Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Day 624

We ended the month exactly the same way we started. The dogs got an extended walk through the park. I got a nice breakfast. Then, the clients got their work done. In all these years, I've never missed a deadline. I don't think some clients would actually mind if I missed a deadline, but I don't like to let these jobs linger. They're all like a hot potato that I want to toss back to the sender as soon as I can.

I got done with enough time left over today to go up on the roof with a caulking gun and look for cracks to patch. Even though it's hot and dry now, the rainy season isn't that far away. I'd really like to have the roof sealed again before the Fall rains begin. I don't know how water gets through this roof. I looked and I looked today, but couldn't find any weak spots. I squirted the Henry 209 compound on anything that looked suspicious, but I'm not sure it will do any good. If history is any guide, there will be a drip in the living room again soon after the first heavy downpour.

The dogs were pretty good in class tonight. The weather was a few degrees cooler this evening and it was just enough of a difference to catch their attention. Dash did pretty well with all the exercises for a change, but I don't know what it's going to take for him to win a ribbon again. He used to win ribbons almost every week, but he hasn't finished in the top four for over six months now. Maybe he's adopted the same attitude I now have about advertising awards. I have boxes full of these things in the storage warehouse, but I don't even bother to enter the competitions anymore. What's the point.

It will be September tomorrow. Time for the dog's heartworm pills again. Maybe I'll have French Toast for breakfast instead of my usual biscuits and gravy. That ought to make the day exciting.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Day 623

Every once in a while I wake up feeling like I'm going to fly like an eagle. Most days a feel a lot more like a pigeon. I hunt and peck. I make a little money. I never end up flying very far from where I started. I typically have a hard time getting up in the morning. Sometimes I stay in the shower until all the hot water runs out. Let's just say I don't start the day singing a rousing chorus of Good Morning Sunshine.

All this being said, I do manage to get a lot done when I finally kick myself into gear. Today I made revisions on just about every website I manage. I finished a couple of articles, took Dash to the vet for his bi-weekly antigen shot, and picked up another month's supply of meds for myself at the pharmacy. The day was a pigeon's dream.

I've been hearing a lot lately about Facebook's new privacy settings. They evidently let you individually select which people you want to see various posts that are on your wall. Sounds like a lot of trouble to me. Facebook still doesn't have the filter I want. I wish they had some kind of zip code filter. I would use it to filter out my neighbors. Increasingly, people I see almost every day are asking me if I saw their Facebook message. Why don't they just tell me in person? It would certainly be a lot easier, because I almost never look at that messages section of Facebook.

I'm keeping the back yard really wet, in hopes that the Fescue seed we planted this weekend will sprout and cover some of the dead patches. So far, the only result of this frequent sprinkling has been two muddy dogs.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Monday, August 29, 2011

Day 622

We didn't get very far on our morning walk today. Dot saw a lightning bolt way off in the distance and decided that the walk was over. Dot makes all the weather decisions, so we turned around and went home. Since our walk was cut short, I had a lot more time for breakfast this morning. After all Dot's drama, we never did get any rain. It's still dry as a bone. By afternoon, it was just as hot as usual and the dogs made up for lost time by taking a much longer walk than they normally do in the afternoons.

I got listed on Robert Scoble's photographers to follow list today and all the sudden I'm a lot more popular on Google+. It's funny how these things work. The photographs had been there all along, but nobody had told people to look at them yet. I'm certainly not complaining though. This is just the way life works. Just about every good job I got in my life was because somebody noticed that I worked at a well known ad agency and decided they wanted to hire me away. If I had been unemployed and tried to get a job at the very same agency, I doubt that the people who hired me would have even given me an interview.

I spent the afternoon writing an ad for a $995 fountain pen. I don't think I'm really the target audience for this pricey pen. Those free plastic pens you pick up at trade shows work just fine for me. I'm terrible about losing pens too. Pens and umbrellas don't seem to last very long with me. Luxury goods are fascinating though. I've done a lot of advertising for luxury manufacturers over the years and most of these items are just ordinary things that have magically acquired status. People want these things because other people already have them. The ironic thing is that the famous people who give luxury goods their allure, usually never pay for them in the first place. The next time you see somebody looking fabulous on the red carpet, just remember that they never paid a dime for their outfit.

