Some Assembly Required

Day 773

2012-01-27T21:38:00.000-06:00

Marty, the good technician, came out to look at the furnace this morning and had the problem solved in thirty minutes. He said the gas pressure on the pilot light flame was too high and it was making the hot part of the flame go above the flame sensor, causing it not to ignite the burners. He lowered the gas pressure to the pilot light and everything seems to be working perfectly now. Why the previous two repair people didn't come to the same conclusion, I'll never know. One thing I've learned over the years is that really good repair people are like diamonds. You've got to treasure them, because they are scarce and quite valuable. Whenever I find a good carpenter, plumber or auto mechanic, I really want to hang on to them. Good, practical problem solvers are hard to find these days. I just hope a few people out there value good writers the same way I value good plumbers and HVAC repairmen, because my future is depending on it.

The dogs barked a lot and made a big commotion this morning, exactly as I expected. When Marty finished his work, I didn't really have the energy to cook breakfast. I walked the dogs and then drove over to a nearby cafe and had them cook my breakfast. The waitress seated me between a table full of teachers and a table full of cops. The cops were all in a good mood and seemed to be talking about different techniques they used to get cars to stop during a high speed chase. The teachers were totally full of themselves, talking about some seminar about raising self esteem they were planning to attend. I couldn't tell if they were trying to raise their own self esteem or their student's. The contrast between these two groups couldn't have been more stark. On one hand you had a group of practical problem solvers in crisp uniforms. On the other hand you had a bunch of fat, whiny bureaucrats who probably couldn't inspire a flea to sit on a dog's back. I remember a few high school teachers who really changed my life. They were smart, tough, and to my young eyes, a bit dangerous. The overweight, bland bureaucrats sitting across from me would never inspire anyone. I really wish the teachers were a bit more like the cops. The cops were all in great shape too. Not an ounce of fat on these guys.

Since I was already out and about, I drove over to my doctor's office on the way home and asked if the results from my MRI had come in yet. Sure enough, they arrived over a week and a half ago. They just hadn't bothered to tell me yet. Jeez, guys! Here I've been sitting around wondering if I had cancer or not and not a peep out of anyone. This is just one more reason why I think vets are better than doctors. My vet always lets me know what's going on with the dogs almost immediately. Since I couldn't get the doctor's attention, I asked for a copy of the radiologist's report. After looking up some of the incomprehensible medical words on Google, I discovered that it is very unlikely I have cancer at this point. The radiologist never says to come back next year for another test if something really serious is going on.

I'm glad it's the weekend, but then you already know that. I'm always glad when the weekend arrives. We may go walk the rescue Dalmatians tomorrow. We'll probably go to the dog park on Sunday. Either of those things is preferable to getting up on the roof with a saw on the end of a long pole and trimming trees.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 772

2012-01-26T21:13:00.002-06:00

I got up much earlier than usual this morning. There weren't any early meetings or places I needed to be. The only reason I can think of for bounding our of bed at the crack of dawn is that the dogs were good last night. I finally got a decent night's sleep. Usually Dot and Dash wake up three or four time a night to bark at imagined noises or try to find a better spot on the bed. They wake me up every time. Last night for some unexplained reason, they both curled up in a ball and didn't move a muscle until morning.

Did I get a lot more done with my extra hour of time? Not really. Just when I was getting ready to take the dogs on their morning walk, it started raining again. Since the weather radar showed that the rain would only last an hour, I just watched TV for a while until the clouds lifted.

When we returned from our morning walk, I was right back on my usually tardy schedule. Today I finished up a little promotional video for one of the rescue groups I work with. This video was due so long ago that I doubt anyone still remembers why it was needed. I finished the video anyway, because I knew the group was meeting tonight and I wanted to be able to say I'd done something this week in case I was asked. This just happened to be the first video I'd shot using the Panasonic AG-AF-100 camera and I was kind of surprised at how good the footage looked. I really need to start using this camera more often.

Since it looks like it's going to be clear and dry for the rest of the week, I spent more time than usual getting the water off the roof. I'm hoping that the roof will actually dry out, so I can inspect for cracks again and do my best to seal them. At least that exceptionally windy day we had sometime last week blew all the dead leaves off the roof. The roof is finally clear of debris and ready for repairs. Unfortunately, it still leaks.

The furnace repairman is supposed to come out to the house tomorrow morning at 8 AM to fix the furnace. I'm surprised they even bother to come out anymore. The problem is intermittent and the dogs bark so loud that it is impossible to hear odd little furnace noises anyway. I wish I knew how to fix the furnace myself. This whole process seldom comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 771

2012-01-25T20:49:00.000-06:00

There was an unbelievable amount of rain last night. Of course, Dash would have to choose this nasty weather to have an upset stomach, so I ended up spending half the night letting him outside. I know he wanted to eat grass, but with the rain pounding down, he didn't even get off the porch. On our third attempt around 2 AM, he finally threw up on the porch and we all went back to bed.

This morning on our walk, we got to see what the rain had brought with it. The water level in the lake had risen at least three feet and had flooded a lot of nearby low areas. We live quite near the lake, but luckily we are on high ground. From the news helicopter I saw hovering nearby, I got the feeling that a few passing motorists weren't so lucky. There are a few streets in the vicinity that always flood when it rains this much and there are usually a few fools who think they can drive through anyway. They often end up on the evening news.

Dash seemed quite intrigued with all the water this morning. He tried to drink out of gutter spouts, and whenever we passed a nearby puddle, he would splash around with his front paws and try to dig a hole. Dot appeared to be disgusted with these childish antics and just wanted to go home where it was warm.

After breakfast, I got up on the roof and swept away all the accumulated water. There was a small leak in the living room last night, but nothing of any consequence. I've learned that if I can get the water off the roof quickly, there usually isn't any damage. The only time the leak gets bad is if I forget that there is standing water on the roof and it gradually leaks in, one drop at a time.

