Day 953

What a weird day. I finally arranged a meeting with the client who unceremoniously dumped me earlier this month. I wanted to find out what had happened. Before I could even get a word in edgewise about how shabbily they had treated me, my former client started asking me how they could get the website back to the way it used to be. Apparently, the new guys had made such a mess of things in just two weeks that the client wanted to hire me back. This was certainly fine by me. The whole meeting had kind of a "let's just forget this ever happened" tone to it. That was fine too. I've been in situations where I felt like saying "let's just forget this ever happened" myself.

It looks like I got the job to cover the big fashion event in Las Vegas too. I may be doing a lot more than I thought I would, but it doesn't really matter, since I'll be working on a day rate. I'm used to being busy and I'll get as much done as I possibly can in eight hours.

I'm making good progress on the animal rescue site I'm currently revamping. This new site will be a lot simpler and easier to navigate than the site I initially designed over twelve years ago. One thing that I've learned over the years is that people don't really care how clever you are. They just want to find what they are looking for as fast as possible. Sure, it's nice to have a pretty looking site, but that's not usually why people are visiting. Hopefully, this new version I'm designing will connect stray dogs and cats with potential new owners even better than the original version.

Training class was kind of a mess tonight. Our teacher was gone for some reason and nobody else seemed to want to step up to the plate and lead the class in his absence. Dash and I certainly didn't help matters any. We didn't want to lead the class any more than anyone else did. Somehow, we managed to muddle through most of the exercises anyway. Dash actually did pretty well tonight. He's a self-starter. Since he never listens to me anyway, he was right in his element with a leaderless class.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 952

What is wrong with the world these days? We have become so fragmented and divisive that I feel like I can't even leave the house without someone asking me to choose sides. Everyone seems to have selected something to be passionate about, to the exclusion of everything else. In animal rescue circles I see people so passionate about spay and neuter programs that they wouldn't even consider that breeders might be good people too. Personally, I like the fact that there are Beagles and Poodles and Dalmatians. Responsible breeders are good pet owners too, but don't try to tell that to a spay and neuter zealot. They'll cut your balls off.

I heard recently that astronaut Sally Ride had died. By the time the news had made its way to Google+ it had turned into a heated argument about gay rights. Give it a rest guys. Sally Ride was always a very private person about her personal life. I think she would have preferred that people just say "Rest in peace."

Don't even get me started about religion. If there is a god who is smart enough to have created the universe, do you really think he'd approve of 37 different religions using his name to ridicule, diminish and even kill each other? I don't think so. Christians. Jews. Hindus. Muslims. Buddhists. Libertarians. Scientologists. All of you have a point, but you are only looking at part of the picture.

Maybe the polarized, divisive nature of today's society is what has caused me to become a bit reclusive. I used to be quite social, but it just isn't enjoyable anymore. People are always asking me to choose sides. I prefer the company of dogs these days. Hard work and dogs seem to make a lot more sense than arguing about health care and the middle east.

Today was all about hard work and dogs. I took Dash to the vet for his bi-weekly antigen shot and then I hauled a ton of brush and tree branches out the street for this month's "big trash" day. I think the bulky trash truck comes by tomorrow. Hopefully, it didn't come yesterday.  Oh, I did some website work too, but that doesn't even begin to compare to hauling several hundred pounds of wood out to the street.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 951

I started work on another website project today. Even though designing and maintaining websites is an important part of my business, I'm starting to wonder if they even matter anymore. A lot of people I know think that Facebook is the Internet and never go anywhere else. I've found that I've been able to reach more people in a single year using Twitter than I have during the previous ten years using my own company website. There is nothing remarkable about websites anymore. They have become just the same as the boatloads of printed brochures and collateral material I used to write before the Internet became popular. I wonder what the next big thing is going to be? I've made my living for many years by becoming an early adopter of whatever was new and fabulous. Unfortunately, I don't have a good feel for what is coming next anymore. Even worse, I'm starting to long for simpler times.

I'm starting to long for Winter as well. The heat has become relentless. The air conditioner never stops now. Even at night, the AC can't seem to manage to cool the house down to a comfortable 75 degrees. This Spring, I really thought we might have a mild Summer. Hey, we actually did have a mild Winter. It seemed perfectly plausible that an equally mild Summer would follow. Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen. Summer is half over now, and it is very, very hot.

