Day 3599

I went out for breakfast this morning and almost immediately realized it was a mistake. What was I thinking? Breakfast Enchiladas filled with pulled pork, eggs, cheese, bacon and jalapeños were way too spicy for the way I was feeling. Hey, it was a new restaurant I needed to try. I think next week I'll just stay home and have my smoothie on Friday.

It wasn't quite as cold as yesterday, but I still needed a warm coat when I went out and ran my errands. I went to the bank, the post office, and the grocery store. I could do my banking using an app on my phone. Our mail carrier will pick up mail at the house. And I could even have groceries delivered. I keep going to these places though. Having necessary places to go adds structure to my day. This is probably why I take my five mile walk as well. There's nothing I really want to do, but I need to do something.

The roofer I saw yesterday got me a bid a lot quicker than I expected. The price was no surprise though. It was right in line with all the other bids. I have no idea why a flat roof costs so much more than a normal roof. I have no idea why prices have increased so much in the last fifteen years either. I've resigned myself to the fact that there are no bargains. I just want the job done properly so I won't have to worry about leaks again.

I thought I'd gradually start walking a little faster once I got used to the five mile distance. The opposite has happened. It's actually taking longer to complete the walk than it did in the beginning. I haven't slowed down that much, but I feel like I'm dragging. I guess I'm just not motivated to go any faster. I've convinced myself that the walk does me some good, but I've never been a competitive person. I definitely don't feel like competing with myself.

I encountered a large balloon arch while I was walking today. It wasn't here yesterday. Did someone have a midnight Halloween party in the park last night? Was this the finish line for an early morning 10K or marathon race? Maybe it was just a birthday party. Unfortunately, the balloons will blow away soon and an animal will probably get tangled up in the remains.

I wish I'd hear something from the observatory. It's hard to make plans when you have no idea what is going on. If I'm accepted for an extended stay on the mountain, I don't know whether I'll be excited or apprehensive. Probably it will be a bit of both. On cold days like today, I realize that it is probably even colder in the Davis Mountains. I think a lot about Fort Davis and McDonald Observatory these days but I have no idea whether I'd enjoy the experience of spending time there any more than living in Dallas. I guess to find the answer I need to go out there and see for myself.

I hope it warms up in the next few days. I'd like one more chance to find the roof leak before the next rain arrives later next week. I think it's too cold to even apply the silicon material now. It would have been so much easier if I'd been able to take care of this last summer.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3562

I tried to tie up a few loose ends today. I called a roofer who promised me a bid back in March. He said he was still interested but was so busy that he probably wouldn't even have time to think about my roof until after the first of the year. This guy disagrees with another roofer who has already given me a bid about the best way to fix my roof. Probably my current roofer disagrees with both of these guys. It doesn't give you a lot of confidence when nobody can find a common solution to your problems.

I called about my unsold guitars and synthesizers. Just as I expected, they are still unsold. Evidently, people are interested but nothing has resulted in a sale. I'm not ready to give up yet. If I took these things back, they would just wind up in my storage warehouse again. At least a few of my guitars have already sold. I have an offer on one synthesizer, but it is ridiculously low. I've been a pack rat all my life and I thought that parting with this stuff would be hard. That turned out to be the easy part. Actually selling the stuff is the hard part.

Earlier this summer I noticed that McDonald Observatory always seems to be looking for retirees with an interest in astronomy to help conduct their weekly star parties. Since the observatory is so isolated, they specifically look for people who own an RV and can stay for several weeks at a time. It's a volunteer job, but the observatory provides a place to park the RV, electricity, and access to the observatory's facilities. This sounds like fun to a person like me. If you stayed at the observatory long enough, you are bound to have a few clear nights. Unfortunately, I don't have an RV. I'm not sure I'd like to drive one either. I was in a daydreaming mood this afternoon, so I started looking at RV's on the Internet. Jeez. These things are expensive. You could buy almost any luxury car for a lot less. A Porsche 911 and a well appointed Sprinter conversion van are about the same price. You could buy a decent house for less than some of those huge Type A motorhomes. So much for thoughts of living on the road.

