Day 679

I was pretty much just a pet taxi today. I took Dot to the vet this morning for her dental exam. A while later, I took Dash to the vet for his antigen shot and exam. Then I went back to the vet again and picked up Dot and took her home. In between, I went to a meeting with a printer about an upcoming print job and stopped by the Land Rover dealer to get them to turn my catalytic converter warning light off again.

Dot spent most of the day at the vet, because dogs have to have anesthesia for dental work. I always worry about anesthesia, since year's ago, a friend's dog died after having a bad reaction to the anesthesia after a simple teeth cleaning. I don't know all that much about anesthesia, but I used to feel comfortable knowing that most veterinarians use Isoflurane gas. An animal wakes up almost immediately after the gas is removed with very few side effects. Lately, I've learned that Isoflurane gas is usually used in conjunction with Propofol. Yep, that's the same drug that killed Michael Jackson. My vet assures me that Propofol is quite safe if administered correctly and adds that I've probably been given the drug myself if I've ever been anesthetized at a hospital. At any rate, Dot is fine. I still need to take her IV drip bandage off though.

I made some website revisions today, but I'm still not quite up to speed this week. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a busy day. One of my clients wants to change their online forms, and I always have problems with forms. It's hard enough to get them to work correctly in the first place, and sometimes "fixing" the form only makes things worse. The problem is that most online forms return their results in e-mail and often lose all their formatting in the process. Clients are always telling me that their form results look "messy." You get what you pay for I guess. Most people still tend to use the basic form-mail scripts that their web host offers for free.

Tomorrow is the annual dog training school Halloween party. We're a little behind on the dog's costumes this year. I guess we're actually way behind. Janet is still sewing Dot's costume right now. I think she is going as a cat.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 678

It was a fantastic day for photography. I didn't even realize how special the day was until I took the dogs on their morning walk. We were immediately enveloped in a thick fog. The trouble with foggy mornings is that usually the fog burns off long before I can grab a camera. After about fifteen minutes, I could tell that this fog was burning off very slowly. Even though the dogs were in no hurry and wanted to smell every dew laden bush, it looked like I might be able to still have time to take a few pictures after I got them home again. I love weather like this. The light is soft and even. The ground is usually covered with dew. Most importantly, on days like this, the fog lifts very gradually, revealing different objects in the background over time. A foggy day is different from a rainy day, because when the fog lifts, the sky is usually perfectly clear.

When I got the dogs back to the house, I grabbed my camera gear and headed back to the lake. I got quite a few nice shots of sailboats in the mist as the fog lifted. As an added bonus, there were lots of spiderwebs near the shore, covered with tiny pearls of dew. For about an hour, everything around me looked like a picture postcard, and then the sun appeared through the mist and it was all over.

Getting some decent photos for a change put me in a good mood, so when I got home, I made a big pot of coffee, diced some bell peppers, mixed in some salsa and hot sausage, added a few eggs and made breakfast burritos. By the time I finished breakfast, it was noon.

I spent the rest of the day doing some much needed bookkeeping. I balanced my checkbook, paid a bunch of bills and took them down to the post office. I didn't open Dreamweaver at all today. Even though there is still a little unfinished web business on my desk, I think it can wait until tomorrow.

The vet called today to confirm Dash's dental appointment tomorrow. Oops. I had to explain to them that it was actually Dot who was having her teeth cleaned tomorrow. They had gotten the two dogs mixed up in their appointment book. Everybody gets things mixed up these days. Avid sent me the wrong Media Composer software. The Land Rover dealer skipped some essential items during my service check. Sometimes I wonder how many things I forget when dealing with my own clients. Probably quite a few.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 677

The dogs were totally disgusted with us today. We drove them all the way up to the Wagging Tail dog park, only to discover that it was closed all day due to standing water. Since there was nowhere else nearby to let the dogs out, we had to drive all the way home again without letting them out of the car. Later in the day, we decided to give them a treat and take them to Cafe Lago with us for dinner, but once again, when we arrived at the dog friendly neighborhood restaurant, it was closed.

