Day 3059

My friend who owns the train store is already promoting my collection. I read the description on his website and my first thought was "Wow, I used to own this stuff." If I were younger, had a good job and lots of space, this is definitely something I'd be interested in buying. I hope the collection finds a good home. I think I was a discriminating collector. Some of the items are quite rare. I spent a lot of time finding these things.

That's all in the past now. I've just begun downsizing, but I'd really like to get to the point where the house is clean and tidy again and Janet and I can spend our time traveling instead of acquiring stuff. There is nothing wrong with collecting. I'm still a big fan of collecting. Learning a lot of trivia about anything broadens the mind. You should only embark on a collecting odyssey if it brings you joy and you've got a group of like minded people to share your obsession with. A collection without other people who appreciate it is nothing.

Dash has been sleeping all night for the past week. I can't figure out what has changed. He's eating the same things and there has been no real change in his behavior. I appreciate the extra sleep, but I know that things could change overnight. I don't really know if Dash's new sleeping pattern is a sign that he's better or worse. You go through a lot of changes as you grow older and some of them are hard to explain. I monitor Dash closely, but there's only so much I can do. I've been taking things one day at a time for a long, long time.

Our morning walks take over an hour now, even though we don't go very far. I don't mind. Dash enjoys being outdoors and I don't have anything to do anyway. Today was pretty typical. I ate breakfast, did a load of laundry and cleaned the toilets while Dash was taking a nap. I did end up watching the new episode of The Expanse that I recorded yesterday. I think I enjoyed binge watching Season 1 and Season 2 better. There's a formula for episodic TV. There's always a cliffhanger at the end of each show to make sure you tune in for the next week's episode. I'd rather watch the entire series at once. The cliffhangers don't make much sense if you've already forgotten them by the time the next show airs.

I picked up some more meds for Dash today. Janet usually gives Dash his pills, but when she travels, I need to make sure he takes them myself. The older he gets the more complicated this becomes. Dash won't take pills in a dog food meatball or pill pocket anymore. He has lost interest in banana bread too. Janet says peanut butter still works. Before she goes somewhere, Janet packages morning and evening meds in separate zip lock bags and labels each one with the day they are supposed to be given. This may seem like overkill, but I appreciate it. I am becoming forgetful. I forgot my own meds last night.

I made an appointment to get my oil changed and the soonest they could work me in was May 19. When I used to need this sort of thing they would just tell me to come on up anytime. Everything is way too hectic now. I also found out that my regular service adviser no longer works at the dealership. Jeez. Why does everything always have to keep changing.

One thing that never changes is my quest for the perfect breakfast every Friday. I still don't know where I'm going tomorrow, but hopefully I'll find something delicious on the menu.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3053

I was hoping that the weather would improve today, but I didn't get my wish. We got more rain. It was far too wet this morning to take Dash on a morning walk. I guess I could have gone out for breakfast, but it seemed too wet for that as well. I made myself a large bowl of oatmeal and listened to the rain on the roof as I drank my morning coffee.

It's easy to get cabin fever on days like this. Work doesn't keep me busy anymore. Daytime TV is terrible. And you can only do so much laundry. I wish I could go to sleep as easily as Dash. Since I was wide awake, I absentmindedly flipped back and forth between the news and business channels, looked at Facebook, and perused photo and electronics catalogs in search of new gear that would change my life.

Janet subscribes to Netflix, Hulu, and Acorn.tv, but I can't bring myself to watch a movie. There are thousands of books lining the walls of my office, but I can't bring myself to read a book either. The last book I really enjoyed was A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I'm sure there have been great books since then, but few have reached out to me. I think a lot of reading is instigated by recommendations from friends. Dash doesn't recommend many books.

I didn't feel like getting groceries today, but when the rain finally subsided late in the afternoon, I went out and picked up a pizza for dinner. There's a neighborhood pizza place that makes pretty good thin crust pizza. I'll probably have heartburn tonight, but who cares. On a rainy day when you can't find any motivation, sometimes a pizza is the only thing that will do.

It would have been a good day to go to the storage warehouse and organize the collection of trains. Like I've said before, I can talk myself out of virtually anything on a rainy day. I don't have any choice tomorrow. I've run out of time. I'll be glad when I put this chore behind me. It's depressing. I felt the same way when I had to sell my beloved Citroën SM. There are so many things that I was planning on dealing with later. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before "later" becomes now.

