Day 4096

The washing machine is working again. The repair technician arrived right on time with a brown box containing the expensive new circuit board. The board must have been located in an inaccessible place because he had to practically disassemble the entire machine to install it. I wonder where appliance repairmen get their training? This guy seemed very familiar with my machine even though it was never a popular brand and hasn't been manufactured for quite some time. I was pleased when the technician put the washing machine back together and turned it on to test it. It worked. There was always a chance that the new motor controller board wouldn't solve the problem. The motor itself might have been faulty. All is good now until the next thing breaks on this machine. Replacing the aging machine piece by piece is still easier than trying to squeeze a new machine into our tiny utility room.

The washing machine wasn't the only thing that I got working again today. Part of my new company website has been non-functional ever since I redesigned it several months ago. It always looked nice on my desktop computer, but never really worked when I looked at it on my phone. I finally found a tech support person who could help me this afternoon and was able to repair the broken code. The solution was fairly obvious in retrospect. I felt a bit foolish for not being able to figure this out myself. Apparently, one of the many hazards of growing older is the inability to understand complex problems on your own. I used to be a lot better at website design when I did this stuff every day.

I got my reservations confirmed at the Prude Ranch for my trip out to McDonald Observatory, so it appears that I'm good to go. The astrophotography workshop isn't being held until mid-May, but it never hurts to plan ahead. Oddly, there is a big regional star party out at the ranch a few weeks before my arrival. If the two events had been closer together it might have been fun to attend both. Never mind. I just read the Covid rules for the WesTex Star Party. They are pretty restrictive. Since only ten people will be attending the astrophotography workshop, dealing with Covid restrictions at the observatory will be a lot easier. I'm already familiar with McDonald observatory rules anyway. I was out there last October.

I think I've figured out why my Apple Watch activity stats have been so dismal this month. It all has to do with how the watch measures things. Really the only things it is able to measure are the speed you are walking and your heart rate. Everything else is extrapolated using some sort of algorithm. Today, I was feeling pretty good so I thought I'd see what would happen if I just walked a little faster. Speed is apparently a lot more important to the algorithm than heart rate. I managed to cut four minutes per mile off my recent times and it made a huge difference. My activity scores look just like they used to. Oddly, my feet didn't hurt any more walking fast than walking slow. I was a lot more tired when I returned home though. I think I'll go back to walking slow tomorrow.

I wish Dawn didn't frighten so easily. Predictably, the repair technician scared her again, even though he was working in the other end of the house. The guy was only here about an hour, but it took Dawn the rest of the day to chill out again. She still enjoyed her walk, but ate more grass than usual. She always eats grass when she's nervous.

I keep reading that we might have hazardous weather this weekend. There are two storms headed our way. The first one is supposed to bring massive amounts of snow to Colorado. The second one might bring tornados to Texas. I hope the forecasts are wrong. We've already had enough bad weather for one year. I'm ready for a nice warm Spring.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2499

A lady from the sanitation department called me this morning. She listened politely as I explained the problems I've been having with trash collection. I thought we were getting somewhere when she told me that the city had hired a lot of new drivers recently and seemed to agree with my theory that the driver didn't know how to operate the fancy robotic garbage truck. When I finished my story and asked what was going to happen next, I instantly became disappointed. "I'll talk to my supervisor about this," she told me. This is going to end like every other encounter I've had with a large bureaucracy. Maybe this supervisor will talk to his supervisor, or maybe it won't even get that far. I doubt that anything will happen. The drivers are probably protected by their union and can't be fired anyway. The driver might not even be at fault. There's always the chance that the city added fifty extra streets to his regular route and he is just doing the best he can to keep up with the added workload.

A little later, a representative from SiriusXM  called and asked if I was enjoying my free trial and wondered why I hadn't activated my subscription yet. Normally, I don't even answer these type of telemarketing calls, but this guy surprised me by calling my cell phone. I explained that I only listened to one channel in the car and their package prices seemed pretty expensive if all I was going to use satellite radio for was to avoid having to listen to all the annoying pledge drives on the local over the air public radio station. I took this opportunity to complain about the tinny, compressed quality of all the voice offerings on SiriusXM. The guy thanked me for my input and agreed that I probably wasn't the target audience they were looking for. I don't know why companies like these don't adopt an à la carte pricing structure. If I could just pay for the stations I actually listen to, I'd gladly subscribe to SiriusXM. I feel the same way about my AT&T U-Verse account. Why should I have to pay for hundreds of channels when I only watch ten at the most?

