Day 1435

I haven't picked up the guitar in quite a while. It's been even longer since I've taken the telescope outside on a clear evening to look at Jupiter's moons. I can't even remember the last time I spent an entire evening reading a good book. I enjoy these things. So why am I spending so much of my time doing things I don't enjoy? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers.

I'm not trying to make excuses here, but life has fundamentally changed. The changes aren't big, in and among themselves, but they add up. It takes longer to fix healthy meals than to pick up a burger at a drive-thru. It takes longer to maintain an exercise regime than to watch TV on the couch. It definitely takes longer to earn a decent living. Where are all the assistants and copy typists I used to have? Where is the world I used to love?

Personally, I think that globalization and technology have combined forces to destroy a delightfully inefficient world where jobs were abundant and expectations were low. It isn't really surprising to me that health care isn't working anymore and entire countries are going bankrupt. The complexity of modern life is simply staggering. It is still a world of amazing opportunities, but it's all getting a lot harder to understand and many of us are simply running in place.

I don't have a grand plan anymore. I just get up every morning and methodically move from one task to the next. I always start with the simple things, but sometimes that's as far as I get. I got about halfway done today. The dogs got a good walk. I made it to the gym. I got several articles finished and shipped off to the client. I got stuck on my website project though. I'm confused. I'll need to do a bit more research to figure this one out.

If I wasn't so busy, I might enjoy the beautiful Fall weather we're having a bit more. We're really getting some fabulous Fall color this year. Texas will never be New England, but I see a lot of brilliant reds and yellows as I walk through the park with the dogs. I wonder why the leaves turn bright colors one year and are dull brown the next? I have a feeling that I might be happier if questions like these were the only things I had to worry about.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 521

Now that all the bills have arrived from my Houston trip, I did a little postmortem accounting and discovered that I really didn't make much money at all on the job. Oh, well. On the plus side of things, I did acquire some new equipment that allowed me to actually do what I had promised, but that was about it. This happens to me all the time. I'll invest a lot of money to buy equipment for a particular type of job, thinking that I'll be all set for future jobs of this nature, and then I'll never see another job quite like it again. Let's be positive though. I need to keep looking at my glass as half full. Hey, if the trade show guys want to hire me to go to Rio de Janeiro with them in October, I'm all set.

It looks like its going to be a rainy weekend. I managed to get the dogs walked this afternoon before the deluge started, but I ended up cutting things pretty close. I could tell Dot was nervous and wanted to get back inside again, but Dash refused to poop until he got to his regular spot. From the look Dot was giving him, I knew she was thinking "hurry up you silly dog, you're going to get us all killed."

I'm always glad when Friday rolls around, even if there's nothing exciting happening on Saturday. My weeks seem longer now. Maybe it's the same as it always was. Maybe I'm just more tired these days. I find that I'm really busy every day, but at the end of the week I can never think of anything significant that happened. It's all running in place. The marathon race that life has become just goes on and on. It's Friday though. I know I'll sleep well tonight. I always do. It's waking up again the next morning that is the problem.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day