I'm not taking nearly as many photographs anymore. The vegetation in the park is dry and brown. The animals are all in hiding under the nearest shady bush. Even the lighting is too harsh for pretty pictures. I guess I could still wait until sunset, but I prefer Spring and Fall when the sun is running on my schedule. When the last of the Spring wildflowers die, I don't know what I'm going to photograph on our daily walks.

Dash threw up again last night. I have no idea why he does this periodically. I've taken him to the vet several times and they can't find anything wrong. He eats exactly the same food as Dot, who never throws up. He doesn't get into the garbage or eat dead things either. It's all a mystery to me. When he does throw up, it's always on the carpet too. There are plenty of easy-to-clean brick floors nearby, but he seems to prefer the carpet. As soon as he's made a mess of things, he goes right back to sleep and everything's fine. It's enough to make me want to throw up.

Jewel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 950

Dot and Dash got to go to a Dalmatian Rescue event today. To ensure that they would be good little ambassadors when we arrived at the Petco store, they both got a long walk and a trip to the dog park first. When we take the dogs to rescue events, people inevitably tell us that they've never seen Dalmatians that are so calm. It's not rocket science. Any dog that has walked for several miles and then raced around a dog park a few hours later is going to be pretty calm.

The trip to the dog park and the rescue event took up quite a bit of time, so it was a good thing we got a lot of our weekend errands done yesterday. It was way too hot to do outdoor chores anyway. With triple digit temperatures outside, even the thought of going back to work in the office didn't seem so bad. I finished the afternoon updating a website and then writing another watch article.

I think next week is when the city comes by to haul away brush and old furniture. This means I'd better get busy tomorrow and haul all the tree branches I trimmed a few weeks ago out to the street. If I miss the pick-up day, I'll have to wait an entire month before the truck returns again. Maybe I should look on Angie's List and find someone to do this sort of thing for me. I just signed up for Angie's List a few days ago when I saw a 60% Off sign-up special on the Paypal website. I haven't used the list yet and have my suspicions about all the reviews being genuine, but I bet I'll use it soon enough. I just can't find anyone reliable to recommend things like doctors and contractors anymore. When I worked in an office, there seemed to be an endless stream of recommendations from co-workers whenever I went to the break room to get a cup of coffee. Now, I work alone and the Dalmatians aren't talking. I just don't know who to trust anymore.

Things usually slow down in the Summer, but somehow I still find myself with a ton of website work to complete. I did manage to re-launch the big site I've been working on lately last Friday, but there's another that I haven't even started on yet. I think Monday would be a good time to start.

Pongo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 949

On most Saturdays, I do what thousands of other men do. I go to Home Depot. I don't have a shopping list or a plan. I just wander aimlessly up and down the aisles, looking for things that might be useful. I always manage to come home with something, but some of my essential supplies don't get used for months or even years. The problem is that after running Saturday errands, the last thing I want to do is start a home improvement project. The various nuts and bolts and cans of paint get put in drawers, or on top of shelves and are eventually forgotten about. Typically, when I get one of those rare urges to fix something, I can't remember where I put my supplies and have to go to Home Depot all over again and buy the stuff again. This isn't the best plan in the world, but I do feel ready to repair at a moment's notice.

It turned out there weren't any Dalmatians to photograph today after all, because the new guy was already on his way to his forever home in Houston. It's great the dogs are finding homes so quickly. It wasn't always this way. When I took our two dogs on their afternoon walk, they didn't want to go far. It was just too hot. I think my hopes for a mild Summer have been dashed. It's just another blistering hot Texas Summer like last year and the year before.

All day, the television news was filled with the unfolding story of the theater shootings in Colorado. It's such a shame that you can't even go to the movies anymore. I used to love going to the movies when I was a kid and nobody ever worried about our safety. They didn't have to, because it actually was safe. Times have certainly changed. When I was growing up, there wasn't a murder in my hometown for fifteen straight years. Now, in most big cities, there's probably a shooting every fifteen minutes. I wonder when someone is going to look at the big picture and see the obvious. If you spend your time playing violent video games from the time you are five to the time you're twenty four, it is going to color your perspective on things. It just is.

