Day 487

Our Easter pet picture event started out kind of slow this morning, but picked up as the day progressed. This is typical of a new location. People don't know what to expect. Everyone was very happy with their pictures today and asked when we were coming back again. This is always a good sign. Hopefully, the next time we come back for holiday pet pictures, today's customers will have told their friends and we'll have a larger crowd.

It was a good day for Dalmatian Rescue. We made some new friends at the photo event, but more importantly, Pringles got adopted today. We also rescued a new dog named Becker from the Tri-Cities animal shelter. Becker is a handsome, young liver spotted Dalmatian and he's today's Dalmatian of the Day.

We're going back for a second day of pictures at the City Vet location tomorrow, so I didn't have to lug all my equipment home tonight. With the set already in place, tomorrow's shoot will be easier.

There were a few minor casualties today, but nothing major. Two dogs peed on the backdrop, so I'm going to have to take it to one of those giant commercial washers when this is over and clean it up again. Another memory card got fried again too. I've got to figure out what is causing these CompactFlash cards to go bad. They've come down in price a lot, but they're still too expensive to lose one every time I do one of these events.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 486

I had to check my calendar today to make sure it wasn't National Website Problem Day. Everyone had a problem today. Some of the problems were small and insignificant, while others were so large that I felt like throwing my hands in the air and walking away. The trouble with website work is that although it doesn't pay very well, it is still very time consuming. I need to figure out a way to revive my video production business. In retrospect, that was a much better way to make a living. Unfortunately, video production work doesn't pay as well as it used to either. Once people discovered that they could buy one of those little inexpensive Flip cameras and do everything themselves, the whole process of putting corporate videos on the web changed dramatically.

Someone mentioned to me today that we are doing our Easter pet pictures tomorrow right in the middle of the largest Jewish community in Dallas. Maybe if we made little Yarmulkes for the dogs. I don't know. Hopefully, people will still come and have their dog's picture made even if they don't celebrate Easter.

I didn't really feel like celebrating much of anything today. I'm just tired. The day started with sweeping tons of water off the roof from last's night's big thunderstorm and it hasn't ended yet. All the website problems I had to deal with today slowed me down quite a bit. Yesterday, all I thought I'd be doing today was taking some employee pictures at one of my client's offices. I did get the pictures taken this afternoon, but I still haven't found time to get them up on the website yet.

As soon as I publish today's blog post, I've got to start packing up all my gear for tomorrow's pet picture event. I need to be at the store to set up at 9 AM. That means I'm going to have to start drinking a lot of coffee at 6 AM. Wish me luck.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 485

I went to the AT&T store today to see if they had practical a way I could upload really large video files straight from my laptop while I'm in Houston next month. They did have a nifty little 4G dongle that would provide me with the speed I require, but the only way they would sell it was with a two year contract. They had another broadband dongle that featured a pay as you go 3G plan, but it was too slow. When I was complaining to the salesperson that I already received three AT&T bills every month and didn't really want to add a fourth, he seized on the opportunity to try and sell me on scrapping everything and having the house wired for fiber. Usually I hate these hard sell pitches, but the price for switching everything from a combination of copper wire landlines and cable to a single fiber optic system looked pretty good. If the system worked, I would save a considerable amount of money. That's the problem. I wouldn't really know whether it worked until I had it installed. We have friends who have these U-verse fiber optic systems who tell me they only work reliably about half the time.

Everything is complicated these days. I've been having some problems with side effects from one of the new medications my doctor put me on recently. My solution would be to just stop taking the medicine. I felt fine before I started taking it, and now I wake up every morning feeling like shit. My doctor didn't agree though. He wants me to cut the pills in half and just take half as much of the medicine. He said my body just wasn't used to the medicine yet. Maybe. I have a feeling though that I'll still wake up half the time feeling like shit.

My taxes are finally done and ready to mail. Oops, I forgot. You can't mail your taxes anymore. Everything is e-filed now. Even the refund, if you get one, is deposited directly in your bank account. This is probably the last year that I'll take my big ring binders full of records and receipts over to my accountant. Next year, he told me to just e-mail him my Quickbooks files.

