Day 1671

I got my energy back today. I mowed the grass, watered the lawn, walked the dogs and went to the gym. Hmm. That's actually all I did. Now what am I going to write about?

I guess I could go off on a political rant. I've got my opinions, just like you do. It doesn't seem right though. It doesn't matter which side you support. I find most political rants annoying in exactly the same way that I find the conversations of a dysfunctional family annoying. It's sad to me that we have completely lost the concept of America as the great melting pot. Diversity has replaced the melting pot as a meme. Instead of a populace with common values and a common purpose, we have fragmented into hundreds of small tribes. People are loyal to their own tribe, but that's about as far as it goes. It seems important to be considered progressive, born again, green, gay, straight, christian, atheist, or any of a hundred other labels. Not so importantly apparently to be an American.

I'm getting better at handling a basketball. Maybe I should start moving around the court a bit and add a bit of diversity to the monotony of shooting endless baskets from the free throw line. There are pick up games at the gym all the time, but I doubt if I'd join in. I'm just not very competitive. It is satisfying to get the ball in the net though.

Weekends go by too quickly. If we had a four day weekend, I might get more accomplished than mowing the grass and a quick workout at the gym. I might paint the house, take piano lessons, or go to a movie. On the other hand, I might just go to the gym more often and rest up when I got home by taking long naps with the dogs. I don't seem to have many burning desires anymore. Nature abhors a vacuum though. I'm sure if I had extra time, I'd figure out something to do with it.

I uploaded my latest website to the server this afternoon. Now that this project is essentially complete, I'll have to go looking for a new one. In the mean time, there are dogs to take to the vet, bills to pay, and wasp nests to eradicate.  Oh, and I can't forget there's jury duty too.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1670

I think even the dogs would agree that the dog days of Summer have arrived. It's hot. It's dry. All the wildflowers behind our house have dried up an gone to seed. Without rain, the ground in the park starts to crack and deep fissures appear in the soil. I've got to keep an eye out for these cracks when I walk the dogs. They are often quite deep and are hidden beneath the patchy prairie grass. As the cracks grow, I've seen dogs step in them inadvertently and injure their leg.

When I was grocery shopping today, I stopped by the vet and made a day boarding appointment for next week while I'm on jury duty. When the dogs were younger, I would have just left them at home, but Dot is old and frail and I still worry about Dash getting an itch and scratching at the slowly healing cancer scar on his neck while I'm away. I don't know why taking care of a sick dog should be any different than taking care of a sick child, or an elderly grandmother. The dogs are more important to me than most people anyway. I think I should be exempt from jury duty, but it's not going to happen. The courts love people my age, because they don't have as many excuses. I've seen retired people actually eager to sit on juries, because they didn't have anything better to do. I'm not one of those people. I don't trust the court system and don't even like to go near a courthouse.

For the second weekend in a row, I sat inside and worked on websites, instead of braving the heat and doing yard work like I should. I did water the shrubs in the back yard along with the Wax Myrtle tree out front, but mowing the grass can wait. It's just too hot. The grass doesn't grow very fast in this weather anyway. I try to convince myself that by letting it grow longer, I'm helping the root system grow longer as well. I must be doing something right, because the grass is still green. Usually, by this time of year it's already starting to wither and turn brown.

I actually got quite a bit done on my latest website project this afternoon. There wasn't much else to do. After putting the groceries away, vacuuming the house, and doing a little coding on the new website, it was really tempting to spend the rest of the afternoon taking a nap with the dogs. Well, I guess it was a little more than tempting. I did take a nap with the dogs.

Tomorrow, I'll go to the gym. Sure, I had time to go today, but what was the point? I just wasn't in the mood.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1669

Today was one small problem after another. My phone battery inexplicably went dead when it was supposedly fully charged. Unfortunately, this didn't prevent me from having irritating phone calls. I was on the phone with technical support at GoDaddy for over an hour, trying to resolve a client's website problem. The tech support guy kept insisting that the problem was on my end and that everything was working perfectly for him. I tried half a dozen "fixes" that the GoDaddy guy suggested, all to no avail. After spending an inordinate amount of time rebooting my computer and trying different browsers, the guys finally says, "Oh wait a minute. I just noticed that we have a job ticket open for a problem just like the one you are describing." Yup. The problem was with the GoDaddy servers after all.

Later in the day, a client called me and told me he was being audited. He said he wanted to give me a heads up, because the auditor told him that his suppliers could end up being audited as well. Great! That's just what I need. I was audited once. It wasn't fun. After three days of going over my life with a fine toothed comb, the auditors found that I'd done everything correctly. My tax returns were perfect and I owed the IRS absolutely nothing. The experience certainly wasn't free though. My accountant sent me a big bill for handling the audit.