I went to the pet store this afternoon to get some more rawhide sticks for the dogs to chew.  These sticks look like fat little pencils and are made of shredded rawhide, so they will digest easily. Dot and Dash love them. The guy at the store told me that they no longer carried the sticks, because they were trying to eliminate products that were not made in America from their inventory. This seems like a good thing, but I still think the sticks are harmless. The pet store guy tried to sell me some raw butcher bones instead, saying it would be good for their teeth. I'm not so sure. We gave our first Dalmatian those cow hooves that pet stores used to sell and they almost ruined his teeth. They were too hard. Butcher bones seem just as hard and they're messy too. Our dogs would carry them right back to the bed and ruin the bedspread.

Why do I mention this? I guess because it's so hard to know what's right anymore. Everything from choosing healthy dog treats to raising kids so they will become responsible adults has become a lot more difficult.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 948

Today was full of odd little surprises. When I went out to the street this morning to retrieve the garbage cans after the trash truck arrived, I came back to find a small bushel of fresh tomatoes on my doorstep. I was only gone for a minute or two, but I didn't see any sign of who had left the tomatoes. They just appeared, and I still don't know who to thank.

Later, when I went to the empty restaurant for breakfast, it wasn't empty. There was already another couple eating breakfast. I was kind of disappointed, because when the place is empty, I get to choose the music. The food was still good though. I can't for the life of me think of a single good reason why this isn't the most popular restaurant in the neighborhood.

There were scattered storms in the afternoon and the dogs didn't want to go outside.  I finally found a little break in the weather on the iPad radar and took the dogs outside. Things were going well until Dot heard thunder off in the distance. I told Dash that if he would poop right where we were, we could all go home immediately. Amazingly he did. It was the first time he's ever pooped on command. I was very proud.

I took my video camera to the dealer this afternoon to get the firmware upgraded. I'd been dreading doing this myself for months, because the instructions from Panasonic were so incomprehensible that I was certain I was going to screw things up and turn the camera into an expensive doorstop. When I was at the Panasonic seminar yesterday, I ran into my sales rep and he told me that they'd do the firmware upgrade for me. What a relief. The camera still works fine and has even more capabilities than it did yesterday.

It looks like it's going to be a dog filled weekend.  We've got new Dalmatians to photograph at the Velvet Snout tomorrow and I think we're going to take Dot and Dash to a Dalmatian Rescue meet and greet at a pet store on Sunday. It sounds good to me. Spending time with the dogs definitely beats mowing the grass.

Lady Jane is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 947

Have you ever noticed that if you took away all the cute cat and dog pictures on Facebook, all you would be left with is an endless stream of politically correct and occasionally incorrect opinions from people you actually know? I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to know this much about the beliefs of people I actually know. Please guys, just let me live in blissful ignorance. All this being said, I still think my Facebook stream is better than my Google+ stream, where everyone seems to think that a dash of science and a giant group hug will cure all the world's problems.

Coming face-to-face with all these opinions everyday is a bit discouraging for me. It has made me realize that as a society, we have reached a point where we will never come to a consensus on anything. Instead of uniting behind a common goal, like going to the moon or winning WWII, we have  become a bunch of ineffectual competing tribes, with no loyalties beyond our own tribe. Maybe it won't even matter. I have a feeling that in thirty years or so our world will start to resemble that Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome movie.

Since there's a good chance I won't be around in thirty years, I concentrate on more pleasant things. I really enjoyed going to the Panasonic seminar this afternoon. I couldn't begin to afford most of the video equipment that the manufacturers demonstrated today, but it's nice to know that it's out there. So, who goes to these types of seminars? Increasingly, it is the cameramen and editors who are employed by professional sports teams. I routinely see folks who work for the Cowboys, the Mavericks, and the Rangers at these events. I guess it makes sense. Professional sports organizations still have the money to buy boatloads of this expensive high-tech equipment. The rest of us don't. The rest of us are faced with the prospect of making cheap YouTube videos on our iPhones.

I think I'll go back to the empty restaurant with good food tomorrow. It's really peaceful there. I'll listen to a piano concerto and watch birds splashing in the bird bath right outside the front window while I eat my whole grain pancakes and a pulled pork breakfast taco. It's only Thursday evening, but TGIF anyway.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 946

I found out today that one of my clients is considering sending me to Las Vegas to cover a big fashion event next month. That's certainly an improvement over yesterday's dismal news. I just wish the good news was more consistent. If I had known what a roller coaster ride owning a small business was when I started my company in 1990, I probably would have been a lot nicer to the creative directors I used to work for.