I went to the vegan take-out store to buy enough meals to augment the leftovers in the refrigerator for the rest of the week. I love this store and hope they manage to stay in business. There is no way I could cook all these interesting meals myself. Cooking for one is hardly worth the trouble. It's hard to buy small quantities of vegetables and if you buy larger quantities, the stuff goes bad before you get around to eating it. I talked to the lady who started the store today and she told me that she got the idea when friends of hers kept saying that they'd love to become vegetarian, but that it was so much easier to just get a burger. This store is easier than going to McDonalds. I'm hooked.

On my way home I dropped off one of my favorite watches at my local watch repair place to get the band fixed. It doesn't matter if your wear the watches or not. Eventually, they all just fall apart by themselves. I doubt that I'll wear this watch anymore, but it was an old friend that deserved some respect. I have no idea how the watch broke. It's been sitting in a drawer for years.

Dot seemed so tired today. I don't think the Tramadol pills are having much of an effect. I had hoped that they might help her walk a little easier, but that isn't happening. We'll continue the pills for a few days longer in case there is some sort of delayed reaction, but I think this is just an experiment that failed. I wish it were easier to transport Dot. I think the water therapy still might help, but I hate to put Dot through the ordeal of getting her to the vet and back on a regular basis if all it does is cause her stress.

Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow. I'm not counting on it though.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2471

Apparently, I'm not the only person dealing with frustration. Every call I got today involved some sort of frustration. Information wasn't correct on a website. Paypal deposits weren't being transferred properly. Responsibilities weren't being delegated. None of these problems were caused by me, but I did my best to fix them. In one case I had to get a new set of passwords to access a problematic website. Apparently I had been replaced and I didn't even realize it. The person who replaced me did a sloppy job and now the client wanted me back again. Sure, whatever. I had been completely oblivious to all the drama going on behind my back.

I'm glad I'm nearing the end of my working career. The work world seems so chaotic now. All my clients seem more stressed out than they used to be. Everybody is being squeezed. Customers are demanding more. Employees are becoming less reliable. The pace of change is definitely accelerating.  I haven't been responsible for hiring people for a long time. If I were faced with hiring millennials today, I think I would just throw up my hands in despair.

None of my own frustrations were work related today. Most of them involved my deteriorating roof. It must have rained a lot harder than I though the other day, because there was still a ton of standing water up on the roof. When I pumped the water away and swept the roof dry, I discovered even more damaged areas where the elastomeric coating had peeled away from the roof's surface. There are more than a dozen serious bad spots now. The roofer is ignoring me too. I've called several times and sent multiple e-mail messages, but have yet to get a response. I don't know where this is going. The patches don't seem to be working and the roofer clearly doesn't want to give me an entirely new roof.

Dot still seems tired and sore. She is slowly recovering from her fall last week, but I don't think she's ready for physical therapy yet. It's looks like I'm going to have to cancel our Wednesday appointment. Dot would probably still benefit from acupuncture, but it's difficult to travel with her in the car. Unless she's feeling pretty good, the adverse effects of the car ride negate any benefits she might receive from therapy.

I would like to think that tomorrow will be different than today, but it probably won't. I'll turn on the television in the morning and hear the same news about terrorism and political circuses. I'll fix the same fruit smoothie for breakfast, hoping that the bananas have ripened a bit. Dash will interrupt my breakfast with non-stop barking and Dot will poop when I least expect it. There will probably be websites to update, but none of the changes will be of any consequence. I'll look for something to photograph for tomorrow's blog post. My shoulder will hurt and I'll think about taking a nap, but the day will be over before I get around to it. Then it will be Wednesday.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2450

Don't you hate it when a warning light comes on in the car and you're not in a position to do anything about it? You just keep driving and hope that nothing goes wrong. I was taking Dot to the vet this afternoon when the low tire light came on. Not good. The last thing I need is a flat tire with a sick dog in the car. I hate the low tire light, because I'm not really sure that I know how to change a tire on this car. It definitely wouldn't have been easy today, because the spare is located in a compartment directly under where Dot was sitting. The tire looked a little low when we got to the vet, but it didn't look alarming, so I decided not to worry about it.

