My Goldfish, Mir

I spent more time this weekend with my goldfish than I normally do. My MacBook crashed, and I spent a lot of time on the phone with Apple tech support. The technician I spoke with was tremendously helpful and helped me get my computer all fixed. Looks like the operating system got corrupted. Anyway, when you are on the phone with tech support, there isn't much to do while waiting for things to load, so I watched the fish.

There are two goldfish in my tank: Mir and Pacman. Years ago, I decided to get an aquarium with pretty tropical fish. I was told that the first thing you need to do in a new aquarium to get the bacterial colonies growing is to get a feeder goldfish and wait for the colonies to grow. Well, I never did get those tropical fish. The goldfish just kept right on living. Our cat, Sid, was fascinated with watching the fish. He was a kitten back then, and he'd hop up on a chair next to the tank and say, "Mirrrrr." That's how we named the fish. We let the cat do it.

She (when a fish is big enough, you can determine gender) lived in a 10 gallon tank for several years until we could no longer keep the tank clean. It lived on the bathroom countertop to assist in this cleaning. Having to keep the tank by the sink is pretty silly! So, I bought a new fish tank on eBay. Well not really a new tank... It was 55 gallons though and came with a stand for only $50. Even though I had to pick it up in Green Bay, it was cheaper than buying one new.

She's gotten to be a fairly good size; Craig estimates that she is 12 inches long. I think she's somewhere around five years old. We feed her pellets for goldfish, and she will eat from your fingers, if you let her. She doesn't have teeth so no worries about biting, but it does feel kind of funny. If I am picking up the tank decorations or cleaning the tank, she'll rub up against my hand. That feels kind of funny too.

Our other goldfish, Pacman, is much smaller, probably only 3 inches long. While Mir is very long, Pacman is very round. That's how Craig named him or her. Pacman is a little too small to determine gender, but given the lack of breeding between the fish, I'm guessing they are both females. Maybe we ought to get a bow and name her Ms. Pacman. Pacman has also learned to eat from fingers, and is also quite insistant about being fed. Both fish go up near the top of the tank and move around a whole bunch to get the attention of whomever is in the room. Mir can also make quite a splash with her tail if swimming frantically is not working to get my attention!

Periodically I consider putting in a pond to expand the living quarters for my fish even more, but I have not yet gotten around to it. I am intrigued by the idea of an indoor pond though because it just gets so cold here in the winter. There's a Chinese restaurant in the Milwaukee area (actually Mequon) that has an indoor koi pond with some mighty big fish.

Gas and Snacks

Here's another weird thing I am wondering about. So where I live, gas is down to $1.74. Whoo Hoo! Yay. Do you think that now that gas prices are less, people will buy more snacks at the gas station?

I read or heard somewhere that gas stations make most of their money on snacks and stuff sold inside of the gas station, rather than from gas. If gas costs less, are you more likely to buy a candy bar than if it costs more?

I think so for most people, but even when gas prices were so high this past summer, I still bought snacks. The difference between this summer and now is huge though, even with my 10 gallon gas tank. $4.25 a gallon translates to over $42 a fill up. And $1.74 a gallon translates to $17.40, so that's a big difference.

I'm glad my car isn't bigger though. I know a woman who drives a Suburban, and she was paying over $100 a fill up this summer. I could not have afforded that! Although a Suburban isn't exactly in my budget either... I'll keep my Civic with it's 36 miles per gallon average for city and highway. (I calculate my gas mileage periodically.)

A stumper...

I'm trying to design a pattern for knitting socks, and here's something I am wondering about... If a number is divisible by both 4 and 3, is it also divisible by 12? If so, then I could make the number of cast on stitches divisible by 12 and life would be easy.

I want to do a ribbing pattern of 3 and 1, hence the 4. I like my stitches evenly divided among my 3 sock needles, hence the 3. I am strange, I know. Although I could do a 4x1 rib and deal in multiples of 5. I'm inspired by a cool sweater I saw somebody wearing. It was either a 3x1 or a 4x1 ribbing. I didn't want to stare though, so I couldn't determine which it was. But I thought, hmm that would look good in a pair of socks. And the numbers wouldn't matter so much, but I want to carry the ribbing down the top of the foot too.

What's an Alberta Clipper?