Hey, I've got my freedom though. Today it was the freedom to be stupid. I mistakenly took my evening meds this morning instead of my regular morning meds. There is a reason that I'm supposed to take the evening meds just before bedtime. One of the pills I take is Simcor. This drug causes the small blood vessels near the surface of the skin to expand, resulting in a pronounced flushing sensation. All morning I felt like I was burning up. My skin was bright red and blotchy and I felt like I had a bad sunburn. This is normal, but usually you're asleep when the flushing occurs and you never notice it. It didn't help that I had four cups of coffee this morning either. You're not supposed to have hot beverages right after you take the pill. Oh, well.  I'm fine now and I'm less likely to absent mindedly make this mistake again.

If I can get my work finished in time, I'm planning on going to a video production seminar hosted by Panasonic tomorrow afternoon. I used to go to these type of things quite often when I was doing more video production. Now, it is becoming harder to justify the time away from the office when I'm bogged down in website work. I think I'll go anyway though. For some reason I still think video production is fun and you've got to take your fun wherever you can get it these days.

Dot and Dash did well in training class tonight. It was hot this evening, but that didn't seem to slow the dogs down. They both had one of their better nights. I'm proud of the little rascals.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 945

Not really a great day. When I was monitoring the websites I manage this morning, I happened to notice that one of them had been completely replaced with another design. That caught me by surprise. Hey, I'll be the first to acknowledge that clients come and go. I've lost clients because they grew larger and wanted something so fancy that I was unable to deliver it. I've lost clients because they became smaller and no longer wanted to pay my fee. I don't think I've ever lost a client because I did shoddy work. It bothers me that these guys nuked my site and hired another design firm without ever calling me to say there was a problem. The last time I talked to these guys, I had just finished some updates that they requested and was told to expect some new bios for two new employees. Everything seemed fine. Obviously it wasn't, because it appears that I've been fired.

Personally, I just think it is extremely rude to dump a vendor without any sort of a notice or explanation. If there was a problem, I'm sure it could have been resolved. Most problems can be resolved fairly easily. I'm still not sure what is going on, since the client didn't return my calls. I do have my suspicions however. I know that one of the client's children works at the firm that did the new website. That's life. I've never been one to cry over spilled milk, so I'll just move on.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I wrote a few articles. I prepared to re-launch another client's website after an extensive makeover. I went to the bank to deposit a few small checks that probably won't even pay this month's electric bill. I didn't deal with the bug problem yet though. I'm going to save that loathsome task for a day when I have a bit more positive energy.

If you asked either of the dogs, you would never have guessed that anything was wrong at all. They're both sprawled out on the bed right now, lost in dog dreams. To them, it was another perfect day.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 944

Do you procrastinate? I do. Although I get quite a bit done on most days, I am continually reshuffling the deck and putting the most loathsome tasks at the very bottom of my to do list. There is a downside to this strategy. If you haven't guessed it already, there comes a time when all the fun projects are finished and you are left with an endless list of things you never wanted to do in the first place.

I can probably stave off disaster for a few more days, but pretty soon I am going to have to buckle down and do the nasty Javascript coding for the pretty website shell I have already finished. Even worse, I'm going to have to rid our house of bugs. Bugs have been particularly bad this year. With dogs in the house, I hate to use insecticides. About the only safe way to exterminate the little beasties is to use a a special poison bait that you place inside your electric wall outlets where your pets can't reach it. This involves removing all the baseplates in the house and sometimes even unscrewing the metal outlet box itself. You put a little of the putty-like bait inside each outlet and light switch and then put all the baseplates back on again. This technique actually works, but the last time I did it, it took me all day. Yeah, I know that it's disgusting to think that bugs make their home in between your walls, but they do. I'd much rather have the bugs die quietly behind the sheetrock than inside the bathtub.

I woke up to sunlight this morning. The power is back on, all the battery devices are charged again, and life is back to normal. In a surprising move, the power company restored the electricity last night exactly when they said they would. Power outages are so common in our neighborhood that I've seriously considered getting a big backup generator. So, what stopped me from this practical solution to an ongoing problem? Well, the expense, for starters. A generator to power your television while you're camping is one thing, but a generator large enough to power your house and keep the air conditioner running is an entirely different animal. Not only is the generator itself quite expense, you then need to hire an electrician to install a switching system to take your generator power on or offline. This is not something that you would want to do yourself. If you hook things up wrong, you could end up sending your generator power back through the grid and fry the repairmen on the pole behind your house who is trying to restore your power. I've decided that a better solution is just to go to bed early when the power is out.