Dash goes to the vet again tomorrow for his antigen shot. I wonder if anyone spends more time in veterinarian's offices than I do. If my dogs don't need something, then my clients do.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Day 621

On the way home from the dog park, we stopped by Sprinkles again to get some cupcakes for Dot's party. They make dog cupcakes there, but really it's just an excuse to get some for ourselves. Janet seems to think that Dot's birthday is really today anyway. Maybe she's right. I'm terrible with dates. I just looked on the blog from last year and we celebrated her birthday on the 27th then, so I assumed it would be the same this year. Dot's real birthday may be Feburary 4 for all I know. When you rescue a stray, you never really know how old they are or when they were actually born. Most people just make the day they adopt their dog the pet's birthday from that day forward. I don't think Dot or Dash particularly care when they were born. They just wanted a bit of the steak we had for dinner and of course, their special Sprinkles dog cupcake. I think the party was a success.

Earlier in the day we got a call from our vet about some stray puppies that had been found in the park. The pups had spots, so the people who found them thought they might be Dalmatians. The dogs were heartbreakingly thin and looked like they had the mange. The two puppies definitely weren't all Dalmatian, but they were adorable. We see situations like this all the time and it is terribly sad. Who would just dump little puppies like this? One way or another these pups will get healthy again and find good homes. Probably next week there will be another story just like it however. I'm sure there are hundreds of stories just like this all over the country today.

I finished the day by mowing the grass, which was probably a mistake. It was still well above 100 degrees today. It's weird listening to all the reports about the hurricane on the East Coast. You wonder why they get all that rain and we get none? Even though we continue to water, the grass in our back yard has given up the fight. The yard that looked so great in May looks terrible again. I went to Home Depot this afternoon and got some Fescue grass in hopes that I could reseed the dead spots. It's probably hopeless though. I bet I'll be putting in a brand new turf again next Spring. There is just too much shade in the back yard for grass to grow properly.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Day 620 - Dot's Birthday

We started the day with a trip up to the Velvet Snout to photograph Jordan, our newest Dalmatian Rescue dog. The folks at the kennel initially thought that Jordan was aggressive, since he showed his teeth to them. They'd obviously never seen a Dalmatian smile. A lot of Dalmatians smile when they greet people and it's pretty cute if you've never seen it before. Jordan is really a very gentle dog and he'll be a great companion for someone when he finds his forever home.

Our own Dot had a lot to smile about today. It's her birthday. It's hard to believe that it's already been seven years since we adopted her. We've had at least one Dalmatian in our home for over 25 years now and I can't imagine life without them. I tell people that Dot is my office manager, since whatever I'm doing, she's almost always nearby.

We usually take Dot and Dash out to a dog friendly restaurant on their birthdays, but it's way too hot today to eat dinner on a restaurant patio today. Dot will literally have to take a rain check on her birthday dinner. As soon as it rains again it will probably be 20 degrees cooler.

I'm going to miss the Dr. Who season opener this evening because Janet and I have tickets to see a concert. I don't think there will be any problems catching up with Dr. Who later though. The BBC channel seems to re-run everything they show about ten times a week.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Friday, August 26, 2011

Day 619

It must have been hot today, because Dash decided to turn around and go home when we got to Erykah Badu's house again. He stopped just long enough for an impromptu portrait in front of her iridescent Smart Car. Erykah used to drive a silver Mercedes Geländewagen, but I haven't seen the pricey Jeep around the neighborhood for a while.

Dot could have walked further today, but she is patient with Dash. Maybe it's because of the perfectly shaped heart on her left rear leg. She's the only Dalmatian I've known who has heart shaped spots.

Several weeks ago, I got an e-mail from Klout that said my Klout score qualified me for a free gift. I forgot all about this e-mail until the FedEx man dropped an unexplained box at my front door this morning. It was my free gift: a seemingly lifetime supply of protein powder. This odd gift is probably a much most accurate measure of my true Klout on the Internet than my score on the website. Probably people with real Klout get iPhones and airline tickets as gifts. I get a big jar of protein powder.

