Day 1267

I think I bit off more than I can chew. I thought I could process 500 images in Photoshop today in plenty of time to send the color corrected files to my client this evening. Well, the FedEx man has come and gone and I've still got quite a few files left to color correct. I sure wish the auto white balance function on most DSLR cameras worked better. In run and gun situations where there are multiple light sources, I often have to go back and manually color correct each image. The large ballrooms I was shooting in at the Couture Show, were often lit by a combination of ambient, incandescent, fluorescent, and mercury vapor light. Since each of these light sources has a different color temperature and an on-camera flash is seldom enough to overpower the bright theatrical lighting, my best alternative is often Photoshop. That's what I did today. I looked for something in each image that I knew was true white, made it white again, and the rest of the image snapped into place. The pictures look great. They're just taking me longer than I thought to process.

Before I started my Photoshop marathon, I had a meeting with the roofers. We went up on the roof and they explained why filling in the little depressions where the roof has settled would just cause the puddles of standing water to shift to another part of the roof. Evidently, the high point on my roof on all four sides is the exterior edge. This is exactly the opposite of the way it should be and causes water to drain toward the center of the roof instead of spilling over the edge. The edge of a flat roof should always be the low point. Other than build an entirely new roof with a pitch to it, there just doesn't seem to be a way to get my roof to drain properly. My advise to all first-time homeowners: don't ever buy a house with a flat roof.

I don't think the dogs like Photoshop. I tend to move around more when I'm writing, and when I move around, the dogs get more attention. I often wander around the house and even go outside when I'm thinking about where to go next on a writing project. Sometimes I get my best headline ideas when I'm not sitting at the computer. Photoshop is much different. A big Photoshop project usually involves lots of repetitive actions. I crop and re-size images. I color correct and eliminate blemishes. I add meta tag information. It's not brain surgery, but it can be time consuming.

Tomorrow looks like another busy day. The roofers will be back. The road crew in front of the house will be back. I've got some website revisions to make and another article is due. First on the docket though is getting all the images processed and burned to a disk, so I can drop them in an envelope and take it to a Fedex drop-off. Poor Dot might have to end up waiting another couple of days for her acupuncture session.

Faith is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1266

I had another one of my periodic meetings with my financial adviser today. The guy is a technical analyst and it's taken me a while to come around to his disciplined point of view. After four years, I'm finally starting to become a believer. I used to pick strong, well run companies without paying much attention to the technicians. I pretty much ignored support and resistance levels and didn't know a moving average from a Bollinger band. The world has become too volatile to just pick a good company and forget about it, unfortunately. Companies rapidly go in and out of fashion, just like everything else these days. Just about only consistent thing left is that history still tends to repeat itself. The cyclic and somewhat repetitive nature of history is the basis for most technical analysis. People like my financial adviser look at past performance and try to make an educated guess about the future.

The flaw in this type of thinking is that nobody can really predict the future. Even though history does tend to repeat itself, it can also throw you a curve and totally surprise everyone. I have discovered that technical analysts like my financial adviser aren't right all the time, but they do seem to be right more than half the time. Since I was wrong about Apple and I was wrong about the natural gas industry, I'm going to give technical analysis a little more respect in the future.

When my meeting was over, I returned to the office and began to edit and color correct the image files I shot in Las Vegas. This can be a long and tedious process when you have over 500 images to process. Although I seldom get paid to do this, I almost always color correct my image files before sending them to the client. At the Couture Show, I was shooting in an environment where your subject might be lit by a combination of ambient, incandescent, fluorescent, and mercury vapor light all at the same time. It is often hard to color correct these types of shots, because when you balance one of the lighting sources, you often throw one of the others off even further. I do my best to color correct the faces or whatever is the center of interest and let the rest of the image fall where it may. It's a slow process and not surprisingly, I didn't get finished today.

I heard the roofers up on the roof today, but didn't have time to go see what they were doing. After they left for the day, it was unclear whether they did anything at all. The roof is still a long way from being finished and I'm beginning to wonder how long this is going to take. I'm fairly certain that the roof will be finished before the road crew finishes re-paving the road in front of my house. Nothing moves slower than road construction.

