Day 1038

Wow! Google stock dropped over 10% in a matter of minutes today, all because a bad quarterly report was released a little prematurely. The slide was so precipitous that trading was halted for several hours. I'm certainly glad that I didn't buy any Google shares yesterday. All this just confirms my feeling that it has become too dangerous for the small investor to day trade anymore. Events happen rapidly and the market responds almost instantly. By the time the average guy has time to react, it's too late. Google is still a good company though. If the overreaction to the poor earnings continues, it might be wise for me to buy some shares.

I found one of those little square discontinued iPod nanos I've been looking for, thanks to a regular blog reader. Now, if I could only convince you readers to find me jobs and clients as well. That would be great.

The dogs have been loving this beautiful Fall weather. They can't go lounge in the grass after lunch like they used to, thanks to our armadillo friend who tore the yard up. The lack of grass hasn't detered them in the least unfortunately. When I let the dogs outside, they immediately go roll in the dirt and get filthy. I try my best to clean them off before they come inside again, but the house is getting dirtier every day. I'll be glad when the leaves finally fall and cover up the dirt. There isn't any point in planting new grass this late in the season. We'll just repeat what we did last year and let the leaves cover everything up until Spring.

I just finished watching a live feed of the Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. I've always been a fan of self depreciating humor, and these events featuring the presidential candidates doing stand-up comedy routines seldom disappoint. I wish the candidates would act like this all the time. I'd much rather see people making sarcastic jokes about each other than just resort to calling their advisory a liar. There's a lot to be said for using humor to deal with complex issues. I'd love to see a debate where both candidates checked political correctness at the door and the guy with the most biting humor won. Maybe Jon Stewart could be the moderator.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1037

I was somewhat reassured after visiting with my financial advisor this afternoon. When I backed off and took a longer view of things, I realized that I wasn't in that bad shape after all. What the hell. I don't have any debts and I still make enough to pay the bills. I really shouldn't complain. The hard thing for me to deal with is that I've always been a saver and it used to be so much easier to tuck a little away for a rainy day. I miss the 1980's when 10-year Treasury yields were over 12% and the conventional wisdom was that the value of your house would go up forever.

Times sure have changed. Treasury yields are at a 112 year low and I don't even want to talk about the housing market. You can't give up though. My advisor and I put stop loss orders on several positions that have done well this year to lock in gains. We talked about what to do if Obama won. And what to do if Romney won. In either case, there would definitely be things to take advantage of and other things to avoid. I like to be prepared. What I don't like is living in a world of diminished expectations for the foreseeable future. I would love to see a return to the overwhelming feeling of optimism that prevailed when John F. Kennedy was president. We need grand dreams like we had back then. It doesn't need to be going to the moon, but it needs to be something equally grand. I think those kind of dreams died when Kennedy was shot in Dealey Plaza and never returned again.

I used to have grand dreams. My grandest dreams actually took place while I was asleep. I could fly and travel through time long before I even heard of Dr. Who. Now my dreams are pathetic. I'm usually just lost in a hotel somewhere, looking for my luggage. I wouldn't call my waking hours pathetic, but there are definitely on the dull side. I take pictures of flowers. I walk dogs. I make a little money to pay the bills. There are no more plans to win an Oscar for best documentary anymore. There are no plans to make any films at all. When conversations veer off into one of those "what are you passionate about" discussions, I don't even feel like talking.

Maybe if I were passionate about dog training like some folks in our Wednesday evening class, Dash might be winning ribbons again. I'm not very competitive, or very passionate. I just go to these classes because it's good for Dot and Dash to be around other dogs. Socializing with other dogs helps keep ours happy and well adjusted. The training exercises themselves are silly though. A lot of things in life are just silly.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1036

I'm trying to think of some intelligent questions to ask my financial advisor tomorrow when we have our quarterly meeting. I'm sure he's sick of me asking him why I'm still not back to even after the 2008 crash. I'm sure he's sick of me asking why stocks tend to go down after we buy them, rather than before. In fairness, my advisor keeps reminding me that my portfolio would look a little more solid if I wasn't continually taking money out to buy stuff. He thinks we are still doing pretty good, considering how the economy is doing both here and elsewhere. Maybe. I just remember a time when I was doing much, much better. It is simply irritating that a strategy that has worked for me for much of my adult life doesn't appear to work anymore. We'll see how tomorrow's meeting goes. Personally, I think investing has become almost indistinguishable from gambling.