When I went out to water the lawn this morning, I noticed that someone had unhooked my sprinkler from the garden hose and thrown it across the yard. Was this petty vandalism, or just code enforcement trying to send me a warning? I'll probably never know the answer. There are water restrictions in place this Summer, but I don't think they prevent you from watering before 10 AM. I'll have to get on the web and check the regulations. If it was code enforcement who unhooked my sprinkler, they'll be back.

The restaurant was really crowded when I went out for breakfast. Friday's always seem to be crowded these days. I think this just proves that we have already made the transition to a four day work week. It's amazing how much more congested everything is on a Friday. The roads are crowded. The stores are crowded. And lots of people are still eating breakfast at 10 AM when they should have been at work. I'm not sure what is going on, but Dallas certainly wasn't working very hard today.

Dash has discovered June Bugs. Luckily, Dot has never been interested in eating bugs, but Spot and Petey were obsessed with them. This is the time of year when June Bugs and Cicadas are everywhere.You can't go outside without hearing the characteristic "song" of these tasty dog treats. Now, when I let Dash out in the evening to pee, all he wants to do is hunt for Cicadas. He hasn't caught many so far, but he has definitely developed a taste for the bugs.

I hope this weekend is quiet and uneventful, with cooler temperatures than we had today. I'm probably just dreaming. Especially about the cooler temperatures.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1668

We were out of oatmeal this morning, so instead of going to the store and getting a new box, I just went out for breakfast instead. I hadn't been to this place for a while, so I was curious if it was still the same. The menu looked the same, but when I ordered my familiar omelet, something looked different. Yup. There was less of everything. Another restaurant had discovered portion control. Everyone seems to be doing this these days. They'll put a little less in the box, or a little less on the plate and hope you won't notice. Retailers and manufacturers seem to know that their customers hate price increases, but will readily accept getting a little less for the same amount of money. Personally, I'd rather pay a little more and get a decent sized portion, but that's just me. As I continue to grow poorer, maybe my attitude will change.

I spent most of the day working on my new website project and getting my July invoices out. There were short trips to the post office and pharmacy to pay bills and pick up prescriptions, but that was about it. It's hard to get very excited about doing websites these days. It seems like every new project I get is less profitable than the previous one. I know I need to stay competitive to stay busy, but pretty soon these things won't even pay the electric bill.

It's not just traditional website design that's in decline. I saw an article the other day that said the average annual income for published authors showed the sharpest decline ever recorded during the past five years. There are well respected authors all over the world who are making less than the receptionist at an average law office. I think it's pathetic. Indie music, self-publishing, ready-made Wordpress themes, high resolution phone cameras, and a host of other innovations have created a tidal wave that is washing away folks like me. I think my financial adviser is tired of hearing me complaining about money. "Why don't you just switch to designing apps for the iPhone," he asked me the other day. It was hard to explain that creating apps was a completely different business model than being a graphic designer. Even if I was able to master the coding issues, I think my head would explode if my role in life was to come up with the next Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga. 

I remember one year while I was going to college, I has a Summer job working on an auto assembly line. The pay was pretty darn good. I think now that the era Henry Ford ushered in with the birth of the assembly line might have been the best of times. There was a genuine need for lots and lots of people to put things together for people to buy. People bought tons of the newly affordable refrigerators, cars and light bulbs that were flooding the market, creating more jobs and more assembly lines. Wages gradually went up, since there were no robots to replace the people. The people and the jobs were actually necessary. This is what created the middle class.

Now everything is different. I've been inside huge factories where I hardly saw a person at all. Robots did everything. Automation systems are replacing people at every level. Your job is next. Sometimes I think the only thing people actually make these days are more people. We're still having babies, but what are they going to do when they grow up? They can't all be artists selling handmade jewelry on Etsy.

I'm not sure what my answer to living in an automated world will be. It's easier to think about tomorrow. I'll definitely be going back to my favorite restaurant, where I'm fairly sure that the quality and portion sizes haven't declined. I'll pick up some tasty food for the weekend at Central Market. I might even do some work.

Today's Dalmatian of the Day was one of ours. She went to the Rainbow Bridge on this day in 2004. Rest in peace Greta. You were one of a kind.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1667

After bragging about how great Dot was doing with her physical therapy yesterday, she ended up getting sick last night and threw up all over the place. She does this periodically, and we have never been able to figure out why. From the looks of the things she threw up, she had eaten a lot of leaves and grass sometime yesterday evening. Both dogs get frantic whenever their stomach is upset and tend to eat grass as a remedy. Unfortunately, it only makes things worse. At least she didn't try to eat the carpet this time.

