Something fishy around here

Aquarium: I realized I haven't given an aquarium update in a while, so why not now? My 20 gallon is still fully operational, with about six fish inside. Five tetras of two designs; diamond and red tip. One bottom feeder. There were various small snails from time to time, but I vacuumed a portion of the aquarium floor and I think that did major damage to their reproduction and population.

Aquarium Dos: My dad gave me his 10 gallon. In his words, he was just done with it. I think that happens: tank burnout. I had it for a while, hence the small number in my tank. I was just going to let them fade out and put the whole thing away, but I've recently enjoyed watching them again. I think I'm going to repopulate soon. Then, we are putting the 10 gallon in the nursery. I will make it a pure guppy tank with a few bottom feeders for balance. No tetras! No Merlot!

Nursery: Ediemom and John came over on Sunday for our first meeting about painting the walls into an ocean (I will take before photos and all that jazz). Lobsters, angel fish and coral reefs were all welcome. I was a little surprised by a whale reluctance, but I think it's all about keeping things to scale. John volunteered to paint a submarine, and I think his locomotive and automobile painting experience will do well in that arena. Ediemom is doing a fan coral and a sand floor. I'm doing fish and shrimp and where ever else I can fill in. I'd like to have a sail boat (yes, a waterline is going around the top). I think Yvonne is doing bubbles. Another cool thing is I want some glow in the dark highlights. For example, the sub's lights can light up, bubbles can glow and maybe a jellyfish. But, the first step is me painting the ceiling, which I plan to do this weekend.

Aside: I just thought of a vacation in North Carolina when we walked the shores at night. Each step we took causes a glow in the sand to appear. Later we found out tiny insects with phosphorescence were being crushed by the weight of our feet and causing the glow. So, maybe some glow in the dark paint in the sand bottom as well.

Jabs: We've had a good round of jokes about true bottom abyss dwellers. You know, the ones with fanged teeth and bulging scary eyes. Crystal Eye and I had a good laugh about that. Maybe add a Great White or something. In truth though, I think this paint project will be more of a "cartoon"-ish look and less "scare the shit out of my daughter" look. I will have enough to clean up.

Espanol: I had my second Spanish class last night. The books were a little late coming into the store, but we seem to be catching up. I'm enjoying it very much and can already say certain key sentences.

Me llamo Nate.

Mi cerveza es Tecate, Foster's y Shiner Light.

Becoming a dad

Top 10 things I look forward to doing as a dad:

1. Teaching her to ride a bike.
2. Rocking in the rocking chair with a warm person falling asleep on my chest.
3. Explaining the difference between Anakin and Luke.
4. Reading adventure books before bed.
5. Tooth inspections after the nightly Brush.
6. Pretending.
7. Learning what her favorite foods and flavors are.
8. Watching cartoons, hopefully something with Batman and the Superfriends or Justice League or TNMT, but it very well could be something more girly, which is OK, I guess.
   
9. Playing.
   
10. Sleeping. I don't feel this way now, but I know I will.
    

Sigh

Can anyone name one?



And a link: Cheney's Halliburton stock options rose 3,281% last year, senator finds

Appointed week

This week has been full of various appointments and odd occurrences. We had a nice day off on Monday to honor Dr. Luther King, Jr., which was nice. Tuesday, I had an important interview with a "celebrity." This is when I found out the heater at work was broken and the heat was off. This wouldn't be a big deal, except we were hit with a wintry Blast End of the World Sleat and Oh My God I'm cold Panic.

Actually, the cold wasn't that bad. There was some stuff on the ground (see photo, more on the link), but it didn't stick too long.

Thursday, I went to a new dentist. No preaching dentist this time. For some who may have missed it, my last dentist asked me this question before starting a new drilling project in my mouth: "If the world ends tomorrow, are you ready to go to Heaven?" And followed it up with an astute "The only way to get into Heaven is to repent." New dentist=good.

Also on Thursday, we had a big meeting and my seven year anniversary at the job was mentioned. Then, Thursday night was a Boneshaker ride. We didn't ride, so it was a "non-ride" of bones, music and friendship.

Last night we went to an art gallery opening, then followed it up with a very nice dinner.

