Day 2471

Apparently, I'm not the only person dealing with frustration. Every call I got today involved some sort of frustration. Information wasn't correct on a website. Paypal deposits weren't being transferred properly. Responsibilities weren't being delegated. None of these problems were caused by me, but I did my best to fix them. In one case I had to get a new set of passwords to access a problematic website. Apparently I had been replaced and I didn't even realize it. The person who replaced me did a sloppy job and now the client wanted me back again. Sure, whatever. I had been completely oblivious to all the drama going on behind my back.

I'm glad I'm nearing the end of my working career. The work world seems so chaotic now. All my clients seem more stressed out than they used to be. Everybody is being squeezed. Customers are demanding more. Employees are becoming less reliable. The pace of change is definitely accelerating.  I haven't been responsible for hiring people for a long time. If I were faced with hiring millennials today, I think I would just throw up my hands in despair.

None of my own frustrations were work related today. Most of them involved my deteriorating roof. It must have rained a lot harder than I though the other day, because there was still a ton of standing water up on the roof. When I pumped the water away and swept the roof dry, I discovered even more damaged areas where the elastomeric coating had peeled away from the roof's surface. There are more than a dozen serious bad spots now. The roofer is ignoring me too. I've called several times and sent multiple e-mail messages, but have yet to get a response. I don't know where this is going. The patches don't seem to be working and the roofer clearly doesn't want to give me an entirely new roof.

Dot still seems tired and sore. She is slowly recovering from her fall last week, but I don't think she's ready for physical therapy yet. It's looks like I'm going to have to cancel our Wednesday appointment. Dot would probably still benefit from acupuncture, but it's difficult to travel with her in the car. Unless she's feeling pretty good, the adverse effects of the car ride negate any benefits she might receive from therapy.

I would like to think that tomorrow will be different than today, but it probably won't. I'll turn on the television in the morning and hear the same news about terrorism and political circuses. I'll fix the same fruit smoothie for breakfast, hoping that the bananas have ripened a bit. Dash will interrupt my breakfast with non-stop barking and Dot will poop when I least expect it. There will probably be websites to update, but none of the changes will be of any consequence. I'll look for something to photograph for tomorrow's blog post. My shoulder will hurt and I'll think about taking a nap, but the day will be over before I get around to it. Then it will be Wednesday.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1598

Dash appears to be getting depressed. He is lethargic and spends most of the day sleeping under my desk. He isn't even interested in taking his walks anymore. I called the cancer center to explain what was going on and as expected, they told me that this was normal for the final stages of radiation treatment. They said I should put him back on Tramadol, because a lot of this behavior could be explained by pain. "Dogs don't always react to pain the same way we do," the nurse told me. This made me feel bad, because just two days ago I was convinced that his odd behavior was actually caused by the pain medication. It doesn't really help that we were warned about everything that is happening now. It is still very unsettling.

When I went to see my hepatologist today, I kind of expected some sort of graduation ceremony. Hey, I was finished, wasn't I? Instead, I just received another blood test and an appointment to come back again in three months. After the three month test, I will come back for yet another test six months after that, and then once a year for the foreseeable future. "You guys are being pretty cautious," I told the hepatologist. "Does this disease ever come back again?" "Very rarely," she said, "but it does happen."

My doctors and veterinarians have been able to accomplish some amazing things, but they are still very cautious about making promises. I guess they have good reason to be cautious. Life is complex and full of surprises. When I think of what happened with my parents as they got older and the outcomes of past illnesses and injuries, I'll have to admit that I was seldom prepared for what actually happened. Sometimes the results were much better than I expected, and other times they were worse. What doctors really offer is hope. There are no guarantees in life.

At least Dash only has two more radiation treatments to go. There is one tomorrow and the final treatment is on Monday. The oncologist and the entire team at the cancer center love Dash. They also thing he is doing extremely well, despite the discomfort he is experiencing now. This should be reassuring, but I'll just be glad when this long journey is over. If Dash could talk, I'll sure he would agree.

