Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Addiction Addiction Addiction

I have a very addictive personality. Always have, always will. Thankfully I am aware of it, and in the past decade or so have managed to limit my addictions to things that aren't self destructive or hazzardous to my health... like smoking (which I did for 14 years).

Right now I am addicted to a couple things. The biggest and most expensive being our aquarium hobby. The only problem with this addiction is it is one Darrell and I share, so there is no other side to the relationship, saying "Don't you think it's time to take a step back?" Thankfully we are now in the finishing stages of the building downstairs. I am working on getting the lighting canopy built and then it will just be a matter of waiting for the tanks to cycle so we can move all the fish and corals over. So far, I have to say, hopefully without sounding too concieted, that I think we have done an exceptional job transforming that space in the basement, and my design idea looks pretty good if you ask me.

The tanks are on the stand, and there is salt water cycling in them. There's even rock and a couple fish already. Now it's just a matter of finishing that canopy, so I can move on to rebuilding and reupholstering the furniture for the room.

Jan 14,2008

The other addiciton I have been indulging in is kind of silly. It's a facebook application called kighthood. Unlike all the other facebook apps out there, I don't have to continuously invite my friends to join over and over and over, in fact I've only sent out a few invites and that was a week ago. I am still playing and everything is going fine. It's kind of like an online role playing game, and I was never much for role playing games (they didn't really become popular until I was too far into my teens to care) but for some reason I am all over this one. Too much fun!
*Amendment: It's actually more like a SIM game, than role playing... so if you like games like SimCity...you will love Knighthood*

Yesterday I took the last half of the day off, so I could work from home catalogueing some tapes. I had a few stops to make on the way home, and then spent the better part of the afternoon on the floor of the spare bedroom going through footage and writing down information. I got through two tapes and started a third and only had to break twice because my ass kept falling asleep from sitting on the basement floor (doesn't help that I slipped on the ice on Wednesday and landed on the step so I have a giant bruise on my ass right across the left cheek). I was a little full of myself having gotten through as much fo the footage as I had, until this morning when Darrell declared I need to learn to make better use of time... since I "only" got through 2 tapes and started the third. Here I thought I was ticking right along. Oh well...what can you do? In my defence I almost never catalogue tapes, so it's not like I know what I'm doing, or do it all the time.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Friday

I haven't posted in a little while (bad blogger). There isn't a lot to blog about really. We got the tanks up on the stands and there is now water in them. It's not salt water just yet, but it is water and it is circulating through Darrell's plumbing without mishap. We have a few things still on order and few more things that have to be built but all in all we are in very good shape to have some residents in these tanks in about 6 weeks. (The water has to go through an entire biological cycling process before it is safe to add fish etc.)

We lost one of the fish we got on our trip to Maine, to worms and parasites. We weren't prepared to deal with worms, as it is the first time we've encountered it... we'll be ready next time though. The other fish are all doing well and seem very healthy.

Darrell had to go to Portsmouth last week for a couple days to do a shoot for Irving, and while he was there he brought back a couple little clownfish for a lady in Shippagen. We know her through the online marine forum and she was looking for little nemo fish, only a black variety of them. All the dealers around NB basically looked at her like she had two heads when she asked about them, but they had an abundance of them in Bangor, so Darrell picked a couple up for her while there and we took a trip to Moncton yesterday to deliver them. She met us at Nobles and was very happy with her new additions.

One more thing on the fish front. Thank you to everyone who continued to vote everyday for my fish pic in the contest. I was super suprised (event hough I shouldn't have been...I have the most awsome friends and family) to not only get up into the top 20, but to end the voting at number 2. Not only did my first pick picture make it to number two, my second picture (that I had basically given up on in the beginning) made it to number 15, thanks to splitting my voting team once the first one had managed to secure it's place in the top 20. So thank you all for helping me out. Now the top 20 pictures will be judged by a panel of three judges and the one they pick will be the winner of a $250 gift certificate to the pet store of that persons choice. Fingers crossed and wish me luck.... thanks to everyone's help I actually have two shots at winning.

Atlantica started up it's winter programs last week, and I have a few new students. There weren't enough to add extra nights so we're incorporating them into existing classes, and I am splitting my time between beginners and more advanced. It is a little challenging right now, but in a couple weeks it will even out.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

1st post of 2008

The "Holidays" were good. We had fun and got a lot of work done on our reno/upgrade project. New Years Eve was quiet. The Bonds dropped over and we had a few drinks. We didn't make it back to work on the 2nd like we planned, because of the snowstorm, but we were back on the 3rd. I then took Friday off to stay home and clean up the basement. The stand is now finished to the point where the plumbing can go on and the tanks can be set up. I still need to build doors and do the trim for the room but the big stuff is done and the rest can be done a little at a time. Next up Darrell has to get things plumbed and up and running, then I have to build a canopy for the lights for the tanks.

Sadly, Eddie the pufferfish died over the Holidays, and we're not exactly sure why. As heartbreaking as it was, it was ultimately for the best, since he would've outgrown our 77 gallon and we would have had to do another upgrade, which just isn't going to happen. One of the guys we talked to in Maine said he doesn't even bother with puffers because they come with all sorts of parasites and worms and generally don't live. I wish I had known that prior to getting him, because he was such a cool fish and really had a neat personality... that's right the fish had a personality, he would see you coming and come up to the glass and beg for food... just like a dog.

On a happier note our clownfish, who have had a very tumultuous relationship, laid eggs. When we first put the anemone in the tank, the female took it over and chased the male away, then little by little he managed to work his way back over, now they have mated. We aren't prepared to do anything about the eggs so they will hatch and the little fry will not make it, and probably be eaten by the other fish in the tank, but I am assured by another hobbyist who has been having a lot of luck raising baby clownfish, that once they lay eggs once, it will become a regular occurrence, so we can get set up and consider raising babies in the future.

Here's some shots of the before and afters from downstairs.
There's more pics of the entire process from start up until now on my flikr site


Before:
Rec room

After:
Top is on and finished

Not quite enough room for snorkeling:
Seeing if it's big enough to snorkel


The Stairs are on my Radar now!
Redoing the stairs is on the horizon