Day 2104

Mercifully, the dogs let us sleep in a bit longer this morning. The sun was almost up by the time we left the house. Dot was relaxed and didn't even poop until we were halfway down the street. No accidents to clean up today. Janet and I were even able to enjoy our breakfast without a lot of loud barking. For the first time in a long time it seemed like an absolutely normal day. I needed a normal day. Caring for a sick dog does give you a real sense of purpose, but it is very tiring. I seem to be assimilating each new level of perpetual tiredness, but sometimes I wonder how much energy I have left.

I am definitely not alone. Coping appears to be the new normal. The older I get, the more my Facebook feed has become a litany of woes. It makes me sad to even look at Facebook these days. Almost every day someone's dog has died. Friends are coping with everything from a parent with Alzheimer's to a child with autism. People lose their jobs and discover that their own illnesses aren't covered by insurance. Sure, there are happy pictures of people holding their grandchildren, but it is hard for me to relate to these. All I notice are all the dogs that have gone to the Rainbow Bridge. I also notice friendships that have been torn apart by political squabbling. Maybe we share far too much these days. It should be comforting to know that I'm actually coping reasonably well in the grand scheme of things. Facebook still makes me sad though. It just shows me a world that is broken.

Maybe that's why I like Dr. Who so much. It's not the real world at all. It's just a far fetched fantasy that makes just as much sense as watching the evening news. I've been waiting for the new Season 9 opener all week. The Magician's Apprentice was actually just part one of one of a two part show that I will have to watch again next week to figure out what is going on. The Doctor is summoned by Davros who I'm almost certain was killed by Rose in The Parting of the Ways episode quite a few years ago. No wait, that's all wrong. It was Donna Noble who killed Davros in the Journey's End episode. The Daleks and their creator Davros keep reappearing, no matter how many times they are destroyed. Clara was exterminated by a Dalek in tonight's episode, but she actually was a Dalek when her character was initially introduced. It's confusing. I'm sure she'll be back next week.

Janet is at a meeting tonight and the dogs are restless. They don't like surprises. If their regular routine is interrupted for any reason, they both freak out. I finally got them all in the same room with me so I could watch Dr. Who, but now they are watching the front door and barking at any odd noise. It's going to be a while guys. Maybe if I feed them their evening rice cake a little early they will calm down.

I actually enjoyed going to the gym last Sunday. I'm not so sure I'll feel the same way tomorrow. I've been tired all week. The way today's been going, I have a feeling that I'll feel tired tomorrow as well. I can't let that stop me though. If I only did things when I felt great, I'd probably do nothing at all.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2103

Sometimes when I take Dash to the vet, I think I should be taking him to a psychiatrist instead. He used to ride nicely in the car, but now he barks and whines and generally is a nuisance until we arrive at our destination. Dash acted this way when we first adopted him and it took a long time to convince him that car rides were the gateway to dog parks and other fun activities where he got to play with other dogs. Eventually he grew to like the car. Now, after all his cancer treatments, he has reverted to his original fear of traveling in cars. It's too bad he doesn't know or understand the full story. The place he was whining about visiting today saved his life.

Dash sailed through his six month recheck with flying colors. There was no evidence that the cancer has returned and his oncologist said he looked like a healthy and happy dog. We don't have to go back for another re-check until February of next year.

I need to see how much time I've got left on my car's warranty. For over two years the car has performed flawlessly. No problems at all. Now, I'm beginning to hear squeaks and rattles that I've never heard before. This is usually not a good sign. On any other car I've ever owned, the squeaks and rattles were never a problem until the day after the warranty ran out. Then they miraculously turned into a major repair almost overnight. What makes these squeaks and rattles even worse is that they are sporadic. Sporadic problems never show their ugly face at the dealership. You describe the problem in detail and then when the mechanic takes the car for a test drive, nothing appears to be wrong. The mechanic thinks you're nuts. Then on the way home, the problem reoccurs. This happens so consistently that it drives me nuts.

The car isn't the only thing that is showing it's age. We've got a sodium vapor security light in the back yard that flickers on and off all night. Whenever the air conditioner compressor cuts in, the lamp cuts out. The flickering light wakes me up at night occasionally and when it randomly goes on and off while the dogs are outside, they think it is lightning and it scares them. I finally broke down and called our electrician today. I always hate to call the electrician to fix something this simple because electricians are notoriously expensive. Unfortunately, the pole the lamp is attached to is located right next to where the power lines comes into the house from the street. I'm always afraid that if I attempt to replace the lamp myself, I will slip and touch the power lines and electrocute myself. I guess it's worth paying the electrician.

There a brand new Dr. Who episode tomorrow evening. Last year I waited and waited for the new series to begin and was almost immediately disappointed. Hopefully Season nine will be better. Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are both back for another year. A lot of people seem to think that Peter Capald is edgy and great, but I still like Matt Smith better. In my humble opinion Vincent and the Doctor was the best episode ever. There wasn't a single episode in season eight that even came close. I'll still watch the show tomorrow though. What better have I got to do?

