Day 206

I was looking through the new issue of D Home Magazine this morning and much to my surprise I see an article on page 20 about the Dalmatian end table I almost bought at an estate sale last month. I actually did buy quite a few ceramic Dalmatians at this sale, but the end table seemed a bit pricey to me. I think they were asking $350 for it. So, what do you think the ritzy antique store that did end up buying the table is asking for it now? How about $2400 dollars. Wow! I guess I misjudged the value of that thing. The Dalmatian table was featured in an article the magazine runs frequently called "Crazy or Cool."  Local interior designers comment on a piece of furniture and tell what they think of it. This time three of the designers loved the table and two thought it was hideous. I wish I'd bought the table now. I never would have re-sold it though. It would have just joined all the other clutter in the house.

Fox TV and CBS have joined NBC in asking if they can use the photos of the sheriff taking the goat away. The pet orphanage says that hundreds of people have called in the past several days to ask about Judy and Minnelli. Evidently, the National Geographic Channel even called yesterday. At last count I think over 50 people have already added the story to their Facebook pages. The sheriff's department has certainly fanned the flames a bit by telling the media that they didn't even think the goat and dog were friends. One sheriff's deputy was quoted as saying "I think they just hooked up together when they were wandering around town." Hooked up together?  Maybe this guy has the dog and goat confused with Jude Law and Cameron Diaz in that movie The Holiday.

I still haven't been paid for the writing assignment I did for the Germans a few months ago. I should have learned by now that you can never get anything resolved with Germans in the summer. They are all on vacation. I keep getting these Autoreply messages to my e-mails saying "I will be out of the office until August 17" or something to that effect. Jeez, I wish I got a month of vacation every year. I do get Saturdays and Sundays though, if you want to call walking dogs and mowing grass a vacation.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 205

I was working on some website stuff this morning when the phone rang. It was NBC news. They asked if they could use my pictures of the sheriff hauling the goat away for a follow-up story they were doing about the unlikely Great Dane and goat friendship I've been telling you about. When I found out that the NBC producers had gotten my name from the pet orphanage people and they were OK with the pictures being used in media stories, I let NBC have them. I actually hope that the network is able to do something to generate more interest in this story. I found out today that when the county quarantines "stray farm animals" like this, they just sell them at a livestock auction if the farmer who owns the animal doesn't come to claim it. This means that Minnelli, the goat, could easily wind up as cabrito on some restaurant menu if the orphanage can't get him back.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I still don't understand why the sheriff's department wants the goat in the first place. This particular goat is obviously a pet and it really does get along great with the Great Dane. People from as far away as Vermont have already offered to adopt the pair and provide them a good home. Actually, dozens of people have offered to adopt the dog and goat, but this doesn't seem to matter to the sheriff's department. Rules are rules. This is what happens when bureaucracies get involved with something. Common sense gets thrown out the window.

I'm really getting sick of all the rain we're having. I seem to be continually either cleaning mud off the dogs or sweeping water off the roof. I got all the water off the roof this afternoon and five minutes later it started raining again. Oh well. At least it's good exercise. I've also discovered that the dogs listen to me better when I'm up on the roof. When I was sweeping the water away today I saw Dash digging a hole in the back yard. I told him to stop digging in my best voice of god voice and he looked up and immediately stopped. If I was standing next to him in the yard, I doubt that he would have listened to me.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 204

What a dummy I am. I've been puzzled for months why Google Analytics has been giving me such screwy results for one of my websites. I never really questioned the results though, because after all, they came straight from Google. Today was such a slow day that I decided to look a little deeper. Oops. Somehow, I had inadvertently pasted the generic example tracking script into most of the pages instead of the real one. These dummy scripts were tracking nothing. Inexplicably, I had also pasted the correct script into one or two pages as well, which was the only reason I was getting any results at all. After spending hours correcting the code on 75 different HTML documents, I'll be curious to see whether it makes any difference. If Google Analytics still says that the site has only 14 viewers, I'll really feel like a dummy.

The dogs seem to be a rain magnet lately. We got caught in another downpour at training class tonight.  Tonight's rain was much heavier than last week's, so everyone decided to head for the shelter of a nearby picnic gazebo. With twenty-five large dogs and their owners all huddled under the tiny porch, it was amazing that nobody got bit. The dogs were very well behaved, considering that many of them were afraid of thunder and lightening. Even Dot seemed calmer than usual. The dogs appeared to be comforted by having all the other dogs huddled right next to them. I guess it makes sense. Dogs are pack animals after all. It didn't take long for a strong "wet dog" smell to permeate the gazebo.  I probably still smell like a wet dog.