After cleaning up vomit several times during the night, we were all finally able to get back to sleep again. I had out of the office meetings today and didn't want to leave Dot alone while I was gone, so I drove her downtown to the vet for observation before my first meeting. She seemed absolutely normal during her stay at the vet and at the end of the day, I drove her home again without incident. It was the leaves she ate that made her sick, but I still don't know why she ate the leaves and grass in the first place. It's a shame that I can't even leave the dogs unsupervised in the back yard, but they both can get in trouble so quickly. It probably took Dot less than a minute to eat the grass and leaves that caused all the trouble.

I had one of my periodic meetings with my financial adviser this afternoon. I used to enjoy these strategy sessions, but lately I find that planning my financial future is becoming increasingly discouraging. With interest rates as low as they've been lately, it's hard to earn anything significant from interest and dividends alone. Globalization hasn't helped either. If somebody sneezes in China it can affect your entire portfolio. A global market does create lots of opportunities too, but it definitely makes everything more volatile. I've grown weary of volatility. A little stability would be nice at this point.

By the end of the day, Dot was completely back to normal, so we decided to take the dogs to training class. Even after sunset it was still hot, so all the dogs in class were a bit subdued. We brought a big cooler of water so Dot and Dash would have plenty to drink, but after greeting the other dogs in the class, they were ready to go home again. The only command they seemed to enjoy was the extended down, where they got to lie down in the grass and do nothing for ten minutes.

I have no idea what today's flower is. Anyone? This is the first time I've seen something like this. It grows near the water and is just starting to come into bloom. It's amazing that after all these years of walking in the park, I still see something new from time to time.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1666

The dogs certainly kept me busy today. They both had vet appointments in different parts of town. Dot did fabulous during her water therapy. She continues to amaze me and has got to be one of the most physically fit senior Dalmatians I've ever seen. She seems to respond well to acupuncture too. I think it relaxes her. Today she went right to the little blue yoga mat in the acupuncture room after her treadmill workout and lay down in the center, waiting patiently for the doctor. I'm really proud of how well she's doing and even the vet thinks she's an inspiration.

Dash's visit to the vet was a little more prosaic. No Chariots of Fire music for him today, although the visit was necessary. He needed his anal glands expressed again.

I got started on a new website project today. No Chariots of Fire music for me either, although I am very happy to have the work. This new site is part of an extended family of sites where I have already completed the master design. The job ahead is more about replicating and adapting things than it is about inventing anything new. There's still a lot of work to do, but I should be able to complete this site in two or three days. Several years ago I would have posted something about a new project like this on my Facebook business page. I don't even bother anymore. After Facebook changed it's algorithm, absolutely nobody sees these business page posts unless you run an ad or pay to promote the post. Forget that! I'm sure you'd much rather see a picture of Dot on the treadmill anyway.

My shoulder is killing me today. I can't think of anything I've done recently to aggravate the old injury, but sometimes it doesn't take much. I don't think this dislocated shoulder is ever going to fully heal. I doubt that it's going to improve much while I'm still walking Dalmatians every day. I need to start going to physical therapy myself again instead of just driving Dot to her therapy sessions. I probably would have started therapy sessions already, but the physical therapist I really like sold his practice and moved out of town. Now I've got to find someone new and you already know how much I like doing new things. I really can't postpone physical therapy too much longer, or I'll be driving the car with one hand again.

It's really been dry this month. This is the time of year when I wish we had an automatic sprinkler system. There are always parts of the yard that I forget to water until I see a tree or bush looking droopy. By then it is often too late. Today I noticed that the Wax Myrtle tree near the front porch was losing some leaves, so I brought out a soaker hose and wet the area down. This tree has seen some tough times, but it always seems to survive. When I'm not forgetting to water it, the bag worms and climbing vines attack it. Oh, well. At least the back yard is still looking good.

I've got a meeting I need to go to tomorrow and the dogs have their training class in the evening. Hopefully, something else happens as well.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1665

I had another doctor's appointment today. I've been doing all these tests for so long now that I think I'm learning how to cheat. Blood sugar levels rise and fall throughout the day. You can schedule lab work to make blood sugar levels appear lower if you want to go to the trouble. Heart rate and blood pressure levels can be regulated to some degree with controlled breathing. I used to drink lots of water as soon as I got to the doctor's office when I knew they needed a urine specimen, but then they would do this ultrasound test and tell me that my bladder wasn't emptying properly. Of course it wasn't. I had just consumed boatloads of water. Now, I time this test too, drinking about ten ounces of water three hours before my appointment and no liquids again until the appointment is over. Whatever works is my motto. Apparently my plan was a success because the doc was pleased with the test results and told me that I didn't need to see him for another year.

