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.



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

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.

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:


After:


Not quite enough room for snorkeling:



The Stairs are on my Radar now!

Christmas "Fishing trip" to Maine - thursday Dec. 28, 2007

We decided to brave the potential winter storm and take our Fishing Trip to Maine on Thursday. We loaded up the dogs into the blazer, and, armed with our passports and an empty cooler we headed to St. Stephen bright and early to cross into the US. It was our first time taking the dog across the border, and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was... well I guess anything is easy when you are prepared with all the proper documents in order. It was actually impressive to see trucks out on the Maine highways spraying deicer on the roads in preparation for the coming snow.

Our first stop was Maine Pets & Aquariums in Ellsworth, where we found a pretty good selection of fish and corals (Too bad you can't bring corals back to Canada). All we bought on that first visit was a couple pigs ears for the dogs, it was more of a selection and pricing outing.

Then we were off to Bucksport, Maine to Check out Vance's Tropical Fish and Guitars. He had a really unique store setup with some Nice fish as well. He also was very knowledgeable and we took away a lot of great information from our conversation with him. There was a really large Powder Blue Tang there that caught my eye, but he was a little too big for my plans so I passed. There was also a really beautiful angel fish, that is quite rare in the aquarium trade (I wish I had written down what she was called, but she was white and with blue and black markings), but she was more money that I was willing to pay for one fish that day, and I just didn't feel experienced enough to venture into something rare just yet. We did purchase an in tank filter that filters the surface water. One of our problems with our main tank, since it isn't sumped is that film you get on the surface, so this will prove quite handy once we reset the tank for the Eel. The snow started while we were visiting, but we were undeterred from our course, and headed back to Ellsworth, where we picked up a smaller Powder Blue Tang and a fairly large Flame Angel.

Next it was up to Pro Pets, by the Airport in Bangor. This is a fairly new store, owned by the same owner as Maine Pets in Ellsworth. Their salt water selection was much larger and more nicely laid out. Unfortunately we got so carried away talking and shopping that we didn't take any pictures, and by the time we realized it the snow was really piling up. We picked up a really nice foxface rabbitfish and a 20 gallon long tank that will be our permanent quarantine tank once everything is up and running. I like the length because it gives us the ability to section it off easier if we need to quarantine fish that may not be compatible.

Then we started the long and treacherous drive home. I was actually very easy going through Maine, since they had been out all day in prepping the roads and there were plows everywhere. I was really impressed with how well they looked after the roads. We crossed the border into Canada with absolutely no hassles at all, we didn't even get searched,which surprised the hell out of me considering we had the dogs and live tropical fish.

Once we started up the highway from St. Stephen we began to appreciate the Maine Department of Highways even more, because the roads in NB were absolute, complete shit. They had dropped a layer of salt down so underneath the snow was a layer of slush and we didn't see a single plow until quite a ways after St. George. There was an almost constant stream of oncoming traffic, but we were generally the only vehicle on our side of the road for the majority of the way. Needless to say it was slow going and we arrived quite home quite late. We were up even later setting up our new tank and acclimating our new treasures. We are taking no chances this time around since we have a tang of the powder variety, and have the quarantine tank treated with a half dose of cupramine for the next two weeks. We aren't going to do a full dose, since all the fish we got were in copper treated water when we got them, and this is only a buffer measure. By the time these fish are ready to come out of their four - six week quarantine period the new tanks will be set up and cycled so everything will be able to be added at the same time.

I don't have any pics of our new additions yet, but took a few of our little adventure, they are in a photo set here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blaine16/sets/72157603577682035/

Holidays

We have had a very quiet and subdued Holiday Season so far, which has been quite nice.
X-Mas eve day we did some shopping with our Friend Silvia from next door, afterwards she came by for dinner. I made Fetuccinni Carbonara and a Caesar Salad and we had a very nice time just hanging out while it cooked. She couldn't stay too long since she had a thing going on at the church, so afterward we headed out to our old neighbourhood and visited with George & Loretta and clan. We got to see nearly everyone from out there and it was good catching up, we haven't been out in a fairly long time.

X-Mas day was another quiet and lowkey affair. We didn't do gifts for each other, since we have been going nuts with our reno and aquarium addiction. Instead we planned a trip to Maine to do a little pet store shopping. We had Christmas dinner at Mike and Kathy's place, and called it an early night. Over the course of those two days we managed to get in phone calls to most of our respective family members as well.

