Day 2976

I hate waiting for repair people. They never arrive when they say they will. You can wait and wait, but it never makes any difference. It's only when you give up and decide to take a shower or walk your dog that the service technician knocks on your door. I guess I shouldn't be critical. I'm always late myself. I can't even get to a simple meeting on time. The AT&T guy was three hours late today, but at least he showed up. My fiber optic installation is now finished.

I wish they'd told me ahead of time that the technician wouldn't need to come inside the house. This could have saved a lot of waiting. I still managed to get everything done. I got my grocery shopping finished early this morning before the technician was scheduled to arrive. Instead of going out for breakfast, I tried the breakfast buffet they had at the grocery store. I'd never tried this before because it didn't look very good. Surprisingly, the taste of the scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits and gravy I picked out tasted much better than they looked.

The refrigerator repair guy called me back today. After talking with him for a few minutes I realized that I now know just as much about repairing refrigerators as he does. The guy agreed that changing out all three thermistors might be a good idea. He also said that the temperature control for the fan might have gone bad. There were no guarantees though. Apparently the way appliance repair works is you just keep replacing parts until the problem stops. I don't know why I'm so surprised. This appears to be the way most car repairs work too.

I wish there weren't so many people walking their dogs during the middle of the day. Dash and I used to have the park to ourselves during the week, but now it's crowded all the time. The dogs on a leash are fine, but almost every day we run into someone who is letting their dogs run loose. I could tell that Dash really wanted a walk this afternoon, but as soon as he saw two dogs running off leash, he refused to go any further. It is so frustrating to have to abort a good walk. These people with their loose dogs have no idea how long it takes me to get Dash suited up in his protective gear and ready to go. I tried again just before sunset and this time there was no danger.

The news was all about Russia today. I don't know why the Russians went to all that trouble to get us fighting among ourselves. We do a pretty good job of that on our own. I think a lot of the outrage about this is bogus. The United States and Russia have been meddling in each other's affairs since the beginning of the cold war. It's not like we don't don't do the same thing to them. Personally, I think that if the FBI hadn't been so obsessed with Russian Twitter accounts, they might have had time to follow up on that Florida school shooters disturbing online profile.

Dash was a picky eater again today.  He'd enthusiastically start to eat something and then ten minutes later he would spit the same thing out. On any given day, I have no idea what is going to appeal to him.  I think Dash takes living in the moment to extremes. One minute he wants a walk. The next minute he refuses to leave the yard. Feeding him is so difficult now. I fed him half a can of dog food around 3 PM. He rapidly ate and then we took a walk. When we returned, I gave him the rest of the can and he wouldn't touch it. This inconsistency tests my patience almost as much as repair people.

It is supposed to rain all next week. I hope the forecast is wrong. You know how I feel about rain.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2397

I thought the plumber would only be here about five minutes. I mean, how long could it take to tighten a few loose bolts? I was wrong again. After a lengthy investigation, the plumber determined that there were several defective parts in the brand new faucet. "Since you bought the faucet, we can't pay for these parts," the plumber told me. "Your other plumber was right with me when I bought it," I told him. "I only paid for the parts myself, so you guys wouldn't mark them up 40% on my bill." This apparently didn't matter. Neither did the fact that the first plumber should have noticed that he was installing defective parts. I got the plumbing supply store to exchange the parts for free, but today's plumber still insisted that he had to charge me for today's service call. He said he was going to give me a big discount since this never should have happened, but my bill was still over $150.

As you might expect, Dot freaked out when the plumber arrived and pooped all over the place. After I got the mess cleaned up and managed to calm Dot down, the plumber had to leave to pick up the replacement parts from the plumbing supply store. When he returned an hour later, Dot acted like she'd never seen the plumber before and pooped again. It's been a long day. Sadly, it's also been a fairly typical day. Nothing seems to go as expected anymore.