Dot got her blood work done and we went home again without further incident. As soon as I got Dot situated in her bed, I drove up to the Land Rover dealer. Since the tires are filled with nitrogen instead of air, I couldn't just go to the gas station around the corner. There's always something that turns simple things into complicated things for me. The dealer checked the tires, refilled them all to the recommended pressure, and told me that nothing was wrong. My service guy informed me that I was lucky to have driven almost three years without the warning light coming on. Evidently nitrogen reduces tire pressure fluctuations, but doesn't eliminate them entirely. Since nitrogen is heavier than air, it's good stuff to put in your tires. Don't expect your local gas station to have any though.

With the warning light extinguished on the dash, I feel a little better about taking Dash for his neurological exam tomorrow. Dot poops in the car, but she's still a better passenger than Dash. I dread traveling with Dash, because he won't stay still and he barks nonstop. Dash barks so loud and becomes so agitated that I'm tempted to wear earplugs. I don't know if he's excited or scared, but he's definitely not a good traveling companion.

When I got my tire problems resolved, I paid a visit to the storage warehouse and renewed my lease for another year. I hate paying this much at one time, but if you pay twelve months in advance, you get an extra month for free. I've had the storage space for so long now, that I'm sure I've accumulated over a year of free rent by paying this way. Even with the extra month, I can't say that the storage warehouse is a bargain. They keep raising the rent on me every single year. The annual increase isn't that large, but over time it really adds up. You'd think they'd have some kind of loyalty program for long time customers like me, but I get the same rotten deal as the folks who pay month-to-month. Storage warehouse companies know that they've got a captive audience. It's so damn much trouble to move everything to another storage space, that they figure that you'll just pay the increased rent. Companies seem to be almost universally greedy these days. Hey, at least I don't need to carry an EpiPen around with me.

The rain returned today. I didn't think the weather was anything to get alarmed about, but Dash didn't seem to agree. I couldn't get him to leave the house this morning, so he didn't get a morning walk at all. The sun reappeared briefly around lunchtime and I was able to take him outside to pee. Then he heard some thunder off in the distance and became scared again. Dash's storm phobia seems to be getting worse. For the most part, all we had were gentle showers today, but Dash still spent quite a while hiding under my desk.

I'm tired of dealing with problems. I'd like an entire week with no problems whatsoever. That's very unlikely though. There are always problems.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2382

It doesn't really take that much to turn a bad day into a good day. Basically, I was faced with the same old grind, but Dot had more energy today and I was able to solve a perplexing website problem for one of my clients. I was really pleased with how well Dot did during her water therapy session. We were able to increase the speed a bit and she didn't stumble at all. The vet paid extra attention to her shoulders during her acupuncture therapy and tried to relieve some of the stress that was causing her muscles to cramp. Her rear legs are so weak now that she basically shifts most of her weight to her front two legs which causes a lot of stress. The combination of water therapy and acupuncture seemed to work, and Dot felt better for the rest of the day.

Much of my website work is so mechanical now that I often feel like a code monkey. Occasionally though, I have to really think things through and today was one of those days. I've never really liked interactive forms, especially when they don't work. I had to do a lot of troubleshooting today to figure out why something that should be working actually wasn't. It would have been easy to blame the hosting company or gremlins for the problem, but I was determined to find the answer myself. After a couple of hours of experimentation, I figured out what was going on and explained everything to the client. I think they understood, but there's always a chance that they weren't listening.

