Day 1161

I had another MRI today. The massive MRI scanners are fascinating. The technology works because our bodies are largely made of water. The hydrogen atoms in our bodies can be aligned using a powerful magnetic field. Then, when radio waves are passed through the body at just the right frequencies, a radio signal is generated that varies according to where the magnet is. The distribution of protons within the body can be mathematically recovered from this signal, allowing the creation of a precise image of the body's inner workings. It would take a physicist to explain how these things really work, but I like to think it's just a giant magnet interacting with a small TV transmitter broadcasting on channel 3. One of the strangest things about the MRI is that early research was largely funded by the Beatles. Yes, those Beatles. British music giant EMI wasn't just a music publisher, it was also an electronics company specializing in medical research. Many say it was profits from EMI's Beatles albums that funded the development of the first commercial scanners.

Although MRI scans are completely painless, I ended up grinding my teeth a bit today. Before they slide you into the long cylindrical tube to begin the scan, you are asked to stretch your hands behind your head. There's only one problem with this. Since I have a dislocated shoulder, my right hand won't go all the way behind my head. I have trouble raising this hand all the way above my head standing up. It's no easier lying down horizontally on the MRI cradle. Somehow they slid me into the tube anyway, but I felt that dislocated shoulder during the entire 45 minute scan. Ouch!

Although the scan went fine, the drive home wasn't quite as uneventful. My car stalled out in a bad part of town a few miles from the hospital. I wasn't looking forward to leaving the car here. Luckily, the problem was just vapor lock. I took the gas cap off, waited a few minutes for pressure to equalize, and the Defender started up again. This is the trouble with driving a 1995 car around in 2013. It isn't very reliable. Wherever I go, there's always some sort of problem that crops up. There are oil leaks, mysterious rattles, and all sorts of minor electrical problems. Most of the problems are minor and easily dealt with, but you never know when your luck is going to run out.

Despite spending part of my day inside a giant magnet, I still managed to get some articles written. It wasn't a bad day at all. Our unseasonably warm weather continues. The dogs are happy and I haven't gotten sick of my austere new diet yet. I saw my first daffodil of the season too. That's bound to be a sign that Spring is just around the corner.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1160

It was a good day to go to the dog park. The weather was nice and all the dogs were playful. We stayed quite a while at the park because it is much more enjoyable to watch dogs play than it is to clean the house. Since Janet and I both have the little activity wristlets now, we were probably looking for an excuse to boost our step count too. I feel compelled to walk 10,000 steps a day now. I've probably always walked that much, but now that I'm being measured, I hate to be a slacker.

When we got home from the park, the dogs did the smart thing and took a nap. I decided to clean the bathroom instead. I don't know why it's so hard to get soap scum off the shower tiles. In those Scrubbing Bubbles commercials, the tiles are glistening in just a few seconds. In real life, it never works that way. It's harder to clean shower tiles than it is to clean a barbecue grill.

It's supposed to be a holiday tomorrow, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get any time off. I've already got several jobs on tap that I need to work on in the morning and then I need to go over to Baylor and have an MRI done in the afternoon. I filled out a big stack of pre-admittance paperwork this afternoon, but I'll bet there's more paperwork for me tomorrow. An MRI is pretty painless. The only thing I don't like is when they inject you with dye. It leaves an odd metallic taste in your mouth for some reason.

I'm glad Janet approves of my new diet. It would be much harder to maintain my resolve if she wanted to continue eating cheeseburgers. Luckily, she's been eating healthy all along. All I have to do it eat the same things she does. Well, almost the same things anyway. I'll have to forgo the scotch and red wine.

Too bad I've had to give up alcohol. Drinking all that extra water I'm supposed to have would be a lot easier if I could add a little single malt scotch and a few ice cubes to every glass.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1159

It was a beautiful day. On clear, unseasonably warm February days, everyone is out and about in Dallas. The roads are crowded. The stores are full. The park is filled with people who never walk their dogs on cold, rainy days. The whole town was a three ring circus. Although it actually would have been a good day for me to stay home and read a good book, I decided to join the fray and went to Guitar Center. Not surprisingly, I was already too late for the President's Day doorbuster deals. The AKG headphones that were marked down 79% from list price were long gone. I looked around, couldn't find anything else I needed or even wanted, and left.