Do you ever see a picture that you just can't get out of your mind. I happened to see a very recent picture of Steve Jobs on the Internet today. It was a little frightening and put a lot of things in perspective. It reminded me that all the money in the world can't guarantee that you'll live any longer, and more importantly, that if you still have your health, you really don't have much to complain about. It would be easy to think that Steve got a raw deal, but we all die sometime and death is never pleasant. At least the guy did something with his life and not all of us can say that.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Day 618

What a difference a little rain makes. We had an early morning shower and even though the rain didn't last long, everything looked a lot greener on our morning walk. The few remaining flowers didn't look quite so wilted, and if you looked closely, the yellowed prairie grass in the meadows had already grown some tiny green shoots. From a distance, these patches of native grass had an odd yellow/green color that reminded me of vintage bathroom tiles. The temperature was only 85 degrees this morning, but this pleasant interlude didn't last long. By the time our evening walk rolled around, it was back up over 100 again.

Today was a day to deliver things. Somehow, it is a lot more satisfying to deliver a large framed photo to a client than it is to simply attach a Microsoft Word file to an e-mail. When I deliver a physical object I have created, it feels like I've accomplished something. The things I attach to e-mail seem to disappear from my memory the minute I hit the send button. The next day, I wonder if I've actually done anything at all. Maybe there's a lesson in all this, but probably not. Even most of my photo jobs are delivered electronically these days. It was nice to get out of the office, but I probably won't have any more large physical objects to deliver again for quite a while.

I'm trying to decide whether to buy Avid Media Composer. On one hand, Avid has a fabulous special price right now for Final Cut Pro users, trying to lure them into the fold. On the other hand, the price after the special discount is still pretty expensive and I'm not actually editing anything right now. My logic for buying something that I don't really need is usually if I don't buy it, the money will just disappear in the stock market anyway. It's hard to tell these days though. Who knows what the market is going to do? At one point today, the market was way up because Warren Buffett bought a bunch of Bank of America stock. Then it was way down again just a few hours later because of something that happened in Germany. With this kind of sea-saw action, Avid Media Composer probably is a much better investment. Hey, if I could just teach my dogs a few tricks, I could make wildly popular YouTube videos. The dogs would rather sleep than learn silly tricks though. Truthfully, I'd rather sleep as well.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Day 617

I started the day aimlessly wandering through the park with the dogs and ended the day aimlessly wandering through the Quark Express manual, trying to figure out how to make tables do what I wanted them to do. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I do so many different things as part of my job that I can never remember the nuances of the various software I use. By the end of my intense week of video editing last May, I had gotten quite proficient at using Final Cut Pro. Unfortunately, I haven't had a big video editing job since, so the next time I get put to the test, I'll have to learn a lot of stuff all over again. The same thing is true with printed advertising. So few people ask me to do printed pieces anymore that some of the finer points of desktop publishing escape me. I used to know Quark backwards and forwards. Now it's all backwards.

Amazingly, it rained today. It didn't rain long enough to help all the water starved plants, but it certainly rained long enough for Dot. She could tell the rain was coming when we took our afternoon walk and she didn't relax again until about an hour after the storm was over. I thought that dog training class might be canceled for a while, but by 7 PM, all signs of moisture had evaporated. The only reminder that it had rained at all was a vague musty smell in the air.

It felt like the end of an era when I heard that Steve Jobs had resigned from Apple today. I got my very first Macintosh in 1984, right after they were introduced. That first Macintosh didn't even have a hard drive. You had to load a floppy disk with the system software and then eject that disk to insert another disk with the applications. It was pretty crude and simple by today's standards, but it made the Osborne-1 computer I had used before look like an antique. If it weren't for Macintosh, Photoshop, Quark Express, Adobe Illustrator, Media 100 and dozens of other game changers, I probably wouldn't have been able to start a company like mine. So, thank you Steve, for opening some doors for people like me that might have stayed locked for a long time without you.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Day 616

We always see interesting things on our morning walks. Today, I noticed a slice from a giant tree trunk in a neighbor's driveway with a colorful butterfly painted on it. The tree trunk was obviously too heavy to lift, so it was still sitting on the pallet where the delivery truck left it. I don't know if this large chunk of wood is destined to become a coffee table or if it is artwork that will hang on a very sturdy wall. It is pretty though. I'm glad the dogs didn't pee on it as we walked by.