I need to get Dot back on schedule with her acupuncture therapy. We had to skip one session while I was out of town and she lost another session due to bad weather. Since the acupuncture treatments seem to be showing some positive results, it's time to get things back on schedule. When I went up to visit with my financial adviser this afternoon, I noticed that there was an acupuncturist right next door to his office. Maybe I ought to start seeing this guy whenever I have a financial review. Acupuncture is supposed to be great for relieving stress and talking about money is always stressful for me.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1265

It was a beautiful day with clear skies and a light breeze. The dogs got to frolic in the sun at the dog park and I had plenty of time to catch up on some much needed yard work. I mowed the grass, watered the shrubs, and enjoyed one of those brief moments when everything looks nice for a change. I certainly wasn't the only one taking advantage of the nice weather. The park was filled with picnickers and the lake was dotted with small sailboats. I'm always in a better mood when I can see my own shadow, and sunny days where it's still cool enough to open the windows are the best. From the looks of things in the park this afternoon, there appear to be a lot of people who would agree with me.

I thought I'd re-arrange all the partitions in my camera case, based on how I used my equipment in Las Vegas. It would be nice if the things you used the most were right at the top for easy access. After spending an hour or so peeling away the Velcro partitions and re-attaching them somewhere else, I ended up with a configuration much worse than when I started. I guess this just proves that sometimes it's better to leave things well enough alone.

I sure wish I could have left my diet alone. It's much harder than I thought to avoid salt, sugar, and wheat entirely. While we were eating dinner tonight there was this baking competition show on TV and it made me really hungry. The show was basically like Top Chef, except that the contestants just baked pies and other pastries. I love pie. Unfortunately pie is the poster child for things I shouldn't eat. A good pie is chock full of salt, sugar, butter, and flour. I'll just have to learn to enjoy my Kale.

I discovered why there were so many tasty things that actually were on my diet when I was staying at the Wynn. It turns out that Steve Wynn is a vegan and he insists that all his restaurants have choices on the menu that he could eat. I guess that explains why there was such a variety of astoundingly good vegetable dishes. If you're a vegetarian with plenty of money, the Wynn is definitely where you want to go.

I don't want to go back to the regular work routine tomorrow, but there's basically no choice. It's going to be a very busy week with meetings on Monday and Tuesday, along with a big photo shoot on Thursday. Some of my friends tell me that they couldn't imagine not working. I can easily imagine this kind of life. All I have to do is look at the dogs sleeping peacefully on the bed in the next room and visions of the good life start to appear in my head.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1264

It's good to be home again. Well, it's good to see Janet and the dogs again anyway. Catching up with all the household chores? Not so good. I got caught in another rainstorm while I was out getting groceries and taking things to the dry cleaner. I don't think it's ever going to quit raining. Oh, well. At least we don't live in Oklahoma. Things are pretty wet here, but nobody's house has blown away. I never expected such a wet Spring. I definitely couldn't have picked a worse time to put on a new roof.

I recharged all the camera and laptop batteries and put the equipment away. All the Couture files have been loaded to the main computer, where they will receive some Photoshop enhancement next week. The dirty clothes are in the washing machine and there are clean sheets on the bed. I think we're back to normal.

My Facebook account is working again. It always gets suspended for suspicious activity when I travel because I can never remember the answers to those challenge questions they ask you when you try to log-in from a different location. When I get home there is always a message saying something like "Your account has been temporarily suspended because someone tried to gain access from an unfamiliar location." Yeah, I know. That suspicious someone was me.

Hopefully, the skies will clear tomorrow, so we can take Dot and Dash to the dog park. I think they've got cabin fever from all the rain we've been having. The recorded message says that the park is still open for business, but that just might be because nobody got around to updating the message. I think I'll go to bed early this evening. I fell asleep at the computer a few minutes ago. I closed my eyes for a few minutes, and all the sudden, it was an hour later. My body may be trying to tell me something.

