webcam!!

I want to try to get it onto a webpage, but that might be a whole weekend job. Took a little while to get it going on the wireless, but I think that was due to a very basic choice I was forgetting to click in one of the setup screens. Hubby got it working for me after I struggled for half an hour. Anyway, it's pointing at fish right now, but I need to figure out how to get it on the WWW. I didn't bother investigating that until I got the camera, and got it working on wireless.


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Kindle goodness

Here's Hubby enjoying his giggle Kindle, when I'm not dragging him downstairs to watch Lost (he secretly likes it).

He's embarassed by the Army socks, and offered to pose for another picture, but I think it adds just that right amount of class. "So far so good" is what he says about it. Also, "the screen is very readable." Click for full post and comments

Another animal update

Got a bird feeder set up, haven't seen any birds, but it's going to take them a while to figure there is edible food here again. So it's like Day Two of having the feeder up, and I found a dead bird in the basement. I guess that means someone discovered the food, right? But didn't get a chance to tell his buddies because Biscuit is too good of a hunter.

Anyway. The point is I've ordered a webcam, under the very helpful guidance of WB's hubby. He was even kind enough to point me to an awesome sale ... after I already had ordered a cheaper model, just my luck. So we'll see if I can get the thing hooked up; I was going to point it at the bird feeder, and then other things like the fish tank when I get more cameras. After the dead bird discovery I had an image in my brain about what the camera would capture: fade in. Tight shot of feeder, couple birds nibbling. Suddenly a black and white paw is seen carefully reaching up from the bottom of the screen. Doesn't get anything with that swipe. Then another swipe. Then you see the feeder rocking and swinging wildly with two black and white paws attached firmly to the edge, with birds scattering everywhere. *scene* Hey! That's good TV! But I expect nothing anywhere near that exciting. Be lucky to even catch a glimpse of one danged bird at this rate.

Fish: doing good. The new peacocks I got for the cichlid tank are doing very well. The original female is still holding (still no sign of the two babies) as well as one of the new females already! Discus are still trying to spawn. I watched the act the other day, but the male (I am now mostly sure the blue one is a male) wasn't into it, and the female never actually laid any eggs. She rubber her dangly bits on the leaf though, just like she would to deposit eggs.

Lizards: what a couple of weirdos. Fatboy woke of from brumation for a few days, got a worm and lots of water, so that made me feel better. Even with the curtain open (so full view of sunrise/set) he went back under his log for more sleep. Little guy (Big red) just crawled under a log the other day too! He had been trying the brumation thing off and on all winter, but I think he was just too young to get the full hang of it. But he's been down for a few days now, right when he should be starting to wake up.

I would like to get a camera set up on the discus and the peacocks. The lizards are just pretty boring unless they are interacting with something, like trying to eat my finger.


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More Lost

I've got 8 episodes of Lost waiting, so TTFN!


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Sometimes I don't like being able to track my packages

because then I can see when UPS is a bunch of lazy assholes. I've got a bunch of fish and bird stuff coming (time to replace the old stinky moldy bird feeder) and it's scheduled to come the 23rd. It's coming from Columbus, I think, which a person can drive in a day or less. As of the 21st, it arrived in Bal'mer (yes, Baltimorians have and accent) in the morning and shipped out around noon. Didn't say "out for delivery" but criminy, it's 30 minutes away! They'll make sure that package comes when it says it will, darn it! My bet is it went from Bal'mer to Sparks, which apparently is a distribution center or something. The first time we tracked a package after moving here, Hubby and I both said "WTF is it doing in Nevada?? It came from [some state in the middle]." It doesn't make the package any closer, is what I'm complaining about.


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Amazing what a little lube can do

This is a fish post, not porn.

So my two Eheim canister filters on the discus tank have been pissing me off for a while now. Recently the priming handle on one was ready to fall off because it wasn't raising and lowering the impeller head assembly smoothly enough. I knew I needed to get some silicone grease to get things going smooth again, but never got it until just now. Now with the two O-rings and the handles lubed, the whole things prime very easily. But one is still sucking air. I think that's what the problem is, anyway. The fact that it's still having problems just makes me feel better about my plan for jury-rigging the new canister I never returned. It involves epoxy and a hammer, as any good plan does.


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Waiting for the Terminix guy

So here I am at home, when I would normally be at work. I was standing in front of the fireplace and heard a dove cooing. It echoed down the flue and sounded neat and creepy. Anyway, I thought "Oh crap, the dove is stuck in the chimney" of course, because what else do you think when you hear bird noises coming out of your fireplace. I went outside hoping that he was just standing on the top of the chimney and sure 'nuff, there he was. Now I just have to hope he wasn't there calling to his mate who's stuck in the chimney.