If there is anyone from the BBC reading this blog, please send some new episodes of Dr. Who and Top Gear over to the states. I think I've seen every available episode at least five times by now. Too bad these shows are the only thing I like on TV.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 943

We almost got struck by lightning today. The lightning strike was so bright that it seemed like studio strobes going off directly overhead. The thunderclap came just milliseconds later. I would think that the lightning strike was less than a 1000 yards away, since the sound of the thunder arrived so quickly. The thunderclap was so loud that it set off car alarms on a nearby street. It goes without saying that the dogs totally panicked. I had a hard time controlling them as we tried to get back to the house before the real downpour started. This storm just came out of nowhere. Luckily, we returned home safely about two minutes before the skies opened up and the rain began in earnest. I usually look at the weather radar on my iPad if I'm going out in questionable weather, but the radar wouldn't have helped me in this case. The storm didn't blow in from the West or the North; it just materialized directly overhead. When I looked at a time lapse view of the weather radar later, it appeared that the storm didn't even exist when we started our walk. The storm cell just suddenly formed right over the lake in less than five minutes. That's Texas weather for you. It's always full of surprises.

The storm apparently wasn't through with us when we got home. About ten minutes after the rain started, our power went out. Three hours later, the power is still out. I'm making today's post using my laptop and a portable 4G hotspot.  Reporting a power outage is frustrating now because everything is automated. It is impossible to talk to a real person. After you answer enough automated questions using your cellphone keypad, you eventually get an ETA for when the lines will be repaired, but you can never find out what is actually wrong. According to the phone message, it will be another three hours before power is restored. I'm sure the laptop battery will be dead before then.

As you can see, Dot and Dash got a bath today. It definitely wasn't a very auspicious day to give the dogs a bath, but how were we to know? They both got soaked all over again when we made our retreat from the park and tried to get home before the next lightning strike. At least the weather was nice when we went to the dog park earlier this morning.

It's so quiet in the house when the power is out. Usually, there is always the hum of the air conditioner, which is frequently augmented by the sounds of the dishwasher, the washing machine, or the dryer. Even the main computer makes a lot of noise. Now the house is silent. All I hear are a million cicadas outside. I have a feeling the the television won't work when the power is eventually restored. That's what happened the last time the power went out.  The U-verse box lost all it's programming and we ended up having to call AT&T to get everything working again.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day. I wouldn't be surprised if it's dry as a bone again by noon.

Gypsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 942

About this time every year I start to wonder what ever possessed me to move to Texas. Jeez, I used to live in Seattle. I even lived in Aspen, Colorado for a while. I still remember the first time I exited a red eye flight from Seattle to Dallas for a job interview and smelled the Texas air for the first time as I walked up the jetway. The atmosphere was moist and humid and the heat enveloped me like a cocoon. It was only 9 AM, but it was August and it was very hot. As I was waiting for my bag in the Braniff baggage claim, I had a strong feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

Oddly, I never moved again. Even though I still hate the heat, and the tornadoes, and the humidity, I've lived in Dallas longer than all the other cities I've called home put together. Dallas just happened to be where I got tired of moving.

Living here certainly isn't all bad. Dallas is a great place to earn a living. Through good times and bad, there has always been an abundance of jobs in this city. If you can't find a job in Dallas, you probably just don't want to work. Dallas was also where I discovered the joys of having a dog. I never would have considered a dog in Seattle. A dog might scratch the hardwood floors or damage a painting. Dallas was probably where I finally became a somewhat decent person and shed these silly values. Nevertheless, it's still too damn hot here.

I wish I could remember when my day to water was. Even though the lakes are full this year, the city has imposed severe restrictions on lawn watering this Summer. I don't have much of a green thumb, so I used to water my lawn whenever I saw my neighbors water theirs. Now the neighbors all have automatic sprinkler systems that are programmed to water during the middle of the night, so I never get the reminder I need. I hate to be the only one watering during the day, since I'll inevitably pick the wrong day and get hit with a big fine. My indecision about watering day is already causing my front lawn to turn yellow. This whole situation is ridiculous. I don't need another reason to hate Summer.