Dash finally did get a walk when Janet came home from work. I even saw a patch of blue sky just before sunset. Lets hope we get a few more weeks of mild Spring weather before Summer arrives. The only good thing about Summer is that my roof might finally get fixed.

Crosby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3052

The first thing I did this morning was look at the weather radar. A line of storms was on the way, but it looked like I'd have enough time to walk Dash. I'm getting better at gauging how long our slow walks will take. This time we made it back home with several minutes to spare.

The sky was dark and ominous by the time I finished breakfast. I made sure the pump on the roof was working and then settled in for a long day of doing nothing. It's a blessing in disguise that Dash's hearing isn't so good anymore. He didn't even flinch when the thunder started. After Dash fell asleep, I watched the show I had recorded yesterday. Season Three of The Expanse was worth the wait, but I hate waiting an entire week for each new episode. No wonder binge watching on Netflix has become so popular. A TV drama series is a lot more like a movie when you can watch the whole season at once. I think I'll set the DVR to record the entire series. When I watch this on TV, I can fast forward through the ads. When I stream the same thing on my computer, you can't mess with the ads at all. You are forced to watch each and every one in it's entirety.

I wish I had more to watch today. There wasn't much to do when my show was over. I checked the mail, paid the bills that arrived, and waited for the rain to stop so I could take them to the post office. Dash didn't provide much incentive to be more ambitious. He spends an enormous amount of time sleeping these days. It's hard to even remember that Dash was once a high energy whirling dervish who always wanted to walk or go to the dog park. It's equally hard to remember that I used to have a lot more energy too.

It rained a lot today and I was worried that the roof was going to start leaking again. So far, so good. The living room is still dry. I think it's supposed to dry out tomorrow and be mostly sunny next week. Maybe I've dodged a bullet again. I'll sure be glad when the roofers come back to repair things.

As soon as the weather improves, I need to start boxing up my model trains at the storage warehouse. My heart isn't in this, but there's no point in leaving the collection in storage forever. My friend will find a new home for the collection and maybe I'll recover some of the money I've spent. I used to have a lot of these things proudly on display in my office. I ran out of space a long time ago though. Now, the office doesn't look much different than the storage warehouse.

I can't decide whether to go out for breakfast tomorrow. I can talk myself out of almost anything when the weather is bad. I've used up all the fresh fruit, so I couldn't make a smoothie, but there are still eggs. Maybe I'll make myself an omelet. Actually, a bowl of oatmeal sounds fine. So does staying in bed and sleeping till noon.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2624

I usually check the dogs on the baby monitor before I start my workout at the gym. Typically they're just sleeping, but today I heard Dot yelping like she was in pain and saw Dash looking around with a worried look. I turned around and went back home again, wishing it wasn't a fifteen minute drive. The house was quiet when I arrived home, but Dot was resting in an awkward position on her dog bed. She must have tried to get up while I was gone and twisted one of her rear legs. On a good day, Dot can still get up on her own. On a bad day she can't. It used to be pretty safe to leave the house for a few hours when the dogs were taking their morning nap. They both sleep soundly and would typically still be snoring on their beds when I returned. That's all changed in the past month or so. Dot is a lot more restless now and doesn't sleep as soundly. Since the oncologist thought that the restless might be caused by discomfort, I was hoping that the Gabapentin might help. If the drug makes her as limp as a wet washrag though, it only makes matters worse.

When I got the dogs up, everything seemed fine. Dot was able to walk and both dogs were eager for me to feed them their lunch. I think Dot's yelping was more of a panic attack than an injury. She has grown very dependent on me and doesn't like to wake up and find me gone. I took the dogs outside to pee, fed them their lunch, and then cleaned up after Dot when she decided to poop while she was eating. After lunch we walked around for a while until Dot got tired and then they were both ready to take a nap again. After making sure that Dot was relaxed and resting in a comfortable position, I got in the car and went back to the gym. This time the trip was a success. It's always a balancing act to care for Dot while still finding a little time for myself. I'm almost always nearby when Dot needs me, but I do need to occasionally get out of the house.

The rain that was supposed to arrive today got delayed. Now, we're supposed to get some severe weather starting at about 1 AM this morning. I wish the tree guys had already come out to trim our trees. One of the main reasons I wanted to remove the dead limbs is that I'm always afraid that they're going to fall in a strong wind. Maybe the storm won't be a bad as the weatherman on TV is predicting. Sometimes I think they make things sound alarming to get more viewers. Of course, Texas weather actually is alarming, so I never ignore what the weatherman says.