The next stop was the grocery store. I didn't even bother to look for deals here. I just put stuff in my buggy as quickly as I could, used the handy automated check out station, and left. Probably the only fun thing I did today was photograph a new Dalmatian in the rescue program. The boy's name was Bosley, which reminded me of those hair loss commercials. This seemed like a strange name for a dog with plenty of hair, but there's no accounting for dog names.

An imaging center sent me six pages of forms to fill out for an MRI I need to have next week. Most of this information I've already filled out hundreds of times before. If we can go to the moon, why can't we figure out an efficient way to have a master patient database, so you'd only have to fill out this information once. Oops, I forgot. We can't go to the moon anymore. Maybe the medical industry can't figure out how to get beyond paper files either. It's weird. All this expensive high-tech diagnostic equipment and still everyone relies on paper records. Every doctor's office I've been to seems to have entire rooms devoted to storing mountains of file folders filled with patient records. Everyone is very particular about their forms too. I've tried Xeroxing forms from another doctor's office to save time, but it's never good enough for them. I'm always handed a ball point pen and told to fill out all the information from scratch.

So far, drinking a lot of water is proving more difficult than eating vegetables. I see people all the time who continually walk around with a bottle of water in their hand. I never understood this obsession with hydration before, and I guess I still don't understand it now. 8-10 glasses of water a day?  Wouldn't two be enough?

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1158

I kind of wish that the lawyers hadn't canceled my deposition today. It would have given me something to do. More importantly, it would have given me something to talk about. As it stands, there isn't much to talk about at all. The weather turned cold again. The work-front turned quiet. There weren't even any overheard conversations when I went out and had a veggie omelet at my favorite breakfast restaurant.

Out of boredom, I drove over to my nutritionist and asked him why my potassium levels continue to rise. Jeez, I like bananas, but I certainly haven't been eating that many bananas. He told me I wasn't drinking enough water. In fact, he told me that I should be drinking twice as much water as I am now. Damn! I really don't like water. I guess what has happened is that as I've been slowly been eliminating beer, wine, liquor, lemon aid, soda, and all sorts of other tasty beverages from my diet, I haven't been replacing the liquids with water. I never really noticed the change, since I am seldom thirsty, but it evidently made a difference. Now, I've got to drink a lot of water in addition to all the other stuff I'm doing. You'd think there'd be a least one vice that was actually good for you, So far, I haven't found any.

Wasn't it weird that the ten ton meteor that injured thousands in Russia arrived on the very same day as that asteroid that nearly hit us today. I wonder if the meteor was a chunk that fell off the asteroid? Maybe this is how it will all end someday. They say than an asteroid hitting the earth was what wiped out the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were pretty tough. I bet a much smaller asteroid could wipe us all out pretty handily. We probably won't need a stray asteroid to finish us off though. I'm sure we'll figure out how to totally screw up the planet all by ourselves. Here's something to think about. That Russian meteor came to earth only 60 miles away from a massive Russian nuclear facility that currently holds tons of weapons grade plutonium. In cosmic terms, that's almost a direct hit.

Enough about the end of the earth though. I'm more concerned about putting an end to the bugs that have invaded my house. I saw only one bug today, and that was a dead one. This is a dramatic improvement from this time last week. This is one battle I'm going to win. I think I'll eventually win the battle against diabetes and liver disease too. It just might take a little longer.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1157 - Valentines Day

I stood in a long line to get overpriced cupcakes at Sprinkles. I remembered to get extra doggie cupcakes for Dot and Dash. I went and got a pretty orchid to put on the coffee table in the living room. Yes, it's Valentines Day. I may not have the most original ideas in the world, but at least I don't forget. I'll miss drinking copious amounts of peach champagne this evening like we used to do on Valentines Day, but I think my drinking days are over.