I heard about this morning's earthquake on Google+ about two seconds after it happened. Maybe the way the world gets its news really is changing. They say that Twitter is bustling with news of current events around the world. Maybe so, but most of the Tweets I get are either about somebody's dog or about the latest new YA vampire novel. It is interesting about the earthquake though, because evidently the news traveled faster via social media than the actual seismic wave and people in some parts of the East Coast learned about the quake on Google+ before they actually felt the shock themselves.

I took Dot to the vet this afternoon for more blood work. They think she might have a thyroid problem and wanted to do some additional tests. Dash thinks a trip to the vet is a social outing, but Dot is still terrified of the whole experience. I was amazed to see Dot sitting right next to a rabbit in the lobby. She was so concerned about what was going to happen next that she didn't even notice the bunny. Ordinarily, her hunting instincts kick into high gear whenever she's within thirty feet of a rabbit.

I've been doing an awful lot of writing lately. For the sake of variety, would be nice to mix things up with some more photography jobs. Photography jobs than had a decent budget and involved travel to exotic locations would be especially nice. I'm not knocking writing though. Writing is still more interesting than updating employees on company websites.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Monday, August 22, 2011

Day 615

I had a hard time getting up this morning. Dash had an upset stomach last night and woke us up several times during the night scratching on the door to go outside. The first time he goes outside in situations like these, he does nothing. The second time, he usually eats grass. Hopefully, there is a third time where he actually throws up, but as often as not, he waits until I'm in the shower the next morning and then throws up inside on the carpet. I've taken him to the vet over and over again trying to find a definitive answer to these episodes, but all the vets usually tell me is to give him a Pepsid AC.

At any rate, I could have used a couple of extra hours of sleep this morning. By the time we took our morning walk, Dash was back to normal again. His heartburn appeared to be gone, but mine was worse than ever. I don't do well if I don't get a good night's sleep. I'm still taking iPhone Instagram pictures on our morning walks and I'm starting to notice that there are never any people in the photos. It's not that I'm avoiding people. It's just that when I'm out and about, the world is empty. I kind of like it this way. I try not to go to the park until all the early morning joggers and cyclists have gone to work. It's a little harder to avoid the traffic on Dallas roads, but usually 2 to 4 in the afternoon is pretty good. I just need to remember to avoid the school zones, now that school is back in session.

There are a couple of friends who I've been meaning to have lunch with for several months now. Usually I've just finished breakfast when most people go to lunch though and I'm not hungry at noon anymore. Now that a lot of my work originates on the Internet, I'm starting to wonder just how insular my life might become. There's really no need to see anyone anymore. I keep doing a few things, like going to the bank and the post office the old fashioned way, just to get away from the keyboard for a while. These things could be done quicker and easier online as well, but after a while all this efficiency gets ridiculous.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Day 614

Last night's Casino Party went well. We were able to raise some money to help the Dalmatians and everybody had a good time. The most surprising thing about the evening was that the restaurant seemed to completely change character as the evening progressed. When we arrived, the place was a nice family oriented sports bar where you might go to watch a baseball game with friends. With each passing hour, the music got a notch louder, and the customers got a bit younger. By the time we were ready to leave, the restaurant had transformed itself into a dance club with a deafening sound system, bouncers at the door, police checking ID's, and tons of kids looking for a good time. I was curious about the strange popularity of this seemingly average sports bar and then I discovered that the place still allowed smoking. The kids loved to smoke.

Today was much quieter. The theme for the day was washing. We washed the bedspread to get rid of all the dog hair. Then we washed the dogs, so they wouldn't immediately get the bedspread dirty again. The dogs looked so clean and pretty that it inspired me to go and get the car washed as well. I haven't washed the Defender all Summer because it was hard to see the point of doing anything unnecessary in this heat. Janet finally convinced me to spend $15 and let the attendants at one of those drive through car wash places clean it for me. This was a good suggestion. The car looks better now than it ever did when I washed it myself. Even the muddy wheels were sparkling.