I hope the dogs let us sleep in tomorrow morning. After a week of getting up in the middle of the night to clean up poop, I need a break. According to my fitness band, I'm hardly getting any sleep at all.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2102

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to stay connected. 95% of all the phone calls I receive are telemarketers. Nomorobo takes care of a lot of the nuisance calls, but I continue to be amazed at how persistent some people are. Some telemarketers still continue to call several times a day. Do these people really think I'm an idiot? My e-mail is just as bad. There are industrial strength spam filters on both the server and my local e-mail client and still a lot of the spam manages to get through. I never even open these messages, but some of the headers are so preposterous that it makes you wonder what the spammers were thinking. Are there really that many people out there who are dumb as rocks and would fall for these schemes? Maybe there are. I don't think these guys would be so persistent if people weren't falling onto their traps.

I've noticed that the daily bombardment of e-mail spam and telemarketing messages has steadily increased as I grow older. I'm sure they're thinking that if they keep trying, eventually I'll become senile and pick up the phone. It happened to my Dad. He was a brilliant scientist, but when senility began to cloud his brain, he fell for one of those Nigerian scams where someone will tell you that they won the Canadian lottery, but can't claim the prize because they can't afford to pay the tax. They offer to share the lottery winnings with their unsuspecting victim, if he or she will help them pay the tax. I don't know how my Dad fell for such a preposterous scheme, but he was living alone and couldn't resist picking up the phone. He lost everything he made selling his house a few years earlier. If the FBI hadn't stepped in and warned his bank to block large withdrawals, he would have lost even more.

It's sad that the world has come to this. Instead of being open and inclusive, you are forced to put up barriers. I find it hard to trust anyone in today's world. When I'm driving I feel like everyone else on the road is driving without a license or insurance. In Dallas I have good reason to feel this way. I wasn't happy when the Ebola outbreak hit our city a few years ago, because it seemed like someone let down their guard. When I watch the current European refugee crisis on TV, I am convinced that there are ISIS members cleverly mixed in with the hordes of people who are just trying to escape some very horrible conditions. Sometimes I'm envious of friends who go out to Burning Man for a week and manage to convince themselves that the world is full of rainbows and unicorns. I'm pretty observant and I just don't see much to be encouraged about.

Dot certainly didn't provide a lot of encouragement today. She seemed tired. We had to slow down the treadmill a bit during her physical therapy session because she just didn't have the energy. She was only able to go fifteen minutes this week. It's hard to keep the balance of exercise and rest just right. Maybe it was just the weather. It was warmer today and Dot had gotten used to the cooler weather we were having earlier in the week. We'll rest tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll rest tonight as well.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. Dash has a cancer re-check in the morning and I'm not anticipating any problems. He certainly seems healthy now. I've already taken this week's trash out to the curb and am hoping that the truck empties my entire can this time. Friday's are usually good. No matter what happens, I know I can depend on a good breakfast.
 

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2101

Nobody won tonight's debate. Everyone on stage made a few good points and everyone seemed equally frustrated by the way questions were asked. Just like the first debate, the moderators tried everything they could to provoke a fight between the candidates on stage. The whole format was wrong. If a candidate mentioned another person's name, that person automatically got time to respond even if the moderator's question was dumb in the first place. The moderators really wanted tonight's event to be about personalities and conflict. I don't know why I bothered watching. That being said, Carly Fiorina did a great job within the strictures of the ridiculous format. Maybe she did run Hewlett-Packard into the ground, but the woman is smart and very quick on her feet. I'll give her the win, although I did get bored with the whole thing and quit watching long before it was over.

I made my bi-monthly trip to the mall this afternoon to get a haircut. Every time I go to Northpark, I feel like I'm in Las Vegas. The temperature and humidity are carefully controlled. Each store has it's own scent pumped through the ventilation system. The merchandise is beautifully displayed. People in Dallas even seem to dress nicer when they go to the mall. The whole thing is completely artificial, but that's OK. I spend a lot of my time tramping through nature with the dogs. I get bit by fire ants. I need to keep an eye out for snakes. It's always too hot or too cold. There's a lot to be said for artificial. The mall is pleasant as long as I can find a parking place. I always like to visit the Apple Store and the Tesla Store when I'm at Northpark. I'll probably never be able to afford a Tesla, but it's fun to dream.

I know I spend way too much for a haircut, but in the grand scheme of things it's a small indulgence. I don't drink anymore. I rarely go out to dinner. I can't even remember the last time I took a vacation that wasn't work related in some way. Hey, I think I can afford a nice haircut. My stylist likes to talk about animals and travel. I do pretty well holding up my end of the conversation when the subject is dogs and cats. I'm coming up short on travel stories though. I just don't go anywhere anymore.