It was that kind of a day. We got off to a real late start this morning because a series of overnight thunderstorms kept waking us up. Dot has always had a phobia of storms, but now she seems to have transferred her fears to Dash as well. Every time there was a loud thunderbolt or burst of wind, one of the dogs started barking. Usually just throwing a blanket over the dogs calms them down, but this was a bad storm. There was even hail pounding on the roof at some point.

The big overnight rain meant I had to spend some time on the roof this afternoon getting rid of the standing water. I need to go find a more powerful sump pump. When the pump was working correctly, I could clear the entire roof in about 20 minutes. Now, the pump is so anemic that it takes me over an hour to get the water off. The pump does a little of the work, but mostly it's just me and a big broom.

I tried to rearrange the office a bit this afternoon to make my camera gear more accessible. I figured that if my camera gear was easier for me to reach, I might take more pictures. The cameras are much easier to access now, but unfortunately there was a trade-off. Some of my shoes are stored so high up in bins on the wall that I need a stepladder to get them. So, why are my shoes stored in the office, you might ask? Well, there just isn't any room for them anywhere else.

It looks like a busy week ahead. Dot and Dash both have to go to the vet: Dot to get her teeth cleaned and Dash for his regular antigen shot. I need to go back to the Land Rover dealer to get them to turn the red "service engine" light off again too. That engine better not need service after spending a week in the shop recently. I can't forget that Wednesday is the annual Halloween party for the dog training class. Oh, and there's probably lots of website work to do too. There always is.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 676

I took a favorite old dog walking coat over to the neighborhood tailor today and asked them to put in a new zipper. They told me a new zipper would probably cost more than I paid for the coat. I thought for a minute and told them to put the zipper in anyway. I like the coat and there was nothing wrong with it except for the broken zipper. I used to repair and refurbish virtually everything I had, but it's getting harder to find good repair people these days. I think people are getting used to just throwing things away every three or four years. This premature obsolescence probably keeps the factories humming and is good for the economy, but I think it's kind of sad. Things acquire character over time and, given a choice, I'd much rather have something with a story behind it, than something that was made yesterday in China. At any rate, I'll have an old coat with a new zipper sometime next week.

After dropping the coat off at the tailor's, I picked up some prescriptions at the pharmacy, filled my tank up with gas and went to the grocery store. One of these Saturday's I'm going to do something different, but this week apparently wasn't the time. I did all my exercises today, but I have a feeling that this new routine isn't going to be easy to maintain. When I got up this morning, I felt like I had just traded my neck pain for aching shoulders. The exercises the physical therapist wants me to do aren't that strenuous, but I can certainly feel the burn. All these years, I thought I was in great shape from walking the dogs, but I really didn't have much upper body strength at all.

They're having a big regatta at the lake this weekend. A saw dozens of sailboats on the water when I was walking the dogs Friday and thought this would be a good opportunity to get some nice sailing pictures. The only things I've been photographing recently are Fall wildflowers. Apparently, the regatta folks haven't scheduled any races during the "golden hour" around sunset when the light is nice though. So far, I've only seen the boats around mid-morning when the light is hard and unflattering. You'd thing they could have planned a sunset race just for me. I guess I'll check again tomorrow.

I got the blog finished a little early tonight. This would be the perfect opportunity to do some more chores, but I think I'll just go to bed early.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 675

I took the loaner car back to the Land Rover dealer before breakfast this morning and picked up my Defender. After a week and a half in the shop, just about everything was fixed. Ironically, the red "service engine" light in the dash, which was what caused me to take the car in for service in the first place, was still lit when I drove away. Whenever I'm at the dealership, my recurring urge to get a new car reasserts itself. Usually, all I have to do is look at the sticker price on one of the new Land Rovers in the showroom, and my new car desires dissipate very quickly. I've had the Defender a long time and I wouldn't look forward to having a car payment again. My service guy says they're bringing the Defender 90 back to this country toward the end of 2012. Now, that would be tempting.

The dogs were a bit miffed that their morning walk was a little later than usual this morning. Jeez, it was only 9 AM and they were acting like I'd totally forgotten about them. I did make sure that they got walked before I ate breakfast myself, but they get upset if our little schedule is off by even fifteen minutes.

