Day 1817

One down, three to go. The general consensus was that our first Santa Paws photo event of the year was the best we've ever had. It was certainly the busiest we've ever had. I was exhausted. Usually there are no-shows where you can grab a sandwich or go to the bathroom, but not today. No only did everyone who made an appointment show up with their dogs, there were walk-ins as well. Santa and I were very busy.

When I was putting together the set before we got started this morning, I started to plug one of the strobe lights into the Norman power pack and suddenly realized that I had left both power packs at home. How could I have forgotten something so basic? Without the power packs for the strobes, you've got nothing. At any rate, we had to go all the way back to the house to get the power packs. Everything worked out fine because our first customer was late and so was the volunteer bringing Santa's Sleigh.

I'm probably getting too old for this. I lost count of the number of dogs we photographed today, but I do know there are almost 1000 images on the memory cards. By the time we wrapped things up, I could barely move. My back hurt. My knees hurt. And I had trouble focusing my eyes. The equipment held up pretty well. One of the radio strobe triggers broke, but luckily I had a backup with me. If I have time tonight, I need to figure out whether it is the transmitter or the receiver causing the problem. I hope I can fix this, because these little gizmos are fairly expensive.

Dot has certainly come a long way. A few months ago, we wouldn't have even considered leaving her at home for this length of time. She did fine though. She was sleeping peacefully when we returned from today's photoshoot and wasn't even anxious to go out and pee. We have been gradually reducing the amount of Incurin she takes and now she's down to only one half tablet once every four days. If her incontinence remains under control, we may be able to stop the medication entirely in a month or two.

Tomorrow we repeat everything we did today at a different location. I need to make myself a checklist to make sure I don't forget something important again. I hope whoever is doing the scheduling blocks out a little time for lunch tomorrow. Today's pace was a little overwhelming.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1088

I found a brand new breakfast restaurant today. The place has only been open for a couple of days. With its trendy industrial chic decor, inexpensive prices, and fast service, I have a feeling that this place will be a success. I'm not a good judge of success in the business world however. Most places I like go out of business quickly. Maybe it was just because the place was new, but I couldn't really tell who this restaurant would appeal to. The people sitting at nearby tables looked like a convention of the dispossessed. Although I have lived in the neighborhood for years, I didn't recognize anyone.

An overheard customer/cashier conversation: "I like your logo. What is it?" "Umm, it's the devil." "Oh, dear. Well, it certainly is a cute little devil." Although the food was pretty good, I think this place is actually a bar that just happens to open early and serve food. If you ever feel like having your bacon and eggs with Tequila, this would be the place.

Since tomorrow is another Santa Paws photo day, I tried to get some of my weekend errands done after breakfast. While driving around in the car, I listened to a fascinating interview with Dave Brubeck that was initially recorded in 1999. I guess the station was replaying the interview today because Dave died recently. I never realized that Brubeck grew up on a ranch, studied veterinary medicine in college, and initially wanted to be a cowboy like his Dad. The older I get, the more it becomes obvious that I don't know nearly as much as I thought I knew.

Those discount coupons and gift cards you get from merchants during the holidays can be dangerous. I got a $50 gift card from my favorite clothing store the other day. The only catch was that you had to buy something worth more than $100 to be able to use it. The card was burning a hole in my pocket, so I ended up going over to the store and buying something I didn't even need, just so the card wouldn't go to waste.

I hope my back-up Norman power pack holds up tomorrow. I was so busy this week that I never found the time to take the overheating power pack in for service. If I can make it through tomorrow's photo shoot though, I'll be fine. I probably won't be doing another marathon like this for another year.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1083

I burned up one of my power supplies this afternoon. It happens. We had such a steady stream of dogs to photograph at today's Santa Paws event that I must not have allowed enough time between shots for the heat to dissipate. I turned the power supply off and switched to a back up unit as soon as I smelled burning insulation, but it was probably too late. The trusty old Norman power pack will be making a trip to the Flash Clinic next week. I hate that I think this way, but my first thought as I smelled the burning insulation was "Gee, I wonder if that guy who owns the Flash Clinic is even still alive." Back when I used to shoot fashion, he used to service my equipment frequently. It's been a while!