So far, so good with OS 10.7. I've been using the new system software for two days now and haven't had a single crash. I'm impressed. In the past, whenever I've updated my Apple system software, there were so many problems that it took me weeks to get everything sorted out again. No problems at all this time. In fact, things have been going so well with Lion that I've decided to retire Firefox and switch to Chrome while I'm changing things around on the desktop. I've become a big fan of Google+ recently, so I might as well start using a browser that is optimized for Google+.

No training class tonight. Actually, there might be training class, but we're not going. Although the rain has stopped, it's certainly not dry outside. The field where we train the dogs is a giant mudhole right now. I think Dot and Dash would agree that it is much more enjoyable to sit at home on their blankets and watch TV than to have their trainer tell them to sit in a puddle.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 770

2012-01-24T20:01:00.001-06:00

I spent the day straightening up loose ends. There were a lot more loose ends than I thought. I canceled the credit card, because after a day and a half of thinking about what I could have possible bought from Luxembourg, I came up with nothing. I even checked all of the domains I own to make sure that none of them had accidentally auto renewed. Auto renewal is an increasing problem with online purchases, because it seems to be the default setting for any recurring purchase made with a credit card. It doesn't matter if it's the cable company or Network Solutions, once they've got your credit card number, they want to keep charging you forever.

Later, I called the furnace people to have them come out again, even though it means another morning of non-stop barking. I kept hoping that the furnace would just fix itself, but it's become apparent that this isn't going to happen. This time I asked the HVAC folks to send Marty out to look at the problem. He got promoted to commercial installations, but since he's been the only person who's been able to fix the problem in the past, it makes sense that he would be my best bet to fix it again.

When I was checking on my computer to see if the iCloud synchronization worked, I discovered that I'd written down a doctors appointment on a different day on my phone than I had on the computer. After calling the clinic to see which day was correct, I looked at the calendar again and sure enough I had double booked myself. You'd think conflicting schedules wouldn't be a problem, since I leave the house so seldom, but I double book myself again and again. It's probably because I only like to do things out of the office between 2 and 3 PM.

Dash kept us awake most of the night last night. For some odd reason this dog refuses to poop in the yard under any circumstances. He kept waking us up by barking and slapping his paw at the back door. I'd go let him out and he would just stand around and do nothing. This happened over and over again. He wanted to go down into the park on a walk to do his business. No thank you! I'm not going down into the park at 3 AM. This is Dallas. Somehow Dash made it till morning without pooping in the house, but he didn't do us any favors in the sleep department.

It's pouring rain again. When I went to the bank this afternoon, the people standing in line with me were all commenting about how much we needed rain. Maybe they need the rain, but I sure don't. I can tell by how hard the rain is beating on the roof that there's a 50/50 chance I'll have a leak in the ceiling by morning.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 769

2012-01-23T20:26:00.000-06:00

A guy down the street is all worried about some new website where you can apparently roll your mouse over a picture of your neighbors house and find out everything about them. I asked him if he was thinking of Google Streetview and he said "No, this is much more powerful than Google Streetview." I'd never heard of a website like this and really couldn't get too concerned about it because I was wondering why charges from someplace in Luxembourg were showing up on my credit card statement. I've never bought anything from Luxembourg and don't even know anybody in this little country. When I called the credit card company, they didn't appear too concerned and just asked me if I wanted to file a complaint. I just wanted to know what the company in Luxembourg was selling, in case I had bought something over the Internet and forgotten about it. I've canceled credit cards before over charges that I had actually made, so I didn't want to go off half cocked on this one. You've got to be careful though. Once somebody tried to charge the down payment to a new car on Janet's credit card. They didn't get away with it, but it just shows you that scammers are everywhere these days. Life is becoming way too complicated for my taste.

Since the day was off to a dismal start anyway, I decided to go ahead and install Lion on my main computer. I always like to install new system software on days where I figure that things couldn't possibly get much worse. So far, so good. The download took a long time, but everything seems to be working. Photoshop works. Dreamweaver works. Microsoft Office works. I'm sure that there are half a dozen little applications that will never open again, but all the stuff I need on a daily basis to earn a living seems to be fine. I hate updating system software. No matter how careful you are, there's always a gotcha moment when you realize that you've actually made your life more difficult instead of easier as you had planned. You can postpone upgrades with Apple, but you can never avoid them altogether. The next time I buy a computer, it will only run on Lion, or whatever animal comes after Lion. I might as well bite the bullet now.

Since it was such a nice day today, I though I'd complete the tree trimming I'd started this weekend. I got out the reciprocating saw and headed for a dead tree in the back of the yard. Unfortunately, the longest extension cord I had wouldn't reach the tree, so I had to put all my tools away again. I thought I had an extension cord long enough to reach the back of the yard, but I'd forgotten that it's up on the roof now, hooked up to my next to worthless sump pump.

I got a call reminding me about Dash's antigen shot appointment tomorrow. This got me wondering why nobody has called me about the MRI I had done several weeks ago. You'd think that if the vet can remember my dog's allergy shot, that someone might remember the MRI they took of my liver.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 768

2012-01-22T20:46:00.000-06:00

Another weird Winter day in Texas. It was clear and cool when I woke up this morning. As the day progressed, it got much warmer and windier. By the end of the day the winds were quite strong and seemed to be bringing the remains of a West Texas dust storm with them. The setting sun was almost totally obscured by dust and haze. I've been waiting for one of these days to get one of those pictures of a red ball sun hovering just above the horizon. Unfortunately when the conditions were perfect, I only had my iPhone with me. I could have gotten a lot better picture with a proper camera and a telephoto lens, but at least I have a record of this dusty, hazy day.