Most of my travel stories these days involve going to the vet. Today I picked up some more Allopurinol at the vet for Dash. Tomorrow I go to a different vet for Dot's physical therapy. On Friday, I take Dash to a third vet for his six month cancer re-check. There always seems to be a trip to the vet on the calendar. I'm not complaining. Taking a dog to the vet is definitely preferable to client meetings and other forms of torture. The only time I don't like going to the vet is when Dot or Dash is sick. Then I worry.

Tomorrow is Dot's day, but I'm still going to try to get some work done. I just don't know what I'm going to be working on yet. There were a few website revisions to make today, but I'm basically up to speed on everything again. Hopefully, I'll find a few new assignments when I open my e-mail tomorrow morning. Until then, I just hope that Dot sleeps all the way through the night.

Phantom is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2100

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

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

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

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

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

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2099

I listened to the local news coverage of the big Dallas Donald Trump rally while I was eating dinner this evening. I love a circus and would have enjoyed sitting in the crowd when I was younger. History, however strange, is always interesting. I used to make a point of visiting Dealey Plaza on November 22 just to hear all the conspiracy theories. Crowds never used to bother me. It didn't matter if it was a Fourth of July fireworks show or a Rolling Stones concert, I was there. Something has certainly changed. I'm a virtual hermit now. If I have a choice between seeing an event on TV or watching it in person, I'll almost always opt for the stay-at-home alternative. I've been to a lot of Rolling Stones concerts but when the Stones came to AT&T Stadium this Summer, I had no interest whatsoever in getting tickets. All I could think about was how bad the parking would be and what a pain it would be to drive all the way to Arlington in heavy traffic. I imagine that traffic is pretty bad at American Airlines Center this evening.

I was paying bills this afternoon and I couldn't figure out why my Quickbooks records looked so different from my bank statement. I had quite a bit less than I though I did. It finally occurred to me that I hadn't been recording a growing number of automatic recurring payments in my Quickbooks software. Everyone seems to want you to pay your bills electronically these days. I can see why companies like this. They get their money a lot faster when they directly debit your account. It's convenient too. Unfortunately, when you forget to record these automatic payments, things get confusing. Imagine how disappointed I was to discover I had forgotten about three months worth of automatic deductions from my checking account. I'm feeling poor now.

The weather continues to be delightful. This morning when we walked the dogs it was chilly enough that I needed a light jacket. It's hard to believe that jacket weather is here already. Of course, by mid-afternoon it was 90 degrees again, but for a few hours this morning, the weather was perfect. We'll have a few more hot days, but I bet it won't be long before I'll be wondering if the furnace is going to work this Winter.

I'm still reading the memoir written by the ad guy I used to work with in Seattle. Unlike The Martian, this is a very long book and will never be made into a major motion picture. I read a couple of chapters every day and maybe I'll be finished by Thanksgiving. What makes this book interesting is that I remember a lot of the people who are in it. The advertising world really was like Mad Men in those days. I had forgotten how much alcohol and general rudeness was involved. As far as work goes, I think I prefer the way things are now.

Life is peaceful these days. The only stress is worrying about Dot's health. I wrote an article this morning and sent it of to my client. I updated a few websites, and answered some correspondence. That was about it. Tomorrow should be very similar. I'll start with a cup of coffee and my trademark peach and banana smoothie. I'll end with an episode of Perry Mason. If I'm lucky, I won't have to clean up poop in the middle of the night.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

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

Watch of the Day

Day 2097

It was only 67 degrees when I woke up this morning. Now we're talking! With clear skies and a cool breeze, it was a near perfect morning to take a couple of old dogs on a brisk walk. Dot definitely noticed the change in temperature. There was a spring in her step that is rare these days. Since Dot didn't poop in her bed last night and we all had a nice walk, it seemed only fitting that I fix French Toast for breakfast.

After a delicious breakfast, I mowed the grass for what is hopefully the last time this year. Fall officially begins for me when I can quit mowing the grass for another year, but I'm usually not very good at guessing when this will happen. Last year, I remember mowing at least three more times after I thought I was done for the year. I may have to keep mowing for quite a while if the neighbors don't get their sprinklers fixed. One of their sprinkler heads is broken and sprays water into our yard instead of theirs. The result has been that half of the yard is greener and grows faster than the rest. I'm not complaining though. It probably cuts down my water bill a bit.

Janet asked me to put new plates on her car this morning. I thought this would take me about a minute, but I ran into the same problem I had when I was trying to fix the old aluminum colander last month. All I had to do was unscrew four small bolts and remove the old plates. One of the bolts wouldn't come out though. The tapped brass shim on the car that one of the bolts was screwed into was turning in the same direction as the bolt when I tried to remove it. It took me forever to figure out how to remove the bolt without damaging the car. Eventually, I succeeded, although it took a lot more tools than the simple Phillips screwdriver I started out with. The car wasn't damaged and Janet was happy. It probably would have been easier to take the car to the dealership though.

