Day 1847

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1846

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

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

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

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

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

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1845

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

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

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

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

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

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1844

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

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

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

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

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

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1843 - New Year's Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1842 - New Year's Eve

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

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

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

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

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

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1841

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

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

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

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

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

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

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1840

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

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

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

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

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

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1839

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

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

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

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

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

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1838

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1837

I got Janet one of those Jawbone activity trackers as a stocking stuffer gift, but unfortunately I forgot that she has a small instead of a medium size wrist. I took the little UP band back this morning to exchange it for a smaller size and was lucky to find one in exactly the same color. When I went to the exchange desk, they gave me a credit, but told me that the band would cost $25 more than I paid a day and a half ago. WTF? "This is exactly the same thing as the medium size band," I said. At first they tried to tell me that the smaller sizes cost more, but I reminded them that the entire end aisle display with every size and color was the same price. "Well, that was a special Christmas price," the clerk said. "It's after Christmas now." "That would be fine if I bought this today, but I bought it Christmas Eve," I said. "All I want is the same thing in a smaller size." When it became apparent that I wasn't in the mood to pay $25 more for something I had already purchased, a manager intervened and told me that he would adjust the price so I could make a direct exchange. As I was leaving, the manager told me somewhat sternly that prices in this store could change on a dime and that I should never expect the price to stay the same overnight. What a strange experience. All over town stores were having after Christmas sales and this store chose to raise it's prices instead.

When I went out for breakfast this morning it seemed like Christmas never even happened. Most of the customers were staring at their phones and eating breakfast in a hurry, just like they usually do. As I ordered my meal, the thought occurred to me that if I was still doing gallery shows, I would probably make huge prints of the almost identical Instagram pictures I've been taking of these meals and people would wonder what the miniscule differences in each picture meant. Of course, the pictures mean absolutely nothing unless you see them as evidence of OCD behavior.

It's been a really slow week. I think all my clients are on vacation. It was so slow this afternoon that I joined the dogs on the bad and watched the Dr. Who Christmas Special that I had recorded on the DVR yesterday. Despite an almost impossibly convoluted plot, this ended up being one of the most entertaining of these annual Christmas Specials I've seen in years. The Steven Moffat script was an unabashed fairy tale about dreams buried within dreams. It was also the first completely modern interpretation of the Santa Claus story I think I've ever seen. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon.

Janet picked up a couple of rubber snakes for me at the Dollar Store. A couple of months ago a friend told me that birds were afraid of snakes and that I should try something like this and see whether it would convince the bird who continually poops on my car to move on to somebody else's car. I placed one of the rubber snakes on my driver's side mirror this evening. We'll see what the bird thinks tomorrow morning.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1836 - Christmas Day

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas. We slept in late and probably would have slept even later if the dogs hadn't insisted on their morning walk. The skies were clear for a change and the park was virtually empty. Even the joggers and cyclists were home this morning. There were plenty of ducks and squirrels though, so Dot and Dash had a great time. Dot seemed stronger and more active today, so maybe the Rimadyl is working.

We had a nice leisurely breakfast when we got home and then we the took the dogs to the dog park. This used to be a Christmas tradition, but for a variety of reasons we haven't been able to go for several years. Last year, Janet was out of town visiting relatives and the year before we had terrible weather. Today was beautiful though and both dogs were eager for an outing. I wish the traffic was always as light as it is on Christmas Day in Dallas. It seems to be the one day each year where most of the stores close. Merchants seem to ignore Thanksgiving and Easter now, but Christmas still seems to be a day of rest. Driving through the virtually empty streets, I realized that I would enjoy living in a big city a lot more if there weren't any people.

The dog park was fairly empty too. Only die hard dogs enthusiasts make going to a dog park a priority on Christmas morning. Dot and Dash enjoyed mingling with the eight or ten other dogs in the park until a guy arrived with a pit bull who was a bit too aggressive for our taste. I've got nothing against pit bulls or any other breed, but I'm always a bit wary of powerful, poorly trained dogs who aren't well supervised by their owners. Things can escalate quickly when the owner isn't in control. This guy wasn't paying attention to his dog at all and kept telling people to slap it on the butt if it was bothering them. The dog was way too interested in Dot and was getting aggressive, so we left early and went home. I wish there was a way to keep people from bringing unruly and aggressive dogs to public dogs parks, but for the most part, these place operate on the honor system. You take your chances and just hope that all the other people in the park with you are nice.