Everyone really liked the finished poster at the animal rescue meeting tonight, although one person was a bit worried that Peta was going to get after us for putting lipstick on a cat.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 484

I received another non-disclosure agreement in the mail today. That's always a good thing, because it usually means that projects have progressed from the talking about things stage to the actually doing things stage. I've signed so many of these agreements over the years that it's amazing I am still able to talk about anything at all. That's the good thing about dogs. You can write or say anything you want about dogs and the dogs don't really care.

After breakfast this morning, I had to go to the frame store and get some things dry mounted. I like this store, because they'll do little things like this while I wait. I've noticed that the waiting part of "while you wait" keeps getting longer though. The person doing the framing and dry mounting had to come out and run the cash register whenever a customer came in the store. It took me an hour and a half to get the dry mounting done. Getting watch batteries replaced or changing the oil in my car seems to take longer now as well. Nobody seems to hire enough staff anymore. Everywhere I go, there are just a few stressed out people trying to do the work of all the other people that got laid off to keep the companies profitable.

Luckily, haircuts are still done on a while you wait basis. I went to Northpark this afternoon and got a haircut so I would look halfway decent for our big Dalmatian Rescue pet photo event this weekend. After Betty finished with my hair, I did a little shopping in the mall before I went home. As I was leaving, a salesperson asked me if I wanted him to accompany me to the car with my purchase. Weird! Nobody has ever asked me that in a shopping mall before. In my mind, it kind of confirmed some of the rumors that I've been hearing about the mall having problems with increasing gang activity.

I don't know where I'm going to stay in Houston. I just kind of assumed that I would be staying at the same hotel where my client was staying, but when I called to make reservations today, I discovered that the place is booked solid for the entire week. Two hotels nearby are booked solid too. This means that I'm going to have to spend considerable time tomorrow looking for hotels instead of designing websites like I should be.

Dash didn't do that well in training class tonight. Maybe his allergies were bothering him just as much as mine were. He didn't win any ribbons this evening, but if they were giving ribbons for barking, he would have gotten first place.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 483

Yay! I got the big trade show job in Houston next month. The project has already changed shape several times since I submitted my initial bid, but it's still a fabulous project for a very large company. I'll need to buy some new equipment to do the job properly, but I needed some new equipment anyway. It's a good investment. When friends ask why I've been spending so much time on blogs and Facebook and other social media destinations lately, this is probably the reason. Two years ago I didn't even know what social media was. Now, I'm getting hired to provide social media coverage of events. This seems like a good investment too.

The Wine on the Roof poster is finally done. Yay again. If you've been following this story, you'll notice that this thing has changed shape a few times as well. Now, it's a much more literal interpretation of the original Gone with the Wind movie poster. I had my doubts that I'd even get the three foot long poster printed today, because my printer is genuinely on its last legs. All's well that ends well though. In the process of printing the poster today, I finally found out what is wrong with my printer. Evidently the print head overheats and shuts the printer down with an error message when there is no ink inside the head. Ink serves a dual purpose of coloring the picture and cooling the print head. The fix for this problem? Well, it's either a simple $150 service call to reattach some loose wires, or $1100 and up for a brand new print head and pump. Unfortunately, the repairman has to come out and take the printer apart to see whether I got lucky or not. The printer is so old that I don't think it's worth it to spend a fortune replacing all the internal parts. Jeez, I've already done that with the Defender 90 and that's enough. I'm always up for reattaching loose wires though, so I'll probably have the guy come out and take a look. I wish someone would invent a small, cheap printer that would make very large, expensive looking prints. In my experience, almost all current large format printers are way more trouble than they're worth.

I saw an amphibious car when I was walking the dogs at the lake today. It's really strange to be walking along and see a half submerged convertible glide by you on the water. I don't remember the brand of the car, but I recall seeing pictures of one that looked like this. They were made in the 1960's and look kind of like a bathtub with wheels. A mile or so down the trail I saw something even stranger. It was a big two foot square sign featuring one of those square bar code thingies that are starting to pop up everywhere. All the sign said was "scan this for more information." I didn't scan the sign. Actually, I didn't even bring my phone with me. I hate to get calls when I'm walking.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 482

My life has become a numbers game. I had a meeting with my financial adviser today and we pored over charts and graphs, trying to decide what to do next. What happens if Bernanke discontinues quantitative easing this Summer? What are we going to do if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling later this year? There are dozens of these scenarios and nobody really knows the answer to any of them. It's getting harder and harder to invest sensibly because, although almost everybody seems to agree that the country is going bankrupt and disaster is on the horizon, nobody has a clue when the curtain is actually going to fall. I'm convinced that the only reason the market is still doing OK is that a lot of people think they're smart enough to keep making profits now while the momentum is going in their direction and then jump ship at the last possible second. I don't think I'm smart enough to time things this precisely, but I haven't jumped ship yet.