There seems to be an enormous number of dragonflies and grasshoppers in the park at this time of year. I wonder where they are the rest of the time? I still haven't been able to get a good photograph of a dragonfly in flight, but I'm getting fast enough now to catch them when they briefly land on something. This is probably good practice for photographing hummingbirds. We occasionally see hummingbirds in our yard, but I haven't been fast enough to photograph them either.

I just noticed that the trash truck didn't completely empty our bin on Friday. There are still two trash bags on the bottom of the can. Our city uses those new automated trash trucks where a metal arm reaches out and picks up your trash can as the truck drives down the street and dumps it into a hopper on top of the truck. This all happens quickly and sometimes not all the bags get emptied. It's frustrating when this happens because then your next week's trash won't fit in the can. I'm sure this is another one of those "first world" problems you're not supposed to complain about.

I need to get to the gym tomorrow. If I've started eating French Toast again, going to the gym is almost mandatory.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2096 - 9/11

I left the house this morning fully intending to try the new restaurant. I came to an intersection where if I turned left, I would be headed toward the new restaurant and if I turned right, I'd be on my way to my regular place. The left lane of the cross street was bumper-to-bumper cars as far as the eye could see. The right lane was practically empty. I turned right and headed back to familiar territory. This is probably how I found my Friday restaurant in the first place. If I turned left, I would pass three schools on my way to the new restaurant. In the other direction there were no schools and very few cars. I always tend to follow the path of least resistance.

This reminded me of the Dr. Who episode called "Turn Left" where Donna Noble has to go back in time at a critical moment and convince an earlier version of herself to turn left at an intersection to reverse a chain of events that was going to destroy the world. I don't think turning right at my intersection this morning will cause anything drastic to happen, but it did make me wonder how today would have turned out if I turned left instead.

I probably made the right choice. I didn't have time to experiment today. When I got back from breakfast, there was barely time to take a quick shower and check my e-mail before it was time to take Dot to the cancer center for her Ultrasound scan. The oncologist said that the tumor was stable and not growing, so it was safe for Dot to discontinue her chemotherapy. She agreed that Dot looked stronger and wants us to monitor Dot's condition with a follow-up Ultrasound scan every two months. Sounds good to me. I'm really encouraged to see that Dot is getting stronger again. Admittedly, we're taking baby steps, but this is so much better than seeing her slide even further downhill.

It was a very different day fourteen years ago. We hadn't met Dot yet, but she was a very young puppy on the verge of becoming lost and abandoned. I hadn't started blogging yet and wasn't eating very healthy either. I'll always remember looking at the kitchen TV in stunned disbelief as I watched the twin towers fall while I ate a plate of French Toast floating in a sea of maple syrup. I would soon learn that I was on the road to diabetes and needed to change my ways. Watching the Today Show while eating that big plate of French Toast was the end of innocence in so many ways. The world has never been the same since. Dot found Janet and I through the Dalmatian Rescue organization and her story had a happy ending. I don't think the world was as lucky as Dot. We are still facing almost all the same problems we faced on September 11, 2001. Two wars certainly didn't help much. In retrospect, we should have left dictators like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi in place. They were the only thing keeping a population of zealots that were still living in the Middle Ages in check. We've opened Pandora's box, and as the world descends into chaos, I'm not sure that anyone has a plan to close it again.

I certainly don't have any solutions.  There are too many of us on this planet and we keep making more. We are consuming the planet's resources at an alarming rate. Some of use are living in the twenty first century while others are still living in the fourteenth century. This can't end well. It really shouldn't be surprising that I prefer the company of dogs. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if that giant asteroid hadn't wiped out the dinosaurs sixty five million years ago. Maybe the dinosaurs would have done a better job of things.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2095

My activity tracker said that I only got three and a half hours of sleep last night. That was probably a generous estimate. I got to bed late and woke up just before 4 AM when Dot had another accident in her bed. By the time we cleaned her up and got her soiled blankets in the wash, I was wide awake. It was so close to morning anyway and my brain just couldn't go back to sleep again.

The whole family was practically sleepwalking through our morning walk. Dash was just as slow as Dot this morning.  I shuffled along, wishing I had a better camera with me, since the pre-dawn sky was quite spectacular. Low in the East, a thin sliver of a moon sat right between Venus and Mars. As sunrise approached, I watched the sun touch the tops of tall cumulus clouds and then inch downward until the entire cloud was bathed in a luminous pink glow. It was all quite pretty, but I would much rather have been sleeping.

The day turned out to be a lot busier than I expected. When I opened my inbox this morning, there were lots of website modifications that need to be dealt with quickly. It's funny that things can be wrong for months, but when someone finally notices that there's a mistake, it usually needs to be fixed immediately. I had my work cut out for me. I worked methodically through the changes until it was time to take Dot to her physical therapy session, and then finished up the remainder of the work when we returned.

