Day 1117

There was a new Dalmatian to photograph today. We haven't had many Dalmatians available for adoption recently, so it was fun to go meet Vegas, the new girl. With her friendly, happy temperament, she should find a home quickly.

I didn't sleep very well last night. Dash woke everyone up around 4 AM, wanting to go outside to eat grass and throw up again. When he doesn't throw up, I think the antihistamines are working.  When he does throw up, I think they are doing nothing. Who knows. Dash has certainly been to the vet enough times about his condition, but nobody has arrived at any conclusion. Apart from this odd behavior, he seems perfectly healthy. At any rate, as soon as Dash threw up, he went right back to sleep, while I stayed wide awake. 

I tried, with little success, to get some old USB webcams to work with my newer computers this afternoon. It's frustrating trying to get old peripherals to work with new computers.The equipment is usually perfectly good. It's just been abandoned. Very few manufacturers continue writing new drivers for their old printers, scanners, and webcams. It's much more profitable for them to simply sell you a brand new piece of equipment. The only reason I keep this old stuff is that I still have the old computers as well. As long as you pair old stuff together, everything works fine. It's only when you try to pair the old with the new that the problems start.

I'm still kind of fascinated by the new HD channels I've discovered on our TV. HD images look great. Of course, old shows like The Twilight Zone and Seinfeld look exactly the same on HD. If they weren't shot in high definition in the first place, they're not going to look any sharper twenty years later. Sports and live rock concerts look fabulous though. I suppose that a lot of movies look fabulous in high definition too, but I seldom have time to watch movies anyway.

Maybe I'll go to bed early and make up for the sleep I lost last night. One can only hope that Dash will decide to sleep soundly tonight. The weather is warming up a bit, so maybe tomorrow will be nice. A good night's sleep, a late breakfast, and an early trip to the dog park sounds like a plan to me.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1116

I put away the Christmas decorations for another year. If this year zips along as quickly as the previous one, I'll be getting them out again before you know it. I don't know why time seems to pass so quickly now. I get much less done than I used to, but all the available hours remain filled while the time races along at an alarming rate.

The usual Austin indie bands didn't accompany my breakfast at the cool restaurant this morning. Instead, I listened to the same Beatles tunes I heard in the elevator when I went to the doctor on Wednesday. Overheard conversations were a bit different too. Two girls with purple streaked hair at the next table were talking about how to get into the best sororities at SMU. Although the attire was different, I could have heard this same conversation thirty years ago. Sometimes I wonder if anything changes at all.

I accidentally discovered that there were channels on the U-verse TV above 1000 last night. Most of these new channels were in high definition too. I don't know why I never discovered all these additional channels before. I guess I never went channel surfing above 300. The ironic thing is that for over a year, I've been thinking I was watching HD TV and I actually wasn't. Shows what I know.  Maybe I'll eventually get the hang of the television, telephones, and Internet all coming through the same IP pipe. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to our caller ID. It was there two weeks ago and now it's gone. I have a feeling that the dogs turned it off somehow. Their waging tails hit the set-top box every morning when they are trying to get us out of bed. They could have easily changed one of the settings.

I might have finally figured out why Dash is throwing up. In today's pile of junk mail was a inconspicuous little post card with tiny type on one side. The card was from the water department and the tiny type said that the city's water treatment plant had failed to meet quality standards during the month of December. Jeez! You'd think something like this would have made the evening news. Nope. This tiny little post card was the first I'd heard that our tap water might be polluted. You'd think with all the tax money we give the city, they could at least give us clean water in return. Oh, well. Janet and I have been drinking bottled water for years. Maybe we'll have to start pouring the Ozarka bottle into the dogs bowls as well.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1115

I had a photo shoot today. The theme for the assignment was "helping hands" and the models were a baby, a pre-teen girl, their mom, and a puppy. I thought the shoot went pretty well, but I'm not sure the baby would agree. Every time the puppy touched her hand, the baby said "owie".

