Day 4125

Every time I go shopping, I'm amazed at the amount of traffic on the roads. It didn't used to be this way as recently as a few years ago. I see a lot more out of state plates now. People are moving here from all over the country. I can't blame them for moving. I moved here from Seattle many years ago and never regretted the decision. I kind of wish I lived in a smaller town though. This traffic is getting ridiculous.

I found everything on my grocery list fairly easily today. There are no shortages anymore. I see big end aisle displays of Clorox wipes now and masks are on sale at many stores. They were even offering Covid shots at the grocery store today. The pandemic isn't over yet, but clearly we are moving on to a new phase. 

Lots of plants are starting to turn green in the yard, but the Asian Jasmine still looks dead. I don't think it is going to come back at all. This is a shame because this supposedly hardy ground cover was the one thing that would grow where it was too shady for grass. Asian Jasmine takes a long time to get established as well. I don't know if I have the energy to replace this stuff.

I knew that today wasn't going to be a good day for walking because my foot was hurting before I even got started. I still managed to complete over four miles though. Janet thinks I ought to forget walking for a while and return to the gym. She's probably right. Walking is such a good way to kill time though. Nothing else even comes close.

I had planned to upload a bunch of new photos to my stock photo site today but I never got around to it. I know a few people who make a reasonable income by selling stock photos. They all have thousands of photos to choose from however. I've uploaded less than twenty over a period of four years. It's hard for me to get interested in money making schemes like this anymore. I've been around long enough to know that if you just dabble at something, you're not going to make money at it. If I were serious about selling stock photos, I'd be uploading stuff every day.

I got a letter from a friend out at the observatory today with some suggestions about what to bring to the astrophotography workshop. I'm looking forward to this trip. The food is great at Indian Lodge and The Blue Mountain Grill in Fort Davis. The roads are practically empty. It's quiet and peaceful and of course the night skies are spectacular. The only downside is the long drive it takes to get there. I wish Southwest Airlines flew to Fort Davis. There isn't an airport, but one can dream.

I spent some quality time with Dawn this afternoon while Janet was away. What's it going to take for this dog to warm up to me? Something about me must remind her of her former life. She a completely different dog around Janet. Dawn is an older dog and I don't expect her to change much. We may never be best buddies, but I would like for her to trust me. We're working on it. There may come a time when she really needs to trust me.

I mailed the birthday card I bought yesterday. I'm terrible at keeping up with people, but every once in a while I try.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3757

I keep wanting to say "Y'all are doing it wrong" when I hear all these suggestions about social distancing. I don't think extroverts have a clue about staying apart. Unfortunately, extroverts are making the rules. I actually think I was doing a much better job of keeping my distance before all the restrictions started. When most of the stores are closed, people just congregate at the few remaining open ones. I've never seen Lowes and Home Depot as busy as they are now. Did everyone start a home improvement project at the same time or do they just want to get out of the house?

Social distancing is much easier when you basically don't like people. I've never had a problem staying away from you guys. When you zig, I zag. I do all my shopping when you are at work. I love the gloomy, overcast days at the park when nobody is trying to barbecue or get a suntan. I don't even understand the concept of a virtual cocktail party on Zoom. Real cocktail parties were bad enough. Back when I had to attend parties for work, I would quickly find the host, make a little small talk and then quietly leave when nobody was looking.

You don't need to scream at me on Twitter to "just stay home" in all capital letters. Other than a walk in a nearly empty park with Dawn, I was home all day. I'm almost always home all day. I did get a lot done today. The weather was warm this afternoon so I pulled the big bucket of silicon up on the roof using a rope and made some more repairs. I must be doing a pretty decent job. We've had a lot of rain this Spring and the leak still hasn't returned. When today's repairs dry completely, I'll make another sweep of the roof and look for more weak spots.

