Day 300 - Columbus Day

Columbus Day is certainly an odd little holiday. I always totally forget about it until I go out to check the mail after lunch and discover that there isn't any. Many people I know aren't quite sure why this day is celebrated at all, and among those who do know, most are opposed to it. I just don't like postal holidays, because I enjoy getting the mail.

The Paypal folks are letting me test some of their latest donation widgets on the blog. I added a brand new "Giving Widget" they are developing today and it seems like a fabulous idea for any sort of charity. The neat thing about this widget is that it can easily be shared. All you do is click on the "add to site" button and you can easily add a fully functioning duplicate of the widget on your own website or blog. I hope you guys will try this widget out, and if you are interested in helping animals, will consider adding it to your own blogs. Give a few dollars to the Dalmatians too. They could certainly use your help.

I had some sticky buns we got at the auction Saturday night for breakfast this morning. Man, those ladies can cook! These were the best tasting sweet rolls I've ever had. No wonder the cakes and pies were getting higher bids than the jewelry and craft items.

I'm still getting used to Twitter. I don't really know what to Tweet about on days like today. Do people really want to know that nothing is happening? I've already learned one thing though. It's a lot easier to get followers on Twitter than it is on a blog. Every day there seems to be a few more. Maybe someday I'll say something memorable enough to get re-tweeted. It probably won't be any time soon though.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 299

The casino party last night was interesting. We drove 75 miles north of Dallas to a small town near the Oklahoma border to participate in a fundraiser for a member of the community who needed brain surgery. She had no insurance. The entire town was rallying behind this woman to help her get the $300,000 surgery she needed. A couple in town who adopted a Dalmatian from us a few years ago asked Dalmatian Rescue if we could help with the event. I didn't know what to expect, but the evening was quite enjoyable. The little town had no less than three authentic pit barbecue restaurants and one of them served a delicious dinner at the event. After dinner, the casino party began and everyone seemed to have a good time. When the gambling concluded around 10 PM, a live auction began. People in the community had donated beautiful hand made quilts and crafts for the auction, along with a ton of delicious looking baked goods.

A local livestock auctioneer conducted the auction and everyone in the room acted like they'd been to plenty of auctions before. The bidding was fast and furious. Oddly, the beautiful quilts and craft items didn't get nearly as much attention from the bidders as the food. People even bid on the leftovers from the barbecue dinner. I ended up having the winning bid on a gorgeous custom made hunting knife by Texas knifemaker Rorick Davis. I was amazed that the bidding didn't go higher on this beauty and I ended getting the knife for less than folks were bidding on the pecan pies. This was definitely a town that loved to eat. By the end of the evening, people were even bidding on potato salad and leftover barbecue sauce. I love little towns like this. In Dallas, it's easy to forget you're actually living in Texas. It's just another big city. Spend some time in Lindsay though and you'll know exactly where you are. It might be fun to go back next Summer for the annual tractor pull.

We have a new dog up at the K-9 University kennels now. His name is Neo and he's a rare lemon spotted Dalmatian. Most Dalmatians have black and white spots, although it's not that uncommon to see the liver spotted variety with brown and white spots. Lemon Dals have yellow ocher spots. I've only seen a few of these dogs, and they are usually quite striking.

I don't know what's happened with Dash. He was doing so well in the car earlier this Summer and now he seems to have regressed. We took advantage of the great weather and took the dogs up to the Wagging Tail dog park this afternoon. Dash whined and whimpered the entire way.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 298

I've got plumbers over at the house again. Dogs are barking. The kitchen sink is backed up. It's a general mess. I thought when I had a plumber over all day fixing things last month that I wouldn't have any more plumbing problems for a long time. Apparently I was wrong. When something goes wrong with the electricity or the water lines, I wonder how people ever managed to live without these things. I can't even function without air conditioning anymore. It's easy to forget that only a few generations ago it was completely normal to have an outdoor toilet and no electricity. How quickly we take things for granted. Probably the next generation will look at their WiFi connection the same way I look at running water.

I'm running way behind today. As soon as the plumber is finished unclogging the drains, I need to take a shower and get the grocery shopping done. Everything has got to be finished by 5 PM today, because we've got another Dalmatian Rescue Casino Night this evening. As always, I'll be spinning the roulette wheel. These casino parties remind me of the days when I used to play in a rock band. The hard part was always setting up and then packing things up again after the gig was over. With the casino parties, we have to haul a trailer full of blackjack, roulette and craps tables to each event. The craps table is always a bear to set up. It's too large to carry in one piece, so we pack it up in several pieces and assemble it at the event. It's probably easier to move a piano than it is to move a full size craps table. Even though it's a lot of work, the casino parties have turned out to be good fundraisers for the dogs. People seem to love to gamble, even if they're placing their bets with Monopoly money.

