the yard.

After we dried off, we had a nice weekend breakfast and then I got ready to go mall walking. It might have been raining outside, but it was still dry at the mall. Mall walking provides me with my weekly glimpse at the state of the world. Judging from what I see every week, I don't think we are in good shape. Maybe I'm being too harsh though. People are still having families. I saw lots of young Moms and Dads with little children today. At least the walkers are still making an effort to stay active and healthy. I see people of all ages, from the very young to the very old. 

It's hard to generalize, but I do notice things. Women generally dress much better than men. It doesn't matter if the men are young or very old, they all seem to look like they pulled their clothes out of a pile of dirty laundry. Young people seem to love to wear torn and ripped denim. I never understood this trend at all. People are actually paying more for artificially distressed clothing that looks like it is almost worn out. The young and the old seem to like mall walking. You don't see many middle aged people walking. Young couples usually seem happy, while old couples are usually arguing about something. There are a lot more old gay men than I would have suspected. Quite a few walkers still wear masks. Why? Finally, little children are quite loud. They all seem to love to run and yell.

Overall, the walkers seem to be a wholesome lot. The stores themselves, not so much. A lot of the clothes on display seem purposefully ugly. The shoes are the worst. Who wears these clunky, awkward looking things? The more expensive the clothes are, the smaller the sizes on display. I think you'd need to be a size 0 to even be allowed inside some of the upscale little European boutiques. Most of the mannequins in the windows look like android robots with no faces. Only Neiman Marcus still uses realistic mannequins these days. The mannequins in Victoria's Secret windows are fat. Seems odd to me, but maybe they know their audience. The odd thing about fashion is that there is nothing new under the sun. Today's latest styles are all recycled from earlier eras. Judging from what I see in the windows, I could pull something from thirty years ago out of my closet and still be in style.

I like to listen to Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics Radio while I'm driving home. I always learn something from this show. I also like to listen to Guy Raz's How I Build This and the TED Radio Hour, but these shows seem to be on Saturday now and I only hear bits and pieces when I'm returning from grocery shopping.

Dawn didn't get her Sunday outing walk today, but we still took her for ice cream cones. She is such a weird dog in the car. She's always super excited when she gets to go somewhere, but immediately starts acting scared when the car starts moving. She would be a terrible dog to take a road trip with. Ice cream calms her down though. We eat our cones in a parking lot near the ice cream store and on the way home Sawn seems almost normal.

I started preparing for my trip this afternoon. I didn't get a lot done, but my manilla folder full of vital information is finished. I make one of these for every trip, just in case my phone or computer breaks. I have no faith in my memory. I need to have my NASA badging instructions, airline and hotel reservations, rental car contracts, and travel maps on paper as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish packing tomorrow.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4791

It was over seventy degrees today. It's hard to believe that we were freezing last week. We had a nice early walk with Dawn this morning and then came home to an equally nice weekend breakfast. Even though it was a beautiful day outside, I went mall walking. I just wanted a change of pace.

There were a lot fewer people walking at the mall this morning. Maybe they were walking outside today. I made my five circuits of the mall and came home. There was nothing new today. There were no store openings or closings and none of the window displays had changed. Even the restaurants looked empty today. This appears to be one of the few places in Dallas where people still wear masks. I see more people wearing masks at Northpark than anywhere else. I still don't understand today's styles. Younger women all wear their hair long these days. You don't see any of the shorter cuts that used to be popular. Maybe nobody wants to be mistaken for a Karen. A surprising number of men wear beards now. A thick beard combined with a shaved head seems to be popular. When did having a beard become so fashionable? I guess beards are better than fades and man buns though. I show my age. Even tattoos seem weird to me.

When I returned from the mall, Dawn was ready for her Sunday outing. It was a perfect day for a walk and Dawn enjoyed her outing. We often see people riding horses in this park but Dawn totally ignores them. Dalmatians are supposed to have an affinity for horses and many of our previous Dalmatians seemed to like them. Horses mean nothing to Dawn. She gets much more interested when she sees a possum.

I didn't get quite as many steps today but it sure felt like I walked a lot. I still can't figure out why I walk slower at the mall. It's feels like I'm actually walking faster. Since I use a different app to track indoor walks, it occurred to me that maybe the app measures my steps differently. The next time I go mall walking, I'll track my steps as an outdoor walk and see if it makes a difference. Consistency seems to matter to me. At least the ice cream cones we get are consistent. They are overpriced, but they are pretty much the same every week. Dawn certainly likes them.

