Day 1061

One down, four to go. These Santa Paws pet picture events are pretty familiar by now, but there are still some surprises. Today I photographed the largest Great Dane I've ever seen in my life. I've seen plenty of Great Danes, but this one was humongous. He was at least 30% bigger than your average Dane and was still only two years old. This gentle giant was a model of good behavior, something that couldn't be said for many of the smaller breeds that sat on Santa's lap today. Like I've said many times, I have the easy job at these events. It was Santa who had his hands full.

I continue to be amazed at how popular pet photography has become in recent years. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more dogs sitting on Santa's lap this year than children.  Although I mostly take pet pictures to help out my favorite charities, I know of almost a dozen photographers here in Dallas who make taking pictures of people's pets their full time job. Photographing dogs does have its advantages. Unless they're trying to bite you or pee on the set, they are generally very agreeable subjects.

Dot and Dash stayed home today while Janet and I worked the Santa Paws event. Needless to say, they were both very happy to see me when I returned. We took an extra long walk this evening and got to see an exceptionally beautiful sunset. The wind picked up during our walk and you could tell that changes were on the way. The weather forecast says that we might get severe thunderstorms and damaging hail tomorrow. I hope not. We've got another pet related event to attend.

I don't even know if it's worth putting the large pile of photo gear I dragged in from the car a few hours ago away. We've got other pet photography events on deck from now until Christmas. Probably I'll get tired of stumbling over things soon enough and put everything back in its place in a day or two. I'm not going to worry about the clutter tonight though. Tonight, I'm going to go to bed early and rest my aching bones.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1060

Here's how bored I was today. I pulled off most of the vent registers and proceeded to clean the heating and air conditioning vents with a vacuum cleaner. Most of the vents were just dusty, but the one in the kitchen was apparently a black hole with the ability to suck in everything from dried pasta and dog biscuits to last year's Christmas cookies. I'm sure our grocery bills would have been smaller without this troublesome vent.

It's hard to even remember what I did today. It was really that uneventful. I know pancakes were involved and I answered some e-mail as well. That was about it, with the exception of my little episode with the vacuum cleaner. One of my clients held out the promise of more work in the not too distant future, while another held out the promise of continued confusion about billing. I'm just glad it's Friday.

This weekend will be exceptionally busy. Tomorrow is the first of five Santa Paws pet photo events for Dalmatian Rescue. I've still got to pack up my equipment later this evening, but I've done this so many times that I could do it in my sleep. I got a new muslin backdrop this year because most of our customers are repeats from previous years. I know they would probably like something a little different than the picture they received last year and the year before. My only worry is that the aging lighting equipment will eventually quit working. Well, that's not my only worry. I occasionally worry that I'll quit working as well. These events are murder on my knees. I'm down on the floor photographing the Chihuahuas, and then right back up again when the next dog is a Great Dane. I keep thinking that fashion photography was a lot easier, but memories can be tricky. Probably it just seemed easy because I was in my early 30's then.

On Sunday we take Dot and Dash to a big animal rescue event. Janet and I gave them both baths tonight, so they would be good looking representatives for Dalmatian Rescue. They're so clean they sparkle right now, but they've got a whole day to get dirty again. We'll see how it goes.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1059

It's amazing how often little things end up consuming large amounts of my time. I wanted to get November invoices out today. Everything was ready to take to the post office, but I couldn't get the envelopes to print. Printing envelopes used to be a piece of cake with older printers, but now I have one of those "multifunction" printers and one of the functions that Epson seems to have left out was envelopes. I can't just slide the envelopes into a little slot anymore. I have to take out the paper tray and reconfigure it for envelope sized pieces of paper. If I'm off on the dimensions by even a tiny amount, the envelopes get stuck and I practically have to take the printer apart to clear the paper jam.

Some of you might ask why I don''t just use the large format printer I'm always talking about instead. Nope. That won't work either. The large printer won't even accept something as small as an envelope in the paper tray. Although I could have hand addressed all the envelopes much quicker, I persevered and finally got the multifunction printer to work. As I drove to the post office with the envelopes, I kept thinking that this was a lot of work for the small amount that I actually billed out this month.