Do you ever find that social media is a beast that constantly needs to be fed? When I started this journey, I thought that I'd never run out of things to say. Now I'm beginning to wonder. The sheer volume of material you have to produce to keep posting something fresh and original every day is almost overwhelming. I might have to become more introspective in the days ahead. There just isn't much to report when it's so hot outside that all you want to do is take a nap.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 941

I had breakfast at the restaurant with good bacon today. They might not have the healthiest food on the planet, but they certainly have some of the strangest customers. My waiter seated me next to a guy wearing a t-shirt that said "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Never mind that this quote, commonly attributed to Ben Franklin, is a misquote and the founding father never really uttered these words. What caught my eye was that the guy was sweating profusely, even though the restaurant was quite cold. On the other side of me was an exceedingly old man who was talking enthusiastically to his wife about the guns he wanted to buy at the next gun show. His wife said nothing, but had a look on her face that clearly said "Hey old man, if you keep this shit up for another five years, I'm going to shoot you with one of those guns."

Behind me, I overheard a group of sullen social services workers making disparaging comments about the people who used their services. Then one lady changed the subject and started talking about her dog and everybody became happy again. I don't think people can tell much about my mood by sitting next to me at a restaurant. I'm usually fairly impenetrable, although I have noticed that in certain Southern restaurants, a waitress will occasionally poke me on the shoulder and say "Put a smile on your face boy. Things aren't that bad." Today's pancakes and bacon were actually quite good. It didn't seem like Friday the Thirteenth at all.

The stock market definitely needs a few more days like today. Gold, equities, and many commodities all closed on the upside today. Usually, one of these things cancels the others out in my portfolio and I end up with nothing. Last month's dismal performance still leaves me down for the year, but things are starting to look up.

Work was fairly uneventful today. I did manage to finish a couple of small projects before the weekend, but truthfully, it wouldn't have mattered if I had waited until Monday to turn them in. I should have driven Janet's lunch over to her office, but I didn't notice that she had forgotten it until 3 PM. I guess it was a little late by then.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 940

I had lunch with a friend who used to be my boss today. My friend has always been good at landing on his feet and, unlike a lot of other ad folks I know, is still the creative director at a well respected ad agency. We had fun talking about how the business has changed and who among our friends have survived.  The lunch wasn't just a trip down memory lane though. The agency happens to have some high profile jewelry accounts and I just happen to have some experience writing about luxury goods. I was hoping to get a little work from my old buddy. I think I have reason to be optimistic. My prospects of getting jewelry account projects are probably a bit better than getting that trip to Singapore from my other client. I'm a dreamer though. I'm still hoping that both things will come through.

I ought to have lunch with ad friends more often, because this is still the most dependable way to get business. I don't know if I have the capacity to actually eat lunch anymore though. I quit eating lunch about five years ago and now whenever I have a noontime meal, I feel full and bloated for the rest of the day. I still feed the dogs a rice cake at lunch, because they've grown to expect something to eat. I don't eat anything though. Mostly because I don't like rice cakes. It's hard to believe that I used to eat three large meals every day, washed down with various alcoholic beverages. I just can't do it anymore. I still eat a big breakfast, but there's nothing for lunch and usually a light supper. '

I read an article today that said it was very important for bloggers to answer all their comments and establish a dialog with their readers. Is this what you guys really want?  I hope not. I'm terrible about answering comments. I usually just post things like a guy on a deserted island, throwing notes out to sea in a bottle. Occasionally, some of those bottles wash up on a distant shore and are discovered by beachcombers. At least that's how I think it goes.

I can tell it's been a long week. I'm ready for it to be over. I'm already thinking about what to order for breakfast on tomorrow's Friday restaurant outing. Pancakes sound good to me.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 939

I decided to merge the blog with Google+ this morning. I'm not sure what the implications of this move are, but Google has made the whole process so easy and transparent that I'm beginning to wonder if they are making plans to just abandon the Blogger platform at some point. The blog looks pretty much the same, so I'm happy enough. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find some new readers.

I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. I think one of the reasons I'm waking up tired every morning is all the weird dreams I've been having. I'm not much at dream interpretation, but these dreams are so consistent that they've got to mean something. I always seem to be wandering around looking for something that should be easy to find. I wander the halls of large hotels, looking for my room. I go from deck to deck on cruise ships, looking for my companion. Sometimes I just ride elevators up and down for the longest time. I've found myself in ad agencies where I used to work, looking for my office. Last night I dreamed that I was watching TV in bed and couldn't find the remote to turn the TV off. At first I wasn't sure that this was a dream, because I actually was in bed. When I woke up however, the TV was off and the only noise I heard was a dog snoring next to me. These aren't exciting dreams, but they are tiring.

