Day 1375

I said goodby to the Defender today. I've had this car for seventeen years and it's hard to imagine life without it. There has always been a full size metal dog crate in the back. Frequently, the crate was used to take Dot or Dash to the vet. Other times it was used to transport recently rescued Dalmatians from the pound. When it wasn't full of dogs, the crate was often full of photo equipment. I got a lot of use out of this fabulous car.

As regular readers are well aware, the Defender also spent a lot of time in the shop.  As the car grew older, the problems gradually became more serious. I finally decided I'd been towed to the dealership one too many times. I knew I had a window of opportunity where the car was still desirable, even though it wasn't all that reliable anymore. I knew it was time to move on. I'm driving a new car now, with all the bells and whistles that people expect in 2013. I doubt that the new car will last for seventeen years though. I doubt that I will even want to keep a car for seventeen years again. Hell, seventeen years from now, they probably won't even allow me on the road.

I'd forgotten how many papers you have to sign when you buy a car. Cleaning out  the old car and getting it ready to trade and then doing all the paperwork at the dealership to get me into the new car took the better part of the day. I wasn't in any hurry though. It was pouring rain when I arrived at the dealership this morning and I was hoping the rain would stop before it was time for me to drive away. I didn't really want my very first trip in the new car to be a rain soaked obstacle course full of stressed out texting Dallas drivers determined to beat every red light. There are lots of accidents when it rains in Dallas.

I got lucky. It took so long to get all the paperwork signed that the skies were already clearing by the time I got behind the wheel and took the new car on its inaugural drive home. I wasn't so lucky with the roof last night. Sometime during the night we were all awakened by the loud crash of a tree limb hitting the roof. It sounded like a large limb and indeed it was when I climbed up on the roof this afternoon to assess the damage. The good news was that this particular branch wasn't dead and still had lots of leaves on it. The leaves cushioned the blow and I don't think the roof sustained any damage. The bad news was that the branch was awkward and quite heavy, so I had trouble getting it off the roof.

So, that was my day. There a is new car in the driveway and a large old Oak limb out by the curb. I hope I made the right decision getting a new car. You never know with cars. The Defender fit my needs and my personality like a glove. I loved that car, but I've also had my share of lemons over the years. We'll see how this new one works out.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1374

Why do doctor visits take so long? For every minute you actually spend with the doctor, you spend an additional ten minutes sitting in the waiting room. Sometimes, just to create the illusion that something is happening, you are moved from the outer waiting room to a second inner waiting room. It's still a waiting room though, complete with three year old magazines and posters on the wall detailing the symptoms of diseases you never want to catch.

I guess today's verdict was worth waiting for though. I'm still hanging in there. No biopsy required. Just some blood tests and the doctor telling me to keep on doing what I'm doing. The new treatment I've been waiting for won't be approved by the FDA until January 2014 at the earliest. I'm apparently good to go until then.

Since my doctor visit took twice as long as I thought it would, I got behind on everything else. Although I managed to get quite a few things started, nothing really got finished. I dropped some things off at the storage warehouse on the way to see my hepatoligist and got some prescriptions filled at the pharmacy on the way back. That was about it. I'll get caught up on my website work tomorrow. At least I hope I will.

Someone wants to buy my Defender before I trade it in on a new car. Although I might make more money selling the car to an individual, the whole idea makes me uncomfortable. I guess I've heard too many Craigslist horror stories. The dealership knows the car well, since they've been the ones who've worked on it all these years. What they're offering me is realistic. I've afraid that an individual would have buyer's remorse as soon as they discovered the realities of living with a car that has 112,000 miles on the odometer. The truth is that I wouldn't even be considering getting a new car if driving
the Defender was as cool as some people think it is. It's a very old car.

Dash almost caught the armadillo in the yard this morning. I don't know what he'd do if he actually caught the thing, but I don't want to find out. So far, I haven't figured out an effective method of keeping the critter out of the yard. It can dig its way under the fence with ease. Maybe the rain will keep the armadillo away for a while. It's pouring outside now, and of course, Dot is under my desk, convinced that the sky is falling.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1373

I don't seem to be cut from the same cloth as other business people. I don't know what to talk about at these new Wednesday morning networking meetings. The younger folks are talking about their bicycles and upcoming 10K races while the older folks are talking about vacation homes in Hawaii. Everyone is focused like a laser about making new contacts. Jeez, I forgot to even bring any business cards with me this week. I did join a conversation with several guys who wanted to drive a Tesla. Hey, I'd kind of like to drive a Tesla too. Today's presentation was about leveraging the power of your LinkedIn contacts. Hmm! I don't even like LinkedIn and seldom spend any time on the site. The LinkedIn fans didn't understand why I preferred Twitter and Google+. We could probably learn something from each other. I have way more social media contacts than these guys, but they seem to actually be making money from theirs. Money is usually just the accidental result of doing something else for me. I've never been focused on making money.

