Day 731

I couldn't have picked a worse time to get a haircut. Trust me. At 4:30 on a Friday afternoon just before Christmas, the Northpark Mall is a zoo. I though I'd get a terrible haircut, since it was the end of a long, hectic day, but Betty was in surprisingly good spirits and gave me one of the best cuts I've gotten all year. After I got my hair cut, I still had to go to Central Market for some groceries and pick up my dry cleaning. By the time I got home to walk the dogs, it was completely dark.

Why didn't I do all these errands earlier, you might ask? It's just that time of year. I just can't seem to get caught up. I spent most of the day transcribing all the video clips from my interview with the oil and gas executive last Tuesday. It was a tedious job, but it was absolutely necessary. My memory is like a sieve. Some stuff sticks, but most short-term memories float right on through and are quickly forgotten. Luckily, what I captured on tape was pretty good, so I think I'll be able to turn this into a reasonably decent article. While I was transcribing the interview, more website revision and watch article requests arrived, so I'll have plenty to do next week. If I was more ambitious, I'd have plenty to do this weekend, but I think I need a break.

I've got most of my Christmas shopping finished. Since I buy almost everything online these days, Christmas shopping is not nearly as onerous a task as it used to be. It's hard to imagine what I did before Amazon.com came along. Thank you Amazon for making my life a little easier.

The dogs need a bath this weekend. They don't smell bad or anything, but they're both starting to itch and scratch again. Dalmatians have sensitive skin and they seem allergic to just about everything. Maybe I'll get some good pictures this weekend. I've started carrying a very small camera with a large sensor around with me on our walks and it is starting to produce results. We startled a flock of birds this morning and I don't think I could have ever captured them flying away with my iPhone.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 730 - Blogiversary

Year three begins now. When I started this blog two years ago today, I thought my life was boring and uneventful. I began wondering if paying more attention to what was actually happening each day could somehow change the way I thought about life. I can now report that it has.

What started as a simple diary gradually became a way of life. I've always been a reasonably good observer, but the more I looked and the more I wrote, they more I found. My life wasn't really less interesting than other people's lives, it was just different. Different didn't mean better or worse anymore, it just meant different. In a small world encompassing two spotted dogs and a green urban park, I rediscovered life. By sharing this small world with you, I think I made it a bit larger.

I don't think my life would make a good reality show. Nothing really happens. I don't go to the A-list parties. I'm no longer a world traveler. I don't have famous friends. And I'm certainly not rich. Actually, I'm probably a lot like many of you. We go through our lives just trying to get from one day to the next. Maybe by re-examining my own simple life, I've caused one or two of you to take a second look at yours. Hopefully, I've been able to convince some of you that everybody's life is rich and intricate, whether you spend it jet-setting around the world or sitting in a small room typing away with two dogs under your desk.

It rained again today. As we were walking this morning, we passed an old gnarled tree that I see almost every day. The tree isn't tall, but it has a million branches, each spiraling out from the trunk in a different direction. When I look at this tree I occasionally see my life. So many forks in the road. Each branch a different choice to explore. But here's the strange part: with each different branch I take, I'm always firmly rooted in the same spot.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 729

The weather was absolutely miserable today. It rained all day. Even though I put their nicely fitting, waterproof raincoats on them, Dot and Dash didn't want to go outside at all. Too bad they never learned to poop in the back yard like normal dogs. Rain or shine, they insist on walking all the way to their designated place in the park to do their business. That's what we did today. Twice. We got soaked of course, but I just threw all the soggy clothes and dog raincoats in the dryer and twenty minutes later everything was back to normal.

On rainy days like this, just about the only thing you can do is sit at the computer and work. I certainly had plenty of work to catch up on. As the rain assaulted my leak prone roof, I methodically worked my way through yesterday's surprisingly large pile of requests. By the end of the day I had finished several major website updates and written another watch article. I still haven't started on my article about the oil and gas industry, but with any luck I'll be able put that project on the front burner tomorrow.

I tried to get some of the water off the roof after dinner, but it was a futile effort. It's still raining. At least the dogs didn't have to go to class tonight. I noticed that the class hadn't been canceled tonight on their website, so there are probably a few crazy people up there right now doing their training exercises in the rain. Our dogs have already been wet today though. Enough is enough.