After taking hundreds of images, I'm sure I managed to get something the client will like. My favorite is to your left, even though one of my models appears to be missing. If it wasn't for lugging all the heavy lighting equipment around, I would enjoy photography more than writing. Photography is definitely more immediate. Writing and photography are both about capturing moments to me, but writing seems to require a bit more introspection on my part.

In an effort to keep from spending my entire day cleaning Dot's paws, I raked all the leaves in the  back yard over the top of the muddy path Dot always uses when she races out the back door to bark at things in the alley. This temporary fix will probably work for about ten seconds, but I had to do something. It doesn't matter if the yard is muddy or dry as a bone. Dot always insists on bolting out the back door like a race horse out of the starting gate.

After the Christmas and New Year's holidays are over, it's always hard for me to come to grips with the fact that there are five work days in every week instead of four. Four work days seems plenty to me. Janet thinks I should get used to seven work days. That's what the world is coming to apparently. Until that day comes, I'll continue to treat Friday as my own little holiday. I'm looking forward to another big breakfast tomorrow. After that, I may write a small article. That should do it for this week.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1114

Every time I have a doctor's appointment in a hospital environment, I am amazed at the sheer size of what we have come to call our healthcare system. I grew up in a small town and the only reason people went to the hospital was to have a baby or to get their tonsils out. What a different world we live in now. Hospitals have become small cities with thousands of employees and hundreds of ways to die.

I don't like to go anywhere near a hospital. You're more likely to get sick in a hospital than in almost any other place in the world. I got Hepatitis C when I received tainted blood products in a hospital during the 1970's. Back then hospitals routinely bought blood from winos and the medical community wouldn't even discover what Hepatitis C was for another twenty years or so.

I think things are even worse today. You hear stories almost every day about people going to the hospital with a very minor ailment and leaving with a nasty antibiotic resistant MRSA infection. I guess it makes sense that bad things happen in hospitals. That's where all the sick people are. Luckily, I didn't have to stay long today. It was just a quick trip for a second opinion. It took me longer to get in and out of the multi-level parking garage than it did to see the doctor. As you might expect, the doctor I saw today disagreed with the previous doctor. This happens a lot. It wasn't so bad though. I liked this doctor's conclusion a lot better than the first one, so I think I'll just go with it.

The stock market had a banner day today. Equities went up. Gold went up. Even my managed futures accounts went up. This financial trifecta almost never happens. It's kind of ironic to me that Wall Street is celebrating some last minute compromise legislation that isn't going to solve anything at all. Even though there wasn't a lot of logic in today's huge gains, I'll take what I can get. I learned long ago that the stock market is nothing more than a barometer that measures the world's collective fear and greed. Today, the fear subsided just a little, and the greed took over.

I got my warm coat back from the tailor today. The last time they put in a zipper for me it cost $16. This time it cost $40. As far as I can tell, the zippers on both coats look exactly the same. Go figure. I have a feeling that I was charged more for the zipper on today's coat because it was a more expensive coat. I didn't complain though. Maybe there's a zipper shortage.

At least I was warm then I took Dash to dog training class this evening. I don't think Dash was very warm though. He didn't seem to want to be at class at all. I put his sweater on before we left the house, but he still didn't want to sit on the cold ground. I don't blame him. If it was up to me, I'd just skip training class until spring.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1113 - New Year's Day

A lot of my bright ideas end up in frustration. I can usually visualize in intricate detail exactly what I want or need. I just can't find it anywhere. This inability to find what's in my mind's eye was made abundantly clear today when I continued my quest to find a new floor lamp. I know exactly what I want. I love these new LED bulbs. The high output 24 watt PAR bulbs have beautiful fluted aluminum vents that function as heat sinks. These bulbs are so attractive that they don't even need a shade. What I'd like to find is a simple torchiere floor lamp that lets me plug one of these bulbs directly into the top. Ideally, the aluminum pole would be the same color and texture as the bulb itself, so the entire unit looks seamless. It's easy to draw what I see in Photoshop, but can I find these lamps anywhere?  Nope. They don't seem to exist outside my mind.