I thought it might be nice to have lunch with somebody today, so I sent out a few e-mails in the morning to see if anyone was free. Of course they weren't. It's just about impossible to do anything spontaneous anymore. People are just too busy. Occasionally, someone will call me on the spur of the moment and ask if I'd like to have lunch. Usually that doesn't work out either. Typically, I haven't even finished breakfast by the time most people are ready for lunch. When I say I could meet them for lunch around 2 or 3PM, that usually scuttles the lunch plans. So what if I don't get started at the crack of dawn. I'm just not a morning person.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 203

When I finished my employee picture assignment, I went over to the pet orphanage to see how the dog and goat were doing. While I was there, the sheriff came and took the goat away! I couldn't believe it. Evidently, it is illegal to keep farm animals inside the city limits, or inside a building, or something equally silly. When the sheriff's department saw the goat on TV, they were immediately on the case. Judy, the Great Dane, was really upset when they took her goat away. Since I still had my camera with me, I took pictures of the whole episode and immediately put them up on the orphanage website. In less than an hour, I got a frantic call asking me to take the pictures down. The orphanage wanted to try quiet diplomacy to get the goat back and didn't want to anger the sheriff's department. I guess I've been in advertising too long. I took the pictures down, but still don't understand why quiet diplomacy is so great when creating a public spectacle would get the job done quicker.

This has got to be a big PR blunder for the city. Along comes a genuine "warm and fuzzy" human interest story about two unique animal pals. The story gets picked up by all the major television stations in the area and quickly goes viral. News affiliates all over the country are running the story now. What does the city do?  It splits up the two best friends and quarantines the goat.

After the goat episode, the rest of my day was pretty boring. I watched Dash act like a goat, trying to eat trash in the park that had been left behind by Forth of July picnickers. I took two watches over to my watch repairman that immediately quit working after I featured them as my Watch of the Day. That was about it. Not surprisingly, the Dow closed up 57 points today after I decided to go short last week.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 202

It was hard to tell if it was a work day or a holiday today. Janet had the day off, so that made it feel like a holiday. On the other hand, one of my clients kept calling with website problems, so that made it feel like a work day. No mail delivery was the deciding factor. It must be a holiday.

Since K-9 University is usually closed on holidays, we went up and walked the rescue Dalmatians again this afternoon. We also cooked them each a boiled chicken breast, which has become their traditional holiday treat. The dogs loved the chicken and liked their walk as well. We used to go to a movie on days like this, but hanging out with the Dalmatians is really more enjoyable. This is probably the last time we'll see Kobe and LeBron, since they go to their new home in San Antonio later this week.

It's amazing how green things have gotten after just a few days of rain. All the yellowing prairie grass in the park has turned green again. Our yard is looking a lot better too. It was a good day to take advantage of the situation and do some yard work. I mowed the grass and trimmed a few bushes when we returned from K-9 University. All I need to do now is replace the dead grass where Dot practiced agility jumping last winter and the place will look great again.

I think I've got some more employee pictures to shoot tomorrow. I need to confirm the photo shoot first thing in the morning though, because I forgot to write down the details last week. Even if the photo shoot isn't tomorrow, it should still be a busy day. Everyone will be playing catch-up after the three day weekend.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 201 - Independence Day

Now that Unleashed has gone out of business, we spend a lot of our free time on weekends looking for new dog parks. Friends have told us that the the new Wagging Tail Dog Park on Keller Springs Road in North Dallas is very nice, so we drove up this afternoon to see for ourselves. Taking Dash anywhere more than a mile or two away is a major undertaking. He is terrified of riding in the car and the only time we've ever taken him on a long trip, he had a seizure the next day. He's fine going to the vet and to training class, but these are both very short drives. We thought the longer drive would be worth the effort though, because Dash loves playing at dog parks and usually is calm on the way home. Unfortunately, when we got to the park this afternoon, it was closed due to wet weather. The weather was beautiful today, but the park must have still been wet from all the rain earlier in the week.

By the time we finally got home again, I was ready for a drink. Dash howled and made his trademark bird noises during the entire trip, and I'm always afraid he'll have another seizure. Unfortunately, my hepatologist tells me I can't drink anymore, so I had to settle for a Dr. Pepper. We've really got to find a way to get Dash used to taking car trips, or we're going to be stuck in Texas forever. He's better than he used to be, but success literally comes a block at a time. I can take him with me when I fill the car up with gas now, and he's fine going to the vet, but if I'm driving more than a few miles, all bets are off.

We have more volunteers to help us walk the rescue Dalmatians on Sundays now. Today, we had a person for every dog, so the dogs all got a longer walk. The weather was a bit cooler too, so we didn't have to worry about the dogs getting overheated. With the exception of the somewhat stressful car trip with Dash, it was a very relaxing day. Dot should have a relaxing evening as well. She won't have to hide under my desk during tonight's Fourth of July fireworks show, because the whole thing got canceled at the last minute for budget reasons. A sign of the times I guess.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 200

Several of you wanted to see pictures of the orphan Great Dane who has become friends with a goat. I've gotten the East Lake Pet Orphanage webcam back online again, so you ought to be able to take a look at this unique friendship. If the camera is dark, it probably means that it is nighttime in Dallas and the animals are sleeping. You can always try again later. I need to find out more about these animals. I'm still not sure why this unlikely pair were abandoned or how they became friends.