Janet and I both washed our cars today, but they never left the driveway. I think one reason that mine was so dirty is that it has been sitting so long. At this time of year, the trees seem to shed a fine yellow powder that gets over everything. I'm not a botanist, but I think the yellow powder must be the  pollen inside the catkins that fall from our Oak trees. This is also the season when the ants and tent caterpillars arrive. I saw a ton of ants on the roof and a lot of them will end up getting trapped in the wet silicon. It serves these pesky ants right for trying to find a way into our kitchen.

I passed my security clearance to get a press pass for the upcoming Crew Dragon launch in late May or early June. I doubt that I'll get final approval for a while though. The folks at Kennedy Space Center are probably still trying to decide if the launch will even happen. I bet the two astronauts are already in quarantine though. NASA definitely doesn't want those two to get the virus. The Crew Dragon launch and the Mars 2020 Lander are still on schedule. Just about everything else at NASA has been put on hold. We'll see what happens. I'd still like to go cover this launch.

Tomorrow is Wednesday for those of you who have forgotten what day it is. It's easy to do. Like many of you, I need a project. Maybe I'll finally start uploading a bunch of new pictures to my Shutterstock account. Stock photography is a good way to make money even if you are confined to your house.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3333

I've been wondering why the cable bill went up recently. Then I remembered that it's been exactly one year since we upgraded to a fiber optic network. There must have been a special introductory price that expired. Of course we're not going to take the fiber optic connection out now. We've become used to the speed. That's how they suck you in to just about everything these days. I've learned to ignore the "free for 90 days" offers, but you can't ignore everything. My storage warehouse rent went up so much that I had to move to a new less expensive storage space. The cost of web hosting is about to go up as well. I'll just pay the extra fees on this one. It's too much trouble to move all the websites. There aren't a lot of options with the cable company. I've moved back and forth between AT&T and Spectrum for years. Both companies are terrible.

The temperature was in the low twenties this morning. There was ice in the backyard bird bath, so that meant that there was probably ice up on the roof as well. I certainly wasn't going to go up and investigate. It was way too cold and slippery. Dash wasn't even interested in getting out of bed, but eventually he followed Janet out to the kitchen to take his morning pills. It was pretty clear that a morning walk was out of the question. Dash was shaky and having trouble walking and I'm not sure the more complicated Help 'Em Up Harness will fit over his Winter sweater anyway.

Since Dash just wanted to sleep this morning, I felt pretty safe in going out to breakfast. I went back to the hotel today. This place is almost the exact opposite of the trendy restaurant I've been visiting recently. There are only a few items on the menu and the place is never full. The waiters treat me like a regular now and already know what I'm going to order. I like the quiet formalness of the place. It's just too bad that they don't know how to make shrimp grits.

We have a new routine with Dash now. The morning walks seem to be a thing of the past. We don't know why he is so unsteady when he wakes up. You'd think he'd be rested, since he's sleeping well now. Mornings have become a struggle unfortunately. Typically, Dash will perk up a bit around 10:30 or 11 AM and eat his breakfast. By early afternoon, he has returned to his old self. We took another walk this afternoon and Dash did very well. He didn't stumble and even wanted to go on one of our longer routes. It's a mystery how the morning dog and the afternoon dog can be so different, but I'm happy that Dash still has his moments. He likes the cold too. I was freezing on our walk this afternoon, but Dash was enjoying himself, stopping every few minutes to smell something.

A couple of times every year I think about uploading more photos to the stock photo site. Some of my photos are selling. I've just never submitted very many. You'd think that with thousands of good photos in my files, I could scrape together a nice little passive income. I know a few people that make a decent income on Shutterstock. Why not me? I examined about twenty of my favorite images this afternoon and found at least one good reason why none of them could be submitted. Some were too grainy. On others, the focus was off just a bit. In many cases I had failed to obtain a model release. I ended up submitting nothing today. I'm sure I'll revisit all this six months from now, but in a lot of ways it seems pointless. The secret to success in the stock photo market is to have a huge catalog of images available. Adding twenty images to my meager collection would only increase my income by a few dollars a year.