I'm hoping the invasion of bugs we've been having this Winter is over as well. I've been seeing fewer of the critters since I started squirting the encapsulated power bait into every crack and crevice I could find. Since it was pleasantly warm outside this afternoon, I escalated my coordinated bug attack to phase two. I sprayed the exterior bricks with a solution that dries on the surface and can kill roaches for up to three months. I only applied the solution to parts of the house that the dogs don't have access to. Hopefully, this will be enough.

The deposition I was supposed to give tomorrow got canceled again. I think this is the third time it has been canceled or postponed. Hopefully, the two parties will just settle this thing and leave me alone now. Since I don't have to go to court tomorrow, I think I'll go and have another tasty veggie omelet for breakfast. My first experience eating an omelet without any meat was so delicious last week that I'm actually looking forward to having something similar this week. I think my dietary efforts are starting to show some results too. I got some blood work back in the mail today and was quite encouraged by the results. My liver enzyme levels were much closer to normal this time. My glucose levels actually were normal for the first time in many months. My cholesterol levels were a little high, but since I'm currently not taking any statins or cholesterol medication as part of a test, even these numbers were encouraging.

The dogs loved today's Springlike weather. They both wanted to go outside and roll in the grass. There was only one problem. There isn't any grass. They had to settle for taking a nap in a pile of leaves instead.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1156

The specter of medicare on the horizon is already starting to bother me. I've finally got a group of doctors that I like along with some pretty decent health insurance. I'd hate to lose all this when the government takes over. Since nobody seems to know anything specific about medicare except the people who are already using it, I thought I'd do a little research. I discovered that medicare advantage plans and supplemental insurance are completely different. I also learned that you don't need both. I learned that part-d prescription drug coverage is really just another form of supplemental insurance. Most importantly, I learned that insurance companies and health care providers make a ton of money from selling medicare advantage programs and aggressively try to sign you up for their particular plan when you begin to approach the magic age of 65. It all comes down to money. Are you all that surprised?

I'm really hoping that my latest blood test results will vindicate my new somewhat austere diet. Although I'm slowly acquiring a taste for fruits and vegetables, I do miss bacon, french toast and cheeseburgers. When I asked my nutritionist why my new diet wasn't more popular if it could actually reverse diabetes, prevent heart attacks, and improve liver health, he told me that there wasn't any money in a good diet. The pharmaceutical industry is a billion dollar empire with tentacles everywhere. Selling pills is big business. Eating broccoli isn't. Maybe it is really that simple. Look at the ads you see on TV. It seems like 80% of them are selling pharmaceutical products. When you go to the doctor, there are often more drug company reps sitting in the bobby than patients. The pharmaceutical lobby in Washington DC is probably even more powerful than the gun lobby. Everyone wants you to take a pill because pills are wildly profitable. Again it all comes down to money.

Maybe the medical industry's fixation with money wouldn't be so irritating if I made more of the green stuff myself. I consider my company successful because I've managed to stay in business for over twenty years during a period of time where many businesses like mine have failed. I've never been wildly profitable though. I work hard for my money and profits are somewhat self-limiting. I have never been able to take advantage of economies of scale, since it is only me doing all the work. I'm very reluctant to hire people and grow, because that's exactly why several friends of mine failed. Growing too fast can be much worse than not growing at all.

Maybe I should resign myself to walking the dogs and making just enough to pay the bills. I wrote two articles today. That ought to pay the electric bill.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1155

I joined HARO a few weeks ago. HARO, which stands for "help a reporter out" is kind of a neat idea. Participating reporters and TV producers send out e-mail queries for story ideas they'd like to pursue. If you've got the information or expertise they need, you reply and maybe you'll be a feature story in a newspaper or a guest on a talk show. On the other hand, maybe someone will just steal your idea and you'll get nothing. I'm not sure if crowdsourcing creativity will work, but it has been interesting to see what reporters are looking for these days. "Looking for chefs who have converted pot pie or other comfort foods into soup." "Looking for experts on eyebrow transplants." "Looking for someone who has added a third story to their house." "Looking for lawyers to discuss the different types of hit and run." "Looking for bullies who are willing to tell their stories on camera." "Looking for medical doctors willing to share old wives tales their moms told them growing up." "Looking for hermaphrodites who have been through puberty."

