Day 262

I was really busy today, but the weather was so nice that I feel foolish complaining about anything. Even driving around to all my meetings wasn't so bad, because today was one of those rare Dallas days where you could actually open your car windows and still feel comfortable. By all appearances, the nice weather put other people in a good mood as well. Both my website presentations went extremely well, and I think we are ready to take the sites online.

The only snag in today's smooth sailing was that one of my client's websites simply disappeared. My job for the weekend is to find the truant site and bring it back online again. I suspect that the client was trying to move the DNS and ended up transferring the domain incorrectly. Who knows though? There are a lot of reasons why the site could disappear. The ISP could have gone out of business. Hackers could have taken the site down. Maybe someone simply let the domain name expire. I'll find the missing site though. I know it's out there somewhere.

I'm ready for Hatch Chili month to be over at Central Market. For the past three weeks everything in the chef prepared section has been made with Hatch Chiles. I'll admit that they are tasty little peppers, but enough is enough. I've had Hatch Chili Twice Baked Potatoes, Hatch Chili Risotto, Hatch Chili Chicken Salad, Hatch Chili Tacos, Hatch Chili Borracho Beans, and Hatch Chiles stuffed with shrimp. It's definitely time for something new.

Hatch Chiles or not, I'll take Central Market over the stock market any day of the week. I'm increasing frustrated with my investments. Now that I've hedged my bets against the possibility of a "double dip" downturn, it's almost impossible to make any money. When the market has a good day like it did today, my inverse ETF's go down and cancel out all my gains. On the other hand, when the market tanks like it did earlier this week, my stocks go down and cancel out whatever I'm making from my short positions. I've got all these sophisticated strategies, but I could probably do just as well by putting my money under a mattress.

I'm glad we've got a three day weekend coming up. Usually by the third day of a three day weekend, we've actually gotten caught up enough to relax and enjoy the extra day. I think every weekend should be a three day weekend.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 261

I spent so long staring at a computer screen today that my eyes won't even focus anymore. I used to have 20/20 vision, but that was before I made my living staring at a rather large monitor sitting 15 inches in front of my face. These days, I'm constantly looking for my reading glasses. My distance vision is still OK, but my close-up vision is ruined. I thought the eye strain would diminish when I retired my old CRT monitors and got high definition flat screens, but somehow they seem to have made things even worse.

Tired eyes not withstanding, I did get a lot done today. I had to. Tomorrow I have two presentations. One is in the morning and the other in the afternoon. If all goes well, I'll be able to launch two more websites. And if things don't go so well? Well, then it will be just another normal weekend.

More rain today. This was a gentle rain with no thunder and lightning, so the dogs were happy campers. I did have to climb up on the roof and get the water off though. My new pump doesn't seems to be up to the job. In a race between the pump and my trusty push broom, the broom wins every time. I've gotten to where I can sweep all the water off the roof in about fifteen minutes. The pump takes more than two hours to do the same thing.

The new season of Project Runway just doesn't seem quite as good as some of the previous seasons. Maybe I'm just too tired to enjoy it. I still watch the show every Thursday, but the designers aren't as exciting this year. They spend more time talking about each other than they do about the clothes. Sometimes when they have the runway show on these new episodes, I don't like anything. Last year there were always two or three outfits on every show that I thought were fabulous. Who knows? Maybe the clothes are as good as they ever were. It could be the absence of martinis that has changed my perspective. My liver may thank me someday, but I still miss martini night.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 260

I felt bad today. This morning while I was getting dressed, a guy I used to work with called and asked if I could put together a tribute video for his son who had recently passed away. I knew exactly what he wanted, but there was no way I could get the video finished in time for his son's memorial service. I know how to produce these Ken Burns style videos that are made out of collections of still images. I just can't do one in two days.

I'm not saying that you can't do instant Ken Burns videos. It's certainly not rocket science anymore. I just haven't kept up with the times. Actually, just about any high-end wedding videographer could do what my friend wanted in about three hours. I've been to weddings where a film crew shoots the wedding and reception and then hands each of the guests a finished, fully edited DVD of the wedding, complete with a nice looking printed label when they leave to go home.

This is what the world is coming to: instant everything! I guess I could go out and buy the hardware and software to do instant videos and commercials too, but I don't want to. The world is already full of people trying to do things faster. I'm not really interested in faster. What I'd really like is enough time to put a little thought into what I do.

