Day 986

I hope today wasn't a precursor to what I have to look forward to during the rest of the week. I was way too busy today. I'm still trying, without a lot of success, to work my way out of last week's backlog. Today was video editing day. I cut together several short videos and managed to get one shipped off to the client. The editing would have gone a lot smoother if I wasn't constantly interrupted by other things. I have a feeling that this is the new normal. Instead of having the luxury of working three weeks on a project, I'm given three hours instead. Lord help me if I decide to skip a day. Skip three days and I'm screwed. With a steady succession of small tasks that command equally small budgets, the only way to succeed is to keep moving. I've more of less mastered this treadmill, but I regret that I never realized just how good I had it fifteen years ago.

One thing did please me today. One of the impromptu videos I put together about the WWD Magic show looked just as good as a similar video put together by a local Las Vegas TV news crew. The news crew had a cameraman, a sound man, an announcer, a producer, and lots of expensive equipment. I just had me. When I saw the news crew photographing some of the same stuff I was, I was afraid they would make my own video look pitiful. The two videos ended up looking very similar however. Both were hurried and rushed. I guess nobody has the luxury of a three week deadline anymore.

The dogs are the only ones who still seem to lead the life of luxury. Dot and Dash consistantly get up late, eat frequently, and are always looking to be entertained. Luckily, it's easy to entertain a dog. If people were even half as accomodating, life would be good.

Tomorrow, I've got another video to edit, along with the usual array of short articles and website updates. If I can find the time, I need to look for an arborist to finish the job of removing the tree on the roof. Hmm. I wonder how much that is going to cost?  If experience is any guide, getting rid of the fallen tree will cost me a lot more than I could earn for a similar amount of effort. I can't complain though. I tried to do the job myself and I failed. I'll always hire a pro when necessary. I hope my clients continue to feel the same way.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 985

I wouldn't make a very good lumberjack. I wrestled with the tree on the roof this afternoon with very limited success. It was easy enough to trim away the small leafy branches. Some of the smaller subsidiary branches came off pretty well too. It was when I got the tree whittled back to the trunk that I began to have problems. Each two to three foot log I sawed away from the trunk seemed to weigh about a hundred pounds. I never dreamed that trees were so heavy. When I got to the point that the remaining section of tree trunk was too thick for my humble reciprocating saw blade, I just gave up. From the amount of wood I was able to remove, I would guess that the remaining section of tree trunk weighs about the same as a small car. My poor roof gets no respect. At least the leafy branches cushioned the fall. Without them, the heavy tree trunk would probably be in my living room.

Dot and Dash were delighted to resume their weekend visits to the dog park.  They knew exactly where they were going and were both quite good in the car on the way to the park. The only snag in our little outing was an unexpected rain shower. After about twenty minutes at the park, it started to pour. We got the dogs back in the car just in time and drove home in a downpour.  I wonder if this sudden storm had anything to do with the approaching hurricane? It might have been one of the outermost rain bands. One thing we discovered is that rain in the car bothers Dot just as much as rain at home. She punctuated our journey with lots of frantic barking and shivering.

I still haven't managed to catch up with last week's accumulated workload. It would be nice to have a lot of projects already queued up, if it weren't for the fact that everybody wants their particular project done yesterday. Be patient folks. I'm working as fast as I can.

I fell asleep last night watching Willie Nelson perform with Merle Haggard and Ray Price on TV. I thought Willie looked old until Ray Price came on stage. The guy is in his late 80's and looked like he came straight to the concert from the rest home. The remarkable thing was that his voice still sounded fabulous. I guess the voice is the last thing to go. I remember seeing Pat Benatar recently. She certainly looked a little worse for wear, but when she started singing "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" it was 1979 again. Since I never could carry a tune to begin with, I wonder what will keep me vital and relevant as senility sets in. It certainly won't be my tree trimming abilities.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 984

Life is full of little surprises. I went up to inspect the roof this afternoon and discovered that a huge branch had broken off one of the large Oak trees in our back yard and landed squarely on the roof. The branch extended from one end of the roof to the other and was ten inches in diameter where it broke off from the tree. I'm kind of glad we were gone when the branch fell. The sound must have been horrendous and I'm sure it would have had me fretting about structural damage to the house. Fortunately, I don't think anything is wrong. The tree missed the natural gas line angling across the roof and didn't appear to tear up any electrical cables either. I'd like to blame this mishap on the multitude of squirrels that live in our trees, but judging from the size of the trunk, I think the tree is just getting old.