I wonder if any of my Entrecard friends are noticing that their blog traffic continues to slowly drop long after the demise of the Entrecard network. That's what seems to be happening with me. For the first time in years, my blog traffic is actually lower than my company website traffic. If you're a regular reader who has never signed up to become a regular blog follower, humor me and sign up now. It won't change anything, but it will make me feel better.

I got an e-mail today with an ad for a low cost film scanner that records directly to an SD card. No computer required. I have a fantastic old Canon scanner, but I haven't been able to use it for years, since it hooks up using a SCSI cable. Jeez, how long has it been since you've used a computer with SCSI peripherals?  I don't even own one anymore. At any rate, I may get this new little film scanner. I've still got thousands of 35mm negatives that I've never digitized yet. Maybe when I can't think of any new ideas, I'll at least be able to retrieve some really good old ones. I continue to think that I shot some of my very best photos in the 1970's. I can't remember what they were though. It would be interesting to scan these old negatives and see if they can hold their own with the stuff I'm doing today.  We'll see.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1058

I went to get some lab work done this morning in preparation for my upcoming physical exam. On the way home from these mandatory blood tests, I drove by a new breakfast restaurant that I'd never seen before. It was odd that I didn't know about this place, since it was less than four miles from my house. I learned long ago however, that there are lots of thing I don't know about.

When I went inside, I was greeted by some very old people eating a late breakfast. They didn't look happy. Most were talking about last night's election results. "When do you think he's going to change the flag," said a white haired woman to her companion at the table next to me. "You know he's got his own flag." she continued. At the other end of the dining room I overheard a man say. "There's plenty of jobs. These kids today are just too damn lazy to work."

I'm a chameleon. I blend in easily at places like this. I blend in equally easy at restaurants where the patrons all sport tattoos, raise their own urban chickens, and have long discussions about sustainability. It's kind of sad. In a world that has gone tribal, I still haven't found my own tribe.

I'm not a religious person, but I feel more comfortable around Christians and Jews. Somehow, people that put their faith in a higher power seem much nicer to me than the secular humanists who have become convinced that they are the higher power. Although I strongly believe in the importance of family values, I haven't talked to my own family in years. On and on it goes. Although I have become very good at my chosen profession, it still hasn't stopped me from thinking that advertising is basically rubbish. It would be nice to believe in something, but I'm not sure what that would be.

In lieu of becoming a true believer, team player, or tribal chieftain, I have become a good observer. I see things that I think have meaning and I take pictures of them. I observe the world around me and write my observations down. I seldom make judgements about what I see. That's your job.

Maybe all this is why I appreciate the wisdom of dogs. Dogs are very good observers. Dot and Dash are extremely alert and notice everything around them. Lord knows what they actually believe.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1057 - Election Day

Today was a light housekeeping day. I paid bills. I renewed my prescriptions at the pharmacy. I balanced my checkbook. I even found time to catch up on my correspondence. What I didn't do was stand in line to vote. I'd already done that earlier during the Texas early voting period.

From the looks of things at my precinct, I could just as easily have waited until today to vote. When the dogs and I walked by the neighborhood polling station on our morning walk, there was no line at all. People walked in, voted, and were out again in just a few minutes. The long lines I kept seeing on television in other parts of the country seemed like they were from another planet. Several people asked if Dot and Dash were going to vote as we walked by. I wish they could. They'd probably make a smarter decision than many people I know.

I made an appointment for an annual physical exam with my doctor today. Usually, by the time my annual physical rolls around, I've seen the doctor so many times that there's nothing new to discover. This year is different. I've hardly been to the doctor at all this year. It's not that I feel all that great. It's just that I've grown weary of learning that my body is continuing to disintegrate. I'm sure I'm just as healthy as most people my age, but that's not saying much. After a certain point, it's all downhill.

