Holy crap I’ve been bored at work lately! My boss is about 32 seconds away from having his second baby being born and after the initial crush to get all the projects finished so there were no loose ends while he was gone I’m left with not much to do beyond my regular stuff.
So I email and read people’s websites over and over (keep updating, i need new things to amuse me) and I’m researching all kinds of things.
I know about as much as I can about setting up aquariums, I relearned everything I learned before and learned a few new things. I know the ammonia ~ nitrite ~ nitrate cycle like the back of my hand.
The skin on the back of my hand is weird and dry because I am hugely dehydrated. I’m dehydrated to the point where my skin is rash-y. Too much coffee, too many cold pills, not enough water and the BC pill are conspiring against me…and by ‘conspiring against me’ i mean ‘being ingested by me with no regard to the consequences’.
The pill’s still maaking me overly cranky. Few more weeks of this with no consistent relief and I talk to the doctor about other methods. The coolest thing about the IUD is that they don’t know why it works! It just does! I think this might be a great, non-hormonal option for me. No, I’m not worried about long-term effects, it was just 1 IUD that was problematic and the stats were minimal. The other’s are just fine.
When I take my dog to the pet store he gets to the end of his leash and scrabbles about wanting very much to get somewhere but the leash and the polished floors prevent him from making any progress. He never stops trying, though, he just keeps excitedly running in place. There’s a metaphore here, i need to flesh it out a bit. I look at my dog and I know what it’s like to be…SOMETHING!
I’ve also been investigating and researching sociopathic behaviors and disorders. Fascinating stuff to read, but also disconcerting when you start to think about the people you know.
And then there’s Key West! I learned that it is illegal to honk the horn on your scooter in key west for your own amusement! You could get ticketed for it. It’s also illegal to stuff manatees in your pants, even if you are wearing giant clown pants. My plans for this vacation include: eating seafood at every meal, eating lime popsicles, sending coconut postcards, snorkeling and catching sea turtles and putting them in my pants (also illegal but smaller than manatees and possibly easier to hide), relaxing, taking 1.3 billion pictures, calling David regularly and being sad for missing him, having a panic attack on the 7 mile bridge, having an ice cream at sunset, and catching up with Alex.
Also, let’s all welcome Baby Gabby!! Alex is a proud new uncle and I can’t think of a luckier niece!
Completely unrelatedly (just so there’s no confusion), I once saw a manatee fart. It was in a tank at ‘The Living Seas’ at EPCOT. He was just happily rolling around in the water and he let one rip. I was proud to be part of that moment.
I just went to look at the EPCOT center website to make sure it was called "The Living Seas" (it is) and I was totally reminded of how much i love Disney World. i don’t care for Disney so much as a whole, don’t really like their movies (except Lilo and Stitch) or anything, but I totally dig the whole Disney World thang.
I’m so bored that I’m making SpongeBob hump the giant orange on my desk. How gay is that?
Also…I just read the term ‘mall-punk’ and i thought it was a strangely apt description for those trite, polished, calculatedly smooth punk types. You almost feel like there’s some mathematic equation to their tattoos or something with points for edginess, size and placement. To be clear, i’m not opposed to tattoos as such, tattoos are fun and someone is finally designing the t-rex tattoo of my dreams, it’s just some tattoos are more calculatedly hipster than others. Spend some time at a music festival sometime and count how many of the exact same shape you see. It’s mathematics I’m telling you.

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.