The dogs and I got caught in the rain for the third day in a row. This has got to be some kind of record. The rain lasts just long enough to get us soaking wet and then it quits. I'm not wild about getting drenched on our walks, but I'll have to admit that it's nice it's gotten cooler outside. The temperature was only in the mid-seventies today. It almost reminded me of Summers I've spent in Seattle.

It looks like Kobe and LeBron may be getting a home soon. This father and son pair of Dalmatians has been difficult to adopt because they are both large, active dogs and need to stay together. I would think Kobe and LeBron would be easier to adopt than a Great Dane and a goat, but you never know. I hope both pairs of animals find their forever homes soon.

I had to go buy another pump for the roof today. I've lost count of all the pumps I've bought over the years. They all say "One Year Warranty" on the box, which just means that they are almost guaranteed to burn out in one year and a day. Most of the pumps also say "Sealed bearings. Can be run dry," but don't believe a word of it.  If you don't switch the pump off immediately after it has run out of water to pump, you'll quickly burn out the motor. Been there. Done that.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 199

Although I'm not very comfortable shorting stocks, I finally went short today. I probably should have done this a month ago, but hindsight is always 20/20. Given my abysmal track record at predicting the future, something really good will probably happen over the weekend and the market will shoot straight up after the holiday. My gut feeling is that this isn't very likely though. There just isn't much good news out there.

One of the rescue groups I work with is hot to get their webcam working again. When I asked why, it turns out they they took in a dog and a goat that have become very attached to each other. They are trying to adopt the pair together. The story was hard to believe, but sure enough, when I went to take a look, there was a full size goat and a Great Dane sharing a kennel at the orphanage. The goat seemed very gentle and was sleeping right next to the dog. I need to figure out what is wrong with the website camera this weekend and get it online again, because these two buddies really do make a great human interest story.

I thought the rains were finally over. In fact, I even saw the sun breaking through the clouds when I took the dogs out for their afternoon walk. When we reached the halfway point and were just about to turn around and head home I noticed a very dark cloud overhead. Before I could count to ten, it started pouring. We were completely drenched in seconds. This happened yesterday as well. So far, it doesn't look like great weather for a Fourth of July barbecue.

Rain or shine, I'm looking forward to a three day weekend. I enjoy watching the big fireworks displays and there's usually a good view down by the lake. Maybe if the rain lets up, we'll actually be able to see them.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 198

The high point of the day was going to Northpark and getting a haircut. Yes, it really was that slow today. I used to get a haircut more often, but I don't see the point anymore. The dogs don't care what I look like and all the others, who increasingly prefer e-mail to face-to-face visits, have forgotten what I look like. Betty did give me a good haircut though. Even if it was just for me.

I've been shopping at Northpark for years, but lately the place is starting to seem pretty strange. Northpark is filled with ultra high-end boutiques that are absolutely empty. The mall is full of people, but they are all wandering around outside the stores talking on their cell phones. I've never seen a single customer enter some of the ritzy stores. I wonder how they stay in business. There used to be a Porsche Design store near the Neiman Marcus end of the mall. I would wander in occasionally to look at expensive watches and ball point pens. I never actually bought anything because it was all ridiculously expensive. After four years the store closed because nobody bought anything. I have a feeling that the same thing is going to happen to a lot of these other stores.

Seeing all the people talking on their cell phones reminded me to stop by the Apple store and take a look at the new iPhone 4. Wow! This thing is beautifully designed. It feels good in your hand; the same way a Leica camera feels good in your hand. I would have bought one of these phones on the spot if I ever talked to anyone on the phone. I definitely don't need this thing, but it is so pretty that I'll probably come up with an excuse to buy one anyway. The phone is almost worth buying for the camera alone. It would be cool to have a camera this small in my pocket when I walked the dogs.

Even though I've taken thousands of dog pictures, I'm eventually going to run out of Dalmatians for my Dalmatian of the Day feature. I'm wondering if any of you guys have a Dalmatian that you'd like to see featured as the Dalmatian of the Day?  If you do, send me an e-mail and attach a picture of your dog. I'll be happy to make your dog the Dalmatian of the day when I run out of rescue pictures.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 197

Today seemed a lot more enjoyable than yesterday. It was still raining outside. I still didn't have much luck getting input from my customers. About the only thing different about today was that instead of watching the financial news on CNBC while I was eating breakfast, I watched the Graham Norton Show instead. Maybe that made all the difference. I'll have to admit that I am getting pretty tired of hearing the same bad news everyday. Could the solution be as simple as just stopping listening to it?