I got my wish for another slow day. OK guys, that's enough. I was just kidding. You can start sending me work again. Why is it that freelancing or running a small business is always feast or famine? I am continually either too busy or not busy enough. I wish I knew how to strike a balance, but so far having just the right amount of work has eluded me. Even using the slow times to market myself has its perils. Usually there is such a time lag between marketing and actually seeing new assignments that the marketing efforts just create sharper peaks and valleys down the road somewhere.

I like stability and predictability. I know, for example, that today is the day for Dash's antigen shot. We do this every other Tuesday at 2 PM, year in and year out. Dash enjoys his trip to the vet and I"m never in a panic to get him there, because I know exactly what to expect. I wouldn't mind a bit if everything were this predictable. Maybe I would work on oil and gas projects on Mondays, design some websites on Tuesdays, do a little photography on Wednesdays, and so on. Life isn't like this though. In the real world, work is just moments of boredom, punctuated by moments of stress and panic.

I guess I'll watch the presidential debates this evening. All the pundits tend to describe these debates as if they were a wrestling match. You almost expect Michael Buffer to come out right before the debate begins and deliver his famous catchphrase Let's get ready to rumble. I expect that both sides will say that their man won right after the debate is over. That's the way these things work.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1035

Have you tried to buy a discontinued product lately? It used to be that you could often buy discontinued products for years after they'd been replaced. When stores kept their own inventories, they would often tempt you with fantastic closeout prices, just to get the items of their shelves. Everything has changed now. Most merchants have adopted "just in time" inventory policies and keep a bare minimum of products on their shelves. They depend on computers to tell them which products are popular and on the FedEx delivery man to deliver fresh supplies each morning. This makes it very easy for manufacturers to make products vanish almost instantly when they've been discontinued.

I only mention this because I've be trying to find some of those little square iPod nanos. They weren't discontinued all that long ago, but they've totally vanished from store shelves. I'm not surprised that you can't find these things at the Apple store anymore, but you'd think Fry's, B&H, Best Buy, or Radio Shack would have a few left. Nope! It's like the little square nano never even existed. I guess I could still find something on eBay, but I've grown weary of the bidding process. I prefer a transaction I can complete in twenty seconds.

Our beautiful Indian Summer continues. The days are noticeably shorter now and the leaves are starting to turn. I've started noticing more bird activity as well. Since I've already managed to get good pictures of all the critters that aren't scared of the dogs, it might be time to invest in a longer telephoto lens. There are lots of animals I routinely see in the distance, but can never approach because of Dot and Dash.

It was a typical Monday. There were very few requests all day. I used the extra time to finish up the few remaing projects from last week. As far as I can tell, I'm all caught up now. I wouldn't mind if tomorrow is a slow day as well. Of course, if the inactivity continues throughout the week, I'll start to get nervous. Being on your own is always a delicate balance. You want to make sure that there is always enough work to pay the bills, while still trying to avoid the overloads that drive you crazy.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1034

Today was such a beautiful day that my grumpy side didn't stand a chance. I was in an uncharacteristically good mood all day long. The dogs had a great time at the dog park. There was a nice breeze and temperatures were in the seventies. When Dot and Dash were finished with their off leash outing, I got busy on a few things I'd been putting off for months. I washed the car for the first time since my birthday and even used some rubbing compound to polish out a few scratches on the door. I cleaned the toilets, put a fresh bag in the vacuum cleaner, and got all the water from yesterday's rain off the roof. Since the roof has survived two major rain storms without leaking, I also started preparing the damaged areas on the ceiling to tape and bed and paint again. It was a day of making things look nice.

It wasn't all work today, however. I also watched Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic parachute jump from 128,000 feet over Roswell, New Mexico live on the Internet. If you ask me, this is the future of marketing. Why even bother with broadcasting something on television if you can get eight million live viewers on YouTube. There weren't any commercials, or maybe the whole thing was just one big commercial for Red Bull. At any rate, it was a whole new way to look at advertising. If Red Bull can underwrite a supersonic parachute jump, and Virgin America can build the world's first commercial spaceport, maybe Apple can take us back to the moon. Apple's probably got enough money to finance the entire journey themselves.