Another Halloween costume for you today. This time, it's Dash as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 297

I got a lot done today. The Pet Fair poster is not only finished, it has already been approved. Most of the websites I manage are finally up-to-date again. I even found time to write some testimonial quotes for the Paypal folks. The office still looks like it received a direct hit from a passing tornado, but I'm getting used to that. It would be nice if I had a tidy office and a tidy life, but I can barely keep up with everything as it is.

I did find time to go to the reception for my architecture school classmates after work. I don't know why I bothered though. What's the point in going to a cocktail party when you can't drink? It's depressing to have a glass of bottled water in your hand when everyone else is drinking wine. I did manage to say hello to a few of my old classmates, but there weren't that many people I knew at the party. Events like these used to draw a big crowd when we were all just out of school, but nobody has the time anymore. I still go to just about anything I'm invited to however. What the hell. I talk to dogs all day. It's nice to have an opportunity to talk to people occasionally.

When I stopped at Central Market on the way home to pick up dinner, I had another chance to talk to someone I knew. Terri Stone, my sculptor friend, was right ahead of me in line at the deli counter. Terri reminded me that she was on the Fall studio tour this year and I promised that I'd stop by and see her new work next week. I have a couple of Terri's steel sculptures in my back yard, but I doubt that I could afford her work anymore. I'm glad her sculpture has gotten pricey though. It's not easy making your living as a fine artist and it's always nice to see someone succeed.

Since Halloween is only a few weeks away I thought I'd show you guys some Dalmatians in costumes. Today, we have Dot as Cruella de Vil.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 296

I'm finally able to retire my oldest printer. For quite a few years, I've had to keep an ancient printer running in the office because it was the only thing that would print the invoices that my equally ancient accounting software generated. Today, I finally figured out how to turn these invoices into PDF files and print them on a decent printer. This wasn't as easy as it sounds because Adobe hadn't even invented the PDF format yet when I started using the accounting software. At any rate, when I got my monthly invoices out in the mail this afternoon, they looked a lot nicer than they did last month.

It's hard to believe it's already been a week since I was in San Francisco for the Paypal photo shoot. Although it's still going to be a while before the ads start running, I'm already starting to see some results. A completely different division of Palpal called me this afternoon and asked if I could send them some quotes to use on their fundraising page. These folks got my name from the advertising team I met last week. I guess the fundraising campaign is different than the image ads we were photographing in San Francisco. The Paypal folks I talked to today even said they might be able to link my quotes back to the blog and wondered if I would be interested in adding a Paypal donate button to the "Dalmatian of the Day" feature. I'm excited. I think when all these ads roll out later this year, it's really going to benefit Dalmatian Rescue. We've noticed that even a small notice in the local newspaper gets more people interested in helping the dogs. Since Paypal is worldwide, who know what might happen.

It looks like I'll be shooting Halloween pet pictures at Three Dog Bakery in Plano later this month. I'm trying to decide what kind of set would be best for dogs in costumes. I could have a "scary" set with cobwebs and tombstones , or a Fall harvest set with pumpkins and bales of hay. I'm leaning toward doing a warm and friendly Fall theme, because there will be no way of telling ahead of time how the customers will dress their dogs. I'm getting quite a collection of muslin photo backdrops with all these holiday photo shoots I've done. I looked through what I had this afternoon and didn't see anything that works for Halloween. Guess I'll need to add "get Halloween backdrop" to my 'to do' list.

I also need to add 'photograph Fall leaves' while I'm at it. For the past two years, I've completely missed capturing the Fall colors. It would be a shame to let this happen again. I noticed while I was walking the dogs this morning that the trees are already starting to turn. Now that I have the iPhone, there's really no excuse not to snap a few pictures while we're walking.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 295

I had to go back to the dentist today to get my chipped filling repaired. I didn't think this would be a big deal, since only a small piece of the filling was missing. Oops. I was wrong. The dentist said he had to grind out all of the remaining filling and start over again. Since the tooth that needed repair was right next to a large wisdom tooth that had come in crooked, he couldn't deaden the tooth properly. Yikes! Every time the drill hit a nerve, I remembered exactly why I don't like going to the dentist. Somehow, just the sound of a dental drill is all it takes to remind me of that film Marathon Man. After an hour or so of drilling, I was ready to start drinking again. On the way out, I asked the dentist if he needed a website and he wasn't sure if he had one. I think that's a pretty good sign that he needs one. I'll have to remember to follow up on this when the Novocain wears off.