We took advantage of the time off to get a lot of work done on the basement. We got the area under the stairs framed in and sheetrocked, and most of the boards for the cabinet top glued together. I hope to get the rest finished today so I can cut the top, sand it and finish it, and get the wall under the stairs painted.

Blah blah blah

We had a pretty productive weekend again. The Bonds popped in for a visit Friday night, and Saturday night was Brian Chisholm's annual Christmas openhouse, which was quite fun.

We got some 2x4s on Sunday during the storm and built a scafholding/support structure in our stairway, so I could reach the ceiling and upper walls to paint. I got most of that finished by Monday night, but still have some touch ups and a second coat to do on the bottom part of the stairwell.

Our little Puffer fish is now officially called Eddie. It's a strange hop how I got there, but the name suits him. He looks like E.T., but for some strange reason whenever I think ET, my brain does a hop to Cheech and Chong's "Still Smokin'" and their Et/ Eddie Torez with the extra (male body part that sounds a lot like Terrestrial)sketch. That coupled with the fact that the puffer fish in Finding Nemo was played by Brad Garrett (Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond) and Brad has a new show out call, 'Til Death, in which he plays a character named...you guessed it... Eddie. So there's the bizzar and convalluted path my fragile little mind took with the name of our puffer fish.

It is now December 19th, and I've done absolutely nothing even remotely Christmas like, and I really have no desire at all to do anything about it. I can't remember a time in my life when I've actually cared less about something, but for some reason this year, the spirit has completely skipped me. I haven't even gotten around to starting on my nephew's PJs yet. I have the fabric, it's washed and ready to go, but I just haven't managed to work up the energy to do anything else with it, not that it would get there on time at this rate anyway. I'm just not feeling it. I am feeling acutely aware of how far away my family is right now, and the more people around me hype up the holidays, the larger that distance feels. To tell the truth I just wish I could hybernate and wake up when the weather's nicer.

Leslie Hall

I took Friday off work and spent the day catching up on stuff at home. I had to come into town to teach my animation class (the last Friday Class for a few weeks now). Not everyone got finished their projects, but it was becuase they were doing very intricate and detailed things, so I consider it a success. After class I went down into the studio to visit with Kelli and Mark and they were watching this histerical gal on You Tube. Her name is Leslie Hall and you will pee yourself watching her music videos. Leslie Hall - How We Go Out

The Bonds dropped by on Friday night, for a surprise vist. I really like it when people just pop in, it's like an added bonus that you weren't expecting.

Saturday I stopped into Richies and got the rest of the paint for my rec room. There was still quite a bit wall fixing that had to be done with the drywall compound so I didn't get around to actually getting some paint onthe walls until last night.

After Richies it was off to Stephens for a read through of Tuesdays with Morrie. There were a lot of tears by the end of the read, but not all sad tears... it's a very uplifting story, that leaves you feeling like you should go phone your Dad afterwards just to say I love you.

Yesterday I started getting a very sore throat and today I am completely stuffed up. If I hadn't had to go do a shoot with Darrell today I wouldn't have bothered coming in. Then I got here and found out I don't have to do the shoot afterall. Oh well, I'm here now, and I have my last Tuesday class tonight so I will just tuff it out.

New Addition

Wednesday after work we couldn't resist heading to the pet store to pick up this little guy we saw there a couple days before.



Isn't he cool? He's a porcupine puffer fish. Yes he inflates, and did it a couple times in the process of capture and release, but it's not good for them so it's not encouraged. He eats like a little pig, mostly shellfish, and we feed him shrimp and scallops right off a wooden skewer. He's got a pretty powerful beak, that is for breaking through shells in nature, so I wouldn't want to risk getting nipped on the finger, otherwise I might be temped to try feeding him by hand. He's kind of like a little dog, and comes swimming up to the glass when he sees you coming so he can beg for food. I also think he looks a lot like E.T. ... That may become his name.

Looks a lot like Winter

We took a snow day yesterday. It was nice to just stay home and not deal with the snow on the road and the others who may not be so good at driving in it. Darrell actually spent a good part of yesterday driving though. He got his plow hooked up on the truck and drove around our neighborhood digging people out.

Over the weekend we got the ceramic tiles put up on the back wall over the cabinet, so I took the oportunity to grout them yesterday. I have to clean them with vinegar and water tonight when I get home.

The school also shut down due to the snow, so I was able to have a complete day off, with no extra trip in in the evening. This is my last week of classes and then we break for a few weeks. I have classes on Thursday & Friday, and because of cancelling last night I will have to go in next Tuesday to finish off that class as well. So I guess this technically isn't my last week of classes any more, next week is.