Now, I've just got to decide what to do with the thing. The branch looks way too big for me to cut up using my trusty reciprocal saw. I think this is a job for professionals who are still foolish enough to walk around with big chain saws. I won't use a chain saw myself. I had a friend who slipped while using a his chain saw and seriously injured himself when the blade hit him in the face. Ten years later, he still has a huge scar. I don't even think plastic surgery can fix the damage that saw did.

I just heard on the news that Neil Armstrong has died. I'll always remember where I was on that eventful day in 1969 when he said "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," All the Apollo astronauts are getting older now. It won't be long before there won't be anyone left on the entire planet who has set foot on the moon. I think that's extremely sad. We had such potential as cosmic adventurers. I wish our country was still spending money trying to expand the boundaries of what is possible instead of wasting money trying to make failure impossible. When are we going to learn that building safety nets is ultimately futile. We should be working a lot harder to give people the confidence and skills they need to work without a net.

Performers always work without a net. We're going to see one of Janet's friends sing tonight. She's quite good. Few people realize the hours and hours of practice that take place between each concert she gives. I admire people who have the patience and tenacity to keep practicing something until it's perfect. We need a lot more people like this. It has always been difficult to do great things, but isn't that the whole point? We need more great artists. More brilliant scientists. And definitely more folks like Neil Armstrong. RIP Neil.

Pinky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 983

I should have stayed another day in Vegas. I guess I wasn't thinking ahead. By returning to the office before the work week was actually over, I opened a big can of worms. I started receiving requests before I even finished breakfast to finish projects that people thought were already late. Jeez, if I'd just stayed one more day. That would have been enough to postpone all these attempts to cram an entire week's worth of work into a single day. Sure, I'd still have to play catch up on Monday, but the weekend definitely would have been nicer.

Needless to say, I was very busy today. Between the phone calls and all the replies to e-mail messages, I managed to update three websites, edit 100 photos in Photoshop, and write another article. Did I get everything done? Nope.

The dogs must have had a good time at the boarding kennel. I can't think of any other reason why they were so active today. They got us out of bed at least an hour earlier than usual, and once they had everybody up, there were places to go and things to do. Usually Dot and Dash are lethargic on a hot day like this. Today they were eager for activity. They raced around the back yard, got us to take them on long walks, did some energetic counter surfing during meals, and generally acted like puppies.  Maybe playing with other dogs for a week did them good.

I forgot to take the garbage out to the street last night. I actually totally forgot that it was Friday today, until the calls to get back to work started pouring in. Forgetting to take out the garbage isn't a good thing. Now we'll have to wait until next Friday, while the can gets filled to overflowing with the remnants of our seemingly excessive consumption.

There was no breakfast outing at a neighborhood restaurant this morning. I was too busy working. I guess it's just as well that this little ritual was disrupted. I've been eating breakfast in restaurants all week long.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 982

Everything is normal again. I'm back in Dallas. The dogs have returned from the boarding kennel and have resumed their regular routine. Although I have learned what the fashionable will be wearing next Spring, it really doesn't matter since I'll still be wearing a black t-shirt and jeans for the foreseeable future.

I hated to say goodby to Las Vegas. It was a nice change of pace. We got off to an exceptionally early start this morning. It actually seemed like we got up before we went to bed. I'm definitely not an early riser, but I've learned that there are advantages to getting to the airport at the crack of dawn. The line at the TSA checkpoint is much shorter, for starters. Getting through security at McCarran Airport has always been daunting, but we sailed right through this morning. There wasn't a line at all. Janet and I ate breakfast at the airport and then had an uneventful flight home.