I get these e-mails every morning, filled with dozens and dozens of equally ridiculous story ideas from reputable newspapers and TV stations. It certainly wasn't what I thought reporters spent their time thinking about. Who knows. Maybe if I keep reading these queries, I'll find a reporter who is looking for an expert at removing water from a flat roof, or maybe someone will want to interview me about the best techniques for removing mud from a dog's paws.

It was another gray, rainy day. There's not much to do on days like this. I try to avoid driving because I'll just have to wash the car all over again. I'm always doing laundry on days like these because the dogs get filthy. Today, I miscalculated and we all got soaked on our morning walk, even though I'd already checked the weather radar on my iPad before we left the house. After I dried everyone off, I looked for new places to place the roach bait I bought yesterday. Like I said, it wasn't a very interesting day.

You'd think by looking at the little orange flower I photographed this morning that my day was filled with subtle beauty and wonder. Nope!  It was just another rainy day.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1154

I forgot to send in my quarterly estimated taxes again. This wasn't the first time I forgot, and it probably won't be the last. I have gotten so accustomed to e-mail reminders and smartphone messages that I've almost lost the ability to remember anything on my own. You'd think the government would have the resources to send a little reminder to my phone like everybody else, but apparently not. At any rate, I mailed in a check today and I'm up to speed again, but I wouldn't be surprised if I forget again in April.

After I finished my website work for the day, I paid a visit to a nearby exterminator to get some advice about getting rid of bugs. I learned that cockroaches seek out both moisture and heat, which might explain why I see them in the bathroom and near the furnace. If you don't like chasing after them with a paper towel, you can just spray them with rubbing alcohol or a mixture of soapy water. Both elixirs will apparently kill the bugs quickly. After talking with the bug man for about twenty minutes I came home with some stuff that your spray on your exterior walls using a pressure sprayer and some encapsulated powder that you squirt into cracks and crevices inside your house. Poison is surprisingly expensive. I hope this stuff works.

Did you watch the Grammys last night?  Some of the awards were baffling, but the all-star tribute performances were great. The tribute to Bob Marley with Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna and several Marleys showed considerable musicianship, but was an odd sort of tribute since they didn't play any Bob Marley songs. Much better was the tribute to Levon Helm. I always liked Helm's "The Weight" and it was fun to listen to Elton John, Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard and members of Mumford & Sons and The Zac Brown Band trade verses. I guess it made sense for Fun to win with We Are Young, but Frank Ocean's odd performance of the odd song Forest Gump made no sense at all. I wish I still had the HD channels on my TV. It would have been fun to watch the Grammys in HD. I learned on Facebook this morning that the now full grown son of one of my Seattle advertising friends produced the Grammy nominated album by the Lumineers. Jeez, how time flies. The kid was a baby when I lived in Seattle.

I keep waiting for a Dalmatian to win the Westminster dog show. At least last year, the Dalmatian won the non-sporting category and got to compete for best of show. This year, the Dalmatian wasn't so lucky. The non-sporting title reverted to one of those little white Bichons that look like a child's stuffed animal. Oh well. I thought the Dalmatian was the best tonight. I changed the channel as soon as the Dalmatian lost.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1153

I shouldn't have been this tired today. We had a leisurely breakfast and attended a pet parade. That was about it. Maybe I just didn't get enough sleep. The dogs woke me up during the night, frightened by a passing thunderstorm. By the time I got back to sleep again, it was morning. The first thing I did when I got up was sweep the water off the roof. Since we were going to be away at a Mardi Gras parade for most of the day, I didn't want to give the water the upper hand.

After breakfast, we loaded the dogs and a bunch of Dalmatian Rescue stuff into the car and drove 32 miles north to McKinney, Texas. It took longer to drive up to McKinney than it took to parade around the town square. This was a very short parade. I think the dogs enjoyed themselves, but they were quite tired when they returned home late in the day.

Janet liked the little tracking wristlet I got the other day and bought one for herself. Not surprisingly, she is more active than I am. We both walked more than six miles though. Not bad for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Most of my walking was taking stuff back and forth from the car to where the Dalmatian Rescue tent was set up for the event. I'm glad this is the last event for a while. Like I said, I'm tired.