Going to the doctor is another numbers game. We look over lab reports and decide what to do if liver enzyme levels are elevated or viral loads have decreased. There are so many different cholesterol levels to check, it makes your head spin. Now, there a new complication, since blood glucose levels have to be tracked as well. Lab reports are occasionally completely wrong too. I get tired of the number game, but what else is there? You can't really predict the future, but when it comes down to life, death or picking up aluminum cans on the side of the road, you've got to make an effort.

Even my online activities have become a numbers game. I used to spend a lot of time talking with people online. Even though it was mostly typing, I had the distinct feeling that a conversation was taking place. Now that I'm busier, a little more tired, and am an active blogger as well, I barely have time to conduct a one way conversation. I write. I publish. And I check my stats. That's it. When the number go up, it makes me think that someone's out there listening, but I'm never really sure.

Number can be deceiving. Will bacon really kill me? Do people enjoy reading about my life with dogs? Should I sell my Apple shares while I've still got a profit? I just look at the numbers and wonder. My watch of the day used to belong to Alice Cooper. I wouldn't mind having that guy's numbers. School's Out was recorded in 1972 and I still hear it on the radio today. Took him a while, but he even made it into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame last month.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 481

We went looking at televisions this afternoon. I actually thought we'd come home with one, but we didn't. One thing I learned today is that most electronics retailers like Fry's and Best Buy don't actually stock the cool new models that get all the good reviews on the Internet. Instead, they have a lot of slightly older models that they are trying to get rid of. There must be a larger profit margin on the really huge flat screens too. There were tons of TV out there that wouldn't even fit through our front door, but not nearly as wide a selection of the smaller 32 inch models we were looking for. When you ask which TV is they most reliable, dependable model, the salespeople don't even know anymore. They just try to sell you an extended warranty package and say you can bring it back if anything goes wrong. Quality has essentially become a function of service these days and seems to have less and less to do with the product itself. Maybe I'll just buy a TV online. I already buy just about everything else online anyway.

It's weird. I'm always the first to lament the demise of small businesses around town, but my buying habits are probably exactly why many small businesses are having trouble. It's just so much easier to buy online. You don't have to fight the traffic and there is generally no sales tax. Just click your mouse a few times and a few days the FedEx guy delivers your order to your front door.

It was nice dog walking weather today. Almost every time I walk the dogs in the park, I see something that I can't really explain. Today I saw two uniformed state game wardens sitting on top of a hill in their green four wheel drive pickup, looking out over the lake with high powered binoculars. I don't know what they were looking for. I looked in the same general direction and all I saw were two people flying kites and a guy taking pictures of wildflowers. I certainly didn't see any wild animals, although there are plenty living in the park. Maybe there's a problem that I'm not aware of. With the diverse crowd that frequents the park on weekends now, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if someone weren't picking off the large turtles one by one and using them to make turtle soup.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 480

The Dalmatians in the rescue program seem to be finding their forever homes a bit faster this year. Remember Blossom? She went to her new home today. It really wasn't that long ago when I took Blossom's picture and made her the Dalmatian of the Day. It's nice that these dogs are finding homes quickly, because there is always a new dog entering the program. We got another new dog today. Her name is Livy and she's today's Dalmatian of the Day. Like many rescue dogs, Livy was an owner surrender. It's sad that pets have become a throw away item these days for many people. A new baby arrives, or a family gets transferred to another part of the country and the dog goes to the animal shelter. We'll make sure that Livy gets a better home this time.

When I was walking Dot and Dash this afternoon, I noticed two police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck down by the lake. Something was wrong. Nobody seemed to care though. There were several groups of picnickers within twenty feet of all the commotion and they just continued to eat as if nothing happened. It was a strange day at the lake. On the way home I saw a car driving down one of the narrow bicycle paths. This isn't allowed at all, but when the car drove right past another parked police car, the police did nothing at all. I guess the police had bigger fish to fry than a car on the bike path today.