I'm beginning to wonder if Klout has any validity at all. I noticed this Summer that my score went up quite a bit after people I don't even know said Happy Birthday to me on Facebook. Now, I'm noticing a similar effect when I get tagged in one of those pictures you see all the time with a big heart and lots of bunnies. Of course, real social interactions don't have any effect on the score whatsoever. I can't complain though. My latest perk is a free selection of Zatarain's Cajun style pasta mixes. WTF? When did Cajuns start cooking pasta anyway?

I like watching the election returns on a night like this. A close race is like watching a good football game. It's still early and I'm not sure what will happen as the evening progresses, but I always enjoy seeing the pollsters and pundits proved wrong. Often, the pundits are right of course, but it's reassuring to see that sometimes the voters still have a mind of their own.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1056

Occasionally, I look at the profiles of people who appear on my Google+ stream and become envious of how idyllic their lives seem. Then I look at my own profile and realize that it's not that different from the rest. I guess appearances can be deceiving. I think even the scrupulously honest often put the accent on the positive to avoid depressing those around them. I do this myself sometimes. It's good to have a positive attitude. I just don't always believe you.

The fog was thick as soup when I took the dogs out this morning. I though I'd take a good camera with me on our walk and try to get some pictures before the fog lifted. What a disaster. The big camera around my neck was continually getting tangled in the dog's leashes. When I did find something to photograph, Dash would tug on the leash just as I was pressing the shutter and ruin the shot. If I spent too long looking through the viewfinder, I would inevitably look up to see one of the dogs eating something disgusting at our feet on the ground. I did get a few decent shots, but it was hardly worth the effort. It is much easier to take pictures with a cell phone when you are walking Dalmatians.

I didn't have much better luck trying to find out why the State of Missouri is telling me I owe them money. After sitting on hold for an inordinate amount of time, I finally was able to speak with someone in the state's tax office. They weren't much help. All they could tell me was that they had received a 1099 form with my name on it. They couldn't tell me what I supposedly owed, or why I was on their list. I kept telling the official that I had never lived in the state of Missouri in my life and that I had already paid all my taxes for the year in question anyway. My very rational argument seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Sadly, I think this is the shape of things to come. Government agencies at all levels are strapped for cash and they are getting more and more creative in their attempts to reel in the money they need. I've already noticed that the Dallas County government is quick to raise real estate taxes whenever house values go up, but they are very reluctant to lower taxes when real estate values go down. Income taxes are only a small part of the total picture. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? It's appalling how much of your phone bill goes to pay a bunch of weird hidden taxes. Are you concerned about the price of gas? If you could just get rid of all the taxes they place on gasoline, you could fill your tank for a very reasonable price. I don't think I would mind paying taxes so much if I could control where my money went. I have very little control of where my tax money goes however, and neither do you.

I think this is really what the election is about tomorrow. People want to control where their money goes. Each side has very different ideas of how to spend the tax money we send them. If you don't happen to agree with these ideas, you can start to feel like you vote isn't worth much. It doesn't have to be this way. I'm convinced that if people could decide where their tax money would go when they paid their taxes in the first place, we wouldn't have the divisiveness we are experiencing today. Hey, if you want to fund the military with your taxes, go ahead. If you want to fund social programs, send your tax dollars there. Roads and bridges seem important? That's OK too. If you just let the people decide for themselves where their tax dollars went, a lot of current problems would vanish. Some programs would thrive. Others would vanish. So be it. The people would have spoken. With something this direct and simple, maybe we wouldn't need congress at all.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1055

I don't think I'm a spokesperson for Paypal anymore. The Paypal Advantage program that I was helping to promote seems to have disappeared. I looked on the Internet yesterday and all references to the program have vanished. Very few people saw the ads featuring me and a Dalmatian as satisfied Paypal users, but I swear they actually did exist. I saw them myself. Oh, well. And I was hoping to be like William Shatner for Priceline.com. The only other company that has ever used me in their advertising was Wordstar. Remember Wordstar?  I didn't seem to do that company much good either.