I've got to find a more effective way to get rid of the bugs that are finding their way into the house. This had been the worst Winter for bugs that I can remember. Other people we know are having the same problem. Maybe it's the warm Winter, or maybe the bugs are just getting tougher. They're certainly hard to get rid of this year. Especially, when you can't spread copious amounts of poison around the house. The growing population of feral cats in the neighborhood has pretty well taken care of the rat problem we used to have in the neighborhood. I guess these cats don't like bugs though. Or maybe the rats used to eat the bugs. I don't really know how the critter food chain works in the park.

It looks like a busy week ahead. It's time to start working on my taxes again. There are several writing jobs to complete. The house could use a good vacuuming too. I still don't know what to do with all the extra time I've unlocked by eating oatmeal. My elaborate breakfasts used to be one of the best time wasting activities I had.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1152

I'm going to have to change my approach to problem solving. My caller ID disappeared earlier this week and my first thought was that there was something wrong with the phones themselves. The phones were fine. Next, I thought it was a problem with the line and called AT&T. The lines were fine too. Finally, a U-verse technical support guy in India asked me if I'd tried re-booting the modem. Apparently, re-booting the modem is the U-verse universal solution for everything. I re-booted the modem, just like I do when the TV goes out, and my caller ID service returned. I keep forgetting that my television, Internet, and phone service are all the same stream of broadband data.

Janet and I got our blood tested at the neighborhood health food store this morning. Traditionally, I treat myself to a huge gut-buster breakfast after fasting for these early morning cholesterol screenings. Not today! Janet and I did go out for breakfast, but I had a veggie omelet filled with red peppers, portabella mushrooms, fresh herbs and goat cheese instead of my usual sausages, bacon, pancakes and maple syrup. The veggie omelet was delicious. Who knew?

It was a gray, misty day. The dogs didn't want to go outside and neither did I. We took our regular walk anyway though, because that's what we always do. Something must have been going on at Erykah's house when we walked by. It looked like babysitters, hairdressers, public relations people, and the rest of the entourage had all gathered for something special. I have no idea what goes on in that house, but it all seems pretty exotic to me. Maybe it's because I used to be a musician myself and still occasionally fantasize about what it would be like to be a rock star. My own days as a bass player weren't glamorous at all. On those nights when I was loading the PA system back into the trailer at 2 AM and realized the entire band had only made $100 for playing a four hour set, advertising definitely seemed the more desirable career choice.

I took another jacket to the tailor this afternoon to get a new zipper sewn in. Zippers all seem to be total crap these days. I can remember when strong metal zippers were made by Talon in Meadville, Pennsylvania. These reliable zippers lasted longer than the jackets they were attached to. Now, it's all cheap plastic made-in-China zippers that don't even last a single season. Sign of the times, I guess.

I hope the weather gets a little warmer tomorrow. Dot and Dash are supposed to be in a Mardi Gras parade. Janet is putting the finishing touches on their costumes right now. If the weather gets any worse, they'll be wearing raincoats instead.

Jazz it today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1151

It was surprisingly busy for a day when nothing actually happened. I decided to try out somebody else's oatmeal on my Friday restaurant outing this morning. It was exactly the same as mine. Then I went to the grocery store and got more healthy food for dinner. When I got home, the liver institute called to schedule a MRI for later in the month. About an hour later, another doctor called to remind me of a blood test tomorrow.

At first glance, this may not seem like a very exciting life. My challenge these days is to make these new routines exciting. I have a feeling that my future may depend on them.

There were quite a few website revisions to make today. I have a feeling that all the websites I manage are slowly slipping away from me. A lot of what I do these days is making sure that the client's websites keep up with what they've already posted on Facebook. It's so easy to change stuff on social media sites that people start thinking their websites should be the same way. I shouldn't complain though. I would have been out of the website business a long time ago if it weren't for all these silly changes.

I finished a couple of writing jobs as well. I needn't have hurried though. My client had already left for the weekend by the time I turned them in. I don't know if I'm a better writer than I used to be, but I'm a much faster writer now. I amaze myself sometimes at how quickly I zip through these assignments.