Work was very, very busy today. There was nothing to get excited about, but nothing that could be ignored either. Janet is even busier than I am. She leaves before sunrise and returns long after sunset. I think we both thought we would be taking it easy by now, but like I mentioned earlier, life is full of surprises and there are no guarantees. You've just got to take things one day at a time. Our dogs are still with us and a lot of hard work allows us to take care of them properly. I guess that's a fair bargain.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1597

When I called to confirm my appointment at the liver center tomorrow, they congratulated me on taking my last pills today. I told them that I'd actually taken my last pills yesterday, and they seemed confused. "Do you think you lost a pill," the nurse asked me? Nope. I took every last one of them. I think I know what had happened but it would be hard to prove things at this point. The first batch of pills arrived a day earlier than expected and when I called the liver center to let them know that they'd arrived, whoever I talked to on the phone said to go ahead and start taking them immediately. They must have left the original projected start date on a spreadsheet somewhere. This just proves that if you do anything long enough, the inevitable memory fog trumps everything. I vaguely remember starting the pills one day early, but my memory of the whole situation is a bit suspect as well.

I've started to notice that when we tell the nurses at the cancer center that we're worried that Dash might be in pain, they give us a prescription for pain pills. When we worry about  infections, they give us an antibiotic.  When we say nothing, they give us nothing. So, are they just giving us these pills to keep us happy, or are they actually prescribing them because Dash really needs them? I don't know. Pain pills and antibiotics are among the most over prescribed medications for both animals and people. I think doctors have gotten used to passing out pills like candy because their patients demand them. We are a nation hooked on pills. I wish I knew if Dash really needed these additional pills, but he's not talking. I hate unnecessary medication, especially antibiotics. On the other hand, antibiotics are absolutely necessary at times. How do you know if you're are doing the right thing? The information I received about supplements from my nutritionist was largely proved wrong and some of stuff I took did more harm than good. Several medications my doctors wanted me to take ten years ago are now featured on those 1-800-BAD-DRUG commercials you see on TV.  Things change all the time, and doctors and vets, like everyone else, are far from infallible. All that being said, they know far more than I do about health and healing, so I usually do exactly what they tell me.

My work load is starting to wear me out. One of the animal rescue sites I maintain has tripled the number of animals in their program. I am constantly adding and subtracting adoptable pets from their website. As soon as I finish processing one batch of animals, there's another waiting for me the next day. Writing has been erratic lately as well. If I knew exactly what I was facing, it would be easier to plan. Now, I'm usually in a situation where I'll go several days with nothing and then have a ton of website and writing projects all due on the same day. I must have been dreaming when I though that I might be able to retire to a tropical island when I turned 55. If you have a small business in today's economy, you're probably doomed to keep working forever.

I had to pick up some more groceries on my way to get Dash this afternoon. The combination of trying to eat healthy, fresh food and being busy all the time is causing me to have to go to the grocery store a lot more often than I used to. You can't stock up on a week's worth of fresh vegetables and expect them all to stay fresh forever. I've started to buy food as I need it, but it's a lot of trouble. Life was so much easier when I could just pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer and grab a beer from the refrigerator.

Tomorrow, the dogs get their monthly heartworm pills. It's trash day as well, so I'll need to remember to take the garbage can out to the curb. Sooner or later, it will be Friday again. I can't wait.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1270

I think the roof is finished. Today, the roofers spent their time doing small stuff like painting and caulking. They explained why water leaked through the kitchen door the other day and said they fixed the problem. They explained how they managed to kill a big patch of grass in the front yard, but promised it would grow back. I expect they'll return next week to haul away the huge pile of debris in the side yard, but I doubt that I'll see much more work up on the roof.

I hope this long, involved, and expensive process was worth it. I'm certain the roof will be waterproof for a while, but I don't think I'll know whether I got a really good roof until three or four years from now. Between now and then, it's just a lot of of hope and empty promises.

My beloved Jawbone UP band went kaput today and I had to take it to the Apple store to exchange it. I've only had the activity band for a few months, but I've been reading on the Internet that hundreds of people have been having the same problem that I am. It's the battery. It initially holds a charge for ten days. Then you start noticing that it will only hold a charge for five days. After about three months, things get worse rapidly. Yesterday, the UP band would only hold a charge for an hour or two, no matter how long I tried to recharge it. It's a shame that such an innovative product is so unreliable. The first version of the UP activity tracker was a disaster. The company had to recall just about every model it sold. Now the second version of the product seems as if it's going to suffer the same fate. If a non-replaceable battery is only going to last three months in a product that costs hundreds of dollars, I don't think many people are going to be all that excited to buy it.