When we got home again, the house was quickly filled with delicious smells as Janet began to prepare Christmas dinner. The dogs both took a nap near the kitchen, so they would be nearby in case scraps of food fell on the floor. Since it was a nice day, I went up on the roof and removed several weeks of rain water and leaves. It's been windy lately, so most of the leaves are gone from the trees by now. From now through Spring the troublesome roof should be a bit easier to manage.

Dinner was a delicious feast. The dogs got a boiled chicken breast as a Christmas treat, while Janet and I enjoyed a crown roast of pork with traditional holiday side dishes of sweet potatoes, dressing, and noodle kugel. There was even a fresh pumpkin pie for dessert. Opening our gifts was almost an afterthought. We have everything we need these days, so the day is mostly about relaxing and enjoying some time with the dogs.

Tomorrow, it's back to work for both of us. Even though it was Christmas Day, I still remembered to take the trash out to the curb this evening. You never want to forget about trash day.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1835

Today was pleasant. Janet walked the dogs this morning while I went up to the Land Rover dealer to get my tire fixed. I always enjoy going to the dealership. I've been going there for almost twenty years, so everyone knows me. They have good french roast coffee and if you get there early, there is always a nice selection of pastries from Corner Bakery. Everyone was in a good mood this morning because they all got off at noon for Christmas Eve. Even though I only went to get a nail removed from my tire, they washed my car and vacuumed the interior. If only all businesses were this nice.

On the way home I picked up some dog treats for Dot and Dash and got them each a fresh chicken breast so they could have something special for Christmas dinner as well. Janet and I are having a crown roast, so we'll all be eating well tomorrow. In keeping with my tradition of saving everything until the last minute, I spent the rest of the morning wrapping a few packages to put under the tree.

I sent a confirmation letter to NASA today, telling them that I accepted their invitation. It appears that the closest airport to Vandenberg Air Force Base is in Santa Barbara. There are no direct flights from Dallas, but this still seems better than flying to Los Angeles and then making a long drive up the coastline on Highway 1. I haven't driven a car in Los Angeles since my ad agency days and I remember the traffic being terrible even back in the 1980's. Now that traffic in Dallas is just as bad as LA traffic was in the 80's, I can't even imagine how bad California freeways are today.

We have started giving Dot a low dose of Rimadyl to reduce inflammation and hopefully alleviate some of the discomfort she is currently feeling. I've always been nervous about Rimadyl since it can cause problems with the kidneys and liver. Petey, one of our previous Dalmatians, had severe hip dysplasia and took Rimadyl for many years. It did help him keep walking, but I still keep thinking that it might have contributed to his eventual death from kidney failure. After a long talk with Dot's vet yesterday, I agreed to give Rimadyl a try. She said that side effects were minimal to non-existent at this low of a dose and that at Dot's age, pain management was more important than the possibility of long-term side effects. I like to think that Dot will live forever, but if she is still with us five years from now, she will be the world's oldest Dalmatian. The goal now is just to keep her happy and comfortable for as long as we can.

I saw on the news that Sony Pictures has decided to release The Interview on Christmas Day. I guess this strikes a blow for free speech and all, but it still seems like an odd choice for a Christmas movie. Who would want to go see this on Christmas Day? Call me old fashioned, but when I think of Christmas movies, I still think of things like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1834

I received a letter from NASA today saying that I'd been accepted to cover the launch of the SMAP satellite at Vandenberg Air Force Base early next year. Now, I need to figure out where Lompoc, California is and how to get there. I was really kind of surprised that my application for NASA press credentials was accepted. NASA only invites a small number of social media correspondents to these launch events and I wasn't really sure whether a blog about a guy and his two Dalmatians was what they were looking for. Apparently this is as good a place as any to talk about space travel, so I'm glad that NASA likes the blog.

I'm a bit apprehensive about this upcoming adventure, but I really think I need to do this. I've always thought that if you don't keep trying to expand your horizons, you slowly whither and die. I haven't done anything really new in quite a while, so maybe it's time. This really isn't as implausible as it sounds. I'm a good writer and I've been a huge fan of the space program for most of my adult life. This could be the start of something. Just having the opportunity to interview NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists and engineers and take photos at Vandenberg Air Force Base is quite an honor. I just hope the launch doesn't get delayed by bad weather or something, since I have to pay for travel and lodging myself. A delay in the launch could get expensive. The SMAP satellite is actually pretty significant, since it will map soil moisture over the entire planet, helping to predict droughts, provide an early warning for floods and landslides, improve weather forecasting, and help farmers improve crop yields. I'm looking forward to this as only a slightly reclusive science nerd can.