I used my waking hours this afternoon to catch up on correspondence and finish some writing assignments. I'd already wasted half the morning watching back-to-back Dr. Who episodes while eating French Toast and sausages. Maybe travel would make things more interesting. One of my European clients caught my interest the other day by dangling the prospect of a trip to Singapore in front of me. The temptation was brief and tenuous at best, but it was enough to get me researching flights from DFW to Singapore. Wow! Singapore is a long way away. Travel time varies from around 24 hours to well over 48 hours, depending on how many stops you have to make along the way. One of the more popular routes to the Far East from Dallas goes through London. This seems backwards at first, until you look at a globe and realize the benefits of traveling over the pole. I'd love to go to Singapore to do the interviews for my new assignment, but somehow I have a feeling I'll be sitting right here at my desk, doing my research on Wikipedia.

The weather was beautiful for dog training class tonight. The nice weather didn't seem to impress the dogs however, because most of them weren't very obedient. The only thing Dash wanted to do tonight was the long down exercise, where the dogs had to lie down and stay in the same spot for five minutes. Dash is good at lying down and doing nothing. It is one of his favorite things.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 938

Janet left for work so early this morning that even though I went back to bed for a couple of hours, I still ended up getting up an hour earlier than normal. The extra daylight was useful and I ended up getting a lot more done than I usually do on a Tuesday. I finished an article I've been avoiding and I think I'm up to speed on most of my website revisions now. Most importantly, I got my July invoices in the mail this afternoon. That's always important, because it means that there should be money to pay the bills in August. It seems to be taking me longer to get my invoices posted these days, but I think that's a good thing. More invoices in the mail means more billable projects.

I've started learning the names of the wildflowers that I've been photographing on our daily walks. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that many plants have prosaic and even descriptive names. The Winecup flower looks almost exactly like a small wine goblet and the Pincushion flower definitely resembles a pincushion. Firewheels, which are abundant around my house, remind me of Fourth of July fireworks, while Trumpet Creepers look just like miniature orange trumpets. Sure, there are a lot of weird names that I'll never remember, but I do know that I've seen butterflies getting nectar from butterfly weeds.

Dash is such a social dog. He seems to love going to the vet for his biweekly antigen shot now. All I have to say is "it's time to go to the vet" and Dash runs to the front hall where his leash is kept. Dot, on the other hand, runs back to the bedroom. She doesn't like to go to the vet at all.

We had a little rain right after supper.  It wasn't enough to give the grass a good soaking, but I don't think it was enough to cause the roof to leak either. I guess it wasn't much of a rain at all, because Dot didn't even get upset.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 937

I got a request for the recipe for yesterday's tomato casserole. I'm usually happy to oblige with requests like this, because it shows that someone is actually reading the blog. I actually feel like a proper mommy blog now. Hey, tasty recipes and nice doggie stories. What more could you want? Truthfully, I'm in awe of mommy blogs. Somehow, I don't think guys with Dalmatians would ever qualify for their own special blog category. At any rate, I hope you enjoy the recipe.

I managed to finish updating the animal rescue website I was working on this weekend. I'm sure the site won't stay current for very long. Animal rescue sites are constantly changing as dogs and cats get admitted or adopted.  Nevertheless, it's good to have everything up to date again.

Once I completed my website project, the rest of the day was uneventful. About mid-afternoon I got a request to re-write another writer's article. I tried to weasel out of the job, but the client wasn't taking no for an answer. I never like to revise or re-work other people's writing. I'm just not a very competitive person and it seems distasteful to change someone else's work. Even if the writing is absolutely atrocious, I'd just as soon leave things well enough alone. Truthfully, 90% of advertising writing is rubbish anyway. Why split hairs over who's rubbish is better?

I wonder when the new season of Dr. Who is going to start? I've seen all the old episodes at least three times by now. Sadly, even these endlessly repeating re-runs are more interesting than most of the new shows on TV. I have yet to understand the popularity of shows like 30-Rock and Two and a Half Men. I guess shows like these are still classified as sit-coms, but they're not nearly as well written as shows like Sienfeld or Fraiser. Hmm. Maybe there actually is one category of 'other people's writing' that I wouldn't mind changing. Most of what's on television today desperately needs a re-write.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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