P.S. He's come and gone now. I had just squirted some lotion onto my hands when the doorbell rang, so I was rubbing it in while going to the door. I actually could not turn the knob because my hands we so slippery! It took like three tries before I used my shirt. He must think I'm a crackhead, but that's nothing new.


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Apparently this isn't a good thing

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

From WB's comments: "[canna is] better than a snapdragon." "Hey, I'm a snapdragon."

heh. So am I.

This little survey is on a gardening site, so a few of the questions didn't really apply. Like who built your garden. What happens if I don't have one? And what happens if the plants inside my aquarium are making babies, but the plants around the house are all dead/dying?


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Note to self

When procuring a device meant to hold large amounts of liquid, it is imperative to make sure said device is actually capable of holding liquid, before completing the procurement transaction.


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Lost in Lost

I love Netflix. I've got the whole Lost series (however many seasons available on Netflix) coming two discs at a time. Friday and Saturday nights Hubby and I watched them both. So I am officially 7 episodes into Lost. I want to find the forums and see what people were saying as each episode aired, but I don't want to run into conversations about things that haven't happened (for me) yet. I guess I'll just have to go in blind. But, I have to say I really like it, as I new I would because it's my kind of show. Hubby probably thinks it's only OK, but he doesn't like very many things on TV. (Right this instant he's downstairs watching Adam 12 on Netflix Instant. What a weirdo.)

Related, I've been downloading each episode of Fringe as it is released to the underground, but watching them on Hulu. I am keeping a stock of the episodes so I can go back and look for clues and try to figure things out. That is how much of a dork I am.


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Things found behind the refrigerator

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BHM people need to find better artists

This being a government facility I work in, there are always posters up for whatever the cause of the month is. Since it's February, that means Black History Month posters are up. I didn't understand at first why there was a stylized poster of The Rock in the lobby (he's been out of the news lately; does he have a new movie coming out?). But when I remembered that our the President is black then I deduced the poster must be of Him instead. Objective not reached, Black History Month organizers.

P.S. I can't find the picture on Google, and I can't take a picture of it, because there are security cameras in the lobby. So, use your imagination.


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Lizard update

So bearded dragons hibernate in the winter. It's called brumation. Fat Boy has been brumating for probably 3-4 weeks solid, and before that he woke up for a week when I fed him a worm. Before that he had been brumating for a couple weeks solid. Every once in a while he'll open an eye, but I am careful not to disturb him because I don't want him up again. Anyway, I had thought Big Red was too young to get into it, but I had seen him digging in his sand for a few days. Finally today I see him asleep under a log. I just dug out a cave hideyhole out of my junk last night, so I think I'll put that in there for him. It's cool to see them follow their instincts, but what am I going to do with all these worms?


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Aaaaaaahhhaaahhhaaa

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Is this what I think it is??

There is a crew down the street working on laying some line. They've been marking the streets (and in some cases marking the snow). Today we saw one of the trucks: "a Verizon contractor" is what it said. Now, the only line I know Verizon would be laying is FIOS, baby!! I really hope that's what it is. We've been trying to get FIOS since we learned of its existence. Please please let it be FIOS. Watch, it will be, but either it'll just suck, or it'll still take a year to activate everything.


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Busy discus [update]

The discus spawned again, recently by the look of things. This time it looks like the blue (which I'm fairly sure is a male, since his dangly bits do look different than the two oranges')got it on with the larger of the two pigeons. So maybe the change in mate will help this batch actually, you know, hatch.

[UPDATE] well, that batch of eggs got eaten up. But this morning I noticed Blue and the smaller pigeon hanging out on the clear other end of the tank. Now this afternoon I see eggs there. So he's getting it on with two ladies at once! It's like a soap opera!

[UPDATEtoo] those others eggs are all gone now too. They may have been there for a full 24 hours, but probably less than 36. I don't think they even hatch that soon, so if I want fry I'm going to have to intervene.


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Not good

Facebook comes on a mobile version. So I don't have an excuse to not attend to it during the day.


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Yes, of course that's how it works.

I got a few plants for the discus tank a few weeks ago. I only spent like $25 or something. One of the plants was $10 (the others were a lot less than that!) So of course the $2 plants are doing just fine, and the $10 plant turned into a rotty stinky mess. Also, I think the other fish ate it all when they starved while we were in Knoxville. Either that or the nice stems it had all rotted, which is definitely possible. Stupid fish.

In other fish news, I've managed to keep this CO2 tank from emptying for more than a day, so looks like my leak is fixed.


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