I wonder what lies ahead for me in 2013? I'd like to see an end to medical problems. I've got enough medical problems already. I'd like a few new clients. Two or three would be fine. Hey, I'm not greedy, I just like to stay busy. I'd like a little sanity to return to the stock market. At some point in the future, my retirement is going to depend on the investments I make today. I think it's sad that you could probably do just as well these days betting on sports teams in Vegas as most people do with their investments. Most of all, I hope that the dogs stay healthy. Dot and Dash are my best friends and I don't know what I'd do without them.

While I'm wishing for things, it might be wise to wish for some warmer weather. I asked Janet how long this cold weather was going to last, and all she said was "It's Winter." Historically, we can get nasty, cold weather here in Dallas all the way through the end of March. I guess we'll all survive until Spring, but I don't know how much more mud I can handle.

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow. As I recall, this particular doctor is even more behind than most and I usually spend a long time waiting in the lobby. I think I read all the magazines in this guy's lobby three years ago.

Damn. I didn't eat any black eyed peas today. Black eyes peas are supposed to bring prosperity in the new year, and usually I'll have a bowl just to play it safe. I have a feeling that black eyes peas aren't going to make a lot of difference in 2013 unfortunately. With what's coming down the pike, it's going to be an uphill battle for anyone to stay prosperous.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1112

I plugged in the guitar and played a little blues today. There certainly wasn't much else to do. It was a very slow day. The good news was that I hadn't entirely lost my chops. The bad news was that playing guitar for any extended length of time with Carpal tunnel hurts like hell. Who knows though. Maybe playing with a wrecked left hand will give my riffs a note of authenticity.

I wonder how many years of sitting in a little room and writing inconsequential advertising it takes before you go stark raving mad? When you factor in that my primary diversions are sweeping standing water off the roof and killing cockroaches that wander into the house, maybe I've passed that threshold already. At least it was a bit warmer today. The dogs didn't even have to wear their Winter coats.

I was amused today when I noticed that the stock market had a substantial rally when the President came on television early in the afternoon to say that everyone was close to striking a deal on the fiscal cliff. Of course five minutes after the market closed, some senators came on TV and essentially said "just kidding." There is no deal tonight because nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. I have a feeling that this impasse could go on for weeks or months.

If we can stay awake until midnight, Janet and I will bring in the New Year with some champagne and a selection of cheese. I can't imagine standing out in the cold for hours to watch a mirrored ball drop, but seeing the event on TV in a warm house with a flute of champagne in your hand is actually kind of nice. 2012 certainly wasn't that memorable, but maybe 2013 will be better. Remember 1999 when Y2K was supposed to bring the world grinding to a halt on New Year's Eve? Nothing happened. People still say "party like it's 1999" though. What's that all about?  I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like 1999 when we all sail over the cliff a little later this evening.

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope your first New Year's resolution is to continue reading this blog for another year.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1111

I made another trip to the storage warehouse this afternoon. Since I had already dealt with the vinyl albums, I decided to tackle the cassette tapes today. Since tape cassettes are so small, I was surprised to fill an entire packing box with the things. Some tapes were music I used to play in the car when I commuted between Seattle and Portland. Other tapes were samples of radio commercials I'd written and produced over the years. There were a lot of tapes.

The record industry has quite a racket going. They've somehow managed to con us into buying the same songs over and over again on different media. I've purchased vinyl albums, only to purchase the same thing again, first on cassette tape, then on a CD, and finally as an iTunes download. What will they think of next?

As I've been packing my music away, it has struck me that there hasn't been a lot of really memorable music in the past ten or fifteen years. The old albums I was packing away are still being played on the radio today. Actually, they're played everywhere from iPods to elevators. As I was watching the Kennedy Center Honors on TV the other day, I was mesmerized at the audience reaction to Nancy and Ann Wilson as they sang "Stairway to Heaven" during the tribute to Led Zeppelin. Everyone knew that song by heart and still loved it after all these years. Can you think of a similar reaction to anything you've heard recently? Probably not. Like it or not, the music that defined my generation, still defines music.

