Day 3307

It was hard for me to get up this morning. Once again I didn't get enough sleep. I'd stayed up too late late watching an old black and white Dr. Who episode and wondering which Doctor it was. If you were wondering too, it was Patrick Troughton and his companions were Jamie and Zoe. The show was eventually over, but a crinkling noise from the shower curtain I'd bought to protect the bed woke me up more than Dash did. He rarely gets up at night anymore. He just poops in the bed in his sleep. That's OK though. I always make sure that there's a puppy training pad placed under his butt. Whenever I wake up, which is often, I check to see if he's pooped and when necessary change the puppy pad for a fresh one.

I probably would have slept until ten this morning if Janet and Dash hadn't already been ready to walk. I quickly got dressed and off we went. It's still very cold. I'm surprised at how many joggers we see on days like this. They dress lightly, but seem to be enjoying themselves. I, on the other hand, dress like a polar explorer. I wear more layers than I used to, but I still can't stay warm.

Cold day always reminds me of a story I'd read as a kid called "A Pail of Air." The story was about the last four people on earth, who stayed alive after the earth got pulled out of its orbit by a passing dark star. They stayed alive by heating frozen air they scooped up in buckets and let it turn back into oxygen by placing it in front of a perpetual fire they could never let go out. How can I remember this old science fiction story sixty years later? It must have made an impression.

They keep the gym colder than I'd like, but about halfway through my workout I'm usually feeling fine. Maybe this is how those joggers feel. I probably just don't move around enough in the Winter. I'm too tired to move more. My Fitbit says I take between 10,000 and 15,000 steps a day. That's plenty for me.

I couldn't postpone vacuuming any longer because the floors were getting filthy. Most dogs are scared of vacuum cleaners but Dash likes to follow ours around. It never was a problem when he was younger, but now Dash can barely stand up and keeps getting tangled up in the cord and falling over. After extricating him a few times this afternoon, I finally had to pen him in another room until I finished cleaning.

Maybe that old Fritz Leiber science fiction story from 1951 stuck with me all these years because life has always been about survival to me. You do simple things over and over again to stay alive, to stay sane, and to keep moving forward. Hey, it's working. I'm still here. I don't get bored doing the same things at the gym every Sunday. I'm finally starting to understand how to shoot free throws. I don't get bored eating the same thing for breakfast over and over again. Actually I think I have perfected breakfast. I don't even get bored with writing about nothing every evening for thousands of days. Writing is good. It keeps you thinking.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2972

Why can't you purchase individual TV channels? Janet and I only regularly watch five or six channels, but for years have been forced to buy an expensive cable package with hundreds of unnecessary channels just to get the ones we like. Cutting the cord sounds appealing, but it's turning out to be just as difficult to find our favorite channels on popular streaming packages. You'd think Hulu Live, Sling TV, or Direct TV Now would include PBS in their lineup. PBS is almost as basic as local news. Nope. Even the most expensive packages don't offer PBS. Nobody offers MeTV either. I like this weird little channel because it has all the old Perry Mason and Twilight Zone shows I watch while I fall asleep. Very few people offer NASA TV. This just seems like a public access channel like CSPAN. I though you had to offer public access channels. Maybe I'm stuck with paying too much for cable. It was a slow day and I had a lot of time for comparison shopping. I couldn't find anything I liked.

I'm still trying to figure out why my WiFi connection crashes occasionally. A quick Google search revealed that lots of other people were having the same problem. So many people were complaining about connectivity issues between AT&T and Apple computers that you'd think one of these companies would have come up with a solution. Nope. Neither of these corporate giants would even acknowledge there was a problem.

Here's where things get difficult. If you want to learn how to fix your car, your refrigerator, or your broadband router on the Internet, you've got to sort through dozens, or even hundreds, of wacko solutions offered by ordinary folks and hope that one of them doesn't make things even worse. You'd think people would agree on how to fix something, but they never do.

Fake news isn't limited to politics. It's everywhere. Most diet plans you read about online are fake news. So are restaurant reviews, miracle cures for cancer, and stories about the best food for your dog. When did people become so confident about information that is at best just an opinion? I try to avoid telling people how to fix things. At least I realize that my opinions are probably no better than all the others out there. So far, I don't have the nerve to reconfigure my router based on something I heard on the Internet.