When I was out running errands this afternoon, I stopped by a little neighborhood jewelry store where I used to take watches to be repaired. There were entirely new faces inside the store. Evidently the people I knew had sold the business recently. This was actually good news to me, because the previous owners weren't all that good at fixing things. I have plenty of broken watches, so I'll have to take something to these new guys next week and see if they're any good.

I didn't really think that we'd have our dog training class this evening because it was still raining a bit when it was time to leave. Janet said that nothing short of a hurricane could stop our teacher from showing up, so we loaded the dogs in the car and went to class anyway. Sure enough, Tom was there. The class was smaller than usual and the dogs were all wet, but we went through most of the normal exercises as if it was a sunny day. Some of the dogs actually seemed to enjoy the rain, but our dainty Dot wouldn't even do a basic sit and stay tonight. She doesn't like getting her butt wet.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 196

It's hard to get excited about a day where the market dropped 268 points, the phone didn't ring, and the dogs used yesterday's rain as an opportunity to track mud through the house. Slow, rainy days like this would be a good time to start a new book or go to a movie. I didn't feel like driving anywhere though. Instead, I watched CNBC all day and let the dismal market news drag me down while I puttered around the house.

I've been trying to reorganize my portfolio to appeal to a broader audience. Right now, most of my clients are veterinarians. A few years ago most of my customers were in the oil and gas industry. Before that, it was all high-tech. I need to keep reminding myself that when I initially started my company, I was doing network television commercials for companies like Pepsi and Mountain Dew. How did I slide from shooting big budget soft drink commercials to writing inexpensive brochures for veterinarians? I don't think I did anything wrong. I just tried to stay in business while the world kept changing around me.

I talked to a friend who is still in the agency business recently. He said he thought the traditional advertising agency was a dinosaur that couldn't last much longer. He was hoping his own agency would last another five years. The problem is that nobody wants to pay for advertising anymore. Why should they? Instead of sending an expensive creative team to Los Angeles for two weeks to put together their next commercial, they can accomplish more or less the same thing by sending somebody to Starbucks for the afternoon with a laptop and some good editing software.

At least I'm not in the newspaper business. When I was a kid, I remember going on a school field trip to the local newspaper plant. We watched as Linotype operators melted lead in huge machines to make the type that would be used to print the evening paper. Hundreds of people with specialized skills used to  be needed to put together a newspaper. I wonder what happened to all of them? Most of their jobs don't even exist anymore. Pretty soon, the newspaper itself won't even exist anymore.

So here I am, sitting at the edge of the blogosphere, wondering what comes next. My sister says I ought to concentrate on writing more dog stories, because people love books like Marley and Me. My friend Alan says my blog would have more readers and I could be the next William Wegman if I did humorous videos of Dalmatians, instead of just having a single still picture each day. Janet says if I would bust my ass and work harder, the rest would take care of itself. Probably everybody is right, but I still wish the rain would stop and the market would go up.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 195

I went and took some new employee pictures for a friend who was unhappy with what their corporate photographer had done. When I looked at the previous pictures, I could tell that the photographer was in a hurry and just used the on-camera flash and then tried to fix all the unflattering shadows in Photoshop. That usually doesn't work very well. It's odd. Everyone seems to have a fabulous camera these days, but very few people know how to light anything properly. Pretty lighting is the secret to good photography.  In the right light, almost anything or anybody will look fabulous.

That's why, for even the most mundane photoshoot, I still take along my heavy Norman strobes and bulky softboxes. I hate lugging hundreds of pounds of equipment around, but the results are worth it. There's just no substitute for good lighting.

If decent lighting is step one, convincing my subjects that they can look good in a photograph is step two. Everyone seems to think that they'll look the same way in a photograph as they do when they look at themselves in the mirror. Mirrors are actually more forgiving that photographs. To look natural in a photo, you have to do things that initially seem a bit unnatural. Most people don't even realize how much they squint in real life. You have to tell almost everyone to open their eyes wider than normal to get the look that they're trying to achieve. Think about it. When you look at someone's face, you're almost always drawn to the eyes first. Everyone worries about their smile, but the eyes are even more important. A lot of people worry about wrinkles too. I tell them to stick their chin out a bit and the wrinkles and double chins will disappear. It usually helps.

Years ago, I used to shoot a lot of fashion. I noticed very quickly that the best models weren't necessarily the prettiest or most handsome ones. They were the people who understood what they looked like. If you ask a good model for a very specific look, they know exactly what to do. Knowing in advance what you're going to look like when you move your head or body in certain ways comes naturally to good models.  If you don't really know what your expressions and movements are going to look like, the photo session is likely to be more like taking pictures of dogs. You just take a ton of pictures and hope that you accidentally get something wonderful.