I've been thinking about time today because I've been working on the watch repair website. Watchmakers work slowly and methodically, often taking six months or more to finish a project. I'd like to work this way too, but I could never get away with it. People don't put the same value on a website that they do on an heirloom gold watch. I think advertising people are more like plumbers. There's a clog in the marketing plan and we're the plunger.

No obedience class for the dogs tonight. It's raining outside. Inside with me, Dot is hiding under my desk, waiting for the world to return to normal.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 259

Sometimes it's the little things that end up being the most difficult.  I spent the entire day trying to decide whether a simple website background color was purple, burgundy, russett, rust, or some other reddish/bluish variant. I'm a bit of a color snob. I have a well-calibrated 30" monitor that I totally trust when I am doing print jobs. I'm confident that what I see on the screen will look exactly like what comes off a printing press later. None of this does me any good when I am designing websites though. Usually, when I see my site for the first time on the client's ten year old Dell monitor, I am horrified. The colors look completely different and often even the basic shapes are distorted, because someone has set the monitor to stretch the image to fill their wide aspect ratio screen.

This is the frustrating thing about websites. Something that looks good with Internet Explorer, might look terrible with Firefox. I use Safari but nobody else has even heard of it. Colors that look spot-on when viewed on a Mac might look oddly off when viewed in a Windows environment. The same font can look completely different on two different browsers. The variables go on and on. Why does this have to be so difficult? The bottom line is that the site needs to look good on my clients computers, because they're never going to see it on mine. I had so much trouble matching a color on a client's business card today that I finally just put a color swatch online and asked them to pick the color that came the closest. I thought I had nailed the color exactly, but it wasn't even close when we looked on their monitors.

Yeah, I know this sounds totally geeky and boring, but that's all that happened today. Dot got her teeth cleaned, but she isn't talking about it. When we came home from the vet, she gave me one of those "how could you" looks. She hates going to the vet. Her teeth look great though. A lot of people ignore their dogs teeth, but it's important to keep them clean. Gum disease can cause serious problems, or even death, for dogs later in life. Of course all this is probably equally true for me. I guess I'd better add "make a dentist appointment" to my to-do list.

I can't figure out why the battery on my iPhone runs out three or four times as fast as the battery on my iPad. The iPad will stay charged for almost a week, but the phone seems to need a charge almost every day. Maybe the phone just has a smaller battery. Or maybe it's still on even in sleep mode waiting for a call. My knowledge of cell phones is abysmally small.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 258

I spent most of the day working on the new medical clinic website. It ought to be ready to go live in about a week unless my client decides to change everything. I've learned not to get too excited when a site looks finished to me. There's always something that pops out of left field at the last minute. Sometimes I think these things I work on will never launch, but eventually they always do. The two veterinary hospitals that were new clients earlier this year have both launched their new sites. It won't be that long before this site is finished as well. Then I can move on to the watch repair website.

I guess the honeymoon is over with my new renter. I've actually been surprised that there haven't been any problems since I leased the rent house early this Spring. Old houses always have problems though. Today it was the plumbing. Luckily, a plumber was able to come out this afternoon and the problem was quickly resolved. I'm sure there will be other problems though. There always are. This is why I don't really enjoy being a landlord. People who rent don't like to deal with problems. If they didn't mind problems, they probably would have just bought their own house in the first place. Unfortunately, old houses are full of problems. It's one of those oil and water situations where things just don't mix well. The renters want me to make the problems go away forever, but all I can do is fix them. Things break in old houses. That's just the way it is.

The rent house is probably in much better shape than my own house. Things are always falling apart around here. Today, I was up on the roof again, trying to figure out why my new sump pump wasn't pumping off the water from yesterday's rain the way it should. The pump was humming away normally on the roof, but very little water was coming out the other end of the hose on the ground. I think the old hose has become clogged with debris and I'm going to have to go buy a new hose to go with the new pump. Somehow all these pumps end up being too complicated. That's why mostly I just push the water off the roof with a big broom these days.

