Day 1854

I really wish doctors and dentists would agree on things. Most people just find a doctor they can trust and go along with the diagnosis. Since I don't really trust anyone, I find this difficult. I'm looking for a consensus. If a lot of people come to the same conclusion, I'll tend to believe they are right. On the other hand, if three dentists look at the same x-rays and each reach a different conclusion, I'm confused and a bit nervous. I saw the oral surgeon today and came away with the distinct impression that I could lose from one to three teeth. Everyone agrees that one of my wisdom teeth has to go, but the fate of the other two teeth depends on who you talk to. I told the surgeon that I didn't want to do anything until I returned from my trip to California and got caught up on several work projects. That seemed fine and we settled on the 13th of February. Yup. You guessed it. When I got home and looked at a calender, I'm having dental surgery on Friday the 13th.

On the way home from the dentist, I stopped at Office Depot and got a new 12-month accordion folder for this year's receipts. Why are these paper folders $18 now? It's ridiculous. When I started keeping receipts in accordion folders for my accountant, they were only $8 each. And people still say that inflation isn't a problem. At least shoes don't seem to be going up in price. I also picked up a new pair of waterproof work boots for walking the dogs while I was out today and they were the same price they were five years ago. Of course, nothing is as well made as it was five or ten years ago, but what are you going to do? I still have an Eddie Bauer goose down parka from the early 1960's that is better than anything you can buy today. When I wore this coat to high school in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1963 there was a real guy named Eddie Bauer in Seattle who outfitted expeditions and designed some of the world's best outdoor gear. When he retired, the company was bought and sold multiple times and now the brand is just licensed to other manufacturers who make furniture, bicycles, and lots of clothing made in China. I hate the whole concept of brand extensions and licensing. When I was shopping for boots this afternoon, I saw some with the Caterpillar brand. Caterpillar makes bulldozers, not shoes. Harley Davidson doesn't make sunglasses either. I like Red Wing because they still just make shoes. My new Red Wing boots are pretty decent, but they're probably made in China now too.

Since I don't multitask very well, work kind of stacked up on me today. This means I'll be busy tomorrow. It's just as well because the weather is still so cold that staying home and doing writing assignments and fixing websites seems like a better alternative than anything else I can think of. It's certainly better than more stretching. I think I need to curtail the stretching exercises for a while. My right shoulder seems permanently sore now. I'm sure this is a "no pain, no gain" situation, but personally I'd rather just not lift my right arm very high.

I need to do something to snap myself out of the cold weather doldrums. Maybe I should go out for breakfast tomorrow. Maybe not though. When you sit by the window, the restaurant is cold. I could just turn up the thermostat a bit here at home, but Janet and both dogs like things just the way they are. I'm the only one that's cold. I'm definitely ready for Summer.
 

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1853

My travel arrangements for the SMAP launch are finally complete. Who would have thought it could be so difficult just to go to California. I've been to California many times before and it was always easy. This odd journey involves jets, propeller planes, automobiles and a lot of waiting around for connecting flights. Vandenberg Air Force Base really is kind of in the middle of nowhere. It would have been so much easier if they launched this thing from Cape Canaveral. A quick trip to Orlando with a short drive to the Cape would have been a piece of cake. At any rate, I'm done. Let's hope everything goes as scheduled. If the launch is delayed or canceled, I'm probably screwed. I'm scheduled for dental surgery right after I return.

I wonder when this cold, rainy weather is finally going to move out of the area. It's been nasty all week. It rained most of the night, with intermittent showers throughout the day. It's still just a few degrees above freezing. I feel like I'm changing clothes all day. I add layers whenever I go outside and remove layers when I come inside again. The dogs get cold. Shoes get muddy. Moisture condenses on the inside of all the windows, where it rolls down the glass to rot the wooden sills below. Each morning, there are lots of blankets to fold and put away before I make the bed. Basically, Winter is a mess.

I didn't make it to the gym today, because I needed to fill out another set of new patient forms for the next dentist I see tomorrow. Dentists seem to share X-rays, but they don't seem to share their new patient information. The dental surgeon I see tomorrow will be the third specialty dentist I've seen in the past month. Each one has their own set of forms to fill out. The only thing they seem to have in common is that they all demand full payment after each visit.

There's actually lots of interesting things to photograph on rainy days, but I'm usually reluctant to take my phone out of my pocket. I have to take my gloves off first, so the tactile touch screen will work. Then I have to find the phone under the layers of coats and sweaters. By the time I'm ready to take the picture, the moment has usually passed. Raindrops on leaves are usually patient though. The raindrops remain long after the ducks have flown away.

I don't know what's in the cards for tomorrow. I've got the initial evaluation by the dental surgeon in the afternoon, but everything else seems to be a moving target. There have been a lot of schedule changes on work projects this month. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I really don't want the SMAP launch to change after all the work I put into making travel arrangements today.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1852

I'm glad my video shoot got postponed today. The weather was nasty. It got colder and colder as the day progressed and then it started to rain. We may even get some snow later this evening, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm glad the furnace is working well this Winter, because staying warm was my number one priority today. The dogs got their regular walks of course, but they didn't dawdle around smelling things this time. Even Dash has finally learned that the quicker he poops on cold, wet days, the quicker we can all return home where it's warm.