It looked like it was going to rain all day, but it never did. Everywhere I went there were ominous dark clouds on the horizon. I kept hurrying home to make sure the dogs were OK, but there was never a drop of rain or a single thunderclap. It was just another hot July day with strangely dark skies. As much as I hate rain, I'm beginning to hope we do get a few showers this week. The grass in the back yard is drying up at an alarming rate. I water every evening, but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I feed the dogs lunch every day, even though I never eat any lunch myself. Eating seems to be the high point of their day, so I make a big ritual out of feeding them each a rice cake at lunch time. There are virtually no calories in a rice cake, but apparently there is a lot of chewing pleasure. Dot and Dash both love rice cakes. After lunch, Dot likes to sun herself in the back yard. I have to watch her though to make sure she doesn't get sunburned. Dalmatians sunburn very easily. When it's hot like this and there are so many mosquitoes around, ten minutes of sun is usually plenty. While Dot suns herself, I usually knock down wasp nests under the eaves of the house with a broom. It's such an exciting life.

I finished some website updates this morning, but even that slows down during the Summer. I don't hear from my clients much during July, but I do see pictures of them on Facebook riding jet skis, visiting national parks, and doing whatever you do on family vacations. When the kids return to school, I'll get busy again.

My vet called today and wanted to reschedule Dot's acupuncture appointment again. I thought she wanted to change the day, but she just wanted to move the appointment up an hour. Sure. No problem. Hey, what's an hour to me?  I'm sure the dogs and I will never notice the difference.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1664

I thought I'd do some painting preparation today by starting to scrape the loose paint off the exterior windows and trim. I should have done this a year ago, so today's prep work probably means that I'll actually start painting about this time next year. Progress is progress though and I was feeling good about what I'd accomplished. I decided to do a little more and remembered that there was still a light fixture on the back porch that needed to be re-wired. Unfortunately, when I got the ladder out and climbed up to dismantle the broken can light, I disturbed a hidden hornet's nest. So much for that little project. I went inside to get a can of Raid and decided I was finished with home improvements for the day.

The onslaught of mosquitoes this year is definitely starting to bug me, so I went to Home Depot looking for a solution. All I came home with were a couple of citronella candles. I don't even think these candles work, but they were all I could find that wasn't full of insecticide. There was an intriguing looking portable fogger, but the box was full of safety warning labels, so I took a pass on this potentially lethal solution. I've already established in previous years that bug zappers don't work and neither do those strange propane powered devices that pump a cloud of carbon dioxide over your yard. I think the only thing that works is just staying inside. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes are inside too. One flew out of the refrigerator yesterday.

I could have done some website maintenance work this afternoon, but I decided to go to the gym again instead. This makes two days in a row, which is almost unheard of for me. I used a different group of machines today, but I'll probably still be sore tomorrow. I've been trying to find some exercises that will strengthen my shoulder, but anything that significantly increases my range of motion just pulls the shoulder out of joint again. I've already decided that I don't want surgery, so I guess I'm just going to have to live with what I've got.

I noticed that Dash was trying to get Dot to play with him this afternoon. When the dogs were younger they used to play in the yard a lot. Dot has lost all interest in playing now that she's older though, and Dash gets frustrated. Maybe I need to start taking him to doggie day care a few times a week. Finding the right place will be difficult though. Dash is still terrified of larger dogs and doesn't like to play rough. The cancer center was perfect, because all the dogs in treatment there were very gentle. I think he misses the cancer center.

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I've had to reschedule Dot's acupuncture and physical therapy session again. Later in the week I have my quarterly meeting with my financial adviser. Hopefully, he'll have some good news to offset the total loss of one of my now defunct oil and gas investments. Janet fixed a great dinner tonight. Maybe if I keep going to the gym every day, I could eat more without gaining any weight.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1663

I complain so much about Dallas that one of my friends suggested I move to New Zealand. Not a bad idea. The place is beautiful. It's isolated. And the people are friendly. I wonder if they have Dalmatians there? Truthfully, I really don't know where I would like to go next. Janet doesn't have a favorite spot either. Maybe we ought to ask the dogs where they would like to go.

The only place I went today was the gym. The gym has turned out to be my go-to place when I'm bored. I have a feeling that some of the regulars go there for essentially the same reason. Whatever random day I happen to go, they're always there. I can't imagine being as faithful as these regulars, but it's not a bad place to hang out. It's nearby. The exercise has got to be doing me some good. You don't even have to think very much. There are definitely worse places to be.

There was a lot of complaining about fireworks displays on my Facebook wall this morning. It's funny. Young people love watching fireworks. Older people are more likely to tell you that they'll never go to a fireworks show again. It must be some kind of line in the sand when you stop saying "Wow" and start complaining about the ants, the mosquitoes, and the difficulties in finding a parking place. I agree with Dot when it comes to fireworks shows. They're loud and entirely unnecessary. I think I've already crossed that line in the sand.