Since I'm not one of the ones who immediately checks their cell phone the instant the landing gear hits the runway, there was a ton of e-mail for me to sort through when I got back to the office. Hidden away among hundreds and hundreds of spam and marketing messages were at least ten legitimate letters telling me that I was already late on something. Tomorrow will be a busy day. There are dogs that need to be added to rescue websites. There are new services that my clients think the world needs to know about. There are articles that need to be written. Could all this wait? Probably. Would I have any business at all if each of these projects didn't receive top priority. Probably not.

Yesterday, at the WWD Magic show, I walked right past a panel discussion of fashion bloggers. They were all talking enthusiastically about emerging trends and the importance of the Internet to the fashion industry. And why wasn't I included in this illustrious panel, I wondered? Hey, I write about fashion. I blog. Hmm. Maybe it's because I'm not 22 years old. These kids were all so young. I say hats off to these young bloggers. I'm all for any 22 year old who is actually out in the world doing something and not still living at home with their parents.

I'm a reluctant traveler, but once you pry me away from my routine and get me out of town, I never want to return. It's nice to do something different. Regular day-to-day life can be mind numbingly boring no matter what you do for a living. OK. Maybe it's not boring if you are an ER nurse or a fireman, but I have a feeling that even those jobs eventually become largely routine. I need to mix things up more often. It's probably my own fault if life is a little dull. Now, if only that assignment in Singapore would come through.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 981

It was a good day to be inside. It rained most of the day, but it didn't matter to me, since I was working inside at the Convention Center anyway. I got up early, so I could get my badge and be at the show when the doors opened. These trade shows typically let exhibitors in an hour or two before the event opens to the public, and this is usually the best time to photograph the booth and merchandise.

As usually, the hall was extremely noisy and the lighting was terrible. I did the best I could, trying to color balance for mercury vapor, fluorescent, and incandescent lights all at the same time. Everyone at the booth seemed pleased with the videos and pictures I shot. Trade show environments are so challenging that the clients who actually attend these shows are usually delighted that I managed to get anything at all. The clients who stay home are almost universally disappointed and wonder why the images aren't better. "You had to be there," I tell them. 

At big industrial trade shows, the exhibitors give away all manner of trinkets at their booths. You can pick up boatloads of ball caps, flashlights, laser pointers, USB Flash drives, and umbrellas. Fashion people are different. There wasn't a lot of swag at the booths at all. There was a lot of activity though. All day long, the Convention Center was filled with frenzied buyers trying on clothes and manufacturers taking orders. I guess selling gas turbine generators and offshore oil rigs is a little different than selling shoes. and purses. I enjoy working these shows though. Fashion is fun.

Las Vegas is fun too. To me, Las Vegas is the quintessential American city. It's shallow, flashy, elegant and tacky, all at the same time. People's dreams and heartaches are close to the surface here. There is more wealth in this city than you can imagine, and yet the city has the highest home foreclosure rate in the country. If you stay here any amount of time, you do learn that you've got to know when to hold em and know when to fold em.

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight. I haven't eaten all day. I skipped breakfast and went straight to the Convention Center early this morning. The photos and videos are done though, and everything has been saved to the hard drive. I'd say it's time to look for a nice place to eat and maybe do a little gambling.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 980

No time for the pool today. I was busy. One of my clients has a retail location in Caesar's Palace, and I went over to the store to interview the manager and take lots of pictures of the place. I wish I had an assistant, or at least a roadie. By the time I carried my 35 pound bag of gear from the Bellagio to Caesars, I was already tired. The interview went well though. The manager was delightful and regaled me with stories of what it was like to run a high-end business inside a casino. I'm glad I brought good lapel mics and a mixer with me. Las Vegas is a noisy place. You don't do anything in this city without a soundtrack in the background. You seldom see where the speakers are hidden, but the music is everywhere. Just going to the drugstore to get some toothpaste can feel like you're inside your own music video. Actually my video interview worked out pretty well. I won't need to add a soundtrack later. It's already there.