As I was working today, I watched portions of the the hearing where FBI Director James Comey was testifying before congress about their recently concluded investigation of Hillary Clinton. It sure looked like the fix is in to me. In one astounding exchange, Comey openly admitted that Clinton had lied numerous times. He then admitted that lying to Congress under oath was a federal crime that you could go to prison for. He completely failed to connect the dots however and defended his decision not to prosecute Clinton, saying only that nobody had asked the FBI to investigate Clinton for perjury. He also said that Clinton wasn't under oath when she testified to the FBI and that their conversation with her wasn't even recorded. Unbelievable.

Watching this spectacle this morning just reinforces my belief that our country is hopelessly broken. We have become so divided that I don't think anyone will be able to fix it. The Democrats on the committee kept trying to divert the hearing into a conversation about police shootings. The Republicans just seemed dumbfounded that the FBI Director kept saying things like the Secretary of State might not have been sophisticated enough to recognize security designations on an e-mail message. I have a feeling that this isn't over yet.

I hope that the bathroom sink never leaks again. Truthfully, I'd rather live with a leak than deal with plumbers. I'm so tired of dealing with things that don't work the way I've been promised. It doesn't matter whether it's an expensive car repair that should have been covered under the vehicle warranty, a broadband router that the cable company managed to ruin during their testing procedure, or a brand new faucet that was full of defective parts. Nothing works properly anymore and everyone keeps trying to make excuses for their own incompetence. Maybe in this context, today's congressional hearings weren't strange at all. Maybe this is just the way things are in an increasingly dystopian world.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2042

We took Dash to a dog park for small dogs this morning in hopes that the little dogs wouldn't scare him and he would have more fun. Since Dash isn't that small, we were a bit worried that somebody might object to him being there. Nobody had a problem with Dash. It quickly became apparent that he was the most timid dog in the park. Pretty soon a bunch of Yorkies were chasing him around with his tail tucked between his legs. It's a shame that Dash has lost his nerve. He used to love going to the dog park and would frequently find other timid dogs to play with. I think Dot gave him confidence. They always used to do everything together and as long as she was around to protect him, he had a lot more confidence. Sadly, Dot's dog park days are over. Dash will have to find another way to build his confidence back. It's not going to be easy. Dash was attacked by an aggressive dog when he was young and almost died. I don't think he will ever forget the experience.

I took some more stuff to the storage warehouse on my way to the gym this afternoon. Most of the stuff that gets relegated to storage these days are things that Janet wants out of the house. She is trying to declutter. I have little interest in decluttering. I just fantasize about having a huge place where I could spread out and never have to put things away. There would be a big room for music and another even bigger room for photography. I would have a quiet room for writing, a room with powerful computers for developing websites, and a huge kitchen with lots of shelves for pots and pans. We don't have any of these things, so I am constantly taking things out of closets and putting them away again when I'm done. I don't understand the tiny house movement at all. I want lots and lots of space.

My Sunday workouts must be doing me a little bit of good, because they don't seem quite as onerous  as they did a month ago. I still feel like packing up and going home during the first ten minutes, but then my heart rate starts to increase, I begin to sweat, and everything settles into a rhythm. After about an hour, I begin to think that just maybe, going to the gym isn't as bad as I thought it was.

Our U-verse service has gotten flaky again, so I'm going to need to have a service technician come over and check things out tomorrow. I hate it when the cable guy comes over. When I have plumbing or HVAC problems, the repair people usually stick to one room. The cable folks are all over the place though, and the dogs hate it. Now that Dot is weak and has trouble walking, having service technicians of any kind at the house is an even bigger problem than it used to be. When Dot gets upset, she poops. I'm sure she's going to poop in the house tomorrow.