When I got back to the office, the remainder of the day was slow. I thought I'd take this opportunity to update my own website. For someone who does this for a living, my own websites are usually hopelessly out of date. I guess I've just lost interest in them. I always tell clients how important it is to keep their content fresh if they want people to keep visiting their site, and then I totally ignore my own sites. Today, I found some pages that hadn't been updated in years.

After sprucing up my company website a bit, I decided to go outside and spruce up the back yard as well. That was a mistake. My allergies are just as bad today as they were yesterday. By the time I had finished pruning a few bushes, I had to go back inside again. Janet says I'm allergic to dust and that if I would start dusting things properly around the house, my allergies would go away. I don't think she's right. The allergies are much worse outside than in my dusty, cluttered office. I'm starting to think that Dash and I have exactly the same allergies, because I've noticed that his skin looks worse on the days when my eyes are watering the most.

Dash actually did pretty well in obedience class tonight, but I hardly noticed because I spent the entire evening blowing my nose.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 294

Since it was such a beautiful day today, we took an extra long walk through the neighborhood. It's getting close to election day, so it's fun to look at all the yard signs and learn everybody's political affiliations. You really don't need the signs though. All you have to do is look at the cars in the driveway. So far, I've never met a Republican who drives a Prius, and I've never met a Democrat who drives a Hummer. It's pretty easy to spot the Tea Party folks too. They're the frustrated ones who've had the same real estate for sale sign in their front yard all year and still don't have any buyers.

My vet taught me how to give Dash his antigen injections today. I think I did OK on my first attempt at giving a shot. Dash didn't flinch or act uncomfortable. I didn't poke myself by mistake. And there was no blood on the floor when I was finished. I still haven't made the leap from giving Dash an easy subcutaneous injection in the loose skin of his neck to giving myself a Peginterferon injection in my leg muscle, but I guess this is a start.

I have made the leap to embracing Twitter however. I think I'm hooked. I'm certainly not a compulsive Twitterer, but I'll admit to posting Tweets from all over the place. In theory, the Tweets could funnel people over here to the blog, where they would eventually discover my website. It probably doesn't work that way though. Truthfully, I don't have any interest in using Twitter as a marketing tool. I'd rather just use it to blather.

I got an e-mail today inviting me to a local alumni reception for my architecture school classmates later this week. I think I'll go. There are still quite a few people from my graduating class here in Dallas and it would be fun to see them again. Even though I can't drink any more, a happy hour reception is still a good place to blather.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 293

The last time I went to the dentist was in 1999. A lot has changed since then. I thought my teeth might have changed quite a bit too, but apparently not. After all these years, I still had no new cavities. One of my fillings had become loose, but that was about it. I was really surprised. After seeing how bad the dogs teeth could get in just one year, I thought I would have a mouthful of problems after ten years. My dentist said I was very lucky to have such good teeth, but that I still ought to come in at least once a year. He's going to repair the loose filling this Wednesday. I told him that the filling was very old and that I couldn't even remember when I got it. The dentist remembered. He said I had gotten pretty good mileage out of this filling. He gave it to me in 1986.

It's certainly easier to get your teeth cleaned than it used to be. The last time I paid a visit to the dentist, I remember lots of scraping with metal dental tools. Now they use this ultrasonic wand that just floats the plaque away. I sent a Tweet from my iPhone before I left the dentist's office. When I was here previously, Twitter hadn't even been invented yet.

After I left the dentist's office I went over to see a client who never bothers to send e-mail. He always has stuff for me to do though, so I make a point of dropping in on him every once in a while. Sure enough, there were a bunch of website updates I needed to make. He thought he had told me about the changes last month, but couldn't really remember. I wish all my clients were this casual. It's just a lot more enjoyable to work with folks who don't go into panic mode if their changes aren't up in thirty minutes.