The presidential race is starting to look a lot like the Texas senate races. Everyone is apparently a big fat liar. Both sides make reasonably convincing cases that the other side is lying. Then the "fact checkers" come along a few days later and people accuse them of lying too. It's probably a good thing that everybody's made up their mind about this election anyway. You certainly couldn't learn much from all the dueling "liar, liar" claims. I'm disgusted by the whole circus. I don't want to throw my vote away, but apparently it doesn't matter anyway. According to all the pundits, the whole election will be decided by the swing voters of Ohio.

We haven't used the new furnace since it was installed. The air conditioner certainly seems to be working well though. I think this is what they call an Indian Summer. I'm enjoying these unseasonably warm Fall days. I do hope we have a hard freeze this Winter though. Another warm Winter like we had last year and the bugs will overrun us.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1033

I didn't notice until I finished running my errands this afternoon that a speaker cover on my car door had fallen off and gotten lost. Since this was an aftermarket item from 1995, I knew it would be hard to replace. I carefully retraced my steps and eventually found the speaker cover in a Home Depot parking lot. A truck had run over it.

I noticed recently that Apple has discontinued the little square iPod nano that I like so much. This confirms my view that products I'm fond of just don't stay on the market long. I've often thought that I ought to hire myself out as a product analyst. If I love it, it's probably going to fail. If I think it's stupid, it's probably going to be a runaway success.

I've always like square things. Hasselblad cameras. Instagram. Andy Warhol portraits of Marilyn. Brionvega radios. Even the coffee table in my living room. Square objects appeal to my inner sense of symmetry. With this rather pronounced bias, it's no surprise that I was one of the first to pair a square iPod nano with a LunaTik case and wear it as a watch. It just seemed like the perfect 21st century way to tell time. I'm tempted to buy up some of the remaining square nanos and put them in the storage warehouse for a while. There will be a time when wearing a square iPod watch will be just as retro cool as driving around in a DeLorean

They are forecasting severe weather in our area later this evening. Although it's not raining now, the dogs seem to confirm this forecast. They both have a nervous look on their face and have been going out on the pack porch to sniff the air. I don't exactly know what they are sensing, but they are pretty good little weather forecasters. Maybe they can smell ozone in the air, or sense a change in barometric pressure. I certainly can't sense anything. It just seems like a warm, windy evening to me.

Hopefully, any rain we might get this evening won't spoil our dog park plans for tomorrow. Dot and Dash have grown to love these weekly visits to the dog park and know exactly when it's time to go. If the trip doesn't materialize for some reason, they definitely let us know about it.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1032

What a long day. The furnace installers were at the house from 9 AM until almost 4 PM. Since current furnaces aren't the same size and shape of those twenty years ago, most of the installers time was spent fabricating custom sheet metal work so that the new machinery would line up properly with the old vent system. When I first bought the house, it came with an ancient furnace that was quite large and very noisy. I quickly replaced this antique with a much more efficient model that ended up lasting over twenty years. The new furnace that was installed today was the smallest and most efficient of the three. Everything in life appears to be getting smaller. Cars, phones, computers, and now even furnaces are getting smaller. Hopefully, this is the last furnace I will need. I don't want to go through this ordeal again.

When the installers first removed the dryer and then the old furnace, I was appalled at all the dust that had accumulated in the utility room. There must have been an inch of dust under the clothes dryer. The dryer vent was full of dust too. The intake sheet metal ahead of the filters was coated with a thick layer of dust. I tried to vacuum and get rid of all this dust before the HVAC guys could put all the new equipment back in place again. Most repair people and installers could care less about dust. I knew they would just hook up the new furnace to the old dusty vents if I didn't clean them when I had a chance. I cleaned everything up while the installers were fabricating sheet metal out on the carport, but the room was so dirty that I completely clogged the vacuum cleaner. I had to take the whole thing apart to get it working again.

It's a good thing I boarded the dogs today. It would have been a nightmare with seven hours of non-stop barking on top of all the construction noise. The installers were in and out of the house all day long. I would have worried that the dogs would have gotten loose and disappeared out the front door. They were safe at the vet, but I don't think either of them enjoyed their little vacation. They were frantic when I picked them up at the end of the day and Dot pooped in the car.  One more mess to clean up.

Ironically, after an entire day was spent installing the furnace, the air conditioner is on now. A late Fall heat wave swept through town yesterday and the temperatures are in the high eighties again. It will be cold soon enough though. I'm glad everything is working now, before Winter arrives.