Dot has her dental appointment tomorrow. Her teeth don't look quite as bad as Dash's were, but she still has a lot of plaque on her molars. When we had Dash's teeth cleaned last month, I felt guilty for not going to see the dentist myself. Now, with Dot getting her teeth cleaned as well, I feel even more guilty. I still haven't called my dentist though.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 257

When I was walking the Dalmatian Rescue dogs this morning, I spotted something in the bushes where the dogs like to pee. On closer inspection, what I saw turned out to be a large bolt cutter, an even larger crow bar, a black ski mask and a pair or rubber gloves. For a brief moment I looked at the bolt cutter and thought, "Hmm, I could use a tool like this" and then I looked at the ski mask and thought "I'd better not even touch this stuff." I was pretty sure these were burglary tools that had been dumped here after a break in. When the other dog walkers caught up with us, Ann called the police. I heard her say, "We'll be easy to find...just look for a bunch of Dalmatians." When the police arrived, they told us that there had been a string of burglaries in the area recently and that a crow bar had been used to gain entry. The thieves had been stealing narcotics from local doctor's offices. The police thanked us for our help and carefully put the tools in the squad car so they could take them in for fingerprinting.

We might have solved a crime, just because my dog had to pee. So, all you people who still think that Dalmatians are the Paris Hilton's of the dog world, I've got news for you. These guys are crime fighters too.

Dash finally had some other dogs to play with when we went up to the Wagging Tail dog park this afternoon. The temperature was cooler today, so when we got to the park there were about a dozen people already there with their dogs. Dot doesn't really enjoy playing with other dogs, but Dash loves it. I think he's actually starting to look forward to the Sunday car trip now. Today, there was no panic at all. He mostly just sat in the back seat and looked out the window.

It's hard to believe that August is almost over. A lot of things on my Summer to-do list never got done at all. I never got around to putting new St. Augustine sod in the back yard. I never fixed the big bathroom mirror or the leaking shower pan. I haven't even worn most of the new Summer clothes I bought a couple of months ago. In fairness, I did stay busy and a lot of stuff came up that I wasn't planning on at all. I guess it doesn't really matter. There's always next year. Oh, and before I forget...you guys who were wondering what Duke looked like. He's today's Dalmatian of the Day.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 256

Well, I guess I've oficially joined the ranks of the mommie blogs. People are asking me for recipes now. I can't claim to be a dog cake expert, but the basic rule for dogs cakes is no sugar. You can use a little molasses or fresh fruit for sweetening, but sugar is a no no. Wheat flour and oats are better for dogs too, although I'm sure you can use white flour if you insist. If you want to try your hand at a dog cake, this recipe for Apple Cake courtesy of Three Dog Bakery is especially tasty. Our dogs absolutely love it and I've been known to eat a slice or two myself.

2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup quick rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 fresh apple, cored and chopped


That's it. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the flour, oats, baking powder and cinnamon in one bowl and the egg, molasses, oil, applesauce and vanilla in another. Start adding the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients until you have a smooth batter. Then fold in the chopped fresh apple. Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes. For a cool looking dog cake, find some small, round cake rings and make a three layer cake like the picture above.

For the frosting, use 8 ounces of low fat cream cheese, 2 tablespoons plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons honey and 2 tablespoons flour. This is actually quite tasty and completely safe for dogs. If your frosting is too stiff to spread properly, just add a little more yogurt until you get the right consistency. If you happen to have one of those cake decorating turntables, you'll find that it's a lot easier to spread the frosting on the cake neatly. I don't think I could decorate a cake without a turntable anymore. You can't leave cream cheese frosting in the fridge for a week like a regular buttercream frosting. The cream cheese will start to crack and look bad fairly quickly. Usually this is not a problem, because the dogs eat up the cake almost immediately.

Baking a cake sounds more enjoyable than what I actually did today. Somehow a large tree limb fell on top of the air conditioner compressor last night. The limb was so heavy that I had to cut it in pieces with a saw before I was able to remove it. This isn't the first time this has happened either. Large tree limbs have just dropped off the Oak trees in the back yard several times before for no apparent reason. These falling tree branches always manage to destroy something like a bird bath or a potted plant when they hit the ground. Luckily these things usually happen at night while we're asleep. I'd hate for a large branch to fall and hit the dogs.

Apple has this free case program for the new iPhones to get people to put those rubber bumpers on their phones. It's supposed to fix the antenna problems that causes dropped calls if you hold the phone a certain way. Apple also sells a special dock for recharging the phone. If your put the skin on your phone the way Apple recommends, it won't fit in the docking station. Come on guys. Get your act together. Surely you could design an iPhone dock that wouldn't require you to take the skin off your phone every time you recharge the battery.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 255 - Dot's Birthday

The dogs love a party. Actually they love anything where food is involved, but birthdays are special because they get to eat cake. For several years we've been making Dot and Dash special sugar free birthday cakes. I even took a cake decorating class at Central Market a few years ago so I could learn to make a better looking dog cake. Several people have told us that we ought to start selling these cakes, but that probably isn't a good idea. They take way too long to make. The only reason we started making them in the first place was that the dog cake company we used to buy from went out of business. Nobody is going to get rich making fancy dog cakes.