I filled up my tank on the way home from the grocery store. Yikes! Gas is getting pretty pricey these days. I don't think I've ever paid more than this to fill up my tank. Well, actually, I have paid more, but it was a different tank. Once I had a one ton F-350 dually pickup with a diesel engine and two gas tanks. You wouldn't want to be facing $4.00 per gallon gas with that thing.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 479

My little two dog office had a busy day. I spent most of the day working on my new oil and gas annual report. When I wasn't puzzling over strange phrases like "our strategy is to capitalize on this growing trend for independent upstream companies to monetize their conventional assets by deploying capital to unconventional resources," I was on the phone. I made a rare international call to one of my clients in Germany this morning. This was the first time I'd used my iPhone to make an international call, and I was amazed by how easy it was. I am totally flummoxed by international calls. I never remember the correct country codes and seldom remember whether I'm supposed to dial 1 or not in front of the long string of numbers. With the iPhone, I didn't have to mess with any of this. All I did was touch my finger to my client's name in my address book and the call went through.

My reluctant plunge into the social media ocean is finally starting to pay off. I got a call this afternoon from an old client of mine who I recently reconnected with on Facebook. Would I be interested in working on some new product launch literature for a major wireless provider? You bet! Towards the end of the day, a blogger friend called and asked if I'd be interested in doing some professional blogging for his company. Things are looking up.

I wish my memory was a little better. As I was packing for the employee photo assignment I mentioned in an earlier post, a little voice in the back of my head told me to call my client and make sure I had the right day. Nope. Wrong again. The photo shoot is actually next Friday afternoon. Even though a had wasted some time packing up cameras, this mistake was really a blessing in disguise. I didn't have enough time to do the photos today anyway. As soon as I hung up the phone, I went straight back to working on the annual report.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 478

I can always tell when my accountant actually starts working on my taxes, because I get a flurry of calls asking for various missing documents. One of the documents they were asking for today actually was missing. The rest, the accountant already had. I must have just put them in the wrong pocket of the accordion folder with all my receipts. It's getting pretty close to April 15, but I certainly can't fault my accountant for waiting this long to get started. This is the busiest month of the year for accounting firms. If I had this much business during the months of March and April, I would probably just take the rest of the year off.

I did get some legitimate new business today. The annual report job finally came through. Part of my input material was a competitors annual report. "Our business is exactly like theirs," I was told. "We just don't want it to sound like we went out and copied them." I've gotten this kind of direction before. "Make it just the same....but different." Yup, I can do that. I've done it many times before.

I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. I don't know why, since Saturdays aren't usually that exciting. It's been a long, busy week though, and I'd like to forget about keeping my head above water for a couple of days. Maybe we'll go look at new televisions this weekend. Given the choice between making an annual report sound "just the same...but different" or watching old episodes of Top Gear and Dr. Who, I think being a couch potato for a while doesn't sound half bad.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 477

I made a new business call this morning. I would do this sort of thing a lot more often if it didn't eat up half my day. I drove for an hour to go make my pitch, made a short presentation, and then drove for an hour to go home again. I still don't know if I got the job. Probably I didn't, because I ended up getting lost on the way to the meeting and was fifteen minutes late. Google Maps let me down. When it came time to take exit 38A off the freeway, I discovered that the exit didn't exist anymore. In it's place was a lot of construction equipment and traffic barriers. By the time I got to exit 39 five miles down the road, my Google directions didn't make sense anymore.

When I got back from this meeting, I has to call customer service to resolve a website problem and got one of those automated phone systems that attempt to solve your problem through a series of prerecorded questions. These things never work. After twenty minutes of listening to speak or type your case number and I don't understand your answer from the automated robot, I finally discovered that the secret word you had to say in order to have your call directed to a real person was "agent." I don't know why so many help desks are going to these automated systems because they never seem to resolve anything.