When we were walking the dogs this morning, I noticed that all the neighbors had stacks of brush and trash stacked near the curb in their front yards. It must be time for big trash day again. If I've got time tomorrow, I need to gather up the fallen tree branches, dead bedding plants, and other junk that has accumulated in the yard since the last big trash day and take them out to the curb myself. With only one bulky trash pickup a month, it can be easy for things to get out of control. Monday's aren't usually very busy, so I should have plenty of time to do this. Oh wait, the cable guy is coming over. I won't have any time at all.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1994

Yay. I fixed the furnace all by myself this morning. Don't even ask why we needed the furnace running on the first of June. Texas weather is weird. The last time the HVAC technician came out to the house, he showed me how to fix one of our most persistent problems. In a typical year, I usually have to schedule several service calls because the furnace won't stay lit. The gas comes on and then shuts right off again. It's usually a faulty heat sensor that is causing the problem. At first, technicians would replace this sensor. Then one day, a helpful technician told me that the sensor wasn't broken, it was just dirty. He took the thing apart and sanded the heat sensing element with a piece of fine sandpaper. Good as new.

Eventually I got tired of paying $90 for someone to sand this little metal thermocouple and asked if I could do it myself. It was easy enough to remove the dirt and scale from the metal. Getting the sensor out of the furnace was the problem. When the technician came out to install my fancy WiFi thermostat earlier this year, he was nice enough to take me step-by-step through the process. Amazingly, I remembered his instructions this morning and I fixed the furnace myself. I could have just waited for things to warm up though. By afternoon, I had the air conditioner running.

Dash's blood test tomorrow is complicated. Not only does he have to fast, he has to take his thyroid medication exactly four hours before the test is done. Since his appointment is at 9:30 AM tomorrow, we have to get up at 5:30 AM to give him his pills. Since Dot and Dash would never wait until after 9:30 to have their breakfast, I need to drop Dash off at the vet immediately after we finish our morning walk and then return home to feed Dot. I'll then eat my own breakfast and return to the vet to pick up Dash again. Luckily, this particular test only has to be done once a year.

I worked on another mobile friendly website today. My strategy so far has been to make sure I know how to convert a client's website before I even mention the subject to them. Every website is different and some have proved quite difficult to convert. I don't want to promise something that I can't deliver. When I've got a site that functions properly offline, I'll ask the client if they'd like to convert their website to a mobile friendly version. Some folks are really happy that I'm looking out for them and others don't even know what a mobile friendly site is. I'm certainly not making much money doing all this work, but it is a necessary learning experience. In the near future, all websites will be done this way, so I only have a limited amount of time to get up to speed.

It's hard to believe that it's June already. The year is almost half over and the only things I can remember are Dot's spinal injury, my wisdom teeth, and lots and lots of rain. Hopefully the second half of the year will be far less stressful than the first. I did enjoy getting invited by NASA to view that satellite launch in California, but even that trip was marred by an unfortunate car accident. I've got a birthday later this month, but that just makes me even older than I am now. In just a few more days I will have posted something on this blog for 2000 consecutive days without missing a single day. That's probably a bigger deal to me than my birthday right now. If Dot continues to get better, I'll be a happy camper. The rest of the year can just slide by.

Charlie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1984

Today didn't exactly go as planned. I didn't get my car back from the shop because, after the wheel was repaired, the paint shop didn't match the color of the other three wheels. It has to go back to the paint shop for a new, and hopefully more accurate, powder coating. The U-verse service technician didn't arrive as promised either. I waited and waited and finally the guy showed up around 4:30 PM. He was supposed to arrive at 1 PM. Since Dot is hard of hearing, she didn't notice when the technician knocked on the door. Several minutes later she saw him in the living room and barked so hard that she pooped on the carpet. This is why you don't want to get an old dog too excited. Barking and pooping often happen simultaneously.

It turns out that the U-verse problem wasn't the router, the TV receiver, the WiFi hub, or anything else in the house. The entire line that runs down the alley has gone bad and needs to be replaced. My technician said that they needed a different type of technician to fix the wire, so I've got a new service appointment for tomorrow. U-verse service is still down. Oddly, even though U-verse is down, Roku, Hulu, Chromecast, and the pet cam, which all connect to the same IP network still work. In many ways losing U-verse is no great loss. Telemarketers are the only people who call on the land line. Roku and Hulu a pretty good alternative to U-verse TV. And my little T-Mobile 4G hotspot is even faster than U-verse Internet service. I wonder why I even bother with U-verse.