Now that we have less time for baking, we take the dogs out to dinner instead. Cafe Lago has a special dog menu that is prepared by the restaurant's chef. Tasty doggie entrees like meatloaf and grilled chicken are good enough to order for yourself. The dogs love coming here so much that they've both become extremely well behaved. I think they know that if they start barking and bothering the other diners, they are going to get kicked out of the place and won't be invited back again. It's kind of amazing how well behaved they are at the restaurant, considering how bad they can be normally. When we take them out to eat, we could easily pass the pair off as guide dogs for the blind. They never act this politely at home.

Since I didn't have any compelling reason to leave the office today, I got a huge amount of work done on the new websites I'm currently developing. I wish I could figure out a way to design websites faster. My websites are a lot like my dog cakes. They are all one of a kind, and they seem to take forever to put together. My clients seem to love what I do, but I'm not really making all that much money, mostly because the whole process is so slow. I probably should have stuck to copywriting. I'm a fast writer, but I'm a very slow website designer.

I've got to go take pictures of Duke, the new Dalmatian Rescue dog, this weekend.  Some of you thought that yesterday's Dalmatian of the Day was Duke. Nope. That was Cammy.  I didn't have time to take pictures of Duke yesterday. I never seem to have time to do things when it would make the most sense.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 254

Today, I needed to move Duke, one of the new Dalmatian Rescue dogs, from a veterinary hospital in South Dallas to the K-9 University kennels in North Dallas. Duke reminds me a lot of Dash. Why? Well for starters, he is young and he doesn't like to ride in the car. Duke barked all the way up to the kennel and by the time we arrived I felt like I'd been sitting front row center at a Metallica concert. I like Duke though. He is a nice, very friendly dog, even if he does have a bark that could wake the dead.

I thought I'd have time today to get all the new pictures I've been taking up on my client's websites, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. By the time I'd finished walking Dot and Dash, taken Duke where he needed to go, and made a quick trip to the bank, the day was half over. Our cooler weather certainly didn't last long. It felt like an oven outside today and I found myself wondering if I had just imagined yesterday. Despite the heat, I did get quite a bit done on the new medical clinic website, but I can already feel the lethargy setting in.

I've started noticing that two or three days after I write about something on the blog, I begin getting tons of spam e-mail about exactly the same subject. Coincidence? I don't think so. I wonder if this sort of thing happens to anyone else? Is blogging making me a spam magnet? I do get a lot of spam anyway, so maybe this is just coincidental. All I know is that the subject matter of my junk mail now tracks perfectly with what I'm writing about on the blog.

Tomorrow is Dot's birthday. We make a bigger fuss about the dog's birthday's these days than we do about our own. There's nothing wrong with that though. After all, Dalmatians are the original party animals.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 253

It was at least twenty degrees cooler today and I think the milder weather put the entire city in a better mood. My employee photo shoot today went much better than normal. Everyone was on time and happy with their pictures. I wish I could take everyone's pictures when they were in a good mood. It makes a huge difference.

The dogs certainly noticed the change in the weather. I could have walked them twice as far if I'd had the time. They were both full of energy and pulling and tugging at their leashes like they normally do in cooler weather. All the dogs in obedience class tonight seemed to feel the same way. It certainly wasn't cold outside, but 75 degrees is a lot nicer than 105 degrees.

I still haven't called anyone on my new iPhone, but I did go to Fry's and get one of those silicon skins for it today. I probably ought to start taking the phone with me when I go places, since that's the whole point of having a cell phone. I find myself conflicted about cell phones. I love the technology. I just don't like talking. I certainly don't want to start talking on the phone while I'm walking the dogs. The walks are the most peaceful part of my day. I don't like to talk on the phone while I'm driving either, because it 's getting way too close to multi-tasking for my taste. You know how I feel about multi-tasking. I'll probably end up using the phone as a one way communications device, just like I did years ago when I had one of those brick like Oki-900 phones. I just left that phone turned off most of the time. I always liked the idea of being able to call someone in an emergency, but felt no need to be in constant contact with the world. I've probably lost some business over the years by not being available 24/7, but enough is enough. I still think that checking my messages once a day and returning the calls the next morning should be responsive enough for anyone.