Tomorrow is my blogiversary. I'd like to say I had something really special planned, but you guys know me better than that by now. It will just be another day. I'll let you know what happened though. I always do.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 728

I made a quick trip to Houston today. I'm still amazed that I can fly to Houston in less time than it takes me to drive from my house to some Dallas suburbs. The first thing on my Houston agenda was interviewing an oil and gas executive for a magazine article I'm currently writing. I used to take copious notes when conducting these types of interviews. Now I just make a video record of the entire interview. It's much easier this way. After completing my interview with the oil and gas guy, I met with the marketing director of another company who ended up interviewing me for some potential writing jobs. All in all, it was a very productive day. I got a lot done, made some new contacts and was back in Dallas in plenty of time to give Dot and Dash their evening walk.

Not surprisingly, when I got home, the phone machine was full of messages from clients who needed something immediately. It never fails. If I'm here and readily available, nobody ever calls. If I'm gone, everybody needs something. I was going to start writing the article about the guy I interviewed today, but it looks like I'll spend tomorrow catching up on today's website requests instead.

On the plane this morning, I noticed that when the flight attendant told everyone to turn off their electronic devices, several people near me completely ignored her and kept right on playing whatever game had captured their attention. I have a feeling there are lots of potential Alec Baldwins out there. If I was on American Airlines, this kind of insurrection would have caused a big commotion and the flight would have been delayed. On Southwest Airlines, nothing happened at all. The plane just continued down the runway and took off with a boatload of people still playing games on their iPhones back in the cabin. The plane arrived safely, just like you'd expect, giving me one more reason to like Southwest more than other airlines. I wish we could just put an end to all these silly rules. I don't think someone reading a book on their Kindle is going to hurt the plane. And don't even get me started about taking your shoes off every time you go to the airport. I was behind an old man in the security line today who had so much trouble getting his shoes back on again that he probably missed his plane.

Tomorrow I won't even need to wear any shoes. I'll just be sitting here, working at the computer with a warm dog under my desk.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 727

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

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

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

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

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 726

Where did this weekend go? At the end of the day, I still hadn't gone to the grocery store, vacuumed the house, or done half a dozen other things that I usually do on weekends. I did get all the photo equipment put away from yesterday's Santa Paws event. I did some laundry and printed out this month's invoices to mail tomorrow, but that was about it. From that point, the day literally went to the dogs.

Dot and Dash got their usual Sunday trip to the Wagging Tail Dog Park, but what really ate up our time was deciding to get Santa photos of our own dogs. We took the dogs to another rescue group's Santa photo event, and waited and waited and waited. This group wasn't nearly as well organized as our Dalmatian Rescue team. These guys scheduled the dogs way too close together. They put the printing and order taking folks in the same room with the photographer, so the space was extremely cramped. Their backdrop was all wrong and Santa had the cheesiest looking beard I've ever seen. Of course, our own dogs didn't help matters either. Dot didn't want to have anything to do with Santa and Dash almost knocked over the entire set. I kept wanting to tell these folks how to do Santa pictures the right way, but I think Janet wanted me to keep my mouth shut.

With the Santa picture ordeal out of the way, I tried to get a little of my own work done and then took Dot and Dash on their evening walk. I sure wish this was a three day weekend. I could certainly use an extra day. I still need to go to the grocery store. I also need to do some research on the guy I'm supposed to interview in Houston. I don't want to look like a complete idiot when I arrive at his offices. I need to write some more watch articles too. I'm surprised at how many I've already written, but I'm still not even close to completing my client's year end goal.

Things are so busy that I may even need to eat cereal for breakfast next week. I love my leisurely and often extravagant breakfasts, but I'm not going to miss a deadline just so I can eat French Toast.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 725

We completed our last Santa Paws photo event of the season today. Since we had huge crowds for the first three events, I kind of thought that this one would be the same. Not as many people wanted to see Santa today. We still took a lot of pet photos, but it was nothing like last week's grueling marathon. Maybe the event just seemed easier today because most of the dogs were smaller and well behaved.

With the Christmas props stowed and packed away for another year, it's on to other things. I'm badly in need of a haircut and I haven't even started thinking about my own Christmas shopping. There's still a ton of work to complete and my trip to Houston as well. At least I won't need surgery like last December. The preliminary results from yesterday's CAT Scan look good.

The Dalmatian Rescue group has another casino party tonight, but I won't be spinning the roulette wheel like I usually do. The dogs have been cooped up all day, so I came home and walked Dot and Dash while Janet went on to tend the roulette table. It seems like rescue groups always have something going on in December. It's probably the biggest fund-raising month of the year. I saw an article in the local paper the other day about holiday pet photos and it said that over 20 different rescue groups were offering Santa photos in the Dallas area this weekend. Maybe that's another reason why we didn't have as many people today. The Santa photo business is just getting too competitive.