My little photo shoot this morning went pretty well, considering that we did the photography at the wrong time of day and the lighting was terrible. It was good practice for me. I need to remember how to deliver good results under bad conditions.

At one point I was seriously considering turning my company into a more retail business, taking family portraits and pet pictures. That little fantasy didn't last long. I quickly learned that professional art directors and graphic designers were much easier to deal with than regular folks. It seemed like the less money people had for photography, the more they wanted in return. Now, I have a simple rule of thumb. If there isn't an accounts receivable department to send the invoice to, don't do the job. I'll occasionally take pictures as a favor, like I did this morning, but I'll never charge for them. It's just too depressing to see what friends actually think you are worth.

The clear skies and bright sunlight might not have been good for photography, but it was perfect for taking the dogs to the dog park. Now that Janet's Land Rover is back in service, the dogs were much better travelers. They seem to like Janet's car better than mine.  They hated the Kia Sorento rent car.  The back seat wasn't deep enough and they kept falling out of the seat every time we went around a corner. Thankfully, everything is back to normal now. Life is good.

Next weekend, the annual Santa Paws photo season returns for another year. Dalmatian Rescue has lined up five different locations this year. I hope I'm up to the challenge. Each year my knees seems to get worse and worse. After kneeling and standing up over and over again for six hours, I always feel like someone needs to scrape me off the floor with a spatula at the end of the day. The only thing more grueling than being the photographer at these events is being Santa. I'm really glad that I don't have to wear a Santa suit and have big dogs sit on my lap all day.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1054

For the second time in two years, I received a letter from the Missouri Department of Revenue telling me that I was behind on paying my Missouri state taxes. WTF? I have never lived or worked in Missouri in my life. I thought I had this whole thing resolved last year when I finally managed to talk to someone in the Missouri tax department who told me the whole thing was a bureaucratic mistake. The person I talked to must not have told anyone else though, because I got exactly the same letter again this year. And you still wonder why I don't have a lot of faith in government agencies? I only know what I see, and I see a lot of incompetence in government agencies at all levels. Of course, I see a lot of incompetence in the private sector as well. There is more than enough incompetence to spread around these days.

The time changes tonight. I used to be so obsessive that I'd reset all my watches whenever there was a time change. Now, I don't even bother. There's always something lying around that shows more or less the right time, whatever the season happens to be. For someone who likes watches, I have very little interest in what time it is anyway. A couple of hours one way or the other isn't going to change my life very much.

Janet finally got her car back from the body shop today. There were so many cars damaged in the big hailstorm last June, that it has taken until now for many cars to get repaired. Janet's car was literally in the shop for three months. This was only a hailstorm too. I can only imagine how long it is going to take before people in New York and New Jersey get their lives back to normal after the hurricane. Sadly, some of them never will. After Katrina, a lot of people in New Orleans just gave up and moved to Dallas and Houston. They're still here.

Janet volunteered me to take a mother/daughter portrait of one of her friends tomorrow. The lady wants to have her picture taken at our lake, paddling in a kayak with her daughter. I asked her if she'd ever been in a kayak before and she said no. Hey, what could possible go wrong? Oh, did I mention that her dogs were supposed to be in this picture as well.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1053

I was delighted to receive a payment from one of my European clients today. Then, about two hours later, I was dismayed to receive a letter from the medical testing lab saying my liver enzymes were way too high again. It went back and forth like this all day. I was pleased when the FedEx man knocked on the door and handed me the new lens I've been waiting for. On the other hand, I was disgusted to see the price of gold drop $40 an ounce in a single day.

I've noticed something new in Blogger. It says "Your blog is now eligible for Google Affiliate Ads." What's that all about? There's also a new little dialog box with a picture of a camera, a bicycle, a blender, and a running shoe. Evidently if I blog about one of these things, I might make a little money. I don't want to blog about any of these things. Knowing Google, it would be a very little amount of money too. I've been running Adsense ads for ages and have never even made enough to pay my phone bill. I think I'll just ignore these Affiliate Ads.

