Day 1858

I got a lot done today. I attribute the day's success to seeing the sun again. We had a great walk this morning. It was still chilly outside, but with shadows on the ground and the sun on my face, it all seemed reasonably comfortable. My shoes were still muddy when we returned, but it was no big deal. All is forgiven when there's lots of sunshine. Janet went to breakfast with me for the first time in recent memory. She liked the food, but I don't think she'll become a regular. My go-to meals have too many calories.

I was a little surprised that I've never heard anything further from the new client that was supposedly headed my way. The initial inquiry was from an ad agency, which probably explains everything. Ad agencies are notorious about not following up on things. I probably won't hear from them again until late on a Friday afternoon when they have some kind of rush deadline that will ruin my weekend.

On days like today, I'm not sure how many new clients I could handle anyway. I was almost late for my physical therapy appointment because I had trouble finishing my writing assignments. I got a lot done, but I'll still have to do some additional writing this weekend. When I returned from therapy, I had a big website update to complete. There were 24 new pictures that needed to be resized in Photoshop, plus captions and bios under each picture. Everything was uploaded to the server just in time to begin feeding the dogs their dinner and give Dash his Palladia chemo medication before taking our evening walk.

I'm glad the weekend is here, although Saturday and Sunday aren't much different than any other day when you're freelancing. I like to think of the weekend as a restful time, but I'm not kidding anyone. All my clients know that I'm still here, and if they need something, they're not shy about asking me. The oral surgeon initially wanted to remove my wisdom teeth on a Friday, so I could have the weekend to rest. Rest on weekends? You've got to be kidding. I tried to explain that my office didn't shut down at 2 PM on Friday afternoons, like his did and that weekends were often the busiest days of the week for me. I don't really care when they do the surgery, as long as they do it at 10:30 in the morning. Any earlier and I won't be able to walk the dogs. Any later and I'll get hungry, since I can't eat before surgery.

I had a different therapist today, since my regular therapist had a scheduling conflict. This therapist was stronger and gave my arm some serious tugs. I actually think this approach might be better. My shoulder got this bad in the first place because I was always trying to avoid pain. If the therapist tries too hard to avoid causing pain as well, I probably won't accomplish much. It's a fine line though. Too much discomfort will cause more inflammation and make the whole situation worse. Maybe I just need pain as a yardstick to measure things. I've kind of lost the whole concept of pleasure.

I did manage to find Comet Lovejoy last night. I couldn't see it with the naked eye because of the city lights, but it was fairly easy to spot with binoculars. Right below the Pleiades was a soft luminous smudge that had to be a comet. Either that or my binoculars were dirty.

Selby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1857

I saw the sun today. It's amazing what a little sunlight and blue skies can do. It was still cold outside and I had way too much work to do, but today was much more satisfying than yesterday. Let's hope the clear skies continue for long enough for the ground to dry up. Although the sun made me happy today, cleaning my muddy boots didn't. I don't know how Northerners keep their houses clean. It all seems pretty hopeless to me.

I've heard that tonight is an ideal time to try and see Comet Lovejoy. I doubt that I'll be able to see the comet with all the city lights, but since I didn't even think I'd have the opportunity, I'm going to go out with a pair of binoculars and give it a try. The comet is located near the constellation Orion. This is something even I can find in the night sky, so maybe there's hope.

I called the oral surgeon's office today to confirm my surgery appointment and discovered that the estimate they gave me was for having all four wisdom teeth removed. Whoa! I thought that estimate was too high. The last thing I want is to go to the dentist thinking I'm having one tooth removed and wake up to discover that four are gone. The receptionist explained that almost everybody has all four wisdom teeth removed at the same time, so they just assumed I was going to do this too. "That's not what the dentist and I talked about," I said. Jeez. If I ever have to have all my wisdom teeth removed, I prefer to have them removed one at a time at ten year intervals.

Dot did great at her physical therapy session today. I'm amazed at how much stronger she seems than last January. Since a large part of the year was spent recovering from cancer, her new found strength and stamina seems even more remarkable. I keep thinking that if Dot can do this, maybe I can too. Hopefully, after a year or so, my own physical therapy efforts will start paying dividends as well. I've got to remember that nothing dramatic ever happened during Dot's therapy. There were no decisive moments. She just very slowly began to improve over a long period of time.

There are articles to write tomorrow, broken websites to fix, photo shoots to schedule, and a pile of bills to pay. I'm still going to have a nice breakfast at my favorite restaurant though. I deserve it.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1856

I think we're setting some kind of Texas record for unrelenting grey days. It's been colder before, and I can remember a January or two with more snow. This is the gloomiest January I can remember though. The combination of dark, grey skies and cold, damp temperatures just saps your energy. All I really want to do these days is crawl under a very warm blanket.