There's a channel on TV that seems to play nothing but old Seinfeld shows. The episode where George Costanza became a hand model was on tonight and it still makes me laugh. It's weird that these shows are still funny decades later, while most new comedies don't even bring a smile to my face. The writing just isn't that good anymore. George Carlin was much better at political commentary than John Stewart. Johnny Carson is still the gold standard. Jimmy Fallon doesn't even come close. It occurs to me that I could save a bundle on my cable bill by cutting the cord and just buying boxed DVD sets of my old favorite shows instead.

There's a cool feature on Janet's sewing machine that lets you sew detailed lettering directly on fabric. You can pick fonts and sizes and everything. She wanted to sew the dogs names on bandanas today but neither of us could remember how to use the fancy and somewhat complicated feature. The "use it or lose it" nature of skills like this is starting to bother me. I am forgetting things at an alarming rate, simply because there is no need for the knowledge anymore. Lord help me if I ever need to do an old school analog edit using tape machines again. I've got a perfectly good video edit suite in my office that I used to use all the time. I haven't even turned the tape machines on in two years. Nobody needs tape in a file based world. I wonder if anyone needs me? Maybe I ought to start a museum. I'd be a great curator of old stuff. Ask me about Dinky Toys, Osborne Computers, Citroën automobiles, and Betacam recorders. If only these things were still relevant.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1662 - Independence Day

In recent years, I've seen twice as many people celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the park as I do on the Fourth of July. Sign of the times, I guess. There are still plenty of flags on front lawns and backyard barbecues, but something has changed. There just isn't the sense of unity and common purpose I felt on this day as a child. Granted, as a kid, I was much more interested in fireworks  than patriotism, but it was still a special day where neighbors gathered together and everyone smiled a lot.

I'm surprised that I didn't blow myself up on the Fourth of July when I was young. Everything was legal back then. In the weeks leading up to Independence Day we would buy huge stashes of cherry bombs and M-80s from roadside fireworks stands. Makeshift cannons were fashioned from lengths of cast iron drain pipe and contests were held to see who could shoot Coca Cola cans filled with sand the longest distance. This was incredibly foolish in retrospect, but not any dumber than the game my young friends and I made of shooting arrows straight up in the air and seeing how close we could get them to land to us. We didn't wear seat belts either when our parents drove us around in the family car. It's amazing that so many of us survived.

These days, the Fourth of July is much more subdued. I took the dogs on a nice long walk while Janet went to a neighborhood parade that her company helped sponsor. After breakfast, I thought I'd get a couple of more watches running again before I lost interest in this tedious activity entirely. I've already forgotten a lot. I had to look up some information on Google before I could even get the case opened on one obscure mid-70's relic. I did manage to get three more watches running this morning though. That's three down, three hundred to go.

When Janet and I went to the grocery store to get ingredients for this evening's cookout, it appeared that the entire city had the same idea. Central Market was jammed with people buying holiday food. I guess we're not the only ones to wait till the last minute. Dinner was delicious. It doesn't get much better than burgers on the grill, fresh potato salad, and coleslaw. The only thing missing was the beer. I still can't bring myself to drink alcohol after all the effort I've made to get my liver back in shape.

It seemed like Saturday today. I'm sure it will seem like Saturday tomorrow as well. That's OK. Two Saturday's in a row is much better than two Monday's in a row.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1661

I noticed today that I have over 2 million page views on my Google+ page. That sure sounds like a lot to me, but it probably has no significance whatsoever. If anything, it just means that a lot of people like my photography when it's free. The number of people who are actually willing to pay for my photos is much, much smaller.

Janet wanted me to fix one of her watches today. At one point about six years ago I became fascinated with watch repair. I bought books on the subject, invested in tools and calibration instruments, met other watchmakers, and even managed to fix a few watches. I broke quite a few while I was learning, but it was all part of the process. My interest seems to have dissipated. When I got out my tools today, fixing a watch seemed about as exciting as cleaning the toilet. I managed to get Janet's watch working again without losing any of the tiny screws, and then put new batteries in a few of my own while I had the tools out. When I finished, I wondered how I ever became interested in this somewhat esoteric subject in the first place. Watches are a strange obsession for me. I seldom, if ever, even care what time it is.

Although my interest in watch repair, songwriting, film making, and electric trains may be on the wane, I do still care about some things. I care about the dogs, so I got up early so they could have a nice walk before it got too hot. I care about breakfast, so I went to my favorite restaurant today, knowing that tomorrow is a holiday. I care about the blog, so I keep writing in hopes that I'll have something interesting to tell you one of these days.