I still haven't managed to get caught up with my work yet. I spent the day revising websites and writing articles, just like I usually do, but there is still a lot of uncompleted business. Maybe I'll work this weekend and see it I can get things finished. I don't like to work on weekends, but I dislike unfinished projects even more.

I noticed that the power company crew cut down part of a tree in my backyard when they were restoring the power last night. I guess they needed better access to the telephone pole where they replaced a transformer. Or maybe they just don't like tree limbs anywhere near their wires.All I know is that whenever a power company crew comes near the house, I lose a few more tree limbs.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. The weather looks nice and I definitely could use a little rest. I was so tired this week that I literally fell asleep sitting at the computer a few times. It would be so much better if I slept well at night, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1255

Today was disheartening at best. I went up and took a look at what was underneath the roof when the roofers pulled the old roof off the carport this morning. What I saw was a lot of old, warped, and rotting wood. The house is hopeless. To bring everything back to the way it was when it was new would require building the house all over again from scratch. I need to keep reminding myself that even though the house looks very contemporary, it is actually quite old. Most mid-century modern homes are over fifty years old by now. I reluctantly told the roofers to replace the rotted wood and just leave the warped wood alone. I simply can't afford to replace everything.

Work was equally disheartening. I spent the day going back and forth about travel arrangements with a client who couldn't seem to accept the fact that that last minute reservations can be quite expensive. If we had agreed on everything a month ago, these expenses would have been more reasonable. At any rate, things just cost what they cost. I like things simple. If you can afford it, I'll do a good job for you. Hell, I'll do a great job. If you can't afford it, it's no big deal. Don't waste a lot of time trying to renegotiate everything. I'm happy enough to just stay here and walk the dogs like I usually do.

The Land Rover still hasn't called me back about my car. I'm beginning to think they lost it. I'm torn between driving up to the dealership and demanding to know what's going on, and just forgetting about the whole thing and continuing to drive the new LR4 for the rest of the Summer. The dealership just doesn't seem to care how long I keep the loaner car.

When the roofers pulled the old roof off the carport today I asked them to be real careful about leaving nails in the driveway. The last roof I put on, I ended up getting two flat tires from hidden nails the roofers had left behind in the driveway. They assured me that there would be no stray nails when they let this evening, telling me that they had a special magnetic tool that could find all of them. After the crew left for the day, I went out in the driveway and quickly found at least ten roofing nails. Did I mention that this entire day has been disheartening.

The dogs seemed happy enough today. I should have taken my cue from them and just taken a long nap. I certainly wouldn't have been any further behind than I am right now. There was a lot of wheel spinning today, but not much forward motion. At least it's Friday tomorrow. There's even a three day weekend to look forward to. I think I'm going back to the restaurant that has my favorite Black Bean Benedict tomorrow morning. I've had about all the oatmeal I can handle this week.

Willie 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

Day 1015

I won't bore you with what I did today. Why? Well, maybe because I did exactly the same things as I did yesterday. Tomorrow will be the same as well. It's going to be a very busy week. My activities ranged from steam turbines to a 40 pound cat, but it wasn't as interesting as it might seem. Basically, days like this are just a lot of typing.

My Google Analytics stats have been depressing lately. Now that Adgitize and Entrecard are both gone, my blog traffic has slowed to a trickle. I know that some of you think that visitors from these blogging networks weren't really interested in reading your blog, but I beg to differ. Almost every interesting blog I've ever discovered came directly as a result of participating in the Adgitize and Entrecard networks. Without them, it's just going to be a bit harder to keep up with my favorite bloggers.

It's time for my annual physical again. I'm pretty good about eating the right foods and getting plenty of exercise, but I still don't look forward to these physicals. I'm just tired of hearing that my blood sugar and PSA levels are on the high side. I'm tired of wondering about the differences between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. I definitely don't want to add any more meds to the growing pile I already take every day. Truthfully, I'm in better physical shape than I was fifteen years ago, but it's hard to feel that way. I've had to give up drinking and lost my tolerance for alcohol in the process. Now, even a glass or two of wine with dinner will keep me up half the night. The statins I take are starting to cause muscle atrophy. For the first time in my life, I'm feeling old.