I've got to find something better to watch on TV while I eat breakfast. I used to watch Dr. Who re-runs on the BBC channel but they quit running them. Now there's nothing but endless political and financial news, which are both equally depressing. I'm totally tired of the non-stop political news. Do we really have to listen to this for six more months? I wish that Bernie and Trump would have a secret meeting and both agree to run as independents. Bernie could call Trump a narcissistic fascist and Trump could call Bernie an dangerous socialist and almost instantly the traditional political establishment would be irrelevant. In a four person race, either Bernie or Trump would win. Hillary and whatever tired old retread that the Republicans trotted out wouldn't have a chance. All this would be fine by me. I think just about anyone would be better than more of the same. It's time to re-shuffle the deck and start over. Of course there's always a chance that I'm just another nihilistic anarchist. I'm really hoping that the UK leaves the European Union tomorrow too.

It's amazing how quickly the soil dries out after a few days of Texas heat. Our yard was a mud pit just a few weeks ago and now it is almost bone dry. I'm going to have to start watering again or everything will die. Our water bill triples during the Summer months. I hate to think how much people with really big yards and fancy sprinkler systems pay for water each month. We have a very small yard and our water bill goes through the roof in July and August.

There was only a small Internet outage today and I didn't even bother to call technical support. Sometimes calling AT&T actually makes things worse. That's the way modern life is today. You have to decide whether random sporadic problems are worse than the problems you go out and create for yourself.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2343

Wouldn't it be nice if there was someone you could call who always had the answers you were looking for? I'm continually faced with situations where something should work, but just doesn't for some unexplained reason. Instead of asking a nearby knowledgeable friend, I am forced to spend hours searching the Internet for the advice of strangers. Today, I was having trouble getting a camera to connect to the WiFi network so I could control it from my phone. This shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, since I've done this many times before. Today it just didn't work. According to Google, lots of people seemed to be having the same the same problem, but opinions varied widely. Some people thought the camera was at fault. Others though the app on the phone was worthless because it hadn't been updated in our years. Then there was those who said that nothing was wrong at all and that their camera was connecting to WiFi just fine.

You have to resolve these problems through a process of elimination. Is there something wrong with the U-verse connection again? Did my latest IOS upgrade ruin all the older apps on my phone? Did I just not read the instructions correctly? After a lot of fruitless experimentation, I discovered that I needed to reboot my phone. I should have tried this first, since it seems to be the universal solution for all electronic problems. I am constantly rebooting the WiFi router, the DVR, the computers, the phones, and even the thermostat. Why are these connections to the cloud so fragile? I never had to do this five years ago.

Janet and I both think Dot is getting stronger, but I wonder if we are imagining things. The differences we are seeing are subtle at best. I've always believed in the placebo effect. If you really want to believe something, you generally can. Dot does seem a bit steadier this week. On the other hand, she is still senile and poops all over the place. I had a big mess to clean up last night, but strategically placed disposable pads are making the process easier. I don't think there's a lot we can do medically at this point. Instead, we provide a kind of doggie hospice care. We're not going to make Dot well again, but we can keep her happy.

It didn't rain as much as I expected today. Actually, it hardly rained at all. This doesn't mean that we've got clear skies ahead unfortunately. The long range forecast says it's going to be a wet and stormy week. We'll see. The forecast was certainly wrong today. Whatever is going on definitely appeals to the butterflies. I hardly saw any butterflies last year. This Spring, they are everywhere.

I suppose I'll go to the gym tomorrow. It all depends on whether I can go to sleep tonight. I'm ready. All I need to do is empty the water out of the dehumidifier, brush my teeth, and try to slip a puppy training pad under Dot's butt without waking her up.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

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

Watch of the Day

Day 1669

Today was one small problem after another. My phone battery inexplicably went dead when it was supposedly fully charged. Unfortunately, this didn't prevent me from having irritating phone calls. I was on the phone with technical support at GoDaddy for over an hour, trying to resolve a client's website problem. The tech support guy kept insisting that the problem was on my end and that everything was working perfectly for him. I tried half a dozen "fixes" that the GoDaddy guy suggested, all to no avail. After spending an inordinate amount of time rebooting my computer and trying different browsers, the guys finally says, "Oh wait a minute. I just noticed that we have a job ticket open for a problem just like the one you are describing." Yup. The problem was with the GoDaddy servers after all.