Alberta Clippers are dominating our Madison, WI weather, and will through the week. We've got one on the way tomorrow and one following that on Friday. So what's an Alberta Clipper? A new hockey team from Edmonton?

It's a low pressure system that originates in Western Canada and brings snow, high winds, and unseasonably cold weather to the Great Lakes region. These are not the systems that bring the most accumulation of snow to our region, but they can bring up to 6 inches, just enough to make driving challenging. Once it passes over the Great Lakes, it can produce lake effect snow and if it goes into the Atlantic Ocean, an Alberta Clipper can become a Nor'easter. And I believe, if I am not mistaken, that Alberta Clippers travel along the Jet Stream.

I wonder how much snow we'll get tomorrow. I'm hearing 3-5 inches on the Weather Channel.

death valley

Craig and I just got back from our Mojave Desert Vacation. We visited the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and Death Valley, all of which are in the Mojave Desert.

This is me at the Devil's Golf Course at Death Valley National Park. It's all salt deposits like the chunk I am holding up, and apparently only the Devil could play golf here (don't ask me). The elevation was somewhere between -182 and -282 feet below sea level and the temperature was 91 degrees F.

This is Craig at Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. He's surrounded by salt deposits and extremely salty water. You wouldn't want to drink it, hence the name Badwater.

Death Valley is a funny place. It's between two mountain ranges made by two faults, and it's still sinking today because the area is still seismically active. What's weird though is that although we were so far below sea level, it didn't feel that way. The ocean was nowhere in sight, and all we could see in any direction was mountains.

The Lake is gone - not a good way to wake up

Every morning, for years now, I've been listening to the Greg Bair morning show on 93.1 The Lake in Madison. It's a Classic Rock format, and it was a good mix of music and news. Too many morning shows are more talk than music, and that's just not what I want. This morning, my radio came on but the music was different. Hip Hop was playing, not Classic Rock. It turns out that The Lake is gone. What a horrible way to wake up!

I'll have to find another radio station. But for the record, I do not approve.

I hate stumps!

I cut down these ridiculously ugly bushes in front of my house. Mostly I did it because they greatly reduced the visibility along the steps leading up to my h0use, making it very easy to trip! Cutting them down was difficult but not impossible. I used a chainsaw and loppers. It took a few days, but I was happy to see them gone, and I cannot wait to replace them with something pretty! My only stumbling block is the stumps they left behind.

I don't want to use one of those stump-dissolving chemicals because that would take a long time. I thought I could cut down at least to the ground with my sawzall, but no luck there. I saw a site online that suggested using a spade to dig a trench around the stump and then using a landscaping bar to break up the roots and lever up the stump. So, I went to the local hardware store to buy a landscaping bar. The trouble... Yes there was trouble. I couldn't lift any of the landscaping bars there! Ugh! So I couldn't even purchase a landscaping bar, let alone whack at roots with it.

So I'm at an impasse. I will probably hire somebody to come in and remove the stumps for me. Grr though because I'd really like to be self-sufficient in this matter and remove the stumps myself.

My inability to remove stumps also presents me with an expensive problem. I have a yard full of unwanted, ugly, and overgrown bushes. I could cut them all down, but I'd still be left with the stumps which would just regrow ugly bushes!

The Pineapple Project

In every episode of Psych, there is a pineapple somewhere. Sometimes these pineapples are obvious, and other times, they are rather subtle. I looked around online and even on the Psych official web site, and I could not find a source listing the pineapples on Psych. I was left with one choice: watch a lot of Psych episodes and compile my own list.

Why is there a pineapple in episode? I don't know, and the Psych cast and crew have many of their own theories. By the way, there is a pineapple in the fish tank on the top of the official Psych web page.

Here are my pineapple sightings so far (at some point, I will organize this list by season):

• Psy vs Psy: Shawn makes a pineapple upside down cake using an EZ Bake oven he bought on eBay.
• If You Are So Smart, then Why Are You Dead: There are pineapple drink glasses on Shawn's Dad's tiki bar.
• Gus Walks into a Bank: There are 3 pineapple sightings in this episode!
  • Shawn complains about the pizza toppings that they don't even have ham and pineapple
  • There is a pineapple in the fruit bowl. Shawn walks past it on the way to the bathroom
  • There is a pineapple cutout on the zipline snack delivery system
• American Duos: Shawn brings Emilina a Pineapple
• And Down the Stretch Comes Murder: Shawn's dad gets him to wear a green Hawaiian-style shirt emblazoned with pineapples.
  