Janet won $200 last night while I was writing the blog. She said I brought her luck by staying away from the casino while she was gambling. Works for me. I have terrible luck at the tables. Playing slots is definitely not a game of skill, but I think having the right attitude helps. Janet thinks the glass is half full, while I tend to think it's half empty. It's not surprising to me that she consistently wins more than I do while we're in town. I've usually convinced myself that I'm throwing money away before I even start.

Now that I have today's pictures and video clips safely saved to a hard drive, I feel better about tomorrow's busy schedule. I will be doing several more interviews at the big WWD Magic show that's currently underway at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Janet want's me to scour the booths for free fashion swag while I'm at the show, but I'm afraid if I put one more thing in my already heavy bag, I won't even be able to lift it.

It's hard to know what to wear in Las Vegas. While it's blistering hot outside, the casinos and hotels are always freezing cold. It's disorienting to spend the day going from one extreme to the other. When I'm inside the casinos I'm always looking for a sweater. Outside, it's a much different story. It's almost impossible to dress light enough to be comfortable walking down the strip.

I'm going to have to get a wake-up call tomorrow morning. We have one of those blackout curtains in our room. No light gets in whatsoever. If nobody opened the curtains, I'd probably sleep till noon.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 979

I could learn to live this way. We just finished enjoying a wonderful dinner at Todd English's Olives Restaurant while watching the sun set through a nearby window against the backdrop of the spectacular Fountains of Bellagio. It was a nice ending to a relaxing and enjoyable day. I actually like living in hotels. Someone comes and makes your bed every day. They bring you clean towels and leave little chocolates on your pillow. What's not to like? 

We don't have a pool at home, so it's always enjoyable to take a swim after breakfast. When I'm in the water, I realize I should swim more often. I still have a dislocated shoulder and swimming would really help build up those muscles. I'd never swim at home though. There's too much to do. It's only on days like these that I realize how enjoyable being in the water can be. Yeah, I know. I live right next to a large lake. I'd never swim in the lake. Many say it's polluted and it's full of snakes anyway. I think the pools at luxury hotels are much nicer places to swim.

I miss the dogs. We watch them every day on the webcam, and you can tell they don't really like being boarded. We could never bring them to Las Vegas though. I haven't seen a single dog since we arrived. I wish the dogs traveled better in the car. We could take them down to the Gulf Coast and let them run along the beach. We've got a long way to go before we can get them to Padre Island though. Dash totally freaks out in a car and we're lucky to get ten miles down the road without a major panic attack. A long trip would be a nightmare. Since Dash is a rescue dog, we think his previous owners might have just dumped him on the side of the road and left him. He definitely doesn't have positive associations about riding in a car.

This might be the last lazy day I'll have while I'm in town. Tomorrow is a work day. I'm covering the WWD Magic show for one of my clients and since since this is the magic show, I'll somehow manage to transform myself tomorrow from an old guy in swim trunks at the Bellagio pool to a hip young fashion blogger. I'll admit I'm an unlikely fashionista, but I do like the industry. The Devil Wears Prada was one of my favorite movies and I seldom miss an episode of Project Runway.

I used to like playing the penny slots in Vegas, but they're all gone now. In the old days you could stretch out losing your money over an entire afternoon, while friendly waitresses brought you free drinks. Now the electronic machines literally suck the money out of you. I put a twenty dollar bill in a slot machine this morning and it was gone in less than five minutes. What's the fun in that?  I love Las Vegas for the food and the shows and the people watching. I'll leave the gambling to someone else.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 978 - Janet's Birthday

I wonder how many hours I've spent on planes? A lot. I don't fly very much anymore, but whenever I get on a plane, the whole routine seems so familiar. It just takes longer these days with all the additional security at the airport and planes that are even more crowded than they were twenty years ago. Today's destination was Las Vegas. It's Janet's birthday today and she loves Las Vegas.

Some of you may remember my last trip to Las Vegas. That trip was a disaster. I had injured my neck just before we left and was in terrible pain. The pain killers my doctor gave me didn't work and gave me hallucinations instead. I saw bugs in the bathroom that Janet said didn't even exist and I had to sleep sitting up in a chair. I hardly left my room the entire time we were in town. At the time, Janet swore that she'd never travel with me again, but things are much better this year. I feel great this time around. Of course, some things never change. I'm up in the room writing the blog and Janet is already off gambling somewhere. We'll meet up later.