Later in the day, a client called me and told me he was being audited. He said he wanted to give me a heads up, because the auditor told him that his suppliers could end up being audited as well. Great! That's just what I need. I was audited once. It wasn't fun. After three days of going over my life with a fine toothed comb, the auditors found that I'd done everything correctly. My tax returns were perfect and I owed the IRS absolutely nothing. The experience certainly wasn't free though. My accountant sent me a big bill for handling the audit.

When I went out to water the lawn this morning, I noticed that someone had unhooked my sprinkler from the garden hose and thrown it across the yard. Was this petty vandalism, or just code enforcement trying to send me a warning? I'll probably never know the answer. There are water restrictions in place this Summer, but I don't think they prevent you from watering before 10 AM. I'll have to get on the web and check the regulations. If it was code enforcement who unhooked my sprinkler, they'll be back.

The restaurant was really crowded when I went out for breakfast. Friday's always seem to be crowded these days. I think this just proves that we have already made the transition to a four day work week. It's amazing how much more congested everything is on a Friday. The roads are crowded. The stores are crowded. And lots of people are still eating breakfast at 10 AM when they should have been at work. I'm not sure what is going on, but Dallas certainly wasn't working very hard today.

Dash has discovered June Bugs. Luckily, Dot has never been interested in eating bugs, but Spot and Petey were obsessed with them. This is the time of year when June Bugs and Cicadas are everywhere.You can't go outside without hearing the characteristic "song" of these tasty dog treats. Now, when I let Dash out in the evening to pee, all he wants to do is hunt for Cicadas. He hasn't caught many so far, but he has definitely developed a taste for the bugs.

I hope this weekend is quiet and uneventful, with cooler temperatures than we had today. I'm probably just dreaming. Especially about the cooler temperatures.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1642

The grass has been cut. The yard looks nice. The refrigerator has been restocked. There are clean sheets on the bed and all the laundry has been done. This is usually what I do on a Saturday. These small chores are just a way to kill time while avoiding larger more arduous chores. If I was more ambitious, I would rebuilt the rotting greenhouse, fix the leaking shower pan, or paint all the window trim. These multi-day projects are much more difficult that they initially seem. You start to paint and you realize that the wood underneath needs to be replaced first. You pick up a wrench and realize that you don't have the right sized socket. Most of my trips to Home Depot are the result of a poorly planned major project. Once I've started something, I never seems to have the right tools, or even the right skills to finish it properly. When I stick to smaller things like mowing the grass, vacuuming, and changing watch batteries, I can feel like I've accomplished something without getting myself in a lot of trouble.

I finally came up with a solution to the web design problem that has been bothering me all week. I don't know why I had my eureka moment on a Saturday, but I'll take what I can get. I quickly prototyped my idea to make sure it would work and made plans to show the final result to my client sometime next week. It was just a dumb coding problem, but figuring it out without help from anyone else was much more satisfying than mowing the grass.

I occasionally wonder where would be the best place to retire. I don't have the answer, but I know we don't want to stay in a big city like Dallas. Whenever I've done any research, I'm always surprised to discover that cold northern states like North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming have happier people and a better quality of life than southern favorites like Florida and California. Warm weather appears to attract problems. If I could learn to love the cold, Wyoming might be great. Few places are prettier and farmers and ranchers are the best people. Wyoming also has the lowest taxes in the country. On the downside, there's that giant volcano under Yellowstone park getting ready to explode. It that thing blows, you'd probably want to retire as far away as possible. Australia or New Zealand sounds about right.

I've got to get back to the gym tomorrow. I don't know what happened this week, but I never found time to workout at all. I guess mowing the grass counts as exercise, but sitting at the computer working on website problems and eating kolaches and bacon stuffed bagels for breakfast doesn't count for much. To end on a positive note, Dash's tail looks better today. Maybe he's finally learning to leave it alone.

Dai9sy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1539

My life is starting to resemble Groundhog Day again. The same health insurance claims get filed incorrectly over and over again. The large printer keeps clogging. My UP fitness band keeps breaking right after Jawbone sends me a patch that they claim will fix the problem. The insane redbird keeps pecking at my office window and pooping on my car. The same telemarketers and politicians relentlessly robo-dial my phone. I eat the same oatmeal and do the same work assignments over and over and over again.