I'm ready for another week. The Dalmatian Rescue event banners and signs are back at the storage warehouse again. The house is clean. The website updates seem under control. I'm wondering if the events in Libya today will make the market go up or down tomorrow. On one hand, the end of another dictator is positive news that should make the market go up. On the other hand, uncertainty about oil might make it go down. Maybe nothing will happen. Uncertainly seems to be baked into the cake these days.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Day 613

Well, we got everything set up at the BlackFinn Saloon for tonight's Dalmatian Rescue Casino Party. Now, it's time to get the rest of the weekend errands finished before it's time to go back to the restaurant for the fundraiser later this evening. I've got a load of laundry in the washing machine, the grass is being watered and I'm making a grocery list. I've also got to fix one of the posters for the silent auction tonight, because some of the information was wrong. Needless to say, it's going to be a busy afternoon. We'll probably go eat dinner at the restaurant before the party starts, because the food smelled pretty good while we were setting up. I hope this turns out to be a good fundraiser for the Dalmatians. We usually do real well at these type of events, but occasionally nobody shows up. Like everything else in life, you just never know.

Every day I seem to get another open sell order from my broker in the mail. I got two more today. In this volatile market it would be silly not to have stop loss orders and downside protection, but nevertheless, it is sad to see all the panic and uncertainty obliterate a good portfolio. I've learned my lesson though. When the market is going down, you can always buy everything back again later when prices are even lower.

Someone Retweeted one of my Instagram pictures the other day. Maybe Instagram actually is a good way to communicate. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I do know that it is definitely easier to upload a picture than it is to write a thousand words. I guess I'll keep writing though. I enjoy writing. It would be nice if there were a way to seamlessly integrate all these online extensions of yourself in a single place. I have a feeling that I already do that on Facebook, but I seldom visit Facebook anymore since Google+ appeared.

I'm going to need to post today's entry earlier than usual, since I still need to go to the grocery store and give the dogs their evening walk before the Casino Party starts. Wish us luck this evening...

Dalmatian of the Day

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Friday, August 19, 2011

Day 612 - Janet's Birthday

Our birthday celebrations have much gotten simpler as the years go by. We used to make reservations weeks in advance at a fancy restaurant. Now, we're pared things back to the basics: cake and alcohol. Yeah, I know that I can't drink anymore, but I cut myself some slack on birthdays and holidays. I don't think its good to be too rigid about anything. At any rate, we had a nice dinner at home with the dogs and Janet was happy with everything except being a year older.

Tomorrow evening we're having another Dalmatian Rescue Casino Party, so we need to get up early to go set up the gaming tables. For this benefit, we've teamed up with a local restaurant, and are hoping for a good turnout. The restaurant is promoting the party too, but we still don't know whether we'll have a huge crowd tomorrow or an empty room. A huge crowd would be nice.

You would think it would be getting a little cooler by now. The days are definitely getting shorter again, but the temperature was still 108 today. I got stuck in traffic while I was running errands this afternoon and I noticed that my car was starting to overheat. One more month and the worst will be over. The cooler weather couldn't come fast enough for me. I'm tired of worrying about overheating cars and air conditioner failures. In the winter, all I've got to worry about are roof leaks.

Today's writing assignment was coming up with a branding story for a new product with absolutely no history. I asked the client how they wanted me to write this story and they basically told me to just make it up. Sure. I can do that. This is actually branding in its most elemental form: total fabrication.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Day 611

I was out and about quite a bit today. I had meetings to go to, shopping to do, and things to retrieve from the storage warehouse. I've gotten so used to doing virtually everything online that doing things in the real world seems almost impossibly slow and antiquated. Parking is never a problem when I'm buying something on Amazon. Hot cars aren't a problem online either. I need to remember to always make a trip to the grocery store the last thing on my list, so the food won't spoil while I'm shopping somewhere else. Today, I had to make the trip to the storage warehouse the last thing on the agenda, because I was picking up some dry mounted prints and I didn't want the foam core mounting board to warp in the hot car. I had to visit the Apple Store. I'm always amazed at how crowded Apple Stores are. As I passed by the Northpark store today, it seemed like half the people in the entire mall were crowded into this one store. The two adjacent stores were virtually empty.