Since I was trapped in the house all day, I got a lot of writing done. There wasn't much else to do and I had some looming deadlines anyway. It all worked out pretty well. I'm going to take it easy this weekend though. Wouldn't you?

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1031

I finished two articles today and shipped them off to their destinations. I ordered a new muslin backdrop for the upcoming Christmas photo season. I made a few minor website revisions and that was about it. It was a busy day, but it wasn't very interesting. A lot of days are like that. Hey, I did see a rainbow though. That's always a good sign.

The furnace installers arrive tomorrow morning and I still haven't cleaned all the stuff out of the utility room so the HVAC guys will have a place to work. The utility room is kind of like Dr. Who's Tardis. It seems bigger on the inside. I'm always amazed at how much stuff has been crammed into the little room every time I have to clean it out. I may have to take off the door as well. It seems like I had to take off the door a few years ago when the front loader washer arrived.

I'll probably board the dogs tomorrow. The HVAC guys said that the dogs wouldn't bother them at all, but the barking will definitely bother me. I know from experience that Dot will bark continuously throughout the entire four hour installation procedure. The last time repair people were in the house, she barked so long and hard that she made herself sick. She actually got a sore throat and came down with a bad cough. Everybody thought she had kennel cough, but I knew better. She had repairman cough.

Since I won't be able to leave the house tomorrow morning, I went out and had my weekly restaurant breakfast this morning instead. The waitress got my order mixed up, and to make amends, she brought me some free bacon. I don't know about you, but to me, free bacon is even a better omen than seeing a rainbow.

Katy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1030

Today was another writing day. I got quite a bit accomplished, considering how little I knew about my subject matter yesterday. My writing jobs certainly have changed over the years. I used to have four or five input meetings where the clients and I would sit around a big conference table and talk about the job and what it was supposed to accomplish before I ever started writing. I liked those meetings, because it gave me a chance to get up to speed before being thrown head first into the task of putting words on a page. More importantly, attending all the meetings allowed me to charge a decent rate for business writing jobs.

Everything is different now. Most clients think all knowledge in the known universe is readily available on Wikipedia. I'm given a few days and a few dollars ant that's it. I can't complain too loudly though. The work is steady and it's certainly better than working in retail or being a residential architect waiting for the housing market to return. The sad truth is that the whole economy sucks, including my little corner of it.

The new furnace gets installed on Friday. Luckily the weather has warmed up and it's pretty comfortable without a functioning furnace. It's 70 degrees both inside and outside the house right now, so the temperature is just about perfect. Just watch us have a warm Winter after I've spent all this money on a fancy new furnace. There's always something that comes along to make just about every decision I make look stupid. Oh, well. Sooner or later it's going to be freezing cold and when that day comes I'm going to be glad that I planned ahead.

Dot and Dash didn't have much interest in dog training class tonight. Dot wouldn't sit and Dash wouldn't stay. I don't know what the problem was. The weather was nice and there were no unruly dogs to upset them. I guess they just didn't feel like being obedient this evening. I feel that way myself sometimes.

Neo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1029

It's been almost a year since I started taking a camera with me when I walk the dogs. During my first three or four months as a dog walking photographer, I would see something new and interesting almost every day. Now, I've started to notice that nature repeats itself with remarkable regularity. Flowers appear and disappear with clockwork precision. Birds return to exactly the same logs and pilings where I photographed them last year. Squirrels seem to be perpetually digging up the same nut. I feel like I've documented every square inch of my tiny little world. There must still be new things happening all around me, but I'm just not seeing them. I guess I'll have to look a little harder.

An estimator came out this morning to measure the utility room and recommend a new furnace. The room is so small and cramped that I have no idea how everything got in there in the first place. The furnace, the washer, the dryer and the water heater all seem too large to even fit through the door. The estimator assured me that installing a new furnace would be no problem. This was reassuring, but I think he was being overconfident. Everything about this house ends up being a problem. Problems or not, we should have a new furnace installed by the end of the week.

I'm glad the Jewish Holidays are finally over for a while. I've had some camera equipment on order from B&H in New York City since before Rosh Hashanah and it still hasn't been delivered. I completely forgot how many holy days there are during September and October. I had thought about ordering from Adorama instead, but it wouldn't have done much good. They follow exactly the same holiday schedule. Basically, it's just not a good idea to buy a camera in October.