My allergies weren't nearly as bad today. Oddly, Dash's skin looked worse though. I don't know why I'm so convinced that we're both suffering from the same problem. Dash's allergies are probably completely different than mine. I keep forgetting he's a dog.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 292

Seventy degrees. Blue skies. What's not to like? For me, the answer is Fall allergies. Somehow the nicest weather of the year and the worst of the allergy season always seem to coincide. By the time I had finished walking the Dalmatian Rescue dogs at K-9 University and taken our own dogs up to the Wagging Tail dog park, my eyes were watering so bad that I could hardly see and my nose was dripping like a faucet. Ironically, Dash's allergies are actually getting better. Maybe I should just start taking a daily dose of antibiotics like he does.

While I was up at K-9 University, I took pictures of Hobbs, our newest rescue dog. Hobbs is only ten months old and still acts like a puppy. He love to play with a ball, but he doesn't know much about walking on a leash yet. He'll take about ten steps forward and then back up and take a flying leap into the air. He's a strong little guy too. After walking him this morning, I felt like I had a dislocated shoulder. Hobbs learns quickly though. I think he'll master the leash in a few more weeks. One of the volunteers actually taught him to sit and stay while we were walking the dogs today.

I wish my trip to Alberta hadn't gotten postponed at the last minute. Now that I'm not going anywhere next week, I have no excuse that will get me out of tomorrow's dental appointment. The trouble with waiting so long between dental checkups is that it is almost inevitable they'll find something wrong. I'm prepared for the worst. If the dentist doesn't find at least one cavity, it will be a miracle.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 291

Today was full of little mysteries. When I went out to mow the grass this morning, I saw three ambulances surrounding a car on our street. The car didn't appear to be damaged at all, and the ambulances weren't in any hurry to take anyone to the hospital. From time-to-time, paramedics would get out of one of the ambulances and walk over to hand the driver of the car paperwork to sign. This went on for over fifteen minutes. As I was finishing up mowing the front yard, a police car drove up and two officers got out and started handing the driver even more paperwork. I never did see the ambulances leave with anyone injured and still have no idea what had taken place in front of the house.

Later, while I was doing the grocery shopping, I checked in on the dogs using the iPhone petCam and saw them both racing up and down the hallway and barking like crazy. Usually they just sleep. By the time I got home, they were back asleep again and the house looked absolutely normal. I guess I'll never know what had them so riled up. I'll probably never even know if this is a common occurrence or not.

One mystery did get solved, however. I've been wondering all week if I would be flying up to Alberta next Monday. Nope. I guess not. The trip has been postponed because my German client wasn't able to set up meetings with the people I was supposed to interview. The project is still supposed to happen, but I don't know if they're talking about next week or next year. It would probably help if I could speak German a little better.

Usually, I don't like to do website work on weekends, but today I found myself still playing catch up on things that slipped through the cracks while I was away. It's amazing how quickly you can get behind. After a few days of neglect, even something as simple as answering e-mail can become a monumental task. I think I've finally caught up on everything though. If the weather stays as nice tomorrow as it was today, the dogs are going to have a great time at the Wagging Tail Dog Park.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 290

Everything is back to normal. The dogs got their regular morning walk. I did my webmaster chores. I answered yesterday's e-mail. I even went over to the pet orphanage and photographed the goat again. It's hard to believe it's October already. Pretty soon it will be Halloween and we still haven't found a venue to do pet pictures for Dalmatian Rescue. Halloween is a great time to do our holiday pet picture fund raisers, since so many people like to dress their pets in costumes. Unleashed would have been a great place for this sort of thing, but since it's gone, we're going to have to find someplace else.

I certainly couldn't find anything last night. When my flight from San Francisco arrived back in Dallas, I couldn't find my car. It seemed to have just disappeared. I was convinced that the car had been stolen or towed. After I had called the towing company and airport security, I finally realized that I was on the wrong level of the parking garage and my car was exactly where I left it, four levels below.

I got home around midnight and when I washed my face before going to bed, I noticed that the washrag was turning brown. I couldn't figure out what was going on and then I realized that I'd never taken my makeup off after the photo shoot. Damn. I'd flown all the way back to Dallas with my photo makeup on. I can't believe women do this every single day. Maybe it's worth it though. It certainly fixed my blotchy skin in a hurry.

Everyone in San Francisco was talking about the heat wave they've been having lately. In Dallas, people are talking about the unusually cool weather we're currently enjoying. The temperature was exactly the same in both cities yesterday.