The sister I thought had disappeared from the face of the earth has reappeared. She still lives on the same farm, but has gone off the grid, ditching the Internet, her land line, and mail delivery to her house. I think she checks her mail once a month at a post office box in a neighboring town. I don't think she's missing all that much. My own land line seems to be exclusively for telemarketers and robo-calls these days. My mail box is filled with flyers, catalogs, and coupons for pizza, oil changes, and gym memberships. I haven't gotten a real letter in months. My e-mail in-box is more or less the same. I still get sporadic messages from clients, but the vast majority of my e-mail is spam. Life would probably be better without any of these things.

I hope we have a peaceful, quiet Independence Day. Dot used to hate the Fourth of July, because the loud fireworks upset her. Now that she's starting to go deaf, it probably isn't that big of a deal anymore. Janet is still a judge at a neighborhood Fourth of July parade. We still cook burgers on the grill for our holiday dinner. We don't sit on the grass by the lake and watch fireworks anymore though. The mosquitoes and fire ants would eat us alive.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1660

One of my photographer friends said that people are crawling under cars in his office parking lot, sawing off the catalytic converters and stealing them. Has it come to this? I knew we were getting close to living in a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome world, but I didn't think we were that close. Every time I hear stories like this, I want to move to a little town that's been frozen in time somewhere around 1955. Now where would that be? I doubt that places like this even exist anymore.

I knew the power company was raising electricity rates, but I really didn't expect my electric bill to go up by 30% in a single month. The temperature has been fairly constant for the past several months, so it wasn't a heat wave that caused the bill to go up so much. It was a greedy power company. I just wonder where this is going to end? Gas prices are up. Meat and dairy products are up. The cable bill has gone through the roof, and now the power company is climbing on the bandwagon.  I keep hearing that inflation is low, but I don't believe it. Inflation is quite high in my world. Prices keep going up and wages keep going down. It's not a good combination.

At least the dogs are happy. If I can get them out on their morning walk around 7 AM, there's usually a nice breeze and the walk is enjoyable for all. We're still able to walk several miles early in the morning, although it's an entirely different story in the evening. During the day, the dogs are content to stay inside with me where the air conditioner is cranked up. They sleep while I work, although today I did a little bit of sleeping as well. Yes, it was another slow day. We got lucky at training class this evening. Instead of a typical hot and muggy July evening, we had a pleasant breeze instead. It felt like a cold front was blowing through town and it probably was, since it is supposed to rain later tonight.

One of my doctors wants me to postpone the prescription changes another doctor made last week. I hate dueling doctors. I never know who to believe and usually end up believing nobody. I see a third doctor about something entirely different next Monday. Maybe this one will be the tie breaker. I'd just as soon ignore all these doctors, but I saw what happened to my Dad when he got older. It wasn't pretty. If any one of these guys can save me from that fate, I'll be happy to go along with the program.

Since Friday is a holiday, I'm wondering whether to make tomorrow my restaurant breakfast day. So many decisions.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1659

I can't say that I'm a big soccer fan, but I did watch the game between USA and Belgium today, mostly because so many people were talking about it. I don't think have the patience for this kind of game. I watched for over an hour and nobody scored. Eventually, I got tired of the game and took the dogs for a walk. When we got back, the game was still going on. It's rare that a sporting event captures my attention for very long. I probably like watching horse races the best. The race is over in just a few minutes and you can bet on the horses.

It was a slow day, so I went to the gym this afternoon. It was an anniversary of sorts. Exactly one year ago today, I joined the gym. I don't think I had great expectations at the time. It was just something to do on a hot Summer day. In retrospect, I've made quite a bit of progress. Most importantly, I'm still going! I rarely continue anything this long unless it has something to do with the dogs. I don't think I will ever become obsessed with physical fitness. Exercise is about as exciting as watching soccer to me. I have taken the advice of my hepatologist to heart though. He managed to convince me that a good diet was only part of the equation. Healthy food needs to be combined with lots of activity to produce the desired results. There's a lot of biology and chemistry involved, but it should suffice to say that diet and exercise go together.

I wish I was making as much progress with my business as I am at the gym. It seems like I was a lot busier last July. I have two website clients who keep me very busy and half a dozen others who need me sporadically. This isn't really enough, but I'm not sure what to do about it. I've had a real good run since I started the company in 1990, but I'm loathe to go after new business anymore. I'm far too used to being the Wizard of Oz. Sometime while I wasn't looking, Toto pulled back the curtain and ruined everything. I've been exposed. Most of what I do has become a low paid commodity to the generation that replaced me. I still chase after the low hanging fruit from time to time, but all too often it is full of worms. I'm beginning to think that the business isn't worth it anymore and I might have more fun working at the genius bar in an Apple store.