We had chili for dinner tonight. A steaming bowl of chili is the perfect meal for a cold Winter night. Unfortunately chili always gives me heartburn. Story of my life. Everything pleasant has an unpleasant side effect.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3056

I've been thinking that it would be a good idea to start taking money out of my retirement account when I turn 70. I called my bank and my broker today to find out exactly how to do this, and as you might expect, it was more complicated than I had imagined. What I wanted to do apparently isn't possible, so now I've got to come up with a Plan B. I also learned that I am required to start taking money out of my IRA before the end of the year whether I want to or not. When I asked why, I was told that the government doesn't want you to die before they are able to tax your retirement savings. Heaven forbid that you might pass it on to your heirs as an inheritance and they wouldn't be able to tax it at all. Needless to say, I hate dealing with banks. Every year there seem to be more rules and regulations that benefit the bank more than they benefit me.

I've been fighting the urge to buy things I don't need. I think the model trains taught me a lesson. When I get the urge to buy something these days, I make myself answer a few questions. Do I really need this? Am I planning to use this within the next six months? Do I already have something exactly like this? So far, this discipline is working. I've had my eye on a couple of cameras and a really cool portable multi-track recorder, but I haven't bought anything. Other than a few odds and ends, I haven't bought anything this year.

I wish it were easier to keep the business going. Life would be simpler for me if I didn't have to think about retirement and I could keep writing off cameras as a business expense indefinitely. The only way I can think of to keep the business going without going to meetings and dealing with people would be to dramatically increase my earnings from stock photography. I would need to upload thousands and thousands of pictures and get them all accepted to make this happen. A daunting task to say the least. Nobody buys pictures of flowers and birds either. The few photos that do sell well in my stock photo catalog all tend to be traditional studio shots involving models and photo assistants. The holy grail of a passive income that requires no real effort on my part remains as illusive as ever.

I think I'm going to have to find a new landscaper. I've called the guy four times and he still hasn't returned my calls. I hate to start over. This guy was very affordable and did a good job. He also knew exactly what I needed because he's been replacing the grass in my backyard every Spring for quite a while now. Why do things have to keep changing? Once you find a really good plumber, insurance agent, or landscaper, you ought to be able to keep them for the rest of your life.

It looks like I'm going to have to add banking problems to the leaking roof, the grass in the backyard, the aging kitchen appliances, and other unresolved issues. At least Dash is still eating well and the train collection is gone.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2490

Forget what I said about wishing I could remember my dreams. I actually remembered a dream pretty clearly when I woke up this morning and it was pathetic. Somehow when I went outside to check the mail, I discovered a man building an elaborate rock garden in my front yard. I asked the man what he was doing and he told me that the yard needed something extra and that he would send me a bill. I argued with him for a while and then went back inside to discover that I wasn't in my own home anymore, but was at a housewarming party at the home of Dot's veterinarian. Dot wasn't at the party, but I did remember seeing a large Persian rug under the dining room table with a woven Dalmatian pattern. I asked if I could have the rug and then I woke up. This was nothing like the dreams I used to have many years ago where I had the ability to fly.

I always make a grocery list when I go to the store, but when I got home today, I noticed that I failed to buy several items that were clearly marked on my list. It wasn't like these items were out of stock.  I just completely forgot about them, even though I looked at the list at the store. This isn't like me. I'm usually very methodical. Is this how Alzheimer's begins? If I got Alzheimer's, probably nobody would know the difference. I don't remember much anyway.

Dot seemed was a bit stronger today. I don't know causes her dramatic change in energy levels from one day to the next, but I'm always glad when she has a good day. Maybe it's as simple as a change in temperature. Fall is definitely here and Dot loves the cooler weather. I had to wear a jacket for the first time on our morning walk. I think the temperature was in the low fifties when I woke up. I bought several Winter jackets at dirt cheap prices when the sporting goods store was going out of business earlier this Summer. I wasn't sure if I'd actually wear these coats then, but it turned out to be a good purchase. The feather light insulated jacket was perfect for mornings like this.