It rained this morning, so I wasn't able to get my Christmas shopping completed before the crowds descended on the shopping malls. The dogs come first, so I patiently waited for a break in the rain to get them outside to poop and take their morning walk before I went shopping. Despite the late start, I was still able to find a parking place at Northpark, so everything ended well. Hopefully I won't need to go shopping again for a long time.

I've been worried about Dot's increasingly shaky rear legs, so our vet gave her a thorough examination today when we went for our physical therapy appointment. Dot's mobility has decreased since her last exam, and she appears to be experiencing some sort of neurological damage. The vet said that we could get an MRI of her spine to see if we could isolate what was causing the problem, but that an MRI or CAT scan wouldn't really give us more options. Dot is too old and frail for spinal surgery and this type of surgery is risky even for a young dog. Probably some sort of pain management program is the best we can expect at this point. The good thing is that the acupuncture and water therapy that we are already doing has been very beneficial and has significantly slowed down her inevitable decline. We've just got to come up with a way to keep her active without causing her any more pain.

The only thing I wasn't able to do today was get the nail removed from my tire. Luckily, the tire is still holding air and shows no sign of leaking. I was able to make an appointment to get the tire fixed at the dealership early tomorrow morning before the place closes early for Christmas Eve. You'd think I could just go to a nearby gas station to get the tire fixed, but my tires are filled with nitrogen instead of air. I always have a way of making even simple things difficult.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1833

I drove down to the UPS Customer Service Center this morning to pick up a package. It's odd that I find this the most convenient way to pick up a shipment, since Fedex and UPS will both deliver right to my door. It's just another case where a modern convenience has turned into a modern nuisance. More and more merchants are requiring a direct signature on deliveries, since there has been an increase in people stealing packages off of front porches. If you have to sign for the delivery, you have to be home. I could be home twenty-tree hours a day and it's almost inevitable that the one hour I was gone would be when the UPS guy shows up. It's just easier to drive to Mesquite.

I think I got another nail in my tire when I was out today. I heard a clicking sound when I was driving and when I stopped to investigate, I saw what appeared to be a small nail or screw protruding from one of the rear tires. When I got home, I looked again, but couldn't find the object anymore. I'm sure it's still there though. I probably just broke the head off the screw while I was driving. The tire still holds air and doesn't appear to be leaking, but I better get it fixed tomorrow. The last time this happened, my warranty got me a free tire. I don't think I'll be so lucky this time.

It was time for another visit with my physical therapist today. This session was for me. Dot's physical therapy is tomorrow. It appears that I have made some progress. I was able to extend my arm further behind my head than I was last week and the manipulations of my arm by the therapist weren't so painful. I got some new exercises to practice at home this week including one called Spider Crawls. For Spider Crawls, you stand near a vertical wall and use your fingers to move or elevate your bad arm as far up the wall as you can. I've been doing this for months to reach the soap in a high shelf in the bathroom. I just didn't know there was a name for this odd activity. My bad arm is still about fifty percent weaker than my good arm, so I've got a long way to go.

Dot seemed stronger today. There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to how she feels. She just has good days and bad days. I guess I could say the same for myself. Some days I feel great and other days I can barely move. Today feels like one of the barely move days, but that is probably just because of all the tugging and pulling the physical therapist did on my arm.

Tomorrow is going to be busy. I plan on making one final, and possible futile, attempt to get my Christmas shopping finished before Christmas Eve. Dot has her appointment with the underwater treadmill tomorrow afternoon instead of her regular Thursday appointment because of the holiday schedule. There's that pesky tire to deal with as well.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1832

This is weird. I was raking leaves in the front yard this morning and I see a letter blowing across the yard in the wind. I pick up the letter and it is addressed to me. What are the odds of that happening? Probably the mailman dropped the letter, or maybe I even dropped it myself when I picked up the mail yesterday. There was no mail delivery today though, so why was the letter still here? If it got lost yesterday, it should have blown ten miles down the road by now.