Janet spent the day helping to transport a newly rescued Dalmatian from South Texas to the Dalmatian Rescue  kennels here in Dallas. I probably should have helped too, but I thought I would be working today. It was just as well that I stayed here. Dot and Dash didn't have to spend the afternoon alone on a cold, wet day and Janet got to get away from my gloomy negativity for a while. Jack, the new guy, is a bit overweight, but he's going to be a very handsome fellow after he goes on a diet for a while.

I'm very close to finalizing my travel plans now. I can get very close to my final destination if I'm willing to make one leg of the trip on a small turboprop commuter plane. On the other hand, I can stay on big commercial jets and spend a longer time driving up a remote stretch of California's scenic Highway 1. This may seem like an easy decision for you, but I don't like to drive and I don't like to fly in propeller planes either. Decisions, decisions.

I woke up this morning feeling like I'd slept on the brick floor. I was sore all over. My right arm is sore from all the stretching exercises I've been doing as part of my physical therapy. My left arm is sore because it's taken over the task of holding the dog leashes on our walks. Dot and Dash always seem to walk on my right side, so it's no surprise that my right shoulder eventually became a problem. Now that I'm consciously trying to use my left hand more, I'll probably just end up with two bad shoulders. Now that I think about it, I wonder why both dogs prefer to walk on my right? We've been going to training class for years and years. Our instructor always told us that a dog should heal on your left side. We practiced this every Wednesday for years. Evidently Dot and Dash didn't pay any more attention at class than I did.

If it warms up a bit tomorrow, I'll go to the gym. If it stays as cold and nasty as it is now, I think I'll just stay under a blanket.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1851

Yay! The washing machine works again. I asked the technician why the machine breaks so often and he told me the wax motor that engages the locking mechanism on the front door was poorly designed. Wax motor? What the hell is a wax motor? It turns out that this expensive little component actually is full of wax. When the wax is heated by an electric current it melts and expands, pushing a pin outward and locking the front loader door. This seems insanely complicated, when all you really need is a simple mechanical latch on the outside of the machine to lock the door. Commercial laundromat machines have these sturdy and simple locking devices. Why can't consumer machines have the same thing? Apparently to prevent people from starting the machine without properly securing a mechanical lock, the manufacturer created a "fool-proof" electronic lock that breaks all the time.

When I grew tired of being frustrated with washing machine reliability, I became frustrated with airline fares. All those websites that promise tantalizing low fares are basically bait and switch machines. The low fares always come with a catch. You either have to change planes in four different cities, wait in an airport for nine hours to catch your connecting flight, or pay a month in advance for a non-refundable ticket. If you want a simple, flexible flight where you don't have to change planes or spend hours waiting in airports, it's best to just go straight to the airline websites. A flight without ridiculous restrictions costs about the same anywhere. Hotels and rental car companies operate basically the same way. The upshot of all this is that I'm going to have to pay more for for my trip to California than I thought I would. I don't know why I was surprised at this disappointing revelation. If you want something extra, you're always going to have to pay extra.

At least my breakfast was good. This simple Friday morning meal at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant has become the high point of my week. I almost always order the same thing. My go-to meal is the Amigas with chorizo. It's just scrambled eggs, fresh chorizo sausage, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, thin tortilla strips and spices, but it's so good. The coffee isn't bad either. They even roast the beans themselves onsite.

The video project I was supposed to begin tomorrow got postponed another week. I don't know whether I'm happy or disappointed about this. On one hand, I'm glad to have my Saturday back to do all the usual weekend errands. On the other hand, I'd like to have this project behind me. It's not that I don't like to shoot video anymore, it's just that I'd like all my projects behind me. I don't seem to look forward to many things anymore. I'm just glad when they're over.

Yeah, I know I should be more positive. You don't need to remind me that the glass is half full. Hey, I love my dogs. I'm sure I'll enjoy the satellite launch when I actually get out there. I even like some of my clients. Life is good. Sometimes.

Mack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1850

There is little incentive to go outside when it is eighteen degrees. You tend to stay in bed longer, linger over breakfast, and look for things to do around the house in hopes that it might get a little warmer. I can't put off walking the dogs forever though, so eventually we all suited up and pretended we lived up North. At least it wasn't as windy today as yesterday. I think Dot and Dash appreciated their sweaters this morning. Even they have their limits.

I still haven't made my travel arrangements for the SMAP launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base. I keep thinking that the minute I finalize everything they will change the launch date and I will have to start all over again. I can't delay things much longer though. Planes often fill up fast and hotels in small towns sometimes fill up even faster. Tomorrow sounds like a good day to get organized. I'll do this tomorrow. Actually, I watched a live broadcast about the satellite on NASA TV this morning. This thing is much more complex than I thought. A huge 20 foot microwave antenna mounted to a long mechanical arm rotates around the satellite at precisely 14.6 rpm. The radar beam from this rotating antenna is aimed at the earth, creating a circle over 600 miles wide as the antenna turns, allowing the entire earth to be scanned for soil moisture in just three days. When you look at the computer animations of this Rube Goldberg contraption in action, your first reaction is "This couldn't possible work." Of course I didn't think the Mars landers could possible work either. I continue to be amazed at what people can do when they put their minds to it. This is why I'm not a rocket scientist. I still have trouble getting my office WiFi network to work.

