Day 2414

Sometimes I think I'm mildly autistic. I fixate on minuscule details that others don't even think about. When I shoot baskets at the gym, there are eight basketballs to choose from. Only one of them is properly inflated. It bewilders me that after three years, nobody has bothered to pump up the other seven basketballs. The one good ball looks scuffed and worn, because I'm probably not the only one who has noticed that the other balls are worthless. Why has nobody fixed this?

When I'm using the treadmill I don't try to achieve a targeted heart-rate. I don't necessarily try to walk a certain distance either. I just try to create a perfect triangle on the LED display by increasing the inclination and speed every time the blinking light moves to a new row. I don't even know what this means, but the display looks very pretty by the time I'm finished.

I don't really have a horse in the race, but I find myself being drawn to the ongoing political debate like a mosquito to a bug light. Maybe I'm just watching the conventions because I like a circus. So far, I haven't been disappointed. Ted Cruz gives a lengthy speech were he fails to endorse the nominee and is booed off the stage. Melania decides she likes some of Michelle's words better than her own and the resulting plagiarism controversy just causes everyone to comment on how beautiful she is and compare her to Jackie Kennedy. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is forced to resign in disgrace after leaked e-mails reveal that Bernie was right all along. The system was rigged. Instead of apologizing immediately for trying to use the fact that Bernie is a Jew to undermine his support in the South, party leaders immediately try to blame the Russians for the leaked e-mails, claiming that Putin is trying to get Trump elected. You really can't make this stuff up. Then, Obama's own brother joins the fray, saying that he is going to vote for Trump because he's mad that Obama killed his friend Muammar Gaddafi. And of course you can't forget that Nordstrom sold out of the dress Ivanka was wearing in just a matter of hours when the Instagram girls all decided they had to have it. In a country where people obsess over the Kardashians and Kanye West and can't even name all fifty states, I guess this is all pretty normal.

I am cursed to have an almost equal number of friends on both sides of the political fence. All of these people are freaking out about the Supreme Court. I find this troubling. I'm convinced that politicians and their followers are obsessed with the Supreme Court because they basically don't trust the voters. If you can pack the Supreme Court with people who agree with you, you don't have to worry about the fickle voters anymore. I really think that all these politicians should pay a lot more attention to voters. They should learn from history. There are consequences when you go around saying "Let them eat cake."

I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It is one of those routine annual exams where they make you wait in the lobby for an hour and spend five minutes with you when you finally get in to see them. I'm not going to the doctor as much as I used to. Maybe I'm actually healthier, or maybe I've just grown tired of doctors. It's hard to tell. Dash got a bath today, but I didn't bother vacuuming. At least something is a little cleaner.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2098

Strangely, I actually enjoyed going to the gym today. There's no danger of me becoming a CrossFit fanatic, or buying a bicycle, but it is nice to feel in control of your own body. My dislocated shoulder is very gradually becoming stronger. I'm not gaining weight, even though I'm starting to eat normal food again. I still see some muscle atrophy in my arms and legs, but there is no flab. I'm just thin. I've still got a long, long way to go. Even though I have a much greater range of motion than I did a year ago, my shoulder is still very shaky and I can't even do a single push up without knocking my shoulder out of joint.

I spend most of my time at the gym using the arm crank and an elevated treadmill. The arm crank, or hand bicycle, is often a lonely and largely unused piece of equipment in many gyms. That's good, because there's always one of these machines available for me. The arm crank is a great way to get an intense cardiovascular workout while strengthening your upper body. I always spend at least 20 minutes on the hand bike and another 20 minutes using a treadmill that lets you walk at a steep incline. These two exercises are not for fun. I do one to help stabilize my shoulder and the other to avoid losing bone density. For fun, I shoot, baskets at the free throw line and occasionally punch a heavy bag for a while. Add in several miles of dog walks each day and I'm really not in bad shape for an old geezer.

Sunday is definitely the physical day of the week. We typically attempt to clean the house on Sunday, which usually involves lots of vacuuming and scrubbing things. The house doesn't look much better when we're done, but the Dyson is full of dust, so we must have accomplished something.

Today's chores included writing a bio that Janet needed for her new company. "What do you want me to write," I asked her. "Oh, just make something up," she said. Hmm. Every time I'm asked to do this, I realize that I don't really know much about Janet after thirty years. She seemed happy with the result though. Just another advertising job with zero input from the client. 

After I wrote her bio, I fixed Janet's activity tracker. She said it was broken and was going to throw it away. I suspected that there was nothing wrong and did a soft-reset on the band and plugged it into my computer to recharge. Two hours later, it was as good as new. I've done the same procedure many times on my own Jawbone activity tracker. I like the little UP bands, but Jawbone's quality control is terrible. Jawbone has already replaced three defective bands for me and Janet has had several lemons as well. If Apple can ever come up with a way to get their watch battery to last overnight and add a decent sleep tracker app, I may stop using the Jawbone wrist band entirely.