Since I wasn't having much luck with the camera, I went and bought an iPhone case instead. Why doesn't anyone make the kind of case I like anymore? I loved the soft Griffin perforated silicon case I had for my old phone, but nobody makes these things anymore. Now, big clunky cases like OtterBox are popular. Boo. I finally bought a trim looking white Speck case, but it wasn't what I really wanted. Maybe I'll get one of those fancy LunaTik cases when they start selling them later this Fall. It would be just like me to get a case that costs more than the phone.

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1028

I spent most of the day carrying a small ceramic heater from room to room in a somewhat vain attempt to keep warm. Eventually, I decided to give up on the ineffectual little heater and just put on a sweater. My Northern readers would probably laugh at these antics. You guys seem to wear sweaters indoors all the time. I'm a Southerner though and prefer to pretend that Winter doesn't exist. I usually just turn the heat up and wear a t-shirt and shorts around the house all Winter.

Unfortunately, I can't turn the heat up yet, because the furnace is broken. The HVAC guys are coming out tomorrow to give me an estimate on replacing the furnace. This is probably going to hurt. A good furnace isn't cheap. There's really no alternative though. You can't live very comfortably without a furnace during the Winter. At least this is probably the last furnace I'll need to buy. The current furnace lasted twenty-five years. It will be a miracle if I last twenty-five more years.

I spent some time today getting my ducks in a row for a new technical article I need to write this week. I always learn something new when I research these articles.  Last week I learned that steam turbines powered railway locomotives during the 1930's. This week I learned that Germany has oil wells. Why did I think that Europe didn't have any oil of its own? Shows what I know.

I used to think that curators only worked in museums. Now, I think curation has a much broader appeal. The term has become an Internet buzz word with people curating pictures of cats on Pinterest and making lists of people who like chocolate on Twitter. I've never seen such an explosion of information gathering and list making in my life. I'm fascinated by people who love to make lists. Why?  I never make lists. Even though I sometimes talk about my "to-do" list, there is never an actual list. It is just a figure of speech. Jeez, I even go shopping without a grocery list. Although I don't understand this fascination with lists, I'm grateful that it exists. If it weren't for the list makers, probably nobody would read this blog. I got added to another list today. Almost immediately, 100 new people started looking at my photos on Google+. What a strange world we live in.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1027

Brrr. It was cold this morning. Since there is still no heat, the inside and outside temperatures at the house have gradually equalized. It's about 64 degrees everywhere now. As much as I hate to deal with the whole situation, I'm going to call the HVAC folks tomorrow and see about getting a brand new furnace. I thought briefly about trying to patch the old furnace up for one more year, but it's hopeless. I know the old furnace needs a new gas valve and they don't even make the part anymore. I've patched up the furnace so many times that I think the repairs themselves have become part of the problem. The whole thing is just a bunch of replacement components installed at very different times, all trying without much success to communicate with each other.

The dogs don't seem to mind the cold nearly as much as I do. I guess that makes sense, because they've got fur. They certainly enjoyed the cooler weather when they went to the dog park this afternoon. Dash wanted to say hello to everyone in the park and even Dot was playful. I'm sure the dogs will appreciate the new furnace as the weather grows colder, but I'm going to have to board them on the day it is installed. I've already learned that the dogs and repair people aren't a good mix.

I watched that Rumble2012 debate between Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly after dinner. It was actually quite good. Both men tackled difficult subjects, were well informed, and still managed to be funny. I actually learned more from this debate than from the real debate last week. I guess real politicians could never be this candid. Real politicians from both parties have a ton of sacred cows they can't even go near for fear of upsetting their constituents. It was refreshing to hear two different points of view without all the pandering.

This whole weekend zipped by. Between yesterday's Oktoberfest and today's dog park outing, there was barely time to mow the grass and get the groceries. It's going to be a busy week. I've got October invoices to get out. There are technical articles to write. Hopefully, there will be a new furnace before it gets any colder.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1026

It's jacket weather again. For the first time since last Spring, I needed to put on a coat when I went to run my weekend errands. I like jacket weather myself, mostly because jackets and coats are the only form of clothing that I actually enjoy buying. I've got more jackets than I know what to do with, but if I pass by the right sort of store on a chilly day, I'll probably get another one.