Since I was stuck in the house for most of the day waiting for the U-verse technician to arrive, I had lots of time to work on various Internet projects. I added some online forms to one client's site and had enough time left over to finish my first real mobile site. The site looked pretty good, so I went ahead and launched it. Hopefully the client will like what I've done. If they don't, I built in a back-door that will let me revert to the old site very quickly if needed. Working this way is so much faster than trying to schedule a meeting to present something. I don't mind changing things if I've gotten something wrong. It's easy to get feedback from clients if a site is live and almost impossible if they're just speculating about something that doesn't even exist yet.

It looks like the rain is going to continue through the weekend. According to the long-range forecast on my phone, the rain will continue forever. The app looks ahead two weeks and there is a little thunderstorm icon on every single day. It's rained so relentlessly that I'm actually starting to adapt to it. I've rigged up a pump on the roof that will remove about 80% of the water with me needing to be up there. This won't keep the roof dry, but it will significantly reduce the weight of the standing water and make it easier for me to sweep off the remaining water when the rain quits. I'm becoming adapt at finding dry intervals to walk the dogs too. Even the rainiest days have little gaps between the storms.

Supposedly my car will be finished tomorrow and U-verse service will be restored. I kind of doubt that either of those things will happen. The only thing I'm sure of is that the dogs will get two walks and we'll all enjoy a good breakfast

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1795

It was a busy day. I got up early so I could walk the dogs and go out for breakfast before the HVAC technician arrived. It's a good thing I got an early start today, because although most repair people arrive late, this guy actually arrived early. The instructions that came with the thermostat said that most people could install the thing themselves. I'd glad I had a professional to keep me from doing something stupid. For starters, the old thermostat had four wires going to the furnace. This new one had eight. Where were those extra four wires supposed to go? I didn't have a clue.

The first thing I noticed when the service technician got the thermostat installed was that an exterior temperature immediately showed up on the display. "Where did that come from," I asked. "There are no external thermometers hooked up to this thing." "Oh, your WiFi router knows exactly where you are," he told me. The thermostat is just retrieving the nearest available exterior temperature reading from the cloud. I love technology, so I was impressed to see that this gizmo can remind you when it's time to change the furnace filter, provide a long-range weather forecast, and even automatically update its own software. Since a built-in microphone lets you control the temperature by saying things like "make it warmer," or "make it cooler," I suppose the NSA could overhear everything we say if they wanted. I've got nothing to worry about though. All they'd hear at our house are barking dogs.

Speaking of barking dogs, Dot didn't bark once while the HVAC technician was at the house. This is unprecedented. The technician was as surprised as I was and asked me "Where are your dogs today." Dot is slowly going deaf and sleeps so soundly now that she didn't hear a thing. She slept thorough the entire installation process. It was kind of sad in a way, since I know how much Dot loves to bark. I'm sure the technician appreciated the unexpected quiet though. Usually Dot barks so loudly that we have trouble even talking to each other.

I had a couple of writing assignments to complete, but I also spent some time trying to locate a new source for Dash's elusive dog food. One store told me that they could have a bag for me by Monday afternoon. Another store told me that the product had been discontinued and wasn't available anywhere. A third store told me that the brand was still available, but that the company had changed the product's name. I don't know who to believe. It definitely shouldn't be this hard to buy dog food though.

I wonder how long this current cold front is going to last? It certainly doesn't appear to be getting much warmer. I'm still surprised that the dogs appear to like this chilly weather. Not me. I'm already looking forward to wearing t-shirts and shorts again. I'm afraid that's not going to happen this weekend. My new thermostat tells me that it's only a few degrees above freezing outside and that I should expect more of the same this weekend.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1793

I need to get a life. I was so disappointed today when the HVAC guys canceled my service appointment. Yes, I was actually looking forward to getting a thermostat installed. I kept thinking that if they could land a spacecraft on a comet 300 million miles away today, it shouldn't be that hard to drive twenty miles to put my talking thermostat in. In fairness, it was a very cold day. The dispatcher told me they were only taking "call for heat" emergency appointments today. This happens every year. The first night it drops below freezing, thousands of people turn on their furnace for the first time and quite a few of them discover that it doesn't work. Having been one of those people in previous years, I could sympathize with the HVAC guys heavy work load today. I'll just wait until it gets a little warmer to get the thermostat put in.