It looks like lots of people went by the contest page to help me out with voting... thanks a lot I really appreciate it. Don't stop now though, since it still has a lot longer to go, and I'm still fifty votes away from the top 20. I need to get into that top section in order to qualify to have the picture judged by qualified judges.....so please pleas please keep going to the site and voting for the pic, every day. If you have interent at work and at home, try and hit it twice. The link is in the post below.

Photo Contest

I entered a picture of my clarkii in her Anemone in an on-line magazines photo contest, but now I need your help. Turns out the contest is being decided by people visiting the site, casting votes.... so therefore it's a bit of a popularity thing, and people who have entered have recruited their friends to inlfate their numbers. You can tell by the fact that the leader so far is a blurry picture of a fish behind a dirty galss.... it's bad. Anyway the contest organizers have changed the rules as of today and will take the top 20 and have them judged by professional photographers. I still need your help to get into the top 20 though.

Here's the pic I entered. (I actually entered two but the second one is so far down the list it's a lost cause)




This is the link for the contest

Contest Page

You can vote by selecting vote now at the top of the picture. You can vote three times per day for the next 60 days. So if you could help me out I would really apreciate it.

Hump day

I took yesterday off and got some stuff celaned up at home (mostly dished). The guys were working on a deadline for the OBAs so I decided I would just be in the way and took a day to hang out in my robe and get a little extra sleep.

I popped out to superstore and got some porkchops on sale, so I made a giant stirfry of pork ctrips, mnixed veggies and brown rice. There's enough for lunches all week long, then I headed into town to teach my class. I stopped off at the office with some stirfry for Darrell and dropped the dogs off, then went to the school. One of my kids didn'tmake it, so it was only the two girls and one of them said something very cool, that really didn't occur to me until she said it.

they were talking about the movie Hairspray, because rachel was using You can't stopthe neat in her animation. Then Rachel said something about the movie Grease and Louise said she didn't like the way it ended. I thought that was strange because the ending was thebest part with two huge numbers, and I asked her why she didn't like the end. She said because of the way Sandy changed in the end just to impress Danny... she thought people weren't supposed to change themselves just to impress others. From the mouths of babes.

Scary

We got the tiles for the back wall over the cabinet downstairs, and decided it would be easier to do them, and set the mortar if we finally replaced the baseboard heater that didn't work. Darrell went out and got a new heater, took the old off and was trying to trace the current through the wires. For some reason only one was giving him a reading and both should have. I suggested he check the thermostat to see if everything was hooked up properly, and when he unscrewed it and pulled it away a little, he found all the wires in the box were scorched, and black. Like once upon a time they had been on fire. No wonder the baseboard heater wasn't working. It hasn't worked since we bought the house, but wasn't a high priority fix, since we didn't really use the room a lot. Who knew it was a giant fire hazzard? It now has us wondering if we should maybe go open up a few other things and see what's going on in the walls downstairs, just in case.

Of course all this happened on Sunday and nothing was open to change out the dead thermostat, so no work got done on the tiling. It's not that big a deal anyway, since I have to wait two weeks for the wood for the top of the cabinet. Hunter Lake Lumber didn't have any lengths long enough, so I am waiting for the next batch to come out of the kiln. I could have bought shorter lengths and joined them, but it's not a big panic so why not just wait? Besides, now that I have the tiles it seems to make more sense to put them on first anyway.

DVDs

DVDs...I still have them.... Please come get them. I'm begging here, I've had these ready for over a month now..... you said you wanted them, come and get them... bring cash!

If they're still here when we take time off for X-Mas, I'm sending them all to friends out west and you will be SOL (stands for "Shit Out of Luck" in case it's a BC saying that people out here aren't experienced with.)

Another Monday

I'm feeling kind of blah lately. Just from the weather and the time change I guess. It was weird having it later this year, there was really no gradual darkening of the skies that way. One day it's getting dark by 6:30, the next it's dark when you're driving home from work. Didn't help that it snowed that night as well. It felt like a punch in the gut, and my system hasn't really recovered yet.

I didn't get a chance to see Dracula, which I'm kind of bummed about. The week was just too busy and I was working late too many nights to get out to it, then Saturday just got completely away from me with stuff to do at home. Heard good things about it from everyone who did see it though, and judging from the people in the cast I know I really missed a good one. Sorry guys.