This afternoon I did a number of small chores around the house. I tried to wash a down jacket and it didn't go as planned. I followed the washing instructions exactly, but the coat was so light that the final spin cycle in the machine wasn't working properly. The coat was sitting in a puddle of water when the load was finished. I had to run the spin cycle again with several towels thrown in the load to get the spin cycle to run properly. The instruction said to throw two clean tennis balls in the dryer with the jacket to get the down filling to fluff up properly. This actually worked pretty well. I also cleaned out the atrium today. I don't know how all the leaves get in there, but they do. I've been waiting for a warm day to attempt to open the broken sliding glass door, since I was afraid I might have trouble closing it again. Everything worked well though. The atrium looks nice now and the door was actually easier to open and close than I expected.

It was largely an uneventful day, but it was a peaceful one. I got some exercise and I got a few things done. That's enough for me. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice as well. I'm dreading the return of rain on Tuesday though. The house is finally dry and the cleanup is complete. I'm not looking forward to going through the whole water leak drill all over again.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3664

It felt a lot more like the first day of Spring than the middle of Winter today. The temperature was in the mid-seventies and I was able to wear shorts and a t-shirt on my walk. On days like this the gym is usually empty. Everybody is outside.

I did my usual workout, but spent quite a bit of time outside as well. I took advantage of the warm weather and made some more patches on the roof. I've used most of the silicon material now and what little remains has started to harden in the can. I patched a bunch of very small holes today. After today's patches dry, I've probably got just enough coating left to do this one more time.

The park was packed with people today. There was a traffic jam on the trails as joggers, cyclists, dog walkers, and families out for a stroll competed for space. The weather was nice, but in a way, I like bleak, cold days better when I have the entire park to myself.

You notice things on busy days. More people have small dogs than large dogs. Drivers prefer Japanese cars to American or European ones, but they prefer pickup trucks even more. Kids don't like long walks nearly as much as their parents. Dogs wish their owners would slow down so they could smell things. I'm sure there's more but I'm really not that observant.

I always see lots of hammocks on a nice day. I've never understood their popularity. Why would you go to a park and spend all your time sitting in a hammock looking at your phone? I saw dozens of hammocks strung between trees today and the occupants were all looking at their phones. Of course, I see lots of cyclists and joggers looking at their phones as well. It is that hard to just put the phone away for a while?

I'm thinking about getting one of those Universe2Go AR viewers. These things are dirt cheap compared to other alternatives and I've got an old iPhone without a SIM card that I could use with it. Some reviewers love this thing and others think it is a piece of junk. There are enough good reviews to make me think that the bad reviews were mostly from people who didn't read the instructions. It would be cool to be able to look up at the sky and see constellation names and planet locations superimposed on your field of view.

I need to call the observatory next week and find out about living arrangements. If living in an RV or travel trailer is the only alternative, it's really going to complicate things. It's easy enough to rent an RV, but I hate the thought of driving it to the Davis Mountains from Dallas. I'm still hoping that I can rent a little house or cabin on the mountain somewhere. We'll see. Basically I still don't have a clue how this all works yet.

I also need to find out whether I'm going to get press credentials for Kennedy Space Center. I though I would have heard something by now, but again I don't have a clue how this all works yet. One way or another, this Spring ought to be interesting.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3312

I let Facebook pick the restaurant this morning. Maybe privacy is overrated. The food was delicious. I had Shrimp Grits with andouille sausage, peppers and leeks. All things considered, it was one of the best meals I've had in quite a while. I never would have known about this place if Facebook hadn't been snooping about my likes and dislikes. They've actually done a pretty decent job of helping me find a new pair of work boots and giving me a heads up about upcoming lunar eclipses and satellite launches.

I wish Facebook would fine tune their algorithm a bit more. With a bit of tweaking they may be able to find me the perfect restaurant. The only thing wrong with this morning's meal was that the place was crowded and a bit noisy. I guess that's to be expected when you're popular. I'm not used to popular. Most of the places I frequent for breakfast are half empty. I don't know how they stay in business.

I seldom see a lot of people together in the same place. Breakfast gave me an opportunity to see how society has changed. A lot more young people wear glasses now. Has staring at cell phones made people's eyes worse, or are contact lenses just out of fashion? I don't know. Apparently, nobody works on a fixed schedule anymore. I typically eat late and when I went to breakfast this morning, everybody should have been at work. The place was packed.  It was clear that most of these folks had a job. They just didn't work 9 to 5.

Some things were unexplainable. While I was waiting to be seated, I noticed that the woman ahead of me was wearing Louboutin stilettos at nine in the morning. A guy at a table next to me pulled a Ziploc bag full of credit cards out of his pocket when he was ready to pay his bill. Are plastic bag wallets a thing now? I'm clearly too old to know. Even though this new restaurant was a bit too trendy for my taste, I'm sure I'll be back. There were too many things on the menu that I'd like to try.