Unfortunately, I'll be wearing my jackets indoors soon if I don't get the furnace replaced. I tried to turn on the heat today, but I couldn't get the pilot to light. This doesn't really surprise me, since the furnace wouldn't work late last Winter either. I just didn't want to deal with it then. It was almost time to start using the air conditioner and I didn't want to spend the money. I guess the time has arrived. It's going to be chilly this evening.

I stopped by the neighborhood Oktoberfest this afternoon and had a beer and a bratwurst. The Weizenbier I tried was quite good. I initially thought it was imported until I looked on the label and realized it was a product of a little microbrewery in Plano, Texas, only a few miles down the road. When I used to work in Germany a lot, I remember that every town had its own local brewery. With the increased popularity of craft beers and microbreweries, it's getting to be that way here as well. Too bad I can't enjoy these tasty brews as much as I like anymore. I can survive without beer, but I'm not going to make it very long without a liver.

The dogs were wild on their walk this evening. I don't know whether they were enjoying the cool weather, or were cold and wanted their sweaters on. They certainly had more energy than they did yesterday. I guess it makes sense that the dogs would act diferent today. The temperature dropped at least 35 degrees overnight.

I got another assignment to write about the oil and gas industry today. I used to do a ton of these jobs and then they all disappeared for a while. Now, they're coming back again. The opposite is happening with my watch industry assignments. I'm not writing as many watch articles these days. This is the way it's always been. When one thing picks up, another thing slows down. I feel like I'm treading water instead of making any real forward progress. Hey, I'm still in business though and paying my bills. I know a lot of people who can't say that anymore.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1025

The Cormorants and Coots have returned to the lake again. I find these seasonal migrations reassuring. At least something in this world stays the same from year to year. Truthfully, not very much in nature stays the same. I've noticed this year that Johnsongrass is slowly but surely erasing the beautiful native prairie near our house. Sparrows have occupied all the Martin Houses in the area as well. I wouldn't call these two things a sign of the apocalypse, but it's not exactly good news either.

I got lucky when I stopped by the cool restaurant for breakfast this morning. The place was virtually empty. I got to enjoy a delicious meal without overhearing a bunch of trendy people salt and pepper their conversations with words like sustainability and codependency.

Since some of my clients pay me in Euros, I never know quite what I'm going to make until I exchange the money for dollars again. I think I picked a good day today, since the Euro was down. Things were much better though before the Federal Reserve started printing money again and caused the dollar to weaken. It's way too complicated for me. Life was so much easier when I just went to work at an ad agency and collected a paycheck every two weeks.

One of Janet's charities is having an Octoberfest fundraiser this weekend. Janet will be working the event, but for me it will be a good excuse to have a rare special occasion beer with a bratwurst. I think my liver will forgive me for the occasional special beer. Honestly, I haven't had a drink since the last special occasion. Regular readers will know that these things don't happen all that often.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1024

I lost another website account today. My soon to be former client went to a conference and was pitched by one of those companies that offer standardized, template driven websites geared to a specific industry at very low prices. I patiently tried to explain to my client that all those cheap bells and whistles would be of limited value if their competitors all had exactly the same website. This argument went in one ear and right out the other. Apparently, one of their competitors had actually recommended this web developer to them. They didn't care if their website looked exactly like 100 other websites. They just wanted the cheap bells and whistles.

Inexpensive template websites have become the bane of my existence. I still do everything from scratch, and just can't compete with this mass produced approach. I feel like one of those obscure auto companies who were hand-building cars in a garage right after Henry Ford invented the assembly line. I still have some really good customers who seem happy with my work, but the writing is on the wall. I get e-mail everyday from companies offering to re-design my own website for free. I get other e-mails offering to host the site for as little as $9.95 a month. It's becoming a commodity driven business and I'm becoming a dinosaur.

Maybe I ought to just stick to writing. I think the bloom is off the rose when it comes to comes to photography, video editing, and website design. It's become increasingly easy to do these things yourself. People still don't like to write, however. Hell, they don't even like to read anymore. I actually have more writing jobs than I did a few years ago. I guess there still isn't a convenient iPhone app that will do your writing and thinking for you.