I'm still interested in photography, but I'm losing interest in the gear. I take the majority of my pictures using my phone now, just like everyone else. I saw a beautiful, very large butterfly outside the living room window this morning, I ran back to the office to grab a good camera and by the time I got back, the butterfly was gone. That's the trouble with lots of equipment. It's hard to be spontaneous. I used to like to create complex, beautiful images in a studio. Now, I prefer to just capture images as I find them. The phone is great for that. For a cynical person, I still see quite a bit of beauty in the world.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1658

I looked at my calendar for July and it was already filled with vet appointments and doctor visits. When you add trips to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, this is pretty much how I spend my time. In any given month, at least three of these appointments will need to be rescheduled because I'd forgotten that I already had another medical appointment at the same time. So far, the only non-medical things I see for July are a day of jury duty and a visit with my financial adviser to discover why I feel so poor.

It's frustrating to see so many of my investments doing poorly at a time when the market is near an all-time high. I have nobody to blame but myself, unfortunately. Nobody forced me to invest in these losers. One of the worst things I did was get excited about the natural gas industry after making a documentary about a pioneering shale gas producer. Natural gas seemed like a sure thing at the time. It wasn't. I discovered that investing in small energy companies can be a very risky business. Live and learn has always been my motto, but this was a very expensive lesson.

I discovered today that one of the first bloggers I ever started reading regularly passed away this weekend. If I hadn't seen some other bloggers talking about the woman's obituary on Facebook, I never would have known. This certainly wasn't the first time I got the news about someone's death on Facebook. I've learned about the passing of high school friends, former co-workers, distant relatives, and several other bloggers all in the course of reading my Facebook wall. I guess it's a sign of the times. I was trying to explain social media to a friend about my age a few weeks ago and when I got to Facebook I just said "Facebook is where you go to see who died this week."

I've got to come up with a better plan for defending myself from biting bugs. Every time I walk the dogs, I'm eaten alive by mosquitoes and chiggers. It's too hot to bundle up these days, so when you wear shorts or go shirtless, you become a target for the biting bugs. I hate to use insecticides around the dogs, and few of the home remedies actually work. Last year at this time, the city was already aggressively spraying to control mosquitoes. This year, the mosquitoes are even worse and the city is doing nothing. The aerial spraying was so controversial last Summer that I suspect the city just gave up and decided to let the citizens itch. I thought the spraying program made a lot more sense than Lyme Disease, but a lot of people disagreed. You just can't keep everybody happy these days.

Dot did really well in the underwater treadmill this afternoon. It's amazing how strong and confident she is, considering her age. I hope the car continues to do well as we go back and forth to these physical therapy sessions. It was over 100 degrees on our drive home today.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1657

Sunday is seldom a day of rest at our house. Lately, it has turned into the most physical day of the week. This morning, it was time to mow the grass again. I'm happy to mow, because that means the grass is still growing. With the unusual amount of rain we've had this June, everything is still nice and green. Last year, it was a different story. I am hoping that our cooler than usual Summer will continue, but if today was any indication, our pleasant, breezy days might just about be over.

After mowing the grass and doing a little gardening, I decided to go to the gym. Sunday is not only my favorite day to go to the gym, it is often the only day I have time to go. Since the gym is connected with a major hospital, I sometimes see people getting physical therapy there. Maybe I could get one of my doctors to refer me to one of the staff physical therapists. I'm certainly burning calories, but I don't know if what I'm doing is actually helping or hurting my shoulder. A good physical therapist could probably get me doing some exercises that would actually help my shoulder injury heal. After all these months, it's still more painful than it should be.

I'm starting to gain weight again. I'm certainly not getting fat, but a pound here and a pound there and that's how it all starts. The problem is twofold. First of all, unhealthy, fattening food tastes a lot better than kale and brussel sprouts. Secondly, I always eat more when I'm bored. If I'm in the middle of a big video editing project, or designing a challenging website, I seldom think about food at all. This year, most of my work has been of the general maintenance variety. I'm generally keeping something running, instead of creating something new. The more boring the task at hand, the more frequently I want to run to the kitchen and grab another handful of cashews. I'm still trying to keep my sugar and salt intake to a minimum, but unless you're buying fresh produce at a farmers market, almost everything is overloaded with salt and sugar.