As you probably already guessed, I got off to a late start this morning. Luckily, there weren't any deadlines today, so it didn't really matter. After breakfast, I used what was left of the morning to re-install the correct version of Avid Media Composer and add the other application in the Production Suite as well. I've gotten so used to the ease of using the Apple App Store, that I'd forgotten how complicated it can be to install and authorize some of these video applications. A serial number is never enough with these old school apps. Most needed an authorization code as well and one even needed a dongle. Oh, well. At least I'll be ready now if that big video production job ever rolls into town.

I had my last physical therapy session today. I'm not completely mended yet, but I'm really pleased with what I've been able to accomplish during the last three weeks. Today they needed to do some strength measurements, so they would have something tangible to turn in to the insurance company for reimbursement. My neck moves more or less normally now. My shoulder muscles are a lot stronger too. What surprised me is how weak my left wrist is. This is the wrist where I still have Carpel Tunnel problems. As it turns out, this left wrist is less than half as strong as the right wrist. I think I'm going to be using my weights and resistance cords for a long time.

As I was leaving the physical therapy offices, one of the owners said they'd be talking to me again soon. They do want to do a series of informational videos for the clinic. This is really good news, since so far, November doesn't look very busy. Maybe I'll use the new Avid software to edit these videos. Chances are I'll still be using Final Cut Pro though. It usually takes me a while to get up to speed on new software.

We were going to have the dogs be Budweiser Dalmatians for Halloween. Unfortunately, the miniature Budweiser wagon we saw on eBay can't be shipped and must be picked up locally. So much for that idea. Without the wagon, Dot and Dash would just look like Dot and Dash.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 674

As we were walking towards a brushy area on our morning walk, the dogs and I encountered a woman with two dogs of her own who suggested we might ought to change course because she had just seen a Bobcat go into the brush. I've heard several neighbors tell me about Bobcats in the park, but I've never actually seen one. With two dogs who are always eager to chase anything, I didn't really want a close encounter with a Bobcat. We went around the brushy thicket instead of through it as we usually do. I suspect that that there really was a Bobcat in the brush, because as we were walking around the thicket, we encountered two rabbits who refused to move as we approached. Usually rabbits will quickly disappear into the vegetation whenever two Dalmatians approach. These bunnies didn't want to go anywhere near the thicket. They stayed perfectly still with their ears flattened as we passed them. I wish I could take the dogs to an "animals to avoid" class. First it was the coyotes. Then it was poisonous snakes. Now, I've got to add Bobcats to the list of critters to steer clear of.

When we returned home, I fixed myself a tasty omelet and watched the stock market act irrationally on TV while I ate breakfast. I could have watched the death of Muammar Gaddafi on another channel, but I'm really getting tired of hearing about strife and civil unrest. The market isn't very peaceful either, but I still find it interesting. Apple stock continues to drop after the company missed their quarterly numbers for the first time ever. Maybe it will drop low enough so I can eventually afford to buy it back again. Selling Apple earlier this year still has to be one of the dumbest investment decisions I've ever made.

Oh, well. I guess it's decisions like this that keep me working. I finished a writing assignment today and made my usual website updates. Towards the end of the day, I got a call from the Land Rover dealer saying my car was ready. Since I hadn't taken the dogs on their evening walk yet, I told them I'd pick the car up in the morning. Dinner had to be postponed a bit tonight because of an animal rescue meeting at 6 PM. I often don't go to these Thursday meetings because it's so hard to get out of the driveway during the evening rush hour. For some reason it seemed like I ought to go tonight though. By the time I got the trash out to the street for tomorrow's pickup, it was completely dark.

Just in case you were wondering, the furnace works great after it's inaugural run last night and the house is toasty warm.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 673

I think tonight might be the night we turn the furnace on again. Not only is it at least twenty degrees cooler than it was yesterday, it is also quite windy. It never got above 68 degrees in the house today, and I can already tell that it will be much colder tonight. Hopefully the furnace will light. Some years it starts normally and other years I have to call the furnace guys.