Like I said earlier, I could learn a lot from these early morning meetings. When it comes my turn to make the morning presentation, I'll have to resist the urge to present topics like "How to make just enough to get by while dressed in your underwear," or "brainstorming while walking Dalmatians." I dread the day I have to bring a guest. I don't know anyone who would get up this early. Well, that's not entirely true. Janet gets up this early every day, but she would never go to these type of meetings.

Dot had a much lighter workout today, since she stumbled and fell on her walk yesterday. Her physical therapy session started with acupuncture to relax some tenseness in her back and then progressed to a slow, almost relaxed, workout in the water therapy tank to stretch her leg muscles. So far, I think Dot has spent more time at the gym this week than I have.

My chronic indecision might not be good for buying a car, but it sometimes works to my advantage in the stock market. My broker recommended that I sell several stocks yesterday and I told him I'd think about it. Today, the market had a great day and the stocks that the broker recommended selling went up like a rocket. Three more days like today could pay for my new car. It will never happen though. Probably the market will reverse direction tomorrow and all of today's gains will evaporate.

I have an appointment with my hepotologist tomorrow. I hope my liver is still functioning as it should. I'm eating all the right foods now. I'm exercising regularly. I'm keeping my weight and blood pressure under control. I don't know what else I can do. I wonder if the new treatment they've been promising me has finally been approved by the FDA?  This new treatment has been delayed even longer than Land Rover's new Defender 90 introduction.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1372

I guess if you snooze, you lose. The car I was thinking about buying was sold to someone else today. I wish I was quicker about making these kind of decisions, but I'm not. I've always gone back and forth about big decisions. There's a good chance that the next car I find will be snapped up by someone else as well. Eventually, I'll find something I like though. I always do.

One of my doctors keeps submitting bills to the wrong insurance company and then I get billed for the entire amount when the insurance company says they never heard of me. I call and get things straightened out, and then a few weeks later the same thing happens all over again. I am slowly losing faith in people's ability to do anything correctly without having the luxury of a "do over." Sometimes I think the whole world has become incompetent.

One of my favorite rescue dogs passed away today. Connor was one of the lucky ones, because he found a wonderful second home. I just wish he had been given a little more time, because he was an amazing dog. Our canine friends just don't live long enough. I am reminded of this every day as I watch Dot's steps become slower and slower. She stumbles easily now and I have to be careful where she walks. Dot does the best she can and I do the best I can to take care of her. Hopefully, this will give us the additional time we both still need.

Dash is still a young dog, but he has his own health issues. He was back at the vet again today for his antigen shot. Along with the phenobarbital he is taking for seizures, he will probably have to continue these bi-weekly antigen shots for the rest of his life. If controllable epilepsy and skin problems are all Dash has to worry about though, he's doing pretty well. I have seen so many dogs who have had to deal with far worse.

I'm so tired of dealing with health issues that I suspect this is one of the reasons I want a new car. I can't guarantee that the dogs will stay healthy any more than I can guarantee my own health. When you realize you can't make yourself new again, and even the prospect of making your house new again seems remote, maybe making your car new again might be as good as it gets.

I need to remember to get up early tomorrow for my Wednesday morning business networking breakfast. I hope getting up before sunrise once a week eventually becomes second nature to me, but the desire to "rise and shine" certainly hasn't kicked in yet.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1371

It was an unlucky day for a lot of people. Before I even heard about the mass shootings at the Navy Yard in Washington DC, I saw a man fall off his bicycle after an apparent heart attack while I was walking the dogs in the park this morning. The good news was that it only took paramedics about four minutes to get to the scene with an ambulance. The bad news was that the fellow cyclists who tried to administer aid on the scene probably made the man's condition worse.

Later in the day, I saw a cement truck run into a Mini Cooper. You can guess who won that confrontation. The cement truck driver seemed very distraught. I don't know if he was worried about the other driver, or that the cement in his truck was going to harden, because he had to stay at the scene until the police finished their accident investigation.