I took the day off Thursday to get some stuff done around the house. I had to teach that night, so it wasn't a total day off. I went out to Hunter Lake lumber and got the boards I need for the moulding on my cabinet. It was a pretty cool trip. The guy was all by himself so I got to help him get the stuff I needed, and got to watch him reset the planer. He was nice enough to plane all the rough lumber to the width and thickness I needed at no extra charge, it just meant I had to hang around and visit for a half hour while he set up the machine, which didn't bother me. Plus it was interesting to see the inner working of the big industrial planer, makes our little delta planer look like a tinker toy.

I got my wood home and used the weekend to router the edges, sand, and urithane. Tonight when I get home I'll be able to put the moulding on. The only thing left that has to be done before the tanks can go on the cabinet now, it the very top. Hopefully I can afford the wood this week. I still have to build the doors, but the cabinet doesn't need to have doors for the tanks to be set up. I have to do the top and tile the back wall, and then the tanks can be put in place and the plumbing done, and the whole thing can be started up.

We're battling a parasite in our quarantine tank that is killing the fish. It came on the Powder Brown Tang we bought. We lost that fish first, then yesterday our racoon butterfly died. We're treating the tank with copper to kill the parasite, but I'm afraid it may be too late for the fish that remain. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because it really makes me sad. I get way too attached to these fish. I'm just glad that we didn't do something stupid like put the fish in the main tank to have everything get infected. It's a hard lesson about the importance of quarantining new livestock, and we're lucky that we're learning it in the quarantine tank, not the main display. Even so it still makes me really really sad.

Fairly Productive

The extra long weekend was good for helping us get a little bit more caught up on things that we have fallen behind on at home. Being so busy with deadlines and home projects, simple little chores like dishes have taken on monsterous lives of their own in the past week and a half, so cleaning the kitchen and the general living area took priority this weekend. We also got alot of stuff done in the basement. I had enough money to get my oak for the trim on the stand, but when we called Hunter Lake Lumber all we ever got was a recording from Thursday, so we didn't know if they were open. Instead I opted to finish the ceiling and get it painted. It's still not quite done, because I didn't tape out the seams quite right (it's the first time I've ever done it so there were bound to be mistakes) There were a couple places where I didn't get enough or any compound under the drywall tape and so it bubbled. I had to cut those out and re-crack fill them. There's no heat on in that room so it's taking alittle while to dry. Aside from that I got the rest of the ceiling painted in 90's beige (taupe). We also painted the backs of both the tanks in a super bright blue called Jamaican Sea.. I have to throw a coat of urithane over it so it won't chip off easily.
We also got the canopy extension finished and the metal halide light installed on our main tank. The extra light is fantastic, and it creates that shimmer effect you see under water. So far we only have it on for a few hours each day so the corals can get used to it gradually, but evntually it will be on most of the day. I'm mourning the loss of one of my new fish. My powder Brown tang died unexpectedly on Monday. They are really delicate and hard to keep fish so his survival was far from a guarantee when I got him, but he seemed to be doing well for a while and I had high hopes. I don't think I'll be trying that kind of fish again they're just not very hardy and should probably be left out in the ocean (they may be just fish but you get attached them).
Since I had a little extra money left over that I hadn't planned on I decided it would ba a good time to renew my prescription. I was expecting a big hit financially sinec the last time I actually bought the stuff it cost me $180 (that's with 80% of it covered by my health plan). I had been making special trips to the hospital in Halifax and getting it there until they cut me off, and I finally got to a point where I'm starting to run out. My dose has been cut considerably since the last time I bought it, and has actually been cut in half since I put the prescrition in to be filled, so I asked if I could take half of it instead of the full dose, since (fingers crossed) in three months I may actually be completely off the stuff, and they said yes. It only cost me $46 for three months worth, significant difference from $180. I did the math and I'm paying 50 cents per 250mg pill, which means the full hit on it without a drug plan is $2.50 per 250mg pill.... still pretty expensive... especially when you consider that once upon a time I was taking 750 mg (3 pills) twice a day, every day.....$15 per day ($3 per day with my drug plan, but still quite a hit)

Another Long Weekend

We are coming on yet another long weekend, and a very important one at that. Sunday is Rememberance Day. WW1 & 2 were a very long time ago, and the farther into history they go, the more important it is to remember what happened and why, so we don't repeat it. My Great Grandfather was a veteran of the First world war, two of my great uncles were vets of the second, and I'm pretty sure all of us can climb down our respective family trees a little ways and find someone who was a vet... so treat the day with the respect it deserves.