Earlier today at the dog park, we had trouble even finding a parking place. The warm weather brought people and their dogs to the park in droves. There were plenty of small, well behaved dogs for Dash to play with, but he didn't seem to be in the mood. I still can't figure out what it takes to bring out Dash's playful side. Some days, he'll race around the park with great abandon and other days, like today, he's kind of shy and never leaves our side. Even when the dogs aren't playful, I still think they enjoy the trip to the dog park. They love being off leash and having the opportunity to roam around and take in all the new smells.

Even though I would have preferred spending the afternoon watching Dr. Who re-runs on TV, I took advantage of the nice weather and did some tree pruning in the back yard. I removed all the dead limbs on the Photinia Bushes that I could reach with a pair of pruning shears. Some of the branches were too big and I'll have to go back later with a saw. While I was working, one of our older neighbors was walking down the back alley and told me how nice our yard looked. This is a sure sign that the poor guy has gone senile. The yard actually looks terrible.

I continued downloading Logic Pro today. I didn't realize how long it would take to download 15 GB of files over a WiFi connection. When I get everything in place, I'll be all set to do nice scores for TV commercials again. Never mind that nobody has asked me to do music for a commercial in almost three years. When they do, I'm ready.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 767

2012-01-21T21:20:00.000-06:00

Janet and I went to Grand Prairie this morning to pick up Molly and take her to the vet. Another pair of Dalmatian Rescue volunteers had taken Molly on the first leg of her journey from the Burleson, Texas pound to a PetSmart parking lot in Grand Prairie where we met them to pick her up and take her the rest of the way. When we arrived at the rendezvous point, we saw that Molly was a small dog who had led a hard life. She had bad skin, was covered with ticks, and cried when you touched her feet. We made her comfortable in the back seat and headed back toward Dallas for an appointment with the Dalmatian Rescue vet. Although she had an ingrown dewclaw and was suffering from poor nutrition, Molly was basically healthy. I don't think it will take this girl long to find a home. She has a great disposition and is going to be a wonderful companion for some lucky person.

After Molly had been safely delivered to the Dalmatian Rescue kennels, it was back to weekend chores for us. I made a web page for Molly and then went to the grocery store and got gas for the Defender. Although it was still a beautiful day outside, it was considerably colder than it was yesterday. It felt much too cold to go around with a pruning saw and trim hedges in the back yard, so I downloaded some software instead. I love the Apple app store. One by one, all Apple's favorite applications are becoming available on the app store at much lower prices than I've ever seen them before. I noticed today that's Apple's Logic Pro Studio was available for less than half of what the boxed version cost just several months ago. I've been thinking of buying Logic for a while now and was glad that my indecision worked out in my favor. It's a large program though. I started downloading the application several hours ago and it still isn't finished yet.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting tired of non-stop political coverage on TV. I watched a few minutes of the South Carolina returns this evening and then changed the channel and watched Betty White's 90th birthday party instead. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be another good day for the dog park. Even the dog park is more interesting that all this political coverage.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 766

2012-01-20T21:30:00.000-06:00

Although my Northern readers might not believe me, it was eighty degrees in Dallas today. I walked the dogs wearing a T-shirt and we were all hot by the time we got home. It's hard to believe it's January. We saw people out flying kites in the park today. This type of Winter weather is one of the reasons I enjoy living down South. I'll admit that I am getting confused about my furnace problems though. I'm hesitating to call the repair folks again while it's this warm, because I'm afraid that when they arrive, I might have the air conditioner running. I just need to remember that no matter how warm it might be today, it could still be below freezing next Monday. Texas weather is totally unpredictable.

I finished the week by getting caught up on just about everything. My two big website remodeling jobs are complete and I don't think there are any stray writing jobs hiding on my desk either. This means the weekend is totally free for chores I don't want to do. If the weather stays nice, I think I'll trim all the dead branches off the Photinia Bushes in the back yard. Years ago, these bushes used to be a nice looking hedge, but they've grown unruly in recent years. Some of them have grown into full fledged trees. I'm not very picky about gardening. To me, if it's still green, it's great.

Janet and I are going to pick up a new Dalmatian named Molly somewhere West of Fort Worth tomorrow morning. Evidently this dog ran away and when the local animal control found it and called the owners, they didn't want it back. "Just keep the dog," they told the pound. This uncaring attitude continues to amaze me. Why do people like this even get a pet in the first place? At any rate, Dalmatian Rescue will find Molly a good home. I'm certain that her second home will be much better than her first.

I'm getting the urge to write songs again. In truth, this songwriting urge is just an excuse to buy gear. I find that I'm lusting after microphones and mixers again. The last time this happened was about eight years ago. I did write and record a few songs, but not nearly enough to justify all the gear I bought. It would be a lot less expensive if I had a craving for chocolate or single malt scotch. I love technology though. It's my downfall.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 765

2012-01-19T21:06:00.000-06:00

I spent most of the day creating individual web pages for each of the employees I photographed yesterday. This used to be a fairly straightforward process, but it seems to take twice as long now, since people expectations are higher. It's not enough to quickly slap a picture and a bio on a page anymore. Now, people expect me to remove blemishes and color correct blotchy skin. I really wish the general public had never even heard of Photoshop. What really gets me is some people will complain that their new picture doesn't look as good as the previous one that might have been taken five years ago. Jeez, you were five years younger. Of course you looked better then,

I noticed my neighbors hauling large, bulky items out to the curb while while I was taking our trash bucket out for tomorrow's collection day. I wonder if I'll have the time to trim all the dead branches off the bushes and shrubs in the back year before big trash day? They only pick up these bulky items once a month and I always seem to miss the day. I still have some writing jobs that need to be completed before the weekend, but maybe I'll have time tomorrow to get out the reciprocating saw and tidy up the yard a bit.

I haven't been sleeping well lately. I don't have insomnia of anything. I just wake up over and over again. I go back to sleep quickly enough, but it is irritating. I think the dogs are waking me up in an attempt to push me out of the bed, but there's always a chance that a perverse part of my brain is causing me to wake up, just to see if the furnace is still working. This furnace is driving me nuts. It is absolutely reliable for an indeterminate amount of time, and then for no apparent reason, it becomes absolutely unreliable for another indeterminate period of time. Back and forth it goes like this; never really really stopping and never being totally reliable either.