In between these calamities, I managed to get a lot of work done. I'm still making steady progress on the new website I'm currently developing for a client. I ordered more ink for the large format printer. I paid my third quarter estimated taxes and got a check in the mail to the IRS. Since there weren't any writing assignments due today, I even found time to go to the gym. For the first time, I managed to score three baskets in a row while I was waiting for one of the weight machines to become free.

I still don't know whether there's a new car in my immediate future. I think I've narrowed things down to two choices, but there is nothing decisive to swing my decision one way or the other. If it weren't for the fact that the Defender could fall apart at any minute, I might not make any decision at all. I know the time is right through. I have a feeling that sometime within the next several weeks, I'll be driving by the dealership and buy something on impulse.

Tomorrow looks like another busy day. I've already got several requests for website revisions and Dash needs to go to the vet again. One of my doctors has been sending bills to the wrong insurance company too. I've got to get that straightened out as well. At least the weather is improving. I saw the first hints that leaves are starting to change color today. Could Fall be right around the corner? Maybe it's time to buy some pumpkins and put them on the front porch.

Phantom is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1370

There wasn't enough time to take the dogs to the dog park we like in North Dallas this morning, so we went to another one right in the neighborhood. This park wasn't as well manicured as its North Dallas cousin. The dogs were a bit scruffier too. Dot and Dash certainly didn't seem to care. As long as they got to run around and smell things off leash, they were happy campers. It would certainly be easier to take the dogs to this nearby park, but I've seen fights break out when people brought aggressive dogs to the park, and our vet told us that one of her patients caught Leptospirosis from stagnant water in the park. If we can keep the dogs safer by driving a bit further to a cleaner, more polite dog park, it is well worth the effort.

I mowed the grass for the last time this season. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll be mowing the front yard for several more months. There is a slight leak in one of the front yard faucets and I startled a few frogs who had made the damp grass around the leak their Summer home. I wish frogs were all I had to worry about in the back yard. The armadillo has returned every night this week and is making a mess of things. I discovered a large hole that the critter had dug under the fence to get in and out and filled it up with dirt again. Maybe this will keep the armadillo out, but I doubt it. If an armadillo can dig one hole under the fence, it can probably dig another.

I thought I'd install a webserver on my laptop so I could show my client the new Wordpress site I've been building. Much to my chagrin, I had to read the installation tutorial all over again. In less than a week, I'd already forgotten how to do the installation. I had a general idea how to do the installation, but that wasn't good enough. Servers and databases just won't work unless you have all the passwords and permissions set correctly. I finally got everything working properly, but as I have mentioned many times before, I'm not really a detail person.

I keep vacillating back and forth about buying a new car. Some days I feel like keeping the Defender and finding someone who could retrofit a new engine. Other days, I feel like taking money out of savings and getting myself something plush and extravagant. Today, I felt like getting a car just like Janet's. Her car is quite nice, somewhat affordable, and it's certainly been more reliable than mine over the years. If I wasn't obsessed with having something totally unique, this whole process would be a lot easier.

I don't know why I went up on the roof today. It hasn't rained in weeks. What I saw surprised me. The entire roof was covered with a layer of broken pecan shells from the neighbor's pecan tree. I knew the squirrels liked pecans, but I didn't know they liked them this much. I must have swept ten pounds of cracked pecan shells off the roof. Doing this little chore now will save me a lot of trouble later. Pecan shells will turn a puddle of standing water the color of iced tea. There are a lot more pecans that are still hanging on the pecan tree though. It is almost inevitable that by by this time next year, my nice white new roof will be the color of iced tea as well.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1369

I'm getting closer to buying a new car. I went back to the dealership this afternoon and got real prices on three different alternatives. It's been a while since I've done this, but one thing hasn't changed over the years. The actual drive-away price is quite a bit higher than the price you initially anticipate. By the time the dealer adds tax, title and license charges and an extended warranty, the sticker prices is suddenly thousands of dollars higher. If you're foolish enough to ask for something extra, like a towing package or a roof rack, all bets are off. I still think the time is right to trade the Defender while it still runs and the trade in value is high. I may need to rethink my original plan, however. I might not have the money to get the car I really want.

I don't know why I'm surprised. Given a choice, I'll always choose the most expensive, extravagant thing in the room. If wishes were horses, I'd be shooting all my videos using a Red Epic and stills with a Hasselblad H5D. Should I throw caution to the wind and get what I really want? Or should I be practical? This should be an easy decision, but it's not. On one hand, I could save my money for something more important in the future. On the other hand, if the money sits in the investment account too long, it will eventually find its way to another worthless stock that drops like a stone. At least a car could provide some temporary enjoyment.