Couldn't we just have a do-over on this presidential election? Both candidates keep getting worse and worse. Even the two independent candidates are embarrassingly bad. I bet if there was a way to vote on just canceling the election and starting over, the measure would pass overwhelmingly. I don't buy the argument that you've got to vote for one of these candidates because the other one is worse. I think we need to admit that we have failed miserably as a country and just start over.

I got my first payment from Shutterstock today. Hey, it only took me a year. I guess this isn't so bad, considering that I only uploaded about ten photos to the stock library. I wish I could get motivated to upload hundreds, or even thousands of pictures. If I had more pictures available, this might end up being a decent form of passive income. Unfortunately, I lost interest in Shutterstock about two weeks after I joined. I got tired of having to extensively tag each photo with a long list of keywords before it was even approved. It was also pretty irritating when many of my favorite images got rejected for poor focus or excessive grain. I love shallow depth of field where only a small part of the image is in sharp focus and grainy images never bothered me at all. What do I know though? It is nice getting a check, so maybe I'll upload some more pictures.

Today wasn't a bad day at all. The weather was perfect. Even though Dot pooped in the house, she managed to avoid making a mess. For my part, I managed to get caught up on all my web assignments. Janet even fixed some delicious trout for dinner. I will have to go back to the grocery store tomorrow to pick up the items that mysteriously vanished from my memory today, but this is no big deal. A few more days like this would be just fine.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2113

Each day is kind of like our morning walks. We cover the same terrain over and over again, but still manage to find something new. I like the way the seasons change and the stars progress across the sky. I see faces and shapes in cloud formations and notice the migration patterns of birds. I'm quick to notice a new flower along the trail and can detect a temperature change of one or two degrees. Noticing the little things keeps life interesting. Well, it helps anyway.

Appreciating nuances is an acquired taste that has taken me decades to master. I'll try different blends of coffee each morning, but I'll always limit myself to two 10 ounce cups. Sometimes I'll substitute strawberries for peaches in my morning smoothie. I try to find variety within a two mile radius, but I'll seldom venture further. I'm fascinated to discover there are still things to learn from books I've already read and movies I've already watched. Even though my job requires me to keep up with the latest technology, I'm still discovering new things I can do with Photoshop 7.0.

If I didn't appreciate nuances, I'd probably go stark raving mad. Not much happens in an average day. I submitted some new photos to Shutterstock this morning. At this rate I should be able to earn a comfortable living from stock photography by the time I'm 95. I vacuumed the house this afternoon because I promised Janet I'd clean all the rugs and carpets if things weren't busy this week. Why postpone things? I couldn't even pretend that things were busy today. Dot seemed to appreciate the effort I made cleaning things, because there were no accidents today.

The geek community on the Internet is buzzing about the discovery of liquid water on Mars. I guess I always suspected there was water there somewhere. Comets are made of water. Hydrogen and oxygen are among the most abundant elements in the universe. Temperatures on Mars are often above freezing. Why wouldn't there be water? I doubt that the water on Mars is drinkable, but some of the water on Earth isn't either. I imagine that we'll find lots of water on other planets in the next hundred years. What really surprises me is that we live on a planet where the sun and the moon are almost exactly the same apparent size in the sky. What are the odds of having a moon that almost exactly covers the disc of the sun during an eclipse? That certainly doesn't happen on Mars.