You certainly couldn't accuse me of being idle today. The dogs got their morning and afternoon walks. I removed all the standing water from the roof. I even made it to the gym. I should have dealt with the roof a lot earlier. It was a mess. Not only was there three inches of standing water, there were all the leaves from two large oak trees, an elm tree, and the neighbor's pecan tree. I was surprised that there wasn't a flock of ducks to greet me, because the wind and the leaves had combined to create little duck ponds all over the roof where the water would probably stagnate forever. Several readers have wondered why I don't just use pumps to automatically remove the water from the flat roof. Been there, done that. It doesn't work. The abundant leaves and tree dirt quickly clog even the most robust pump and it doesn't take long for the motor to burn out. The roof isn't really level either, so if you use a pump, you have to continually keep moving it around to get all the puddles. Believe it or not, it is actually easier to take a big push broom and just push all the water and debris off the edge of the roof. It's good exercise too, although I suspect that this activity isn't helping my shoulder much.

I wish the weather would clear up. The dampness and cold is aggravating Dot's arthritis. Her rear legs seemed a bit shaky today and we didn't end up going very far on our evening walk. I don't want to push her too hard, but it's not good to let her just sleep on a soft dog bed all day either. Both my vet and my own human doctors have emphasized the importance of staying active. I think the dogs and I both have the same attitude towards exercise. It's hard to get started, but once we get the old joints moving, we feel better. It's hard to get Dot and Dash out the door on a cold day, but they're both wagging their tails and enjoying all the smells once we're underway.

I was hoping that my physical therapist could just direct me to the machines I could use to build up my shoulder while I was  doing my regular workout. It turns out it doesn't work that way. The stretching exercise I need to do to free my tight shoulder capsule are completely different that the things you normally do at a gym to build strength and endurance. It looks like I'm going to have to do both.

I've still got a small amount of Christmas shopping to finish and I'm trying to figure out how to get everything done without fighting the mobs at the shopping malls. The only thing I've come up so far is to arrive at the mall right at 9 AM when it first opens. It might still be crowded, but at least I'll be able to find a parking place. If I wait until later in the day, I think it will be hopeless. The malls used to be almost empty on Christmas Eve, but I think there has been a sharp increase in procrastinators like me. I tried Christmas Eve shopping last year and it was just as crowded as any other day. I won't be doing that again.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1831

I must be getting more confident in the roof. I haven't been up there all week, even though it's been raining almost every day. I know there's a ton of standing water up there, but I still can't bring myself to tackle the laborious job of removing it all. Maybe tomorrow. Of course, I could go to the gym instead and expend the same amount of energy in a warm, dry place. Eventually, I'll have to go remove the water, because it's certainly not going to evaporate in this kind of weather.

The weather's been damp now for long enough now that the dogs are getting exceptionally muddy on their walks. My boots are caked with mud when we return, and even my pants are muddy. Cleaning the dogs paws and my boots before we go inside again seems to add another ten minutes to each walk. I wish we had a mud room like some Northern houses have. Everyone with Dalmatians needs a mud room.

Today was full of busy little chores. The dog blankets got washed, the sheets got changed, and I made a trip to Sam's Club to buy toilet paper, shop towels, detergent, and other sundries in bulk. I don't know when we started buying a three month supply of stuff like this. It wasn't always this way. Buying commodity items in bulk does save money, but it also uses up all your closet space. It took me quite a while to figure out where to stash away all the toilet paper.

When I was going to sleep last night I watched the last Craig Ferguson Show. I didn't know that the final show was going to be last night and just switched it on accidentally. I've always liked Craig Ferguson better than Jimmy Fallon or Seth Meyers. There is an irreverence to Ferguson's comedy that appeals to me. The show is gone though, so I guess I'll just have to go to sleep a little earlier. It's weird how many of these "final" shows I've seen over the years. I remember seeing Jack Paar's final broadcast when I was a kid. I saw Johnny Carson's final show and Jay Leno's as well. I think I even remember seeing the last Ed Sullivan show. David Letterman will have his last show pretty soon as well. It's hard to believe now, but I saw the Late Show With David Letterman live once during a trip to New York. I used to see a lot of shows. Aerosmith, Simon & Garfunkel, Phantom of the Opera, The Rolling Stones, Jersey Boys, The Who, Cirque du Soleil, and countless others. Somewhere along the line, a fear of crowds replaced a love of live performances and I quit going to shows. No regrets though. Peaceful scenes like this morning's foggy lake shore are much more appealing than watching a loud band in a crowded arena.

I'm kind of surprised that my stretching exercises actually seem to to be increasing the mobility in my bad shoulder. I've only been doing the exercises for three days now and I"m already seeing an improvement. Who would have thought...

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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