Dot had a really good day at her physical therapy session. Janet went along with us today, because she'd never seen Dot doing her workout routine in the underwater treadmill. Dot didn't disappoint. She was strong on the treadmill and very relaxed during her acupuncture session. It's hard to believe we've been doing this for over a year and a half now. It still seems like we started just a few weeks ago.

Work as a bit slow today, so I used the time to pay bills and catch up with my bookkeeping. If I'd remembered, I should have sent my January invoices out today as well, but it's hard to remember everything. I do remember that the appliance repairman promised to come back and fix our washing machine tomorrow. I hope he remembers too! I also remembered to take the trash out to the curb for tomorrow morning's trash collection. That's about it. I bet there were a dozen things I forgot.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1849

I got on the phone this morning and literally begged the appliance repair folks to expedite the shipment of the part needed to get my washing machine working again. In an era when you can get literally anything overnight using FedEx or UPS, it just doesn't make sense to wait a week for a washing machine part. After making my case, the company agreed to fix my machine on Friday. I still don't understand why they couldn't have fixed it today. Delays like this are one more reason I hate the whole concept of just-in-time sourcing. Nobody inventories anything anymore. Repair shops used to have huge warehouses full of parts. They don't want the expense of maintaining an inventory these days and prefer to just order things as needed. It's another sign of the apocalypse as far as I'm concerned.

When I went to my physical therapy appointment today I asked the therapist if everybody's shoulder made loud cracking and popping sounds like mine does when I'm doing the stretching exercises. "No, you're the worst I've ever seen," she told me. She also added that the next time I had a shoulder problem, I definitely shouldn't wait five years to look for a solution. The dentists I've been seeing have been basically telling me the same thing. What can I say? I'm great at taking care of the dogs. Not so good at taking care of myself.

I'm ready for Summer. I don't know how you Northerners can stand these frigid temperatures. One week of sub-freezing weather has just about brought me to my knees. The temperatures are still in the high twenties, but when you factor in the wind chill it feels closer to zero. I still don't understand why the dogs appear to like this weather. They get cold on longer walks, but when we follow our normal route, the seem to take the chilly weather in stride.

Work is getting busy again. I had several writing assignments today, along with one big website revision. This work, along with my physical therapy appointment and two dog walks completely used up my day. I was trying to explain to my physical therapist that it was difficult to find time for all the stretching exercises and she seemed perplexed. Most people think that if you work out of your house, you have an almost unlimited amount of free time. Not true! I had a lot more free time when I worked in an office. You really have to manage your time wisely if you want to make a decent living while still being a world class dog butler to two demanding Dalmatians.

The laundry is already stacking up. I'll readily admit that I'm obsessed with doing laundry. I hate seeing dirty laundry lying around the house. I can't stand a dirty car either and am always washing mine. Oddly, a dirty house doesn't bother me at all. Go figure.

Vegas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1848

As if today wasn't strange enough already, we had an earthquake in Dallas this evening. There have been small quakes in the area for the past month or so, but this was the first one I've actually felt. I was taking a short nap with the dogs after dinner I heard the windows and doors of the house start to rattle and shake. At first I thought the noise had been caused by a loud truck going by or maybe one of those kids who install huge bass speakers in the trunk of their cars. Then I remembered that there was no traffic on the road before the house started to rattle. "I wonder if this was an earthquake," I thought? Sure enough it was. So much for the theory that dogs can sense earthquakes before they happen. Dot and Dash slept through the whole thing.

Earlier in the day, I put a load of clothes in the washer, added soap, and pressed the start button. Nothing happened! I tried again and again and kept getting an error message saying that the door of the front loader wasn't closed. Damn! The door looked like it was closed properly. This happened once before and it resulted in an entire week without a washing machine. I hate going to laundromats, so I immediately called the appliance repair folks who fixed the machine the first time it broke. Luckily, I was able to get a repairman out this afternoon, but just like the first time this happened, the repairman didn't have the part he needed on the truck. The part has to be special ordered and it looks like I will be without a washer for a week again. I don't think I will ever buy a front loader again. If the door goes bad on a top loader, it's no big deal. You kind of need the door to stay securely closed on a front loader though.

I was hoping that Dash's exam at the vet this afternoon would be totally routine, but it turns out that he has a few issues that need to be addressed. I've known that Dash's blood pressure is a little high, but apparently it's getting worse. Some of this is caused because he becomes stressed when he goes to the vet. I'll need to find a way to take his blood pressure at home to see if this is serious. There were no crystals in his urine, which is a good thing. His pH levels were too high though, which is a bad thing. Alkaline urine can be caused by a urinary tract infection, a diet that is high in carbs or sugar, or half a dozen other causes. Both these tests were inconclusive and more testing will be required. All in all, Dash was still pretty healthy though. Janet and I checked Dash carefully for ticks before he went to the vet. The vet still found a tick on him. He seems to be a magnet for ticks. I have to check him every day.