I wonder what I left behind in the photo studio? No matter where I go, I always manage to leave something behind.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 289

The photo shoot has been great fun. I'm still at the studio, having my picture taken with two Dalmatians. It's interesting being called the "talent" by the photographer and crew. Usually, I'm on the other side of the camera, so this is a new experience for me. I wish my own photo shoots were this professional. I feel like I'm on a busman's holiday. I've had my make-up done by a professional make-up artist and had a wardrobe coordinator pick out what I'll be wearing. The studio itself is huge. I'd love to have a studio like this, but it's pretty risky. You've got to keep a big studio busy every day, or you'll go broke.

The Paypal people couldn't have been nicer. I use Paypal all the time anyway, so doing a testimonial ad for them feels pretty natural. Hey, I use Sony and Apple products too. I love Land Rovers. I even love the Mr. Steamy Dryer Ball. Need a pitchman? I'm your guy. This certainly beats working. I've written ads and done lots of photography for ads, but actually being in the ad is a lot more fun.

It's too bad that I can't stay in San Francisco longer. It's a beautiful city. I'll be flying back to Dallas soon though. Tomorrow is just another work day. Before my Cinderella coach turns back into a pumpkin, I think I'll have another helping of the delicious food on the craft service table and trade business cards with a bunch of people I'd love to work with again.

This is the first time I've used the iPad to post. It works, but it is definitely slower than I prefer. I still can't type very fast using the touch screen. A real keyboard feels much more natural. This is certainly easier than using the iPhone to post though. I can't imagine writing anything very long using the iPhone.

I can't wait to see the finished ads. I think they're going to look great.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 288

I'm absolutely terrible at packing. When Janet travels, she has all her clothes neatly laid out days in advance. I just throw stuff in a duffel bag at the last possible minute and hope for the best. When I arrive where I'm going, it's not uncommon for me to open my bag and discover that I've packed five dress shirts for a two day trip, but failed to bring any underwear. I forget toothbrushes so often that I could start a toothbrush collection with all the brushes I've bought at hotel gift stores. I think my favorite way of traveling is to take no luggage at all and just buy something to wear at the duty free shop when I arrive. Traveling without luggage is kind of frowned on these days though, so I guess I'll take a bag.

I can't believe how nice the Paypal people have been. Usually making travel arrangements is a giant hassle for me, since I don't have secretaries or assistants to take care of these things. This time, I didn't have to do anything. Such luxury! All I have to do is show up tomorrow. When I was telling Janet how nice the Paypal people were, she asked me what they were paying me to be in the ad campaign. Hmmm. I think the correct answer would be nothing. Nada. Zip. I tried to explain to her that ad agencies don't have to pay people like me to be in commercials anymore. We live in a world where everyone is clamoring for their thirty minutes of fame. Media exposure is like catnip and nobody can get enough of it these days.

I've seen other bloggers do fancy stuff like blog at 35,000 feet while they're on a plane, or blog from their mobile phone while they're in a cab. That's way too complicated for me at this point. I think I'll just post this a little early today instead. When I was looking through the watch drawer for a watch of the day to photograph, I did manage to find one with a picture of an airplane on it. It's even the same airline as I'm flying on too. That's probably about as cool as I can manage. I will try to figure out how to include some pictures from the photo shoot tomorrow. That ought to be easy. Oh, wait.... The iPad doesn't have a camera. Now I've got to figure out how to move pictures from the iPhone to the iPad without syncing to a computer with iTunes. I wish Apple had just put a camera in the iPad.

Wish me luck. I hope I don't end up looking like a dork in the ads.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 287

It's official now. I'm going to be featured in a Paypal ad campaign. I was getting calls from wardrobe coordinators and photo stylists throughout the day telling me what to wear and what to bring to the San Francisco photo shoot. I think the art director at the ad agency wants me to be holding two Dalmatian puppies in my lap for the photo. I need to wear something dark, because the puppies will probably pee on me. I'm glad the ad agency wants to feature how Paypal helps Dalmatian Rescue raise money for our rescue dogs instead of how Paypal helps me waste money on watches. I actually like Paypal, so doing an ad with them ought to be fun.

It's strange being on the other side of the camera though. I've written and photographed hundreds of ads for all types of companies, but I'm very seldom actually in them. I need to remember to keep my mouth shut and refrain from telling the ad agency folks how I would have done the ad. I know from experience that one of the things that art directors and writers hate most are actors who tell them how to do their jobs during photo shoots.

I took Dash to the vet today to get his first antigen injection. Over time, these shots are supposed to help cure the bronzing condition that irritates his skin and turns his coat brown. My vet wants me to learn to give the shots to Dash myself, since he will need the injections for quite some time. I got my first lesson in how to handle a syringe today. It didn't seem all that hard, but I still don't like to look at needles. Maybe if I get good at giving Dash his shots, I'll finally work up the nerve to give myself the Peginterferon injections my doctor says I need.