I don't know what to do about Dash. He has gotten finicky about his food again. This is nothing new. It has been going on for years. We'll find a healthy diet that Dash likes and after enthusiastically eating it for months and months, he'll abruptly stop and refuse to touch the stuff. We look for a new diet and the whole process starts all over again. I've asked every vet I know what causes this behavior but have never really received a satisfactory answer. Sometimes Dash will refuse to eat something in the morning and then enthusiastically scarf the same food down in the afternoon. Nothing is simple at our house.

I didn't even bother with vacuuming this weekend. Every time I thought about getting out the vacuum cleaner, the dogs were sleeping peacefully and I didn't want to disrupt things. Sleeping peacefully is the Holy Grail around here. When the dogs are asleep, maybe I've got time to take a nap myself, or even get something productive done. Actually, Dot is asleep right now, so maybe this is my opportunity.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2531

Why does it always rain on Friday? I had to cancel my breakfast outing again because of inclement weather. It wasn't raining hard, but I saw some lightning off in the distance while we were walking the dogs around the block this morning and I didn't want to risk a storm phobia incident. Actually, my breakfast at home was pretty good. I cooked up some bacon to go with my toaster waffles and the dogs didn't even bark very much. Dash only seems to bark when there is a banana involved.

Dot seemed exhausted this morning. She was very slow on her morning walk and immediately went to sleep as soon as we got home. I was a little worried because she didn't even want to come out to the kitchen while I was cooking the bacon. I've learned to just let her rest when she's tired. She slept through lunch and didn't try to get up again until after 2 PM. Luckily, she seemed to bounce back a bit during the afternoon, and was back to her wobbly wandering ways by dinner time.

Dash had an upset stomach again last night. This morning I think I found out why. I discovered the remains of a partially eaten bird in the back yard. I don't know how much of this bird was eaten by Dash, but he has been known to eat things the neighborhood cats drag in the yard before. Between the two dogs, it's amazing we get any sleep at all.

I finished my second article this morning while the dogs were sleeping. Sometimes I think they sleep more soundly during the day than they do at night. When I went to the grocery store later in the morning to pick up something for dinner, neither dog even moved. They were both in exactly the same place when I returned.

The replacement battery for my phone arrived today, so I went to the battery store to get it installed after lunch. The battery store charges less than half of what the Apple store charges to replace an iPhone battery. I'm a good customer of this place. They've replaced batteries in electric shavers, lawn mowers, power tools, uninterruptible power sources, laptops, watches, and phones for me.  It's amazing how many things in our house seem to require a battery.

A cold front must have blown through town last night. I had to wear a warmer coat when we walked the dogs this morning and it never got warm enough for shorts at all. Usually, Dot responds well to cooler weather, but not today. I haven't seen her this tired for quite a while. Hopefully, she'd rebound again when she gets some rest. It's a long, slow journey. She still has her good days and her bad days, but I can see where this is headed. Every extra day we get to spend with her is a blessing.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2233

It's a good thing I had my movie today. Absolutely nothing happened. It was cold and grey outside. The phone didn't ring. There were no deadlines to meet. It was a perfect day to watch The Martian. It was a long movie so I waited until the dogs took their even longer morning nap after breakfast. Coincidentally, this is also when I tend to get the most work done. Almost like clockwork, both dogs sleep soundly from about 9 AM until 1 PM, when they wake up again for lunch.

I'd already read Andy Wier's book, so I was wondering how a story with very little dialog would work as a film. Drew Goddard leaves out quite a bit in the screenplay, but still managed to transform one of the best books I've read in a long time into a nail biting and compelling script. I'm old enough to remember when Ridley Scott and his brother Tony directed television commercials at RSA. If you were in advertising during the late 1970's and early 1980's, Ridley Scott Associates was the gold standard for commercial production companies. Before he went on to direct groundbreaking movies like Alien and Blade Runner, he created the famous 1984 commercial which ran once during the Super Bowl and launched the Apple Macintosh computer. I loved that commercial. With all this in mind, I was expecting a lot from this movie and I wasn't disappointed. I really should have seen it in a theater, but for me a large, high resolution monitor in a dark room was almost the same thing.