I didn't get as much done as I had hoped today. Much of my time was spent running errands and trying to resolve accounting problems. That's the trouble with running a very small business. I'd like to just concentrate on the creative part of the business and let everything else take care of itself, but unfortunately it never works out that way. I managed to get one website updated today and that was about it.

Physical therapy was at 3 PM today, instead of 4 PM like it is normally. That's one reason I didn't get as much work done as usual. I like the sessions at the end of the day a lot better. We did end up talking more about doing some educational videos for the clinic though, so that's a good thing. It would be nice if this whole experience led to some new projects for me as well as an end to my neck pain. The owners mentioned doing some testimonial videos when we talked on Monday. I'd certainly do a testimonial for these folks. It's amazing how much better I feel than when I started my therapy three weeks ago.

Training class seemed to take forever tonight, now that we are doing things in the dark again. The cold windy weather made most of the dogs frisky, but it just made our Dalmatians cold. It's time to look for their Winter coats again. Both of them are usually the first dogs in class to come to school wearing sweaters.

Diva is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 672

I went to the dentist today. This visit was a lot easier than it was last year, when I finally broke my ten year dental hiatus to get a broken filling fixed. This year, the hygienist just cleaned my teeth, while the dentist explained to me why it was almost inevitable that at least one of my wisdom teeth will have to be pulled. The problem tooth is coming in a bit sideways and putting pressure on the tooth next to it. This is what caused my filling to break last year and it looks like the replacement filling is now being damaged by the same errant wisdom tooth. Knowing my aversion to dentistry, my dentist told me that I didn't need to make a decision immediately and suggested that I get a second opinion from a good oral surgeon. As much as I hate the idea, my dentist is probably right. I'm pretty sure that the tooth has to go.

A cold front blew through last night and it was quite a bit cooler this morning. I not only had to wear a jacket on our morning walk, I ended up wearing one on the evening walk as well. It won't be long before we'll have to turn the furnace on at night again. We've got the time change coming pretty soon too. I've noticed lately that it's still dark in the morning at 7 AM. That's fine by me. I'm not a morning person anyway and I'd much rather have darkness when I make the bed in the morning instead of when I walk the dogs in the evening. As soon as standard time returns, it's going to be difficult to get the dogs walked before the sun goes down.

I've started putting a photo from my portfolio on my Google+ page every day, mostly because I certainly don't have time to write anything on yet another social network. Today's photo received 27 +1s, which is almost as good as some of the famous photographers. I know I shouldn't care about such things, but it's real easy to get sucked in to all the Internet ranking systems. I've heard that some companies have even started to factor your Klout score into their hiring decisions. I wonder how someone who grew up with all this stuff feels? It would be a sad day if your self worth was determined by your Internet ranking.

Lil' Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 671

Life is certainly a long and winding road. Every time I start to feel like I've arrived at a destination, somebody moves the finish line. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get caught up with work, or feel financially secure, or get all my health issues resolved.

My only solution is to just keep moving. I'm renewing my efforts to find some new clients. Today, when I went to physical therapy, I took along my iPad and made a quick presentation to the owners about how they could use outdoor advertising and short videos to help market their business. I think presenting to people who already have to see you anyway is a great strategy. Making a cold call presentation these days is almost impossible.

There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in adding video demonstrations and testimonials to the existing physical therapy website. Will I get the job? Who knows. I think I've got a fair shot at it, but then again, the owners both have children in college who are majoring in marketing. It's hard to compete when the client's kids do the same thing as you do.

I discovered today that I installed the wrong version of Avid Media Composer on my computer. I installed v5.5.2 and I was supposed to install v5.5.3. Damn. Now I've got uninstall everything and start over. I'm trying to get my desktop computer ready to upgrade to the Lion OS, but there are so many conflicts and problems like this that it hardly seems worth the effort. Maybe I'll just keep using Snow Leopard forever.

I stopped by a sporting goods store and got some light free weights for my shoulder exercises on the way home from today's physical therapy session. As soon as I got home, Dash fished the weights out of my shopping bag and started running around the house with them. He thought they were dog toys.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 670

The day started with a big breakfast and ended with cheeseburgers. That's all I need. It's amazing how my appetite is returning, now that I'm feeling better. I must have been in a lot worse shape than I thought I was when we went to Las Vegas a month ago.