Dot didn't do as well as she'd done last week. You could tell she was tired, so we ran the treadmill a little slower and shortened her workout to fifteen minutes instead of the normal eighteen minutes. She was completely off schedule today. In addition to pooping in her bed this morning, she pooped in the lobby of the vet clinic. Hopefully, she'll get a good night's sleep tonight, since she's got another big day tomorrow. We go back to the cancer center for the long anticipated Ultrasound scan that will determine whether she needs to resume taking the Palladia pills. Hopefully, the tumor hasn't grown since her last scan.

I still can't decide whether to try the new restaurant tomorrow. I'm curious and hear that the place makes a good Eggs Benedict, but I keep making excuses. I'll have to go through a school zone to get to the new place. I hate school zones during that hectic hour when everyone is dropping off their kids. Maybe the coffee is no good. I really depend on a great cup of coffee. I feel loyal to the staff at the other restaurant too. They expect me every Friday. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2094

We had to work around the rain today. Although the rainfall was sporadic, it was surprisingly heavy. The storm cells were so small and sprang up so quickly that the weather radar let me down. I thought we were in the clear when I saw a break in the weather around 10 AM, but about halfway through our walk, Dash and I got soaked. At least there wasn't much thunder and lightning. When we got home, Dot was still fast asleep on her dog bed.

I started to see patches of blue sky around lunch time, so I decided to drive up to the repair shop in Plano and get my laptop battery replaced. For a brief moment, I thought I was going to get a completely new computer, because one of the technicians said that my particular model was on a recall list. They had to do a test to see whether my machine qualified for a complete motherboard replacement. I was hoping the computer would fail the test, but it passed with flying colors. After looking at the serial number, they said that my computer was late in the production run for the recalled model and that Apple had already corrected the problem. Too bad. I did walk away with a new battery though, so the aging MacBook Pro will probably continue to serve me well until laptops are completely obsolete.

The sporadic storms made it difficult to take Dot outside at the appropriate times and consequently she pooped in the house twice. It's hard enough to time things right when the weather is perfect. Today it was impossible. All it takes is a few seconds of sustained barking to cause Dot to have an accident. There was plenty to bark about today. Thunder made the dogs bark. So did the sound of rain on the roof. When they weren't barking at the storm, they were barking at me. Neither of them seemed to realize that there was no reason to hurry through breakfast this morning. I had to wait until the rain stopped to walk them anyway. Needless to say, I did a lot of laundry today.

I'm enough of a geek that it was hard to ignore today's Apple Event. The last thing I need is one more thing with an Apple logo on it, but I was somewhat intrigued by the new larger iPad. I seldom use my iPad anymore, but this new larger model seemed like it could easily replace a laptop. With a large touch screen, and the ability to use a keyboard and pencil with it as well, why would you even need a laptop? Oops. I forgot that the iPad is just another IOS device and won't run any of the software I depend on for work. I guess I'm going to need that laptop with the brand new battery after all.

Work is still slow. It's time to send out my September invoices but I didn't feel my usual sense of urgency to get them in the mail. Billings are so low this month that it hardly seems worth the effort. I need to keep a positive attitude though. I remember when I got initially the laptop in 2010 I was going through a similar dry period and then out of the blue I got a huge job that doubled my income. I'm not sure a new battery will have the same effect, but one can always hope.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2093

I was happy to see a long overdue check arrive in today's mail. Now I can finish paying my August bills. Of course it is September already, so the whole process will begin all over again soon. Vet appointments. Trips to the pharmacy. Writing checks and taking them to the post office. Sometimes entire months go by this way. It wasn't always like this. For many years the only things that mattered were having a cool job and a cool car. I didn't even bother to balance my checkbook. Karma took care of that. I'm mature and responsible now, but there are times when I think maturity is overrated.

I called the Apple Store and tried to find out what the procedure was for getting the battery replaced in my laptop. Apple service sucks. After spending forever talking to an automated computer that insisted it understood complete sentences, I finally ended up talking to a real person who knew nothing. She told me that I would have to come to the store and talk to a technician. "That's why I'm calling you now, " I told her. "I was hoping to talk to a technician on the phone, so I won't have to make two trips to the store." When I asked her if the store even had the battery I needed in stock, she told me she wasn't allowed to discuss the store's inventory over the phone. I finally gave up in disgust and called a third-party repair service that I always use when I'm frustrated with Apple. They told me to bring the laptop in tomorrow morning and they'd have me ready to go in thirty minutes. The price for this speedy service was exactly the same as the Apple Store price.

Dot pooped in the house again. I thought she was asleep and was surprised to see her standing by my desk. Thinking she might need to go outside, I got up and we went to the back door. It didn't take long to notice the little trail of poop leading to the door. She did need to go outside. About five minutes before she walked into my office. I wish Dot had a way of warning me. If she would just bark or scratch the floor when she needed to go, I'd come running.