The rest of the day was spent trying to track down the status of various pending jobs, again with very little success. When we went to training class tonight, Dash wasn't having a lot of success either. It wasn't his fault though. Dash is very good at picking up on my moods. He probably sensed that I wasn't really on top of things tonight and decided he wasn't going to make much of an effort either. At least the sun is still up during most of training class these days. It's much nicer to be able to see what you're doing during the training exercises. All in all, it wasn't the best of days. Luckily, there's always tomorrow to look forward to.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 476

The stock market continues to puzzle me. I talked to my broker today and he thinks it's time to sell a few positions and lock in some of my recent gains. This certainly sounds reasonable if it weren't for the fact that every time I've done this in the past, the market has gone even higher. I certainly believe that old adage bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Nevertheless, anyone who has been too cautious during the past several years has seen their portfolio go nowhere. Historically, when I did well personally, the market also did well. This is no longer true. In fact, there now seems to be a complete disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street. All around me, I see homes in foreclosure, small businesses struggling and retail prices skyrocketing. At the same time the market continues to stay surprisingly strong. I just don't know anymore. The market may still be the best chance I've got at economic independence. On the other hand, stocks could just be the bubble that hasn't burst yet.

I took Dash to the vet today for his bi-weekly antigen shot. When the nurse took his blood pressure I noticed that the monitor was a high-tech marvel with all kinds of red and green flashing lights. When the nurse takes my own blood pressure, they still use an old fashioned inflatable cuff that probably hasn't changed in design for over fifty years. The vets are the first to get all the new toys these days. My veterinary clients had the new digital x-ray machines over five years ago and my own physicians are just starting to get these things. I have a feeling that going to vet school might be a lot better long-term investment than buying stocks.

My oil and gas annual report is back on the front burner again. On the other hand, the big oil and gas social media project I'm bidding on is still in limbo. The only sure thing these days are employee photos. I'm always taking employee photos. Got another photo shoot lined up for this Friday.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 475

The new heat pump was installed at my rental property today. It was a big, day-long production, involving a large crane and a crew of installers. The installation would have been a piece of cake if the heat pump wasn't located up on the roof in a very inaccessible place. True to form, I don't seem to do many things the easy way. At least if it's up on the roof, the unit is a bit harder for thieves to destroy in search of copper tubing.

Hopefully, this will be my last big expenditure of the year. I can't keep depositing little checks in the bank while I'm writing big checks for repairs and health care forever. I'll have to admit that the old heat pump actually did provide pretty good service. It lasted 25 years. That's a lot more than you can say for most things these days.

After the heat pump was safely installed on the roof of my rental property, I returned home to my own roof to sweep off the water from last night's rains. There was a huge storm last night which woke up both dogs and sent them into frenzy of barking. Dot has a terrible phobia of storms, and although Dash could care less, he likes to bark whenever Dot does. Needless to say, we didn't really get a good night's sleep last night.

No pancakes this morning. I've begun my new "no sugar" campaign. Actually, I was so busy today that I didn't eat any breakfast at all. Nevertheless, I won't be having my beloved pancakes, waffles or french toast for a while. I'm trying to think of something I can eat that won't kill me, but is still appealing enough to get me out of bed in the morning. So far, the only thing that really sounds good is biscuits and gravy. My doctors probably won't like that. Something tells me that biscuits and gravy aren't really considered a health food.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 474

I went out and looked at televisions today. Our old Sony Trinitron is on its last legs and it's about time to consider something new. Wow, there's certainly a lot to consider. The last time I looked at televisions, they all had CRT tubes. For a long time I thought our current TV was "state-of-the-art" because it was cable ready and had stereo sound. Things have definitely changed. I saw televisions today that will let you check your Facebook status and have a video conference call on Skype. One thing I didn't see was a big box with a picture tube. I wonder if anyone even manufactures CRT tubes anymore? It's all HD-1080 flat panels now. I'm certainly glad I didn't run out and buy one of those $10,000 plasma displays when they first appeared. Plasma displays are apparently already ancient history. Even late model LCD displays appear to be headed for the dustbin. It's all about LED displays now. The one thing that hasn't changed in the TV world are the people who sell these things. If you are foolish enough to stand in front of a display TV at Fry's Electronics for more than five seconds, you will have five salespeople hovering around you trying to sell it to you.

I really don't watch much TV, but I did happen to catch Steven Tyler singing a duet with Carrie Underwood on the Academy of Country Music Awards show this evening. Good Lord. I remember going to an Aerosmith concert in Seattle in 1974 and Steven Tyler looked exactly the same then. Considering how Keith and Mick look these days, Steven Tyler is hanging in there pretty well. He's either got a very good plastic surgeon or has accidentally discovered the fountain on youth.