Now that things are getting back to normal, I'm starting to tackle the yard again on weekends. I trimmed more dead limbs off bushes and trees this afternoon and added them to the pile at the curb for big trash pickup. I was a little worried when I dragged the old mattress out to the street the other day that I'd gotten the pickup day wrong again, but I noticed other neighbors taking their trash to the street this afternoon. I must have gotten the date right after all.

After mowing the grass, I upgraded my iPad to iOS5. This seemed to go more smoothly than it did when I upgraded the iPhone yesterday. Maybe I just knew what to expect this time. Unfortunately, my desktop computer still can't access the iCloud yet, so all the automatic syncing features are kind of pointless. I still have to upgrade to my desktop computer to Lion before it even realizes that there is a cloud out there waiting to suck up all my information. I don't know why these inevitable upgrades have to be so complicated. I still need to check about 50 applications to make sure they're compatible with Lion, and even though iOS5 claims to have added over 200 new features, I'll probably never use 195 of them. All I want is for my regular work related applications to work flawlessly both before and after any upgrade, but unfortunately it's never quite that simple.

Just in case you were wondering, the dogs did get to go to the dog park this morning. Unless there's a tornado headed our way, or some other sort of disaster, they always get to go to the dog park on Sundays. Dot and Dash both had fun today. The weather was perfect and there were lots of playful dogs at the park. I had a pretty good day myself. I got a ton of work done today and my neck still feels fine. Things are looking up!

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 669

I went to the estate sale of local architect John Barthel this morning. After walking the dogs and eating breakfast, I arrived pretty late. All the dealers fighting over the architect's vintage Knoll and Herman Miller furniture had bought what they wanted and left already. This was no great loss to me. I mostly just wanted to see the house itself, which had won an AIA award for contemporary residential architecture in 2002. I ended up buying Mr. Barthel's briefcase which was well worn and stained with the ink from hundreds of architectural drawings. I don't really use a briefcase anymore, but this small leather case had lots of character and appealed to me.

I find estate sales fascinating. People spend a lifetime acquiring the objects that define their values and shape their life. What happens? At the end, a bunch of complete strangers trod through your house and completely ignore all the memories you've accumulated. They can't even see them. The dealers who dominate estate sales are just looking for stuff with immediate resale value. It's all kind of cold and a bit sad.

I upgraded my iPhone to iOS5 today. Don't do this if you're in a hurry. The whole process seemed to take much longer than other iPhone upgrades I've done in the past. While the upgrade is underway, there are numerous dialog boxes that tell you your phone is being restored to factory settings. Yikes! I was convinced that all my photos and apps were being erased until the lengthy upgrade was finally finished and I found myself with a working phone that was connected to the iCloud.

In honor of the new mattress, we got a new comforter for the bed. To make sure the new comforter stayed looking new at least a few days, both dogs got a bath. Dot refuses to get out of the car now when we arrive at Vhea's LaundroMutt. Dash is a quick learner. When he saw that Dot was refusing to get out, he jumped back in the car as well. Eventually, we got the dogs inside and bathed, but it seems to be more of a struggle every time we go.

If I've got time tomorrow, I'm going to go look for some small hand weights. Free weight training seems to be helping tone up my shoulder and back muscles, but the one pair of weights I found around the house are way too heavy for the exercises I'm supposed to do. I've never even been inside a Dick's Sporting Goods store, but there's a first time for everything.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 668

Another beautiful day. It's hard not to like October in Texas. Unless the rainy season starts early and ruins the State Fair, it's typically the nicest month of the year. I'm enjoying our morning walks again. My aches and pains have subsided and the dogs seem to have taken a break from their usual tugging and pulling. They now seem to enjoy lingering to smell things along our path. I could walk a lot longer on days like this, but there is always plenty of work waiting back at the house.

After breakfast this morning, I took the old mattress out to the street to be picked up by the bulky and brushy trash trucks that should be arriving next week. Moving a king sized mattress without assistance is not the easiest thing in the world. For starters, the mattress is fairly heavy, but the real problem is the size. I couldn't really get a grip on the thing without it flopping over and making me start over. I finally got the unwieldy mattress over the back fence, down the alley and moved to it's designated spot near the curb. After taking care of the old mattress, I added the dead tree limbs I trimmed last week to the pile.