I kept thinking I heard the raccoon last night. When I got up and looked out the window, there was nothing. Maybe I just dreamed I heard the raccoon. I have a feeling that the raccoon and the armadillo may have moved on to greener pastures. The backyard is so torn up right now that I don't think these animals could do any more damage if they tried.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1003

A good haircut is kind of like a car that has been freshly washed and waxed, or clean sheets on the bed. These things make you feel like life is a little more neat and orderly than it actually is. I like that feeling. Betty did a good job today and I walked away feeling I was ready for anything. When I was leaving the Northpark Mall, I stopped by the Apple store. The UPS man said they were already delivering the new iPhones to the store and I thought they might have one on display. No such luck. Apple is far too orchestrated to display anything early. I'll have to wait until next Friday like everyone else.

I spent most of the day building web pages for the new employees I had photographed yesterday. I also photographed some existing employees. When I was editing the images in Photoshop, I noticed that I had photographed a few people at this company four or five times already. When I put these photos side-by-side, I noticed something interesting. The first photos in the series showed bright and eager faces that were full of enthusiasm. With each succeeding year, you could see the stress of the job start to take it's toll. By year five, everyone just looked tired. It wasn't age I was seeing. It was something else. I'm glad I don't have a boss or office politics to deal with. I'd look terrible by year five. My advice if your company requires you to display your picture publicly is to stick with the first picture you ever take. It's not going to get any better.

It rained today, so I had to plan my schedule around Dot's panic attacks. She's getting so old that I'm scared of leaving her alone in a thunderstorm. I'd feel terrible if she had a stroke or something while I was gone. Luckily, I have my trusty weather radar app on the iPad. I've gotten remarkably good at scheduling things between rainstorms. Everything worked out fine. When I went to get my haircut, my car didn't even get wet. For those two hours it was completely dry.

I watched a bit of Neil Armstrong's memorial service while I was eating breakfast this morning. Several people said that the country needed more men like Neil Armstrong. That was probably an understatement. Neil led a relatively quiet life after his trip to the moon. He never tried to capitalize on his fame. There were no multi-million dollar book deals. He refused to give autographs and never got tangled up in politics. He even sued his barber once when the barber tried to sell his hair to a collector. To me, this all added up to integrity: something that is currently in very short supply.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 986

I hope today wasn't a precursor to what I have to look forward to during the rest of the week. I was way too busy today. I'm still trying, without a lot of success, to work my way out of last week's backlog. Today was video editing day. I cut together several short videos and managed to get one shipped off to the client. The editing would have gone a lot smoother if I wasn't constantly interrupted by other things. I have a feeling that this is the new normal. Instead of having the luxury of working three weeks on a project, I'm given three hours instead. Lord help me if I decide to skip a day. Skip three days and I'm screwed. With a steady succession of small tasks that command equally small budgets, the only way to succeed is to keep moving. I've more of less mastered this treadmill, but I regret that I never realized just how good I had it fifteen years ago.

One thing did please me today. One of the impromptu videos I put together about the WWD Magic show looked just as good as a similar video put together by a local Las Vegas TV news crew. The news crew had a cameraman, a sound man, an announcer, a producer, and lots of expensive equipment. I just had me. When I saw the news crew photographing some of the same stuff I was, I was afraid they would make my own video look pitiful. The two videos ended up looking very similar however. Both were hurried and rushed. I guess nobody has the luxury of a three week deadline anymore.

The dogs are the only ones who still seem to lead the life of luxury. Dot and Dash consistantly get up late, eat frequently, and are always looking to be entertained. Luckily, it's easy to entertain a dog. If people were even half as accomodating, life would be good.

