Things I shall never understand...

* 1-ply toilet paper
* Why Subway started wrapping their sandwiches in two different kinds of paper
* That Tim Horton's medium hot chocolate is about half the volume of their large
* Why we don't have any ammonia in the fish tank even though there's lots of snails in there.

We moved Pale from his home in Ducati's tank to the big aquarium, as we hadn't seen him move in about a week, though we were sure he was still alive. He must have been cold, because about half an hour after we moved him, he was out and exploring, and I don't think he's been hiding for much more than a few hours at a time since then. Now I worry about the two bettas; maybe they're cold too. We almost lost Pale to the filter intake earlier this week, but he seems to be recovering nicely, and eats his fair share of the zucchini we've taken to dropping into the tank for the snails' supper.

Despite Pale, the hitchikers and their countless offspring, and a new addition named Stripes, we have little in the way of ammonia readings. I'm resigned to losing this batch of plants to the little buggers. Just cycle already! I'll replant later!

Jen's friend Stephen posted a note on his blog about gold farming in games like World of Warcraft. It somewhat disturbs me that the first comment I thought to make was, "Man, where have you been? That was news about this time last year. The new thing is the Chuck Norris add-on, and Medivh being the first to open the Gates!" It also somewhat disturbs me that the second comment I thought to make was, "But it's just so easy to farm gold. Why do people spend real money on it? Are they the same ones that buy characters off of eBay and spam IF with requests for powerleveling? Am I begging in guildchat to be taken on Drakk runs for my Devout chestpiece? No!" *blinks* I will close this subject by saying that TeamSpeak is the best invention since sliced bread, and that it's very satisfying to see a purple drop at the end of a tough run.

Nathan and Sheila are up for the weekend. There's a tournament. The Jujie Luan Open, also known as the JLO. ... Don't ask. It will be fun to have a visit. I might just figure out that I don't live in Calgary (Kansas) anymore, but I doubt it. Mike wants to make punch. He finally found a recipe he liked, and is out shopping for the ingredients. Tomorrow's menu for a late lunch is: chili, caesar salad, bread, crumble, and fruit punch. ... The only word is eclectic.

In other news, crocheting in small doses doesn't seem to hurt. Could it be?

Eating salad with a spoon

I decided that, come the new year, when we could pretend to settle into some kind of schedule, I would get to work at 7 am and go to the building's small gym for about an hour, and eat salads for lunch. The salad part has been interesting, for I find that the easiest way to bring salad dressing is in a small container, and the easiest way to get it out of said container is a spoon, and why dirty another utensil? So I have been very careful to cut my vegetables and fruits, and rip my lettuce, in pieces that will fit easily on my spoon, so I need fear not of a salad accident.

The getting to the office at 7 part has been a little less successful. Our first week back at work, I don't know what happened to Wednesday, I ended up with a migraine on Thursday, and was still fighting it Friday. This week has been equally unsuccessful, for I haven't been required to get Mike out of bed to go to work for 6:30. He injured himself quite thoroughly on that Friday, and has been off work all week, unable to do much but sit, put heat and ice on his back, and cushion his left side, which is practically immobile. This has made it terribly easy to stay in bed, especially since he's in so much pain, neither of us is getting a lot of sleep. Ah well. I will convince myself when I'm feeling better and less tired that exercise is a good thing, and I can consistently get to work for seven. Yes, Vanessa, you can do it... My mental cheerleaders are not convincing today. "Jafar, Jafar, he's our man..."

In other news, we set up the guest bedroom yesterday. The bed is big enough for two (barely), but if we can get the games room downstairs less full of stuff, there will be an available hide-a-bed. That won't happen for this weekend, but possibly in the next few weeks. The study is a mess, but there are no longer piles of stuff in the master bedroom, and the only boxes left on the main floor are the ones with the CDs we're going to try and trade in for ones we'll actually listen to. The games room chairs are upstairs until... well, see above. Ah, moving.

I did promise pictures of the aquarium. Forgive the delay. Despite the fact that the shrimp is disintegrating nicely, and I had to top the tank up this morning with new water, we have no ammonia readings. I am going to give it until Saturday, I think, and then run out in search of pure ammonia, to jumpstart the process. The snails that hitchhiked in on the hornwort worry me, and I don't want to give them too long to establish themselves before getting clown or yoyo loaches to, er, deal with them. My plants! I will try to get pictures up this weekend.

Much in the way of changes

Mike and I were watching some television yesterday, and saw a commercial for Denham Ford in Wetaskiwin. The tagline was, would you drive half an hour to save over $2000? Mike started to say something, then stopped himself. He turned to me, and said, "I forgot. We don't live in Calgary anymore. I was thinking you'd have to drive over 300 kilometres per hour to get to Wetaskiwin in half an hour..."

So we are moved in to our new house in St. Albert but not fully unpacked, we no longer own the apartment in Calgary, and we're both at work in Edmonton. Oh, and we're engaged, officially, with rings and everything. No, no date for the wedding yet. Engaged is good enough for us for right now. We've both been through two of the three most stressful things in life this last little while. :)

I think will also start posting about the lovely fishtank I got from Mike for Christmas. Over the holiday, we got it set up, and yesterday I planted it and threw in a raw shrimp to start the fishless cycle. My baseline tests show the water quality to be very good right now. I hope that it will deteriorate quickly; I do want to put fish in there soon! Mike wants fish that will have babies as well, so that should be interesting. I will have to come up with a good stocking plan. I will put up some pictures in the next week or so.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!