I figured that all this activity should count as exercise, so I didn't do my physical therapy exercises today. I did go to my session though, and discovered that this wasn't my last day after all. Insurance is going to cover me for another week , so I will have sessions next week as well. I have become a believer in physical therapy and in physical activity in general during the past two weeks. I didn't used to think I needed an exercise program at all. Hey, I walk the dogs, mow my own grass, vacuum the house periodically and climb up on the roof every time it rains. That should be enough, shouldn't it? As it turns out that, even with all this activity, I wasn't exercising the correct muscle groups and still have poor upper body strength. We'll try to fix all that this Fall.

I balanced my checkbook today and discovered once again that more money was going out than was coming in. My problem is that frugality never really appealed to me. I lead a simple life in many ways, but instead of champagne living on a beer budget, I would much prefer beer living on a champagne budget. The only real solution to this dilemma is more clients. Surprisingly, I might have actually found one this afternoon.

It turns out that the guy who had been doing my physical therapy is actually the owner of the place. He started talking about advertising today while he was pulling on my neck and I mentioned that I was pretty good at solving advertising problems. We're going to have a meeting next week and there's a chance that I'll get his advertising business. I'll see if I can put together some sort of a presentation this weekend that I can show him on my iPad. I'm optimistic at this point. A surprisingly large percentage of people I run into actually end up being clients. I just don't see many people these days.

It's going to be a busy weekend. The house is dirty. I still have two videos to finish for my doctor client. And of course, the dogs need Halloween costumes.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 667

It was a nice day. I got up early to meet the Design Within Reach truck. For some reason, they decided to deliver our new mattress at 8 AM this morning. The mattress arrived compressed in a huge tube. The delivery guys said I was supposed to unseal the tube and the mattress would uncoil and spring back to its original shape. I wasn't sure if this expansion process was gradual or an explosion, so I decided not to open the package until later.

The dogs and I ate breakfast, had a nice walk in the cool Fall weather and then returned to face the large box in the living room with a rolled up king sized mattress inside. I took the tube out of the cardboard box and placed it on top of the existing mattress. This way, if things didn't go as planned when the compressed foam expanded, there wouldn't be other things in the way that could get broken. Sure enough, when I broke the seal on the heavy vinyl tube, the rolled up mattress slowly began to uncoil and return to its original shape. The delivery guys told me that the mattress could take up to 8 hours to fully expand, but it looked pretty normal after just twenty minutes.

I didn't get a single call from clients today, which gave me the time I needed to finally finish updating the animal rescue site I've been working on all week. I added 42 new pages to the site, uploaded everything to the server and then went to Bed Bath and Beyond to look for a mattress pad for the new mattress. Why do mattress pads cost over $100 these days? Probably for the same reasons fry pans and chef knives cost over $100. Whenever I buy something cheap at Bed Bath and Beyond, there are tons of those blue 20% off coupons around the house. Today, when I needed a coupon, I couldn't find any. Oh, well.

Tomorrow is my last physical therapy session. My neck is still a little sore, but the therapy has made a huge difference. I'm really glad I took this route, rather than just trying to mask things with pain pills. If I have the discipline to continue all the exercises they have designed for me, I should be in a lot better shape six months from now.

Puppies are today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 666

The rain slowed us down today. A passing morning storm postponed our morning walk and by the time the dogs and I finally returned from the park and had our breakfasts, I was already behind on everything.

I did manage to get the October invoices out and in the mail today. I also finished a writing assignment that I had promised would be done by this evening. That was about it though. After those two things, it was time to head up North for my Wednesday physical therapy session.

Although the physical therapy is really helping my neck, it is also contributing to my inability to get things done as efficiently as I used to. Every time I go to a session, they seem to add another exercise they want me to do at home. Today, they added some free weight exercises to the isometric and resistance exercises I am already doing. I don't have time for all these exercises. I didn't even get the water off the roof today.