Tomorrow, I've got another video to edit, along with the usual array of short articles and website updates. If I can find the time, I need to look for an arborist to finish the job of removing the tree on the roof. Hmm. I wonder how much that is going to cost?  If experience is any guide, getting rid of the fallen tree will cost me a lot more than I could earn for a similar amount of effort. I can't complain though. I tried to do the job myself and I failed. I'll always hire a pro when necessary. I hope my clients continue to feel the same way.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 985

I wouldn't make a very good lumberjack. I wrestled with the tree on the roof this afternoon with very limited success. It was easy enough to trim away the small leafy branches. Some of the smaller subsidiary branches came off pretty well too. It was when I got the tree whittled back to the trunk that I began to have problems. Each two to three foot log I sawed away from the trunk seemed to weigh about a hundred pounds. I never dreamed that trees were so heavy. When I got to the point that the remaining section of tree trunk was too thick for my humble reciprocating saw blade, I just gave up. From the amount of wood I was able to remove, I would guess that the remaining section of tree trunk weighs about the same as a small car. My poor roof gets no respect. At least the leafy branches cushioned the fall. Without them, the heavy tree trunk would probably be in my living room.

Dot and Dash were delighted to resume their weekend visits to the dog park.  They knew exactly where they were going and were both quite good in the car on the way to the park. The only snag in our little outing was an unexpected rain shower. After about twenty minutes at the park, it started to pour. We got the dogs back in the car just in time and drove home in a downpour.  I wonder if this sudden storm had anything to do with the approaching hurricane? It might have been one of the outermost rain bands. One thing we discovered is that rain in the car bothers Dot just as much as rain at home. She punctuated our journey with lots of frantic barking and shivering.

I still haven't managed to catch up with last week's accumulated workload. It would be nice to have a lot of projects already queued up, if it weren't for the fact that everybody wants their particular project done yesterday. Be patient folks. I'm working as fast as I can.

I fell asleep last night watching Willie Nelson perform with Merle Haggard and Ray Price on TV. I thought Willie looked old until Ray Price came on stage. The guy is in his late 80's and looked like he came straight to the concert from the rest home. The remarkable thing was that his voice still sounded fabulous. I guess the voice is the last thing to go. I remember seeing Pat Benatar recently. She certainly looked a little worse for wear, but when she started singing "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" it was 1979 again. Since I never could carry a tune to begin with, I wonder what will keep me vital and relevant as senility sets in. It certainly won't be my tree trimming abilities.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 983

I should have stayed another day in Vegas. I guess I wasn't thinking ahead. By returning to the office before the work week was actually over, I opened a big can of worms. I started receiving requests before I even finished breakfast to finish projects that people thought were already late. Jeez, if I'd just stayed one more day. That would have been enough to postpone all these attempts to cram an entire week's worth of work into a single day. Sure, I'd still have to play catch up on Monday, but the weekend definitely would have been nicer.

Needless to say, I was very busy today. Between the phone calls and all the replies to e-mail messages, I managed to update three websites, edit 100 photos in Photoshop, and write another article. Did I get everything done? Nope.

The dogs must have had a good time at the boarding kennel. I can't think of any other reason why they were so active today. They got us out of bed at least an hour earlier than usual, and once they had everybody up, there were places to go and things to do. Usually Dot and Dash are lethargic on a hot day like this. Today they were eager for activity. They raced around the back yard, got us to take them on long walks, did some energetic counter surfing during meals, and generally acted like puppies.  Maybe playing with other dogs for a week did them good.

I forgot to take the garbage out to the street last night. I actually totally forgot that it was Friday today, until the calls to get back to work started pouring in. Forgetting to take out the garbage isn't a good thing. Now we'll have to wait until next Friday, while the can gets filled to overflowing with the remnants of our seemingly excessive consumption.

There was no breakfast outing at a neighborhood restaurant this morning. I was too busy working. I guess it's just as well that this little ritual was disrupted. I've been eating breakfast in restaurants all week long.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 944

Do you procrastinate? I do. Although I get quite a bit done on most days, I am continually reshuffling the deck and putting the most loathsome tasks at the very bottom of my to do list. There is a downside to this strategy. If you haven't guessed it already, there comes a time when all the fun projects are finished and you are left with an endless list of things you never wanted to do in the first place.