It was supposed to rain today but it never did. The forecast kept changing by the hour. Something is clearly happening. The wind has picked up and the temperature is supposed to be below freezing tomorrow. Hey, I'll take what I can get. I don't like the cold but if I've got to endure freezing weather I prefer that it be dry.

One of Dash's paws was bleeding a bit when we returned from our morning walk. It looked a nail was scraping against the adjacent skin. It's about time for a nail trim again. I'm trying to learn to do this myself while Dash is asleep. In theory this sounds like a good idea, but I can usually one clip a single nail before Dash wakes up. I've got a good pair of clippers, but so far I've only been trimming a tiny bit off each nail. Maybe if I get better at this, we can avoid the trauma of going to the vet for a nail trim. I'm also trying to rinse Dash's mouth with Dentahex while he's asleep. Dash hates the oral rinse but it's necessary to keep his Periodontal Disease from getting worse. Since Dash is no longer a candidate for anesthesia, it's been really hard to keep his teeth clean and his gums healthy.

All in all it's been a good day. I did something new. It didn't rain. And nothing terrible happened. I hope it stays dry this weekend. I've got a ton of errands to run tomorrow and there's a total lunar eclipse on Sunday. We'll see how it goes.

Dovey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3165

There was something for everybody at the restaurant this morning. As I was being seated, four policemen in tactical gear were paying their bill and leaving. Shortly after that, two open carry guys with side arms strapped to their waist took a seat. There was a large extended family with everyone from the grandmother to small babies gathered around a table. There were two Hispanic guys in starched white shirts with cufflinks who looked like they had gotten halfway dressed for a wedding before deciding they were hungry. There were young couples and retirees, along with several people who were conducting a business meeting. It was a diverse group and I appeared to be the only person eating alone. If you wanted to sample the mood of America, this would have been the place. I'm not sure if this was the place to sample a really great breakfast, but everyone seemed happy.

Maybe it was just a happy day. Dash certainly woke up in a good mood. He slept all night and managed to make it outside the next morning to poop. We took a nice walk before it became too hot and although he wasn't very hungry, Dash did manage to eat his breakfast later in the day. You can't ask for more than that from a tired old dog.

My wrist didn't hurt this morning, so I decided to go up on the roof. Much to my surprise, it was dry. Although we've had quite a bit of rain recently, it has been hot and dry this week. Apparently it takes about five days for the standing water to evaporate in the Summer. I need to remember this, because I'm not going to be able to continue climbing up on this roof forever. Unfortunately, the water will never evaporate in the Winter.

Janet didn't work today, so I started thinking it was Saturday again. I'm going to be really confused when she stops working completely. Who knows when that will happen though. Although she has officially retired, her company continues to bring her in on a consulting basis when they've got a tough problem. I tell Janet that it must be nice to be wanted. Whenever I used to leave a job, they usually never wanted to see me again.

The real estate market is heating up in our neighborhood. It happens from time to time. There seems to be lots of houses on the market right now. Whenever this happens, people get real interested in what their own house is worth. I used to feel this way until our house started falling apart. Now, I think it will just get torn down if we ever leave. But will we ever leave? Somehow, I doubt it.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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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

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Day 1830

I finally put up the Christmas tree today. Every year there seems to be a few less ornaments. Some have broken. Others have gotten lost. Even though the tree is starting to look a little threadbare, I still like it. All the ornaments are Dalmatians we've collected over the years. You don't see these Dalmatian Christmas ornaments in stores anymore, but I suppose they're still pretty easy to find online. The dogs used to be interested in the tree, but not anymore. They won't be interested until little wrapped packages filled with tasty dog treats go under it.

I went to a different restaurant for breakfast today. I didn't feel like going to the same place two days in a row. It's interesting that all these little neighborhood restaurants have their own audience. My favorite place is an eclectic mix of hipster beards, Apple laptops, and yoga pants. The place I went to today seems to be where all the school teachers go for breakfast. There's another restaurant where everybody seems to be over 80, and a fourth where everyone is always in a hurry. This food is pretty good at this place, but I seldom go there because I can't stand to be around people in a hurry.

I started my physical therapy exercises today. Oddly, they seemed easier here at home than they seemed at the gym last Wednesday. The only problem I had was whenever I tried to do the exercises where I needed to lie on my back on the floor, the dogs thought I wanted to play with them and they started jumping on me. Some of the exercises required the use of a cane last Wednesday. I'm not ready for a cane though, so I used a collapsible carbon fiber microphone boom pole instead. I wonder how long I'll continue doing these stretching exercises? They're both painful and boring. I don't think this is a good combination.