Dash still likes his new food. Now, we need to find out whether this diet is a short or long term solution. Dash has a sensitive stomach and is prone to get crystals in his urine, so it took us a long time to find a brand that was nutritious, made in America, and didn't cause him to gain weight or form crystals. He seemed to love his food for several years, but maybe he's like me. I can eat the same thing for months at a time and then one morning I'll wake up and never want to see it again. I hope I don't sour on my fruit smoothies anytime soon. They are delicious and very easy to make. One day I'll wake up and they'll seem disgusting though. It always happens eventually.

I"ll probably go ahead and get the laptop battery replaced tomorrow. It would be nice to have a computer that didn't instantly die on me the next time the power goes out. I need to get a haircut soon, but that will probably have to wait. Thursday is reserved for Dot's physical therapy and Friday she has another Ultrasound scan at the cancer center. It's going to be a busy week.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2092 - Labor Day

You could tell it was a holiday this morning. The park was filled with cyclists and joggers when we took the dogs on their early morning walk. Judging from the number of people we saw, Labor Day is pretty universally observed. Unlike President's Day and other seemingly optional holidays, everybody stayed home from work today.

I stayed home too, but that didn't keep me from working. As soon as we finished breakfast, I went up on the roof and removed the water from Saturday's brief, but surprisingly heavy rainfall. Just like our last rainfall, I wished that I'd remembered to sweep away all the pecan shells first. If you've ever gathered these nuts, you've probably realized what an effective and permanent brown dye they make. Nothing seems to remove the stains left by pecan and walnut hulls. I"m really tempted to ask the roofers if they could paint the roof to match the color of these persistent stains, because they are not going away. You may wonder why I chose a white roof in the first place. I was under the impression that the special coating would get me a nice tax credit the year it was applied, but my accountant said the roof didn't meet the government's energy efficiency guidelines for some odd technical reason. Oh, well. Screwed by the government once again.

Since I was already outside, I decided to wash the car when I finished with the roof. The car seems to get dirty whether I drive it or not. Birds shit on it. Sticky tree sap sticks to the windows. And the wheels are perpetually coated with a mix of road grease and brake pad dust. It's almost impossible to clean the house theses days, but the car is a smaller challenge. It makes me feel good to see a clean car. I may not be able to keep everything spotless, but at least this tiny little chunk of the universe is still under my control.

I thought I'd finished my website work yesterday, but apparently not. I got input for some additional pages that needed to be created in this morning's e-mail and then I noticed on Facebook that two dogs needed to be removed from an animal rescue website because they had been adopted. Increasingly, animal rescue websites are just an afterthought. The real news goes out on Facebook now.

I think we've solved Dash's eating disorder. He was just bored. Janet got two different brands of food to try yesterday and we filled Dash's bowl with one of the new choices this morning. He gobbled it down like he was eating a steak dinner. It's a shame that Dash doesn't like his regular food anymore, because it was perfect for him. It made life easier to feed Dot and Dash the same thing too. Maybe if he eats this new food for a while, we can re-introduce the original food and he'll think it's new again. You can't fool a dog all the time, but sometimes you can. It's worth a try anyway.

Janet goes back to work tomorrow. I go back to having my fruit smoothies for breakfast. Hopefully, Dot doesn't go back to pooping on the floor. We've had a nice accident free holiday.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2091

We made a serious effort to clean the rugs today. Some rugs went to the laundromat. Others got cleaned in the back yard. The rest just received a vigorous vacuuming. The house is cleaner now, although it still looks just as messy. It's hard to complain about the rugs though. They do their job. Dot is able to walk around the house without slipping and falling, which would be virtually impossible if she still had to deal with our slippery brick floors.

Whenever we do some serious cleaning, Janet tries to get me to clean out my office. There are probably a hundred good reasons to get rid of things, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I am surrounded by the remnants of decades of hard work and interesting experiences. If I got rid of these things, what would I replace them with? The ironic thing is that if I were really busy, it wouldn't bother me to work in a bare office. Now that I'm not so busy, I treasure the cluttered memories. My Dad's office was like this as he neared retirement. The University let him keep his cluttered office for a few years after he officially retired, but eventually he was forced to vacate what was probably the original man cave. He went downhill quickly after that.

I'm going to the gym earlier on Sunday's now. It probably doesn't make much difference, but I find that I have more time for other things if I do my workouts in the morning. The gym seems pretty empty on Sunday mornings. That's a plus too. I had a good workout today and still think the Apple Watch is keeping me from being lazy. I need to make an effort to get to the gym at least once more during the week. Maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm holding my own now, but with two good workouts a week, I might actually start getting stronger.

When I was trying to figure out how to fix my computer's optical drive yesterday, I read that some people were wrapping a baby wipe around a credit car and sticking this crude cleaning instrument into the drive slot in an attempt to dislodge dust from the burner lens. This didn't really seem like it would work, but what did I have to lose? Eight people said this method cured their problem and one said it ruined his drive. This seemed like pretty good odds. I carefully inserted the baby wipe wrapped credit card into the slot several times and then tried to burn a DVD. It worked. I don't know if this is a short term or long term fix, but it sure beats buying a new computer.