Wouldn't it be nice if Fall came early this year? I love this cooler weather. If this early cool spell we're having continues a few more days, I might even get caught up on things again. I'm just like the dogs. Heat makes me lethargic.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 252

I've done enough photo shoots in office environments by now that they all start to blur together. There's always someone who absolutely refuses to be photographed. There are usually several who ask if I can stay long enough for them to go home and change clothes and put on more makeup. Occasionally, there are some who want to in the photos, even though they are not part of the story. The offices themselves are often drab and filled with the kind of art you'd find at a Holiday Inn. I photograph these spaces with an ultra wide angle 14mm lens to make them appear larger and more dramatic. I like to use available light and very long exposures. I tell people that this is the way Architectural Digest does things, but really the dreamy blurred people moving through these long exposures just mean fewer problems with photo releases later.

All in all, the photo shoot at the medical clinic went pretty well today. I'll have to come back later to catch the people who were too busy to be photographed or just didn't show up, but that's to be expected. I'm not even going to bother to unpack my bags, because I've got another photo shoot at a different office tomorrow.

When I tried to sync all my contact information on the new iPhone today, I discovered that the photos I loaded in the phone had simply disappeared. The phone said the photos were there, but you just couldn't see them. Odd to say the least. There is always a weird little glitch like this with new Apple products. When I Googled "can't sync photos to iPhone" it appeared that a ton of other people were experiencing the same sort of problem. There wasn't a solution on the Apple website though. There never is. I hate trying to solve technical problems using Google, because people aren't shy about giving their opinion even if they are dead wrong. I've broken more than a few things by following lame advice I've found on Google. After wasting a considerable amount of time on various forums, I saw something that made sense. "Try powering down the phone and then power it up again. Your photos should appear in the proper place." Sure enough, when I turned the phone completely off and then turned it on again, the photos appeared. Now why couldn't the guys in the blue shirts at the Genius Bar have told me that?

Even though the roof will probably leak again, we really need some rain. It's so hot and dry outside that everything is turning brown. I've been watering the plants and grass in the morning after I get back from walking the dogs, but I don't think it helps much.  Within a few hours, the ground is bone dry again.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 251

When I was out running errands today, I noticed that school is back in session. I'm going to have to change some of my regular driving routes. When school is in session, the roads near elementary schools become totally gridlocked as parents queue up in a long parade of SUV's to drop off and pick up their kids from school. I used to walk, or take the bus, or ride my bicycle to school, but I guess that isn't done anymore. I'm sure it's a safety issue, but it's kind of a shame too. Walking home from school used to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the day. I think I only lived a mile or so from my elementary school, but the walk home often took hours because I would always stop at various friends houses along the way.

The only good thing about the traffic jams surrounding the schools is that it's just about impossible to get a speeding ticket for going too fast in a school zone. I felt no urge to speed today though. I wasn't late to a meeting. I was just going to the post office to pay some bills and then to the Hoover store to buy some more vacuum cleaner bags. There was one more thing on my list too. I decided it was finally time to buy an iPhone.

I thought that by waiting this long, all the long lines at the Apple store would be ancient history. Wrong! The new iPhone's were in stock and available at the Northpark store, but there was still a line of people inside the store patiently waiting to buy one. The Apple folks have a way of making you feel like it's a privilege to hand over your money and walk away with one of their technology toys. In all the years I've been buying stuff at the Apple store, I've never ever seen anything on sale.

The iPhone may end up being a big waste of money, but I'm trying to be optimistic. I have a friend who says buying an iPhone changed his life. Most of the people I know who use an iPhone have more business than I do. Maybe my iPhone will be lucky for me as well. It certainly didn't hurt to get an iPad a few months ago. I initially thought that purchase was frivolous as well, but the iPad has already more than paid for itself by helping me land two new clients.

My photo shoot at the medical clinic has been rescheduled for tomorrow. They seemed happy when I told them that it wouldn't take me all that long to take the pictures they needed. I'm happy too. If it's speed they want, I won't have to lug all my big heavy strobe lights and backdrops up to the clinic.

I wonder how long it will take for someone to call me on the iPhone. I've had that Skype phone for months now and still nobody's used it for anything.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 250

Our Sunday dog walking program has grown so popular that we now have more people to walk dogs than we have dogs to walk. This is good for the dogs, because each of them gets a nice long walk. I didn't have a dog to walk today, so I tried to take some better pictures of Lance instead. Lance has been in the rescue program a long time now and I can't figure out why he hasn't been adopted yet. He's a friendly, good looking dog who seems to get along with everyone. Maybe he just needs a better picture.