I need to find a way to make my walks more interesting. The benefits of this type of exercise are obvious, but the walks are becoming boring. I guess I keep walking because being outdoors is still a lot more interesting than walking on a treadmill at the gym. The best thing about walking is the solitude. The worst thing is being drenched in sweat with sore feet. Maybe I'll enjoy things more in the Winter.

I noticed that the tree guys dumped all their lunch trash in my garbage can. Most people wouldn't be bothered by this, but I'm obsessive. I hate loose trash. I always bag and seal everything. I emptied out the can and put all the loose stuff in a big black leaf bag. I was surprised at how much food the tree guys eat on the job. I don't eat lunch at all. Falling branches and logs also damaged a few things in the yard. I expected that though. At least they didn't drop anything heavy on the roof while they were removing the tree.

I guess I'll watch the final episode of the Ken Burns documentary later this evening. I don't ever listen to country music, but I know a lot more about it now. I'm always fascinated watching the credits at the end of a Ken Burns movie. Hundreds and hundreds of people seem to work on these things. I wonder what Ken Burns actually does? I made a few documentaries back in the early 1970's. There wasn't much need for credits. It was just me and a sound man.

I got caught up on a lot of things today. That doesn't leave much for tomorrow. I'm sure I'll think of something though. I've got an entire day to fill.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1231

I seem to spend Monday getting ready for the rest of the week. It's not typically very exciting, but it's necessary. I took a bag of oranges and a pineapple and made another half gallon of juice with my new juicer. I washed a big load of towels. I balanced my checkbook and discovered that I'd already received my tax refund. As usual, the refund was just about enough to pay my accountant for figuring out my tax return.

I've just about decided on a contractor to replace my roof. It would be nice to have a knowledgeable person to confirm my decision with, but I don't know anyone who has a roof like mine. I have three different companies recommending three different processes and any or all of them could be pulling the wool over my eyes. The trouble with roofing contractors is that you don't really know if you've got a good roof until about three years after the job is finished.

It got warm enough to turn on the air conditioner today. I'm glad I have a fully functioning heating and air conditioning system this year, but I still find Summer more difficult to deal with than Winter. Air conditioning units extract moisture from the air and this condensate has to go somewhere. In a lot of new houses the condensation is piped directly outside. In my house, the condensation stays inside and goes down the same overflow drain in the utility room that is used by the washing machine. In the Winter, I plug this drain up, since the new front loader washer empties water too fast for the old 2 inch drain system. I can't leave the drain plugged in the Summer however. When the drain is plugged, the condensate from the air conditioner has no place to go and floods the utility room. I constantly have to remember to open and close this drain when I'm doing laundry. This seem easy enough, but I forget a lot. Winter is much easier.

I watched the old Pyramids of Mars episode of Dr. Who with Tom Baker as the fourth doctor this evening. I think the fourth doctor was my first introduction to the Dr. Who series. I remember the series used to come on after midnight on PBS a long time ago. Watching these old episodes from the 70's and 80's makes you realize how far special effects have come in twenty years. Old science fiction shows have incredibly crude and rudimentary monsters. If you forget about the poor production values, the show is basically the same though. Sara Jane Smith is actually one of the doctor's best companions.

I'm having a little trouble meeting my 10,000 step a day activity goal as the weather grows warmer. Dot is very sensitive to the heat and will turn around to go home a little earlier with each additional degree of temperature. I can almost predict exactly when she will want to turn around now by looking at the weather app on my iPhone. She's still fine in the morning, but that will only last another month or so. Another Texas Summer is on its way.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1228

I'm always a bit disappointed when breakfast turns out to be the high point of the day. Friday's are often like that. A lot of my clients leave early on Friday, so there is seldom a lot of work to do. I usually go to the grocery store and look for something interesting for dinner on Friday. This little excursion tends to make the day even more centered around food though.