Dot seemed reluctant to go outside today. I can't really blame her. It was cold and rainy for the third day in a row. I almost took a good camera with me today, but I was afraid that the mist would unexpectedly turn to rain and get the camera wet. The light is soft and pretty on days like this. It's somewhat counter-intuitive, but grey days often produce the best pictures. Maybe I'll take a camera tomorrow.

It doesn't feel like Christmas is just around the corner. Very few people send Christmas cards anymore and I haven't been to an office Christmas party in years. Hey, I've got a tree up now though. Maybe that will get me in the spirit.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1592

My breakfast restaurant is a great place for people watching. Every large city seems to have a little hole-in-the-wall place like this where the aroma of suburb simple meals seems to lure the wealthy and the working poor in almost equal numbers to the same humble tables. This is the only place in Dallas where I routinely see Ferrari 458 Spiders and McLaren MP4's parked right next to beat up white work vans filled with plumbing tools. Of course, since the place is still considered cool in some circles, there are an inordinate number of hipster bicycles as well.

When a diverse group of people start to gather in a small room, you begin to notice things. I've noticed that thin bald men of a certain age aren't really Olympic swimmers or in training for a triathlon. They are just making a fashion statement. I've noticed that it is remarkably easy to identify who is still working for a large organization. They are all wearing those laminated plastic badges around their neck with a bar code  that lets them enter and exit their permanently locked place of work. I guess it has come to this. We are all in lock-down mode now.

I have a certain amount of admiration for the young entrepreneurs. They arrive with a backpack full of electronic devices that all have to be turned on simultaneously. Many of these people seem to be trying to crowdsource their latest project on Kickstarter, or find an elusive venture capitalist who will watch the Powerpoint presentation on the iPad in their packpack. Most of these people will fail, but at least they are trying.

Dash's doctors are trying their best to keep his incision site from getting infected. The effects of radiation treatments are cumulative and after 17 visits to the cancer center, the area that is receiving most of the radiation is really starting to itch. Since Dash is a dog, it is hard to keep him from scratching something that itches. We've tried the cone of shame, a cloth scarf held in place with Velcro, and even leaving his special harness on during the day, but nothing seems to work. When Dash was attacked by another dog years ago, Janet sewed a special t-shirt that Dash wore permanently while his wounds healed. That seemed to work. Maybe she can make another this weekend.

Every Friday afternoon I hand my credit card to the receptionist at the cancer center and settle Dash's bills for the week. This is when I wish that all my client's paid me in 30 days like they are supposed to. Yes, you know who you are. What is the point of hanging on to the money for as long as you can when you are going to have to part with it eventually? I just don't get it. When I made most of my income producing commercials and corporate videos, I always paid my crews immediately. Life is just simpler that way.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1242

There were a lot of strange people at breakfast this morning. At a table in the back were a group of men dressed in neatly pressed olive green fatigues. At first I thought they were National Guard troops, but there were no insignias or identification on the uniforms at all. The guys were also wearing brown suede baseball caps and Oakley sunglasses. Go figure! At a table next to me a woman sat alone, talking to her food. The regulars were there as well: there were the nicely dressed women accompanied by ratty looking men, and quite a few seniors who limped in with their canes and walkers, just so they could order huge, heart-attack meals. It's a strange world we live in. Often, when I'm out and about, I wonder how many of these people are making bombs in their living room, or have someone locked up in the basement.

Just before I took the dogs out for their morning walk, I heard an ominous dripping noise that could only be a leak in the roof. I immediately put a bucket under the drip and proceeded with our walk. Later, after I returned from breakfast, I went up on the roof to survey the situation. I was amazed at how much standing water there was, because I didn't hear any rain last night. Reluctantly, I got the sump pump running and picked up the big push broom and began sweeping the water off the roof. This routine is getting so old. I'm really starting to hate it. I got the job done though. When I went back inside again, the leak had stopped.

I only had a few minor website revisions today, so I used the extra time to post my May invoices and get them in the mail. After I went to the post office, I stopped by the storage warehouse to see when my rent was due. I usually pay a year in advance and I can never remember when my year is up. It turns out that not only is it almost time to renew my contract, the rent for my unit has gone up as well. I pay more for my storage unit now than I did for my first apartment. Maybe it's all fair though. There's more stuff in the storage unit than there was in my first apartment.

I haven't heard a thing from the Land Rover dealer about my Defender. I'm starting to like the LR4, so I don't really care how long they keep it. It does seem strange for a tune up to take a month though. Janet thinks I ought to ask them how much it would cost to just keep the LR4. Maybe I'd get a deal. After all, it is a used car by now.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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