Equipment failure notwithstanding, we had a good day. Our team was able to handle a large volume of customers, while keeping everyone happy. The Santa Paws events have been very successful for us. Nobody got bit today and the set survived several dogs that looked like small horses. One nervous woman told us she chose us for pictures this year because the last Santa dropped her dog. Santa told the woman that her pup was safe with him. From the looks of the pampered pooch, I had a pretty good idea what happened last year. I have a feeling that Santa dropped the dog after it bit him and then peed on his lap. As I've mentioned before, I have the easy job. Santa gets all the abuse.

Our own dogs did well in front of the camera and Janet seemed happy with the results. I'm not sure that Dot and Dash were very happy though. They would have much rather gone to the dog park today than spend the day in a boarding kennel waiting for their turn with the bearded one. Maybe now they won't be quite so eager to go with us on these photo events. I think they finally realize that it's much more pleasant to stay home and sleep on the bed while we are away at these fundraisers.

I'm going to be busy next week. In addition to taking the power pack to the Flash Clinic for repairs, I've also got to find someone to repair Janet's printer. Lot's of luck with that. Nobody likes to repair Epson printers. They are difficult to work on because the print heads can't be easily removed or cleaned. Epson prints always look better than prints coming out of other photo printers until the day the printer begins to malfunction. Then it's all over. These things are so difficult to repair that it's often cheaper to just toss the broken printer in the trash and buy a new one.  Oh, I've got to get the broken guitar amp boxed up and returned to the music store as well.  I think the replacement amp is already on its way.

I've already got some website revisions on tap for Monday, but I hope it's not going to be a really busy week. I need a little rest. I feel like I've put in a full week's work already just in the past two days

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1075

I got the Christmas tree up today. Maybe it's a little early, but it seemed like a good time since I'll be taking holiday pet photos again next weekend. Holiday shoppers were out in force today. The parking lots were deadly. You had to look carefully before you moved because drivers were racing around like madmen, trying to secure the few empty parking spots. Ordinarily, I wouldn't leave the house on a day like this, but Saturday is my regular shopping day and I was low on a lot of things.

I've noticed that a lot of stores are installing automated check-out lanes where you scan everything yourself. I love these automated systems because most people don't seem to want to use them. Even when there are long lines at the regular registers, the automated lanes are often empty. You'd think people could figure these things out in a few seconds, but apparently they are not intuitive to some. I saw a lady ahead of me today take all her groceries out of her buggy, put them on one of rolling conveyor belts, take them off the belt, put everything back in her buggy again and only after she had done all this, did she finally scan her items with a hand scanner. Why? Force of habit, I guess. I never take anything out of the buggy. I just quickly wave the scanner at each bar code and I'm done in less than a minute.

As far as I can tell, Black Friday is all a scam. Nothing really good is on sale at all. I noticed a few really attractive prices on some electronic items when I was out today. As an astute consumer, I immediately noticed that the heavily discounted items were either discontinued or last year's models. The brand new stuff was still basically full price. You have to admire this as a marketing strategy. Discontinued items are always sold at steep discounts anyway. Now this old and less desirable merchandise has been repackaged as the Black Friday deal of the century and people get in fistfights to buy it.

I'm finding ticks on the dogs again. What's that all about? We'll go for month's without any sign of a tick and then all of the sudden, they'll be covered with them. I'm sure the ticks are outside continually, but for some reason they only jump on the dogs at very specific times. One more mystery of nature I guess. 

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1067

Some people seem to be worried that I'll be late for the Dalmatian Rescue photo event tomorrow. Now, where would they get that idea? Hey, I'm just the guy who routinely eats breakfast at 10 AM and is seldom even awake when this event begins. Not to worry though. Janet runs a tight ship when it comes to Dalmatian events. She won't let me be late.