Pineapple picture courtesy of Flickr user Giniger.

Multitasking

I read an interesting article over at Lifehacker called Debunking the Myth of Multi-tasking. The idea is that when we multitask, we are not really doing two things at one time but rapidly switching between several tasks. The time to switch tasks add up and you become less productive.

I'm not so sure that I accept that multitasking is a bad thing. I think it has its time and place. I work in an office, and when I am running a large copy job, I could just sit there and twiddle my thumbs or watch the copy machine work, but I choose to do something else instead. As I boot my computer, I read the notes on my desk. But is what I describe really multitasking or technological delegation that frees me up to do something else? At home I multitask too. For instance, I empty the dishwasher while I wait for water to boil. Productivity is about making the small moments count.

I believe that if you can effectively manage your time, switchtasking can be a part of your routine too. I am an office clerk, so if somebody comes in with a question, there I am. If the phone rings, I need to answer it. Throughout the day, I rapidly switch between tasks. However, I think you can manage constant interruptions and still get things done by the use of detailed checklists. This falls more in line with David Allen's Getting Things Done theory, and it works for me. I have a daily checklist of things I need to do each day, and I have a list of tasks as well. I have also found a tickler file quite handy, but I took it a step further and indexed it. I have a spreadsheet printed out of the year and what each month's tickler file folder contains and upcoming events.

By the way, I wrote a book review of Getting Things Done over at my other site, UniversalBookReviews.

Tape and Paperclips

Don't you just hate it when you lose the end to your packing tape? You've got to spin it around and search for the end and waste a bunch of tape because when you finally find the end, the tape tears as you are unwinding it. Grr, right?!

Here's a simple solution, place a large paperclip under the tape end when you are finished using it. That way, it keeps your end, and you are set to start taping right away.

Baby pumpkins

We visited the pumpkin patch this morning to find baby pumpkins! This wasn't the only one but it was the easiest to get a photo of because it's right on the edge of the patch. It's a little hard to tell scale here, but it's about the size of half a football. It looks more like a watermelon than a pumpkin!

The vines all have flowers on them too, and we saw bees flitting about pollinating the flowers, which was really cool. Yay bees! I was a little concerned that they wouldn't find the pumpkin patch, but they seem to have found it just fine.

We couldn't stay out there too long though, not even long enough to get a count of pumpkins because there was a swarm of mosquitoes determined to exsanguinate us. I'll have to get some Deep Woods Off before I go back to count pumpkins and pull some weeds.

Mailing your luggage

Wired had an article called Save a Buck (and Stick it to the airlines) by Shipping Your Luggage. I think that's pretty cool because it's something I've been doing for a while. I hate checking luggage, absolutely hate it, and so I try to avoid doing so whenever possible and just do carry-on. I am usually able to manage with either a small carry on rolling suitcase or a backpack. Rolling up my clothes works great on saving space, and I just bring stuff that doesn't wrinkle. And since I cannot heft a 50 lb bag over my head into an overhead compartment (I'm just not that strong), I limit my packing to what I can carry.

That said, some items like my wetsuit are just too bulky to pack. The last time I visited my parents in Florida, I stuffed my wetsuit into a large Priority Mail Flat Rate box and mailed it ahead of me to my mom and dad. And on my way home, whatever didn't fit into my suitcase, I stuck it in a box and mailed it to myself. The highest Flat Rate box is $12.95, so shipping a package there and back costs a little less than $25, a bargain compared to what the airlines are now charging. You also save yourself the hassle of standing in line at the baggage claim trying to be ever-vigilant that somebody doesn't walk off with your suitcase.

Although if I do check a bag, I have a special suitcase for that. I painted that suitcase so garishly that nobody would ever mistake it for their own. I painted a large green dragon on the front, and I painted my first name in block letters on all the other sides of it.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user ToastyKen.