Rain or shine, tomorrow will be a busy day. There is grass that needs to be mowed, websites that need to be updated, and dogs that need to be walked.

Charlie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1263

Today was even busier than yesterday. It wasn’t as long though. I’m already on my way back to Dallas. I spend the morning catching up with things that were impossible to do yesterday. There were several new products to photograph, along with three new people to interview. I interviewed a mix of CEO’s and support people at the show this year. You can usually tell pretty quickly why the top guy is the boss. The CEO never gives you much time, but they are almost always articulate and to the point. All the CEO’s I talked to at the Couture show did their interview in a single take. The rest of the people were a mixed bag. I’ll give my client plenty to choose from though.

I think I have a new favorite hotel. The Wynn was fabulous. It reminds me of the way The Mirage used to be many years ago when Steve Wynn first opened that venue. The guy definitely knows how to run a classy hotel. It’s too bad I didn’t have more time to explore the place. Just walking back and forth between my room and the Couture Show ballrooms, I saw an abundance of great restaurants I’d like to try. The food was such an abundance of riches that I was even able to find delicious things to eat on my severely restricted diet. The bed was really comfortable too. I slept a lot better than I usually do at home. Of course, that probably had a lot more to do with Dot and Dash than with the mattress.

I got an e-mail from the roofers last night. Evidently, there are problems and they want to have a meeting. Why are there always problems? I have visions of spending a lot of money on a new roof and still having to sweep the standing water off after every rain. The roofers I hired mostly do new construction, so I’m sure they’re going to tell me that I need to rebuild the house, or something equally drastic. That’s the problem with older houses. They settle and sag. If they sag too much, there aren’t many good solutions.

When I went through security at the airport, there was a distraught woman right ahead of me in line who had lost her laptop when it was going through the scanners. With the general level of chaos at the Las Vegas airport, I can easily imagine losing almost anything. One of the TSA folks asked a woman sitting at the scanning machine if she’d seen a laptop lately. “I’ve seen hundreds of them,” she said. “How should I know where it is?” I hurried to put everything back in my pockets and return my own laptop to my bag before it disappeared too.

This week has really gone fast. It’s hard to believe it’s Friday already. Even though I’m in a different city, I kept my Friday morning tradition alive with a nice breakfast at one of the Wynn restaurants. I’m sitting at my gate at the airport now, waiting for my ride home. This was a quick trip, but I look forward to returning sometime in the near future. I like Las Vegas. It’s a fantasy city. Nothing is real here, and that’s fine with me.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1262

I haven't left the hotel since I arrived in Las Vegas. Luckily, it's a very nice hotel. I'm staying at the Wynn to cover Couture 2013 which has more or less taken over the hotel for the week. If you're not in the jewelry business, you've probably never heard of Couture. If you are in the jewelry business, you're probably here. Like most trade shows I've worked, this one made me wish I'd worn more comfortable shoes. After a day on my feet taking pictures, my feet are killing me. My feet have it easy compared to some people I saw today. I noticed scores of women at the show wearing towering Christian Loubouton platforms with six inch heels. Ouch is all I've got to say. A jewelry show is all about appearances. There are lots of pretty people and lots of pretty things. I doubt that many people attending this show have ever been inside a Walmart. I walked right by Ivanka Trump this afternoon. It's was a pretty high end crowd. Needless to say, I couldn't afford anything I saw today. It's still fun to look though.

Las Vegas is a weird place.  Looking out the window of my room, I can see a pirate ship battle at Treasure Island, a volcano exploding at The Mirage, and a fireworks show worthy of a big city Fourth of July celebration. Far below me, I can hear the music of Neon Trees, playing an outdoor concert for the Couture attendees. My credentials would have gotten me into the concert, but I'm too tired. When my shift was over for the day, I proceeded directly to the Wynn buffet, ate entirely too much for dinner, and retired to my room.