I watched the live feed of the comet landing this morning and immediately wanted one of the cool looking chairs the flight controllers were sitting in at the European Space Agency Center in Germany. I did a Google search for the impressive looking chairs, but couldn't find anything. I bet the chairs are German. If Porsche made a chair, it would look like this. The mission itself was much more impressive than the chairs. The fact that we have the ability to land a spacecraft the size of a washing machine on a small 2 mile wide rock over 300 million miles away that happens to be traveling toward the sun at over 30,000 miles an hour is simply astonishing. Kudos to the team that put this astounding ten year journey together. Not only is the technology amazing, the math involved to ensure that the spacecraft arrived at the right place at the right time after its ten year journey just blows me away. I wish I was smart enough to figure something like this out. When I was young, I thought I wanted to be an astronomer myself. I wasn't very good at math though and picked a profession where no rocket science was involved.

Dash has a delicate stomach, so it's been hard finding the perfect food for him. Some brands of dog food make his poop runny. Others cause crystals to form in his urine or make him gain weight. We finally found the perfect diet and then the pet food stores stopped carrying it. Janet usually picks up food for the dogs, but since the HVAC guys canceled on me today, I had some extra time and decided to go look for the elusive brand myself. After an extensive search, I found nothing. The manufacturer still makes the food, but apparently Dash is the only dog in town that eats it. One store has promised to special order a thirty pound bag for us, but so far the order has never arrived. It's frustrating. We've got about three more days before Dash has to start eating Dot's food. That didn't work out too well the last time we tried it, so hopefully something will turn up soon.

Work has been kind of slow this week. Things always slow down as we approach Christmas. It's kind of a shame, because the colder it gets, the more sitting at a computer and writing seems like a good way to spend the day. I spent a little time updating websites today, but actually I spent more time looking for dog food. It was that kind of day.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1319

The plumber arrived promptly at 8:30 AM, right on schedule. Plumbers make a point of being on time. I see plumbing trucks all over town with big signs on the side saying "If we're late, we pay for the call." Unfortunately, a punctual plumber isn't always a perfect plumber. Sometimes nothing gets fixed at all.

That was certainly the case today. It didn't take long for my plumber to tell me there was nothing wrong with my disposal. "Your problem is electrical," he told me. He even took the disposal out and hooked it up to a wall outlet to prove that it still worked. "Can you fix it," I asked? "No, you'll have to call an electrician for that," the plumber told me. "Well, at least hook things back up the way you found them," I said.

When the plumber was hooking the disposal back up, he proceeded to blow a fuse, knocking out my kitchen TV and the coffee maker. Then he handed me a bill for $117 and left. Since the fuse he blew was one of the old fashioned glass kind that screws in like a light bulb, I had to search all over town to find a suitable replacement. My first try was a failure too. I brought home a fuse that had the wrong pitch on the screw-in threads and it wouldn't fit in the socket. By the time I found the corect fuse and went out for breakfast, it was lunch time. I had my eggs anyway, and then I called an electrician.

Yesterday I finally found the correct part number for the elusive engine part I've been trying to find for my Defender 90. I though I'd use this part number as a search term on Google and see what turned up. Much to my surprise, I found four places that still carried the hard to find harmonic balancer or engine damper as some places called it. Just to make sure I was buying the correct part, I called the contact number on each of the the websites instead of just clicking the "Buy Now" button. All four companies I called told me that the part had been discontinued several years ago and was no longer available. "Why is it still for sale on your website," I asked? The answer was always the same. It was just too much trouble to update the website. I asked one of the companies what would happen if somebody actually bought the part in question. "Oh, we just wouldn't fill their order," the guy said. Oh, well. So much for the digital revolution.

