Adaptation

For many years, my two dogs have lived outside. Their entire existence, except for the rare dash into the house, was the backyard. For dogs, they had a good life. They got fed each day, could explore the yard, bark at passers-by and chase a ball once in a while and got regular belly rubs.

But something was missing.

After my divorce I started thinking about maybe, just maybe letting them come inside more. My daughter moved out to live with her mother and took her border collie with her. The border collie was an indoor dog. So I already knew what to expect—some shedding (vacuum cleaners need jobs too) and the occasional muddy paw print on the tile floor.

The oldest dog, Pongo,, somehow sensed that she belonged inside. She would try to go into the house whenever she was near the door. Nah—she could not really “know” I was thinking about bringing them in.

Besides they have lived their entire lives of 13 years outside. Conventional wisdom said they were not house broken and as soon as nature calls, they would take care of business wherever they are, including the living room.

Then a trip the vet forced me to rethink this. Ariel, the middle dog, tested positive for heart worm disease. The treatment requires that the dog is kept very calm for many weeks, as long as three months. Okay, I reasoned, calm I could do. I could keep her confined to one part of the yard and she won’t have a chance to exert herself. Nope—not good enough according to the vet. She had to be inside, out of our extreme summer heat of 100 degree temps.

Well, that was it—she was going to move in if I wanted her to survive the treatment. This is not a problem—I could confine her to the kitchen area. If she made a mess, it would be easy to clean off a tile floor. Strangely, she never once made a mess.

The first night she was very confused. A lot of crying and pacing. Then she laid down. That was it. As soon as she was able to fall asleep on the “comfort” of the kitchen floor, she was an indoor dog.

As the weeks went by I felt really bad for telling Pongo, the oldest dog, that she had to stay outside all night while her “sister” could come in. Slowly I started letting Pongo come in too. Her acclamation to indoor life was much slower. She was very hyper every time I let her in, so much so that I could only handle about 20 minutes of this hyper dog before I put her back outside.

But I did not give up. I kept bringing her in and tried to let her get used to the space at her own pace. She would explore, sniff and find her way in this new world.

Then one day, it happened! She calmed down enough to actually lay down. Of course, as soon as I noticed this, she noticed me noticing her and got right back up with renewed energy.

Again, she and I were making progress, but she could still be a wild dog that had a habit of knocking things over. Back outside she went. I would tell her as she gave me the big puppy eyes (what other kind of eyes can a dog use on a person) that she could eventually come inside. Yeah she understood zero of that but liked it that I was talking to her in a calm voice.

Meanwhile Ariel was loving her new existence as an indoor dog. She had a bed and slept soundly through the night.

Then I tried giving Pongo her own space too. I put together an old blanket and a sheet. That was the step she was waiting for. Once she knew she had a space to call her own, just like the other dog, she was calm. Well, she was calm-er.

Okay we just lost several readers who closed the browser or headed back to Google to find a less crazy article to read.

Yes I said that Pongo realized Ariel had something she did not.

Now both of them are indoor dogs. Neither one messes in the house. Of course common sense is still needed. I cannot leave them in the house for many, many hours unattended. And I have to keep certain items out of their reach or behind a closed door.

As a writer, I despise clichés. I think a cliché is a lazy way to make a point. But I approached this whole situation with an old cliché in my mind—you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. These two old dogs either were never told to abide by that, maybe they’re not that old, or the saying is not true all the time.

I also learned something about myself. I had a desire to have indoor dogs. I wanted the dogs to be near me more hours in the day. I knew it would be good for them and for me. So, even though I was skeptical, I had a desire to make something happen. I acted on it. I planned. I tried some tactics that did not work. I tried some new tactics until I found something that did work. I did not give up. Now I have indoor dogs.

I wonder what else I can accomplish? Hmmmm.

Internet Radio

A friend introduced me to a new world online that I knew probably existed, but never, for some reason, went looking for it. Private, personal internet radio stations and radio shows. She told me she did a radio show once a week online. She sent me a link and I listened to the show. Her show is whatever she wants it to be. She plays music—any music she chooses—that she happens to own—and talks when she feels like it.

I knew this had to be 'out there somewhere'' in the expanse of the internet and I was surprised that I never had the curiosity to find it. I'll waste at least 20 minutes or more looking for the name of an actor in just one episode of some TV show from the 80s, but did not think to look for gems like personal radio stations.

Anyway, so what is the big deal?

The big deal is that this was happening in the early days of radio in the 1950s and 1960s. The biggest name of course was Wolfman Jack, but there were others too. These were the trailblazers who defied the laws and broadcast whatever they wanted. Later, there were many, many more who did this legally. The legal guys used small transmitters barely capable of reaching 10 or 20 miles, if that. But the idea was exactly the same—play a radio show of whatever you want, whenever you want.

Another friend of mine used to lament the fact that there are so few stations that do not cater to the mainstream but rather play the huge selection of great music that is available but not necessarily popular. If you listen to radio at all, you know this is true. Commercial radio stations play the popular music—sure there are different musical formats—but if it is a commercial radio station, 95% are playing only popular music.

The rationale is not hard to understand. Money is required to operate a radio station. The money to operate a commercial radio station comes from the advertisers. Advertisers want a return on their investment, that is, they want to sell more products or services due to their radio advertising. If only a few people are listening to the radio station, only a few will hear the advertiser’s commercials. No return for them means no money for that radio station.

