Day 3659

Another decade is drawing to a close. This is my seventh decade on this planet and I'm still having trouble with these arbitrary measurements. We use these ten year blocks of time to neatly classify pop music and identify trends, but if we didn't use the decimal system, the whole concept of a decade would be meaningless. There isn't even a compelling reason to start the year on January 1st. Wouldn't it make more sense to start the year on the shortest or longest day of the year? Nope. We start the year on January 1st because in 46 B.C. Julius Caesar decided it was time to reform the Roman lunar calendar and go back to the way the Egyptians measured time. He chose to start his new Julian solar calendar on January 1st. to honor Janus, the god of new beginnings. The day stuck, despite the fact that the Chinese still start the year between January 21 and February 21 and the Hebrew calendar begins in the Fall. March 1, March 25 and Dec. 25 were all considered New Year’s Day at various points in history. Go figure.

I got waitlisted again for an upcoming launch at Kennedy Space Center. This is the second time I've been waitlisted in recent months. There is kind of a community of folks who obsess about these NASA invitations. It doesn't take long to learn who got accepted and who didn't make the cut. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the selection process. Sometimes you can get selected several times in a row. And then there are long dry spells where your application seems to be ignored. It is easy to be disappointed when your applications isn't selected. After you've been to one launch, you want to go to all of them.

There's still a chance that I may get press credentials to attend the Solar Orbiter launch, but that remains to be seen. I'm still a little unsure how the press accreditation process works and my contacts at the magazine that would be sponsoring me are out of the office on Christmas vacation. This will all be resolved in due time, but it's hard to be patient when nothing else is going on.

I added all the new dogs to the Dalmatian Rescue website today. Considering that none of the dogs would stay still, I think the pictures came out pretty good. This is the only website I maintain anymore. I don't even update my own site these days. I used to maintain dozens of different websites and was busy making additions and changes every single day. Those days are long gone. Most of my old clients retired even before I did.

Janet and I found a forgotten bottle of champagne in the back of a kitchen cabinet, so we will toast in the New Year if we can manage to stay awake for a few more hours. Other than a very sad day last April, 2019 wasn't a bad year. You can always hope the new year will be better though. Hope keeps you moving forward. Here's hoping that all of you find yourselves happy and fulfilled in the year ahead.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3620

I got waitlisted for the Starliner launch. This pretty much means that I won't be going. Not a lot of people get invited to these launches and very few decide that they don't want to go after they receive an invitation. Cancelations do happen but they are rare. Hey, at least I got accepted to one of the two events I applied for. Strangely, I think there will be more cancelations  for the Michoud Assembly Facility event. It begins at 7 AM. Why so early? I was hoping to fly to New Orleans on the same day as the event to avoid an extra night in a hotel. That's not going to happen. The earliest flights leaving Dallas won't get me there in time.

It rained a lot last night but I haven't been up on the roof yet. It was a windy, cold day and I didn't feel like dealing with the standing water. I'm going to have faith in my repairs and wait until the weather warms up a bit. I may regret this decision, but so far there are no signs of a leak. I think the weather will be much warmer on Sunday. Let's see if I can postpone this awful task for a few days.

The highway department is closing down our street again tonight. Something major must be happening with the bridge construction again. This new shutdown only lasts for one day, so there won't be as much of a disruption as there was before. It will be a little harder to go to the grocery store tomorrow, but it will be a lot easier to get out of the driveway without any traffic. I still don't know why they are replacing this bridge. So far, the new bridge doesn't look any bigger or better than the old one.

Everybody is already making fun of Tesla's new pickup truck. They are saying that this Bladerunner inspired design won't be popular. This is probably true because it appears that the target market is me. I like this thing, even though I will probably never buy an electric car because I'm deeply suspicious of lithium ion batteries. I admire the fact that nothing appears to slow Elon Musk down. His spaceship blew up in Boca Chica a couple of days ago and his live test of the Tesla pickup's shatterproof windows was a disaster. These problems will be fixed and Musk will just keep moving along. I still think he's going to get to Mars before NASA.

It was still raining when I woke up this morning, so I didn't go out for breakfast. I probably would have stayed home even if it had been a nice day. It was a good run while it lasted, but I'm starting to get tired of my Friday breakfast outings. I've tried everything in dozens of restaurants and nothing appeals to me anymore. I just had a bowl of cold cereal and a cup of coffee today. I think I need to start buying more fruit so I can have my smoothie on Friday as well.

I'm disappointed that I won't be able to visit the Dalmatians next Monday. I just realized that I have an appointment with the eye doctor and it's too late to change it. Actually the NASA event in New Orleans begins on a Monday as well. I need to do a better job of planning ahead. I need to block out Monday's on my calendar forever. It's really the only good day to spend a lot of time with the dogs. The kennel is too busy on other days.

I guess I'd better put a bucket out tonight. I don't think the roof will leak, but you never know. Better safe than sorry I say.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day