I certainly haven't discovered this illusive fountain. Janet took some pictures of me walking the dogs today and I looked like death warmed over. The dogs appeared to be having fun though. It was another nice Spring day at the dog park. I'm really going to miss these mild days when Summer arrives and the temperature never drops below 100.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 473

A loud noise woke us up about 3 AM this morning. Even though I was still half asleep, I immediately knew what the noise was. Another drunk had lost control of his car after the bars closed and had driven through someone's front yard. The noise sounded a bit distant, so I thought it was someone else's yard this time. This morning when I looked outside, it became apparent that the car actually did hit the curb in front of our house. The car apparently bounced over our yard, landed in the neighbor's yard, and then bounced back out to the street again, when it skidded another 100 yards and came to rest near the stop light at the end of the street. This is just a guess, of course, but it is definitely what the skid marks and gouges left in the grass say happened. Believe it of not, this is the six or seventh time something like this has occurred. We live at the top of a hill and the street turns to the left a bit when it reaches our house. I guess if you're drunk enough, you just keep going straight. If drunk driving accidents reoccur so predictably in one particular neighborhood, you have to wonder how many wrecks there are citywide on an average Friday night. I bet there are hundreds in a city this size. No wonder there are so many tow truck companies in town.

Janet and I went to a party tonight. This was another charity fundraiser. I think this event was raising money for school scholarships instead of for dogs, but unless someone told you, it would be hard to tell the difference. There is always a meal, a silent auction, and usually some type of entertainment. Dalmatian Rescue does these type of things too. In fact, the entertainment portion of the evening was exactly the same as many Dalmatian Rescue events: an after dinner casino night. I'm always curious to see how the roulette table is run at these events, because Janet and I are the roulette dealers for Dalmatian Rescue. I think we are more professional than a lot of charity dealers, but there are still some groups that make us look like country hicks. Roulette is an easy game. You just have to remember the payout odds and get the chips off the table fairly quickly after each round of play. I'd much rather be the roulette dealer than run the craps table. Whenever I look over at the craps table, it looks like total chaos. People do seem to have a lot of fun playing craps though. Roulette players are much more sedate. The roulette table was certainly sedate tonight. For much of the evening, Janet and I were the only players. Too bad we were playing with monopoly money. Janet had a good night. At one point she was up over $25,000. It wasn't real money though. At the end of the night, we dumped our winnings in a pot for some sort of raffle and went home.

I took the posters for our Easter pet photo weekend up to City Vet today so they can begin promoting the event. I ended up using the same picture of Dot wearing bunny ears that I used for last year's poster. Hey, it was a cute picture and I know Dot would much rather have me reuse the photo than spend an afternoon dressing her up like an Easter bunny. From her point of view, Dalmatians were meant to chase rabbits, not dress like them.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 472 - April Fool's Day

I hate going to the doctor. It's always depressing. Even though my lab work was actually better than it was on my last visit, it's still pretty obvious that I'm already on the glide path to oblivion. Eating healthy and getting lots of exercise don't really make you any younger. They just postpone the inevitable a bit.

Today, we talked about cutting back on the sugar in my diet. It has to be done, because for the last year or so all the lab work indicates that I am pre-diabetic. I definitely don't want to become a diabetic if I can prevent it, but I certainly am getting tired of giving up all my favorite things. I've already given up bacon and alcohol. Now, I'm going to have to give up my morning waffles, drenched in a sea of maple syrup. Ironically, I didn't have this craving for maple syrup when I was drinking. My doctor say this is all pretty normal. The body immediately converts alcohol to glucose anyway, and when the alcohol is eliminated, the body tries to get the sugar some other way. When I has a glass of wine with dinner and a Martini before bed, I never felt like eating anything sweet. Now I want dessert after every meal. At any rate, I'm pretty good at giving up things. We'll just add sugar to the growing list of things I can no longer enjoy. Technically, sugar isn't even the enemy here. It is my desire to combine sugar with carbohydrates. Pancakes and syrup. Waffles or french toast with lots of syrup and whipped cream. Donuts. Not a great combination for maintaining proper blood sugar levels.

No April Fool's jokes today. Who knows? Maybe this week's lack of work was all an extended joke. I don't think so though. Things are just slow. I sure hope the economy picks up by Summer. So far, this year hasn't exactly gotten off to a stellar start. At least the stock market is hanging in there. An up day in the market can still balance out a bad day at the office.