I need to find a more interesting way to spend my days. This minimal life of mine can't really be healthy. What to do? I don't really like volunteering or travel, and I'm not sure that work will ever pick up significantly. I thought my clients would be excited when I learned how to do mobile websites, but most of them didn't even notice the improvements I made to their sites. I doubt that they are going to tell their friends how cool their new responsive websites are if they don't even understand what they've got. Oh, well. I'll upload some more images to Shutterstock tomorrow. Maybe I'll go photograph a squirrel.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2100

Every time I have to deal with clients, I dream about passive income. Passive income is the Holy Grail. Wouldn't it be nice if a combination of stocks and bonds, Google display ads, stock photography, and other assets I had lying around could provide me with a stable, comfortable income with no work at all? I haven't come up with the magic formula yet, but I still think about it from time to time.

In theory, I should be able to make a nice income from stock photography. Other people do this. I've made $50 from Shutterstock, but I've only bothered to submit fifteen photos. I realize that the photographers who succeed selling stock images upload thousands of images to their online collections. I certainly have thousands of images. Maybe if I stepped up my game and submitted fifteen hundred images to Shutterstock instead of my paltry fifteen, I might start making some decent money. So, why not? I uploaded some more images today. After five submissions, I remembered why I hate doing this so much. Before you can submit an image for approval, you have to add categories, keywords, and other meta tag information to each photo. If your photo is of a sunset, you can't just say "sunset." You need a minimum of seven keywords before you can click the submit button. Some of these keywords won't be acceptable, so you have to scratch your head and think of others. Then, typically about a week later you get a letter saying your photo was rejected because there was too much grain or the focus wasn't sharp enough. After a while, this tedious submission process hardly seems worth the trouble.

Stocks aren't a good passive investment either. You have to be actively engaged and keep track of them, or you can lose your money in a heartbeat. A single downgrade or bad quarter can throw a wrench in your plans, no matter how good the company is fundamentally. The people I know who do really well with their investments seem to enjoy the challenge of a turbulent market. It's a game to them. I'd rather just pick a good company and forget about it. The people who do well selling stock photography have a completely different personality. They methodically catalog everything they do and upload hundreds of images each month. I can't even imagine doing this. I stay busy writing and taking photos, but I'm not very methodical and the money I make is almost accidental. I hate the whole process of turning imagination into money.

I'm glad people thought I was really clever when I was young, because without the momentum my advertising career gave me, Lord knows what I would be doing today. I certainly wouldn't have had the luxury of doing exactly what I wanted later in life. I actually enjoy sitting alone in a small room with two dogs under my desk. A little passive income would make things nicer though. Sending out invoices is almost as tedious as tagging and categorizing photographs.

Dot had a good day today. I hope the weather stays cool, because it certainly helps. It's amazing how much more energetic the dogs are when the temperature is 65 degrees instead of 105 degrees. Dot did have one accident in the house today, but she happened to be standing on a protective mat at the time so cleaning things up was a piece of cake. Just as I predicted, today was just like yesterday. A couple loads of laundry, a tasty Vitamix breakfast, a trip to the pharmacy, several dog walks, and another day was over. Tomorrow I get a haircut. Wow. A haircut. I'm sure it will be a walk on the wild side.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1805

OK. I made an appointment to see a dentist today. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal to most of you, but it is somewhat of a breakthrough for me. The last time I sat in a dentist's chair was just before my previous dentist retired. That had to be at least five years ago. Needless to say, I'm not fond of going to the dentist. I'm not fond of having a toothache either, so I suppose my appointment is the lesser of two evils.

My tooth didn't hurt as much today as it did yesterday, but this temporary reprieve wasn't enough to make me chicken out. Beneath all my phobias is a fairly rational person. I knew it was time to deal with this. Hopefully, I won't need a root canal though. Just the thought of a root canal is enough to send shivers down my spine.

It was surprisingly busy for the start of a holiday week. I worked on some writing jobs in the morning and updated a few websites in the afternoon. There was a trip to the vet to pick up some prescriptions for Dash and some exploratory visits to dental insurance websites. Oops. I should have thought about dental insurance several months ago. It's a little late now, at least for this initial visit.