Our own dogs just need some cooler weather. They still enjoy going to the Wagging Tail dog park on Sundays, but after a cursory run around the grounds, they're both ready to come home again. We spend more time driving to the park than we spend at the park. In a way, the long drive to the park is even more important than being there because it is getting Dash used to car travel. Now that he is starting to associate car travel with something pleasant at the end of the journey, he is much calmer and better behaved. You have to be patient with dogs. Maybe by next Summer he'll be ready for a trip down to the Gulf Coast.

The week ahead seems very similar to last week. There are several photo shoots and another birthday. This time it's Dot's turn to be the birthday girl. The dogs had so much fun going to Cafe Lago on Dash's birthday that we may go back again to celebrate Dot's birthday as well. On the other hand, I've heard that there's a new dog friendly restaurant on Lamar Street, so maybe we'll try that instead. I just hope the weather cools down a bit next week. The temperature hit a record high today in Dallas. And it's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 249

I think I've lost a fundamental battle in the ongoing war between order and disarray. I just can't seem to keep my life neat and tidy anymore. I spent this morning sorting through a large stack of papers marked "save for later." Most of the papers contained scribbled phone numbers or notes about some work project I finished months ago. I had no idea why I had saved any of this. Half of the names I wrote down I didn't even recognize. I remember that whenever I used to make a new contact, I would immediately write down all the information on a Rolodex card or enter it in a day planner. Now I'll just scribble something cryptic on whatever is handy and move on. There just isn't time to be methodical and organized anymore.

Sometimes I wonder what is the point of having an office full of time saving equipment and software. Since everyone thinks this stuff makes my life easy, budgets have gotten tighter and deadlines have gotten much shorter. Everyone wants immediate gratification now. The net result is that I'm busier than I've ever been, but only making half as much money as I was in the days before the Internet. I used to wish that life would return to normal and then I realized that this is normal. Normal has changed. I can't turn back the clock, but I can throw away the big pile of "save for later" paper. No point in saving it any longer. I don't even know what it all means.

When I was watering plants while the dogs were sunning themselves after lunch, I noticed that all the plants we had put outside to "get some sun" were turning brown and dying. I guess this plan didn't work. It's just too hot. Later, when I got the vacuum cleaner out to clean the carpets, I discovered that vacuum cleaner bags were what I was trying to remember this morning when I made my list for the grocery store. I found lots of old shopping bags from the mall in the utility room, but no vacuum cleaner bags.  I don't know what has happened to me. For the first thirty years of my life I led a pristine, zen-like existence. Now, everything has turned to dust and clutter. I went ahead and watered the brown plants baking on the back porch and vacuumed the house with a dust filled bag. What else can you do?

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 248

While I was taking the trash out to the street this morning, the trash truck arrived. I thought I was going to miss the once weekly pickup again, but I needn't have worried. The driver was struggling to get the robotic arm on the truck to pick up the neighbor's trash. He never could get the arm to work, so he had to get out of the truck and empty the can by hand. The city bought these high-tech trucks several years ago on the premise that they would save money by allowing a driver to pick up all the trash himself without the need for a normal three man sanitation crew. The trucks never worked and most are gone by now, except for a few stragglers like this one. Now, to save money, the city has gone back to the old style trucks with a full crew and reduced trash pickup from twice a week to once a week. By the time I'd finished walking the dogs, the driver hadn't even made it to the end of the street yet. This is the problem with government at all levels. Everyone seems to have a plan to save money or improve efficiency. The fly in the ointment is that none of the plans actually work.

My photo shoot at the medical clinic got canceled today. I wasn't really surprised because whenever I've been to this clinic on a Friday, things are always hectic. I kind of wondered why we were trying to do the photos on a Friday in the first place, but I think that's the day when the most employees are there. Probably more employees are working on Friday because things are busier on Friday. I have a feeling that this photo shoot might end up being canceled again. They were nice to call me though. Often people never bother to tell me that we're going to have to reschedule until I show up on their doorstep with all my equipment.