I continue to be amazed at how connected the world has become. Our plane had WiFi and everyone just continued using the Internet while they were flying. Remember when those TV's used to descend from the roof of the place and the flight attendant would come by and give you a headset? Not anymore. A lot of planes don't even show movies anymore. Everyone is doing their own thing on their laptops, Kindles, iPads, and phones. Who would have thought that I could be flying over the Grand Canyon and be able to check in on the dogs using a live webcam.  Yep, they're doing fine.

I'm terrible at packing. I always take too much of some things and not enough of other things. I often forget the basics, like a toothbrush, or socks. I think I remembered everything this time. We'll see. I'm glad I remembered my little 4G hotspot, because I couldn't seem to login to the hotel's free WiFi. When you go to Las Vegas, cab drivers at the airport always ask you if you want to take the fast route to your hotel. I've finally learned to say no. "No, I'd rather take the shorter route," I said today. "Oh, you want the lower fare," said the cabbie. The fast route just means that you drive faster on the freeway in the opposite direction of your hotel. Since the airport is located right next to the strip where all the hotels are, you really don't need to go on the freeway anyway. We were at our hotel in minutes.

Wish me luck. I never win in Vegas, but there's always a first time.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 977

Dot is sitting shivering under my desk, wrapped in a blanket. It's raining again. I wonder how she knows it's going to rain. She's better than the weatherman. Over an hour before the rain started, she was nervously pacing around the house, trying to tell us that the world was about to end. I've gotten to know her mannerisms so I checked the weather radar on my iPhone. It didn't look so bad. Dot knew better. Almost on cue, the rains started immediately after she went to her protected spot under my desk. It's a good thing I got my chores done earlier. I mowed the grass and got all my weekend shopping done before the deluge started. I hate rain at this time of day though. By the time the storm passes through, it will be too dark to go up and get the water off the roof. It will be another night of listening for leaks.

I got a good example of why Apple is so successful this afternoon. I needed to buy an audio cable, so I went to Guitar Center because they have tons of cables. "Oh, you've got to go to the Apple Store for Apogee cables," the sales guy said. "Apple owns Apogee, so they'll have all the cables there."  I stopped by Radio Shack first.  The Apple Store is always crowded on Saturday and Radio Shack has lots of Apple stuff too. The Radio Shack manager told me that I needed to go to the Apple Store too. "That's not a very common cable," he said. "We don't carry those." So, I fight the mall crowds and go to the Apple Store. "That's a specialty item," says the Apple sales guy. "You'll have to order that from our online store." Two different stores, who probably had this particular cable online too, just lazily sent me to the Apple Store instead of trying to get me to buy from their online stores. Apple got the sale.

I'm trying to decide which gear to take on an assignment next week. The assignment involves taking both video and still images. Since DLSR cameras take pretty good video these days and many video cameras can capture high quality JPEG stills, it's not an easy decision anymore. Of course, I could just pile everything I own in the car, but I'd rather travel light and take no more than I need. I wish these companies would make it a little easier for me. My video camera captures sound better, but I like the picture on the DLSR the best. Writing jobs are so much easier. All I need is a laptop and a ten year old copy of Microsoft Word.

I wonder if all the rain we've been having is going to wash away the mosquito spray? It's been bone dry around here for weeks, but just as soon as the city began its aerial spraying program to combat the West Nile Virus, it began raining cats and dogs. Mosquitoes love the rain, so probably this wasn't exactly what the city had planned. So few things go according to plan for me personally, that it's kind of reassuring to know that they don't go according to plan for anyone else either. I wonder if the city has a Plan B if the mosquitoes come back? I learned long ago that you've always got to have a Plan B.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 976

I don't visit my safe deposit box very often. Perhaps I should go a little more frequently. I had to retrieve something today and discovered a household inventory list that hadn't had any new entries since 1990. I also discovered a very out-of-date will where all the beneficiaries were already dead. These worthless documents will go straight to the shredder, but I wonder how many other totally worthless documents still remain. There's probably plenty of worthless documents over at the storage warehouse. Once, my accountant told me that I needed to save all my financial records for at least three years. At another point in time, the same accountant told me that I should keep things seven years. I think I've been keeping records for ten years just to be safe. What is the point though?  Most of these records could have been generated by aliens from another planet and I wouldn't know the difference anymore. I just look at this stuff and wonder what it has to do with me.