Dot had a really good day today, although she didn't poop on her evening walk, which probably means we are in for trouble tonight. She is noticeably stronger than she was a month ago and is even starting to walk at a faster pace. I may be imagining things, but I think she is even starting to gain a little muscle mass back on her left rear leg. While we are working to help Dot get stronger, we are also working to help Dash gain confidence. We take him to the small dog park at least once a week, hoping that he will start to play with other dogs again. Progress has been slow, but at least he isn't running away from the other dogs now. He is the largest dog in the small dog park, but the other dogs seem to accept him. Everything is baby steps these days, but I think we're making progress.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1517

I'm surprised that the city didn't close the dog park today. It was sure pretty muddy when we arrived after breakfast. I'm glad they left it open though, because Dot and Dash both had a great time. Dash even found a playmate, a little black dog who seemed determined to show Dash how fast he was. It was fun seeing Dash lose his fearfulness for a moment and race around the park with his new found companion. After about 45 minutes, both dogs were ready to come home again and they spent the rest of the day curled up on their dog beds.

I returned to the gym this afternoon for the first time since my shoulder injury. I didn't attempt to do any lifting or upper body exercises. All I wanted to do today was burn calories and the treadmill worked fine for that. I hadn't spent much time on the treadmill before, and discovered that all the dog walking I do has actually been keeping me in pretty good shape. Thirty minutes on the treadmill is a lot easier than twenty minutes on the hand bicycle. It was interesting to see that if you control your breathing, your heart rate actually goes down, even if you are moving along at a pretty good clip. I need to figure out how to return to doing upper body exercises without destroying my shoulder all over again. Endurance I've got. It's strength that I need. Muscle atrophy is real as you get older. Dot is experiencing it, and so am I.

I tried to get a head start on my February invoices today. I'm so busy during the workweek now that's it's hard to find time for things like this. Invoices are important though. If I don't send them out, I don't get paid. It would be nice to go after some new, and possibly more interesting, business. This doesn't seem to be in the cards though. It's all I can do to keep up with the business I already have. Every day is more or less the same. I get up. I walk the dogs. I eat breakfast. I write an article. I feed the dogs lunch. I take a shower. I update my clients websites. I write another article. I feed the dogs dinner and walk them again. I eat my own dinner. I write my daily blog post. And I go to bed.

This is exactly what will happen tomorrow, with one small addition. We take the dogs to the vet early in the morning before they have their breakfast so they can both have blood tests. We need to to find out whether Dash has a vitamin-B deficiency and Dot just needs recent blood-work before we get her teeth cleaned. If the dogs aren't having a blood test, chances are that I am. My next test is on the 20th to see if the new Hepatitis-C medicine is working.

I was hoping for another sunny day today, but all I got was an absence of rain. The day started out pretty warm, but the temperature continued to drop as the day progressed. By morning, the chances are high that we will have returned to Winter again. Back and forth between the temperature extremes we go. I don't even think the ground hog could have predicted this.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1317

Dot did a lot better during her first water therapy session than I expected. She doesn't like water and she doesn't like surprises, but she adapted to the underwater treadmill surprisingly well. It took her a few minutes to figure out what the treadmill was all about, but after sliding to the back of the tank a few times she quickly got the hang of walking underwater. The whole experience is very non-threatening. The tank is dry when the dog initially walks inside and then the water level is very slowly raised as the treadmill starts to move. I can see how this would be great exercise for an older dog. With the water level around her chest, Dot began to take exaggerated high steps, working muscles that are typically unused in a normal day. I was very pleased with her first session. I am hoping that this type of low impact exercise will help keep her muscles from any further atrophy.

Health and fitness seems to be a growing theme in my life. When I'm not trying to improve my own deplorable condition, I'm doing my best to keep the dogs healthy. If you lump together the dog's lengthy morning and evening walks, my own trips to the gym, shopping excursions for healthy food, and all the doctor visits for blood work and scans, it's a wonder I have time for anything else at all. Maybe if I'd paid more attention to maintaining a healthy lifestyle during the first half of my life, some of this new found discipline wouldn't be necessary. I don't think I'd trade a life of bacon, burgers, and beer for a big plate of kale though. I really enjoyed all those years of gas guzzling cars and gut busting meals. A life of moderation would have been very boring.

The weather today was surprisingly mild. The weather reports on TV were predicting temperatures in the triple digits, but a surprise cold front blew through and left things almost twenty degrees cooler than I expected. There was a nice breeze when we took our morning walk and even though it warmed up quite a bit during the day, it was still pleasant when we went to dog training class this evening. Dot and Dash seemed to enjoy the temporary reprieve from the Texas heat. Both dogs did exceptionally well in class tonight. They didn't win any ribbons, but they didn't embarrass us either.

I should get a lot of writing and website work done tomorrow. I'm going to be stuck in the house all day, waiting for the appliance repairman to come fix the garbage disposal. Repairmen never come when they promise. If they give you a window of between 1 PM and 4 PM for a service call, it is almost inevitable that they will actually show up at 5:30 PM. Usually repairmen don't arrive until I've given up on them completely and have started to do something else. All will be forgiven though if the repairman is able to fix the disposal. I'm discovering that a functioning garbage disposal is a very essential appliance.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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