Dogs don't seem to have these dilemmas.  Janet and I went up to photograph a new Dalmatian today, and the only thing this friendly girl seemed concerned about was where her next dog treat was coming from. I'm not sure if I got any good pictures. It was a hot day and the more pictures we took, the longer the dog's tongue seemed to get. I told her that she'd look much prettier with her mouth closed, but she didn't seem to agree.

It doesn't look like I can avoid mowing the grass much longer. This is the time of year when I try to convince myself that I'm mowing the grass for the last time this season. It usually keeps right on growing though. Sometimes I'm still mowing the grass in December.

Tomorrow, the dogs get their weekly trip to the dog park. There isn't much grass left at the dog park in September, but the dogs don't seem to care. They'd rather dig holes in the dirt anyway.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1368

I wish that UPS could get their Customer Centers on the same page as their website. For the third time this year, I drove over to Mesquite to pick something up at the UPS Will Call desk when the website told me it was ready, only to discover that the package hadn't even arrived yet. The woman at the Will Call desk told me that the website was never right and that I should wait at least four hours after the website said the package was ready before driving over to pick it up. Oh, well. So much for the wonders of modern technology.

Breakfast was quite tasty this morning. My resolve to maintain my strict diet is slipping a bit. I've noticed that meat and cheese are creeping back into my omelets. It's not that the veggie omelets were all that bad. A little sausage just make a meal more satisfying. I know I should be resolute, but I tend to rationalize things. I tell myself that I've earned this sausage, since I'm working out now at the gym. This is probably a poor excuse for my backsliding behavior, since I'm not working out that much.

Even though it was Friday the 13th, nothing bad happened today. I eventually got my package, even though I had to make two trips to the UPS Customer Center. I got caught up on the week's website and writing assignments. I even had time to drive up to the Land Rover dealer later in the afternoon and do a little window shopping for new cars.

There is no rational reason why I'm so loyal to Land Rovers. These cars are in the shop more often than they're on the road. I probably like them for the same reasons I like Olympus cameras and Dalmatians. Some things just feel right. If I do get a new car, I don't think I'll have a problem finding something I like. The difficulty will be finding a decent Land Rover that I can actually afford. At least I will get a good trade-in on the Defender. These cars are still so desirable that somebody came up to me in the Land Rover parking lot today and tried to buy my Defender while I was walking in to talk to a sales guy.

In my younger years, I would have just kept the Defender and gone ahead and bought an additional new car. I've learned the hard way however, that having a bunch of cars is a giant nuisance. At one point, I owned three cars. I could never find a place to park them all at night and the insurance payments were ridiculous. I've finally gotten over my Gemini penchant for having multiple copies of everything. One car is plenty. Astute readers will probably remember that I still actually have two cars, if you count the non-running Citroën Maserati, but I haven't seen the SM in nine years. It ceased being a viable second car years ago and now is just a pleasant memory.

It's finally starting to get a little cooler. The dogs are starting to enjoy their morning walks again. It's still going to be a while before jacket weather arrives, but I think the worst of our Texas summer is about over.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1367

Is anyone else having trouble with passwords? For years everything was fine, but I've noticed lately that websites and applications have stepped up their game. My old familiar passwords aren't acceptable anymore. I am being admonished to create more complex passwords that contain upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special symbols. For me, this is a recipe for disaster. I can never remember these types of passwords. To make matters worse, you are now only given three tries to get the password right before you are locked out. I joined a site that required a complex password a few days ago and forgot it less than 24 hours later. It's all very frustrating. Especially since many sites won't let you use your old password again after you've requested a password re-set.

Our perennial hole digging armadillo has returned. It seems like this critter returns every year about this time to destroy what is left of our back yard grass. There were big holes in the turf this morning and a rustling sound along the fence as the critter ran away from the approaching dogs.  I really don't know how to get rid of these things. They come in the night while we're asleep, and then disappear again the next morning after digging a bunch of ugly holes.

I was real tempted to start looking at new cars today, but work got in the way and I didn't have time. I'm sure I'll succumb to temptation sooner or later, but it's just as well that I kept my nose to the grindstone and didn't go car shopping today. The kind of cars I like are very expensive. I need to pick up a few more clients before I feel comfortable buying a car.