The Land Rover folks called and said I needed new points, plugs, and spark plug wires; plus a distributor rotor, and cap. I wasn't that surprised, since this is what I suggested to them yesterday. I'm still a bit skeptical that these additional repairs will make any difference. I'm getting tired of the rough running engine however, and I feel I've got to do something. Janet thinks I'm crazy for keeping the old Defender, but I can't afford a new car right now. I've always paid cash when I buy a car and I definitely don't ever want car payments again. Who knows? Maybe I'll start getting jobs with decent budgets soon. When pigs fly perhaps.

One of the reasons I can't afford a new car is that I need a new roof. There are few things less satisfying than putting on a new roof. A flat roof is expensive and you can't even see the finished product, since it's up above your head. I don't really have a choice. If I don't tend to the deteriorating roof, it's only going to get worse. I called the roofer I like the best today and asked if he could trim anything off his price. He managed to lower his bid by $4000 without comprising quality too much. It's still going to be expensive.

There's a new Dalmatian to photograph at The Velvet Snout. There's a new Dr. Who episode to watch as well. Maybe I'll get ambitious and buy a hedge trimmer at Home Depot this weekend, so I can get the hedge running along the back fence looking a bit tidier. My writer's group assignment is due this weekend too. I'm having trouble working up any enthusiasm for that one. The only thing for certain is that the dogs will want to go to the dog park on Sunday. Let's hope it doesn't rain.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1225

Today was confusing. Another cold front blew through last night and suddenly it's Winter again. This cold weather won't last long, but it is odd to go from t-shirts to a down jacket in less than twelve hours. I got the third roof bid in today. I had convinced myself that this was going to be the low bid, based on my conversations with the roofer, but it actually turned out to be the high bid. There weren't any low bids. The Land Rover dealer called me today and made an appointment to get my car in for service again. The were real nice, but never acknowledged all the times they had ignored my calls last week. I didn't bring the subject up again either. It's time to move on.

Dash came close to getting a clean bill of health at his annual physical exam today. No crystals in his urine anymore. A strong, steady heart beat with no appreciable murmur. The skin problems that plagued Dash for years have vanished. The boy is looking good. The vet wasn't sure what was causing him to rub his snout on the carpet periodically though. She thought it was most likely either a minor gum infection or an irritation in one of his eyes. We're going to start with some eye drops and see if that clears things up. If that doesn't work, Dash is due for a dental cleaning early this Summer anyway. There's also the possibility that rubbing his snout on the carpet doesn't mean anything at all. I also made sure to get a new city tag for Dash, so he'll be legal with the city again. They always seem to think his tag has expired.

I don't know where my mind has gone. I heard Dot barking at a garbage truck this morning and raced out to get our garbage can out to the street in time. It was only when I had the can out at the curb that I realized that it was Tuesday and the trash wasn't picked up until Friday. I took the trash can back to the house and wondered why all days are starting to seem the same to me lately. I think Dot must have heard the trash being picked up in the neighborhood across the street from us. They have a different pickup schedule than we do.

I was a little more organized with my work assignments. I got two articles finished today, which is pretty good, considering that I had website revisions to do as well. Tomorrow, there is more to write and more to remember. Hopefully, it will be a little warmer though.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1201

I feel like I'm on the verge of something. I have over 30,000 Twitter followers, but no idea what to do with them. I find it increasingly easy to write endlessly, but still have nothing to say. I'm smart enough to realize that most of my successful writer friends have chosen to write about something useful to other people. They write cookbooks and books about parenting which are frequently wildly popular. Those that chose to write deeply personal novels instead, usually sold next to nothing. If they were lucky, they eventually wound up teaching English literature somewhere, totally mired in university bureaucracy and faculty politics. And those that chose to just write about themselves? Well, enough said about that sticky subject.