I had almost forgotten about the inauspicious nature of today's post being number 666 when I got a call from Janet on my way home from physical therapy. She said she had been having some trouble breathing today and was going to stop by Baylor on the way home from work. Stopping by Baylor instead of our regular doctor meant she was going to the emergency room. I was superstitiously worried for a while and then a few hours later I heard her car in the driveway. After a steroid shot, chest X-rays and some other tests, it appears everything is going to be fine.

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 665

Before breakfast this morning, I took my car up to the Land Rover dealer for it's 105,000 mile service. While I waited for them to get my loaner car ready, I watched all the glittery people drop off their $80,000 Range Rovers. My Defender 90 is almost always the oldest and most humble car at the dealership, but it's still cool. Everyone loves the Defender. This is the quintessential man's car. It is simple, practical and yet still manages to seem just a little exotic. People still stop me in the street and offer to buy the car for more than I paid for it new.

When I went home again to walk the dogs, they were confused by the LR2 loaner car in the driveway. They thought Janet was back home again because the cars looked the same. They were obviously good at recognizing shapes, but not so good at noticing that there was only one car in the driveway. After our walk, I tried to postpone the day a little longer with a big breakfast of eggs and sausages, but eventually I had to get to work.

With all the work on my desk these days, I should be making a ton of money. Unfortunately this is not the case. I need to raise my prices across the board, but many of my clients would leave if I charged more for anything. I wish they would ban all these commercials coming from Intuit and others that promise professional looking websites for only $9.95 a month. This devaluation of design is ruining my business. Truthfully, many of my clients have tried these template sites and then came to me after they discovered that their competitors often had exactly the same design. Unfortunately, even after they realize the value of custom work, they still don't want to pay very much. Writing still pays well if the final result is actually printed on paper. If it just winds up on the web however, all bets are off. Nobody wants to pay much for something that's on the web.

Dash had another antigen shot today. I need to get my invoices out tomorrow. I used to send invoices on the first of every month, but gradually invoicing had slipped a bit, just like everything else. I'll be lucky if I get the billing out by the middle of the month if everything continues to stay this busy. I'm even having trouble finding time to do the exercises that are part of my physical therapy. I'll be the first to admit that I don't work at a fast and furious pace, but there should still be a lot more left over time. Every second of my day seems to be allocated already.

Design Within Reach says the new mattress should arrive at the house tomorrow. They don't have a tracking number however, and don't seem to know where the mattress is now. I think it's a pretty safe bet that nothing is going to arrive tomorrow.

Katy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 664

Sometimes I wish I spent my idle time wandering through art museums or nursing a cappuccino in a pleasant sidewalk cafe. Not very likely. I often spend my idle time sweeping thousands of pounds of water off the roof with a big push broom. It's actually kind of pleasant up on the roof. There are no telephones. There are no computers full of projects with looming deadlines. I've actually come up with a lot of good ideas up on the roof. Of course today, I completely forgotten most of my brainstorms two hours later.

Walking the dogs is also good for daydreaming, but I've got to stay a lot more alert than I used to. Sometimes, there are loose pitbulls in the park which may or may not be friendly. After being bitten by some unfriendly dogs, I'm a lot more cautious these days. There are also big piles of horse poop that I need to avoid before the dogs get close enough to start eating them. In the Summer there are snakes to avoid. In the Winter, there are Coyotes. I'm not complaining though. Even with all the distractions, walking the dogs is much more relaxing than anything else I do.

Surprisingly, physical therapy is actually kind of relaxing. I'm actually going to miss my therapy sessions when they conclude at the end of this week. Maybe I ought to start going to a gym. I've always hated the idea of going to a gym, but now I'm thinking it might not be so bad. My body could certainly use the exercise. I always thought I was in great shape, especially since I walk the dogs four or five miles a day, but as it turns out, my upper body is a mess. All these years, I've been compensating for an old shoulder injury and my right shoulder is only half as strong as the left shoulder.

I received some background material from Germany to read for an upcoming oil and gas article I'm going to be writing. The Microsoft Word document had comments and annotations in three different languages. Whoa. “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore“ I think this job is going to be a little harder than changing out employee pictures on websites.

Neo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day