I need to ask the dogs how they cope with bone crushing monotony. They both seem to have adjusted pretty well to doing the same things over and over again. Of course all Dot and Dash really do is sleep and pester me to entertain them when they wake up and realize they're hungry or need to pee. I'm sure I'd do better myself if I spent my entire day sleeping. It's much more frustrating when you have spend your day going through the motions of resolving problems that never seem to get resolved.

At least I saw the sun today. It was still cold as hell, but the blue sky looked promising. Today was certainly better than the relentlessly grey skies and sleet we had yesterday. I think the temperatures are supposed to climb back into the mid-sixties before the end of the week, when the whole cycle will begin again. I thought it would be too cold for the dogs this morning, but they seemed invigorated by the frigid air and wanted to walk longer than I had in mind. Dash still needs to take short walks and can't even wear his winter coat, since it attaches around his neck where his surgery incision is. Dot is just too old for long jaunts in icy weather. I'm always worried that she's going to fall.

I'm going to have to call an electrician soon. I can't even finish brushing my teeth before the LED lights in the bathroom ceiling start blinking on and off and driving me crazy. It would be nice to go ahead and fix the leaking shower pan and reinstall a large mirror that has come loose at the same time, but that would involve either finding a contractor who would inflate the price, or using a jack-of-all-trades handyman who would do all three jobs poorly. I've already mentioned that the dogs don't like workmen in the house either. All these problems will eventually get solved. It just won't be very satisfying.

Tomorrow, Dash resumes his regular bi-weekly antigen shots. I know he'd like to resume the rest of his regular schedule as well. All in good time. He should be pleased that he's doing as well as he is. I only wish my dislocated shoulder would heal as quickly as he seems to be recovering from his thyroid surgery. I'm going to remain hopeful that something interesting will happen tomorrow.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1463

There were moments today when I felt like things were being accomplished. I think I might have resolved a health insurance billing error that has been nagging me for months. The owner of the house down the street with the aggressive dogs has finally agreed to fix her deteriorating fence, so the dogs can't escape and kill me. I think all my missing UPS packages are now accounted for. This would all have been very satisfying if I wasn't left wondering at the end of the day whether anything had really happened at all.

You see, I've dealt with all these issues before. I've even thought that I'd resolved them before. These problems and many others keep coming back like a bad penny. I've come to the conclusion that it's virtually impossible to genuinely fix anything these day. All you can do is kick the can down the road like the politicians do.

I did manage to get back to the gym this afternoon. Now I know why you need to go to the gym on a regular basis. I've skipped my regular workouts for over a week and a half due to the ice storm and a host of work related deadlines. Today felt like I was starting over. How could I deteriorate so fast? Unfortunately, going to the gym is like everything else in life. You've got to be consistent and keep plugging away before you can reap the benefits.

When I don't write something every day, my writing deteriorates. If I don't clean every day, it doesn't take long before the house looks like shit. If I don't walk the dogs every day, I'm faced with some very angry dogs. Basically, just about everything in my life needs to be done every day. The only way you get good at something is to do it over, and over, and over again. I remember very early in my career when someone told me that the definition of a professional was the ability to do good work on a bad day. I never forgot those words of wisdom. They've gotten me through a lot of bad days.

I'm crossing my fingers in hope that this week's nice weather will continue through the end of the week. It was almost Springlike this afternoon. The dogs enjoyed sunning themselves on the back porch. I ran my errands without the need of a Winter coat. I think the roof is finally dry again. Against all odds, I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1275

I felt sorry for Dot's acupuncture vet when we went to our appointment today. She had just opened a brand new clinic a few days earlier and was still dealing with contractors. Her tales of contractor woes made my own recent problems with my roof seem like nothing. Sometimes I wonder if anyone since the dawn of time has had a good experience dealing with contractors. You always expect that things will go smoothly when you hire a contractor, and it almost never does. The problem is that the contractor, by definition, doesn't do the work themselves. They contract it out to other vendors who may or may not work well together. The more people on the job, the more chances there are for things to get fouled up. In my experience, a contractor's primary job is explaining to the client why things aren't going according to  plan.