The day isn't over yet though. I still have to back up the hundreds of image and video files I took today.  I'm sure all event photographers have nightmares about losing an entire day's worth of work, due to a corrupted disk, a faulty camera, or even simple stupidity. The first thing I do after a day of photography is back everything up. It doesn't really matter if I'm taking Santa photos of Dalmatians, or product photos of a $100,000 watch. Sometimes you've only got one chance.

I hope I get more sleep tonight than I did last night. With all the flight delays due to bad weather, I didn't arrive in Las Vegas until almost midnight. At home, I always think I'd sleep better if the dogs weren't constantly crowding me out of bed. Without the dogs, it's another story entirely. Now, it seems hard to sleep without a Dalmatian on either side of me.

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1261

UPS said that my package would be ready at the customer service center at 7 AM this morning. When was is really ready? Noon! When I arrived at the Will-Call counter to pick up the package, I noticed a big poster on the wall that said We're all about speed. Although I wasted a huge amount of time, I still believe that all's well that ends well. I now have what I need.

Unlike UPS, the road crew made no performance promises whatsoever. They were back in full-force this morning, blocking my driveway, stirring up dust and making lots of noise. The roofers were back too. I'm not sure why they were here, because there were tornado warnings on the Weather Channel this morning. I would have waited to start the roof until all this bad weather was gone for the year, but that's just me.

Despite the approaching bad weather, the dogs still got their morning and afternoon walks. The rest of the day was spent getting things ready for my upcoming road trip. I never pack well. Since I don't like to carry a lot of luggage, I always try to cram too much in my suitcase. It seldom fits. Rather than just get a larger suitcase, I start tossing things out, thinking that I won't really need them. This seldom ends well either, and I often arrive without toothpaste, an electric shaver, or socks.

Life is always full of surprises. Now, the day looks like is will end exactly the way it started. I am facing some very long delays. I managed to stay on schedule all day. I got to the airport in plenty of time for my flight. Even though they took my tube of toothpaste away at the security checkpoint, I still made it to my gate with time to spare. I was pulling out my boarding pass and getting ready to board the plane when I saw my departure time change on a big flat screen display overhead. My flight is being delayed for two hours because of severe thunderstorms in the area. So here I sit, wondering what is going to happen next.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1260

I woke up this morning to an entirely different kind of noise. There was a giant piece of construction equipment on the road in front of our house methodically grinding up the asphalt surface and spitting it out into waiting trucks. I looked at the slow moving convoy and was glad I didn't need to go anywhere. Oops! What was I thinking? I actually did need to go somewhere. The Land Rover dealer had called and told me my car was finally finished and I needed to come pick it up. About three hours later, when the road crew had finally moved a few blocks further down the road, I was finally able to get out of the driveway and retrieve the Defender 90. As I was writing a check for the repairs, someone said "you must be really glad to have your car back." I wouldn't go that far. In truth, I was growing to like the fancy LR4 loaner car. Now, it's back to basics with the old Defender.

There was lots of activity up on the roof this morning as well, but it was hard to hear the roofers over the cacophony of road machinery noise. Things are finally starting to look organized on the roof. Maybe this story will have a happy ending after all. I'm glad I followed Janet's advice and kept my mouth shut. Well, I did write those letters to the contractor, but they were very polite. If I'd actually gone up on the roof and started screaming at people, I don't think it would have ended well.

I went online today and got a UPS package re-routed to a Customer Service Center, so I won't have to wait around all day tomorrow for the delivery. A few minutes later when I looked up the address of the Service Center, I read a bunch of reviews on Yelp telling me to never go to this Service Center because the staff was disorganized and there was always a long line. We'll see. It couldn't be any worse than waiting around all day for the package. Well, it actually could be worse. What if I get down to the Service Center and discover that the package is already on a truck headed to my house? The lady I talked to on the phone today assured me that this wouldn't happen, but you know how good those kind of promises are.

I went and renewed my storage room contract for another year. Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to start thinning things out, so I can fit everything into a smaller storage room that isn't so expensive. Not surprisingly, this never seems to happen. The storage room is kind of like a black hole. Once something goes in the room, it never seems to come out.