I think there's some holiday event we're supposed to go to tomorrow, but I can't even remember what it is. Whatever it is, I hope it takes place in the afternoon. It would be nice to sleep in late tomorrow. I have a feeling that things will stay in high gear until the end of the year. That's usually just the way December's are. I can't forget that I've got a blogiversary next week as well. It's still hard to believe that I've been doing this for two solid years without missing a single day.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 724

Well, I was back in the CAT Scan machine again today. I'll have to give my doctors credit where credit is due. So far, they've been pretty successful at warding off the perils of age and heredity. Lately, I've started thinking of these guys as my medical team. They all seem to know each other and often coordinate their treatment efforts. I can't say I enjoy living a clean, healthy lifestyle and taking a mountain of pills every morning, but it seems to be working. Personally, I enjoyed my 20's and 30's a lot better, when I practically lived on beer, wine and bacon. We've all got to pay for our sins sometime though, and my time has come.

I wrote my article about the color orange today. Although I initially though the premise was ridiculous, the article actually turned out pretty well. I had hoped to get more done today, but when there are doctor's appointments on the calendar, my schedule kind of goes out the window. I hadn't really planned on the CAT Scan today, so that took a couple of additional hours out of an already busy day.

Tomorrow will be even busier, since I'll be taking pet pictures at our final Santa Paws photo event. This one should be identical to the three we've done already. The only difference is that this one is further away, so I'll have to get up a bit earlier tomorrow. So far, the events have been very successful. We've raised quite a bit of money to help Dalmatian Rescue.

There was a heavy box at the front door when I got home from my doctor's appointment. I hadn't ordered anything heavy, so I was curious what was inside. Turns out it was this year's edition of Who's Who in America. I've been listed in this book for ages, but I've almost forgotten about it. Thirty years ago it was a big deal to be included in Who's Who in America. I think the book has fallen by the wayside though. It seems kind of like a vanity publication now. Probably a high Klout score matters more than being in Who's Who these days.

Puppies are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 723

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

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

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

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

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

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 722

I paid my real estate taxes today. Somehow, even though I successfully presented my case to the county appraisal board this Summer and they reduced my property valuation by 15%, I still ended up paying more than I did last year. I think it is futile to expect lower taxes. Government agencies at all levels have such an insatiable demand for tax revenue that even when rates are lowered, they figure out some way to make up the difference. Since property values have decreased significantly in Dallas County and virtually everybody has already protested their property valuation with the appraisal board, the county simply raised the taxation rate a few percentage points to make up the shortfall. Homeowners are totally on the short end of the stick. Their homes are worth less, but they still end up paying higher property taxes.

Winter is here with a vengeance. The furnace runs almost constantly now and the car has started to make funny noises when I start it up on cold mornings. Winter weather seems to put more wear and tear on everything. Somehow, a lot more things tend to break around our house during the Winter months. Hopefully, we'll get lucky this year. I think the entire rainy day fund went out the window this year when I paid those real estate taxes this afternoon.

I don't think the Dot and Dash like the Winter weather any more than I do. They both seem to spend most of their day curled up under a pile of dog blankets. When we do go outside, I have to put Winter coats on them, before I bundle up under several layers myself. I do have one really warm parka that I used to wear when I lived in Alaska. It's in the storage warehouse though, and it is often easier to just put on several layers of sweaters than drive across town to get yet another coat.

If it wasn't for the bitterly cold weather and the coyotes, I'd love our evening walks this week. The sky is beautiful at this time of year. The days are even shorter now. We tend to take our walks right after sunset and get to watch each evening as darkness overtakes the park. It's hard to take pictures though. I have to take off my gloves every time every time I try to use the iPhone touch screen.

Humphrey is our Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 721

It's amazing that I got anything done today. After taking the dogs to the vet and going to my own doctor's appointments, there really wasn't much time left. I think I'm rapidly approaching Guinness Book of Records territory for blood tests. I've had my blood tested for everything imaginable. At least I don't have to sit in the lobby as long as I used to. One of the benefits of having my doctor as a client is that they whisk me into an exam room fairly quickly these days.

It was below freezing when I walked Dot and Dash this morning, but it felt a lot colder. There was a strong wind and with the wind chill effect, it felt like we were walking toward the South Pole. On days like this, the dogs don't mind wearing their Winter coats. I don't know why it is so hard to find good quality Winter coats for large dogs. The coats I have now are warm and fit perfectly, but they're starting to get worn out. We've looked months for replacement coats, but this brand seems to have gone out of business.