Laundry or the Most Boring Post Ever

I've been washing my clothes at the laundromat since my basement flooded. It didn't seem too prudent to operate electrical machines that were underwater. Going to the laundromat isn't the worst thing as there is a nice one near my work. It's a bit of a time sink though as it's not the greatest place for concentrating, so I can't get much done.

I do love the large capacity washing machines. I can wash an entire week's worth of clothing for two people in one of these machines. Just stuff, add soap and go. I use a smaller machine for my whites. My laundry sorting follows a precise scientific formula: can you bleach it? If yes, it goes in the whites load. If no, I consider it dark and toss it in the big machine. I love the smell of bleach by the way. It smells so fresh and clean, and nothing beats the smell of a bleached white towel fresh from the dryer.

Back when I was in college and the laundromat was the only place I could wash clothes, I owned no light-colored towels or pieces of clothing. Everything was dark. That way, I did not have to sort anything. Pretty clever, eh? Well, it's not entirely true though. I did own a white tee shirt from the Engineering Expo. I handwashed it to continue avoiding sorting.

So, yeah my laundry room was destroyed by the flooding this summer. It used to have nice walls, built-in cabinets, a built-in ironing board, two closets, and a counter for folding. When it flooded we had to gut the room. After gutting we realized that apparently previous owners had finished the laundry room, and no other part of the basement, to cover up flood damage. I'm guessing it was from the major floods we had back in 1997 because the ceiling tiles were stamped with a date that year. They didn't, however, do any real waterproofing, regrading of landscaping, and they did not install a sump pump. I guess that's all up to me now!

There was mold growing five feet up the concrete block wall underneath the wallboard we pulled out, and there were mushrooms growing along the base of the walls where they meet the floor. It was fungus heaven! I joked with Craig that if we didn't get the water problem solved, I was going to start a mushroom farm in the basement!

Now we've got the problem mostly solved. There's still one troublespot, so I called the waterproofing company to come back out and fix it. I have to figure out how I'm going to set up my "new" laundry room. I'd like it to be my well-organized laundry paradise, and it sure will be nice not to have to visit the laundromat anymore.

Knitting: First pair of socks!

This is my very first pair of socks. I started them this winter when I took a sock-making class, but I missed a couple of classes. So, they remained unfinished in my knitting closet. I resolved to finish them this summer, and I did today. Yay!

One of the scary things about knitting socks is the kitchener stitch. However with good instructions, it's not so bad at all. First I visited, Knitty.com where I found a great tutorial. Then I found a great video tutorial on YouTube.

The way I did it was that I read and printed the tutorial. Then I watched the video to see it in action. I took it out to my couch, laid the directions next to me and went for it. Not so bad. I kind of got into chanting knit drop, perl stay, perl drop, knit stay. I'm glad nobody but the cats witnessed that silliness!

I knit these socks from tofutsies yarn. The finished product is really soft, but the yarn was a challenge to knit with as it was way too easy to split it. But that could also be my inexperience with knitting on small needles... Before this foray into sock knitting, the smallest needle I'd ever knit on was an 8! Now, I've used 5's a couple of times.

Are we really so rushed?

Last weekend, a friend of mine called me as she attempted to navigate the detour between Milwaukee and Madison. Getting here took several hours longer than it normally does. It gave her time to chat with me though.

Along the way, she had to stop for gas. Apparently, she took too much time at the gas pump after fueling her car. There were plenty of other gas pumps available, and since she drives a Toyota Camry, I'm guessing it was Regular Unleaded, not diesel.

A man was waiting for the pump she was using and got impatient with her. She turned to him and said, "If you didn't have such a stick up your a$$, you'd smile more often."

Want to know what he did next? He smiled. She's right afterall. What's the big hurry?

First of all, I love that she had the guts to say that. I just don't have the ability to say exactly what's on my mind in the moment like that. I would have probably only been able to muster a dirty look. It makes me wonder why are we in such a hurry? A few extra minutes at the pump just gives you a little bit longer to listen to the song on the radio/ipod/cd-player before having to turn off the car. If we slowed down, we could take a couple of minutes to use the restroom, get a soda, buy a candy bar or lottery tickets. Look at the other cars at the gas station. You just might see something really cool. One day, I saw a car in the grocery store parking lot that had crocheted seat covers. How awesome is that!

Photo courtesy of futureatlas.com Thank you!