With all the commotion today, I almost forgot it was Dash's antigen shot day. Well, I did forget, but I was able to get him rescheduled again for later in the afternoon. How people manage to combine a busy career with ferrying kids all over the place is beyond me. Just managing the activities of these two dogs keeps me busy enough.

I hope things calm down a bit tomorrow. Today was tiring. I thought I'd rest on the bed for a few minutes with the dogs right after dinner and immediately fell asleep. When I opened my eyes again, it was three hours later. So much for keeping on schedule.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1259 - Memorial Day

Most of my regular readers are grandmothers, but maybe there are one or two active military folks among you. If so, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate your service. I often worry that people don't value the importance of a strong military as much as my parents generation did. Strength matters. If you aren't strong and resolute, people take advantage of you. This is the essence of bullying. Individuals can be bullied, and so can entire countries. For many years, we have had the strongest, most capable military the world has ever known. It needs to stay that way.

We woke up again today to the sound of footsteps on the roof. I expected to hear a knock on the door, along an explanation of what's been going on, by whoever was tramping around on the roof. There was no knock on the door. Before I finished brewing my morning coffee, the footsteps ceased and the house was quiet again. I saw no need to go outside and confront the roofers at this point. I learned long ago that it's better to keep your powder dry.

The dogs didn't get to go to the dog park today, which was a disappointment for all. The weather wasn't bad, so we called the hotline several times to see if the park would open up again in the afternoon. It just wasn't in the cards today. I recognize the voice of the guy making the hotline messages. He's the same guy who cleans up the dog poop in the park. This guy takes his job seriously and is super conscientious. He updates the hotline message for the two parks he's in charge of at least three times a day. I admire this guy and wish everyone had his work ethic. It shouldn't matter what your job is. You should always do your duty to the best of your ability.

Since we weren't able to go to the dog park, Janet went to the gym to work out, and I took a camera up on the roof to document some of the problems I've been having. I also did a small rush writing job for one of my clients and vacuumed the house. It's simply amazing to me how quickly the vacuum cleaner bag fills up with dust around our house. If I'm sweeping up this much dust, why don't the carpets look any cleaner when I'm finished? You know "the rift" they are always talking about on Dr. Who and Torchwood shows? I think our house is sitting right on top of a mysterious rift that is sucking in dust from all over the planet. Of course, there's always a chance that Dot and Dash are responsible for all the dirt.

Our three day holiday went by far too quickly. Sometimes it didn't seem like a holiday at all. Footsteps on the roof usually woke us up too early. Rain curtailed most of our planned holiday activities. Then, there was still work to finish as well. It was still a holiday though, and a pretty important one at that. With all my complaining, I'll be the first to admit that my life is pretty soft. It's those guys who live day-to-day in a forward firebase somewhere in Afghanistan who are doing all the heavy lifting.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1258

Janet and I woke up to the sounds of footsteps on the roof. WTF? The roofers were back. In my limited experience, it is simply unheard of for roofers to work on a Sunday morning. Initially I was a bit confused and then I remembered that I'd written a letter to the contractor last night. It must have been the letter.

I guess in a world where Yelp and Angie's List can make or break a business, a blabbermouth writer with a popular blog and 30,000 Twitter followers might just be a contractor's worst nightmare. I certainly hope this is the case, because basically all I've got are words. My architect friends have the carrot and stick of future jobs to keep contractors in line, but like most of you, I don't. All I have are words.

It was far too wet outside to take the dogs to the dog park today. Dot and Dash were good sports about the situation though and took a long nap on the bed instead. While Janet went to the mall to take advantage of the Memorial Day sales, I tried to get caught up on work. There are quite a few jobs I need to complete before beginning my upcoming trade show assignment and today was as good a day as any to get started. I managed to get three articles completed this afternoon. Not a personal best by any means, but it's still pretty good for a Sunday.

It was incredibly humid today. The air felt like you would wring it out like a wet rag. Under these conditions, the ground never had a chance to dry out. Every time the dogs went outside, they came back with huge clods of mud adhered to their paws. We buy large bundles of cloth bar towels to clean the dogs paws with. We used enough today to fill the washing machine. A load of these towels are being cleaned as we speak.