Although I missed the political debates last night, I couldn't avoid seeing everything rehashed on the morning news shows today. The pundits were right. Obama was definitely off his game. The guy looked like he was sleepwalking through the entire debate. The debacle serves him right if you ask me. He's been spending way too much time partying with the likes of JZ and Beyonce.

Jersey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1023

When I go to the post office, I park at a nearby strip mall and walk the final 100 yards to mail my letters. I do this because there is a traffic light at the intersection leading to the neighborhood shops. There is no light at the post office and it is much easier to go home again when I can turn left. I've been parking at this strip mall for years now and continue to be amazed at how quickly the shops change hands. A theater where I once saw 101 Dalmatians is now a small grocery store. A pizza place is now an MRI imaging center. Most of the retail stores have been replaced by restaurants. The restaurants themselves get replaced by other restaurants with disturbing regularity. The video rental store on the corner is just empty. I guess nobody rents video tapes anymore. I can't help thinking that each of these stores was somebody's dream. So many broken dreams, and this is just one little neighborhood strip mall. I'd like to see a little more permanance in this world, but I'm not holding my breath anymore.

I finally managed to get Linux running on my computer this morning. I now have access to thousands of open source programs that I'll never ever use. The problem yesterday was all my fault. I just wasn't typing things correctly in the terminal command line. Now that I've solved this mystery and have Linux running side by side with my Mac OS, I'll probably just forget about it. That's what I did last time anyway. I'm sure I'll use Gimp from time to time, but since I know Photoshop so much better, it's hard to see the point. Basically, it was just a slow day yesterday and installing Linux gave me something to do.

We missed most of the presidential debates this evening because we were at dog training class with Dot and Dash. That's just as well. I have a hard time even listening to politicians anymore. Everybody is saying what that they think people want to hear, instead of what they need to hear. I'm getting tired of the whole charade. When the majority of the population is spending more than they earn, it's no surprise that the entire country is in trouble. A little restraint on everybody's part would do wonders. It doesn't matter is you are an individual, a family, a city, or a country. You just shouldn't spend what you don't have.

I hope I feel better tomorrow. I've been dragging around all day with no energy whatsoever. I almost feel like I've got the flu or something, but it's not even flu season. Maybe I just didn't get a good night's sleep last night. Dot and Dash are active dreamers and their paw slapping dog dreams woke me up at two hour intervals. I'm hoping things will be a little calmer tonight.

Hobbs is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1022

I felt like using some Linux applications on my computer today. Oops. I forgot that I didn't have X-11 or Developer Tools installed on my Mac anymore. No problem. Hey, I used to do this stuff all the time. "I'll just get out the Developer Tools install disk and get everything working again," I thought. When running Linux on a Mac first became an option after OS X appeared, I became fascinated with it and grew to love several Linux applications. I particularly liked Gimp, which was sort of a free open source version of Photoshop.

Well, getting Gimp to work again was going to be a problem. First of all, there wasn't a Developer Tools install disk anymore, because I had downloaded the Lion OS from the app store. Apple doesn't make things easy these days. To get access to the Developer Tools, I had to sign up to become an approved Apple Developer. I answered a whole bunch of questions on their website, which probably proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I know absolutely nothing about coding Apple applications. Apple approved my application anyway and sent me the software. I read all the instructions that I could find on Google about how to install all this stuff and then I tried to launch a Linux application. Nothing. Apparently, I'm not as much of a geek as I used to be. There was a time when I had lots of Linux apps running perfectly on a previous desktop computer. Either Apple has become more complicated, or I have become less intelligent.

Dash got to go to the vet again today. He loves to go to the vet. All I have to say is "It's time to go to the vet," and he's right at the front door, wagging his tail. I don't think he even feels the antigen shot he gets every two weeks. To him, a vet visit is just a time to socialize and get petted by the nurses.

I'm determined to open the windows before the weather turns cold again. I got rid of two big wasp nests today. There's still one very large nest left and a lot of smaller ones, but I'm making progress. My method so far has been to open a window near a nest, spray the nest with insecticide and then close the window very quickly before the agitated wasps fly inside. Since the remaining nests aren't near a window, I'll have to go outside under the nest, spray quickly, and then run.

You've probably figured out already that there weren't a lot of writing projects today. When I've got writing deadlines, there's never time for things like getting Linux running on my computer. Of course, when I'm spending my time on personal projects like this, I'm not making any money. Why does it always have to be one or the other?

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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