I started to make travel arrangements for my trip to Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning and discovered that there is no easy way to get there from here. There are no direct flights to Santa Barbara from Dallas, and all the connecting flights seem to involve plane changes with long layovers at connecting airports. It might be easier to just fly to Los Angeles and drive to the base. Some of the connecting flights from Dallas went all the way to Portland, Oregon before connecting with a flight to Santa Barbara. This seemed ridiculous to me, so I'll try to find something better tomorrow. I thought making airline reservations would be as easy as doing a load of laundry. It was! Absolutely nothing was easy today.

Alle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1847

It's amazing what you can learn when you ask a few questions. I'm not good at small talk, so I've been asking my therapist questions about the body during my physical therapy sessions. I've gained a whole new respect for physical therapy. My therapist appears to know the name of every muscle in the human body and what each one of them is supposed to do. I'm making progress with my shoulder, but it is very slow going. So far, stretching muscles seems to be somewhat like tenderizing meat. I asked if it was possible to get cold laser therapy like Dot, but apparently the dogs continue to get the medical advances first.

I'm thinking about changing pharmacies. One drug I take every month costs $90 at one pharmacy and only $32 for the very same drug at another. This drug isn't covered by insurance, so this is just the monthly retail cost. Why would there be such a huge difference in price? Customers would never stand for such radical price differences in the cars, computers, and clothing we buy. We expect competitive pricing in everything except healthcare. The more I learn about health care, the more I realize that the entire industry is controlled by some very powerful forces. I'm at the very bottom of the food chain. The pharmaceutical companies, the hospitals, and the insurance companies basically control everything. The price that shows up on a bill isn't necessarily the price that a doctor actually charges or an insurance company actually pays. It's all a hall of mirrors.

It was still bitterly cold when we got up this morning. I dressed the dogs in their warmest sweaters and put on several layers myself. In the Summer I always think it would be nice to retire up North. On days like this, I'm looking for a tropical island. The weather continues to be totally unpredictable in Texas. Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to get up to sixty degrees, but then on Wednesday it is expected to dip down into the twenties again. It's enough to drive you nuts.

I wonder what is happening to me? I got my instructions for traveling to Vandenberg Air Force Base today and they seemed pretty complicated to me. Jeez, this should be a piece of cake. I'm the guy who used to routinely travel to Germany on business and was once responsible for a forty person film crew shooting in the middle of the Olympic National Forest. Now, a trip to the post office is a major ordeal. I hope this trip snaps me out of my reclusiveness.  If I don't get a handle on my recent aversion to travel, I could wind up like those Kennedy sisters in Grey Gardens.

Dash has a trip to the vet tomorrow. Dot has been getting most of the attention lately, but Dash still has a few issues of his own. I need to find out whether a growth I've been noticing on his tail is something to be worried about. He's been licking his coat a lot lately too. I don't know if he has skin allergies again or if this is just another nervous habit. It's probably time to check his urine for crystals again too.

If it's warmer tomorrow, I'm going to go out in the back yard and look for dog poop. Now that all the leaves from our trees are on the ground, it's almost impossible to find the stuff. It just disappears under the leaves. The only way to find dog poop in the Winter is to walk out in the back yard. Then, it almost instantly appears on the soles of your shoes. I'm getting tired of cleaning my shoes evceryday, so it's time to find the illusive poop.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1846

I'm glad this day is over. It was so cold this morning that I didn't even want to get out of bed. The dogs didn't want to get out of bed either. I think they knew that this was a day when they would have to wear their warmest winter coats. It looked nice outside, but looks can be deceiving. Even though the sky was clear and blue, the temperature was in the low twenties and there was a stiff wind. It felt like we were heading toward the North Pole.

Have I mentioned that I hate to work on Sundays? Sometimes it's unavoidable though.  Several of my clients seem to work 24 hours a day and I've found that if I don't deal with their requests right away, I tend to forget about them. Forgetting doesn't tend to make people happy. This is why I found myself doing a lot of website work today. It's much easier to work on Sunday than to try to remember what you were supposed to do on Monday. I'm not sure if I got everything right today, but at least I made an effort.

I made an effort to go to the gym today as well. I wish I actually enjoyed going to the gym, but for me it's kind of like eating Kale. I know it's good for me, but I'd much rather be watching Dr. Who while I was eating a sausage and bacon pizza. I'm discovering that if I modify some of my workout routines a bit, I can get in quite a bit of the stretching that my physical therapist wants. I'm always trying to kill two birds with one stone. The less I have to do the better. I had a very good workout today, but as I was cooling down shooting free throws on the basketball court, I found myself thinking "Three more to go, two more to go, etc" I usually enjoy sinking baskets, but not today.