I sent another FedEx box full of video tape to National Geographic today. They ought to have enough material on the dog and goat story now to do an entire series if they want. I'm always complaining about how dull my life is, but this year has actually been pretty interesting. I'm working on shows with National Geographic, I'm starring in a national Paypal ad and Dot and Dash have been featured in the local newspaper twice already.

Maybe this kind of stuff always happened, but I never remembered or appreciated it. Blogging has been good for me. The simple act of writing everything down has made me realize that there's a lot more to my life than I thought there was.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 286

I got this call today from a guy at Paypal saying that I was on the short list to be featured in an upcoming Paypal advertising campaign. At first, I had no idea what he was talking about and thought this was some weird telemarketing call. Then, I remembered that about a month ago, I had filled out something on the Paypal website called "Casting Call" where you could cast yourself in a Paypal commercial. "Would you be interested in being featured in Paypal advertising?" the guy asked. Sure, why not. "Can you fly out to San Francisco this week for a photo shoot?" I must have paused a little too long, because the guy continued "We'll pay for everything..." Hey, you convinced me!

The guy said he would have his assistant call me with travel arrangements later today, but I haven't heard anything yet. I still don't know if this whole thing is even real or not. The same thing is happening with my German client. They told me last week that they were going to have the schedule worked out for my trip to Alberta by Friday afternoon. It's Monday evening now and I haven't heard anything further from anybody.

I'm either going to be doing a whole lot of traveling pretty soon or doing absolutely nothing. It could go either way in both cases. I think I'd enjoy doing the Paypal commercials. It would probably be good for my business and it would certainly help Dalmatian Rescue. They already told me on the phone that they want to feature how the rescue group uses Paypal as part of their story.

I don't think I did a very good job of getting rid of the bees the other day. I started seeing new bees buzzing around the Eastern side of the house this afternoon. They're building nests or hives or whatever they build right where the old ones used to be. I guess I'm going to have to try something stronger than Raid Ant and Roach spray next time.

It's a shame that Fall weather and Fall allergies always seem to coincide. The temperature was perfect today. The sky was clear and blue. And my eyes itched and watered like crazy each time I walked the dogs. I've been sneezing and rubbing my eyes all day. If those Paypal guys could see my red nose and puffy face right now, they would cross me off their short list immediately.

I almost had an allergy disaster today too. I reached for the bottle of Visine while I was eating dinner and came up with a bottle of Super Glue instead. Yikes! That would have been a mess. When I found the Visine bottle, I noticed that the eye drops and the glue were almost in exactly the same type of bottle. Guess I'll have to stop putting the Super Glue in the pill drawer.

I filmed another short section of the National Geographic story this afternoon. The goat and Great Dane were initially found outside a wedding chapel in Garland, so the producers wanted me to go film the place so they would have an opening for the show. Since the goat was found eating flowers in front of the chapel, I wanted to open on a tight shot of the flowers and then zoom out to a reveal the front of the chapel. When I got up close to the flowers, guess what I saw. More bees.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 285

What a busy day! We had to leave the house by nine this morning in order to get out to the Castle Hills Golf Club in time to register all the players for today's Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament. The car was filled with large banners, multi-media equipment and silent auction items. No golf clubs though. I don't even play golf. This event always seems to require a huge amount of preparation and I'm always tired when it's over. It's usually our most successful fund raiser though and this year the event will help pay for expensive orthopedic surgery that two of our rescue dogs needed so they could walk normally again.

Every year, I drive around the course in a cart and take pictures of each team for an instant multi-media show that we play for the golfers during the awards dinner. I've gotten a lot better at shooting sports pictures after five years of doing this. When I first started, I was always too early or too late when I tried to capture a golfer's tee off shot. By the time I snapped the shutter, the ball was already thirty yards away. Now, I can usually get a shot that shows the ball only about a foot away from the club just after it has been struck. I've finally seen enough golf swings through the viewfinder that I know to snap the shutter just a fraction of a second before I see the club connect with the ball.

I certainly felt connected today. I sent a Tweet from my iPad while I was sitting in a golf cart on the ninth hole of the Castle Hills course waiting for the next team to arrive. I think there was even a GPS tag attached. Not that anyone cared what I was doing at that particular moment in time, but it's still kind of neat that things like this can be done with such ease. I still enjoy checking on the dogs with the iPhone petCam too, although the application is kind of buggy and crashes my computer more times than it works.