The weather is turning colder again, but I'm prepared now. I've got my winter socks, my winter gloves, a warm down jacket and my new high-tech leggings. I hesitate to say "bring it on" though, since I really prefer warmer weather. Since the dogs do seem to enjoy the brisk mornings, I'll just bundle up and try to get a few good sunrise pictures while Dot and Dash are smelling a nearby bush.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. If I finish my regular work early, I might try to get serious about uploading a bunch of new pictures to Shutterstock. There are certainly photographers out there who have figured out how to make a decent living from selling stock photography. I need to figure out how to crack this nut.

I find myself surprisingly tempted by the onslaught of Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads. Such amazing bargains on absolutely useless stuff. It's weird. At least statistically, I should be entering the de-cluttering phase of my life and I still have this desire to acquire things. I wonder why? I really have all I need. Maybe I'm just bored.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1801

It's nice to feel caught up on things. I've finished this week's writing assignments. My websites are up to date. The vet bills at the cancer center have been paid. Even the trash has already been taken to the curb for tomorrow's pickup. I'm sure there are still a lot of loose ends, but everything seems reasonably tidy. I like a tidy life.

I continue to be pleased with Dot's progress at her physical therapy sessions. Our vet cautioned us not to expect miracles, but now that we've been doing this for over a year, I can really see a difference. Even after her battle with cancer, she is still stronger than she was a year ago. I would highly recommend physical therapy for anyone with a senior dog. I'm sure physical therapy is equally beneficial for people, so I ought to consider finding a good therapist myself. With the proper care and exercises, my shoulder might actually begin to heal.

The temperature has warmed up considerably, but I'm still dressing as if it were below freezing. Consequently, I felt hot for most of the day. I definitely overdressed for this morning's walk. I always have this problem, because I don't respond quickly to change. I'm inclined to wear my Winter clothes all Winter long, but you can't do that in Texas. You always have to be ready to put on a pair of shorts one day and a parka the next.

Once again, I had a choice between going to the grocery store and picking up some take-out at a nearby restaurant. I should have gone to the store, but I took the easy way out and brought home a burger for dinner instead. It was just one burger and an order of fries, but I feel so full. When did restaurant portions get to be so huge? I never eat like this at home. I have a feeling that diabetes, heart disease, and a half a dozen other ailments could be cut in half if we just quit going out to eat so often. A special breakfast once a week is fine, but I think this is where I should draw the line. If I ate out more frequently, I'd gain ten pounds before you could say do you want fries with that.

Much to my surprise, people are actually buying my pictures on Shutterstock. Unfortunately, I only uploaded ten images to my account before I lost interest. If I can make a little money with ten pictures, just think of what I could do with a hundred, or a thousand. I need to get serious about uploading more pictures. I've certainly got plenty. Who knows. Maybe even some of my blog pictures might get accepted.

There was another package from Klout in the mailbox today. This time it was a big box of dog biscuits for Dot and Dash. They could smell them before I even opened the box. My influence seems to be limited to dogs and thermostats, but I can't complain. Free stuff is fun. Hey, with a cheeseburger in my belly and an empty to-do list for tomorrow, I'll have to admit that life is pretty good.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1696

Dot resumed her physical therapy today. She was only in the underwater treadmill tank for about eight minutes, but it was another big step toward her recovery. It's going to take a while for Dot to get her strength back since she's lost over six pounds, but she seemed eager to get started. We'll start going for short physical therapy sessions twice a week now until she gets stronger. Dot had acupuncture today as well, but we'll only do that once a week.

Today was a good day. We're still waterproofing the bed and taking Dot out in the middle of the night to pee, but once she had her breakfast this morning, there were no further accidents for the rest of the day. Our vet said that if the incontinence still hasn't diminished within several weeks, we might want to consider giving her Incurin. This drug is basically a natural estrogen hormone and has proved effective in treating incontinence in older female dogs. All drugs have side effects though, so we're going to be patient and let nature take its course first. If Dot can continue to improve without hormones or additional meds, it would be much better.