The day really didn't get much better. Dot got so worked up while the plumber was in the house that poop flew out her rear end whenever she barked. I had to clean up a lot of little poop bullets on the floor. Then, I broke my new push broom while sweeping water off the roof. I also broke my reading glasses while I was trying to replace the burned out fuse. On the positive side of things, neither dog had a seizure today and my car started nine times without incident while I was out running errands.  I'm still glad it's Friday.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1318

Just before the appliance repairman was scheduled to arrive this morning, I got a call from the technician asking me if I really wanted him to come to the house. "Garbage disposals can't be repaired," he said. "They can only be replaced." "Can you just replace it then," I asked. "Only if the plumbing connections exactly match those on your old unit," the technician told me. "Well, what if it's just an electrical problem," I asked. "You'll have to call an electrician," said the technician. I canceled the appointment and called a plumber instead. It was apparent that this guy was going to come out to the house, charge me for a $75 service call and end up telling me he couldn't fix anything. Now, I've got to go through this whole charade again tomorrow with the plumber. Maybe I'll get lucky though. I did call a good plumber.

Since the appliance repairman didn't come today after all, there was little point in spending the entire day writing. I finished two articles with short deadlines and went to the gym instead. Some people must go to the gym every single day. No matter when I go, there are a few folks who always seem to be there. They are usually working out on the same machines too. Since I don't go at any particular time, I find this strange. It's almost as if these guys live at the place.

Dot seemed tired on her morning walk. Usually she is perky and energetic on these early walks, but she seemed lethargic today. Maybe she was sore from yesterday's water therapy session. I guess that would make sense. I'm certainly sore the next day after a workout. I didn't want to push her too hard, so we turned around and came home much earlier than we usually do.

I had an animal rescue meeting after dinner this evening. When the meeting was over, my car was hard to start. Hopefully this was just because it was so hot outside, or because the car was at an angle on a hill. I'm afraid the starter motor might be starting to go out though. That's about the only expensive thing I still haven't replaced. We'll see how the Defender starts tomorrow. If I have to wait for the plumber a long time, I might not be going anywhere anyway.

I'd hate to miss my regular restaurant outing tomorrow morning, but I'd hate even more to go much longer without a working garbage disposal. To keep the sink from clogging, I have to fish little bits of food out of the disposal every time I rinse the plates off after a meal. Even though the machine is completely turned off, I don't trust it. I certainly don't want the disposal to mysteriously come back to life with my hand is inside it.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 995

Well, today was a complete waste. I waited and waited and waited for the U-verse guy. When I finally lost my patience and was about to give up completely, I get an automated call from AT&T. "Your technician has been delayed," the message said. No shit! It would have been nice if they told me this about five hours earlier. I waited a couple of hours longer and the technician finally shows up. He can't find anything wrong. This isn't surprising, since there wasn't anything wrong today. The problem is intermittent. "You know there is a problem," I told the technician, "because AT&T always does a line check before they will dispatch a service technician. The technician agreed and kept looking around. When he got to the modem, he asked "Did you add these line filters?" "No," I said. "The last technician added them." "Well, he shouldn't have," the technician says. "This modem has built-in line filters."

This is so typical. I think Obama learned to blame everything on George Bush from service technicians. They always blame any problem on the previous service technician. Don't these guys ever have staff meetings so they can get on the same page? The last guy thought the line filters were real important. This guy just tells me that the last guy was an idiot. I guess time will tell. Everything is working now, but it's only been a few hours.

Dot is probably going to have relapse of her bronchitis after barking at the service technician for several hours. I just can't get her to stop. She apparently doesn't want anyone in the house except for Janet and me. Usually, this isn't a problem. I lead a pretty solitary existence. Often, we go for months between visitors.

Dot and I skipped training class tonight because Dot is still coughing a bit and if she does have kennel cough, she might be contagious. Janet took Dash to the class, while Dot stayed behind to help me with the blog. I'll be curious to see if Dash is any more obedient with Janet than he is with me. If I were a betting men, I'd bet against seeing any dramatic changes. Dash learned all the commands years ago. He's just stubborn.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day