I got a surprise call from an old client this morning, asking me if I'd take them back on a temporary basis. Sure! Why not? What have I got to lose anyway? Evidently, my replacement hasn't worked out all that well. Maybe if I do well on my "temporary" assignments, I can bring these guys back into the fold again. It's certainly happened before. People fire me because they think I'm too expensive and then when they've been paying someone else for a year or two, they finally come to the realization that I was actually quite a bargain.

I'm slowly, but surely learning how Wordpress works. Today I figured out how to add a collaborative calendar to a Wordpress site. Tomorrow, I"m going to explore how to add transaction capabilities. The good thing about an open source application like Wordpress is that just about anything you could imagine adding to a website has already been done before. All you really have to do is look for the tutorials and YouTube videos that explain how to add the functionality you want. I'm still not a big fan of dynamic, server-side websites, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm learning some useful things that will be put to good use in the near future.

I made it to the gym late in the day, but that's probably it for the week. Tomorrow's another busy work day and the small amount of free time I do have will be spent having a delicious breakfast at my favorite restaurant.  In my world, Eggs Benedict trumps time on the treadmill any day of the week.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1366 - 9/11

I wonder how long it will be before the "We will never forget" tributes that honor this day are forgotten themselves. I'm already seeing fewer flags flying at half mast and the once ubiquitous wall-to-wall remembrances on the major news networks have been replaced with a few short feature stories that are interspersed between segments about Syria, forest fires in California, and the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alverez fight. Sadly, a quick Google search will garner just as many conspiracy theories about 9/11 these days as thoughtful tributes.

The events that shaped my life are slowly being forgotten. Do a search for November 22 and you will find more articles about the upcoming Xbox One launch than about the Kennedy assassination. Even though I remember the day well, it is ancient history to a majority of the population. The last time I visited Dealey Plaza on November 22, I noticed that the conspiracy nuts selling books about what really happened were growing very old and the crowds were quite sparse.  Jeez, the Apollo astronauts are senior citizens now and Woodstock memories have been replaced by Burning Man memories. It is almost inevitable that 9/11 will eventually be forgotten as well.

I don't think I'll ever forget that fateful morning when the towers fell twelve years ago, but it could happen. I've certainly forgotten plenty of other important things already. I can't even remember close friends birthdays anymore without the help of Facebook. I did remember to go to the Dallas Business Alliance breakfast meeting this morning. I still find it difficult to get up this early, but I'm already finding these meetings interesting.

Wednesday is quickly turning into the busiest day of the week. With a breakfast networking meeting in the morning, Dot's physical therapy sessions in the afternoon, and dog training classes in the evening, it's hard to find time to do anything else. Not surprisingly, I didn't finish any of my writing assignments today, but I did find time to set up a test Wordpress site on my local server. So far, configuring the server correctly has been a lot more difficult than working in the Wordpress environment. Wordpress is a lot different than building a site in Dreamweaver, but I'll figure it out eventually. Since this is probably the only new thing I'll have to learn this year, it would be embarrassing if I can't master things fairly quickly.

I just got my car back and now Janet's Land Rover has to go to the shop for repairs. The air conditioning abruptly quit working today and it's still pretty hot outside. With such terrible repair histories, you might wonder why we're so fond of these cars. Sometimes I wonder myself.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1365

I was busy from dawn till dusk, but now that the day is over, I'm having trouble remembering what I actually did. The entire day was a succession of necessary, but not very memorable tasks. I got my September invoices out today. I retrieved a large banner from the storage warehouse in preparation for upcoming Dalmatian Rescue events. I picked up some clothes from the dry cleaner. I did some research on the best way to install Wordpress on a Macintosh. There was more, of course, but these were the memorable things.

I definitely didn't rush out to place an order for a new iPhone though. I was totally underwhelmed by today's product introductions. I think I can live without a button that identifies me by my fingerprint. The irritating thing about all new Apple phones is that they always change just enough to force you to buy a new case. I like the case I have now. Even though the new iPhone 5S is the same size and shape as the current model, there's that pesky round biometric fingerprint button. It's pretty clear that current waterproof cases, like the one I have, won't work with that thing.

My vet wants to keep Dash on phenobarbital for the time being. I was a little disappointed to hear this, but the logic makes sense. She said the best reason to keep Dash on phenobarbital was that it works. Alternate medications might work too, but you wouldn't know until you tried them and that would involve a long, drawn-out process of gradually reducing the phenobarbital dosage while introducing the new medication. The vet acknowledged that there was a potential danger of liver damage using phenobarbital for extended periods of time and recommended frequent blood tests to monitor liver enzyme levels. This made sense too, since I do exactly the same thing myself.