I noticed that someone is building a charging station for electric cars right across from the cool restaurant when I was eating breakfast this morning. I think they picked the right location. Probably the patrons of this restaurant are the only people in Dallas who would even think of driving an electric car. I noticed I got a few dirty looks this morning. I was wearing a leather coat. I guess it's not cool to wear leather any more. Most of the guys were wearing plaid wool lumberjack shirts with carabiner clips dangling from their belt loops as key rings. I used to dress like that too. About 40 years ago. It's weird how the 60's keeps being recycled over and over again.

I scanned a few negatives this afternoon using the new film scanner I got recently. It's actually not as good as the ancient Canon scanner I used back in the dawn of digital imaging. On the flip side, the new scanner is much easier to use and dirt cheap. It's just one more example of the democratization of technology. At some point, somebody probably conducted a focus group about the old Canon scanner and added the features that the majority of people wanted, while subtracting all the things that were expensive to manufacture. I can't really complain though. The more I look at these old negatives, the more I realize that they aren't nearly as good as I remembered.

A chemical plant exploded in Garland, about ten miles east of me, this afternoon. The sky was filled with thick black smoke for the rest of the day. Looking at the smoke plume in the distance as I walked the dogs, I thought about what I'd been seeing on the news recently and counted my blessings that I live in a part of the world where giant explosions aren't commonplace.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1016

I promised Janet I'd print something for her today. Somehow, to make a single 8x10 print, I ended up running an hour-long cleaning cycle, replacing three $55 ink cartridges and putting in a new maintenance tank. When I finally got the image printed, I found out it was the wrong size.

Most of the rest of the day was spent writing. Writing is a fairly peaceful activity. When I'm writing a longer piece, I usually compose all the headlines and sub-heads first and then use these as an outline to fill in the text. I never try to do anything in a single draft. The first draft is just to get something down on paper. The second is to correct major contextual errors and logical flaws. All the other drafts are just nit-picking to refine sentence structure and bring things in at the required work count. I enjoy this part of the process. The inevitable revisions that come after the piece is submitted aren't nearly as much fun.

My eyes were watering so badly from Fall allergies that I could hardly tell what the dogs were doing at training class this evening. Once the Spring allergy season is behind me, I completely forget that there is also a Fall allergy season. Everything is fine during the Summer, but it is usually way too hot to really enjoy the relief from my perpetual sneezing and wheezing. It's a shame that the nicest weather usually coincides with the worst times for seasonal allergies. Maybe allergies just get worse with age, but I don't remember having these problems before I moved to Texas. Colorado air was crisp and clear. Seattle was damp and rainy, but I still didn't suffer from seasonal allergies. The dogs have allergy problems too. They don't sneeze or have watering eyes, but their skin itches. I don't know which is worse. When I see them scratching and rolling on their backs on the carpet, I sympathize. I know exactly what they are going through.

The holiday pet photo season will be here before you know it. I'm gradually replacing faulty equipment and getting ready for this year's events. Since many of the same people come year-after-year with their pets, it's time for a new set as well. The pets are the same, so you've got to do something to make each year's pictures a little different. While I'm shopping for a new backdrop, I should shop for a comfortable chair to sit in as well. Yeah, I know you can't really take pictures sitting in a chair, but it would be nice if you could. These events are murder on my knees.

Suki is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 813

I had another photo shoot today. Luckily, the client wanted me in and out in a hurry, so I didn't have to drag two hundred pounds of lights and backdrops along with me. This time, I just put a little on-camera flash in my bag and that was that. Inevitably, when I arrive for these employee photo shoots, everybody claims that they weren't given any notice and they didn't know I was coming. I knew about this two weeks ago, so surely somebody else must have known as well.

Today was one of those rainy days that result in dirty dogs and a lot of laundry. It didn't really rain hard. Just enough to get the car, the dogs, and everything else dirty. I didn't even bother to go up on the roof today, because I was too busy. I'm sure I'll have to deal with the standing water on the roof tomorrow though.

I found out today that there is a house right next to my rental property that will be going on the market at exactly the same time as my place. Damn! It's hard enough to rent this place anyway. The last thing I need is competition. Maybe there will be two people who want to live in the neighborhood. I'd really rather just sell the property, but then I'd be forced to deal with real estate agents, which I try to avoid at all costs.