The results of the blood test I took at the health food store last Saturday arrived in the mail today. For the first time on many months, every single parameter was within the normal range. Does this mean I can go back to drinking scotch and having bacon for breakfast? Sadly, no. I was puzzled why Janet's results didn't come in the mail along with mine. When I asked her later this evening, she said "Because I didn't go. Only you took the test." It's a good thing it was a blood test, not an IQ test.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 764

2012-01-18T21:53:00.002-06:00

Nobody wanted their picture taken today. I asked several employees why I was even there if nobody wanted their picture taken and received the answer I kind of expected. The boss wanted everyone to have their picture taken. Of course, nobody bothered to do their makeup, so they're not going to be happy with these pictures either. Sometimes I think this particular client does these pictures just so they can all make fun of each other.

If you happen to be planning a new company website, I'd encourage you to just skip the section with the employee bios and pictures. It's a giant waste of time. Employees are never happy with their pictures. They leave and take new jobs as soon as you get their page in place. Job titles change with regularity. It's a lot of wasted effort.

I was so focused on getting my quarterly estimated taxes in the mail yesterday that I totally forgot there were a lot of other mid-month bills I needed to pay. I spent an hour or so writing checks and then it was back to the post office again. It would have been nice if I'd remembered this yesterday, but I can't remember anything anymore.

Do you ever go through periods where you feel that everything you do is pointless? I think I'm in one of those periods. I'm really busy and have plenty to do everyday, but I'm increasingly convinced that if I were to quit everything and didn't even bother to get out of bed in the morning, nothing I did would even be missed. Life would just continue to roll along like usual.

Maybe the dogs feel this way at training class. "Sit, stay, heel." What does it all really mean? Does it even matter? Sometimes I think my clients are saying exactly the same thing to me. "Sit, stay, heel." I listen and try my best to comply, but sometimes a client's directives make about as much sense as the English language does to a dog.

Complete silence from the shopping channel folks today. I don't think I'm destined to become the next Billy Mays or Anthony Sullivan.

Dovey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 763

2012-01-17T21:04:00.000-06:00

I spent way too much time this morning putting together my little video demo for the Shop NBC folks. Honestly, I don't know why I bothered. I mumble when I talk. I often get a totally blank look on my face when I'm listening to someone else. When I look down, my chin disappears. I don't know what these guys were thinking when they asked me to be a pitchman on a shopping channel. Oddly, the video did have a certain charm. Janet helped me make it, playing the "host" while I was the "guest." We do have a good sense of humor. I don't know if they were looking for humor though. Like Janet told me when we finished the demo, "Hey, if they'd asked us to make this twenty years ago, we would have been pretty good." Somehow, I doubt if I'll ever hear about me selling things on TV again.

I may not get the Shop NBC gig, but it does look like I'll be getting more work from my German client. I got an e-mail today from the public relations coordinator I met with in Houston last month and they want me to bid on a good size project. This is great news! I really need to get more corporate work if I want my business to grow. I'm totally maxed out on small, low budget jobs that make me tired and earn me very little.

Remember that I told you I met with my financial adviser yesterday? Well, I got a message from the guy today telling me that all the charts he was showing me for a company he was recommending were really for another company that he wouldn't recommend at all. Really? You certainly could have fooled me. All these charts with their moving average lines look exactly the same to me. My adviser apologized for his mistake and then sent me new information about the "good" company. I'll have to call the guy tomorrow and see whether we actually bought the bad company or the good company. The two charts still look the same to me.

I've got a photo shoot tomorrow. I'm going to be taking more employee photos that will eventually wind up on the company's website. I've taken tons of pictures for this client before, but now they've gotten it in their heads that they need to look prettier. I'm kind of dreading tomorrow. I never take a makeup artist with me, because it's just not in the budget. Good makeup is what they need though. It's not the lighting, it's the makeup.

The furnace still isn't working properly. It will operate normally for about half a day and then the burners refuse to light for no apparent reason. The only way I can get it to start is turn the furnace on and off at the thermostat several times in a row. I know the service folks aren't going to want to come out again. They've been here twice already for this problem and told me they'd fixed things both times.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 762

2012-01-16T20:51:00.000-06:00

I had another quarterly review with my financial adviser today. These periodic reviews have been pretty depressing for the past several years. I'm a conservative investor by nature, and for many years my portfolio had a solid foundation of municipal bonds, treasury bills, and very predictable equities. All that is out the window now. The interest rate on treasuries is near zero. Municipalities are defaulting on their debts. Even the best blue chips can drop ten percent in a day if somebody sneezes in Europe. What's a guy to do? We ended 2011 right where we started, even though there were innumerable ups and downs along the way. People like me don't make money in the market anymore. There are very few attractive options. Day traders make money. Day traders lose a lot of money too. That's why I'm not a big fan of short-term trades. It's all a big gamble now.

I finally got the Dalmatian Rescue website updated today. I found time to write another watch article as well. Since it was a holiday, there weren't as many messages from clients. There was a message from the Shop NBC folks though. It said to hurry up and finish the demo I promised them. I've been avoiding doing this demo because I know I don't have the time to do it right. It's going to be a one take wonder when the time comes. Apparently that time is coming very soon. I had to promise them something by tomorrow. What the hell. Tomorrow doesn't look like a very busy day. I'm definitely not an on-air talent, but most of the people on these shopping channel shows aren't either. I just need to remember that they were the one to ask me to be on the show. I certainly didn't ask them. My goal is just not to embarrass myself too badly.