A new cutting board I ordered from England came in the mail today. This one looks exactly like the one I would have made myself if I had the time, tools, and patience to do it myself. The new cutting board is well made, has a built-in colander, can go in the dishwasher, and fits perfectly in its allotted space. It still has to pass one final test though. We have to see if Janet likes it. Sometimes she likes things I buy for the kitchen and sometimes she doesn't. Whatever happens, it's a safe bet that the nice slab of Mahogany I bought a few weeks ago will probably wind up in the storage warehouse.

I'm going to begin attending those Wednesday morning business networking breakfasts I've been invited to, starting tomorrow. We'll see which is going to be more difficult: going to the gym three times a week, or getting up early every Wednesday.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1364

I closed out an old safe deposit box today. I'd almost forgotten I still had the box. The contents included a household inventory from 1990, a deed to some property I no longer owned, an out-of-date will that gave everything to the wrong people, and two music publishing contracts with companies that no longer exist. Just about the only useful documents were two ancient car titles for my two equally ancient cars.

I finally made it back to the gym. The same people were still there, doing exactly the same things they always do at the gym. It didn't look like I missed much last week. Actually, I did miss something, because my workout seemed a bit harder this week. I really need to discover a way to make working out part of my regular daily routine. Just going to the gym when I'm completely caught up with everything else doesn't seem to be working.

I heard a loud thump in the bedroom this morning when I was doing my website revision assignments. My first thought was that Dash had another seizure. When I got to the bedroom, he wasn't having convulsions and it's didn't look like he'd had a seizure. He was just standing very still with a perplexed look on his face. When I asked him if he wanted a cookie, he became alert again, so I knew nothing was wrong.  Dash likes to sleep near the edge of the bed, so I suspect what happened was that he just fell off the bed when he was having a dog dream. Since we have a low platform bed, all that was hurt was his dignity.

American politics have become surreal. On one side you've got John McCain and Barack Obama joining forces to go to war. And on the other side? Well, on the other side you've got the American people. So far, the only person making any sense is Vladimir Putin. To top things off, a survey came out today saying that more people were upset about the Miley Cyrus VMA Awards performance than about the use of gas in Syria. Strange days to say the least.

I have yet to discover why people have become so enamored with Wordpress. So far, creating a site in Wordpress seems a giant pain compared to what I've been doing in Dreamweaver all these years. I have a feeling that a lot of people who think Wordpress is cool are just buying ready-made themes and not even trying to develop their own themes from scratch.

Tomorrow Dash gets an evaluation to see if the phenobarbital he's been taking is having the desired effect. Everything certainly seems to be working, unless today's odd behavior was some sort of a seizure. I'm still hoping we can come up with a plan to gradually wean him off the phenobarbital and substitute a safer anti-convulsive drug instead.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1363

It was time to give Dot another medicated bath today. She was so good about taking her bath this time that I wondered if I had the right dog. Dot has never been fond of water and giving her a bath is usually an ordeal. Today, the whole process was a breeze. Maybe she just likes this new dog bathing place better. I'll have to admit that the new place is quieter and the water is much warmer. Who knows. Maybe that's all it takes to change a dog's mind.

The dog park was almost empty today. It's still unnaturally hot for mid-September and most people probably had the good sense to stay indoors. We didn't stay at the park long. We only go on hot days like this to give Dash a chance to be off leash for a little while. These opportunities to race around unhindered are one of his favorite things.

Since tomorrow looks like it's going to be a busy day, I used my afternoon to catch up on bookkeeping and pay some bills. Although paying bills has never been my idea of fun, it certainly beat my other alternative: mowing the grass. I'll save mowing the grass for a cooler day. I did water the yard though. It was so hot and dry that the plants seemed to be crying out for water.

I reluctantly laid the groundwork for becoming a Wordpress developer this afternoon. Since Wordpress is a server-side application, I needed to install a web server and a database management system on my computer before I could begin. I downloaded the Apache server software and MySQL for the database. Now, I'm ready to install Wordpress itself, but I'll save that for another day. I guess it's time for me to embrace dynamic websites. I've avoided them for years. I still prefer nice looking, simple static sites built using easy to understand HTML code, but time marches on. Clients are dragging me kicking and screaming into the brave new world of dynamic, database driven sites. Oh, well. I'll just have to grit my teeth and get with the program. I've already had to retire my beloved Nikon F-2 film cameras and my next car probably won't have a manual transmission either.