I will admit to saving a few totally worthless documents from the shredder today. They were both publishing contracts from record companies that had gone out of business over a decade ago. I saved them because they reminded me of a day when I actually thought I had a future in the music business.

As you might expect, the city didn't get finished with their aerial spraying program last night. I don't know if they ran out of insecticide, or the planes were too slow, or what, but they only got half the city sprayed. That means the spray planes will be back tonight. They're starting earlier this time as well. The dogs will have to get all their peeing done by 8:30 PM this evening. Why do I think this isn't going to work? The dogs always want to go out around midnight. On a positive note, I didn't see any mosquitoes today, so maybe the spray is working.

I got a great little condenser microphone today that connects directly to an iPhone or iPad. The sound quality was amazing. It sounded very similar to some Neumann microphones I've used. It makes as much sense to use the phone for interviews now as anything else I've got. I predict that in a couple of years, I'll be using the phone for everything I do.

Unfortunately, the iPhone still can't cook breakfast. I had Eggs Benedict this morning on my weekly breakfast outing. I thought they would be a real treat, but Janet's Eggs Benedict are a lot better.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 975

I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the outbreak of West Nile Virus in Dallas. The mayor has declared a state of emergency and the city is beginning aerial spraying of the entire city this evening. I got two phone messages from the city telling me to stay inside after dark tonight. There is a lot of controversy about the spraying program, but personally, I have no problem with it. When you compare the downsides of the Pyrethenoid insecticides they'll be using with the downsides of having the disease, I think I'll go with the insecticides.

I'm not sure it matters anyway. I've been bitten by mosquitoes several hundred times this summer and nothing has happened. Either I've gotten lucky or I've got an immunity to the virus. Truthfully, I'm more worried about the dogs. They get bitten by mosquitoes a lot more than I do. Mosquitoes are just a fact of life down South. No matter how much mosquito repellant you spray on yourself, you're still going to get mosquito bites.

I think people forget how common spraying for mosquitoes used to be. I grew up in Arkansas and during the Summer the spray trucks would come down our street at least once a month. A lot of times people didn't even bother to go inside when the trucks came by. They would just continue barbecuing, or sitting on the porch, or whatever they were doing as the cloud rolled past and dissipated in the evening air. It's kind of amazing to realize how many people survived and continued living perfectly normal lives after breathing in insecticides every Summer and driving around without seatbelts smoking cigarettes.

I wish I'd start getting some money in the mail. I've been billing things out at a fairly normal rate, but the checks are arriving slower and slower these days. It wasn't that long ago that just about everyone paid within 30 days. Now the average is somewhere between 45 and 60 days. Sign of the times, I guess. I still have to pay my own bills on time though. That's what I did this afternoon. I paid the electric bill, the water bill, various phone bills, and my car insurance. The depressing thing is that most of these bills will arrive again next month, whether any money arrives in the mail or not.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I've still got enough money to buy myself a little bacon for breakfast. I've still got about 20 minutes left today to let the dogs outside to pee before the mosquito spraying planes begin their flyby. I'm hoping that the spray kills some roaches and spiders too. We have entirely too many bugs this Summer.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 974

Do you ever get those e-mails asking you to write a review after you've bought something online? I get them all the time. Today, I was kind of bored, so I looked through my inbox for some of the review requests. I wrote about five quick reviews and then is dawned on me. Hey, this is exactly what I do for a living. The reviews were like little ads. There was a headline and a short paragraph of body copy saying nice things about the product. And I was writing these things for free. No wonder it's harder to get copywriting jobs these days. Manufacturers and retailers have discovered that people will do their marketing for free. All they have to do is offer some sort of contest or incentive and they've got thousands of people writing for them. The company I wrote the reviews for today said that if you submitted a review, your name would be entered in a drawing and you could win up to $1000. How likely is that? Jeez, I've bought stuff from these guys for years and never once heard anything about anyone winning a prize.