On my way to the gym, I stopped at a Sports Authority store to get some running shoe glue I'd seen on their website. When I told the manager what I was looking for, he just laughed. "We don't want you to repair running shoes," he told me with a smile. "We want you to buy new ones." There you have it. The guy managed to explain our entire economy in a single sentence.

I just looked at my calendar and every single day is filled with either a vet appointment or a physical therapy appointment. That's my week. If you work out of your house and actually want to get anything done, it's really hard to do more than one thing that requires driving somewhere else each day. My plate is full.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1845

The sun finally returned today. It's still a bit chilly, but it was actually a beautiful day. The abrupt change in the weather made me realize that it was time to start the new year. I took down the Christmas tree and put the ornaments away for another year. I went up on the roof and removed a week's worth of accumulated water. I even thought about cleaning the office, but wisely decided not to get ahead of myself.

I've just about given up on getting a response from Jawbone, so I went out and purchased another UP fitness band. This one syncs automatically using Bluetooth, so you don't have to plug it into your phone everyday. I must be a glutton for punishment, since this will be my fourth UP band in just a few years. I love these things, but they just aren't made very well. The batteries don't last very long. The little LED status lights frequently stop working. And, in the case of my last band, they sometimes refuse to go into sleep mode. You'd think I'd wise up and get a Fitbit or something more durable, but I still like the UP band best. It is still the smallest and most unobtrusive fitness tracker you can wear on your wrist. You can wear an UP band with a watch without feeling that you've got a watch on both wrists. And best of all, Jawbone has easily got the best smart phone app to track your results. It's just too bad the company hasn't figured out a way to make these clever little gadgets last more than a year.

I guess I'm officially in the loop for the upcoming launch of the SMAP satellite. I'm starting to get e-mail from my contact at the Jet Propulsion Lab and was invited to join a recently created Facebook group where other people attending the launch can share information. I still haven't made any travel arrangements, but that's on my list for next week. It was kind of unnerving to see that there was snow in Southern California last week, but hopefully the weather will improve by the time I depart. The weather has always been fabulous whenever I've visited the Los Angeles area and I'd hate to break a winning streak.

The range of motion on my right arm is increasing, now that I've been doing the stretching exercises that are supposed to loosen up the muscles in my bad shoulder. Unfortunately, the shoulder still hurts just as much as it always has. I wonder if I've really proved anything if all I can do is painfully extend both hands all the way above my head. Maybe I'm just not being patient enough. I don't really like to exercise and exercise that causes pain is even worse. I'm going to ask my physical therapist if they offer cold laser therapy like Dot is currently getting. The laser treatments seem to be helping Dot, and it certainly seems like I ought to be able to get the same kind of care as my dog.

I had to get some prescriptions renewed this afternoon and I noticed that the price of several drugs had gone up almost 40%. Every year, my drug plan adjusts prices in January and they never go down. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. We're only a few days into 2015 so far, and I'm trying to remain optimistic.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1844

Janet and I went to a movie this afternoon. It's been so long since I've been to a movie in a theater that it seemed like a whole new experience for me. Maybe it was a new experience. I certainly haven't been to a theater since they stopped screening 35mm prints and began building high resolution 4K digital cinema systems. Everything was so clear. It was like watching an enormous Apple retina screen with immersive surround sound audio. I've watched DVD's on my computer for so long, that I'd forgotten how mesmerizing a really good theater can be.

I'm generally very detached when I watch movies on my computer. There are dogs barking in the background, interruptions from clients calling on the phone, and of course I'm always aware that I'm really just sitting at my desk in the office. It's different in a theater. When the lights dim, I get sucked in and become much more involved with the story. Tears frequently roll down my cheeks in dark theaters. I certainly wiped my eyes a few times today as we watched The Theory of Eveything at the Angelika Film Center. This story, based on the memoir that Jane Wilde wrote about her life with Steven Hawking was both uplifting and incredibly sad. Eddie Redmayne was amazing as Steven Hawking and Felicity Jones was mesmerizing as Jane. I seldom watch movies like this because they make me cry, but I came out of the theater thinking that I really ought to read A Brief History of Time.

The rain continued today as expected. We were able to find time to walk the dogs when there was only a light mist, but the rain never really stopped. At times there were drenching downpours with thunder and lightning in the distance. At other times the rain slowed to a drizzle, but it is still raining right now. The weather app on my phone says the skies will be clearing tomorrow, but I don't really trust this thing, since it also said the skies were clearing when I got groceries this morning. I got drenched.

The city passed a new ordinance recently that forces merchants to charge you a nickel every time they put your purchases in a bag. This is supposed to decrease littering. Imagine my surprise when I went to Central Market and they bagged my groceries in nice heavy paper bags like they always do without charging anything extra for the bags. "Don't you guys have to charge for bags like everyone else," I asked. "No,"  the checkout clerk told me. "We're exempt because our bags have handles." I laughed as I headed home. This is one more example of government at work. Somebody thought they were doing something good and all they ended up doing was rewarding well-off people for shopping at upscale markets like Central Market and Whole Foods, while making things more expensive for the folks who still shop at Kroger. Sadly, this ordinance is not going to stop littering anyway. People who litter could care less about city ordinances.