Dot is really slowing down. She still insists on taking her daily walks and enjoys going to the dog park, but when she gets home again, she immediately goes to her bed and sleeps for hours. She looks so tired when she is sleeping. I hope I can continue to strike the right balance between letting her enjoy the things she loves and keeping her from overexerting herself. I think the best way to age gracefully is not to be aware you are aging at all. I'm pretty sure I can create an easygoing and enjoyable environment for Dot as she enters her senior years. I'm just not sure how to do the same thing for myself.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1362

The Defender isn't exactly filling me with confidence. The engine vibration seems just as bad, or even worse, than it was before I took the car in for repairs. If the rattle wouldn't get any worse, I could easily live with the rough ride, but what if it does get worse? Since we have already eliminated all potential problems outside the engine, it's a safe guess that something inside the engine is causing the problem. Is it a worn main bearing? Has the crankshaft become unbalanced? Will the engine just seize up on a busy freeway someday and leave me stranded? Have I mentioned that I don't like uncertainty?

Unfortunately life is full of uncertainties. I've actually had more car problems with brand new cars than with old ones like the Defender. The problems in life that I anticipate never seem to materialize. I'm always blindsided by something out of left field that I totally failed to consider.

Cars. Health. Work. It's all the same. You worry. You plan. You try your best to keep your ducks in a row. Whatever you do, life just continues unabated on it's predetermined course. Some days you get lucky. Other days you get screwed. I'd probably be a lot better off if I buried my nose in a complex project and didn't have time to fret about whether my car or my liver was going to fail in the near future. Historically, work has always been a refuge for me. I need to find something to throw myself into again. But what? I really don't know. I've got a real bad case of "Been there, done that."

Maybe it's just the heat. It shouldn't be this hot in September. I must have let the dogs outside ten times this afternoon. They'd go out in the back yard, immediately discover how hot it was, and want to come back inside again. Once inside, they'd look out the living room window and decide that it looked pretty nice outside. Back and forth we'd go. I know they wanted the sunshine and fresh air, combined with the cool air conditioning from the living room. I don't think they ever figured out that they couldn't have both.

I'm kind of the same way. I want a lot of mutually exclusive things. Rationally, this kind of attitude doesn't make sense. If you want to make a lot of money, you don't simultaneously do your best to avoid all contact with other people. If you like to write songs, it doesn't make sense to never listen to music. If you love go anywhere vehicles like the Defender 90, it doesn't make sense that you never actually go anywhere. Hey, I've never let rationality stop me before. Why start now? I'm about as rational as a Dalmatian on a hot day.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1361

The good news is that I got the Defender 90 back today. The bad news is that after a month in the shop, it still isn't fixed. Truthfully, I don't think it will ever be fixed. A car with 100,000 miles on the odometer just isn't going to run like a car with 100 miles on the odometer. I was so discouraged about my engine vibration problem that I got a quote for the Defender's trade-in value while I was at the dealership. The good news is that Land Rover Defenders hold their value better than any other SUV. Period! There isn't another vehicle that even comes close. The bad news is that I don't really want to trade the Defender for anything. I just wish it ran like new.

I guess I share the sentiments of another Defender owner who wrote "What can I say. Rain leaks in. Oil leaks out. The car requires constant maintenance and the interior is trash. But I love it." I feel the same way. The only other current vehicle that is even in the same league is the Mercedes G-Class.  Unfortunately, a Mercedes G-Class costs twice as much as a Defender.

My doctor's appointment later in the day was almost as disappointing as my trip to the Land Rover dealer. My lab reports have grown into such a large, complex document that I think even my doctor is confused. Many tests appear to contradict each other. Many others are inconclusive. There's still enough data which indicates that there are plenty of things wrong with me, unfortunately. Today's new lab reports were a mixed bag. There were a few new things to cheer about. And there were a few new things to worry about. When things are this inconclusive, the doctor and I just agree to schedule some more tests in a few months.

I've bought things online for so long that I kind of take the whole process for granted. Evidently, not everyone has perfected the art of online selling however. A got an e-mail today saying that a recent order of mine had shipped. When I checked the FedEx tracking number, I discovered that my order had already been delivered to Sedona, Arizona three days before I ordered it. When I called the company to find out what was wrong, I got a recorded message saying that the company was closed for the day due to an unexpected emergency. Maybe my order wasn't the only thing that had gone wrong.