I had to turn the air conditioner back on today. We are only a few degrees away from an all time record high for November 2. It was almost ninety degrees outside this afternoon. Pretty weird, especially when a lot of the country is already getting snow. I'm happy enough to see the warm weather continue. The office isn't insulated very well, and it tend to get chilly when the weather turns cold.

I hope you folks in New York and New Jersey get your power back on soon. The longest I've ever had to go without electricity was five days. I think it's already been five days for some folks in the Northeast. The things I remember most about our big power outage was that food goes bad in the refrigerator very quickly and there really isn't much to do in the evenings without any electricity.

I didn't get to go out for my Friday morning breakfast today. I had to stay and wait for the FedEx delivery guy instead. My package required a signature and I wasn't about to let the driver take the package to my neighbor's house in my absence. Both my neighbors are like a black hole for misplaced mail. If something gets delivered to their houses by mistake, it can be weeks before I see it again. So, I waited, and waited, and waited. Sometimes there really isn't much to do even with electricity.

Delilah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1052

I went and visited with my watchmaker today. Although Kevin is technically a client, he seldom has much for me to do. Good watch repairmen don't need to advertise. With so few young people going into this line of work, the handful of remaining watchmakers have more work than they know what to do with. I wanted to learn how to repair watches once and quickly discovered that I was much too clumsy to become a good watch repairman. I would continually drop tiny little screws on the floor and never see them again. This is why I was visiting Kevin today. Janet doesn't even want me to change the batteries on her watches anymore, so I take them to a professional instead. My own watches are a different story. I've got so many basically worthless timepieces that I can afford to lose a few screws with my clumsy ways.

One of my New York clients called me today. He said he'd been sitting in his car waiting to get gas for over an hour and a half. We talked for a while about upcoming assignments and then he abruptly told me he had to go. Evidently someone was trying to cut in line right ahead of him and he wasn't going to let that happen. I'm glad I don't live on the East Coast right now.

I got the large format printer running for long enough this afternoon to print out some posters I needed for an upcoming animal rescue event. After printing only four posters, the red warning light came on that said I needed more Light Cyan ink. Didn't I just buy a lot of expensive ink the last time I used this printer? This is getting ridiculous. I'm beginning to think it would be a lot more economical if I just scrapped the printer and took a CD with the file to Kinkos whenever I needed to print something big.

Years ago, when I was fascinated with automobiles, a friend told me that practically anyone could afford to buy an old worn out Ferrari, but that you had to be rich to keep it running. I'm discovering that this is true with practically everything in life. I've got a fabulous printer, but I can't afford to keep it filled with ink. I've got a ton of old watches, but I can't afford to keep them all running. It's too bad that simplicity never really appealed to me. I'm surrounded by musical instruments I can no longer play and perfectly good shoes that haven't kept pace with my expanding feet. A day will come when I'll probably even have more blog posts than I know what to do with.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1051 - Halloween

The scariest thing about today was the total lack of activity. I felt like I'd fallen into a black hole. No calls. No e-mail. No work. I'm not even close to the hurricane either. Usually I'm pretty busy in October, but this entire month was pretty dead. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Our dog training class had their annual Halloween party this evening.  Everyone dresses their dog up in costumes to compete for prizes in a variety of categories. Sometimes we go to a lot of trouble to make our own original costumes and win nothing. Other times we just buy a cheap costume from a party store and win. There's no rhyme or reason to this thing. Dot won tonight in the Diva category wearing a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader outfit. Dash went as a fireman, but won nothing.

I'm always amazed at how much trouble some people go to for a party that seldom lasts over 45 minutes. Tonight one family dressed their dogs up as Ghostbusters, complete with very realistic proton packs on their backs. There was also a Great Dane wearing a saddle and two German Shepherds dressed as wolves in sheep's clothing. Their owner, Little Red Riding Hood, said she made the sheep costumes using the seat covers from her car. The dogs didn't get candy, but there were plenty of dog biscuits to go around. I'm sure your kid's Halloween party was very similar.