Everyone was happy with their pictures today, but I'll have to admit that the previous photographer set the bar pretty low. Dot was definitely not happy when I returned. It had started raining while I was away and she had to hide under my desk alone. I keep hoping that Dash will eventually teach Dot that rain is no big deal. Unfortunately, since Dot is the dominant dog, exactly the opposite is happening. Now Dash seems to be developing a fear of rain as well. Sometimes I wonder if children are this difficult.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 194

Do you ever find yourself doing things that you consider totally pointless? In the Winter, trying to find the leak in the roof is pointless, because whatever I do, water somehow always finds its way inside anyway. Expecting Dash to act like a normal dog when I take him for a bath is pointless, because he is always going to howl and carry on and be a total embarrassment, just like he was today. Fixing the screen door is equally pointless, because the dogs are just going to jump through it again the first time they see a rabbit in the back yard.

I fixed the screen door anyway this afternoon because I have become a connoisseur of doing pointless things. I've probably put a new screen on this door at least a dozen times since I bought the house. Every dog we've ever had has either scratched the screen or jumped straight through it in their continual quest for backyard critters. It would make a lot of sense to get rid of the screen door entirely, cut a hole in the back door, and install one of those doggie doors that everyone seems to have these days.

I really like mid-century modern architecture though and stubbornly cling to the idea of having the house look just like it was designed to look in 1955. The dogs could care less about such things. I certainly don't begrudge the dogs for acting like dogs, so I just keep replacing the screen. When I first started replacing back door screens, the wire was thick and substantial and I could find the aluminum mesh pre-cut to exactly the size of my door frame in almost any hardware store. Now, the only size available is 36"x84" and the metal material is so flimsy that you'd think the screen was made out of recycled McDonalds wrappers. That's progress for you.

It's hard to believe that the year is already half over. It still seems like I just took down the Christmas tree a little while ago. Sometimes I wish I could slow down time a bit. The days just blur together now. It will be July 4 next weekend. Then Janet has her annual family reunion. Then there's the Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament. And then it's Christmas again. I wonder if they'll have that oil spill stopped by Christmas?

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 193

I stocked up on all sorts of odds and ends at Home Depot today. I do this periodically, and always with the best of intentions. I wander from aisle to aisle, buying nails, screws, staples, screen wire and other paraphernalia. I'm convinced that if I can gather together the right materials, I will finally be able to make a dent in the long list of things that need to be fixed around the house. The garage is filled with little bags of hardware from previous trips like this. Instead of doing the fix-it job right away, I typically set the stuff I've bought aside for another day. I'll wait for a day when the weather is cooler, or maybe when there aren't a hundred other errands to run. Months later, when I finally decide that the time is right to fix things, I almost always forget that I've already got the materials I need in the garage. You guessed it. I run to the hardware store and buy the same stuff all over again.

Home Depot and the grocery store were almost empty this afternoon, which is unusual for a weekend. It was probably just too hot for people to go shopping. Or maybe everyone was watching the World Cup. At any rate, without the usual crowds, I sailed through my Saturday errands in half the time.

So, did I use the time I'd saved running errands to fix the screen door with a new roll of screen wire I'd just purchased at Home Depot? Nope! I watched an episode of Top Gear on BBC instead. The dogs didn't want to do anything either. When I took them on their evening walk, they both did their business in record time and headed straight back to the air conditioned comfort of home. There's still a lot to be done. I guess I could vacuum the house or do a few loads of laundry, but Dr Who will be coming on in a few minutes. Oh well. There's always tomorrow. Or maybe the next day.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 192

Once again I find that I'm all dressed up with no place to go. I've got my entire portfolio transfered to my iPod. Photos, TV commercials, documentary films, print ads...just about everything worth showing has been loaded and is ready to go. Unfortunately, I can't think of anyone to show the stuff to. Just about everyone with the courtesy to take a look is already a friend or a customer. The rest of the world is so well insulated that it's unlikely that we'll ever meet. It wasn't that long ago that the cold call was a time-honored way to prospect for new business. Not anymore. Telemarketers, spam and a lousy job market have created a toxic environment where people just don't want to talk you if they don't already know you. If you call the office of someone you aren't already familiar with, they are not going to pick up the phone. If you send them an e-mail, it will probably end up in their junk mail folder.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm the same way myself. I never answer the phone anymore without looking at Caller-ID first. I don't even bother to open e-mail if it looks like a sales pitch or a message from someone who wants me to hire them. It's a shame the world has come to this. Over the years I've found some very nice customers by making cold calls. I don't even try anymore. Virtually all my business now comes as a result of recommendations from friends. People just don't want to deal with strangers anymore, and I can't say that I blame them.