I retrieved one of my neighbors dogs this afternoon. The friendly Chocolate Lab was just wandering around loose and appeared lost. I have returned countless neighborhood dogs to their homes over the years. I seem to be the only one around during the day. Kids leave the gate open. Parents leave the gate open. Dogs even learn how to open the gate themselves. Luckily, most of these loose dogs are very nice and it isn't hard to lure them home again. It's strange how casual many people are about their dogs however. I would never go off and leave my own dogs in the backyard when I leave the house. I feel much safer when they're inside sleeping on their favorite blanket.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 471

Everything is turning green. The grass in the backyard is growing nicely. The Dogwoods, Azaleas, Redbuds and other flowering trees in the park are in full bloom. I'd say that everything is coming up roses, if it weren't for the fact that I'm also seeing huge fields of poison ivy starting to grow as well. It's only a matter of time before one of the dogs wanders though a patch of of fresh poison ivy and transfers the itchy oil to me while I sleep. For some reason, the dogs never catch poison ivy themselves, but once the urushiol oil gets on their coats, I'm almost guaranteed to catch it within a week. Poison ivy isn't the only nuisance that returns every Spring either. The bees have returned as well. When I go out in the yard with the dogs now, I see tons of bees. They seemed to have arrived with the new grass, although I'm not quite sure why. We don't really have any flowers in the yard, but the bees sure seem to like something.

I finished my "Gone with the Wind" poster today. I was going to present it to the rescue group at our regular Thursday meeting, but the meeting got canceled at the last minute. I guess I'll just present the poster here. Just about everyone who goes to that Thursday meeting has become a blog reader anyway.

I'm starting to think that my bid for the trade show project in Houston has hit a snag. I haven't heard anything yet and the event keeps getting closer and closer. If I'm bidding against a local supplier in Houston, I'm at a disadvantage anyway, since they won't have to factor hotel and travel expenses into their bid. Truthfully, I wish I never had to bid against other companies. I think my prices are fair. Life would be a lot easier if customers either gave me the job or they didn't. I'm just not a very competitive person.

I made another wasted trip to the pharmacy today to pick up a prescription, only to learn that it was no longer renewable. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and prescriptions that expire too soon is right at the top of my list to talk about. Some of these things I'm going to be taking for the rest of my life. Why can't they just make the prescription for three or four years instead of for six months? I'm sure it all has something to do with money. If I didn't continually need to get my prescriptions renewed, I probably wouldn't go to the doctor nearly as often.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 470

Odds and ends. That's all some days ever amount to. I made some phone calls to ask questions. I received some phone calls and answered questions. I fired up the old computer again to do some design work, because I still can't afford to replace all my software with the Snow Leopard upgrades I need now. I'm trying to gradually replace everything, but it's going to take a while. When I went to the bank to deposit a check, I noticed that I was the only person in the building speaking English. I don't know what that means at all.

What did I learn today? I learned that the new heat pump for my rent property will be installed next Monday. I learned the Quark and Adobe have special pricing available for non-profit organizations. Jeez, I wish someone had told me this several years ago. I learned that I mistakenly put a piece of equipment in my bid for the Houston trade show job that doesn't do what I thought it did. That means I'll have to revise the bid again. I didn't learn anything at all about the oil and gas annual report that I'm still waiting to get the go ahead on. Actually, it was a busy day, but for some reason it still feels like nothing happened.

The BRAINZ Group that I joined recently came out with their March issue today, which happened to include my initial essay. The topic for this month was Change, and it was interesting to read what the other writers had to say. I can't tell yet whether I will look forward to doing these monthly essays, or whether they will just become one more task on a lengthy "to do" list. At this point I'm looking forward to the challenge. I know a few of the other writers in the group and this seems like an interesting way to have a conversation.