I made my airline reservations today for my upcoming assignment in Houston. I was surprised at how much airfares have gone up since I went to Houston just last Spring. I keep hearing on television that inflation isn't a problem, but somehow the prices of virtually everything I use keep rising relentlessly. I can't think of a single thing, with the possible exception of computers, that has actually gotten cheaper in the last three years. Computers aren't much of a bargain either, since they are usually obsolete in three years.

So far, I'm still on schedule to complete my watch article marathon by the end of the year. I'm starting to get tired though and really need to catch a second wind. Maybe that's what those marathon runners were feeling when I photographed them at the halfway point last weekend. I'll finish. I always finish everything I started. I may quit wearing watches however. Keeping track of the time is starting to seem ridiculous.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 720

It rained again last night. I'm getting so tired of removing water and leaves from the roof. As soon as I've got things looking nice, the wind and rain begins again, and I've got to start over. The roof is so old that there are probably hundreds of tiny cracks where water can seep in after a big rainstorm. When you've got water on a flat roof, gravity always wins. I need an entirely new roof, but I can't really afford one. Even if I could, I'm not sure I could find anyone who would do a good job. Commercial roofers who know how to do flat roofs properly don't like to do residential jobs. Residential roofers who claim to be flat roof experts usually aren't telling the truth. Even some architect friends of mine have had problems finding really good roofing contractors. For now, I'll just continue sweeping the water off.

I got a new assignment to write a magazine article about the oil and gas industry. I'm supposed to do interviews in Houston next week. The magazine wants me to take video of the interviews as well. I guess the latest thing in magazines is to offer a companion iPad app that provides augmented coverage in the form of audio and video files with each issue. The article is fairly long by my standards, but writing it will provide a nice change of pace from the daily marathon of watch articles and website updates I've been doing recently.

I guess the weather forecasts were right. It's really getting cold outside. I wouldn't be surprised if it got down to freezing by morning. There have been strong winds as the cold front moves through and this makes it seem even colder. At least I won't have to worry about ice on the roof. I got as much water off today as my tired bones would allow. Like it or not, I think it's time for the dogs to start wearing their Winter coats. Dalmatians don't have much fur. I keep telling them it's much better to look like a wimp than freeze.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 719

The power is back on. It's nice to have electricity again. It's not so nice to have another leak in the roof however. The rain that started yesterday afternoon continued through the night, and sometime before morning I awoke to hear the sound of dripping water in the living room. I put a bucket under the drip and went back to sleep.

When daylight arrived, I went up on the roof to assess the situation and spent quite a while sweeping water off the roof, even though it was still raining. By the time I was finished, I was already so wet that I figured I wouldn't get any wetter if I walked down to the lake and photographed the White Rock Marathon that was taking place behind my house.

Earlier, during breakfast, I watched the leaders in the race go by on television. Two Kenyans covered five miles in the time it took me to eat my Krispy Kreme donut. By the time I got down to the lake with my camera, the really fast runners were already close to the finish line. There were still plenty of runners however. 25,000 of them to be exact. I've never understood runners. It is raining cats and dogs outside. It is getting colder by the minute. Does that dissuade any of the runners? Not a bit. They all just put big black plastic garbage bags over their heads and continue running 26 miles in the freezing rain.

Just knowing that 25,000 intensely competitive type-a people were running a race behind my house was a bit unnerving to me. That's a lot of competitive people. I'm not a competitive person at all. I work hard and I think I'm good at what I do, but I've never spent much time trying to convince people that I'm better than anyone else. I avoid contests and competitions like the plague. Sure, I understand that there are winners and losers in life, but it's still frustrating to run into someone who thinks that in order for them to win, I have to lose. Hey guys, game over. I still prefer to think I passed the finish line at birth and have always been a winner.

When the rain finally quit toward the end of the day, I went up on the roof again and swept away the remaining water. I rarely get up on the roof twice in one day, but it's supposed to freeze this week, and I'm determined not to have ice on the roof again this year.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 718

It was another marathon day of dog pictures. Some of the dogs were quiet and timid. Others were quite rowdy. Since K-9 University, which specializes in training large, active dogs, was hosting our event today, we had quite a few dogs that wouldn't fit on Santa's lap. Lots of huge Rottweilers and Golden Retrievers. Lots of Labs too. We even got a few good shots of the playful Labrador to the left who insisted on catching a ball during the photo session.