On the way back from the storage warehouse, I stopped by Home Depot to see if they had any less expensive floor lamps. They did. Although the lamps I looked at were dirt cheap, it only took a few seconds to see why. The pole lamps I looked at in the design studio the other day were fabricated from solid rods of stainless steel. The Home Depot poles were all constructed out of three foot sections of cheap aluminum that you had to assemble yourself. The lamps looked like they were made from old tent poles. The reason some floor lamps are $24 and others are $2400 is the same reason that a Lamborghini is not a Ford Focus. You get what you pay for. Too bad I can't afford either a Lamborghini or a fancy designer pole lamp.

The dogs don't worry about such things. For them, the best things in life are free. They certainly enjoyed their excursion to the dog park today. The weather was cold and brisk and it put all the dogs in the park in a frisky mood. Dash was exceptionally playful today and he even managed to get Dot to run with him for a while.

You'd think tomorrow would be a holiday, since Christmas Eve was a holiday last Monday. Apparently it's a work day though. Janet's working. Most of my clients are working. I'll probably be working as well.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1110

I thought I'd go look for a lamp today. I've been so pleased with the LED bulbs in the ceiling can lights that I thought I'd find a nice looking floor lamp that used these high tech bulbs as well. The floor lamps in the living room and bedroom are the only lights in the entire house now that haven't been converted to LED bulbs. I went to a lighting studio that I remembered from the days when I was obsessed by furniture and was astonished at how expensive nice looking lamps had become. I found a lamp that would look quite nice in the house, but I wasn't about to pay more for a lamp than I paid for my laptop computer. A floor lamp is not a complex object. It's basically just a bulb at the end of a pole. How something so simple could get so expensive is beyond me. Maybe I should have gone to Ikea instead of a fancy contract lighting studio.

Although I failed to come home with a lamp, I did get a few things done today. I found the air compressor and my tires are now all at the correct inflation pressure again.  I got Janet some fresh blueberries at the grocery store. I got Dash's antihistamine prescription renewed at the vet. I even found a little time to practice my guitar.

Am I the only one who's getting completely sick of hearing about the fiscal cliff every time I turn on the television? If congress does nothing, very little will change in our day-to-day lives. Conversely, if they get their act together and pass some sort of legislation before the end of the year, very little will change either. The country will still be in debt and most of us will still personally be in debt. No matter what happens, we will continue to get up in the morning and plod along the best we can. Some things will get better and other things will get worse. The world will change and the next generation will still think all the changes are completely normal. What's not normal is listening to some of the local news anchors continue to call this year-end financial mess the "physical cliff."  Don't they know? The physical cliff has nothing to do with spending and taxes. The physical cliff was what Thelma and Louise drove their car over at the end of the movie.

I hope Dash's sinus problems clear up soon. I'm getting tired of getting up at 4 AM every morning to let him outside to throw up. Even though he's a lot lighter on his feet than Dot, he still tracks in a lot of mud too. I've got to get better at cleaning muddy paws when I'm half asleep. The bed was covered with paw prints when I woke up this morning.

Alle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1109

It must have rained last night. I slept through the shower, but there was ample evidence that a storm had passed through. The paths through the park were all muddy and the plants were covered with dew. There wasn't much evidence remaining that it had ever snowed however. That's the way the weather is in Texas. Easy come. Easy go. I was disappointed to see this new rain because it meant all my efforts to clear the ice off the roof yesterday were wasted. Of course, I didn't even have to look to know that the roof was now covered with two inches of standing water all over again. I really think I know how Sisyphus felt, pushing his immense boulder up that hill for eternity.

I got off to such a slow start this morning that I might as well just have ordered lunch when I finally arrived at my designated breakfast restaurant. Since I'm a stickler for ritual, I went ahead and ordered a big breakfast anyway. After I finished eating, I took my warm goose down jacket to a little neighborhood tailor to get a new zipper sewn in. The tailor said he could put a new elastic drawstring at the bottom of the coat as well. I'm glad there are still a few people like this around. I'd hate to throw away a perfectly good coat, just because the zipper was broken.