That said, as with any and all long weekends, we will of course be taking the holiday Monday as well as Friday, so today is my Friday.... very happy about that (but only in the most serious and respectful of ways of course). I have my classes tonight, and an hour long class on Friday, but other than that I'm off til Tuesday. I am taking a few copies of the DVD home with me, so if you want to get in touch with me and arrange to meet somewhere, I don't mind bringing it to you.... basically I just want these things gone now. I believe Mike will be in on Friday for a little while working on something, so if he happens to be here, you can get your copy from him. Anyway, enjoy your long weekend, and sometime during it, take a few moments to think about the brave young men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom to do so.

ow my face!

I've been feeling like I slumped into a negative space lately. Not enough sleep and too much to do are taking a toll.

That said, we've got alot accomplished lately. The weekend was very busy with lots and lots to do. Mostly trying to catch up on the stuff that we've fallen behind on. There were a few late nights at work during the week to meet a deadline, so the rest of our life took a back seat.

We ventured out in the "Great Storm" on Saturday (was that really only on Saturday... it seems like longer.) and drove up to Moncton to pick up our 65 gallon tall aquarium. It is the same width and height as the 130 but half the length, both will sit side by side on the stand and have one big canopy across the top, giving the impression of one long 9 foot tank. (I know the fish obsession is getting out of hand) I also started building an extension for the canopy on our existing setup, so we can add the new metal hallide light and start acclimating the corals to the different light intensity they will be receiving once we finally get this big set up finish. The new eel is doing well and is eating. I made a blunder and got a mandarin Dragonet from Pets Unlimited. Basically because I thought it was a female (already have a male) and because the salt water section at PU is still too new to have any kind of copod population so the poor little thing would've starved there. Turns out once the little thing got some pods in it's belly and was feeling better it flashed up it's back fin and was a male.... can't have two males in a tank... they'll kill each other.... so he's now living in the quarantine tank (which doesn't have a super healthy pod population, so I'm looking at some suppliments and other things I can do inthe mean time. If I can find him a good home I will, if not he will live in the 65 tasll with my little nemos when we upgrade...i just have to keep him healthy until then. There's a few things I can do and I'm starting to figure out how to do them with some help from the people on the ARRG forum.

Darrell ended up having to work on Sunday, late into the night. So we came in quite late on Monday.

Tuesday was the setting the stage press release for the SJTC so we both went to that to see how work onthe building is coming along. It looks like the skeleton of a building right now, but you can really see how it's going to be pretty awsome when it's all done.

I got the the gym for the first time in a couple weeks yesterday as well, and instead of making me feel good like it normally does, I just felt like a creaky old man by the end of it. I hate it when I miss time there, and have to start over. It doesn't take to long to get back into the swing of things, but you feel like you're constantly starting over at the bottom of a long hill. The up side is I know whithin a week i'll be back to where I left off.

Last night I had my animation class. I have one boy who is a huge handful and very disruptive. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with him the most effectively. One of the parents sat in last night and watched his daughter work, his son was with him as well, so I gave him a quick lesson and left him working away on a computer so he wouldn't be bored. Then at the end of the class in a mad rush to get out of the building because it was Jim's wife's birthday and he was already late, the lights in the hallway got turned out while I was still in the computer room shutting stuff down. I guess he thought I was right behind him but I wasn't. The door to the room wasn't open all the way or closed, it was on an angle facing into the room and when I turned to go out I smashed right into the edge of it face firt and got a pretty good gash on my eyebrow and bruised my cheek. Luckily I didn't hit nose first (mine is big enough as it is hahahah). Oh well, it hurt like hell but it was an accident. I wonder if karma is trying to tell me something? Like maybe take a day off and get a little rest.

Oh ... here's little progress picture on the work downstairs..... I know there are people who are going to say, that colour is so dark, but it's only that wall, and the rest of the room is going to be in much lighter browns so it will look really great when it's done. i also plan to redo the stairway in oak, but that's a project for thefuture not right now.

Friday!!!!!!!

I took most of Wednesday off, and I didn't go to work yesterday either....woooohooo!! I managed to get my two walls painted a really deep rich brown that looks like dark chocolate!! It looks amazing, and when the room downstairs is finally all finished and the tanks are up and running, we will be able to go down, snuggle up on the couch I'm going to redesign and reupholster, turn off the lights, and just relax watching the fish swim around. With the lights off the wall and the dark slate tiles will just disappear and all that will be left will be 9 feet of lit up coral reef to watch. Can't wait!!! It really is a very theraputic experience to just sit and watch an aquarium.