I can probably stave off disaster for a few more days, but pretty soon I am going to have to buckle down and do the nasty Javascript coding for the pretty website shell I have already finished. Even worse, I'm going to have to rid our house of bugs. Bugs have been particularly bad this year. With dogs in the house, I hate to use insecticides. About the only safe way to exterminate the little beasties is to use a a special poison bait that you place inside your electric wall outlets where your pets can't reach it. This involves removing all the baseplates in the house and sometimes even unscrewing the metal outlet box itself. You put a little of the putty-like bait inside each outlet and light switch and then put all the baseplates back on again. This technique actually works, but the last time I did it, it took me all day. Yeah, I know that it's disgusting to think that bugs make their home in between your walls, but they do. I'd much rather have the bugs die quietly behind the sheetrock than inside the bathtub.

I woke up to sunlight this morning. The power is back on, all the battery devices are charged again, and life is back to normal. In a surprising move, the power company restored the electricity last night exactly when they said they would. Power outages are so common in our neighborhood that I've seriously considered getting a big backup generator. So, what stopped me from this practical solution to an ongoing problem? Well, the expense, for starters. A generator to power your television while you're camping is one thing, but a generator large enough to power your house and keep the air conditioner running is an entirely different animal. Not only is the generator itself quite expense, you then need to hire an electrician to install a switching system to take your generator power on or offline. This is not something that you would want to do yourself. If you hook things up wrong, you could end up sending your generator power back through the grid and fry the repairmen on the pole behind your house who is trying to restore your power. I've decided that a better solution is just to go to bed early when the power is out.

If there is anyone from the BBC reading this blog, please send some new episodes of Dr. Who and Top Gear over to the states. I think I've seen every available episode at least five times by now. Too bad these shows are the only thing I like on TV.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 870

I think I bit off more than I can chew today. I tried to plant grass as well as finish all my normal website updates and web articles. My ambitious plan might have worked if so many of my webmaster accounts hadn't called in their updates and revisions today instead of waiting until Friday like they usually do. I got several complex website updates finished and wrote a Mother's Day watch article. Unfortunately, there's still a lot more to finish tomorrow. Lots of sod got planted as well.  The right side of the yard is all finished now. Sadly, I sprained my ankle lugging the heavy sod around. I'm just not very good with manual labor tasks any more. Maybe if I just hired a bunch of Mexicans like the rest of the neighborhood seems to do, everything would be fine. I stubbornly continue to do everything myself though. It just seems right.

I've noticed that the butterflies in the park are already starting to disappear. Maybe the popular wisdom about butterflies only living for a week or two is really true. I certainly don't see them that often. For a few weeks in late April and early May, they're everywhere. Then they're gone. While they are around, butterflies are certainly hungry little creatures. A lot of the flowers they feast on have already been decimated. I'll miss these little guys. They're quite pretty and very easy to photograph.

I like my new real estate agent. We seem to be on the same wavelength. Usually real estate agents drive me nuts, but this one is quite pleasant and really seems to understand mid-century architecture and the people who buy it. I think the property will be up on the MLS website tomorrow.  It's certainly priced right for today's miserable housing market. Hopefully it will find a buyer soon.

I wonder if the dogs will walk on the new grass I planted today, or head straight for the remaining mud like they've been doing all week. I'll probably have to finish the entire lawn before I can curtail the mandatory paw inspection I have to make every time they come back in the house. I usually remember this necessary step, but when I forget, the dogs  inevitably head straight for the bed and I have to throw the sheets in the laundry again. Somehow, I can't talk about this kind of stuff with all my self important corporate clients. I know you guys will understand though. You're probably dealing with something even worse.

Milo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 727

Another gray, Winter day. I've noticed the Double-Crested Cormorants have returned to the lake, right on schedule. If there's a piling, or a pole, or even a dead branch in the water, you'll usually find a Cormorant sitting on top of it in the morning. The ducks usually fly away as we approach, but these Cormorants don't budge. Somehow, they know that nothing can touch them when they're sitting on a pole in the water.

I upgraded my laptop to Lion today. I really should have waited. I didn't realized how slow it was going to be to download an Apple operating system. Every time I've done a system upgrade before, I've done the installation using a CD or DVD. Trust me, installing using a disk is much faster than a WiFi download. Unfortunately, I think Lion is only available from the app store as a download. If everything continues to work fine on the laptop, I'll download the Lion software to my desktop computer in a couple of weeks. I'm always suspicious of major system upgrades, because inevitably, some essential piece of software no longer works.

