Going to the fish store (aquarium style, not brown butter and dill) is a little like fish porn for me. Alan’s setting up a new aquarium (i’d do the obligatory link to Alan’s site but since he never updates it anymore i don’t see the point. Hint hint hint.) so I got to crack out all my latent aquarium knowledge this weekend. I filled his head with boring information about compatability and ease of care. He didn’t listen to me when I told him about chloramine, but luckily the guy at the store told him too.
I also completely spaced about cycling the tank, but the fish store guy was up on that too.
Thing is, it got me totally excited about my aquarium and once I move I’m gonna set that damned monstosity up again. 55 gallon freshwater tank! Alan also mentioned that his brother might have other tanks so I might go look at those too.
I saw some new fish at the store and did some research. I fell in love with botia modesta, the orange fin loach. Very nice, very pretty, very active. Sadly, it does not get along well with other bottom dwellers and has been known to hunt smaller fish. I think I will stick to yo-yo’s and clowns which are both peaceful and they get along well together.
I’m definitely getting a pleco. I’m just trying to decide between the common pleco like i had before or one of the fancier varieties like zebras or sailfins. I seem to find myself more interested in the bottom dwelling fish more and more lately, they just have so much personality.
As for the upper strata there are zebra danios, raspboras and barbs to do the schooling and gouramis to showcase.
I’m also thinking about rainbows but they take a lot of work.
Once I get moved and resettled I’ll have a better idea if I have the time and energy for another aquarium set up. I’m trying to convince my boss to let me have a little fish tank in my office. I wonder if Ghengis would like the fish? I want everyone to appreciate that I have so far held myself in check, I’ve not posted the 1800 fabulous new photos of the handsome little guy.
In other news, the vigil is being held for the birth of my boss’ baby and for Alex’s niece to be born. So many babies being born all at once, how exciting.
Started planning the trip to the Keys, and by planning mostly I mean I am inundating Alex with "can we do this and this and this and this and can I have an ice cream and can I eat seafood at every meal and can i do this and this and this?". Also, I promised not to honk the horn on my rented scooter for my own amusement as that will get me a ticket and a fine! I also am hoping to climb to the highest point in the keys, 18 feet above sea level at Windley Key. 18 FEET people, can you believe it? Also, lime popsicles and coconut postcards and snorkeling!
and…sigh…
Yesterday there was a school shooting at a Minnesota high school. Looks like 10 were killed and 15 or more were wounded. My mom is a high school teacher and most days I don’t think about this kind of thing, but when I read about it I get worried. My mom’s a good person who works hard for these kids and has really put herself out there. I hope that the repayment for her hard work is a nice retirement check and not some senseless tragedy.
and and and…i still have the flu, i don’t really care for Robert Heinleins writing (but people warned me I wouldn’t), my dvd player died and my puppy and my boyfriend kick ass.
ramble ramble ramble
LA Chica Grande!
ps…ROLLER DERBY PICS!
Skatin’
Fightin’
Skatin’
More Skatin’
Ummm….

Various things that need to be said to my coworkers based on conversations I’ve had today.
1) I do not ask my boyfriend permission to see my friends. My boyfriend does not dictate who can or cannot be my friend. If I ever get to the point where my S/O starts dictating such things in my life I want to be shot in the head as there can be nowhere good to go from there. Also, I think you are a prick and a dumbass to suggest that I might need permission to visit my friends (or what to write on my website, how to dress, who to be friends with or what to name my pets).
2) Do not write in the fucking catalog. Are you retarded? I don’t need a catalog that the entire department uses marked up because you are too lazy to write down a 6 character alphanumeric string. When I ask “Are you retarded?” it’s not a rhetorical question.
3) Stop telling me about the underage girls you find hot. It’s creepy that some of them are younger than your own daughter. You are a creepy son of a bitch and if you never come to my desk to talk to me again it would be too soon.

A little bit of this…a little bit of that
I’m tired. I’m hovering on the edge of illness with a gland in my neck swollen to the size of a beach ball. I’m chugging vitamin c and eating cheetoh (which are orange and orange is healthy. Guacamole doritos are green and green is healthier, I’m gonna pick some of those up as well!). I’m hoping to rest a lot this weekend. As much as I want the house to be shown and to sell, I’m hoping the showings get grouped together so I am not running out into the cold every couple hours.
House…market…blah blah blah…vacuum doesn’t work well…blah blah blah…speaking of which…
Dear Guy Who Installs ‘For Sale’ Signs,
My driveway divides my front yard into two neat sections. One section is very very small, the garden in that section is a clearly defined raised bed with decorative bricks edging it. There is only grass in front of it, no flowers or other plants. This is very obvious to the naked eye, even with the snowfall.
The other side of my driveway is a very large section of my front yard. The front 1/3 of my yard is flower garden. This is very easy to discern by the trellis, the decorative bricks, the wood chips, the cut back shrubs. Did you honestly have to drill RIGHT INTO A SHRUB??? Did you have to do it right into a shrub in the most bulb intensive section of the garden?
Is that blank look of utter confusion something you practice at night so you are ready when pissed off homeowners come flying out of their houses? Is “well, you’re selling it anyway” a valid excuse in your world? Is it really so hard to knock on the door and ask? I mean a car running in the driveway is a pretty good indicator that the person who lives in the house is in the house and probably awake and coherent.
One day you will lose a leg in a bizarre chipper/shredder accident. When you ask the doctor what he can do to help you walk again, the doctor will reply, “meh, you’re gonna die someday anyway, you won’t need to walk then. Will you?”
With much enmity
h

I was doing a little research today and found this. It’s some scary stuff, that sociopathic tendency, because it blends so well into daily life.
Further proof that I have the coolest friends on the planet…
One of my friends spent the day moving 18th century and older corpses from a deconcecrated church graveyard to a new cemetary. He also met Kevin Spacey for the second time while in London for his birthday.
This weekend is relaxing, recuperating, IHOP, fish shopping (aquarium not dinner), maybe roller-derby depending on how sick I am.
Last night I finally saw ‘Say Anything’. I love John Cusack, but I can not for the life of me figure out what he sees in the girl. Seriously, she’s about as interesting as a bottle of lotion. Sure she’s ‘brainy’, but not brainy in a goofy fun-facts, kick your ass at trivial pursuit kind of way. Just brainy in a ‘they said she was brainy during the exposition so she must be’ sort of way.
As much as I want to believe everyone is responsible for the consequences of their bad choices, it doesn’t make it any easier to watch.
It’s snowing like stupid mad outside. Shovelling and pasta and cocoa are on the menu for tonight.
I’m becoming too homebody-ish again. I need tobe going out more and seeing my friends more. I need my friends to come to minneapolis and see me!
I’ve only scratched the surface here. This has actually been an emotionally tough week, I’ve spent too much time whining on the phone to my mother.
Good luck and remember, the best way to keep yourself safe from demons is to not let them in the house in the first place.