The tournament was a success, although I noticed that we didn't have as many golfers or sponsors as we did the year before. Slowly but surely, the faltering economy is taking its toll on rescue organizations like ours. People still donate, but not as much or as often. The dogs don't know that times are tough though. Most of the Dalmatians that come into the rescue program still have heartworms and some like Kobe and Humphrey have required very expensive surgery as well. It's a never ending struggle to rehabilitate theses dogs, but events like today's golf tournament certainly help.

Now that I've committed to writing something new each and every day, I feel a bit like Cinderella when midnight approaches and I still haven't published my blog post. My coach hasn't turned into a pumpkin yet, but I've come pretty close. It's kind of weird that I've actually changed my plans several times already to avoid missing a day. It's not like climbing Mount Everest or anything, but I'd still like to make it through an entire year without missing a day. Tonight could have been a problem. Last year it took a long time to get things packed up after the tournament and we didn't get home till after midnight. This year, a lot of people stayed to help and everything went smoothly. It looks like I've got almost an hour to spare.

It was a good day. We helped some dogs. The weather was great. Even the dinner was pretty good.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 284

I didn't sleep well last night. Dot woke me up at 3 AM and later at 4 AM when she heard thunder in the distance. By morning, the rain she was anticipating had arrived and it was wet and messy for the rest of the day. The first thing the dogs do every morning is race out to the back yard, do a lot of barking to wake up the neighbors, and go pee. On rainy days however, they won't even set foot outside the house. They just poke their heads out the door and look back at us as if we could magically stop the rain. They were going to have a long wait this morning, because the weather radar showed the storms extending halfway across the state.

While I was waiting for the rain to stop, I noticed that all the bees that have taken over the Eastern side of our house were quiet. They apparently didn't like the rain any more than the dogs did. It actually looked like they were all sleeping. This was the first time in weeks that the critters weren't buzzing around in a threatening manner like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. I took advantage of the relative quiet and quickly knocked all the hornet's nests off the eaves of the house with a rake and sprayed them with roach and ant spray. It probably wasn't the proper way to get rid of bees and wasps, but it was all I could think of. I didn't get stung either. So far, the plan appears to have worked. None of the wasps have returned. It's been over 12 hours and all is quiet on the Eastern front.

Since everyone who usually walks the Dalmatian Rescue dogs on Sunday morning will be at the Golf Tournament tomorrow, we went and took care of the dogs today. They were wild. It had been raining most of the morning and I don't think the dogs had been outside of their kennels all day until we got there. I walked a new dog named Hobbs. He was a young male who apparently had never been on a leash before. He just about dislocated my shoulder when I first started to walk him, but after about twenty minutes he had calmed down a bit and was walking more or less normally with the other dogs. Dalmatians are strong dogs. I have a lot more aches and pains than I did before I started working with rescue animals. It's worth it though. It's kind of amazing how much progress you can make in socializing some of these strays in just a few months.

Our of our veterinarian friends invited Janet and I to go to the SPCA "Fur Ball" with her this evening. It would have been fun, since this is the big social event of the year in the rescue community. Unfortunately, we're still working on last minute preparations for the Golf Tournament tomorrow. I hope the weather clears up. This is our big fund raiser for the entire year and we need a good turnout to pay all the vet bills the dogs have run up this year.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 283

Bees have taken over the Eastern side of our house. There must be thousands of them. I guess the bees have been there a while, but I only started noticing them a few days ago. This side of the house just looks out at the neighbor's fence, so I seldom look out the windows. I really don't know how to get rid of these bees. If I get up on a ladder to get close enough to the hives to spray, I'm sure I'll get stung. They aren't honeybees either. I think they're hornets.

Sometimes I wish I lived on the 27th. floor of a downtown high rise instead of at the edge of a nature preserve. I love animals, but I get tired of finding lizards in the shower with me and I don't ever want to see a live rat jump out of the toilet again. After that happened I had to put heavy wire mesh over all the standpipes on the roof. Some of our neighbors have found entire families of raccoons living in their attics. Personally, I'd much rather see wild animals through a pair of binoculars than having to chase them around the house.

I wish I wasn't so busy. I used to love going to gallery openings on Friday evenings, but I just can't seem to get organized anymore. I kinda wanted to go to the iShow opening at PDNB Gallery this evening, but by the time I got my work wrapped up and the dogs walked, the opening was over. The show runs through October 9, so maybe I'll go see it later. It sounds interesting. A bunch of well known commercial photographers display pictures they took with their iPhones.