The dogs were totally distracted at training class tonight. It wasn't just Dot and Dash either. All the dogs seemed to have other things on their mind. Maybe it was the weird weather. Visually, it looks like Spring. It probably smells like Spring to a dog as well. The temperature certainly didn't feel like Spring though. It was cold tonight. Very cold for the end of March. I'm sure that Dash would have rather stayed home under a blanket.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 469

I'm thinking of replacing my Watch of the Day photos with a Broken Thing of the Day feature. I can't believe how many things have broken recently at our house. Today it was the television. I guess technically, the TV isn't completely broken, since the picture tube still works. The important part; the tuner that picks up the stations, seems to have gone kaput though. I couldn't get the TV to stay on channel 3 this morning so it would sync with the cable box. I finally figured out that the big VCR that the TV was sitting on actually has a tuner built in. I'd just been using the VCR as a table to hold the TV, but surprisingly, it finally proved itself useful after all these years. After a little rerouting of cables, I was able to just use the old Sony television as a monitor and route the VCR tuner signal back to the TV and cable box. Now it takes three separate remotes to actually watch anything: one for the cable box, one for the tuner in the VCR, and a third for the TV itself.

I have a bunch of posters I need to print for upcoming animal rescue events, so it was time to get serious about reviving my ailing Epson 4000. For once, my problems didn't have anything to do with clogged ink lines. This time I just had the wrong ink. The package looked like the correct ink. The cartridge itself looked correct too. The printer knew better though, and refused to accept the cartridge. After a trip to the printer store, I discovered that I had dye ink instead of pigment ink. It's still a mystery to me why Epson even makes dye ink cartridges that fit perfectly in my printer when the printer isn't compatible with them.

I finally got the printer working and printed the posters for the Easter Dalmatian Rescue pet picture event. I still need to print the Wine on the Roof poster with the Gone with the Wind dog and cat, but we haven't been able to pin down the day of the event yet.

I need to show Janet the complicated sequence of events that now needs to take place to turn on the television. Even though I was real pleased with myself for patching something together that actually works, I think her solution is going to be a trip to the store to buy a new television.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 468

Well, my oscillating sprinkler lasted exactly one day after I started watering the new grass. I can't even begin to count all the sprinklers I've bought over the years. It doesn't matter what brand they are. All of them seem to last one or two years and then begin to disintegrate. I don't have much better luck with cordless electric drills, leaf blowers, or lawn mowers. Truthfully, the only tools I can really depend on are some sturdy looking fifty year old hand tools given to me by my Dad. None of these hefty steel tools uses batteries and all of them are stamped Made in the USA. It's kind of sad. The once proud companies in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio that made the tools don't even exist anymore, but the tools themselves are still giving good service.

I needed to ask one of my clients a question today. The e-mail reply came from Abu Dhabi. He said he wasn't sure about my question, but he'd ask his boss as soon as he got back from China. Jeez. How did I ever get these jet setting clients? Other than the one trip I made to pick Janet up at the airport, I haven't ventured more than five miles away from my house in over two months.

I finally seem to have acquired a respectable number of Twitter followers. What do you do with Twitter followers anyway? They all seem to have gone to Barnes & Noble and bought a book of aphorisms so they can Tweet quotes day and night. I'm not much better though. All I do on Twitter these days is flog old stories that I've written on my website. Maybe it would be better if I just went back to telling people what I ate for lunch.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 467

Change of plans. It looks like it's going to rain later this week, so we decided to finish planting all the grass today. New grass needs tons of water, and if we can get the sod in place before the rains start, so much the better. Janet, Brad and Travis walked the rescue Dalmatians this morning, while I ran a grass convoy with the Defender 90. I can only carry 25 squares of sod at a time, so it has taken quite a few trips to Miller Grass to get all the grass we needed.

It's weird. Miller Grass is very near the battery store where I buy watch batteries. A single square of St. Augustine grass and a single watch battery cost almost exactly the same thing. Both last about two years. I wonder which purchase is more worthwhile. Both provide initial pleasure, followed by long-term frustration. The frustration with the grass is that it doesn't last longer. In theory, the grass should keep growing forever, but it never does. I don't expect the watch batteries to last forever, but you'd think the watch manufacturers would make it a little easier to replace them. Even though I have all the proper tools, I still end up scratching some of the watches just trying to pry the back cover off to get the battery out.

Just two days ago the temperature was in the 80's. Now, it's back down in the 40's again. I guess this is just a normal March, but it still seems kind of strange. I was so cold today that I had to dig out a couple of sweaters I had already put away for the Summer. We even turned the furnace on again today. Actually, the cooler weather is kind of nice. I might as well enjoy it while I can, because another Texas Summer is on its way.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day