But remove money from the equation and a whole new world of programming possibilities arises. Not only music, but news, sports, commentary, even public service information can be disseminated freely. However since the people providing such wonderful programming still have to make a living themselves, they won’t do this on a full time basis. It will only be offered as their free time permits.

However, this runs contrary to a need our modern society has created. Instant gratification. We don’t want to wait until the person giving us this wonderful, custom radio experience is able to do so. We want it whenever we feel the need.

Years ago, even before television news was available every day, if you wanted news, you waited until the daily newspaper was delivered to you. You might not know of a dramatic event until 24 hours after it happened. Strangely enough, that was okay back then.

Because of this instant-gratification need of ours, we overlook the fine radio programming that could be ours, if we simply were willing to wait. Teenagers in the 1960s had to wait at least till the next night to hear the music and personality they could not get on a regular radio station. Maybe we should be willing to wait for quality too and just enjoy it while it is available.

Creativity

This evening's blog will be about the creative people, present and past, who inspire me. My problem with not writing as much as I should have over the past several years is not lack of talent. It is lack of drive and confidence in what I have to say. When I really get into the writing, I'm good. I'm damn good and when I really try, it gets noticed.

So why don't I try more? Distractions in the form of job stress, fatigue caused by the job, family activities, and again that gnawing feeling that it is not worth a crap. There lies the contradiction. Two sentences earlier I said I am good. Then I say I feel like I am not good. So the answer is BIC time. For non-writers that is Butt-In-Chair time. Just plant the rear in the chair for a set amount of time and don't allow it to come out of the chair until that time is up. This method has been proven successful again and again and again.

And many of these creative people knew this or know this. Though they had a passion for their art, they would not have been successful if the distractions of life got in the way.

Syd Barrett; Benny Andersson ; Bjorn Ulvaeus; Ansel Adams; John Lennon; Gene Roddenberry; Charles Dickens; the writer of the Christmas commercial for Salvation Army bell-ringers; and of course many many many more.

Want to Be More Productive Today

Beginning day two—okay so really this is day three. I began showing cold symptoms yesterday and when it came time to blog, my heart was up to it but my runny nose told me to go to bed. But I told my nose that it would not allow me to skip a day; I would have to blog twice tomorrow, which is now today.

I felt somewhat productive yesterday. I worked on the character conversation more. I say 'somewhat' because that did not add any words at all to the book itself. However, it's possible that it did add words—the stuff I worked on yesterday could end up in the book. More to be done today, but I want to only congratulate myself if I make actual progress on the book.

Another voice inside my head tells me that what I am doing here is actually progress. That voice reminds me that many days and weeks go by during which time absolutely nothing is written. A writer is supposed to write, right? And I am writing. The voice needs to remind me that many writers out there write only blogs and many of them are successful.

Hey, if I could add something to the book and begin work on the freelance stuff at the same time, then I would really feel productive.

Vacation Begins

I officially begin my vacation tomorrow. I have been off for the past three days, but one was a holiday and the other two were Saturday and Sunday. In some ways, I think this vacation will be too short. I relish the opportunity to not have to think about work and its problems until January 6. Yet that seems remarkably too soon. There are other events that need to be in our planning for January, but I don’t like thinking about that time, because then the vacation will be over.

However, I have learned recently to not dwell on the negatives as much. This was difficult for me as recently as a year or so ago. But either I am finally figuring out what many know, (and what many never figure out) that dwelling on negative thoughts does not do me any good. And worrying about the future totally screws up the present. So I will endeavor to live for the moment or at least try to. It’s hard to change a psyche that has been developed for 40+ years, but I feel I am closer to achieving that goal than ever before.

White House Vs. Fox

Was it stupid, cunning, bold, silly or an abomination for the White House to publicly take on Fox "news?"

This is one of those times when it’s perplexing to be a progressive. When the good guys (our president, not like the previous resident) takes on the bad guys (the conservative, lying bull-horn of Fox "news") it is tempting to just say, “Yeah! It’s about time we put them in their place.”

The problem is that I do not want the president himself spending one second of the precious little time he has in his day on these hate mongers. The obvious reason is that the administration just added a whole lotta fuel to the fire.

The bigger reason is that it is not worth the time.

Now if the President himself did not actually exert any energy at all on this except to possibly use 20 seconds or less to review the situation and approve it, then I guess I don’t have a problem with this. If his staff fit this into their schedule (still rather them spend time on something that actually helps the common person) then it does not bother me as much.

Regarding any questions of censorship, that’s a load of crap and any journalist who has worked with powerful figures knows it. No one is required to make themselves available to the press (exceptions to people who work for some organization that has this rule, such as professional athletes.) Though the balance between politicians and the press is delicate, if the politician decides not to give an interview, it’s not censorship—it’s the nature of the game.

Stating the obvious

Once in awhile, I read about someone stating what is so painfully obvious to me, that I have to say, "yeah, I agree completely." Such was the case at a town hall meeting with Barney Frank. Said to those who continue to yell and boo when he tried to answer:

"Disruption never helps your cause," he said more than once. "It just looks like you're afraid to have rational discussion."

See a few more gems here:

Barney Frank goes toe to toe