Out of necessity, I've turned into a morning person. I walk Dash before sunrise now, so Janet can stay with Dot until I get back. It is surprising nice outside this early in the morning. Considering that it was only in the mid-seventies when we took our sunrise walk, it was hard to believe that it got all the way up to 103 later in the afternoon. Needless to say, our afternoon walks are much, much shorter. Dot gets a walk too, but hers are measured in feet instead of miles. The vet says this exercise is very good for her, as long as we do everything in moderation. Each day we go a little further, but Dot still tires easily and we don't want to overdo it.

I joined another stock photography site today. This one was different than the others. Instead of uploading tons of photos to an online stock catalog, potential photo buyers post their photo requirements and budget on the site and members can look through their own image libraries to see if they have an image that comes close. If you think you have what the buyer need, you upload the image to the site. If the art director or photo buyer likes your image, you can then negotiate your own terms. The concept is more like having an online photo rep than a traditional stock house. I like this concept a lot more than uploading tons of images to a stock photography site that ultimately sells your images for pennies. Maybe I won't make a dime with this new venture, but the allure of passive income remains strong. What have I got to lose? I have thousands and thousands of images just sitting on hard drives. I've got to believe that some of them might be exactly what someone is looking for. It's worth a shot anyway.

I'm trying to decide whether to go out for breakfast tomorrow morning. Dot certainly did well when I went to the bank and post office yesterday. It doesn't take me long to eat breakfast anyway and I sure am hungry.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1417

It was a busy day. After walking the dogs and eating breakfast at my favorite restaurant, I went to help a friend get a website set up. We accomplished everything we needed to do over a cup of coffee at Starbucks while using public WiFi. Before I finished my coffee, we were done. It was that easy. In a nutshell, this is why there is no money in website design anymore. Well, there's no money in designing private websites anyway. As we've all learned recently, there's apparently still plenty of money available to design websites for the government. Maybe I should have bid on designing HealthCare.gov myself. My site might have crashed too, but the cost would have been way lower than the reported $112 million that the government has already paid the main contractor.

I found a moth hole in the suit I wore to last Wednesday's networking breakfast. I went to a tailor in the neighborhood to see if they could fix the suit. They said that they probably could, but that the cost for reweaving would be $70 per moth hole. Jeez, it's tiny little moth hole. I hope I don't have a lot of moth holes. I'd better check the rest of my suits to make sure that they aren't riddled with $70 holes. It's been ten years since I've worn some of these suits, so the moths have had a long time to do their dirty work. The odd thing about these old suits is that they are back in style again. Lapels, pleats, and fabrics have changed quite a bit over the years, but now they are right back where they started from. I kind of lucked out, since my weight is right back where it started from as well.

As an experiment, I've been submitting some of the same photos to both Shutterstock and iStockphoto. As you might expect, some get accepted and some get rejected, but there is no consistency between these two stock photo sites. Since both sites are incredibly picky about the images they accept, you'd think they'd reject the same images. Nope! An image that has too much grain for Shutterstock might be just fine for iStockphoto. An image that iStockphoto considers out of focus might be perfect for Shutterstock. There is no rhyme or reason to the process. I've had pictures taken with an iPhone accepted and pictures taken with a Hasselblad rejected. Go figure!

I'm not really looking forward to the change back to Standard Time this weekend. I can always get up a little later to walk the dogs in the morning, but there's no escaping sunset anymore when I walk the dogs in the evening. I try my best to avoid walking the dogs after dark. The coyotes start coming out around dusk and I'd hate to be attacked by a pack of them. I know that some people say coyotes aren't a threat to anybody, but it is well documented that urban coyotes are losing their fear of humans. I just don't trust them.

