Fish Tank
In Odds and Ends on 4 April 2008 with 5 comments Subscribe to RSS Feed
Thanks to two of our good friends, we were given a 10 gallon fish tank last weekend.
Personally, I haven’t had a fish tank, or fish for that matter since I was about 13. I always enjoyed my fish tank and fish, but my father was totally annoyed by the bubbling filter and our inability to keep the tank clean. On two separate occasions he decided that enough was enough and proceeded to extract the fish and dispose of them in true dad “You’re just going to drop them in the pond!?!” & “I can’t believe you can just flushed those innocent creatures down the toilet!!!” fashion.
After the trauma of those events, my older sister and I never had fish again. I don’t blame my dad for the lack of fish in my life, he was right. The fish were better off, especially the ones that ended up in the pond, because I swear they stayed alive in there for years.
Back to the present:
After acquiring the tank our friends took me out to a fish store. Not any fish store but THE AQUATIC WAREHOUSE. I had no idea aquatic warehouses existed but they do, and if you’re into our scaly little friends of the deep, it’s quite impressive.
After walking around looking at all the wonderful fish tanks, exotic creatures and ecosystems you could have and create, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I came to terms with my lack of fish raising skills and ask one of the staff members for assistance.
I told him that I hadn’t had fish since I was a boy, and needed a starter kit to begin my new life as a fish owner.
He showed me some fish and I was beginning to get really excited about having these new wonderful little pets in our apartment when the staff member asked; “Have you prepared your tank?”. I was like; “Umm, isn’t that what I’m doing today?”. He shook his head and then informed me that I had to prepare the tank.
Preparing the Tank
Step one: buy special water or a water treatment chemical that removes any “bad” chemicals from the water that could harm the fish.
Step two: set up the water filter and water heater.
Step three: start introducing “good” bacteria into the water to remove the ammonia, and then something about nitrates and nitrites, a process that can take up to 4 weeks… 4 weeks??? All of which completely lost me. However, he said it wasn’t that complicated just time consuming to ensure happy fish, and picked out the necessary purchases for me.
As the items were rung up, I text messaged my wife to let her know I wasn’t bringing home any fish. Which I think confused her, and confused me too but c’est la vie.
That night I set up the tank. Put some stones in the bottom and a nice big lava rock in the middle, flanked by two fake plants, filled up the 10 gallon tank, hooked up the filter and heater and dropped in the magical solution that will turn the tank from a fish death trap into a happy home for future fish friends.
It’s Wedesday, and I’m still putting the solution in the tank. I find myself staring at the tank and imagining fish swimming and living in the tank.
My wife asked me last night; “So how are your fish doing?”. Absolutely, no sarcasm in her voice. *sigh*
I replied; “They’re the best fish I’ve ever had!”
I never knew having fish was so complicated, but I’m set on the tank being a success.
Craigslist
In Odds and Ends on 4 April 2008 with 4 comments Subscribe to RSS Feed
Today I said “so long, far well” to my PC laptop. No tears were shed in the process. I bought to help out with debugging code in Window’s browsers (fun times). However, now I have a totally awesome 24” iMac with Intel goodness inside. Hell yeah!
I’ve gone the route of using VMware Fusion to run Windows XP which allows me to debug the sites I’m developing on my dreamy main computer. It’s a much more efficient way of debugging and I highly recommend it.
Using this PC was like nursing my own ugly little duckling that cried ever time I turned it on. Plus it was taking up valuable real estate on my desk that can now be filled by something from Apple ? or a nice house plant. Anything is better than that PC.
Craigslist was implemented to sell the little monster. I hadn’t used Craigslist to sell anything before, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I created an account, and posted my wares for sale in their classifieds at 10:00 am. By 11:00 am I had 3 enquires. The first call said he’d be by in :45 minutes and by noon I had sold the laptop and removed it from Craigslist. The speed in which you can sell something on Craigslist blew my mind. I know I’m behind the times with using it, but hot dog I love Craigslist. What else can I sell?
The Haçienda - Fac 51
In Music on 2 February 2008 with 0 comments Subscribe to RSS Feed
The first 5 in a 9 part series of a conversation between Peter Hook, Peter Saville, Ben Kelly and a Journalist talking about The Haçienda. Some folks might think these videos are dry, but I’ll let you be the judge of that. If anyone can find 6,7,8,9 can you send me the links? Thanks!
Between A & B. Some design thoughts care of Peter Saville
In Design on 2 February 2008 with 0 comments Subscribe to RSS Feed