Quarterly estimated taxes are due tomorrow. I need to remember to send mine in this time, especially since I completely forgot about the last quarter. Oh well. I'll catch up on things tomorrow. It's not like I owe the government a lot of money or anything. I just didn't make that much last year. Maybe this year will be better. It would be nice to make enough to offset the loses my financial adviser told me about today.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 761

2012-01-15T20:43:00.000-06:00

Even though virtually nothing happened, it still seemed like a busy day. Sundays are always like this. We get off to a late start, and by the time breakfast and the weekly trip to the dog park are finished, it is mid-afternoon. Today, the dogs got a bath at Vheas Laundromutt after the dog park. Last week, the dogs that drooled all over Dash while he was playing caused his coat to turn brown again and the vet suggested a bath after being slobbered on by other dogs. Dash seems allergic to just about everything, apparently including dog spit.

I asked our vet about the strange stains on Dash's coat last week and she said this sort of thing wasn't that uncommon. It seems that some dogs have a lot of bacteria in their saliva that can cause a reaction if other dogs are exposed to it. Even stranger, if a dog has been recently vaccinated, traces of the vaccine can show up in the saliva as well, causing a reaction if the other dog is sensitive to the vaccine. Now we have to add dog spit to the long list of things Dash needs to avoid.

Every weekend, I've been trying to print some new images on my large printer and put them aside for a future gallery show. This activity helps keep the printer lines from getting clogged and may even help me get another show down the road. The new images are actually better than the ones I displayed at my last show. I just need to get my butt in gear and pack them in a portfolio case and take them around to some gallery owners. So, when will I find the time to do this? Maybe next year sometime. It certainly won't happen any time soon.

Janet is off work tomorrow. Her office exchanged getting off on Good Friday for getting off on MLK Day instead. This seems a bit strange to me, but it certainly shows the direction the country is headed. I wonder what Martin Luther King would have thought? He was a religious man. I bet he would have wanted people to keep Good Friday as a religious holiday.

Tomorrow isn't a holiday for me. I've got a stack of website and writing work to finish and I need to drive up to North Dallas for my quarterly review with my financial adviser as well. I hope my financial adviser has some good news to report, but that isn't very unlikely.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 760

2012-01-14T21:29:00.000-06:00

I got up early this morning to have my cholesterol tested at the neighborhood health food store. I used to have to stand in a long line for these low cost blood tests, because there are a lot of old people in the neighborhood who apparently get up at the crack of dawn to come to these events. I finally discovered a surefire way to be first in line every time. I come about ten minutes before the store opens and stand in front of the door. I'm never the first to arrive. I'm just the first to get out of my car. The rest of the people sit in their cars until the owner opens the door and turns on the "open" sign in the window. Sure enough, I was first in line again today. It's a simple plan, but it works every time.

We had reservations for the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the art museum at 1 PM, so wouldn't you know; just about when we were getting in the car to go downtown, the telephone repairman arrives to check on a buzz in the line. It never fails. I'd called the telephone company two weeks ago about this noisy line, but they never told me when they were going to come fix it. I opened up the back gate, so the guy could get to the box on the side of the house, and then we left. As you might expect, when we got home, the buzzing noise in the line was just as loud as it was before. I've lost all faith in repair people. Basically, we live in a throw away society and nobody can fix anything.

It was fun going to the exhibit. I haven't been downtown in several years. I used to have a lot of clients with downtown offices, but they all moved to the suburbs years ago. Downtown Dallas appears to be thriving though. There were lots of new buildings; especially in the arts district.

If you are even remotely interested in fashion, the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit is well worth seeing. Is it art? Definitely! I know it's just a bunch of dresses, but there was more creativity and imagination here than I saw hanging on the walls in the rest of the museum. All that being said, Jean Paul Gaultier is definitely an acquired taste. I couldn't imagine anyone actually wearing most of these androgynous, bondage inspired outfits. The show was spectacular though. The mannequins were eerie, with the lifelike moving eyes and mouth that was projected on each face. From a few feet away, the mannequins looked like they were alive.

Once we were back home again, I had difficulty telling whether the furnace was working or not. I know it's the middle of Winter, but it got so warm today we almost had to turn the air conditioner on.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 759

2012-01-13T21:26:00.000-06:00

The furnace repair folks were over at the house promptly at 8 AM this morning. They worked on the furnace for about an hour and a half and during the entire time they were here, Dot barked incessantly. She worked herself into such a frenzy that she ended up pooping in the front hallway. I tried to keep her quiet, but it really didn't do much good. Dot is so bad about having other people in the house that I hate having to call repair people. I'm sure the repair people don't like all the commotion either. Half of them are convinced Dot will bite them and the other half are just irritated at the noise. I guess it wasn't really surprising that after the furnace technicians charged me $220 and left, the furnace wasn't working any better than it was before they arrived. This has happened before.

Since Dot had already had her little incident in the hallway, I didn't think the dogs could wait for their walk until I finished breakfast. As soon as the furnace truck pulled out of the driveway, I put on their leashes and took them on a belated morning walk. By the time we got back home, Dot and Dash were back to normal again, but it was too late for me to have breakfast. I had already entered the fasting period before my MRI and I couldn't eat at all. It was just that kind of a day. I didn't get anything to eat until dinner time.

The MRI was almost identical to a CAT scan, except it was a lot noisier. The machine makes a noise like a jack hammer while it is running, but you can hardly even hear it, because the technicians make you wear headphones during the scan and pipe in "easy listening" music at volumes even higher than the noise of the machine. The only thing I didn't like about today's scan is that it was one of those "enhanced" scans where they pump you full of dye to increase the contrast of the images. The dye stings a bit when it enters your veins, but it's no big deal. The whole process takes about thirty minutes. Periodically, you hear the technician telling you to hold your breath through the headphones and then it's over. I got dressed again, put all my metallic objects back in my pockets and went home.

Considering that I'd already had some blood drawn yesterday, had some more drawn today at the MRI place so they could formulate the right strength of dye, and will have even more drawn tomorrow for a cholesterol test, I'll well on my way to the Guinness Book of records. I don't think I've ever had as many tests done to me as I have this year.