I hope The Martian does something to rekindle interest in space. I remember clearly the excitement that the race to land a man on the moon generated. It was one of the few things in my lifetime that genuinely seemed to unite people around the world. A few years after Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility, the real life drama of the the failed Apollo 13 mission seemed to capture the world's attention in much the same manner as Mark Watney did when the world learned he was stranded on Mars. We are explorers. I think we need to direct our energies outward again. We're spent far too many years looking inward.

The only thing I explored today was how to use my old Olympus camera lenses on a new Panasonic camera. Manufacturers have virtually stopped making digital cameras with optical viewfinders. Everyone is migrating to the new smaller mirrorless cameras. Since I like the Panasonic GH4, I've been trying to salvage some of my favorite older lenses and use them with this micro 4/3 format. With the right adapter, you can use just about any lens manually, but I wanted to keep using the auto-focus and image stabilization features of newer lenses. I tested an adapter today that was supposed to let me do this, but I was disappointed. The auto focus of my favorite Olympus lens still worked, but it was so slow. I think it's back to square one with this idea. It's too bad that expensive technology becomes obsolete so quickly. Back in the film era, my Nikon cameras and lenses served me for decades. It doesn't work that way anymore.

Dot seemed kind of shaky today. I always worry a lot when she's having a bad day. There's no way to stop this slow, degenerative process she's going through, but I sure wish there was a way to slow it down a bit more. Dot seems to react to sunlight and warmth the same way I do. I'm hoping that when the weather improves, she'll get her mojo back.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2069

A year ago, Dot was still having problems with incontinence after her first surgery. Now, she's still having problems with her rear legs. After a year and a half of serious medical problems, she hasn't given up. Despite cancer, abdominal surgery, a ruptured disk, spinal surgery, and chemotherapy, Dot is still a happy, stubborn, and very resilient girl. I wish I was half as tenacious as she was. Little things still get me down. Absolutely nothing seems to get Dot down. Of course if dogs could talk, I might hear a different story, but I think I know her pretty well. She continues to be an inspiration.

The temperature seemed a little cooler on our morning walk. Maybe the worst of Summer is over. I asked Janet how long we'd been doing these pre-dawn very slow walks with Dot. Neither of us could remember. It seems like we have been doing them forever. It also seems like we've always has a huge collection of non-skid throw rugs scattered throughout the house. I've almost forgotten what the house looked like before. So much has changed and yet we still have the same armadillo tearing up the yard and and the same spiders building a huge network of webs on our back porch. I guess it's easier to remember the things that stay the same than it is to remember all the changes we've made along the way to adapt to our aging dogs.

I decided to go back to taking Benicar because the other blood pressure medication I had selected as a substitute has been giving me a nagging cough. When I renewed my Benicar prescription, I was irritated to discover that the cost of had gone up even further. I used to pay $40 for a thirty day supply and now the cost has jumped to over a $100. Medicare Part D apparently wants everyone to take a generic ACE inhibitor to control blood pressure. It's three or four dollars a month for the drug the government likes and a $100 a month for the drug my doctor prefers. Oh, well. Maybe that cough isn't so bad. It is frustrating that these rules are so arbitrary. I'm sure it's all more about money than it is about health. Medicare Part D doesn't seem to like Welchol either, even though it a safe and effective way to lower high cholesterol. I'd rather take Welchol than statins, but once again, you pay a big penalty if the government doesn't like the same meds your doctor prescribes.

I've gotten hooked on buying Keurig coffee pods. Every time I see a new dark roast flavor, I want to pick up a box and try it out. I saw some Cuban Roast pods today and bought a box, even though the kitchen cabinets are already overflowing with Keurig pods. It's too bad you can't buy these things a few at a time. Generally I've been lucky, but if you buy a box of 80 pods to get a bargain price and then discover that don't like the flavor, you're kind of stuck. I think I'll like the Cuban coffee though. Maybe I'll brew some tomorrow morning. I wonder if you can brew espresso using the Keurig machine?  Some mornings I feel like having an espresso, but I don't feel like dragging the old espresso machine out of the storage warehouse and bringing it home again.

I was bored this evening and watched the "Blink" episode of Dr. Who again. I think I've seen this show four or five times now but I still like it. Blink, the tenth episode in the third series, was one of the best scripts that Steven Moffat ever wrote. The Weeping Angels are certainly strange monsters, but they are still pretty creepy. I think this show, along with the one where the Doctor visits Vincent Van Gogh, are my favorites.