On cold, damp days like this I tend to get a lot of writing done. What else is there to do anyway? I wasn't under any deadline pressure, but I pretty much got caught up on things for the year today. I probably should have saved a few of these assignments for a rainy day, but hey, it was a rainy day.

I'm tempted to go buy a couple of bales of hay to spread around the back yard. It's going to be impossible to grow new grass until Spring anyway and the mud in the yard is getting worse and worse. I'm not really sure where you buy bales of hay in the city though. Some garden stores carry hay bales around Halloween to set your pumpkins on top of, but that's about it.

When I went to the grocery store today I noticed that my tires looked low again. It makes sense, I guess. Hot air expands and cold air contracts. I suppose I'll have to drag out the air compressor tomorrow and pump the tires up again. I can tell by looking that they only have about 20 pounds of pressure in them now.

I was looking forward to watching a new Dr. Who episode tomorrow, since I enjoyed seeing "The Snowmen" episode last week so much. Wouldn't you know. There isn't going to be another new episode until April. Didn't Series 7 begin last September? Jeez, I've never seen a show take so long to air 14 episodes.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1108

Somebody please send me a little glamor. I spent the day chopping a big sheet of ice up on the roof into little blocks I could remove. When I got cold, I would come back inside and write articles that seemed a lot like the metaphorical equivalent of blocks of ice. The whole process reminded me of the woodpeckers I see on our morning walks. Such industrious little birds, but there must be a better way of finding food and sustenance.

A note to the folks who depend on me to write their fake press releases. I've got a nice wool Ralph Lauren tux that still actually fits. You might consider actually sending me to a few of those glamorous events instead of just asking me to pretend I was there. Another note to those who continue to send me Christmas cards long after they have fired me. Wouldn't it have showed a lot more Christmas cheer to have simply kept me on your payroll a bit longer?

While I was eating breakfast this morning, Dot had to go outside and pee. When I let her back inside again, her paws looked like they were wearing clown shoes. Big, brown oak leaves had cemented themselves to a layer of sticky red clay that was all that remained from this Summer's St. Augustine turf. The whole mess, in turn, cemented itself to each of Dot's paws. She looked ridiculous and I had to laugh, despite the fact that it took me at least fifteen minutes to clean her up again.

This is the trouble with Winter. It's just so messy. I don't mind the cold nearly as much as I mind the mess. Every Winter I am continually wiping condensation off of large expanses of single pane glass, so the window sills won't rot. There is a continual load of laundry running from all the towels I use to clean mud off the dogs paws. I never seem to catch all the mud on their paws either. I'm always discovering muddy little surprises on the bedsheets, the sofa and the dog beds. The zippers on my Winter coats always keep breaking too. I've got to take another coat to the tailor tomorrow.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I'm already thinking about what to order for breakfast. There's a short week to look forward to as well. I always like a week with a holiday right in the middle.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1107

At times like these I seem to spend my entire day lacing up heavy boots and piling on layer after layer of clothing to ward off the cold. I put the sweaters and jackets on when I go outdoors and take them all off again as soon as I come inside. The dogs have their own set of sweaters and jackets, because they get cold too. In and out we go, because dogs have an almost primal need to go outside no matter what the weather is doing. It is all very time consuming.

Since I didn't notice that Dash got the bed all muddy when I let him outside last night, I started the day doing several loads of laundry. Next, I washed a dishwasher full of dirty Christmas dishes and then when I could find no more domestic things to do, I finally sat down in my chilly office and began writing. My office should be the warmest room in the house, since I spend most of my time here. Unfortunately, it is the coldest.

I got two articles finished today, which is a pretty good day for me. I also took Dash to the vet this afternoon for his regular Tuesday antigen shot, since the clinic was closed yesterday for Christmas. For a moment I thought that my car wasn't going to start, but after sluggishly turning over half a dozen times, the engine finally coughed into life. Anyone who owns an older car will recognize the sound of an engine that will barely turn over when the weather is cold. I hate that sound, because I seldom have a backup plan if my car dies. In the Winter I always worry that my car won't start. Of course, in the Summer, I always worry that it will overheat. It's always something, isn't it.