The dogs are invited to another Mardi Gras parade this weekend. This one is a small local parade in McKinney, Texas. All we really do is walk the dogs around the block while we are circling the courthouse in the town square. It's fun when the weather is nice, and a little chilly on the years when Mardi Gras comes early. Whatever the weather is like this weekend, it's bound to be a lot nicer than what people are experiencing in the Northeast right now. Every Winter, I'm glad I live in Texas. Of course, every Summer I start to think otherwise.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1150

I spent most of my day answering questions. There were e-mail questions. There were telephone questions. And then there were lots of questions around a conference table at a meeting during the afternoon. I don't really like answering questions. The questions themselves aren't so bad. It's the fact that nobody listens to my answers that gets old. Everyone acts like they're listening, but two or three days later I usually notice that the final outcome has nothing to do with anything I may have said. Usually, when people ask you questions, they just want you to agree with them.

If I was smart, I would agree with everything my client's say. It's easier that way. I usually feel compelled to tell my side of the story though, which seldom accomplishes anything. Maybe I just want to be able to say "I told you so," when things begin to go wrong later.

My little tracker wristlet said I only slept 4 hours and 34 minutes last night. I woke up three times and lay awake in bed a total of 2 hours and 18 minutes. That's not good. Only 1 hour and 58 minutes of my total sleep was the deep sleep that restores you for the next day. As depressing as all this sounds, I wasn't really surprised. I know the dogs keep me awake a lot. They're light sleepers and so am I. Janet, on the other hand, can sleep through anything. It's not all bad news though. Even though I'm only getting 57% of the sleep I need, I am apparently getting over 125% of the exercise I need.

When faced with a choice of doing a bunch of mindless website revisions or getting my February invoices out, I opted to do my monthly billing today and get the invoices in the mail. I should have plenty of time to get all the website stuff done tomorrow, since a long morning meeting I'd been dreading got postponed until next Friday. There's plenty to do tomorrow, but I think my most important decision will be what to have for breakfast. This will be my first restaurant Friday since I've adopted my new healthy diet. Pancakes aren't on the list. Neither are waffles. Biscuits and gravy are out. Bacon is definitely a no-no. I guess I could have an omelet, but I couldn't stuff it full of bacon, ham, chorizo, and cream cheese like I usually do. There's always oatmeal, but where's the fun in that? I've been eating oatmeal all week.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1149

I got a haircut today. Instead of talking about upcoming vacation plans, like I usually do with my stylist, we ended up talking about funeral planning. Betty's father is sick and evidently she is in charge of making the arrangements when the time comes. I was surprised at how much actually I knew about the subject, since it isn't often a topic of conversation. It certainly isn't something you talk about in a hair salon very often. It's been a long time since I've had to make funeral arrangements, but I guess its something you never forget.

When my haircut was finished, I stopped by the Apple store on the way out of the mall and got one of those little wristlets that tracks all your activities during the day. I'm not all that interested in counting calories, but this thing is supposed to be able to tell you how long it takes you to go to sleep and then tracks your light and deep sleep cycles during the night, as well as identifies any waking moments. I don't feel like I get that much sleep, since the dogs are always waking me up. It will be interesting to see if I get any deep sleep at all. I'm afraid the little wristlet will embarrass me and tell me that I'm asleep during the day. It would be an easy mistake for a gizmo to make. I don't move around much when I write.

I think the dogs thought we were taking them on another road trip when we went to training class tonight. They both seemed real disappointed when we arrived at the field where all the dogs were. Dot didn't even want to get out of the car. When we started the exercises, the dogs seemed distracted. Dot would come to other owners voices by mistake and Dash was so fidgety that he would hardly stay still at all. Eventually, they settled down and did everything right, but I don't think they were really into being trained this evening.