The weather is so weird in Texas. There was a big storm last night. Some parts of town got huge amounts of rain and their power went out.  Other parts of town got no rain at all. We were somewhere in between. We got rain, but not enough to upset the dogs. I must be getting better about patching too, because there were no water leaks in the morning. I was actually kind of amazed. There seemed to be no downside to this particular downpour at all.

Since it was a slow day, I made French Toast and sausages for breakfast. I must be easy to please. French Toast, sausages, and a couple of hours of Dr. Who in the morning and I'm a happy camper. The dogs were in a good mood today as well. The rain cooled things down, so dog class was actually pleasant for a change. The days are getting shorter though. By the time class was over, it was already dark.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 973

Klout has been monkeying around with its algorithm again. My score went from 48 to 64 overnight. I can't put much credence in this newly elevated score however. I remember the last time Klout changed their algorithm, my score dropped from 60 to 30 overnight. You just wonder if anybody takes this seriously anymore. This company has reinvented itself so many times in the past two years that it makes your head spin. My Klout "style" has gone from Feeder, to Networker, to Specialist, to Broadcaster. I haven't changed a thing. I pretty much still ignore everything except for the blog. Even though the company is silly, I will admit to liking the Klout perks. Klout perks are custom made for a solitary person like me who measures the success of his day by what comes in the mail.

My primary contact at one of my clients has left to take a new job. I wonder what this means for me. Sometimes the new guys are pleased to find someone already in place who knows the ropes. Other times, they want to bring in their own suppliers and you get unceremoniously dumped. This one could go either way. I'll just have to wait and see.

While I'm waiting, I can occupy myself by re-learning how how to use a piece of gear I need for an upcoming job. I haven't used this gadget in over a year and I don't think I even remember how to turn it on. Remind me to never buy anything that comes with a 100 page instruction manual again. As my ability to handle complexity slowly diminishes, I find that I am using my iPhone for just about everything. Hey, the pictures are pretty good. The sound is pretty good. It even takes movies. Most people couldn't tell which pictures came from the iPhone and which came from the Nikon anyway.

I was amused to notice that one of the checks I deposited today was dated July 10th. Nice try guys. As if that was actually going to convince me that the check wasn't two months late. Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day. Will I still have Klout tomorrow? Will my memory for technical details return? Will I manage to finish anything at all? I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 972

So far this month I've had four different clients tell me that I'll get paid a bit late this month because the boss left for vacation with a bunch of unsigned checks on his desk. This happens every August. Sometimes, I go on vacation myself, because everyone else is already gone. August is always the month with the highest electric and water bills and the least amount of money coming in. At least there's September. September's usually pretty good.

I finally reached the payout threshold on Google Adwords again. It took a while. Hey, if I could live on $100 a year, I'd be all set. Maybe you guys are getting rich, but so far, I haven't discovered the secret to making money online. I saw an article the other day that said "most people don't like to buy things on the Internet, they like to join things instead." So true. Almost every day I get one of those "join my cause" messages on Facebook. I never dreamed there were so many causes out there. Nobody is buying my Instagram pictures yet, but they sure are re-pinning them on Pinterest. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'm the same way. Things are much more interesting when they're free.

I got a request this morning to put a picture of an award that one of my clients had won on their website. Of course, the client failed to attach the picture of the award to their e-mail. A few years ago I would have wasted half the day sending e-mails back and forth trying to get them to send me the right picture. Today, I just spent ten minutes making something that looked like the award in Photoshop and stuck it on the site. I'm tired of making mountains out of molehills. Hey, I specialize in molehills. I can make a nice looking molehill with no input whatsoever.