In between the furnace repair and the MRI, I managed to find time to update several websites. One of the updates involved removing video clips I had shot and replacing them with similar, but fancier looking, clips shot by a local television station. I thought my videos were just fine, but hey; I got paid for putting them up and now I'm getting paid for taking them down. It's a living.

Tomorrow, we're finally going to see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the art museum. We planned to do this last month, but there just hasn't been time. I think this is the first thing we've done purely for fun since we went to the Pryamid Room for Thanksgiving dinner. At any rate, I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibit. Until then, I'd better go put on a sweater. The house is getting cold again. I can't believe that furnace is actually working worse now that it was before the repair guys came. Maybe Dot was trying to tell me this morning that these guys didn't know what they were doing.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 758

2012-01-12T20:55:00.000-06:00

I'm a Southerner. Anything below freezing is very uncomfortable to me. When I walked Dot and Dash this morning, I discovered that it was not only below freezing; it was freezing with a thirty mile per hour wind! It was almost too much. On days like these, I really wish I could train the dogs to use the toilet. We all wore our warmest coats, but I don't think it helped all that much.

Luckily, it warmed up a bit later in the day, because I still had plenty to do. I managed to get all my invoices posted and in the mail this afternoon. I also got my car safety inspected. On the way home from the garage, I noticed that the mechanic had put the safety inspection sticker on my windshield upside down. With my anal retentive tendencies, that little faux pas is going to bother me for the rest of the year. Every time I get in the car, I'm going to fixate on that stupid upside down sticker. Then, the next year, I'm going to tell another mechanic to be sure to put the 2014 sticker on right side up and he's going to think I'm an idiot.

With so many odds and ends to distract me, I didn't get much work done. One of the things I was asked to do today was remove an employee from a group photo on one of the websites I manage. I looked at the questionable photo in Photoshop and discovered that the no longer employed guy in the third row had a head that was only four pixels wide. This photo was so small that I couldn't tell who anyone was. I'm positive that nobody could recognize the faces in the tiny low resolution image. There must be a back story on this one. These folks apparently didn't even like the idea of this guy being in their photo anymore.

The HVAC guys are coming over tomorrow morning to take a look at my erratic furnace. It works some of the time and then refuses to light at other times. I'm almost certain that the furnace will decide to work perfectly tomorrow when the repair guys are here. I'm plagued with intermittent problems at home and in my car. Whenever I get someone to come look at the problem, it goes away and makes me look foolish. I hope the furnace gets fixed though. It's supposed to be really cold this weekend.

I got another call about being a guest presenter on Shop NBC this morning. They want me to sell watches on TV. I don't know what these guys are thinking. I'll admit that I do like watches, but I'm definitely no Joan Rivers. I'll keep you guys posted on what happens.

Suzie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 757

2012-01-11T21:38:00.000-06:00

I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish today, but I ended up getting very little done since I spent so long at the doctor. My doctor visits inevitably morph into client meetings and take twice as long as I think they will. Today we went back and forth between talking about my liver and talking about the doctor's marketing plans. Actually, I like things this way, since I never feel rushed. There's always plenty of time to ask all the questions I can think of. The long and short of things is that I do need an MRI, apparently since there is something new in the CAT scans that wasn't there two years ago. Hopefully the mystery object is benign.

I guess I'll get my car safety inspected tomorrow. It would have been convenient to do this today, since the safety inspection station is right near the doctor's office, but there just wasn't time. I didn't want to walk the dogs in the dark again.

It's supposed to get down below freezing tonight. That seemed fairly impossible earlier in the day, when I was walking the dogs in shirtsleeves, but Texas weather can fool you. During dog training class this evening, a cold front blew through and the temperature felt like it dropped twenty degrees in less than an hour. Class actually ended early, because everyone was so cold. Nobody had dressed for this sudden change of events. I think Dot and Dash were happy to come home early. Neither one of them like the cold.

I know that some of you who read this blog were also members of Adgitize like I was. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that their Entrecard rank has dropped now that Adgitize is gone. My Entrecard rank, which had been constant for months, dropped quite a bit right after Adgitize closed its doors. I still can't figure out the connection, but I bet there is one.

I've absolutely got to get my invoices out tomorrow or I won't have any money coming my way in February. I'm usually not this late. Sadly, I've been saying that a lot recently. I really need a nap.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 756

2012-01-10T20:08:00.001-06:00

Another rainy day. At least I didn't have to drive Dash very far today. Our regular vet is very near the house. Rainy days are enormously unproductive. I'm constantly cleaning the dogs paws and drying them off so they won't track mud all over the house. I'm frequently up on the roof in my often futile and increasingly Quixotic quest to keep water from leaking into the house. Wet dogs also mean lots of towels that need to go in the laundry. I keep wondering if this is what it's like to have children around the house. Small children must be equally as messy as dogs.

I did manage to get some work done today, but I don't think I'm ever going to get caught up completely. With tax season approaching again, I'm going to have to spend a considerable amount of time unraveling the mess I've created with my shoddy bookkeeping habits. The information is all there. It's just not in the same place yet.

After two visits to doggie doctors this week, I need to make a third visit to one of my own doctors tomorrow. Supposedly, I will learn whether I really need that MRI or not. I wish I'd learned this information last December when I'd already met my insurance deductible, but that's just the way it goes. I discovered a long time ago that the world doesn't exactly run on my timetable. I still can't decide whether to try to postpone the MRI until I've met my deductible for this year, or just let the imaging be the thing that meets the deductible for other stuff that I'm sure to need later in the year. There's always the chance that I won't even get a choice too. Sometimes doctors completely ignore what I'm thinking.

I need to decide whether to go to a meeting, or go to dog class tomorrow evening. Hmmm. That was easy. I'm going to dog class.