I think there might finally be some sort of resolution to the problems I've been having with the aggressive dogs in the neighborhood. The dog's owner and his landlord agreed to keep the back gate to their property locked when the dogs are out in the yard and to eventually build a taller fence. The owner also said that he would no longer let dog walkers handle the dogs. It turns out that it was a dog walker who lost control of the dogs when they got loose and attacked another neighbor's dog. I was glad that the owner actually acknowledged that one of his dogs was a problem. So many times,  people with aggressive dogs just get defensive and make excuses. We'll see what happens. I'm hopeful though. The dogs are both rescues and I can tell that the owner cares about them.

Today was a pretty good day. My missing prescriptions finally got filled, I got caught up on my writing work, and the brown patch of grass in the front yard is starting to show signs of turning green again. Nothing all that astounding happened today. It was just the absence of bad news that made things look encouraging. On days like today, I have high hopes that my car will continue to run for the rest of the Summer and that my roof will never leak again.

Even the dog's training class went well this evening. It was hot and a bit muggy, but Dot and Dash enjoyed being back with their friends again. We had missed class for several weeks in a row due to bad weather and travel conflicts, so it was good to be back on schedule again. It's nice to have the sun back as well. We won't have to worry about having class after dark until sometime next Winter.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1087

What a weird world we live in. Our phones can do all manner of miraculous things with the wave of a finger, yet when getting something done depends on another living, breathing human, everything grinds to a halt. Sometimes I think 50% of the population is completely incompetent. If we limit our survey to the people I actually deal with on a day-to-day basis, that percentage is probably even higher.

Today I tried to find out why I've been receiving two identical phone bills for the same account for the past six months.  No luck there. Then I tried to find out why all my prescriptions ran out today, when a nurse specifically told me just last week that they had been renewed for another year. Nope. Didn't solve that one either. Simple, routine things don't seem simple anymore. Day after day, I attempt to rectify blunders and track down the source of inevitable human errors. It's futile. Most people won't admit to making a mistake in the first place. And if you do get them to admit that something is wrong, they will almost always blame the mistake on someone else.

I guess I would put paying bills in the same circle of hell as dealing with incompetence. I hate paying bills. Today I paid the big property tax bill I've been avoiding for the past month or so. Why does Dallas County need so much of my money? I don't use their roads very much. I've never been in one of their hospitals. I've never had children in one of their schools. It just doesn't seem fair to me. At least I don't have two property taxes to pay anymore. I don't regret selling the rent property one bit. That thing was an expensive albatross around my neck for way too many years.

The neighbors hired someone to repaint their house earlier this week. For the past three days I've been listening to a loud and ever-present air compressor right outside my office window. Couldn't they have painted the house with rollers or brushes instead of spray guns?  The noise is driving me nuts. Maybe when they finish painting, my posts will be more coherent. With all this racket, I'm extra glad it's Friday tomorrow. I think I'm going to spent a long time at the breakfast restaurant.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1071

I thought I'd seen everything. Apparently not. While walking the dogs this week, I encountered a man and his daughter walking two small donkeys on leashes like dogs. From a distance, I just assumed this pair were walking their Great Danes, but on closer inspection, the animals were definitely donkeys. They both had collars and leashes and were actually better behaved than my rambunctious Dalmatians. If only I could get Dot and Dash to heal as nicely as those two little donkeys.

I may have won the battle with the wasps on the side of my house, but I don't think I've won the war. When I went out to finish cleaning the cobwebs off the windows this morning, I noticed a lot of angry wasps buzzing around. Apparently when I knocked down the nests yesterday, some of the wasps were away doing other things. Now they have returned and don't seem to be happy that they can't find their home.

I knew it was going to be slow this week, but I didn't think it would be this dead. I added holiday hours to one website and deleted a departed employee from another. That was about it. I got a call that the webcams were down on one of the sites I manage, but it wasn't a problem I could fix. Personally, I think a rat chewed through one of the wires going to the router, but since the wires are buried away in the ceiling, there is no easy way to check. This is a job for someone a lot younger and more agile than me.

To avoid drifting around aimlessly like I did today, I made an appointment with Betty to get my hair cut tomorrow. The haircut itself only takes about 45 minutes, but the whole process of finding a parking place in the crowded mall and then taking a look at what's new in the Apple store when I'm done can eat up several hours. I've promised myself that I'm not going to buy one of those new little iPads. I don't even use the one I've got very much.