Last week when I was taking a shower, I discovered there was a cockroach in the shower with me. Today, when I was washing my hair, I discovered a lizard in the shower. I don't know how these critters get in the house, but they don't appear to have much difficulty. At least we don't have a doggie door. People with pet doors in our neighborhood frequently find raccoons and possums crawling through them. When I was younger, I probably would have thrown the lizard down the toilet. Since I've mellowed quite a bit over the years, I carefully captured the small reptile and took is outdoors where I released it. You've got to be real careful with little lizards because it's easy to break their tails if they are handled roughly. This little guy did fine though and I was glad to see him wander off to join all the other critters in our yard.

Tomorrow is Labor Day. If my Facebook feed is any indications, a lot of people seem to get this holiday mixed up with Memorial Day. It's just another Monday to me.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2090

The holiday weekend is getting off to a good start. Miraculously, the dogs let us sleep in a little this morning. Even though we got up later, Dot didn't poop in her bed. That's always a good sign. We set off on our morning walk around 7:30 AM, which is much later than normal. Dot continues to get stronger and I've noticed recently that she is actually starting to walk a little faster. Dash, on the other hand, is still acting strange. He is still finicky about eating in the morning, but seems completely normal the rest of the day. I don't know what's wrong. Maybe nothing is wrong at all. We're thinking about switching the brand of food he eats, just to see if that makes a difference. I'll ask the oncologist if we need to bring in Dash for another round of tests when I take Dot for her next Ultrasound scan this coming Friday.

Having bacon for breakfast made it seem like a holiday, but when I turned on the computer and checked my e-mail, I knew it was going to be another work day. There was a long list of website revisions to make. I guess I could have postponed the updates until Tuesday, but it made much more sense to go ahead and do them now. It's not like I was going to do anything special today anyway. Today's changes involved altering a Wordpress site. I've grown to hate Wordpress because clients often pick a template and then immediately set about trying to change it. It is almost always easier for me to create a custom site than it is to modify someone else's Wordpress template. Oh, well. Like I said, I didn't have much to do today.

We're trying to figure out how to clean the rugs we use to keep Dot from falling in the house. The little ones will fit in the washing machine, but most of them are too big even for commercial laundromat machines. The rugs in the kitchen are the worst, because that's where the dogs like to hang out. The Dyson is pretty amazing, but even this super vacuum is no match for two Dalmatians eating breakfast for several months. I'm torn between buying a power washer and renting one of those Bissell carpet cleaners. A power washer might actually work pretty well, since the rugs are all made of synthetic material that dries quickly. I need to clean all the spider webs off the windows anyway, so why not take the rugs outside and clean them both with a power washer at the same time. The only downside to this plan is that we'd have to buy even more rugs, so Dot would have something to walk on while the other rugs dried. If I spent my time trying to solve real problems instead of fretting about dirty rugs and broken optical drives, Lord knows what I might accomplish.

Yes, I did make one more attempt to revive the DVD burner in my desktop Mac. I failed again. The thing is probably just dirty, but there is no easy way to clean these drives anymore. My older Mac towers had flat CD trays that slid out to insert a disc. You could buy special cleaning discs that had a little brush glued to the surface of the disc. You would put some solvent on the brush, insert the cleaning disc in the players and run it for a few minutes. The brush cleaned off the laser head and almost always cured sluggish or faulty optical drives. If worse came to worse, you could just unscrew the entire broken drive from the chassis and replace it with a new one. New Macintosh computers are completely different. Almost nothing is meant to be serviced yourself. Some components are epoxied directly to the motherboard, so they can't be removed at all. I have no idea how I'd remove the optical drive from my current Mac. You can't even open the case. I'm sure Apple would prefer that I just buy a new one.

It looks like I'm going to have time to go to the gym tomorrow. I skipped my workout last Sunday since I was doing the photoshoot with the two children and their menagerie of animals. Nothing exciting like that this weekend, so it looks like I'll have to burn off some calories on the treadmill.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2089

Do you ever feel that your life is starting to look like a reenactment of Groundhog Day? I'm sure you remember the movie where Bill Murray was forced to repeat the same day over and over again until he finally got it right. Sometimes I feel this way. Every day I eat the same things. Almost every day I clean up poop and wash the soiled dog blankets. Every time I do a load of laundry, I plug the floor drain in the utility room with a rag so water from the rinse cycle won't come back up through the drain and flood the room. After I take a shower I always put rags around the edge of the shower stall to soak up water that has seeped through cracks in the tile between shower walls and floor. Every evening I print the same JPEG file to keep the ink lines in my large printer from clogging. There are literally dozens of little rituals like this. The dogs get the same two walks every day and I patch up and repair the same websites over and over again. I know that I've got to break out of this monotonous cycle, but it's a comfortable rut and I feel no urgency. Hopefully, I won't be stuck in the time loop as long as Phil Connors was in Groundhog Day.