Hey, I did manage to get my refrigerator running again from watching a YouTube video. I've learned a lot about fixing old watches online too. The problem is that I never actually become an expert by watching a YouTube video. Most things I fix end up breaking again. I read a lot about routers today and I still don't really understand how they work. Why can't AT&T or Apple give me reliable, trouble free WiFI? I shouldn't have to do their work for them.

Maybe I should limit myself to simple things. I'm pretty good at doing laundry and finding dog poop in the yard. My morning smoothies are better than anything you'd find at Smoothie King. I make a mean omelet when I'm in the mood too. Maybe this is enough.

At least Dash had a good day. He ate well, took two nice walks, and only got me up once last night. So far, we haven't has any shivering episodes. I was the only one shivering today. It is still very cold.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1221

I've been mesmerized by the coverage of events in Watertown today. The world has certainly changed. Even terrorists have Facebook pages these days. In this age of social media, it would probably be more conspicuous if you didn't have a Facebook page. Having a social media presence is just another way to blend in. Privacy is gone too. It was simply astounding how quickly accurate, detailed pictures of the two bombers were obtained. In a world where there are CCTV cameras every hundred yards and millions of people walking around with cell phone cameras, don't expect to keep your secrets very long.

I don't think this loss of privacy is necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder where it will lead. Technology is a Pandora's box that has been already opened. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if sometime within the next 50 years there will be a machine that can read your memories. When a suspect is apprehended, they will simply hook them up to the machine, look at their memories, and see if they did the deed. When the memory machine is perfected, a 2.0 version will probably appear that will just kill you on the spot if you are guilty. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing either. It will certainly put an end to a succession of sensational Jodi Arias and O.J. Simpson trials, along with their entourage of money grubbing trial lawyers.

I lead a simple life. I wish other people would too. This morning I had my blood work done again. I still have a celebratory breakfast after these routine blood tests, but it's not bacon and humongous piles of pancakes anymore. I had a plate of fresh fruit and Eggs Benedict with grilled tomatoes and black bean cakes. I'm starting to enjoy my new healthy diet, but I have to remind myself not to be judgmental about all the fat, out of shape people at the other tables. If you want to lose weight, just cut out wheat and sugar. It works wonders.

Work was a bit slow today, but it allowed me to catch up on other things. I balanced my checkbook, went to the grocery store, and even found time to do a little exercise. I'm certainly not going overboard with the new workouts. I'm just trying to do something every day, so it eventually clicks into place and becomes part of the routine.

I worry about Dot. She seems to sleep longer and walk slower with each passing day. I know aging is inevitable, with Dot and with me as well. I wish it wasn't so though. Dot and Dash have woven their way so tightly into the routine I call my life that I don't know what I'd do without them.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 730 - Blogiversary

Year three begins now. When I started this blog two years ago today, I thought my life was boring and uneventful. I began wondering if paying more attention to what was actually happening each day could somehow change the way I thought about life. I can now report that it has.

What started as a simple diary gradually became a way of life. I've always been a reasonably good observer, but the more I looked and the more I wrote, they more I found. My life wasn't really less interesting than other people's lives, it was just different. Different didn't mean better or worse anymore, it just meant different. In a small world encompassing two spotted dogs and a green urban park, I rediscovered life. By sharing this small world with you, I think I made it a bit larger.

I don't think my life would make a good reality show. Nothing really happens. I don't go to the A-list parties. I'm no longer a world traveler. I don't have famous friends. And I'm certainly not rich. Actually, I'm probably a lot like many of you. We go through our lives just trying to get from one day to the next. Maybe by re-examining my own simple life, I've caused one or two of you to take a second look at yours. Hopefully, I've been able to convince some of you that everybody's life is rich and intricate, whether you spend it jet-setting around the world or sitting in a small room typing away with two dogs under your desk.

It rained again today. As we were walking this morning, we passed an old gnarled tree that I see almost every day. The tree isn't tall, but it has a million branches, each spiraling out from the trunk in a different direction. When I look at this tree I occasionally see my life. So many forks in the road. Each branch a different choice to explore. But here's the strange part: with each different branch I take, I'm always firmly rooted in the same spot.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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