Pumpkins vs Crown Vetch

The ground on the East side of my house is predominated by Crown Vetch. It's annoying because it spreads everywhere, and it looks really ugly in fall, spring, and winter. It's an invasive species too, so there's another reason not to like it. I thought I'd try planting some pumpkins among the crown vetch to see which vine would win. So I planted 8 pumpkin seedlings on the crown vetch hill. I planted two seedlings next to my driveway in case the crown vetch wins, I'd still get some pumpkins. I've heard that they are easy to grow, and that's what I need because I am gardening-challenged.

I went to the Fitchburg Farmer's Market yesterday and picked up some onion seedlings. I'm going to plant those and have some of my very own garden-grown onions. I'm quite excited, but I may have overdone it a bit. Since I have no faith in my ability to keep plants alive, I bought 55 of them. They were only ten cents a piece, so it was a good deal. So here's to hoping they grow!

Rainbow Fleece Farms was also there with some beautiful yarns and roving. I bought a needle-felting kit because it's something I've always wanted to try. The instructions were pretty clear, and it's a really simple thing to do! So far, I've needle felted a flower and a penguin. The only downside is that you have to be careful that you don't accidentally poke yourself with the needle.

Falcoon's lion cut

Here are before and after pictures of Falcoon's lion cut. He shed so much this spring that he developed some nasty matts. It was quite unpleasant for him, so we called in a groomer who gave him a lion cut. Craig thinks he looks "positively ridiculous." I think he's cute, but it's like looking at a different cat. I'm so used to seeing a cat with tons of fur. What surprises me most is how slender he is. He looked so big with all that fur!

Our other cats, Doc and Sid, are rather confused by Falcoon's new look, but I'm sure they'll get used to it. And I think most of all, he's going to be much cooler this summer. Today was 80 degrees, and he was acting so hot. Poor baby.

I'm Dreaming of a White... Easter?!

It's Easter, and it's snowing. There's still snow on the ground too. We've already broken a record. I don't know that we really need all that much more snow. Snow on Easter. I'm not sure if I can remember too many Easters when it's snowed, but then again, this year Easter is really early.

I *finally* finished my teal cotton sweater (see above) that I've been working on for what seems like forever! It felt really good to get it done. Of course, as I'm finishing it up, I had this terrible thought, "what if it doesn't fit?" All that work would be for naught! But I tried it on, and it fit nicely. I'm quite happy with it.

I knit with Plymouth's Fantasy Naturale, and I don't think it was a lot of fun to knit with! I kept splitting the yarn. And it was really slippery on metal needles, so I had to use bamboo needles, which meant that it took longer to knit. I'm just faster with metal.

Now, all I have to do is wait until it warms up so that I can actually wear something with short sleeves! I suppose I could just get impatient too and wear it over another shirt like I did in the picture.

Falcoon and the Fish

Falcoon is entertained by the goldfish. I'd just fed them, so they were being pretty active. I sure do wish I could somehow keep my fish from knocking over the decorations in the tank! It looks prettier when the decorations are actually standing up.

Easy Freezer Chicken

Craig and I eat a lot of chicken, primarily boneless, skinless chicken breasts. And really they are not that exciting. I am also always looking for ways to make cooking easier. So here's my method for making tasty chicken breasts.

1. Get a family-sized package of boneless skinless chicken breasts (not frozen - this is important)
2. Set out a bunch of freezer bags. For five breasts, I set out five bags.
3. Butterfly the breasts so you get two pieces of chicken and cut off the bits of fat. I figure that is approximately a portion for each person (there are only two of us).
4. Thouroughly coat the chicken pieces in spices. I use a variety of dry spices. But some of my favorites are Jerk and Rotisserie.
5. Put each butterflied and spiced breast in a bag, label it, and stick it in the freezer.
6. When the chicken freezes, the spices get sucked into the meat and embue it with flavor.

Now, when it's time to make dinner, you can pull a bag out of the freezer and cook the chicken. I typically use my George Foreman Grill for this, but in the summer, I'd use my gas grill. It's just too cold now to even consider outdoor grilling. You could also cook them in a pan with olive oil or Pam spray.

Last night, we had curry spiced chicken breasts with peas and rice. Very simple very tasty.