If cold calls no longer work, maybe online advertising will. What the hell...it's worth a try anyway. I've been experimenting with running online ads for my company, but haven't reached any conclusions yet.  Google Adwords certainly seem to deliver exactly what Google says they will, but Adwords can get kind of expensive. Running Adgitize and Entrecard ads will definitely increase your page rank at a much lower price, but I wonder if any of the new visitors will stay long enough to get to know you. With all these new technology tools out there, I have a feeling that taking someone to lunch still works better.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 191

I'm growing increasingly frustrated at my inability to control my investments. The market has become so random and capricious lately that flipping a coin would probably provide me with the same results as all my carefully thought out plans. It's hard to know what to do. If I had ignored my last financial adviser and kept my Apple stock instead of selling to avoid the dreaded "double dip" that never happened, I would own twice as many shares today. Why? Because I wouldn't have had to buy the stock back later at a much higher price. On the other hand, if I hadn't sold everything on my broker's doom and gloom advice, I would still have owned Halliburton and Transocean when the Deepwater Horizon exploded causing the world's biggest oil spill and the shares of these two stocks to plummet. Basically, nothing is predictable anymore. You can still get lucky in the market, but you can still get lucky in Las Vegas too.

I finally found some free time to update my own websites today. Typically, my own sites are woefully out of date. By the time I've finished with my clients websites, I'm usually so sick of using Dreamweaver that I don't even care what's on my own sites. There's still a lot of work to be done, but at least I've corrected some of the most glaring errors and omissions.

The June bugs have returned for the Summer. I don't know what it is about June bugs, but Dalmatians seem to love them. Spot, our first Dalmatian, developed a taste for the critters when he was still a puppy and most of the dogs we have had since pursue the bugs as well. The larvae of these beetles live in the soil until they mature and Dash has made it his mission to dig them up. I wish he'd just wait until the bugs grew up and started flying around. I'm having a hard enough time getting grass to grow in the back yard as it is. With Dash digging holes every few feet, it's just about hopeless.

I discovered a new form of tech-support torture today. I'm having trouble with some software I bought recently and the only way I can contact tech support is by using e-mail. This particular company only responds to tech-support questions once a day. If their response doesn't answer your question, you've got to send them a follow-up e-mail and wait at least 24-hours to hear anything from them again. At this rate, it's going to be August before I get the software working properly. I bought the application to help me with a deadline too. Silly me.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 190

I've got to quit using Neosporin as a lazy man's solution for everything that ails me. I put some on my eyelid this morning to get rid of a little redness and all the sudden I couldn't see. It felt like someone had smeared Vaseline in my eye. With my other good eye, I looked at the label with a magnifying glass and sure enough it said "Don't use near the eyes." Oops. I should have known better, but I hate the idea of sitting in the doctor's waiting room for over an hour just to get a prescription for eye drops. I guess that's what I"ll have to do tomorrow though. I even thought about using Dash's eye drops to avoid a trip to the doctor, but I'd feel real bad if his eye infection didn't get better because I'd used up his medicine myself.

I just wish that going to the doctor's office didn't involve so much waiting. At least it's not as bad as jury duty. Janet had jury duty today and it reminded me that I haven't been called for a while. Inevitably, I get the jury duty summons when I'm really busy at work or planning a vacation. When things are slow and I actually wouldn't mind jury duty, I never hear from them.

I'm still trying to salvage information from the video drive that crashed the other day. I thought I might be able to buy some DVD ripping software and use it to recreate the lost Quicktime files from the backup DVD's of the completed projects. I found a software package on the Internet that looked like it would do the job and promptly downloaded it. Unfortunately, when I tried to install the software, I got a message saying that the program wouldn't run on a non-Intel Mac. It would have been nice if they'd told me this on the website before I paid for everything. This is the fourth time something like this has happened to me. I quess my old Power PC computers are getting so old that the software developers aren't even bothering to write universal code like they used to. Snow Leopard doesn't help matters either. It's becoming more and more apparent that the Apple world has more or less abandoned folks like me.

Training class was a little shorter than usual tonight. Everyone got nervous when we saw a police car slowly circling the field where we worked with the dogs. You can get a ticket in Dallas if your dog isn't on a leash. and many of the training exercises are done off leash. You wouldn't think you could get a ticket for training your dog to be better behaved, but you never know. At any rate, our trainer decided to end the class a bit early just to stay on the safe side. No complaints from the dogs. Most of them were getting too hot anyway.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 189

When I turned on the television this morning, the news was all about General McChrystal. I feel sorry for the General. What's happening to him has happened to almost all of us on a much smaller scale. People are always asking what you're thinking these days. They encourage you to be open and candid. Generally, people who ask you to be candid don't really want to know what you're thinking. They want you to agree with what they are thinking. The smart, successful folks in this world are the ones who've come to realize that when someone asks what you're thinking, it's almost always best to keep your mouth shut.

I saw another television news team in the park this morning when I was walking the dogs. They didn't want to interview us like they did last Winter though. I think the news crew must have been doing a story about summer school programs for children, because they were filming a bunch of kids and their teacher next to the lake. We might have made the news anyway, because as we walked by, all the kids looked up and in unison said "Look, it's a Dalmaaaatian."