It's getting to the point where I have to ask Janet what day it is when we wake up in the morning. Somehow it's very confusing when Christmas and New Year's fall on a Thursday. Everything is out of whack. Today seemed like Sunday, while tomorrow is only Saturday. Go figure.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1843 - New Year's Day

It was so cold today. The temperature hovered around the freezing mark for most of the day, while a steady rain soaked the ground. The forecast warned of sleet and slush, but it never materialized. Nothing froze except for me. I thought I'd managed to find little windows of opportunity to walk the dogs on the weather radar, but Dot and Dash weren't quick enough and we got soaked both times. It seemed like I spent a good part of the day cleaning muddy shoes and drying the dogs with bath towels.

Janet went to the gym today, but I didn't feel like driving in this weather and stayed home all day. I'm getting frustrated that I'm still using Lion as the operating system on my desktop computer, so I thought I'd investigate how I could upgrade my system without having to upgrade all my important applications as well. Applications like Media Composer and Pro Tools are very picky about which operating system you use. They are also very expensive. If I was still doing a lot of video work, I'd just bite the bullet and upgrade everything to the latest versions. That seems a bit excessive though when I only do a few video jobs a year. Everything works fine now, as long as I keep using Lion as my operating system. After checking around on the user groups it looks like there is a free maintenance upgrade to my current version of Media Composer that would allow me to move up to Mountain Lion.  Of course Apple has already discontinued Mountain Lion and moved on to Mavericks and Yosemite. Apple has become very frustrating now that they have largely abandoned creative types and want to make all their computers work just like an iPhone.  Not my cup of tea. I don't think I ever want to install Yosemite.

When I'm house bound on a cold day, I do laundry and fix things. I should have stuck with fixing a light switch or something simple. Trying to resolve all my computer problems was very unsatisfying. I downloaded a few things, but didn't have the nerve to install them. I need to do some more research before I start replacing things, or I could easily make matters worse. To tell you the truth, I enjoyed using Apple products a lot more back in the days when everything was running on OS 9. Lots and lots of little companies catered to the needs of creative folks back then. Now that Apple has discovered the real money is in selling phones, they've largely abandoned folks like me. I don't care about the Cloud or talking to friends on Facetime. I don't even care about laptops. I just want a big desktop computer with a huge monitor that will run the stuff I need for work without ever crashing.

The only thing I don't like about compression pants is that you have to keep taking them on and off all the time. They're great for walking the dogs in the cold, but too hot to wear around the house all day. I'm really glad that men never started wearing panty hose. It's a giant pain to get these skin tight things on and off. It would be nice if someone made them with a fly in front too.

It was hard to remember to take the trash out to the curb this evening. It didn't seem like a Thursday at all. It didn't seem like New Year's Day either. When I was younger, New Year's day was mostly spent recovering from New Year's Eve. Now, it seems like a non-event. There used to be four bowl games that you watched back-to-back whether you liked football or not. You started with the Rose Bowl in California and ended late in the evening with the Orange Bowl in Florida. Now, there are well over thirty different bowl games starting in mid-December and going all the way through January 12. The Orange Bowl is called the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl now and the Cotton Bowl isn't even played in the Cotton Bowl stadium.

I'd love to see the sun tomorrow, but I don't think it's going to happen. It looks like we're going to have another very cold, rainy day. Janet thinks we ought to go to a movie. Jeez, I haven't been to a movie in a theater in almost three years. It might be fun. It certainly would be more fun than doing laundry and fixing computers.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1842 - New Year's Eve

Ordinarily I'm in bed by midnight, but I guess I'll stay up late tonight to welcome the new year. The bloom is definitely off the rose when it comes to New Year's Eve celebrations. I think I lost interest over twenty years ago when the band I played in was always booked for big New Year's Eve parties. When you're up on stage looking down at a sea of drunk faces, the appeal of getting wasted is less than zero. I hated these New Year's Eve parties. The weather was usually terrible. It seemed like we had to play longer than normal. And it was a bitch to pack up all the equipment at 2 AM. Somehow, it's a lot nicer to watch the ball drop on TV, enjoy a glass of champagne in the kitchen, and go to bed a few minutes after midnight.

I thought I'd come up with a clever plan to lower my prescription cost. I got my doctor to renew everything for another year and I was going to get all the prescriptions filled today before the cost of my drug plan went up again. Every year the cost continues to go up. My plan didn't work very well, because the pharmacist said most of the prescriptions couldn't be filled until I ran out of my current supply. He filled two out of the eight scripts and said I could pick up the rest when needed. "When I pick up these other prescriptions in January, will I have to pay next year's higher rates," I asked. Of course I will.

It was only a few degrees above freezing when we took our morning walk. The dogs still didn't want to wear sweaters under their harnesses, but they did decide they'd had enough when we'd covered about half our normal route. I wish I could convince Dot and Dash that the sweaters are a good thing, but it's hardly worth the effort to get them to wear them anymore. They both run away whenever I get the sweaters out. It's hard to get Dot's sweater on too, since her legs have gotten so shaky. I guess we'll just have to take shorter walks until the weather gets a bit warmer.