I had a hamburger for dinner tonight! Janet is concerned that I'm not getting enough protein with my rather severe new diet and maybe she's right. At any rate, this was the first hamburger I've had in many, many months and it was delicious!  I did eat the burger on a gluten-free bun however, so I'm not completely off the wagon. Tomorrow, it's back to oatmeal for breakfast and kale salad for dinner.

I watched a member of SEAL Team 6 recount the night they captured Bin Laden on a 60 Minutes episode this evening. We all owe these guys a huge debt of gratitude. My Mom's family was career military and one thing she taught me was to give our soldiers the respect they deserve. Tomorrow is a day reserved for saying thank you, but I think we all know that the men and women in our military deserve a whole lot more.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1257

If you've never worked with a contractor before, here's what to expect. First you meet the contractor. He sounds knowledgeable and fills you full of hope and anticipation about the project you are about to undertake. After you agree on a price and the work begins, you never see this guy again. Next, you meet the foreman the contractor has selected to oversee the job. This guy drops by every couple of days to give the work crew their marching orders for the day. If something goes wrong, the foreman always smiles and tells you that the problem will be fixed later. The work crew never listens to the foreman. To a man, they are convinced that they already know the best way to do everything and just continue doing what they were going to do anyway as soon as the foreman gets in his pickup and leaves for the day. Did I mention that I don't enjoy dealing with contractors.

It rained again today and just as I thought, the unfinished carport leaked like a sieve. You would think that with the forecast predicting a rainy Memorial Day weekend, the roofers would have put a giant tarp over the roof to protect it. Nope. They did nothing. When I mentioned the leaky, unfinished carport to the contractor, he just said that these things happen and that they would fix things later.

It was such a busy week that Janet and I forgot Dash's birthday. We tried to make amends tonight with a little celebration that featured special doggie cupcakes from Sprinkles. Dash must have gotten high on cake, because he started racing around the house and refused to stay still for his birthday picture. I think the dogs enjoyed the party though. They always enjoy anything that involves food.

I took a nap with the dogs this afternoon because it is the only thing that seems to calm Dot down during a thunderstorm. Dash didn't used to care one way or the other about the weather, but Dot has managed to convince him that the sky is falling every time it rains. Now, his storm phobia is just as bad as Dot's. I huddled under a blanket on the bed with a warm dog on either side of me and fell asleep immediately. The short nap was the most enjoyable part of my day.

Maybe the weather will improve tomorrow. I certainly hope so. A few of my readers have suggested that I try being a little more upbeat and positive in the future. Me? Negative? What on earth would give you that idea? Hey, this is just the way things are. I'm a pragmatic realist. Most of the happy people I know are all on Prozac.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1256

While I was having my Black Bean Benedict breakfast this morning, two people seated at the next table were trying to explain the concept of purgatory to each other. I can't remember when I've heard a more confusing and convoluted explanation of anything. I'm not much of a believer. Belief requires a certainty I just don't have. I am a good observer though and try my best not to pass judgement on what I observe.

It was difficult not to pass judgement on the roofers carpentry skills however. When I got home from breakfast, I noticed that the new fascia trim the roofers had just finished attaching to the edge of the carport didn't match the existing trim on the house. The lumber they used for the fascia was an inch wider than the existing trim. Didn't the guys notice the obvious mismatch at the joint where the new trim met the old trim at the corner of the house? Jeez! I wish they'd measured the lumber before they nailed it up on the house. When I pointed out out the disparity in the two sections of trim, the guys seemed angry with me. Did they actually think I wouldn't notice this?  One of the roofers finally told me that they would fix the problem, but didn't tell me how. They all left for the day immediately afterwards.

The assignment to provide photography and social media coverage for one of my clients at a big watch and jewelry trade show got approved today. The schedule has changed though. Now I'm leaving earlier and staying longer than I anticipated. I wish I'd known this new schedule several days ago. I recently ordered an airport friendly rolling carry-on camera case in anticipation of this assignment. The UPS website says the case is scheduled to arrive the day after I leave.