On the way to Central Market today, I zoned out and forgot where I was going. I was halfway to a client's office before I remembered that I had actually set out to get groceries. I hate when I do that. I'm fairly absent minded and daydream a lot, so this has definitely happened before. Not that long ago, I set out for a client meeting and wound up in my doctor's parking lot instead.

The annual Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament is this Sunday. It's going to be a very busy weekend!

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 282

Well, now I can add Tweeting to my list of time wasting activities. When I discovered that my completely blank Twitter page actually had followers, I was finally shamed into learning how to use it. I can't remember how long my Twitter account has sat there lonely and unused, but it's been a long time. It was long enough for me to forget the login password anyway. I'll have to admit that Twitter does have it's appeal. It's intuitive, very easy to navigate and writing a single sentence is certainly easier than making a new blog entry every day, complete with new photography. I'm still not sure what to actually use Twitter for, but I guess I'll Tweet again. It's just too easy. I can see why network news anchors and advertising people become addicted to this thing. Twitter may just be the perfect communication tool for a shallow person like myself.

Actually, I wish I had the time and energy to do more things online. I'm always impressed by those people who manage to keep a dozen different blogs running at the same time. Maybe I should start some other blogs. I could start a blog called Overheard Bicycle Conversations. Every day while I'm walking the dogs in the park, groups of cyclists whiz by us on their bikes and I hear a single sentence of their conversations before they disappear in the distance. Today I heard a guy say "My mother didn't even come to my first wedding" as he passed us on the bike trail. Yesterday I heard someone say "Well, you know he has cancer, but he hasn't told her yet." That's all I hear. A single sentence and then they're gone.

It looks like the writing assignment in Alberta is going to happen. The Germans haven't decided on a date for the interviews yet, but they're writing me now about how they plan to pay me. That's always a good sign when people start talking about money. Back when I used to write a lot of annual reports, I could do a 1,500 word article in my sleep. Now it seems kind of long. It's certainly longer than the 140 characters you're alloted in a Tweet. I like that little countdown thingie on Twitter that shows you how many characters you have left to write. Maybe I could add something like that to Microsoft Word so I would know how many characters I had left in my writing assignments.  Counting down from 180,000 characters might be depressing though.

I can't believe that Mondo has won the challenge on Project Runway for two weeks in a row. I really didn't like the look he created tonight at all. By the way things looked coming down the runway, I thought Andy should have won. What do I know though.

Damn! The upload pictures button on Blogger isn't working again. Now, I've got to load the Dalmatian and watch of the day pictures on my web server and link back to them. Come on Google. I've got Twittering to do.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 281

Everything I'm working on is in limbo. I can't take the final group portrait of the "Three Amigos" or finish the National Geographic project about the goat and dog friendship because Judy, the Great Dane, has picked up a nasty staph infection and is being quarantined at the vet until she gets better. I can't make any travel arrangements for my upcoming trip to Alberta because my German client still hasn't decided when they want to go yet. Several other projects have ground to a halt because I simply can't find my clients. I think one has gone to San Antonio for a while and the other doesn't seem to be answering e-mail anymore.

Somehow I managed to lose all my reviews on Entrecard today. They just disappeared. Customer support had no explanation. They just said the disappearance was an "isolated incident" and didn't effect other users. So, you people who took the time to write some very nice things about the blog, I'm sorry about what happened. It wasn't my fault. Maybe you could write another review sometime. That would be nice.

I've got to put something on my Twitter page. I discovered that I have several followers and I've never even written a single Tweet. The page is empty. That seems weird to me. Why would anyone follow an empty page? Several people I know think Twitter is fabulous, but I still can't seem to get the hang of it. One of my old advertising buddies is writing a novel on Twitter - one sentence at a time. I guess that's kind of cool, but I could think of easier ways to write a novel.

Our Wednesday dog training class was nice tonight. The moon was almost full and there was a very bright looking Jupiter hanging just below. I think this is the closest that Jupiter is supposed to come to Earth for the next thirty years, so I'm glad the weather cooperated and let the planet put on a show. The dogs weren't very interested in astronomy, but they certainly enjoyed the cool, clear weather. It's just too bad it's starting to get dark during class again. That was one nice thing about Summer classes. It's a lot easier to do the exercises when you can see your dog.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day