The weather forecast is predicting sleet or freezing rain later tonight. I hope this forecast isn't accurate, since freezing rain is always a big mess in Dallas. This is when the highways turn into a roller derby and large trees fall over under the weight of the ice. Many of the power outages we've experienced over the years have occurred during ice storms.

I hope that 2015 is pleasant and uneventful. We overcame many adversities this year, but it would be nice if we could avoid them altogether in the year ahead. I hope the dogs stay healthy. I'd like just enough work to keep me busy, but not enough to make me crazy. I'm still debating whether to have any champagne tonight. It's a nice tradition and my liver is back to normal again. My doctors have told me that the occasional drink will cause no problems at all. On the other hand, I'm kind of proud of my sobriety. Maybe I'll just have some eggnog.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1841

I wish I'd discovered compression pants earlier. These things are great for cold weather. I don't know why it took me so long to discover that compression pants were a better alternative to old fashioned cotton long johns, but I'm wearing mine all the time now while I walk the dogs. Unlike the cyclists and joggers I see, I continue to wear these leggings under a pair of jeans. The Batman and Robin look isn't really my style.

Dot continues to seem invigorated by the cold. For the past several days she's been leading the walk like she used to in the old days. I don't know whether to attribute her new found energy to the Rimadyl she started taking last week, or to the cold weather which she clearly enjoys. Either way, it's good to see her start enjoying these walks again.

It looks like I'm going to continue to stay busy through the end of the year.  I had more writing assignments today and am starting to plan for an upcoming video shoot early in January. I have mixed feelings about January. The month could be great or terrible. The glass looks half empty when I contemplate the dental surgery I'm about to have. On the other hand, the glass is definitely half full when I remember I'll be traveling to Vandenberg Air Force Base to attend the launch of the SMAP satellite. I even have mixed feelings about the upcoming video shoot. I've been complaining for months that I didn't have enough video clients. Now that this seems to be changing, I'm remembering how much work video production is. To tell you the truth, writing is a lot easier.

I finished my writing jobs just in time to get Dot to her physical therapy appointment. She was really impressive today. We went back to doing interval training, since she was strong enough to speed up the treadmill a bit. The combination of the underwater treadmill, acupuncture, and cold laser therapy really seems to be showing some positive results. I asked my vet if the laser might help my shoulder too, and she said it probably would. It's funny that my physical therapist never mentioned cold laser therapy. As always, my dogs continue to receive far more advanced treatment than I do.

I'm not having much luck getting Jawbone to replace my broken UP band. Maybe they've finally gotten sick of me. I've already had three defective UP bands replaced, but I still think these things should last at least a year. At the price these fitness trackers cost, they're not really a disposable item.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you continue to follow my somewhat subdued adventures in the year ahead.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1840

I never realized that there were so many devilishly inventive ways to make my arm hurt. Every time I go for physical therapy, I get introduced to several new stretching exercises designed to increase the range of motion in my right shoulder. I'm definitely making progress, but it's going to take a long time at this rate. I wonder what I did to make this shoulder so unstable? There was never any definitive injury that caused the shoulder instability. It just gradually got worse and worse. I still think the dogs caused most of the problems. They both like to walk on my right side and whenever they try to chase after rabbits or lunge at a pile of fresh horse poop, my right arm always had to absorb the shock. Since I'm left handed, this abuse to my right arm never really bothered me. "At least the important left arm is safe," I thought. I wish I'd been a little more protective of both arms over the years, but it's a little late now.

Usually this last week of the year is completely dead, but I've been getting a surprising number of new assignments. I was kept busy today with an assortment of writing and website jobs. There are a couple of stretching exercises I can do while I'm sitting at my desk. While this is convenient, it is also irritating. Much of what I do isn't much fun anyway. Working with a very sore shoulder just makes the task at hand worse. I would like to be able to lift both hands over my head again, so I guess I'll continue.

I noticed an oddly shaped piece of white plastic in the greenhouse yesterday and was just about to throw it away when I realized that it might be a good way to foil the pooping bird. The plastic sheet was about the length of my car's front door window and had a convenient angle along one side, allowing it to rest just below the window while providing a very unstable platform for the bird. I positioned the plastic sheet against the window after I got back from physical therapy and it seemed to work. The bird didn't want to land on the unstable plastic and there was no more bird poop for the rest of the day. It would be weird if this Rube Goldberg device worked while my very realistic rubber snake did absolutely nothing.

Usually at this time of year, I'm buying equipment for the studio so I can expense it on my taxes. I doubt that I'll buy anything at all this year. There seems little point in buying more video equipment when it seems doubtful that I'll ever get another large scale production job. Everyone has a GoPro now and thinks they're Stanley Kubrick. It's kind of ironic that I'll probably end my career exactly the same way I started it: as a writer. Writing never seems to become obsolete. All you need is a pencil and a few ideas. In a world where nobody reads and writing is becoming a lost art, I can still fill a page. It makes me wonder why I got sidetracked by video production and web design in the first place.