We didn't go to dog class tonight. Janet had a business function she needed to attend and it rained anyway, so it was a good night to stay home. I got an earlier start on writing the blog and the two dog got an earlier start on their evening nap.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 473

A loud noise woke us up about 3 AM this morning. Even though I was still half asleep, I immediately knew what the noise was. Another drunk had lost control of his car after the bars closed and had driven through someone's front yard. The noise sounded a bit distant, so I thought it was someone else's yard this time. This morning when I looked outside, it became apparent that the car actually did hit the curb in front of our house. The car apparently bounced over our yard, landed in the neighbor's yard, and then bounced back out to the street again, when it skidded another 100 yards and came to rest near the stop light at the end of the street. This is just a guess, of course, but it is definitely what the skid marks and gouges left in the grass say happened. Believe it of not, this is the six or seventh time something like this has occurred. We live at the top of a hill and the street turns to the left a bit when it reaches our house. I guess if you're drunk enough, you just keep going straight. If drunk driving accidents reoccur so predictably in one particular neighborhood, you have to wonder how many wrecks there are citywide on an average Friday night. I bet there are hundreds in a city this size. No wonder there are so many tow truck companies in town.

Janet and I went to a party tonight. This was another charity fundraiser. I think this event was raising money for school scholarships instead of for dogs, but unless someone told you, it would be hard to tell the difference. There is always a meal, a silent auction, and usually some type of entertainment. Dalmatian Rescue does these type of things too. In fact, the entertainment portion of the evening was exactly the same as many Dalmatian Rescue events: an after dinner casino night. I'm always curious to see how the roulette table is run at these events, because Janet and I are the roulette dealers for Dalmatian Rescue. I think we are more professional than a lot of charity dealers, but there are still some groups that make us look like country hicks. Roulette is an easy game. You just have to remember the payout odds and get the chips off the table fairly quickly after each round of play. I'd much rather be the roulette dealer than run the craps table. Whenever I look over at the craps table, it looks like total chaos. People do seem to have a lot of fun playing craps though. Roulette players are much more sedate. The roulette table was certainly sedate tonight. For much of the evening, Janet and I were the only players. Too bad we were playing with monopoly money. Janet had a good night. At one point she was up over $25,000. It wasn't real money though. At the end of the night, we dumped our winnings in a pot for some sort of raffle and went home.

I took the posters for our Easter pet photo weekend up to City Vet today so they can begin promoting the event. I ended up using the same picture of Dot wearing bunny ears that I used for last year's poster. Hey, it was a cute picture and I know Dot would much rather have me reuse the photo than spend an afternoon dressing her up like an Easter bunny. From her point of view, Dalmatians were meant to chase rabbits, not dress like them.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 394

Today was full of good intentions. I called clients that I haven't talked to in a while. I continued my marathon effort to get all my photo files moved over to the new computer. I thought I was going to get some other stuff done as well, but I found out late in the day that we needed to get the Dalmatian Rescue Valentine's Day poster finished right away. D Magazine is apparently going to feature the photo event on their website and we need to get them a picture ASAP. I initially thought that photographing Dot wearing heart shaped glasses would look sweet, but the glasses we found were too big for her head and the picture just didn't look right. Plan B involved a goofy little headband that had two hearts on springs standing up like antennas. The picture is cute, but I still wish the heart shaped glasses would have worked.

I finally figured out how to get my company linked to my employment history on my Facebook page. For several months now, whenever you clicked on Sealander & Company on my profile it would take you to a weird, totally blank community page that I couldn't edit or delete. I had written Facebook about this several times but they never answered. I finally found some user forum on the Internet where other small business owners were having the same problem. Apparently none of these people had gotten an answer from Facebook either. Luckily, there was an answer, although it wasn't the one I expected. To fix the profile, you needed to download a third party add-on application for Firefox that let you view the code for the link that Facebook had established and then you could edit the link so it would point to the proper location. Seems like it would be a lot easier if Facebook just had a few customer service representatives like everybody else.

I'm beginning to understand why it has been such a problems to transfer all my image files. It took me ten years to get all these pictures into the computer. I guess it is a bit unreasonable to expect that I could get them back out again in just a day or two.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day