Sadly, it's not a very courteous world anymore. When I was driving home from the grocery store this afternoon, I saw the driver of an 18-wheeler lean out his window and start cursing very loudly at a women in the car next to him. I don't know what provoked this rudeness, because there certainly wasn't an accident. Both vehicles were stopped at a light. The incident was a little unsettling. That's all we need now are big rig drivers going postal on us.

I'm always glad when Friday rolls around. I got a few things wrapped up this week. A few other things never got off the ground. Either way, I'm not going to worry about deadlines again until Monday. Weekends belong to the dogs. Dogs can be demanding too, but they are not nearly as irritating as people.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 247 - Janet's Birthday

I sent a FedEx package filled with video tape and talent release forms off to National Geographic today. With every batch of footage I send, this project gets one step closer to completion. I still wonder whether I'll ever see this story on television though. I've worked on broadcast projects before and they have a way of changing right up until the very end. I hope the National Geographic folks stay interested in the project. It's actually a good story. It also would be a nice change of pace to see something I've done on a television show, instead of just playing over and over again on a flat screen at some trade show booth.

I went shopping this afternoon for Janet's birthday. A big thank you to whoever invented gift cards. I used to spend hours trying to put together outfits myself and no matter how hard I tried, I would always get something the wrong size. Women's clothes are difficult to buy. A size four in one store is exactly the same as a size six in another store. There is no rhyme or reason to sizes whatsoever. Shoes are even harder to get the right size without actually trying them on. I have a hard enough time getting the size right with my own shoes. At any rate, I now mostly just give gift cards from her favorite stores. A big thank you to whoever invented Sprinkles Cupcakes too. They taste fabulous and they're just the right size. With cupcakes there is no stale leftover birthday cake taking up all the space in the refrigerator for the rest of the week. Janet got home from work so late that I thought we'd have to postpone the little party the dogs and I had planned for another day. Better late than never though. Hey, cupcakes taste good any time of day. I even had a drink. What the hell. I know I can't drink anymore, but I ought to be able to at least have a martini on birthdays and holidays.

I've got another photo shoot tomorrow. I haven't even put away all the video gear I used for the National Geographic interviews the other day and now I've got to load up a completely different set of equipment for a still shoot. Needless to say, the office is a mess. It's good to be busy though. It would be even nicer if all this activity was making me some money.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 246

I drove up to the Lewisville fire station this morning to take pictures of Beans, the fire chief's Dalmatian. Beans seemed to really enjoy her job as the official fire house dog. I guess she takes after the other firefighters. I've spent a lot of time taking pictures inside fire stations over the years and I am always amazed at how much firefighters love their jobs. Even though it has to be a stressful and often dangerous job, I've never ever heard a firefighter complain about what they do. In just about every other profession, people hate their jobs. Firefighters are different. They are proud of what they do, and almost universally enjoy what they do. Any time I spend time with firemen, I leave kind of wanting to be a fireman myself. I'd make a terrible fireman though. I'm too clumsy. I'd probably accidentally start more fires than I put out.  I'm still not sure why I was asked to come take pictures today. The fire chief is a pretty good photographer himself. When he was showing me some pictures he had taken of Beans, I thought his were better than mine.

On the way home from the fire station, I stopped by DG Fast Channel to get protection masters made of the video tape I shot yesterday. The video looked good. Just looking at the footage, it would be hard to convince anyone that the interviews were a chaotic mess. On tape, the goat and the two dogs looked quiet and well behaved. It just goes to show you that you can't believe everything you see.

I'm starting to see similarities between Dash and the goat.  Dash is certainly as stubborn as a goat. Tonight at obedience class, he didn't feel like sitting. As soon as I'd turn my back, he'd immediately lie down. I had to put him back in a sitting position five or six times during the long sit exercise. In Dash's defense, it was awfully hot and muggy today though. I felt like taking a nap myself.

We finally got a little rain today while I was out running arrands. I was initially glad to see the rain, since our yard could really use the water. I changed my mind quickly though when I came home and saw a big puddle of water on the living room floor. The roof leak is back again.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 245

This is about as close as I've come to not having a blog entry at all. I'm way behind today. I thought I could get all the interviews I was doing for National Geographic finished in a couple of hours, but I didn't get home until almost 10 PM.  Basically, doing an interview with a goat in the shot takes a lot longer than doing the same interview without a goat.

We certainly didn't get off to a good start. While I was setting up, the goat ate my microphone.  I couldn't believe it. This was an expensive Countrymen EMV lavalier too!  I've always liked this mike because it sounds great and doesn't have much rubbing noise when you pin it to someone's clothing. I had to use something else today though. The Countryman is evidently a tasty treat for a goat.  Judy the dog had to get in on the destruction too.  She peed all over an electrical junction box and shorted out some wiring. 