Dot has her last session with the underwater treadmill for the year tomorrow. It's been quite a year! Dot's determination and resilience has been an inspiration. I hope we both can continue to get healthier in the year ahead.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1839

When I was cleaning the bird droppings off the car this morning, I inadvertently rammed my head into the edge of an open car door. I was on my way to the gym, but I had to wait about twenty minutes until the bleeding quit. The last thing I wanted to do was answer a bunch of questions from total strangers about why there was a big bandage on my forehead. Luckily, my blood clots quickly. I fed the dogs a couple of extra dog treats while I was waiting and then I was on my way.

The TED talk on the car radio today was about memory. Evidently most of us are very selective about our memories and forget the vast majority of what happens to us each day. I probably forget more than most of you. The guy on the TED stage was explaining how we can train our memories to remember much more, but I'm not sure I'd want to do that. I'm convinced that my lack of memory has been responsible for much of my success in life. I reinvent the wheel continually, since I have very few formulas stored away. I am able to do routine things over and over again without getting bored, because it all seems new to me. I'm convinced that thinking of new and original solutions to everyday problems keeps the brain a lot more agile than simply pulling a tried and true solution out of your memory bank. Advertising would have driven me insane decades ago if I remembered every ad I ever did.

The Nike running shoes I wear to the gym are wearing out, so I thought I'd pick up a new pair while I was out and about today. Good lord! How do you rationally select a pair of running shoes these days? There are literally thousands of styles, colors and prices to choose from. Each model seems purpose built for something or other, but without trying on dozens and dozens of shoes, I didn't have a clue which I would like best. I didn't like the new featherweight styles that looked like they'd fall apart in three weeks. I didn't like all the neon colors or high-top basketball styles either. I finally found something that looked more or less like my old shoes and bought a pair. I probably need to start looking for some new dog walking boots too. My sturdy waterproof Redwing boots aren't waterproof anymore. They just don't make shoes like they used to.

It's hard to believe that it will be 2015 in just a few days. It seems like yesterday when Janet and I opened a bottle of champagne to welcome a new millennium on December 31, 1999. Everyone was worried about the Y2K bug and the year 2000 sounded very futuristic. Oddly, not much has changed in fifteen years.

I've got an early morning physical therapy session scheduled for tomorrow. It seems all wrong to have physical therapy before breakfast, but it can't be helped. This is just a weird holiday scheduling anomaly. Pretty soon it will be 2015 and everything will be back to normal.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1838

It was cold when we walked the dogs this morning, but as it turned out, this was as warm as it was going to get. As the day progressed it continued to get colder and colder. Now, it looks like it might freeze tonight. Of course tomorrow, the temperature will be back up in the fifties again. I'll never be able to get used to Texas weather.

When I was out shopping this afternoon, I saw several neighborhood Christmas tree lots packing up their tents and disposing of their unsold trees. A Christmas tree lot the day after Christmas is a sad sight. I wonder what these guys do the rest of the year?

The stores had huge sales on wrapping paper and Christmas ornaments today. I know people that always buy their wrapping paper this way. I don't think that far ahead. I just look for what's lying around the house on Christmas Eve. When I was getting groceries, I saw a crowd flocking to one particular aisle. I pushed my buggy toward the melee to see what all the commotion was about and discovered that all the Christmas candy and sweets were half price. I don't eat many sweets myself but got caught up in the moment and ended up buying a box of half price Godiva chocolates.

I seem to have reached some sort of plateau with the stretching exercises that are supposed to help my shoulder. I was making real progress for the first few days, but now I seem to have hit a brick wall. Maybe, this is as far as my bad shoulder is going to move. It's not that the joint is increasing painful to move, it just won't move at all beyond a certain point. I can lie on a flat surface and extend my left shoulder all the way behind my head with a full 180 degrees of motion. The right shoulder will only extend about twenty degrees past a vertical position. Today, I kept thinking that this is as good as it's going to get, but I'm sure that my physical therapist will think otherwise. We'll see how far she can pull and stretch my sore arm on Monday.

I was worried that the dogs would be too cold today and started to bundle them up in their Winter sweaters. Now that the dogs are both wearing their red Ruffwear harnesses on walks, it's kind of a challenge to add sweaters and coats. These Web Master harnesses are kind of like a coat themselves. Do you put the sweater under or over the harness? I eventually gave up, which is probably what the dogs wanted anyway. They like the cold a lot more than I do. I continue to be amazed at how briskly Dot walks along on these cold mornings.

The rubber snake didn't work. I think all I did was make the bird mad. It not only pooped on the car, it even pooped on the rubber snake. I'll try a different color rubber snake tomorrow, but I definitely think this irritating bird is winning the battle at this point.

I don't really feel like going to the gym tomorrow, but I probably should anyway. I told my physical therapist that I try to go to the gym at least twice a week. Jeez, I'm still having trouble making it even once a week. I think these guys can tell when you're not doing your homework.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day