In theory, there is no dog training class when the temperature drops below freezing. That's what it says on the training class website anyway. In practice, there is always training class on Wednesday, no matter what the weather is doing. There are always a few diehards who look at terrible weather as a challenge. These are the same type of people who love to run marathons in the middle of Winter and jump in freezing water for a brisk swim. Dot and Dash won't be joining these crazies tonight. They are sensible dogs who realize that sitting on the bed under a warm blanket and watching television is the preferable course of action on days like these.

I hope it warms up tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1106 - Christmas Day

Christmas quite literally started out with a bang this year. Shortly after midnight, a fierce wave of thunderstorms started rolling through town, waking up both the dogs and ourselves. As Dot and Dash sat huddled under a blanket in the center of the bed, lightning bolts lit up the house while booming thunderclaps rattled the dishes. This was a long, very loud thunderstorm, and the dogs weren't happy about it at all. By morning, the thunder and lightning had moved off to the East, but the cold rain remained for the rest of the morning.

With the help of the weather radar app on my iPad, we found a little break in the storm so we could take the dogs outside to do their business. Shortly after we returned, the rain turned to snow and we had our first White Christmas in quite a few years.

The cold snowy weather was perfect for a day of Christmas cooking, and pretty soon the smell of Christmas ham and sweet potato casserole filled the house. I tried to get a head start on some of my writing assignments while our Christmas dinner was in the oven and Janet watched Christmas movies on the Lifetime channel. When we opened our gifts after dinner, the dogs had great fun tearing the paper off of colorfully wrapped up packages of dog biscuits. As a special Christmas treat, Dot and Dash got to share a boiled chicken breast for dinner. Even though the weather was cold and damp, it would be hard to imagine a better Christmas.

Tomorrow, all the wrapping paper in the living room will be bagged up and placed in the trash. Our Christmas dinner leftovers will be divided up and placed in Tupperware containers that will be my dinner for the rest of the week. Janet and I will both return to work, wondering when the next holiday will arrive. The dogs will just wonder where all the chicken went.

I've still got a week to come up with some decent New Year's resolutions. I'm not very good with resolutions of any kind. I'll probably just resolve to slog through another year, so I can enjoy Christmas again in 2013.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1105

It was a nice relaxing day. We got up late and had a hearty breakfast. Janet made a pumpkin pie. We both did a little shopping and wrapped packages. The dogs enjoyed having everybody home and alternated between chasing squirrels in the yard and sleeping on the bed. For the first time in quite a few years there were no Christmas Eve fundraisers for Dalmatian Rescue, so it was nice to have a day with no agenda.

My Jewish clients were still working today. I think I'll wait until Wednesday to start their assignments though. Jeez, they practically had the entire month of September off for their religious holidays. I need a few days off myself.

We opted to go out for dinner instead of cooking this evening and it was a good choice. We enjoyed an absolutely delicious dinner at Central 214. Janet had a Berkshire Pork Chop with Cream Cheese Grits and I had Wagyu Bavette Steak with Black Truffle Potato Puree. Yum! Since it was a holiday, I even had a Cosmopolitan before dinner. It's been over a year since I've had a martini, and depending on what the liver doctors say, it might be even longer before I have another one. Basically abstinence sucks. I really used to enjoy having a drink every evening before dinner. It was one of the most relaxing parts of my day.

We got the dogs all dolled up in their Christmas scarves for their evening walk. I'm not sure that anyone even saw them though. The park was empty. I guess there aren't many picnics in the park on Christmas Eve. It was cold today too. I don't think we saw another person on the entire walk. According to the weather forecast, we might even get a little snow tomorrow. It's been quite a while since we've had a white Christmas in Dallas. Whatever happens, I'll be watching the Dr. Who Christmas special tomorrow evening. I'm not sure what you guys will be doing, but I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1104

I am finding it much more difficult to de-construct a life than it was to construct it in the first place. I've been trying, with some degree of difficulty, to fill the packing boxes I bought a few days ago and cart them over to the storage warehouse. When I discovered that the small book boxes I had bought were perfectly sized to hold vinyl record albums, I decided to retire my record collection. I should have done this several years ago, since I no longer have a turntable and couldn't even play these records if I tried.