Yesterday we also struck gold at Pets Unlimited. Their new shipment came in and it had a snowflake eel in it. This is number one on Darrell's wish list, so we got it, plus a really pretty little Powder Brown Tang. I think we're pretty much stocked up on the fish we're looking for... well... mostly.

We had no little weeners come by for all our candy on Wednesday, so now I am stuck with a supurlus of chocolate..... oh well... life's hard sometimes.

Down Time

I finally got everything for my animations all done. At least everything I can do, now it's up to the computer and the powers that be to render out beautiful and (fingers crossed) perfectly times animation to cover the sultry voice over of one Tim Turnell.
As a result of life being up to the computer, I decided to take the rest of the day off, and de-stress at home with my roller and gallon of chocolate coloured paint. Darrell, will unfortunately be working late to finish up his portion of the project which is significantly larger than mine.

I don't know why I've been so frustrated over the Cabaret DVD really, it has only been two weeks after, and I did take nearly six months to finish it. At any rate, if I haven't heard from you, and you know who you are, get in touch with me to at least acknowledge whether or not you want it. I'm really very easy to find and extremely accommodating.

I can't wait to see if we get any little weeners at the door tonight... the chances are slim being that there's only two little kids on this road and they live at the other end of it... but you never know. We didn't get any last year, and ended up eating all that junk food ourselves. This year we didn't go over the top for candy, just got two of those boxes of little chocolate bars, and bulk bag of little potatoe chip bags.....hehehehehehe.

Happy Halloween!

Spoke too Soon

I haven't posted since this time last week, and at the time I felt like I had just come off the longest week ever... I was wrong. It was just getting warmed up. We worked late every evening last week, plus I had my classes. Then we worked both Saturday and Sunday as well, and are working late most of this week to boot. We have a deadline looming on Thursday and a lot of work to get done before it comes, which translates into working late and weekends.

I got some nice paint for the walls in the recroom that border my cabinet, but spent most of my free time on the weekend (what little there was of it) patching the drywall. I'm itching to get painting, but don't know when that will happen. We also popped out to Hunter Lake Lumber and picked up some nice oak to build an extension on our existing canopy for the 77 gallon. We want to hook up one of the Metal hallide lights to acclimate the corals to the higher light intensity they will recive when the 130 is up and running... I just wish I could squeeze out some time to get that done. I'd also like to be able to squeeze out 20 minutes a day to practice my guitar. I got some practicing done on Saturday, but that's the last time I was able to pick it up. Taking lessons doesn't do anyone any good if they can't practice between them.

It wasn't all hectic, work work work, on the weekend though. We had a nice little shopping trip to Richies where we found some nice tile for the back wall over the cabinet. We didn't buy it yet, but at least we've finally settled on something. That was how I was able to get a paint colour for the walls.

I had a really nice visit with June Garnett on Saturday, when she dropped by the house to pick up her Cabaret DVD. She's one busy lady. She's singing in just about everything that going on right now. She's got a pretty strong voice so I can see why she's in such demand.

I'm starting to get pretty seriously frustrated with the whole Cabaret DVD thing. I have 17 people still left on the list that said they wanted them, but haven't heard back from most of them. It's starting to feel like Guys & Dolls all over again, when I ended up out of pocket for the supplies with a whole bunch of copies left over. I mean come on, the very least you can do is send me a bloody e-mail. I know some people are out of town, but here's the kicker....I've heard from all of them. In fact Alex, who is traveling around the country at the moment somehow managed to make arrangements to have his copy picked up.... so why is it so hard for people who live right uptown, or work just two blocks away? I'm not saying people should rush in here tripping all over themselves, but at least call or send an e-mail....acknowledge the fact that you ordered it and still intend to get it... cause I'm sick of chasing people around... I mean hell, I've even offered to arrange to drop it off to people or meet them here in the evening, if they'd bother to get in touch me. I don't think this is something I'll be doing again. I gave up too much of my free time, and spent too much of my own money on it, and frankly it doesn't feel worth it. I could've used the weekends and evenings I spent in here editing my pilot, which could actually make this company quite a bit of money if it flies, instead I did Cabaret, and it's looking more and more like I'm going to be left with a bunch of copies and a big expense... it hardly seems worth it.