I'm a bit surprised at how easy it's been so far to modify my diet. I haven't been seriously tempted by anything yet. I guess this makes sense in an odd sort of way. I'm totally a creature of habit. I'm in the process now of substituting good habits for bad ones, but they are still just habits. Once the new habits become familiar and turn into rituals, it should be easy to maintain them. Habits are a lot different than cravings. Cravings are fueled by desire. Habits, on the other hand, are fueled by laziness. I don't have a whole lot of desire, but I have an abundance of laziness. For once, laziness might actually work to my advantage. Bye bye bacon. Oatmeal, here I come.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1148

There's been a lot of controversy on the Internet lately about whether Allopurinol actually works to prevent bladder stones. For years this drug has been the recommended treatment to prevent recurrent urate bladder stones in Dalmatians. My vet recommends Allopurinol and I know many Dalmatian owners who use it. I've always considered the medication very safe. Unfortunately, now there are a group of vets who beg to differ. They say Allopurinol can actually cause the formation of struvite stones. Evidently, unless the pH of the dog's urine is completely neutral, the drug can do more harm than good. I only mention all this because Dash has always been prone to bladder stones. Now, we've got to decide whether to discontinue his Allopurinol treatment or keep on doing what we've been doing for years.

Medicine always seems to be this way. Doctors will tell you something for years and years and then one day you'll go in for a visit and your doctor will say "Never mind. Forget everything I've told you for the past ten years." This has happened to me before and it's always disconcerting. I like to think of doctors as infallible, but that is never the case. Medicine changes and doctors change their minds about a lot of things, just like the rest of us.

The Dow Jones industrial average crossed the 14,000 mark several times today, but apparently my stocks didn't get the memo. I ended up down for the day as the market approached a record high. My Yum Brands shares got clobbered because the Chinese apparently have problems with the Colonel's finger lickin' good chicken. My Baidu shares, on the other hand, got clobbered because investors had problems with the Chinese. It's always disappointing to do poorly on a good day. I'm getting used to it though.

Maybe I'm just imagining things, but I think I'm already starting to feel better as a result of my new diet. I wake up with more energy and don't seem to be as tired during the day. The differences aren't dramatic, but I do notice a change. This is certainly enough of an incentive to keep going with my quest for a healthier lifestyle. Who knows. Maybe I'll even grow to like these changes.

A friend of mine mentioned that he might have a video project for me. That would be a refreshing change from all the drivel I'm writing now. I'd better not count my chicken before they hatch though. The new project might actually be worse than what I'm doing now. I need to find out more.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1147

My learning journey continues. Oatmeal mixed with fresh blueberries and strawberries and sweetened with a little Stevia is actually delicious. Who would have thought? Maybe I can live without bacon after all. I also learned that the Kale I'm eating in my salad is actually the very same purple plant that I used to buy in pots at the garden store to put on the front porch during the Winter. I always thought these ornamental plants were pretty, but never knew you could eat them. I certainly had no idea they were healthy.

I wish I would discover some equally enlightening things about my chosen profession. I'm really starting to get burned out with what advertising has become in recent years. The stuff I write never was intended to be Anna Karenina or Moby Dick. It's depressing how mindless advertising messaging has become however. For the past three or four years I keep thinking that the Super Bowl ads keep getting worse with each succeeding year. There is no subtlety anymore. It's all rudeness and explosions these days. Coke, GoDaddy, Priceline... there wasn't a coherent idea between them. I didn't even like a lot of the commercials that the young bloggers gave rave reviews on their websites. I thought the Taco Bell spot with the old people escaping the retirement home was kind of insulting and even though I thought the Tide "Stain" spot was clever, it wasn't that great. On the other hand I did like some of the commercials that the young folk thought were insulting. The Volkswagen spot featuring white people talking like Jamaicans was panned by many reviewers who said the spot was racially insensitive. What a bunch of politically correct nonsense. That Volkswagen commercial was one of the few genuinely funny spots I saw all night.

Like many of you, I loved the Paul Harvey "Farmer" spot for Dodge Ram. I was terribly disappointed however to discover that the Dodge Ram ad agency didn't actually come up with this idea. A much smaller Chicago agency had already used the exact same Paul Harvey dialog in another commercial earlier. This is sad to me. Copying has become so mainstream that people don't even think it is wrong anymore. Most of my clients would actually rather copy or emulate something that already exists than to take a chance on something genuinely original. I haven't been asked to do anything genuinely original in years.