I'd certainly rather go to the mall tomorrow than on Friday. I don't really understand the fascination with Black Friday. Are the deals that good? Even my bank teller asked me yesterday if I was going to do any Black Friday shopping. Lots of people I know routinely go shopping on Black Friday, but I don't think they save all that much. Maybe it's just the thrill of the chase. I think I'll wait until the frenzy is over to do my holiday shopping. Shopping is much more enjoyable when you're the only person in the store.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 956

If you work in customer service, I apologize in advance. Probably the next time I talk with you, I'm going to be angry. Why? Because customer service can't seem to solve customer problems anymore. It doesn't matter if I'm talking to tech support about a website problem, or to my bank about an erroneous charge on my statement. Whatever the problem happens to be, it doesn't get solved. Today, I got a bill for $672 that was paid in full several months ago. I have the canceled checks from my bank that prove I paid the bill. The canceled checks don't seem to resolve anything though. I just keep getting billed again and again. Customer service agents probably don't even listen anymore. If I got screamed at eight hours a day for ineptness and broken promises, I probably wouldn't listen  either. What a horrible job being a customer service representative must be. You don't really have the authority to do anything, or fix anything, but you've still got to be friendly and keep saying "I understand" over and over again.

Janet had a similar problem last night making airline reservations. She got a brochure in the mail promising a special discount, but when she entered the promotion code on the airline website, it refused to take it. A friendly customer service representative said that the discount was real and that the promotion code should work.  Unfortunately, it didn't. I suggested just calling the airline and making reservations the old fashioned way. You know what was wrong with that plan?  The airline charges more for tickets if you talk to a real person. Catch-22. The extra charges for talking with a real live person would just about negate the discount anyway.

I'm increasingly convinced that the world is just broken. There is an election in Texas next Tuesday and as voting day approaches, there has been a relentless barrage of TV ads and robo-calls from all the candidates. The message is simple. All the candidates are essentially just saying "my opponent is a liar."  Enough already!  Maybe you're all liars, but after listening to all these negative commercials, I don't think I want to vote for any of you.

At least the dogs continue to bring pleasure.  Dot's visions isn't so good, and for the past several weeks she's been thinking that an old burned fireplace log in the neighbor's driveway is actually the neighbor's cat.  The log and the cat are about the same size and both are black, but that is the only resemblance. She has been so frantic to chase the log that I let her get up close to it today. She was so embarrassed to discover that the cat she wanted to chase was just a piece of wood that now she won't go anywhere near it.

We go to the dog park tomorrow. The sight of happy dogs playing brings a smile to my face as well.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 945

Not really a great day. When I was monitoring the websites I manage this morning, I happened to notice that one of them had been completely replaced with another design. That caught me by surprise. Hey, I'll be the first to acknowledge that clients come and go. I've lost clients because they grew larger and wanted something so fancy that I was unable to deliver it. I've lost clients because they became smaller and no longer wanted to pay my fee. I don't think I've ever lost a client because I did shoddy work. It bothers me that these guys nuked my site and hired another design firm without ever calling me to say there was a problem. The last time I talked to these guys, I had just finished some updates that they requested and was told to expect some new bios for two new employees. Everything seemed fine. Obviously it wasn't, because it appears that I've been fired.

Personally, I just think it is extremely rude to dump a vendor without any sort of a notice or explanation. If there was a problem, I'm sure it could have been resolved. Most problems can be resolved fairly easily. I'm still not sure what is going on, since the client didn't return my calls. I do have my suspicions however. I know that one of the client's children works at the firm that did the new website. That's life. I've never been one to cry over spilled milk, so I'll just move on.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I wrote a few articles. I prepared to re-launch another client's website after an extensive makeover. I went to the bank to deposit a few small checks that probably won't even pay this month's electric bill. I didn't deal with the bug problem yet though. I'm going to save that loathsome task for a day when I have a bit more positive energy.

If you asked either of the dogs, you would never have guessed that anything was wrong at all. They're both sprawled out on the bed right now, lost in dog dreams. To them, it was another perfect day.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day