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 755

2012-01-09T21:06:00.002-06:00

We took Dash to see the ophthalmologist today. It looks like the main problem with his eyes are allergies. I guess this shouldn't be surprising, since allergies are also the main problem with his skin. The clouding on the surface of one eye is not a cataract, as I had feared, but is a collection of lipid cells instead that is sometimes caused by cholesterol. All in all, he's in pretty good shape, even though the pinkish discoloration around his eyelids looks terrible at times.

Janet told me later that we were sitting right next to hockey great Mike Modano and one of his Golden Retrievers in the lobby while we were waiting for the doctor. I can never recognize anyone. If you follow hockey at all, I suppose you would recognize one of the NHL's all-time points leaders, but he just looked like one of the guys who works on my furnace to me. He certainly seemed like a nice guy and you could tell he loved his dogs. I didn't even know that Modano had retired until Janet told me that as well.

It rained most of the day today. Dash was pretty good in the car though. I was surprised. He was pretty good at the doctor's office as well. The doctor did one test where he had to put some saline solution in a tear duct until it came out his nose. Dash whimpered a little, but he was even pretty good for that gruesome procedure. He certainly behaved a lot better than I would have if a doctor tried to do that sort of thing to me.

Even though the visit to the ophthalmologist took most of the afternoon, I still managed to finish adding the new puppies to the adoption website and wrote another watch article. This is the day I usually try to get my invoices out, but that will have to wait until later in the week. Dash goes back to the vet for his biweekly antigen shot tomorrow and then on Wednesday, I go to the doctor myself. Sometimes I'm amazed that I get anything done. I still haven't gotten the nail taken out of my tire yet. That will have to wait until later as well.

Mack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 754

2012-01-08T20:18:00.001-06:00

Dash had an exceptionally good day at the dog park. I don't think I've ever seen him play as long or as enthusiastically. He's still scared of larger dogs, after being bitten by one. He is friendly with puppies though, and today he was lucky enough to find a young, but very large puppy who was just the right size. You can tell when Dash is excited. If you look closely at the picture, you'll notice that all four of his paws are off the ground.

I got a new set of fitted sheets a couple of weeks ago, and when I made the bed this morning the brand new fitted bottom sheet ripped at the seam. I usually chalk this sort of thing up to bad luck, but Janet insisted we take the sheets back and get a refund. Luckily, she was willing to do this if I could find the receipt, because I hate to take things back to the store.

I've got a ton of shoddy or broken things that I never bothered to take back or exchange. I probably should take things back more often though. The store refunded the price of the sheets without raising an eyebrow. The whole process was quick and easy. I probably would have gotten out the sewing machine, tried to repair the rip, and made such a mess of things that nobody would have even considered taking them back.

I still haven't gotten caught up with adding all the new dogs to the animal rescue site. Most of the new additions are puppies. It sure would have been easier just to make one new page called "puppies" instead of creating individual pages for each pup in the litter. All the little lab-mix pups look identical, so each of the new pages I've made look the same as well. The pages won't last long either, since we'll need all new picture when the pups get a little older. Oh well, it's all for a good cause.

Our week of beautiful weather seems to be drawing to a close. The weather channel says there a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. Not exactly the news I was waiting to hear. Dash has to go up to the animal ophthalmologist in North Dallas tomorrow. He hates riding in the car and he hates rain. That ought to be an interesting trip.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 753

2012-01-07T21:07:00.000-06:00

I took the Christmas tree down today. When I was putting Christmas stuff back in the carport closet, one of the large sliding doors fell off its track and got stuck. What a mess. These are heavy doors and the inside surface is fitted with a rack holding everything from antifreeze to roof repair cement. I had to empty this rack and move half the stuff crammed in the little storage room out to the driveway to make enough space for a ladder so I could fix the track for the door. The whole process took several hours and put me way behind on Saturday errands.

Luckily, there was still time to go up to The Velvet Snout and photograph Misty, our newest addition to the Dalmatian Rescue program. Misty is ten years old. Her former owners decided she was too old to bother with and took her to an animal shelter. Jeez. this dog is younger than our Dot. She's healthy, well trained, and full of life. Misty was just dumped and abandoned like an old sofa. I don't know what is wrong with people sometimes. At any rate, I'm confident that Misty will find a better home next time. She's a wonderful dog and she's today's Dalmatian of the Day.

I wish I had a personal assistant. I know I have enough new photos to have another nice gallery show, but I don't have time to go around to galleries and try to get them interested. It would be nice to have someone to go around and show the work I've been doing in the energy industry to other oil and gas companies too. There's so much stuff I could be doing if I wasn't doing too much already. Maybe it's just a matter of priorities. Somehow, I still have time to walk the dogs four miles a day and fix myself French Toast and sausages in the morning. I guess the truth is that I really don't like marketing at all. I don't mind actually doing the work, but I can't seem to be bothered with the dog and pony show you have to go through to attract new clients, or new gallery owners, or new anything for that matter.

The weather has been great all week. It's a pretty safe bet that the dog park will be open tomorrow. I've been surprised at how many people we've seen from our training class at this particular dog park. These people don't live nearby, but they always take the time to search out the best dog park, even if it's thirty miles away. I guess it's not surprising that we see the same people and their dogs again and again. It's a big city, but the number of people who choose dogs over watching football on Sunday afternoon is apparently still pretty small.

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 752

2012-01-06T21:11:00.002-06:00

Today was a little different. I actually saw someone face-to-face. After I walked the dogs this morning, I went and had coffee with an advertising buddy I hadn't seen in years. You can't really catch up on fifteen years over a cup of coffee, but we both had an enjoyable time talking about watches, horrendously high property taxes, and how much the the industry has changed since we last got together. After finishing our coffee, we agreed that it was important to see each other at least every ten years and we both went back to work.