I think I made a big mistake ordering something from New York during the hurricane. The store says my order has been shipped, but FedEx begs to differ. They say their trucks aren't even operating in certain parts of the city yet. It appears my lens has fallen into a black hole as well. I'm sure I'll get the order eventually, but I sure wasted my money on FedEx second day delivery.

I didn't get a pumpkin this year. Every time I get decorative pumpkins for the front porch they end up rotting and I have a big mess to clean up around Christmas. Nothing to clean up this year. It's onward to November. I've already voted, so next Tuesday is no big deal. When Thanksgiving rolls around I'm sure everyone will be thankful that all the political ads have finally disappeared from our televisions and phones.

Roxy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1050

Does anyone else think that shopping has become way too difficult? I try my best to buy everything online, because going to a store is usually an exercise in futility. Today I needed some new shoes. Although I have nicer shoes for weddings, funerals, and important meetings, my go-to shoes for all other occasions are a well worn pair of Sperry Top-Siders. Dallas has a big Sperry flagship store, so I thought that would be the best place to find a replacement for my worn out shoes. The store had hundreds of different Sperry designs. You'd think they'd surely have what I wanted: a pair of the original boat shoes Paul Sperry designed in 1935. This style has never changed and are still quite popular. When I asked for a pair, I was told they were a special order item.

Having failed in the shoe department, I moved on to the Apple store and got a Lightning-to-30 Pin adapter, so I could use my old devices and chargers with my new iPhone. Why didn't the geniuses at the Genius Bar tell me that this adapter will only work if your phone doesn't have a case? What is that all about? Everyone has a case for their phone, The adapter was worthless and I had to make a second trip to the store to return it.

Dash didn't do much better than I did today. We waited forever to get his antigen shot today, because it appeared that nobody showed up for work at the vet. They were very shorthanded. Maybe I should have just waited until tomorrow to do all these things. The stars clearly weren't aligned today. Even my online purchases went awry. I though I'd found a place in New York that was still shipping, because the shopping cart dialog box said my order would arrive on Thursday. Five hours after I placed my order, I received an e-mail telling me that the store was actually closed because of the hurricane and that my order would be processed when they reopened again. Oh, well. So much for believing websites.

I shouldn't complain though. The weather is still perfect. The dogs and I had a great walk this morning. We saw our first pelicans of the season. Every year, hundreds of American White Pelicans return to our lake for the Winter. I find the predictability of migratory birds reassuring. Seeing a bird return year after year is much more pleasant than learning that an old high school friend has died, or that you've been fired. Too much in life is unpredictable. Especially shopping.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1049

I've been watching coverage of Hurricane Sandy off and on throughout the day. I'm glad I don't live in a hurricane zone. We have tornadoes here in Texas, but the odds of actually being struck by a tornado are relatively small. Tornadoes are very localized. A tornado can destroy houses in one block and leave the homes in the next block completely untouched. Texas tornadoes come and go fairly quickly too. Usually if you are under a tornado alert, it will typically all be over in an hour or two. Hurricanes last a lot longer and are much harder to avoid. It looks like Hurricane Sandy is over seven hundred miles wide and is in the process of swallowing up entire states. I'm glad I'm far, far away and I hope that my readers on the East Coast will stay safe.

Monday's are typically slow, but today was not your average Monday. I was busy most of the day making changes to various websites. Most of the updates were easy, but one request was for something I had completely forgotten how to do. Instead of admitting that I didn't have a clue about making this particular update, I spent a couple of hours on Google researching the subject and brushing up on my Javascript skills. By mid-afternoon, I had everything running smoothly. The whole episode taught me a valuable lesson: never put any code on a website that you are likely to forget later.

A saw a large hawk on our morning walk. I think it was a Ferruginous Hawk, but it could easily have been a Red Tail Hawk instead. There are lots of bunnies in the park this year. The hawks have probably returned to eat the bunnies. I need to start taking my camera again, because these birds are beautiful when you catch one in flight.