Sometimes I wish I had Janet's ability to simply throw things away. I continue to make excuses and invent reasons why I need to keep everything a little while longer. Hey, I'll sell it on e-Bay someday, I tell myself. This brings back good memories, I'll think. Hey, what's wrong with good memories? Occasionally when I'm cleaning out the office, I'll become so enthralled with some old treasure I've retrieved that I'll actually start using it again.

I doubt that I'll be playing these vinyl records that I boxed up today anytime soon. It's much easier to listen to digital versions of the same songs on my computer or phone. One thing I noticed while I was boxing things up was that I used to have a very eclectic and extremely wide ranging taste in music during the days of vinyl. I sorted through hundreds and hundreds of records in every genre imaginable. Steve Reich's process music epic "Come Out" sat next to vintage Aerosmith, which in turn sat on top of a hodge-podge of Dave Brubeck, Paul Simon, The Doors, and Bedrich Smetana's The Moldau. There was a little bit of everything. Some of the albums I'm boxing up are quite rare, since DJ friends used to give me promotional copies of albums they received at the radio station from unknown musicians that didn't get any airplay. Like my watch collection, my record collection mostly consists of stuff that nobody has ever heard of.

Dash threw up again last night, which seems to prove that the antihistamines the vet prescribed aren't doing any good. Once again, after he woke everyone up at 4 AM, he was completely fine for the rest of the day. I don't know what is wrong with the dog. Maybe nothing is wrong with him. Dash has always been a very sensitive animal and manages to get himself worked up over nothing time and time again. Maybe he just got upset that Dot stole his place on the bed last night. If Dash could talk, I'm sure we'd get to the bottom of things in just a few minutes.

It's hard to believe that it's Christmas Eve tomorrow. Somehow it seems like we should still be getting ready for Thanksgiving. Things just move too fast these days. While those Mayans were predicting the end of the world, I wonder if anyone else was predicting that time would actually speed up some day and entire years would zip by before you could get anything accomplished. I think it's already happening.

Katy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1103

If Christmas is for kids, then I guess it is Christmas memories that are left for the adults. My own memories are a bit muddled at this point, but I still have a few. I remember playing Joseph in a live nativity scene at some point in the distant past. I remember my parents taking me to visit an old German woman who was a friend of theirs. The lady decorated her tree with real candles. Even though I was very young, I distinctly remember thinking "why hasn't this house burned down yet?" I remember getting an electric train for Christmas when I was a young boy. I have no recollection about the type of electric train or what happened to it. I'm sure my mother gave it away. There is just a vague, pastel memory of waking up one Christmas morning and finding a train under the tree. Later in life, I bought another electric train, but lost interest almost as soon as I got the train working and discovered how much room the layout took up in the living room.

One Christmas, shortly after being hired at my first real job I took a real train home for Christmas, I rode the Great Northern Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago and then changed trains to take the legendary Santa Fe Super Chief the rest of the way home. It was an epic journey through Glacier National Park, the frozen great plains, the Chicago city center and the American heartland. I think it was the last time I went home to Arkansas for Christmas. It's hard for me to tell anymore whether I'm remembering the way things actually were, or the way I wanted things to be. I remember one Christmas in Alaska when Dad took us to cut down our own Christmas tree. We came home with a magnificent 16 foot tall pine, but I can't remember whether the tree came from deep in the forest or if my Dad just cut down one of the neighbor's trees by mistake. I remember Janet and I going to a comedy club in Las Vegas on Christmas Eve once and listening to Rich Hall tell us that spending Christmas in Vegas was a lot like spending Halloween at the Vatican. We don't do that anymore.