It's time to give the dogs their evening meds, but they are both sleeping so peacefully that I hesitate to wake them. Janet is still at a party with friends. Maybe I'll just wait until they hear her car in the driveway. That will wake them up. Hard to believe that it's already time to go to the gym again. A week goes by pretty quickly these days.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1967

The two Live Oak trees in our back yard are destroyed. The power company tree trimmers arrived early this morning and began butchering the trees. By noon, they both looked like stumps. If the tree crews came every year, they could trim the trees just enough so that the power lines running down the alley would be completely safe without destroying the trees. These guys only want to come every five or six years though and they always cut the trees back way more than necessary, so they won't have to return the following year. I assume that this saves money, but it makes a mess of the trees. I think they require a clear area of at least twelve feet around the each power line. Three or four feet would easily keep branches from touching the wires even on the windiest day, but of course, I have no say in the matter.

I am so sick of trying to clean food particles out of my mouth after meals without touching the hole where my wisdom tooth used to be that I almost feel like quitting eating. Eating has always been one of my few real pleasures and now it is a total nuisance. Hard crunchy things are difficult to chew and soft things get stuck in my teeth. Nothing seems to work. My teeth have become so sensitive to cold beverages that I almost welcome the warm salt water rinse I have to swish around in my mouth three or four times a day. Apparently, going to the dentist is like opening a Pandora's Box. One of my other dentists called today and wanted to set up an appointment to fix tooth number 31. The oral surgeon has already told all the referring dentists that he'd done his part. Now I need to repair the tooth next to the wisdom tooth that was removed. After that, I probably need a new crown on tooth number 30 as well.

Dot must be almost deaf by now. She slept completely through all the noisy chain saws and loud voices of the crew in the back yard this morning. It's a bit sad to see her growing deaf, but it's a blessing in a way. She's a lot calmer when she doesn't hear all the odd noises that used to upset her. When she finally woke up for a late lunch, the tree crews had gone. When she went out in the yard to investigate, she knew something had happened, but she wasn't sure what. I hate seeing the Live Oak trees chopped up like this, but maybe the St. Augustine grass will finally start growing. There's certainly a lot more light in the yard now.

I paid a few bills today and tried to resolve a doctor bill that slipped through the cracks two years ago and never got paid by insurance. I think I got things cleared up, but you never know with this type of thing. The sign company called and said the banner I ordered yesterday was ready, so I picked that up on my way home from the post office. By the time I got home, it was time to feed the dogs again. Dash lost one of his protective socks yesterday, so we tried to find it on our walk this evening. It was a futile effort, since Dash never likes to go the same way twice. We almost lost another sock this afternoon, but luckily I noticed it was gone just a few feet after he kicked it off. That's it. It wasn't a very exciting day, but hey, that's how I roll.

Bunny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1582

Not a bad day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was cool enough to keep the dogs happy, and warm enough to keep me happy. There aren't many days like this in Texas, so I try to take advance of them. As an added bonus, I was able to start the day off with a clear view of the total "blood moon" eclipse. As luck would have it, I actually did wake up to to to the bathroom about 2:30 AM and this was just about the middle of the eclipse in our time zone. I'm glad I went outside and took a look, since the dark red moon was quite spectacular. Red was definitely the theme of the night sky, since Mars made it's closest approach to Earth last night as well, glowing a rusty red slightly to the right of the blood red moon.

When the dogs were younger, it would have been impossible to go out in the back yard in the middle of the night without Dot racing out the back door and waking up the entire neighborhood with her barking. Neither dog woke up at all last night and slept soundly through the entire eclipse. I'm glad they didn't wake up. As soon as Dot and Dash wake up, they think it is breakfast time.

I generally don't like meetings, but I had a surprisingly good meeting with a client this afternoon. We tackled a tough problem and came up with a innovative solution that we both thought would work. Trust me. This doesn't happen very often at client meetings. I even got the go-ahead to develop a prototype and see if the idea works. If this happened every day, or even every week, I might actually enjoy working.