It's kind of weird to turn on the television and hear people talking about the weather instead of the election. I actually prefer hearing about the weather, even if it is a big storm. I hope the hurricane passes quickly though. I need to order some camera equipment from B&H in New York, and it will be nice when my East Cost clients get back to work again. I certainly didn't get any assignment from the East Coast today.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1048

I need a new car. The old Defender is getting a little long in the tooth and it would be nice to be driving something reliable again. Unfortunately the only car I'd really like is another Defender. For reasons that remain a mystery to me, Land Rover will not be bringing the Defender back to America until at least 2015. I wonder if my car will last that long?

Today, Janet wanted me to take the Defender up to the dog park and I had to run through a NASA style checklist just to make sure the car was roadworthy. After 100,000 miles, things start to fall off these Defenders. I still drive the car almost everyday, but not with other people inside. My schedule is so amorphous that it is no big deal for me to wait two hours for the AAA tow truck.  Other people have places to go.

At any rate, I pumped up the tires, checked for leaking hoses and off we went. I have to double clutch now, since the synchronizers are gone, but I'm getting pretty good at it. The trip was uneventful and the dogs loved the park today. The weather was absolutely perfect. All the bad weather in the Northeast is bringing good weather to the Southwest. Dash was full of himself today. He repeatedly raced from one end of the park to the other and was faster than any of the other dogs. If you've never seen a Dalmatian run, it's a beautiful sight. They are really quite graceful.

When we returned to the house, I had work to do. I wonder when people stopped respecting weekends as a time of rest and relaxation? I get as many requests on the weekends now as on any other day of the week. I would just as soon do nothing on the weekends, but I usually try to get the weekend assignments completed, so that they don't bog me down when Monday arrives. I got two major website updates completed this afternoon. I would have rather watched a movie, but I'll have to admit that last minute website updates still beat mowing the grass.

I saw my first Kestrel of the season while I was taking the dogs on their evening walk. These small falcons are all over the place during the Winter, but I've never seen one during the Summer months. One by one, all the Winter birds and animals are returning. Redbirds have taken up residence in our yard again and one bold Cardinal apparently wants to build a nest in my office. He pecks on my office window every morning and when I won't let him in, he goes and poops on my car. What is it with these destructive animals? I think this bird has been talking to a certain armadillo.

Abi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1047

Janet and I went over to the neighborhood health food store to get our blood tested this morning. The store has these cholesterol screening events four times a year and they are dirt cheap, especially compared to what your doctor would normally charge. The huge price differential for lab work sums up the whole health care delima for me. When my doctor does my blood work, Labcorp bills my insurance a minimum of $400. Hey, why not. They know that my insurance will pay. When essentially the same labs do these public events for seniors, the test costs $20. That's what they know people will be willing to pay using their own money. I'm sure the lab makes a profit in both cases. It's just insane. So why is medicine so expensive? Because the money is there. If everybody was paying for healthcare with their own money like they do when they take their dog to the vet, costs would be much, much lower. Yeah, I know. Some people don't take their dog to the vet, because they don't want to spend the money. Some people wouldn't go to the doctor for the same reason. In general, medical costs would be much lower without insurance though. The only fly in the ointment would be that more people would die.

I wonder why I hate health insurance so much? I'm perfectly fine with car insurance. Homeowners insurance isn't so bad either. Maybe car insurance just seems more fairly priced and health insurance seems like a rip off. All I know is that a simple blood test should never cost $400.

I opened the filter drawer of the new furnace today to measure the filter and discovered that the filter was already filthy. It needed to be changed. How did that happen so quickly?  When I went to look for a new filter, I discovered that my filter was a very odd size. It couldn't be 10x20 or 20x20 like most furnaces. That would be too easy. No, it had to be a special size. I finally found a filter that would fit, and as you might expect, it was more expensive than the other filters. Hopefully, this fancy new energy efficient furnace will save me enough in gas to pay for all the filters I'll need.

After our blood test, Janet and I went out for breakfast at the restaurant with good bacon. She couldn't believe that I'd already tried everything on the menu. Hey, aren't there 52 Friday's in a year?  That's a lot of breakfast choices. 