There were quite a few website revisions for a Friday. Employees had quit and needed to be removed. Hours had changed and needed to be updated. A Google map pointed to the wrong location. Someone noticed, after looking at it for over a year, that their name was misspelled. I fixed everything and then did a little research on Wordpress. I read a review about a cool add-on that made it possible to develop Wordpress themes within a Dreamweaver environment. Great! This was just what I needed. When I went to download the clever app, it didn't exist. It had been discontinued two years ago because of licensing issues. Oh, well. I guess everything was too good to be true today.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1360

I spent the afternoon in a MRI machine again. Today's scan seemed to take longer than usual, but maybe I'm just not as patient as I used to be. I like the technician who does my scans. He used to be a race car driver, but switched to medical technology after he got married to provide a more stable life for his family. The only vestige of his racing life that still remains is the best selection of car magazines ever in the MRI changing room. The only thing I dislike about these scans is that I have to fully extend my hands behind my head before they slide me into the narrow metal imaging tube. Yikes! With my dislocated shoulder, I think waterboarding would be a less traumatic torture than spending an hour with my arms extended this way.

I think the Defender 90 repairs might finally be finished. There was a voice-mail from Land Rover this morning asking me to call them. When I did return the call, all I got was their voice-mail. Since Land Rover is even slower about answering voice-mail messages than they are about repairing cars, I'll probably have to drive up to the dealership tomorrow and see what's going on. I was hoping to be able to keep the loaner car until the weather turned cooler, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. This has been the warmest September I can remember. At this rate, it's not going to be cool outside until Thanksgiving. Hopefully, they really fixed the Defender this time. I've still got to take Dot downtown every Wednesday for her physical therapy sessions.

A cool stove-top short-order griddle I ordered came in the mail today. This thing is perfect for quickly cooking up a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and other things I can no longer eat. I'm sure it will make a nice veggie omelet too, so the nifty new utensil definitely won't go to waste. It's weird. The less I am able to eat, the more I am interested in food. This probably won't end well. One day I will use up an entire loaf of Panera Bread making French Toast which I will then drench with half a bottle of pure maple syrup. So far, I'm hanging in there with my oatmeal and kale, but I don't know how long this can last.

It looks like I'm finally going to have to learn to use Wordpress. I've got two clients who want to add things to their websites that can only be accomplished using Wordpress. I've tried to convince them that Dreamweaver is the only development tool in the universe, but they aren't buying it anymore. I don't know what has happened to me. I used to love learning new things, and now I dread the process. The pace of change has simply become too disruptive. I used to get a lot of use out of my skills before they became obsolete. Now, the obsolescence occurs before I even finish reading the instruction manual. Oh, well. Time stops for no one. Not even me.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1359

I had a new business meeting this morning. I am being asked to develop a new website, and before I got started, I wanted to get everybody's input. One guy said the website need to be a lively forum that generated lots of discussion. Another guy said it need to showcase the organization's mission and values. A third guy wanted a transaction site where people could pay for things and make appointments. One group wanted a blog, and a small contingent wondered if there was any point in having a website at all.

I had almost forgotten that this was what beginnings were always like. Most of my clients have been with me for so long that there is seldom any need to talk. My input these days usually consists of "You know our business. Just make it work."

This new project sounds interesting. It also sounds difficult. Sometimes difficulties challenge me. Other times they make me put my head in my hands and start muttering "Why me?" We'll see what happens. At least I'm being given enough time to put some serious thought into this.

Dot was back in the underwater treadmill today. She seems to like the water therapy and did really well today. When I see her move her legs during the interval training sessions, I remember how fast she used to be when she was a young dog. Dot was always a dog who loved to run. It must be hard on her not to be able to do many of the things she enjoys so much. Considering her age, Dot is still remarkably strong and agile though. She is probably the healthiest Dalmatian we have ever had.

It's been such a busy week that I haven't been able to get to the gym at all. If I want to finish my normal writing and website chores, I only have time for one out-of-the-office activity. On days like today, where I pulled out of the driveway to run errands or go to meetings on four separate occasions, keeping on schedule is a lost cause. It seems like I used to do my job much faster, but maybe I'm just imagining things. All I know is that there just aren't enough hours in the day anymore.

I have to have another MRI tomorrow. The imaging is a pretty painless process, but I'm still not looking forward to it. When they inject you with the contrast dye, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I don't like having to put my arms behind my head when they slide me into the tube either. I've still got a dislocated shoulder and one of my arms doesn't really want to go behind my head. It could be a lot worse though. I'll take a MRI over a biopsy any day of the week.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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