When I downloaded the memory cards after I got home again, I discovered that I'd taken over 1200 images today. I also discovered that our power had gone out. I quickly walked Dot and Dash before it got completely dark outside and noticed that our entire neighborhood was without power.

Luckily, the laptop still has a battery that is half charged, so I'm trying to finish the blog and upload it before the battery dies completely. I think I can upload using my 4G mobile hotspot, but we'll see. I haven't gotten that far yet.

Since the kitchen was out of commission, Janet and I went to a nearby neighborhood restaurant for dinner. About halfway through dinner, the power went out there as well. We were anticipating finishing our meal by candlelight, but just as the entrees arrived, the power came back on again. We thought this meant that everything had been fixed, but when we got home again, our dogs were still waiting for us in the dark. Power had been restored to some of the neighborhood, but not our street. Hopefully, the power company will get things working again soon, because a cold front is on the way and it is expected to get real cold tonight.

I'm definitely going to wait until later to put all the photo equipment away. It's hard enough to get everything put away in its proper place on a sunny day. With a few dim flashlights, it would be next to impossible. As soon as I get this posted, I'm going to have a glass of wine and call it a day. It's a total mystery why the power has been out so long over such a wide area. It's raining outside, but there is no wind or downed trees. Just one of those things, I guess. Hey, I finished today's entry though, and I still have 25% of my laptop battery left.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 717

Another gray Winter day. It wasn't that cold, but it certainly was damp. Seems like I spent half the day cleaning mud off the dogs paws. The dogs like this type of weather because all the smells in the park seem stronger. I've got mixed feelings. Damp shadowless days like this are great for photography, but I haven't properly waterproofed my boots this year. By the time I get home from our walks, my shoes and socks are completely wet.

Now that I've gotten in the habit of taking Instagram pictures everyday, I'm thinking about getting a better small camera to take with me on our walks. There's a lot more to photograph than I initially thought, but the iPhone isn't always the best tool to capture the images I'm looking for.

I spent a considerable amount of time writing today and got a lot done. Now, it's time to start packing all the photo gear for tomorrow's Dalmatian Rescue Santa Paws photo event. This event starts earlier than I'd like, but I don't have much choice in the matter. That's why I pack everything up the night before. Our regular Santa is out of town this week, so we have a new Santa tomorrow. Rumor has it that our new guy is a "professional" Santa. As long as he has a lot of stamina, he'll be fine.

I keep hearing on the radio that a major cold front is headed our way. It should start raining tomorrow afternoon, with sleet and possibly our first snow by Monday. I guess this makes sense. The big White Rock Marathon race in our neighborhood is this Sunday. For as long as I've lived in Dallas, it has virtually always rained for this event. I don't know what motivates those runners. I'd much rather be taking pet pictures than running a marathon in the rain.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 716

Yay! I got the Christmas tree up today. I'm a notorious last minute shopper, so this is probably the last holiday item on my list until Christmas Eve. Since I don't work at an office anymore, there are no longer mandatory Christmas parties to attend. No Christmas cards to mail either. I gave up doing that several years ago. About the only thing left are the two remaining Santa Paws photo events we're doing for Dalmatian Rescue. I'll be shooting Santa photos this coming Saturday and then the following Saturday as well. After that, it's just a last minute trip to the mall for gifts.

It looks like I will be going to Houston next week to interview an oil company executive for an article I'm writing for one of my clients. I fully expect the schedule to change three or four times before the interview actually takes place. Somehow, I'm never a very high priority for these types of executives. The assignment is a good one though. I'll probably end up shooting video for a company iPad app while I'm there as well.

An important UPS delivery was supposed to arrive today. It's still not here. I hate dealing with UPS and FedEx during the holidays. Somehow the drivers and the tracking websites are never in sync when things get really busy. Last year, there were several packages that the website said had been delivered that just never arrived. Eventually, I discovered that the driver had given the packages to my neighbor instead of putting a note on my door, and then never bothered to tell anyone. FYI for delivery guys: never give anything to my neighbors. There's a good chance I'll never see it again.

The watch article marathon continues. I've been trying to write three articles a day, so I can meet my quota before the end of the year. I think the jury is still out on whether I'm going to burn out on watches before I complete this assignment. I've already stopped wearing a watch on many days. Jeez, who cares what time it is? The only time I care about these days is bedtime.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 715

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

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

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

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

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day