I only mention this because I've been watching Seinfeld's new Internet series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." I watched all ten episodes last night, and found the show fascinating. All the other comedians Jerry had coffee with seemed to share one thing in common. They all hated the idea of working for a living and couldn't imagine having a boss that told them what to do every day. I've always felt the same way. During my ad agency days, I used to tell friends that I was a prostitute. "People just rent my mind instead of my body. That's the only difference," I'd say. I've always thought that I was a clever guy, but if I ever accomplished anything useful to anyone other than myself, it was purely accidental. I'm still on the verge of something though. I can feel it.

Today, I finally learned how to use the DVR, mostly so I could record the new episode of Dr. Who that comes on later this evening. I hate to watch TV during dinner, but I definitely don't want to miss the new show. I am also determined to find a decent new roof that doesn't cost as much as a new car. A roof should never cost as much as a car. Cars are more fun. Google seems to be helping me with my quest. Every time I complain about my leaking roof on the blog, a new roofing company ad seems to magically appear in my Google Adwords queue. I clicked on one of these ads today and discovered an industrial company that refurbishes commercial roofs with a high-tech coating that is supposedly guaranteed against leaks for ten years. Sounds good to me. Sounds economical too. I think I'll investigate this further.

I've been amazed at how healthy and happy Dot has seemed this week. Maybe the acupuncture treatments and her new vitamins are really helping. I wonder if they have acupuncture treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome? Hey, it's worth a try. For most of my life, I've been very skeptical about alternative medicine. Maybe I was wrong though. I've achieved far better results from going to a good nutritionist and radically changing my diet than with all the prescription medications various doctors have prescribed. Come to think of it, physical therapy proved to be a much better solution to my neck and back pain than all the prescription pain pills too. Maybe some day I can get rid of all the pills entirely.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1199

I went exploring today. Since I'm basically lazy, I did most of my exploring using a keyboard instead of the car. At this point in time, I don't see much point in exploring in the car anyway, especially if the outcome might be waiting for another tow truck to haul me back to the Land Rover dealer for an expensive repair.

So, what did I discover? I was amazed to find that there was much, much more than Netflix and Hulu on the WiFi TV. There were all sorts of free WiFi movie channels. I even discovered a brand new Seinfeld show where Jerry goes and has coffee with friends. That's all that happens! I watched a few episodes and loved this show. Basically, it is the same "show about nothing" premise as the original Seinfeld show. Combine this with the fact that each episode was like a shorter, less intellectual version of My Dinner with Andre and you have a winner, at least as far as I'm concerned.

At some point during the day, I got hungry and noticed that a lot of local restaurants now have online take out menus. Some even have iPhone apps that let you order your take out from wherever you happen to be. After you place your order, you just pick up your food at the nearest location. I would use something like this. Increasingly, I'd just as soon pick up a sack of food and eat my meal at home with the dogs instead of dining out at a restaurant anyway. I downloaded a few of the apps, but didn't use them today. I'm still trying to finish this weeks vegetables before they go bad.

I got some more roof bids in today. Each bid I've received so far recommends a completely different type of roofing material. You'd think since the materials and application procedures were so different that the prices would be different as well. Nope! The price for three very different types of replacement roofs were virtually the same. I'm convinced that putting on a roof is so expensive now because everyone except for me seems to get their homeowner's insurance to pay for the roof. I've never been able to get insurance to pay for a new roof. The adjusters come out to the house and always tell me that the roof has not been damaged by the weather. "It's just normal wear and tear," they say. I wonder how all my neighbors manage to get their insurance to buy them a new roof?  Oh, wait. I know the answer. None of their roofs are flat.

I used the new juicer to make some carrot juice today. Good lord you have to grind up a lot of carrots to get any juice. I have a feeling that it would be cheaper, and certainly a lot easier, to simply buy fresh carrot juice at Central Market.

Doc is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day