I wonder if anyone is looking at my Instagram pictures? There doesn't seem to be any way to label these pictures. When they arrive on Facebook or Twitter, it just says that I have uploaded a picture and then you have to click on the link to see what it is. Maybe there actually is a way to add Instagram titles. Like most of my iPhone apps, I've never bothered to read the instructions.

Yay! Project Runway is back for another season. I thought tonight's show would be the season opener, but obviously I was off by a few weeks. I'm glad I caught tonight's show anyway. Each contestant had to make an outfit for Nina Garcia to wear and Nina definitely isn't the easiest person in the world to please. One segment made me laugh when Nina told one of the contestant's that her sketch looked a bit "too Dynasty." The girl had this totally blank look on her face. She didn't have any idea what Nina was talking about and probably wasn't even born yet when Dynasty was on the air.

Just in case you're wondering, I did remember to take the trash out tonight.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Day 610

I think the most exciting thing I did all day was a load of laundry. Don't get me wrong. I was as busy as usual doing my website revisions and writing assignments. It just wasn't very exciting. It's ironic to me that once I get proficient enough at something for people to feel comfortable paying me, I've usually lost interest. My office cubicle friends don't have much sympathy for my situation though. They usually just mumble something like "welcome to the work world" and wander off. It would be nice if you could get paid for learning new things. I'd love a job where my job description was "test pilot of ideas" or something equally fanciful. Not very likely though. People are much more comfortable paying you when you're safe and predictable.

My Instagram picture today is Erykah-Badu's house. On hot days, this is usually where the dogs and I turn around on our walks and start heading home again. In cooler weather, we walk a bit further to a place called The Stone Tables. Today was pretty hot, so we turned around here.

Ten hours later, when it was time for obedience class, I don't think the temperature had cooled down a bit. None of the dogs seemed the least bit interested in the proceedings tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if Dash felt exactly the same way about obedience class as I often feel about website design. The recall exercises, the heeling and even the jumps have all become very predictable. I'm sure that Dash would get a lot more excited if we would take him up to this same field and just let him chase rabbits.

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. I've got an animal rescue meeting where people are sure to tell me that I'm already late with their promotional materials. I've got to get some large prints ready to go to the frame shop that I promised last month. I'd better go do some shopping too. Janet's got a birthday coming up soon.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Day 609

I really like Instagram. If I can ever remember to put my phone in my pocket, I'm going to start documenting my daily routine. There's something nice about these little square photos that seems to complement the blog and foursquare and everything else. The thing I like most about these photos is that there is no option to upload from an album. You have to actually take a picture on the spot with your phone for the application to work. As a result, photographers aren't uploading carefully edited portfolios. They're just taking spontaneous pictures. Very cool!

I keep reading all these serious sounding discussions on Google+ about privacy vs public sharing. I can see both sides to this argument, but there's a hidden benefit to public posting that nobody seems to be talking about. When Alzheimer's and dementia start to set in, I can go back to my blog and foursquare and Instagram and reconstruct every place I've ever been, everything I've ever seen and every thought that's crossed my mind. Maybe memory isn't all that important if your experiences are all out in the cloud somewhere. When my parents were getting old, I noticed a lot of people going around with tape recorders making aural histories, so the past wouldn't slip away. Probably there aren't as many untold stories anymore. Increasingly, our collective stories are just a few clicks away on Google.

Dash had his biweekly antigen shot today. I was skeptical at first, but the medicine appears to be working. Dash's coat looks almost as good as Dot's these days. He'll probably have to continue taking the injections for the rest of his life, but since there are few, if any, side effects to the drug, I think his quality of life will be a lot better. As I was getting Dash ready for the ride over to the vet, I got a call about Dot. Her thyroid levels are a bit low. It is nothing serious. My vet just wanted to let us know. If my own medical care was half as good as these dogs get, I'd probably live ten years longer.

I got a message from Germany the other day asking if I'd be interested in flying to Houston to interview someone from Brazil. This is what the world has come to. I sit in my little room with the dogs, but I'm just as much of a global company as Coca Cola or McDonald's. It doesn't matter if you're making pottery or selling dog collars on eBay, if you don't currently think of yourself as global, you're probably missing the one chance you've got left to make some decent money.

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