I think I was at my best at maintaining my weight when I made a commitment to beating Hepatitis C. While I was in treatment, I had clearly defined goals. Doctors monitored what I ate. I got tested every two weeks, and the results provided a valuable incentive that helped keep me on the straight and narrow path. Now that my Hepatitis C has been cured, I'm not really sure where to go next. Part of me is genuinely proud that I dropped 30 pounds and can now wear the same sized clothes I wore in collage. The other part of me would love to go back to a steady diet of barbecue, beans, and beer. I'm not sure who will win this battle.

Actually, we are having barbecue next weekend. If you live in Texas, you've got to have barbecue on the Fourth of July. Dot's physical therapy day has been moved to Monday next week, so we'll be doing her acupuncture and water therapy sessions tomorrow. Life was easier when Dot's spa day was always on Wednesday, but things change. Things always change.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1656

The dogs both got a long overdue bath this morning. The combination of Dash's cancer treatment and Dot's advancing age has meant that the dogs have been a little dirtier lately. Since they both sleep on the bed with us at night, there comes a point when a bath is necessary though. It's hard to sleep when your dog stinks. What amazed me today was how good Dash has become about getting a bath. He hopped right into the tub at the Dirty Dawgz self-bathe place and didn't put up a fuss at all. This would have seemed impossible a year ago. I think going back and forth for radiation treatments all Spring has changed Dash. He trusts people more now and is much more accepting of things. After all he's been through, he probably realizes now that a bath isn't going to hurt him at all.  Our boy is growing up.

After we returned home with two clean, good smelling dogs, I went up on the roof to remove the standing water from the rain we had earlier in the week. I tried to make sure that the runoff went on the lawn, instead of into the street, since I didn't want the code compliance guy getting on my case again. The water did eventually drain into the street anyway, but it evaporated quickly, since it was a hot day.

I then went to the grocery store and bought another case of bottled water. We go through the stuff, well, like water. I don't remember when, or why, we stopped drinking water out of the tap, but it's been a long time. There is even one of those ice-water dispensing gizmos in the door of the refrigerator, but I don't use that either. I know our water is perfectly safe, because we fill the dogs water bowls with tap water all the time. Drinking bottled water is just one in a long list of totally irrational things I do every day.

We didn't get any mail today. That was strange. You can usually count on the post office to deliver a steady stream of flyers and junk from mattress stores, politicians, Bed Bath and Beyond, and AARP. Most of this stuff goes straight to the trash without even being opened, but still it's nice to know that the postman is making his appointed rounds.

"What are you going to write on your blog tonight, since nothing happened today?" Janet asked me during dinner. "So," I said. "That has never stopped me before."

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1655

When I was leaving the doctor's office today, I noticed a little piece of metal sticking out of my tire. This looked like something superficial that I could pull out with a pair of pliers myself, but since I was near the Land Rover dealer anyway I decided to drive over and let them get the piece of metal out of the tread. As soon as the technician began prying the little piece of metal out of the tire, I began to hear air escaping. I quickly learned that the tire was a total loss, due to the location of the puncture, and that I need a brand new tire. Yikes! This wasn't what I expected at all.

I sure was glad the dealer convinced me to purchase tire and wheel protection coverage when I purchased the car. I thought it was a big waste of money at the time, but in retrospect it turned out to be quite a bargain. It turns out that my fancy low profile nitrogen filled tires are quite a bit more expensive than the old truck tires I had on the Defender. I never dreamed a tire could be this expensive. I didn't have to pay for this one though, and I will always make sure I have tire and wheel protection coverage in the future.

My doctor visit was a bit disappointing. I thought I'd be able to convince the doc to discontinue a few medications, but instead he wanted to put me back on statin drugs to improve my cholesterol levels. My liver doctors had taken me off the statin drugs during my Hepatitis C treatment and I thought I was done with them forever. When I asked the doctor why he wanted to try statins and niacin again he told me that my new liver wouldn't help me that much if I had a heart attack. He also told me that my Cortisol levels were too high. "What causes that," I asked? "Stress." the doctor said. "You need to get rid of the stress in your life." "Well, how do you expect me to do that," I asked incredulously. "I don't know," the doctor said. "My Cortisol levels are even higher than yours." This made me smile. It almost made me laugh out loud.

I've always thought that I led a relatively stress-free life. Truthfully, it's just about impossible to avoid stress entirely in today's fast paced world. Prices of just about everything have increased a lot faster than wages. Everyone I know seems to expect more, while at the same time having less patience. Even the dogs seem to expect more. When I checked the baby monitor while I was at the car dealer, I discovered that they were both barking loudly. I laughed. Dot and Dash weren't alarmed about anything. It was their dinner time and they knew I was late.

It wasn't a very productive day, but I did make a little forward progress. I won't have to go back to the doctor again for a while, and I avoided a potentially dangerous flat tire on a Dallas freeway this weekend. I'm sure that's worth something. The dogs should actually be proud of me.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day