Now, I'm about to take the Element in for the first oil change. They better vacuum or I'm raising Hell. Hehe, just kidding.

Call me lazy

Not much to report here other than cold weather and ice on the ground. Here's some video goodness: South Park creators love Battlestar Galactica at the Peabody Awards, bookended with a John Stewart zinger.

Hail to the king, baby

And under the wtf file:

Sunday morning babble

So, I took it easy yesterday because I've been sick since Wednesday (Side note: I even skipped the Boneshaker Ride in order to heal) and thought I was over it on Friday. But sadly, late in the evening, I was sick again. So I took it easy yesterday, shot photos of the mutts and played Xbox. We watched all our Netflix, so we were left to cable and the Cowboys game.

I officially owe my colleague in Seattle a beer for that game. I made the bet, and I should have known better. Can you ship Shiner Bock? That would be my first pick in repaying a bet because it's my Texas favorite.

This morning, my left eye is sore like it moved more than the right one during R.E.M. last night. Strange. It must be a latent mutant ability about to reveal itself.

Speaking of R.E.M., the zombie dreams have returned! I had them Friday night and last night. Instead of being stressful chase dreams, it's more like "Life with Zombies". Like, lock the doors because they open them and listen for moans before walking into dark hallways. And, ALWAYS carry a shovel. Nothing pops a head better.

Finally, I want to share a hilarious movie trailer. It is YET ANOTHER movie my brother worked. This time, Crystal Eye held his highest title ever: Art Director. Sure, Asst. Art Director on "Sin City" is impressive, but check this out. Special mad props to you, sir.

Muttronomics

While enjoying the 50-degree weather here and recuperating from a sickness, I took the dogs to the park with the camera.

Storm front over Dallas

I took this one morning before work.

Random lists

New Year's Resolutions

1. Learn to speak Spanish
2. Ride my bike to work
3. Be a good dad (#3 because I have 4 months before I have to do this. I'm trying to be chronological)
   
4. Take more photography
5. Write a short story
   

New Links in My Browser Toolbar

1. Boneshakers
2. Blogger (I was too lazy to add it earlier)
3. Flickr
4. Myspace (cringe)
5. Ask

New Items in My Office at Home

1. USB port lava lamp courtesy of my kick-ass dad
2. Xbox 360 remote control so it feels like a normal DVD player if we need it
3. Scented candle
4. Marvel's Ultimate Alliance for Xbox 360. Current fave heros: Wolverine, Capt. America (f*ck yeah!), Iron Man, Colossus, and when I feel like being totally crazy, I play the Thor card.
5. Old sewing machine I bought a year ago at a garage sale. It makes a great table.

New News Upon Returning to Work Today

1. Dividers were added in the sales rep room, making it very nice and quiet.
   
2. Fax almost works.
3. 157 emails in my inbox. Not too bad, but it was slow while I was gone.
4. I hung a map of the north Texas area (seriously, what's a good alt. word for Metroplex?) in our office.

New Projects Around the House

1. Get 20-40 more bags to go behind the wall and consider building a small drain in one part that's washing out.
2. Start/complete the den renovation (ceiling to floor with walls, built-ins and a fireplace in between)

2007 has arrived

It was a good safe new year here. We had family in town and a lively, happy house. The cat hid the entire time and the dogs are exhausted after playing with the two boys constantly.

I'm still working on my resolution list. We are going to review last year's list soon. At the top of the new list will be for me to learn to speak Spanish, which I will be starting classes for in a few weeks. That should be fun. It's a Christmas present from Yvonne. I'll be taking them at S.M.U. Gracias!

Also, we have a working name list now. It has a few gems, like Chloe and Madeleine, but we haven't committed to one name over another too much. Yvonne made it through the E's while last looking online.

Sidenote of Greatness: Thanks to the Warlord, the Dallas Boneshaker Society now has a website. As part of it, I also have a new email address, which is pretty awesome. I'm not going to post it here for spam reasons. Nor am I sharing the web link because the Austin bike club site tends to have some crass, funny stuff posted on their site. I'm thinking the Dallas one will operate in a similar fashion and I'm not sure I'd associate with good ole incognato here. Of course, the Warlord will most likely have some sort of login system in place once the message boards are fully operational.