I've been wondering why traffic seemed so bad this week, and then I realized that school was back in session. There literally seems to be twice as many cars on the road. I pass a private school on my way to breakfast every Friday and I see cars lined up for ten blocks as parents queue in the right hand lane to drop their kids off for class. Luckily, I am going in the other direction. The same cars return every afternoon to pick the kids up. When you add the additional trips for band practice, soccer practice, and other school activities, the roads are always busy. It certainly is a different world from the one where I walked or rode my bicycle to school. I wonder how parents find any time to themselves these days.

The stock market had another miserable day. When is this going to end? I feel like my retirement income is an ice cube sitting out in the hot sun. It is just melting away day-after-day and there is very little I can do about it. I think people are going to regret the day when politicians sold them this idea that a 401K Plan that they managed themselves could provide a much more secure retirement income than the old fashioned defined benefit plans their parents generation relied on. It hasn't worked out all that great so far. I'd trade my 401K for my Dad's pension any day. He and my Mom lived comfortably on that pension for many years. I can't say that I'm going to do nearly as well. I might not be able to retire at all.

Work was busy for a change. I added a new section to one of my client's websites and changed out photos in another. There have been no writing jobs all week though. It's always feast or famine. I can never manage to keep a nice, steady workload for very long. At least I can still pay the bills. There's not much left over anymore unfortunately, and that's a bit worrisome. 

We've got a three day weekend coming up. I don't know what we'll do with the extra day, but maybe we'll think of something. I know we won't be sleeping in late. That's just not in the cards anymore. If we don't get Dot outside early, it's a virtual certainly that she'll poop in the house. Of course if she poops in the house in the middle of the night, I can always sleep in a bit longer after I've cleaned things up. That's what I did last night. Oh, well. Here's hoping for a relaxing weekend, starting with no barking dogs at breakfast tomorrow morning.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2088

I know some of you think that when work is slow I do absolutely nothing. Au contraire. I'm usually quite busy tilting windmills. Lately, I've been doing a lot of research on Google, trying to see if it is possible to adapt some of my old equipment so I could still use it in today's digital world. It would be nice if I could speed up my old computers so they could run today's complex software. It would be even nicer if I could use some of my old analog camera lenses on the latest digital bodies.

So far my efforts have been fruitless. I have some really nice Canon ENG broadcast lenses that I'd love to use on my current digital video cameras. So far, it seems impossible. These lenses were made to work with the 2/3 sensors found in Beta SP cameras. The image these lenses produce isn't large enough to cover the much larger 4/3 sensor found in my cinema camera. When I gave up on the Canon broadcast lenses, I thought my Bronica lenses might work. These medium format film lenses would certainly completely cover the 4/3 sensor, but nobody makes an adapter to attach the lens to the video camera. There are plenty of adapters for old Nikon and Canon lenses, but Bronica went out of business a long time ago and nobody cares about it anymore. There isn't a large enough market for anybody to make a profit manufacturing Bronica adapters. I even have some old Sinar view camera lenses that would cover any size sensor, but apparently nobody has even thought about adapting view camera lenses to modern video cameras. I found absolutely nothing on Google about using these lenses with video cameras.

It's frustrating to have fully functioning professional equipment that was good enough to shoot network TV commercials in the 1980's, but is now shunned even by beginning wedding photographers. I haven't adapted well. I love the old Macintosh towers I used to use in the early 1990's. My old Nikon F-2 still seems like the most useful and versatile camera I've ever owned. I even like reel-to-reel tape. Maybe this is why I enjoy watching old Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock shows on late night TV.

Dot had a good day. Now, she seems strong enough again to enjoy her early morning exercise walk and still have enough energy to do her afternoon physical therapy session. Today, she did a full seventeen minutes in the underwater treadmill. She's gained weight though. I don't know what that's all about. Nothing has changed since last week. I asked Dot's vet about Dash's strange new eating habits and she seemed baffled. She said she'd never heard of a dog who refused to eat from his bowl, yet ate everything normally when the food was transferred to a dinner plate. He doesn't seem sick. He just seems weird. We'll give him a Pepsid AC tonight before he goes to bed, just to see if he might have heartburn or a reflux problem.

I started a new book today. This one's been sitting on a shelf in the office for months. It is a memoir written by a co-worker of mine when I was starting out in the ad business in Seattle. I've been reluctant to read the book, since this guy ended up being hugely successful, building an award winning multi-million dollar ad agency while I was sitting in a small room writing with two dogs under my desk. I shouldn't be envious though. The first few chapters of this book were hilariously funny and remarkably accurate about what it's like to work in the ad biz.

It's hard to believe that this week is almost over. I've already taken this week's trash to the curb and gotten Dot's bed prepared for the night. I've still got to brush my teeth and run my daily test print on the large format printer. Then it's time for Perry Mason and sweet dreams about tomorrow's breakfast.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day