The naps will have to wait however. Not only is my plate full of writing assignments, I think I may have acquired a new client as well. New clients are a rarity these days, since I'm no longer looking for them. This doesn't stop things from falling in my lap occasionally. If this new deal works out, it will involve more writing about luxury goods. I actually enjoy writing about luxury goods, mostly because it is infinitely superior to writing about Walmart or Dollar General.

I've decided I need a little point-and-shoot camera. I've virtually stopped using my big professional cameras for personal photos, because they are just too much trouble to lug around. It's almost embarrassing how often I use my phone instead of a "real" camera these days. The camera on my iPhone is about as good as professional digital cameras were fifteen years ago, but on the plus side, it's always in my pocket. The frustrating thing about the iPhone camera is that there is no optical zoom, and it is almost impossible to focus on certain subjects. I still don't understand why the wizards at Apple aren't able to come up with a phone camera that offers manual focus and exposure control. Maybe nobody else wants these things. At any rate, I think if I had a small cigarette case sized camera with a 30x zoom in my pocket, I could capture a lot more interesting images.

Just when I was about to tell my physical therapist that I had too many exercises to remember, she gave me three new ones. Each of these stretching exercises serves to remind me just how weak my right shoulder has become. It all happened so gradually that I wasn't really aware that I was losing both mobility and muscle tone. The shoulder doesn't hurt when I'm not trying to lift things, so inch-by-inch I just quit using it and began relying on my left arm instead. I never should have done this, but hind-site is always 20-20. I think the main reason I'm putting myself through all the discomfort of rehabilitation is that I never want to become one of those people who walks into a supermarket under their own power and then insists on using one of the store's electric scooters to drive around and shop sitting down just because it is easier. That's not me. I'll continue to walk five miles a day with the dogs and climb up on the roof to get the water off until I drop.

Hopefully my creaky body won't give out tomorrow, because I've got lots to do. Dot has her physical therapy day tomorrow and I continue to think that she's making more progress than I am. Dot probably still has energy because she sleeps sixteen hours a day. As someone who rarely gets more than six hours of sleep, sixteen hours sounds pretty good. I'd probably have insomnia though.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1855

I did end up going out for breakfast this morning in an effort to add some life to this cold, grey day. My meal was delicious, but the weather remained absolutely awful. The dogs and I have reached a consensus not to walk quite as far in the mornings. What is the point? All we get for our efforts are wet paws, muddy boots and a strong desire to take a nap when we return. When I returned from breakfast and opened the back door so the dogs could go outside and pee, they just glared at me from their dog beds. They had no desire to go outside again. I certainly couldn't blame them, since I was planning on spending the rest of the day inside as well.

I didn't have to worry about being bored today. There was plenty to do. I spent most of the day writing, and when I was finished with my assignments, there were the inevitable website updates as well. The work isn't rocket science, but I really can't complain. With all its drawbacks, I still prefer staring at a computer in a quiet house to working in an office. I don't think I could ever go back to an office again.

I hate to admit that I'm a little nervous about having my wisdom teeth removed on Friday the 13th. I need to think of a better excuse than pure superstition before I call the dentist and change the date however. I hate to think of myself as a superstitious person, even though I am. A regular blog reader told me today that he's lived with a dead tooth for over 40 years. That sounds good to me. All I really need is twenty-five years. No self respecting dentist would ever leave a dead tooth in your mouth though. They'll fill your head with dire warnings until you're convinced that you're going to die if you don't have the tooth removed immediately. I don't know why I have such a fear of dentists. I was in far greater danger when I had Hepatitis C, but the fear of having a tooth removed has always trumped everything.

Even since I got my new Bluetooth UP 24 band, I've been noticing that my phone battery has been draining almost twice as fast. This is irritating, because I hate to charge my phone more than once a day. Any decent battery ought to last at least a full day. I tried all sorts of schemes to extend battery life until I stumbled on the obvious. I just turn the phone off at night. Works like a charm. When the phone is completely powered down, the battery doesn't seem to discharge at all. So far, I see no downside to this technique. If anyone calls me in the middle of the night, I don't want the call anyway.

I think I need to tell my physical therapist to back off on the stretching exercises. Every time I go for my therapy appointment, the therapist adds three new exercises. If I did all these exercises faithfully, I'd spend half my day stretching. I have gained some mobility, but it comes at a price. I'm constantly sore these days.

I'm hoping for warmer weather tomorrow. I've got a lot of writing to do so I won't be outside much anyway, but it would still be nice if I didn't feel like I was heading toward the North Pole when the dogs and I head off on our morning walk.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

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