It's raining now. The main roof is more or less finished, so I imagine we'll stay dry inside. I wouldn't be surprised if the cars were wet tomorrow morning though. The carport is definitely still a work in progress. When I looked this afternoon, it certainly didn't appear very waterproof to me.

I hope the wet weather clears up soon. We've got a three day weekend ahead and it would be nice to have some beautiful, sunny weather to go along with the holiday. I know the dogs are going to expect a trip to the dog park. Personally, I don't know what to expect anymore.

Ziggy 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 1254

I called the Land Rover dealer about my car this morning and they seemed genuinely surprised that they'd had the Defender over a month now. When I asked what was wrong with the car, they didn't know. The guy I talked to said he'd check and get right back to me. I haven't heard from him since.

I had a hard time concentrating today. There was a noisy road crew re-paving the street in front of our house and of course the roofers were still banging around up on the roof. Dot has an odd reaction to the roofers. No matter how much noise the roofers make, she seems oblivious to them when she's in the house. Outside, it's a totally different story. If she actually happens to see someone up on the roof, she goes nuts barking. I've never seen a clearer case of "out of sight, out of mind." If I didn't know better, I'd think Dot might be going deaf. I know she can hear quite well though. All I have to do is whisper the word "cookie" and she comes running.

One of my clients called today and said they wanted to send me to Las Vegas to cover the upcoming Couture watch and jewelry show. It ought to be an interesting assignment, but I still can't figure out why they waited so long to make a decision. This has been an off again, on again project for almost a month now. If I knew about this earlier, I'm sure I could have gotten a much better deal on hotel and airfare. The closer you get to a departure date, the more expensive the plane ticket and hotel room are going to be.

Janet and I didn't have to wear jackets to dog training class for the first time this season. It was actually quite warm tonight. Dot and Dash seemed to enjoy the nice weather, but they were both pretty stubborn in class. Dot didn't want to lie down and Dash didn't want to stay still. I completed the motley crew by blowing my nose every few minutes. Yes, Spring allergies are back with a vengeance.

After listening to all the experts on TV talk about what to do in case a tornado is headed your way, I realize that our house has no safe room whatsoever. The architect may have though the design was cool, but he should have added a few interior rooms. Even the closets and bathrooms are on exterior walls. There is a ton of glass too. Probably the only thing that would keep the entire house from blowing away would be if one of our big oak trees fell on top  of it.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1253

I had to cancel Dot's acupuncture appointment today because of the bad weather we're having. Actually, I had to cancel pretty much everything today because of the weather. There were no tornadoes in the area, but we did have some strong straight-line winds and hail. I definitely didn't want to be driving around in the brand new loaner car with a storm phobic Dot in the middle of a hailstorm. We made the smart decision and just stayed home.

It was almost inevitable that the new roof would get rained on before it was finished. I called the roofers and explained what had happened and they assured me that the integrity of the new roof had not been compromised. Well, that's not what they really said. They just told me that if something got screwed up, they would fix it. So far, there is no sign of a leak, so maybe we're OK.

Since I was more or less confined to the house today, I managed to get a lot of work done. I added a ton of cute adoptable cats and kittens to a rescue website. I wrote a press release as if I had attended a glamorous Versace party. Nope. Once again I didn't get to go to the party. Instead, I did a load of wash and made myself a big bowl of oatmeal and fresh fruit. I guess I checked the weather radar on the iPad quite a bit too. It was basically a pretty boring day.

Towards the end of the day, the rain stopped and I was able to take the dogs for their regular walk in the park. There were large downed trees everywhere. I knew it was windy during the storm, but I didn't realize it was that windy. Hopefully, things will dry out tomorrow and stay dry for the rest of the week. I'd really like to get this roof finished sometime in the foreseeable future.