I was really busy today, but like I've already mentioned, I wasn't doing much original thinking. That monkey the Iranians sent into space recently could have taken my place today. I changed out pictures on websites. I paraphrased things I found on Wikipedia. I replied to mindless questions with equally mindless answers. Maybe something original will happen tomorrow.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1146 - Super Bowl Sunday

We left Shreveport behind this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that most of my fears about traveling with the dogs were unfounded. Dot and Dash definitely stepped up to the challenge. They both proved themselves to be great little travelers. With an abundance of dog friendly hotels and roads leading in every direction, who knows where we'll go next.

After we returned to Dallas, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Culwell & Son Superbowl Sale. I go to this extravagant sale every year, because although I no longer go anywhere and don't have money to waste, I still like really nice clothes. I walked away with a couple of great looking shirts and a pair of khakis and went home to watch the Super Bowl.

We usually pig out and eat enormous amounts of meat on Super Bowl Sunday, but in honor of my new found desire to live a healthy life, Janet fixed a delicious and equally nutritious meal. I think she is happy that I'm giving up bacon, ribs and eating half a loaf of bread at dinner. Janet and the dogs have always eaten healthy meals. I've always been the anchor that kept this family's health boat from sailing. Now, maybe with everyone on the same page, doing the right thing may be a little easier for everybody.

You may wonder why I waited so long to do something so obvious. Part of the answer lies in the charmed life I've led. For most of my life I've been able to do all the wrong things and still land on my feet. I ate atrociously and never gained weight. I was a horrible employee and still managed to land a long series of really good jobs. I won't even tell you some of the other things I did, but I can assure you they weren't good. It is becoming increasingly obvious that I've used up eight of my nine lives. I can be foolish and frivolous, but I'm a realist. The time has come to make a few changes.

When I was watching the Super Bowl this evening, I was amazed at how much a power outage at the stadium changed the whole momentum of the game. The Ravens seemed invincible before the power outage knocked out the stadium lights. It was just a random event that delayed the game for fifteen or twenty minutes, but it changed everything. The Ravens floundered and struggled after the delay destroyed their momentum and barely managed to hang onto a narrow win in the game's final seconds. I think life is like this a lot. Random outside events can confuse you and quickly change everything. I guess the lesson of this game is that when life throws you a curve, the only thing you can count on is discipline. You've got to keep plugging away until luck shines on you again. A little simplistic, perhaps, but it worked for the Ravens.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1145 - Ground Hog Day

Well, now I can say I've ridden on a Mardi Gras float. Although this little adventure was never on my bucket list, it is an experience I'll never forget. The first couple of hours were kind of interesting. The last four hours reminded me of that old Kingston Trio song about a man named Charlie who was trapped forever riding the M.T.A. Apparently hundreds of thousands of people absolutely love these parades, but I'm not so sure. Riding a float with twelve Dalmatians  through an endless tunnel of rowdy drunks while enduring a sound system dishing out The Village People singing YMCA over and over again at 110 decibels is a lot more like my own private version of hell.

Although I thought the parade would never, ever end, there were brief moments when it all made sense. There is an intoxicating power in the knowledge that you can make huge crowds of people scream and fight over the baubles and trinkets you are throwing out the windows to them. Of course, you have to remember that the crowd can turn ugly very quickly when you run out of things to throw. When we ran out of our bangles and baubles, people started throwing their beer at us.

Dot and Dash were absolutely exhausted when the day was finally over. So was I. Maybe the next time we take them somewhere we should try for something a bit more sedate. A walk along the beach would be nice. Today was more like a walk on the wild side. I'm definitely glad our float didn't run out of gas and leave us at the mercy of that crowd. Not really my cup of tea.

Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow this morning, so I guess we'll have an early Spring. Early Spring sounds good to me. Since I forgot to take my warm coat on this little adventure, I've been cold all weekend. I've been having trouble maintaining my resolve to eat more vegetables too. The food is quite good here, but in a place where Alligator Bites wind up on the appetizer menu, vegetables are just an afterthought. I did have an apple for dinner, but it wasn't on purpose. There just happened to be one in the room. After today's marathon, we were just too tired to go out to dinner. The dogs are already asleep. I will be soon.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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