This whole project has been a train wreck as far as my equipment is concerned. I've already had to have my car repaired and a new tape transport assembly installed in my Beta-SP camera. Now, I've got to go buy a new lavalier mike as well. Even with all this carnage, I've still doing better than some folks over at the orphanage. One volunteer was injured when a heavy gate fell on top of her while the goat was being loaded into a truck. Another wrecked her car and had to go to the hospital during all the goat frenzy. I think it's time to find these guys a home before I go broke or anyone else gets hurt.

It will probably be several days before I even find time to pack all the video equipment away again. Tomorrow, I've got to drive up to Lewisville and take pictures at a fire station for the Dalmatian Rescue calendar. Then, I need to take all the pictures for the virtual tour I'm making for the new medical clinic website. I can't forget about Janet's birthday either. It's going to be a busy week.

In case you're wondering, Dot sailed through her annual exam this morning with flying colors. She hasn't gained a single pound this year. I wish I could say the same.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 244

Years ago when I lived in Colorado, I spent a lot of time hiking through the mountain passes between Aspen and Crested Butte. I remember that when we were headed uphill, the pack on my back seemed very heavy and all I thought about was putting one foot in front of the other. When we eventually arrived at the top of the pass, it all seemed worthwhile. You could see for miles and the trek back down the other side was exhilarating because you weren't fighting gravity anymore. Life these days seems a lot like those long uphill climbs. I'm still putting one foot in front of the other, but I can't see the summit at all. I'm beginning to wonder if there even is a summit.

Today's uphill climb consisted mostly of paying bills and trying to get an assortment of problems resolved over the phone. National Geographic called me in between my own calls with a detailed set of instructions for tomorrow's interviews. This call wasn't a problem at all. I was actually glad to hear from them. If all my clients were this detailed and exact about what they wanted from me, my life would be a whole lot easier. Most people don't give me any instructions at all. A lot of them don't even know what they want. I need to do something first to give them a target to criticize. Then I do everything all over again to arrive at a finished product. I shouldn't really complain about this awkward process though. If people were better at visualizing solutions, they wouldn't need me in the first place.

I need to come up with some better commands for the dogs. When I was out in the back yard with them after lunch, I realized that I was saying "No Bark" to Dot to get her to quit barking at the neighbor dog. At the same time, I was also saying "No Bark" to Dash to get him to quit eating tree bark that had fallen on the ground. No wonder the dogs don't listen to me. They are probably totally confused.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 243

I don't know where today went. It seems like I got up this morning and a few minutes later it's already 9 PM and I'm here falling asleep at the keyboard. Sundays have never been a day of rest at our house. From dawn till dusk the day is filled with non-stop household chores and dog activities. Things do vary a bit with the seasons, but the routine is usually the same. We get up, walk our dogs, eat breakfast, go to K-9 University and walk the Dalmatian Rescue dogs, come home, eat lunch, give our dogs a bath, take them to some sort of dog park to play, come home and mow the grass, do some laundry, walk our dogs again, eat dinner, find a watch to photograph for the blog, try to get ready for the week ahead and go to sleep. Today, my brain seems to think we've arrived at the "go to sleep" part of the day before I've finished everything else. I don't know why I'm so tired today. Maybe it's just the heat.

Dash seems to have achieved some sort of breakthrough about riding in cars. Ever since last Tuesday when he rode around in the Land Rover loaner car, he's been much better behaved. We took the dogs up to the Wagging Tail dog park again this afternoon and Dash acted completely normal. I didn't hear a peep out of him during the entire trip. As recently as a month ago, a trip like this would have been impossible with Dash. It's kind of amazing how much his behavior has improved. Maybe he finally had one of those "light bulb" moments where he realized when he went somewhere in a car, good things usually happened instead of all the bad things he was anticipating. I'll probably never know why Dash changed his mind about car travel, but I'm glad he did. We've always wanted to take the dogs down to the Gulf Coast so they could run along the beach. Now, something like this might actually be possible.

Next week looks busy already. Dot has her annual exam. I've got some interviews to film about the goat story for National Geographic. I need to go up to Lewisville to take some pictures at a fire station for the Dalmatian Rescue 2011 calendar. Oh, and Janet had a birthday coming up too.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day