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1046

I passed a polling station when I was running errands today, so I decided to take advantage of early voting. As usual, my first thought when voting was, "Whoa, if all these people ahead of me in line can actually vote, we're screwed." My next thought is often "Hmm, I wonder if these electronic voting machines are actually hooked up to anything?" Voting using a touch screen is still a bit disconcerting to me. Where does your vote go?  Once you are finished voting electronically, there is no proof that you did anything at all. At least when you buy something in a store, you get a receipt. I've never gotten a receipt for casting my vote in my life. It is all an act of faith.

While I was waiting in line, I saw at least five large red signs that clearly said No cell phones or digital cameras allowed within 100 yards of the polls. I also saw at least fifteen people checking their Facebook accounts with their phones within a few feet of the door that led to the voting booths. So much for that rule. There were also signs warning people not to engage in campaigning in front of the polling station. This sign seemed to be ignored as well. There was a guy holding a huge placard standing right by the front door, asking everyone to vote for his candidate.  It took me about 45 minutes to go through the line and press all the buttons on the touch screen voting machine. I'm done now, although I will continue to wonder if my vote will actually be counted.

I hope my guy wins, but I'm not expecting any miracles whatever happens. I've never seen the country as divided as it is right now. Whichever presidential candidate happens to win will still have to deal with the other half of the country who thinks he's the devil incarnate. Polarization leads to Paralyzation. I am increasingly convinced that we have lost the ability to reach a consensus on anything at all and are headed for permanent gridlock. It's kind of sad. The unified spirit that won World War II and took us to the moon has dissolved into petty bickering. Instead of unity, we have become tribal, with no loyalties beyond our own little tribes.

Hey, at least my new furnace works. It was forty degrees outside this morning and the house was toasty warm. The air doesn't seem to flow through the vents quite as fast with this new furnace, but the thermostat works better, so the net result is about the same. I think the cold weather is going to continue through the weekend. At least we don't have to deal with the "Frankenstorm" that is headed toward the East Coast. I'd hate to have a new furnace and no electricity.

For the second week in a row, I forgot to take the trash out to the street on Thursday evening. The only reason I managed to get my trash picked up today was that I heard the garbage truck banging and rattling down the street and rushed out to greet it with my can. I can take comfort that I've resolved one memory loss moment, but I still have another one to deal with tomorrow. The local health food store is giving cholesterol screening blood tests in the morning and I need to remember not to eat breakfast before I go in for my test. Sometimes I remember these things. Sometimes I don't.

Pearl is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1045

I enjoyed going to the video production seminar today. They didn't have barbecue after all, but the catered tex/mex lunch was quite tasty. I can't say that I learned anything that would benefit me personally, but I continue to be fascinated by how much the industry has changed. Production equipment that used to be reserved for Hollywood directors and million dollar edit suites is now affordable and readily available to all. If you have your heart set on making a feature film, access to professional equipment is no longer a limiting factor. All you really need now is a great idea and the discipline to put a film together.

I'd love to have one of those new Canon EOS C500 Cinema cameras. I can't say that I need one though. The only video I shoot these days could easily be captured with a cell phone. All my clients want is something quick and easy that they can slap up on YouTube. Low resolution and out of focus seems just fine to them. I'm sure people are still doing high end video somewhere, but it's definitely a different group of people. I see folks who work for professional sports teams and houses of worship at these seminar events, but very few of my old buddies who used to churn out corporate videos. The corporate world has moved on and left the old video guys behind.

Maybe Winter is on its way. A cold front blew through from the North late today and the temperature dropped more than twenty degrees in just a few hours. I have a feeling that I'll finally get to use the new furnace this weekend. The dogs always seem to enjoy the cooler weather. The cool air gives them extra energy. I had someplace to go this evening, so I was trying to hurry them along on their evening walk. Dot and Dash had other plans. They were both determined to have a walk that was long enough to make me late. They succeeded.

If it gets colder tonight, I might have to put a little more thought into where I have breakfast tomorrow. There's nothing better than a good hot breakfast on a cold morning.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day