Walking back to my car, I realized that there was a shoe store right near the Starbucks and stopped in to buy a new pair of dog walking shoes. I have enough nice shoes to last a lifetime, but I'm continually burning through dog walking shoes. I guess it makes sense. Walking dogs is my life.

When I got back to the office, there was an e-mail that said thirteen new dogs needed to be added to an animal rescue site asap. There was also a new watch article to write and some correspondence that needed to be dealt with before everyone disappeared for the weekend. By the end of the day I had everything finished except for the new web pages I promised I'd make for the thirteen rescue dogs. I guess that means I didn't actually finish very much. Maybe I'll get these web pages done this weekend. There's always the weekend.

It's time to start gathering tax information again. Usually, I've got everything gathered into tabbed ring binders by now. This year, I'm beyond caring. I've got all the information in a big pile of paper, but I don't even want to look at it. Money comes in. Money goes out. Very little money sticks around very long.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 751

2012-01-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

The days are noticeably longer now. Pretty soon, all the sunset photo opportunities that seem perfectly timed with the dog's evening walk will be gone for another season. I'm sure the golden evening skies will be replaced by something equally interesting as the days grow longer, but I'm going to miss these spectacular sunset walks.

One of my European clients has started paying me using Paypal. The fact that it's so easy and safe to make international transactions with Paypal is one more reason I'm starting to use it for almost everything. Getting money from another country used to be a nightmare when I had to use wire transfers. The German banks always wanted information that the American banks didn't even use. Paypal is so much easier.

I almost upgraded my main computer to Lion today, but chickened out at the last minute. Lion seems to work well on my laptop, but I have much more software installed on the main computer. Every single time I've installed a major system upgrade on my desktop, the results have been disastrous. There is always some very expensive application that I use everyday which refuses to work under the new system. Since it's hard to reverse a system upgrade, I usually have to go out and buy all new versions of the software I already have. Typically, I don't like the new versions as well as the old versions, but that's another story. I wish Apple had some sort of app that would search everything on my computer and tell me if I was ready for Lion or not. Snow Leopard is running perfectly now, but I remember that it was a nightmare too in the beginning. One thing is certain. I'm going to have to upgrade to Lion sooner or later. Avid Media Composer 6.0, which I would like to start using, only runs under Lion.

The dead leaves are really stacking up in the back yard now. I'm going to have to break out the leaf blower pretty soon and blow them into big piles so I can bag them up and get rid of them before Spring. There are so many leaves on the ground already, that even if I bag up leaves every weekend, it will still take me until Spring to get the yard cleaned up and ready for a fresh load of St. Augustine sod. It would be so much easier to live on the 17th. floor of a luxury high-rise.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 750

2012-01-04T21:45:00.002-06:00

The last of my stop loss orders kicked in today and I'm finally rid of all the ridiculous volatility index funds and inverse shares that were supposed to protect me from a double dip in the stock market. Even though my broker loves this stuff, I've never made a dime on these complicated schemes to outwit the market. What has worked? Buying good solid companies like McDonalds and Apple has worked pretty well. If I didn't have a broker and a financial adviser, I'd probably have bought a lot more good solid companies like these.

Now that I've started taking pictures every day for Instagram, I'm starting to realize that I do the same things over and over again. At first I was proud of all the interesting little things I was able to observe, but now that I've seen each of these things twenty times, they don't seem quite so amazing anymore. I'm going to have to figure out how to insert some variety into my daily routine before my life turns into a real world version of Ground Hog Day. There are probably only so many over-easy eggs you can eat for breakfast and so many sunsets you can photograph before you go certifiably crazy.

Dash was amazingly good at training class tonight. I don't know what came over him. He would have won a ribbon if one of the trainers hadn't been a little too picky about the way he was sitting. Nevertheless, it was his best performance in months. The moody little dog made me proud. Dash is one of the smartest dogs I've ever seen, but if he's not in the mood, you're just wasting your time. This morning it was cold outside, so I put the dogs Winter coats on before their morning walk. Dash was having no part of this. He went right back to bed wearing his coat and did his best to burrow under a blanket. If I was a dog, I probably would have behaved exactly the same way.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 749

2012-01-03T20:32:00.000-06:00

A lot of odds and ends today. I guess odds and ends count for something. I went up to Imaging Spectrum and bought enough ink to finish the half done cleaning cycle I'd started earlier. After I finished cleaning the printer, I made a couple of large prints, just to make sure it worked. These prints immediately went in a folio with a lot of other test prints. Since each of the 4880's eight ink cartridges costs $55 and half the ink gets used up unclogging the printer, these prints wind up being a bit pricey. A few years ago, I was able to justify the cost of maintaining this large printer, because several of my retail clients used me to create window displays for them. Now, just about every form of printing can be done online for far cheaper than it costs me to do the same thing. It's that old "economy of scale" thing.

These days I only use my large printer to make free posters for animal rescue groups. Nothing wrong with that, mind you. I just wish the whole process wasn't so expensive or time consuming. With my printer working again, I went over to my pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions and ended up standing in line forever behind some old people who seemed to have much more complicated needs than my own. I kept thinking that these people in the line might be me someday. I certainly hope not. I take way too many pills as it is.

My German client accepted my European style invoice. My watch client has started feeding me regular jobs again, now that the writing marathon appears to be over. I'm still removing employees from websites at a faster pace than adding them. I guess 2012 has started. I need to set aside some time to get my car safety inspected before the sticker on my windshield expires. Each year this process seems to get a little more difficult. Last year a young technician refused to believe that the Defender was a full time four wheel vehicle and attempted to put it on the dynamometer. That was a big mistake. Luckily I was able to get the kid to stop the test before he ruined my car.

The dogs still seem to think we're on holiday time. I had a devil of a time getting them out of bed this morning. You'd think they'd be eager to go on their morning walk, but lately snoozing under a blanket seems more appealing to them. Staying under the covers seems more appealing to me as well, but I'd never get anything done that way.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day