Dash's bath didn't last long. I caught him out in the backyard this afternoon digging a big hole which he subsequently took a nap in. Our new grass was supposed to prevent all this, but it's August and the grass is already dying.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 971

I keep hearing that the Post Office is going broke. I don't understand why. Judging from the ridiculous amount of junk they send me, I'd think these guys would be rolling in money. Today I tried to wade through the big stack of "don't need to open now" mail that's been growing on the kitchen table for the past month. I'd just as soon never open this mail, but occasionally I forget a bill or something important, so it does need to be checked. Today I just threw away a seemingly endless stack of letters urging me to join a cause, vote for somebody, switch to a different electric company, get a new credit card, lose weight, or sign up for a pre-paid funeral plan.

I don't know why most companies even bother printing this stuff. If it doesn't contain a coupon, it's just going to get tossed.  I save coupons from Bed Bath and Beyond, Guitar Center, Lowes, and several other places. I throw the invitations to join AARP away.

Another neighborhood restaurant has bit the dust. It was sad to see a For Sale sign on my favorite local barbecue joint today. If the refrigerator was empty before shopping day, I would always just run down to Raymonds BBQ and pick up one of their three meat dinners. It probably wasn't the best barbecue in the state of Texas, but it was simple, honest food and it was dirt cheap. I would always get way more food than I could eat and never spend more than ten dollars. One by one, all my favorite little local businesses are disappearing. Anyone who thinks the economy is improving just isn't looking in the right places. You just can't have a strong, vibrant economy without small business, and from my small little corner of the world, small business is still having a tough time.

When we went to the dog park today, I watched two Shelties run straight toward the biggest mud puddle in the park and lie down in it. Their owner just shrugged his shoulders and smiled, as if to say this sort of thing happened everyday. This would have been the day for Dot and Dash to get muddy, because they were headed straight to Vhea's LaundroMutt for a bath on the way home. I don't know why the dogs hate a bath so much. They look better. They smell better. For the first three or four days, they're actually pleasant to have on the bed at night.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 970

I'm trying to eat more fruit. I've acquired a taste for mangoes lately and thought I'd buy a few while I was at the grocery store. Instead of doing the sensible thing and buying whole mangoes, I got a box of mangoes that had already been sliced. "How do you tell if these are any good," a guy next to me asked. "These look good," I said. "They're all nice and yellow." Shows what I know about picking fruit. When I got the mangoes home, they were as hard as raw carrots. I guess they weren't ripe yet, because they sure didn't taste like the exotic looking peaches I thought I was buying. This is the problem with buying fruit. I can never tell when fruits and vegetables are ripe. It's much easier to buy cheese, or frozen pizza, or chocolate.  Janet will probably come home with a nice ripe mango and ask me why I bought these.

I didn't get nearly as much done as I thought I would today. I get easily sidetracked by trivial things and this morning when I turned on the computer, I noticed that the favicon on my website was gone. Favicons are those little 16x16 pixel square images you see on the menu bar when you bookmark a website in a browser. It doesn't even matter whether your website has a favicon or not, but I was determined to figure out where mine went. I looked at the HTML code. I tried uploading a new favicon icon to the server. I looked on Google for alternate ways to code the favicon script. Nothing worked. I finally decided that my ISP must have just turned off favicon support on the Apache web server. I put my little favicon icon on a different server that I had access to and referenced the URL back to my landing page. Everything works now. Time spent on this worthless endeavor: three hours.

I also opened up a Pinterest account and began pinning all my Instagram pictures. I never really liked Pinterest before, but when I discovered how easy it was to take the pictures that are for sale in my InstaCanvas Gallery and pin them on a Pinterest board, I was all in. I've got so many apps connected to other apps now that I never know what's going to turn up on Facebook or Twitter. I still write the blog by hand each and every evening, but everything else you see online is more or less automated.

I think the dogs are going to get a bath tomorrow. They've gotten themselves so dirty that they feel sticky when you pet them. Dash is the dirtiest. I have a feeling that a few of his spots are just dirt and are going to wash off when he gets his bath tomorrow. We'll go to the dog park first. Giving dog a bath before you take them to a dog park would be pointless.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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