Even eating cold cereal for breakfast this morning didn't give me enough extra time to catch up on things. I have a feeling that no matter how hard I work, or how many meals I forgo, I'm still not going to catch up before the end of the year. Today I did some necessary accounting and wrote my daily quota of watch articles. The website updates were minor and I think they can wait until another day. I did need to run some errands though, and by the time the shopping and a trip to the bank were finished, the day was over.

I need to find out when the cutoff date is for Christmas delivery on Amazon.com. I have a feeling that it might be pretty soon.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 723

What a busy day. We started with a very frosty walk through the park. I'm trying to get up a little earlier, so the day isn't half over before I even get started. It hasn't been an easy task though. I'm just not a morning person. Earlier is better though. Even after piddling around making French Toast for breakfast, I got started with my writing chores about an hour earlier than usual.

I saw something that amused me while I was walking the dogs this morning. A bird was making its nest inside the letter O of a sign that spelled out the word house on a building. This was quite literally a bird house. I took a quick picture with my iPhone, but it's times like these that make me wish I always carried a better camera with me at all times.

Writing work has been quite steady this month. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to write an article about how the color orange has become the fashion world's hot new color for 2012. Orange? You're kidding me. Orange still just says Halloween to me. In the packet of background materials I got for the story, there were pictures of models walking down the runway in outfits that looked suspiciously like the orange safety clothing road construction crews wear. Orange is evidently supposed to be the new black. Somehow I don't think a lot of women are going to be getting out their favorite little orange dress to go to holiday cocktail parties.

I actually ended up going to a holiday party myself today. It was an open house at my physical therapist's office. I really went to remind them about the video project they kept telling me they wanted to do several months ago. Of course, they didn't really remember much about the video when I got to the party, but it wasn't a total waste of time. The party was surprisingly festive for something being held at a medical facility. People were using the exercise machines, getting free massages and drinking lots of free beer and wine. I'm surprised they didn't serve bacon. Maybe this is why I like this place so much. No prescription medicine. No unnecessary surgery. Just lots of sensibly exercise.

I've got another doctor's appointment tomorrow. I doubt that this doctor will be serving me beer and wine. Hopefully, this will be my last doctor's appointment for the year. When I finish writing my article about the color orange, I'll start packing for the final Santa Paws photo event that takes place on Saturday. No rest for the weary this year.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 715

I feel like I'm competing in a very weird marathon. I've got work stacked up through the end of December that keeps me busy every single day. It's not like the old days where I had five or six high paying jobs every month and had the rest of the time to myself. The world has changed. Now, I have tons of tiny little jobs that pay virtually nothing individually. To make the same income I made ten or fifteen years ago, I have to keep churning this stuff out like a factory.

The continual stream of website updates, quickly written 400 word articles, and down-and-dirty video production is tiring. I no longer have the luxury of really thinking about what I'm doing. For the most part, I put my brain on autopilot, rush full speed ahead, and then correct the inevitable mistakes in the revision stages. Sometimes the final result is surprisingly good, but the effort is seldom fun. For most of my career my work really was fun. Where did that go? A few of my friends still tell me that their work is fun, but I don't believe them because they're all on Prozac.

Five or six years ago when I was still doing gallery shows, I had this vision of myself spending the rest of my life wandering around taking cool looking pictures and then displaying them in galleries and museums. After my first two gallery shows, it became obvious that this experiment was more of a hobby than an avocation. I got lots of complements at the gallery openings, but weeks later at the conclusion of each show, there were very few of the red dots that indicated a sale next to the pictures. At one memorable show, I actually spent more framing the pictures than I made from selling them.

If the market went up 400 points every day, I wouldn't feel so gloomy about the mechanics of earning a living. I could live quite nicely if every day were like today. Unfortunately, when I wake up tomorrow morning, I have a strong feeling that the world will still be broke and living beyond its means. If Angela Merkel sneezes, or Italian bond rates keep climbing, today's gains will evaporate in an instant. Hey, American Airlines went bankrupt today. I used to work on the American Airlines account when it was one of most successful and highly respected airlines in the world. How the mighty have fallen. Probably the only thing left in five years time will be the Apple stores, still selling iPads at full price in vacant shopping malls.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day