It looks like we're going to have another beautiful weekend. Since the grass is still growing in the front yard, I might have to drag out the lawn mower one last time.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1414

I noticed today that I've already made 25 cents from Shutterstock. Hey, it's only a matter of time before the money starts rolling in. It's kind of sad that people's creative efforts have so little value on the Internet, but that's just the way it is. Today's art directors routinely purchase fantastic stock images for just a few dollars that used to cost them thousands. At least photographers can upload a ton of images to a stock photography site and forget about them. Internet writers don't have that luxury. Writers are faced with coming up with custom solutions for pennies.

A certain amount of the writing I do is Internet-based. I'm always complaining about how low the pay scale is, but I have it so much better than some Internet writers. Some of these sites that pay for content advertise that writers can make as much as $3 to $10 dollars an article. Give me a break! This is no way to make money. I went through most of my career thinking that commercial writers should make a minimum of a dollar a word or $100 an hour. All I've got to say is that times have certainly changed.

Today was certainly a lot busier than yesterday. The dogs seemed to have regained their energy and wanted to go on a long walk. There were phone calls to answer and deadlines to meet. I paid some bills, updated a few websites, and finished another article.

I worked fast, because I was determined to get to the gym today. Working out three days a week seems just about right. Unfortunately, all it takes are a few snags in my schedule and those three days can easily turn into zero days. I lucked out today and everything clicked into place. I took Dash to the vet for his antigen shot, picked up some dry cleaning, went to the post office, and still made it to the gym before 4 PM.

I'm going to need some more good luck to make it through tomorrow. All the local weather forecasts are predicting severe weather tomorrow. I dread taking Dot to her acupuncture appointment during a thunderstorm. She gets so stressed out during storms that it would defeat the whole purpose of the acupuncture. The acupuncture session is supposed to relax you and thunderstorms have exactly the opposite effect on Dot. If the weather is bad enough, I'm just going to cancel tomorrow's appointment. If there is hail in the forecast, I'm not leaving the house at all. After Janet's car was severely damaged in a hailstorm several years ago, I've become very wary about driving in bad weather. We'll see what happens. Texas weather is very unpredictable. I could wake up to clear skies tomorrow.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1409

I got accepted as a Shutterstock contributing photographer today. I'll be interested to see if Shutterstock is any different than iStockphoto. I've been a contributing photographer with iStockphoto for five years now and only make a few dollars a year. Granted, I haven't made much of an effort, but it's just so much trouble to get photos accepted. I wish these stock photo agencies would let you upload a big batch of photos and not require you to add titles and keywords until after the photos were accepted. I can't even tell you how much time I've wasted writing elaborate descriptions of photos that didn't make the cut.

Even though the amount I currently make from stock photography and Google AdSense ads is miniscule, I'm still intrigued with the idea of passive income. It's all a matter of scale. Right now, I only have 10 photos on iStockphoto and another 10 on Shutterstock. If I had the patience to upload a minimum of 1000 photos, I might actually start making some real money. In theory, this is certainly possible. I certainly have thousands of decent photos in my files. So far, it just hasn't been worth the effort to upload them. The photos aren't doing me any good just sitting on my hard drive though. If I could bring myself to move them all from the hard drive to the stock photo servers, it might turn into a nice little retirement income someday.

Dot was very tired today. We didn't even get halfway through our morning walk before she wanted to turn around and go home again. Her condition varies from day to day. Some days she is active and full of energy. On other days, she is so stiff that she can hardly move. When we got home, Dot slept for the next four hours. When she woke up again, she was fine. We took our evening walk after dinner, and Dot had no trouble keeping up with Dash. Something is obvious wrong with the girl, but it isn't anything that shows up on X-rays, MRI scans, or blood tests. Her vital signs look extremely good for an older dog.

It was a busy day. I got two websites updated and finished all my writing assignments. Since I finished my work with time to spare, I went to the gym as well. Tomorrow, I've got to remember to get some more blood tests done before I go out for my Friday breakfast. When the blood work is finished, I'll celebrate by having some bacon.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day