After lunch, I went over to have a look inside the new Second Chance Treasures store. I was impressed at how professional everything seemed. You'd never know that the entire store was put together by a bunch of animal rescue volunteers. I think a resale shop like this is a great idea for fundraising. The store gets most of its merchandise by cleaning up after high-end estate sales, so inventory costs are very low. The rescue group gets invited to some very nice estate sales, so the store is filled with unique and unusual items. It all seems to work. I told the manager that I'd come back next week and take a bunch of new photos that I will use to relaunch the store website with a new and better look.

It's a good thing I didn't have any important deadlines today, because I had several major computer problems. One of my large external backup drives crashed and took a ton of video files down with it. I tried with no success to revive the disk using Diskwarrior. The Apple disk utility didn't work either. I'll try taking the drive up to a data recovery place tomorrow, but I'm afraid that I may have seen the last of these files. Luckily, most of the files were from projects that I completed several years ago. I still hate when this happens though. If I ever do need to re-edit the video clips on this drive, it's not going to be easy.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 188 - Summer Solstice

Sometimes it's embarrassing how little actually happens during a typical day. Today was the longest day of the year. It could just as easily have been the shortest day of the year. It was hard for me to tell the difference. I paid a few bills. I answered a few e-mails. The entire day was a non-event.

I should use my time wisely and plan ahead on days like this, but usually I don't. Maybe I should be more like the client who asked me to add a new employee to their website today. This particular employee doesn't actually begin work until August. I've never been this organized and tend to wait till the last possible minute to get things done. Most of my other customers aren't all that organized either. Many of them don't even think about adding new employees to their websites until they've been around for at least six months.

I'd be the first to admit that there's usually a ton of stuff I could do on slow, uneventful days. I could send some new photos to the stock photo agency. I could wash the car or mow the grass. I could finally get around to painting the atrium. Somehow, it's always easier to do these things on busy days though. Once I get myself in high gear, it's pretty easy to add something else to my "to do" list. It's getting started in the first place that's always the hard part.

I did manage to get a few things done however. I went over to Second Chance Treasures and took some pictures of their new building for the website. This was definitely a last minute endeavor. I think the grand opening is tomorrow. On the way home I stopped by the watch repair store to get a crystal replaced that I had scratched last week. While I was there, I asked about an Omega that I had brought in for service quite a while ago. They still weren't finished with it. I think they've been working on this watch for over a year now. This slow pace is lightning fast compared to the mechanic who is currently working on my Citroën SM. He's had the car for over five years. I never ask these people to hurry up and finish what they're doing. They do good work. More importantly, they make me look fast by comparison.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 187 - Father's Day

Father's Day is always the third Sunday in June, which means it usually falls very near my birthday. Every once in a while my birthday is actually the same day as Father's Day. My Mom used to tell Dad that I was her Father's Day gift, but personally I think he would have preferred a Bass boat instead. I never had children myself. Growing up in a loving but largely dysfunctional family left me with no desire to repeat the whole crazy process.

Over the years, people have told me that I would have made a good Dad, but I'm not so sure. I think I'm much better suited to raising Dalmatians. The simple loyalty a dog provides is something I understand and value. The complex dynamics of family life, where love and hatred are often blended together so homogeneously that it becomes impossible to tell these emotions apart is something else entirely. I don't enjoy living in an emotional stew pot. I've often wondered if I was mildly autistic. I know that I'm a lot better at fixing things than I am at feeling things. I think a good Dad needs to be good at feeling things.

This was the first Sunday in a long time that the dogs didn't get to go to Unleashed. We've been looking for alternatives, but since Unleashed was the only indoor dog  park in the entire country, there really aren't any. We did find a really nice little outdoor dog park near downtown that we took the dogs to this afternoon. I think this park was built and is still managed by the Meadows Foundation. It seems to be located on their property near Swiss Avenue anyway. If the park is run by the Meadows Foundation, it would certainly explain why is so much cleaner and nicer than the city run dog parks. The city dog parks are mostly just dirt and mud holes. This park featured a well manicured lawn of St. Augustine grass. I guess in the dog world, this must be the equivalent of private schools versus public schools.

Dash didn't get a bath this week. I'm beginning to think that his frequent medicated baths are doing more harm than good. We'll try once every two weeks for a while and see what happens. One of our neighbors gives her dog Claritin for skin allergies. I'm not so sure about that either. Dot has a thick, healthy looking coat. I wish she'd just tell Dash her secret.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 186 - My Birthday

Today is my birthday. I'm a typical Gemini. I'm attracted to anything bright and shiny and have an unhealthy fascination with the superficial side of life. Like most Gemini's, I've gone through much of my life thinking I needed two of everything. Time has taken its toll though. With each passing year I am becoming less and less acquisitive. As my health and wealth slowly deteriorate, I'm happy just to be here at all. Life is still full of surprises, but I don't look forward to being surprised anymore. A little predictability is just fine.