Christmas in recent years has been pretty low key. Most of the presents under the tree are for the dogs. Dot and Dash know that the gifts are for them and have even learned how to open them. Even though they are just looking for something tasty to eat, they remind me of little children on Christmas morning. They attack each package with wild abandon, and gleefully accept the treats inside. It's fun giving presents to dogs, because they are always appreciative.

I tried to keep my weekend errands to a minimum today because the traffic is horrendous. I picked up some things for the house at Home Depot, and got a few more essentials at Sam's Club. I didn't go anywhere near the shopping malls. I'm going to avoid the shopping malls until well after Christmas.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1102 - Winter Solstice

You can tell Christmas is just around the corner. When I went out for breakfast this morning, the restaurant was filled with people wearing reindeer sweaters and colorful vests with Christmas ornaments embroidered on them. At any other time of year, these outfits would seem ridiculous, but they all seemed pretty normal today.

After breakfast, I needed to do a little shopping and immediately discovered that everybody in Dallas was driving around doing the same thing. The traffic was horrible. When I got to the mall, things got worse. Half the parking spaces had been turned into valet parking lots. The valet parking was virtually empty, but the rest of the parking lot was a zoo. Whoever had the bright idea of  turning most of the mall into a giant valet parking lot should get a big lump of coal in their stocking. It's hard enough finding a parking place on a normal day. With a bunch of holiday entrepreneurs trying to charge you $10 for what was normally free, it was impossible.

Remember when I told you that I lost one of my web maintenance clients several weeks ago. Well, I had my exit interview today. It turns out that one of the reasons I lost the account was that the new guys offered something called "reputation management."  Evidently, if someone writes something bad about my client on Yelp, these guys can make it go away. Whatever happened to reality? Everyone wants to manage reality these days, by putting their own spin on things. It's getting harder and harder to know what's actually real. Somebody says something and then somebody else with an opposing point of view immediately sets up a counter-initiative to discredit what was said. It's all very confusing.

The dogs don't like it when I play my guitar. I can do a lot of other things and they'll stay sleeping on the bed, completely ignoring me. When I get out the guitar though, they immediately start to bother me until I put the thing away again. I don't know if it's my poor playing that bothers them or the fact that I'm having fun without them. I think Dalmatians invented "It's all about me."They want everything to involve them.

Today was the shortest day of the year. I'll look forward to the days gradually lengthening and growing warmer again. I hate to have to rush, just to get the dogs walked before the sun goes down. I know it's a long time until Spring, but I'm ready for it already.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1101

The world is supposed to end tomorrow. Of course, we all know that Friday will be just another uneventful day, but I couldn't help thinking that things would be easier if the world actually did end tomorrow. I wouldn't have to worry about my health deteriorating anymore. I wouldn't have to pay the big stack of December bills sitting on my desk. I wouldn't have to do any last minute Christmas shopping. I could even start drinking again during the final hours. I can't imagine that a few good martinis would even matter as the world wound to a close.

I'm quite certain that the world will still be here when I wake up tomorrow morning. There will be articles to write, dogs to walk, and maybe even a new breakfast restaurant to explore. I'll probably do some laundry. I'll go to the grocery store in the afternoon, because I always go to the grocery store on Friday. When Janet comes home from work, I'll tell her that it's been a long week and that I'm glad it's Friday.

Although it certainly wasn't the end of the world, we did have a bad storm last night. The rain didn't last long, but we had severe winds for most of the night. When the dogs and I took our morning walk, the park was littered with fallen trees. It's hard to think of trees as fragile, but I guess they are. Every time we have a wind storm, we lose a few trees. Since we had 60 MPH in-line winds at some points during the night, I thought we might lose the roof of our greenhouse. I saw a few roof panels flapping around in the wind just before I went to bed last night, but we got lucky and everything was still intact the next morning.

It just occurred to me that maybe my backup hard drive failed because I kept it running 24/7. I think I'll just turn the new backup drive on once a week to make backup copies. It should last forever then. If I could just turn myself on once a week, I might last forever too.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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