I'm on an e-mail list now for a vintage guitar store in Chicago. I don't know how I got on this list, but it pains me to see the prices on some of the guitars they feature. Jeez, I used to own some of these rare guitars back in the day. If only my Mom hadn't given away all my high school stuff to the GoodWill when I graduated from college and moved to the West Coast, I'd have a small fortune in old guitars. Oh, well. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1252

I've been watching the news coverage of the devastating tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma this afternoon. Unbelievable! This was the very same town that got hit by the worst tornado on record in 1999. Tornado's are commonplace here in Texas, but it's hard to even imagine destruction on this scale. My heart goes out to the people of Moore. It's going to be a long, long time before the city returns to normal.

Earlier in the day, I was wondering why the roofers seemed in such a hurry to get an exposed section of the roof covered. They must have known that bad weather was on the way. It hasn't rained in Dallas yet, but there are thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow. In retrospect, it might not have been very wise to put on a new roof during what is traditionally known as Tornado Season in Texas. There is no good time to do this sort of thing in Texas, unfortunately. No matter what time of year it happens to be, there is always some sort of bad weather lurking just around the corner.

After the roofing crew left for the day, I went up on the roof to look at what they'd been doing. I think buyer's remorse is already starting to set in. When they were describing to me what the finished roof would look like, I was imagining the top layer of epoxy would be so smooth and shiny that I could see my reflection in it. Admittedly, the roof is not finished yet, but the top layer has already been applied to one section. It doesn't look smooth and shiny at all. It looks a lot more like white cake frosting applied with a butter knife. If the roof repels water, I guess I shouldn't complain. I am a bit disappointed though. I was expecting pretty. Maybe the roofers still have some magic up their sleeves, but so far the new roof is a long way from being considered pretty.

I think people must have spent the weekend thinking up new things for me to do. I was really busy today. Monday's aren't usually like this. I divided my time between solving website problems and writing articles. By the end of the day, I'd managed to get quite a bit done. Hopefully, things will be a lot slower tomorrow because Dot has her regular weekly acupuncture appointment. With a 45 minute drive to the vet, an hour with the needles, and a forty five minute drive back home again, acupuncture eats up quite a bit of time.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow. The roofers assure me that the leaking sections of the roof have already been replaced. I'm not so sure. The roof definitely isn't finished yet. Couldn't the rain just wait a few weeks and let me do this right?

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1251

Everything is back to normal now. We took Dot and Dash to the dog park, where they had a grand time wandering around off-leash and taking in all the new smells of Spring. Dot is much slower now and we have to protect her from the more exuberant dogs, but you can tell that she still enjoys these weekly outings.

When we got home, it was time to mow the grass again. I've never been fond of mowing the grass, but since Janet likes to walk the dogs during the weekend, it's become a way for me to keep my activity levels up to my normal weekday standards. Yes, I've become a slave to the little Jawbone UP wristlet. I hate it now when my step count drops below 10,000 steps a day.

I got some bleach and tried to get rid of the stains in the living room ceiling where the water has been coming through. Now that water leaks are hopefully a thing of the past, I've got to decide whether to have a tape and bed guy replace the damaged Sheetrock professionally, or try to do the repairs myself. I know how to do the work, but it's messy and not a lot of fun. It seems like I was doing something like this when I screwed up my neck a few years ago too. Maybe I should leave this to the pros. Dot won't like having workmen inside the house though. Like most things, this will probably just come down to money. I'll get a couple of bids and we'll see how it goes.

I was surprised to discover last night that John Hurt is going to be the next Dr. Who. The guy is 73 years old. That's got to be the oldest Dr. Who ever. I wonder how that's going to work with all those pretty, young companions? It ought to be interesting though. Hurt is a really good actor. I remember him in Midnight Express and The Elephant Man. He was also the guy that had the creature explode out of his stomach during the original Alien movie.

Dot had a brief panic attack this evening. She seemed so certain that it was going to rain that Janet and I turned on the TV and checked the weather radars, just to make sure. I certainly didn't want it to rain tonight, because rain would have made a mess out of the in-progress roof repairs. I think Dot must have had a false alarm. There was no rain in the vicinity on the weather radar. All the bad weather is up in Oklahoma today.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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