When I was young, each new birthday seemed like a countdown to bigger adventures ahead. Now, birthdays feel more like I'm passing a mile marker in a marathon race. If it's a marathon I'm running, I'm more than halfway to the finish line now. At least I'm still in the race. All in all, it was a very pleasant day: a subdued, but definitely happy birthday. I hope to do the same thing again next year.

I think today was the hottest day of the year so far. Even early this morning it was uncomfortably warm. We passed one of our neighbors on our morning walk and their dog was just sitting by the side of the road refusing to move. I knew exactly what was happening, because Dot and Dash do the same thing. I don't know how you teach a dog to pace themselves and start heading back home before they get tired. They like to follow their regular route and don't appreciate it when you anticipate their fatigue and turn back home early. Instead, they'd rather keep walking until they're completely tired and then just stop.

We're going to take a kiddie pool with us when we go up and walk the rescue Dalmatians tomorrow. On hot days some of them love to get in the water and splash around. Dogs are funny about water. Some love it and others don't. Dot and Dash both act like they're going to melt if they get wet. I just can't seem to convince them that a swimming pool is the best way to survive a Texas Summer.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 185

It was a busy and surprisingly productive day. It makes me wonder if it's really Friday. I got the petrochemical industry article I've been working on completed and send it off to my German client. I launched a new website for another client that had been lingering on the back burner for several months. I went to Aaron Brothers and got the Dalmatian Rescue poster I made yesterday dry mounted for tomorrow's adoption event. On the way home I even had time to stop by Culwell and Son and do a little shopping for Summer clothes. One of the sales associates told me that I should have come in a little earlier because Ross Perot had been in the store a few hours ago doing some shopping. I asked my friend Mark at the store if he had gotten any pictures of the occasion and sure enough he had. The picture was already on the store's Facebook page.

Well known people must do a lot of shopping in Dallas. I've been out shopping several times recently and heard that Laura Bush or Don Henley or Janine Turner had just been in the store. Maybe these shopping sightings are true, but I certainly don't see famous people very often when I'm out and about. Every once in a while I do see Erykah Badu, but that's only because we live in the same neighborhood and my dogs like to poop in front of her house.

Janet and I went out to eat at Kona Grill in Northpark tonight. The food was fabulous, but they certainly don't like people to linger. Every few minutes one of the waiters would come by our table and ask if they could take away a plate or an empty glass. They took away my silverware by mistake before my dinner even arrived. Everyone was real friendly about hurrying me along with my meal though. Maybe I was just eating too slow. Truthfully, I do everything too slow. Some people can handle it and it drives other people nuts.

I'm starting to take my iPad everywhere. It doesn't fit in your pocket like a phone, but it's a lot handier than all the crap I used to carry around in a briefcase. Hopefully, I won't succumb to constantly showing my iPad pictures to total strangers the way everyone does with their cell phones.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 184

This morning I designed a new a poster featuring Kobe for a Dalmatian Rescue event this weekend. Kobe recently became a finalist in  Purina's Rescue Story of the Year contest. Last year, another Dalmatian Rescue dog named Willow was also a finalist in this contest. Kobe certainly has an amazing story and hopefully he'll win this year. When we found Kobe, we discovered that he'd been hit by a car and had numerous injuries that had never received medical attention. The worst of these injuries was a broken hip which had never been set or repaired. Several vets thought his leg needed to be amputated, but we found a wonderful orthopedic surgeon who was able to completely repair the broken hip and allow Kobe to walk again. After several surgeries and extensive physical therapy, Kobe is now a healthy, playful dog who walks completely normally. If you've got a minute, please vote for Kobe at the Rally to Rescue website. The exposure will help him find a home and if he wins, Purina will provide some much needed support for the Dalmatian Rescue organization.

If you've got an iPad, be sure to download the Google Earth app. The combination of the Google mapping system with GPS is simply amazing. The GPS is so accurate that Google Earth could tell which room of the house I was in. The detail in the satellite imagery is astounding. When I zoomed in on the area where the dogs and I walk everyday, I could actually see cyclists riding along the bike path. I looked to see if the satellite had managed to capture an image of the dogs and I, but we were nowhere to be seen. I guess I'm easily amused, because this was my entertainment for the day.

A lot of my customers are moving their hosting accounts over to GoDaddy because it is so cheap. I'm finding that I'm having to spend a lot of time on the GoDaddy website looking for the code I need to modify these sites so they still work like they did before. I can't believe that GoDaddy doesn't even have a toll-free tech support line. You've got to call them long distance and half the time you don't even get connected to someone who knows anything about your problem. It's irritating. I guess you get what you pay for though. GoDaddy's prices for web hosting are next to nothing compared to what most of my customers are used to paying. I can eventually find the answers I need on the GoDaddy website, but it would sure be nice if there was a friendly, free tech support geek to talk to when I had a problem.

When I looked out the window after lunch, Dot and Dash were both lying on their backs in the grass with their feet straight up in the air. I guess they were sunbathing.

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