My mechanic called today and told me he might have a buyer for my old Maserati. The potential buyer is some guy in Holland why likes to buy cars in American and ship them back to Europe to restore. Unfortunately, the guy wants the car for a dirt cheap price. I could get a lot more for the car if it was running, but then I'd have to pay quite a bit to make the necessary repairs. Some of the parts the car needs are virtual impossible to find anymore. They just don't exist. My gut tells me that it would probably be better to sell the car "as is" in non-running condition. I could spend a small fortune fixing the thing with no guarantee of finding a buyer when all the repairs were finished. Selling an old car is a lot like selling real estate. Often the best time to sell is when you actually have a buyer.

I'm proud of myself. Janet got a free loaf of delicious looking artisan bread from Central Market last week when she was grocery shopping. So far, I haven't touched the bread, even though I would have loved to have turned half the loaf into a big stack of french toast this morning. As tempting as french toast drenched in maple syrup sounded, I had my regular bowl of oatmeal and fruit instead.

Sometimes it's hard to stay strong, but when I was watching Dot trotting along in the water treadmill this afternoon, I kept thinking "Hey, if she can do it, so can I."

Krissy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1202 - Easter Sunday

Two days of rain shut down the dog park this weekend, but the wet weather did have a few benefits. The soil was finally wet enough for me to go pull up all the little oak and elm trees that were growing in the Asian jasmine beds. Every year, acorns and seed pods fall by the thousands from the large trees in our backyard and sprout into small trees during the Spring. These tiny trees have surprisingly deep roots and you can only pull them up when the soil is really wet. If you don't take this opportunity to rid your gardens of these diminutive trees, the root systems will continue to grow and they will be impossible to uproot the next season. In just a few seasons, your entire yard will become an ugly thicket of brush and weeds. Today seemed like the perfect opportunity to do some weeding, so I did.

Even though all the dog parks in Dallas were closed today, the human parks were having their busiest day of the year. As soon as the sun came up, I saw families putting up tents and staking out their territory for huge family picnics in the park behind our house. By the time I walked the dogs in the afternoon, the entire area was like a three ring circus. The air was thick with smoke from hundreds of barbecue grills, and every hundred yards or so, there was an impromptu soccer game going on. At least four times, our walk was interrupted by crowds of little kids running toward the dogs while shouting "Do they bite" in Spanish.

Dot and Dash were very good, allowing all the children to pet them. I could tell Dot was getting tired though. This Easter outing was way too noisy and stressful for her. As soon as we got home again, both dogs went straight to their dog beds and fell asleep.

I was really hungry today. In addition to weeding the garden and walking the dogs, there was also a lot of water from last night's rain to get off the roof. Lucky for me, Janet fixed a fabulous Easter dinner with ham, whipped sweet potatoes, and braised cabbage. I ate lots of vegetables and left just enough room for a pear tart for dessert. It's been a good day. I think I'll be joining the dogs for a snooze on the bed very soon.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1093

There must be a lot of people with dyslexia on the Internet. Although 12/12/12 is significant in its own right, I couldn't believe how many people got today mixed up with 12/21/12 and posted something about the impending end of the world. I like these days where all the numbers line up. At noon today, there were even four twelves that lined up for a brief moment. That's the end of it though. There won't be another day like this in my lifetime, or yours. For such a momentous time, it was all pretty ordinary at our house. The dogs got walked. Some articles got written. One website got updated. That's about it.

Maybe 12/21/12 will be different. That's next week, when the Mayan calendar runs out and the world is supposed to end. Somehow, I suspect that will be a pretty ordinary day as well.

I finally got my invoices in the mail today, along with a single Christmas card to a relative so old that she probably doesn't even know the Internet exists. Remember when Christmas cards were a big deal? When I was a kid, everyone had dozens, even hundreds of them sitting on coffee tables and pinned to the curtains during the holiday season. I continued this tradition for many years, but gradually found myself sending fewer and fewer cards each year. When people started sending those animated e-cards, I gave up on printed cards entirely. It's hard to tell anymore whether I have no friends, or just no desire to send cards.

I do have a desire for warmer weather. It's been unseasonably cold all week. The dogs are getting rebellious about wearing their sweaters on their morning walk. I think they feel constricted, but it's either that or feeling cold when the walk is about halfway finished. There really isn't a good solution to this one. Dot and Dash hate the cold, but they don't appear to like their sweaters either.

My appeal for exciting assignments appears to have fallen on deaf ears. I still have plenty to do, but the work is lackluster and often boring. I see the dogs sleeping on a pile of blankets as I type away and often feel like joining them. That's a slippery slope though. Once you start sleeping with the dogs during the day, you might as well just be a dog.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day