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I started the triops yesterday around noon. The blue sand I put in the aquarium was a bit of a pain to deal with since I didn't soak it long enough. It kept clumping up and retaining air. That will be good, though, since it means more oxygen in the water for the triops once they get old enough to start digging.
From what all I'd read, it would be at least a couple of days before they might hatch, much less be able to see them. Carolaina and I looked this morning and (lo and behold!) there they were, hatched overnight, super tiny and apparently very hungry. So tiny that she wasn't able to see them at first. Even now they're only about half a millimeter long. I tried to get a picture of them, but Carolaina's little point-and-shoot digital camera couldn't zoom in and focus that close. Instead, you get a picture of the tank itself. You can click on the photo for a larger version. Good luck if you can distinguish the triops themselves from the sparkly sand. I can't even make them out for certain in the origional high-res version of it from the camera.
What you can see in the photo is the detritus on top of the water--dried plant material for them to feed on for the next couple of days. Don't worry, the water level is supposed to be rather low the first few days. This makes it easier for them to find food--they don't have to swim as far to find it. I've seen and counted about 6 of them so far. There may be more, but it's hard to tell since they're so hard to see. A few more may have yet to hatch as well.
Carolaina keeps wanting to name them, but I'm hesitant. They're known to be rather ruthless and cannabalistic with each other. I think I'll just collectively call them "The Horde". If you're interested, you can read about the species on the MyTriops.com site. There's lots of good info there, but he's got it rather scattered about--the FAQ pages have the best info.
I've been playing a lot of Guild Wars over the holidays. Today I got my first and only character, Rand Hardiman - Warrior/Monk, up to level 13. It's been really fun so far despite taking place in a blasted out, post-apocalyptic area. I look forward to working my way to other parts of the huge world.
Also, this evening I've joined a guild. It's a new one called Dark Warriors of Chaos, started up by guys frustrated with other failed guilds who now want to do things right. It also doesn't hurt that we have cool-looking capes! I'm hoping to be able to run quests, co-op missions and PvP (or Guild versus Guild, as it's called in this game) with them. Already some of the guys were trading and giving each other neat items. If we get a few more members to join, the leaders can get us a guild hall to meet in. I'm now going to get back into the game to see what they're up to and/or complete another quest.
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Christmas loot! (Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 12:18:55 PM)
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Carolaina wanted me to post something in my blog, so here are some of the things kicking around in my head recently.
I am so ready for the holidays to be over with. The way the calendar fell this year, both Christmas and New Years are on weekends. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get certain things done. I need to get my car's oil changed and a hair cut. The two are not directly related--I keep my hair clean. ;)
I got some of the things I wanted for Christmas. My list is far too long to get everything I want. Oh for a lack of $$$. Here's the haul:
DVDs:
The complete Firefly and Witch Hunter Robin series, Serenity--the Firefly movie, and the first disc of FullMetal Alchemist. I had forgotten just how incredible Witch Hunter Robin is.
Games:
Guild Wars and Dungeon Siege 2. I've started playing GW since it took up less hard drive space and I wanted to get in on their Christmas events. If you don't know, GW is a free online game--you only pay for the game itself and any (or no) expansions you want. I preferred the starting area--it had a lot of neat quests and the countryside was beautiful. Now, I'm in a blasted out, post-apocolyptic area that's tough as nails. My character dies a lot. Also it seems everyone there is 20th level, while I'm this puny little 7th level weakling.
I'd really like to get into DS2, but it takes a massive 4 Gb to install! I really enjoyed the whopping 1.5 Gb demo, so I might end up moving my mp3s over to one of the old computers to make space for it.
Book:
Old Man's War by John Scalzi. I constantly lament the lack of great modern sci-fi. You just can't find the equivalent of the old masters these days: Arthur C. Clarke, Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, etc. This guy, though, is like Heinlein reborn--OMW is that good. Highly, highly recommended. I got the hardcover edition and really like the cover art--it seems to fit perfectly. You can read a sample chapter and his earlier unpublished book, Agent to the Stars, online--it's a more lighthearted and humorous than OMW.
Aquariums:
I also got a couple of small aquariums. The smaller one is a tiny one-quart size that has a couple of fake fish that swim around in a realistic way. Carolaina is impressed by how real they look swimming around, but I'm less so. I mostly wanted it in my office where I can enjoy it here. The other is a larger 1-gallon tank that I'll use to grow triops.
I've recently become fascinated with triops after seeing a kit for one on ThinkGeek. After doing some checking around, I found out that their kit is rather small for growing them to the optimal size. Once I get the time to pick up some sand for the tank, I'll set it up and get them started. They only live for 4 to 6 weeks, so it will be a fun, temporary project.
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What's the difference between the being required to bribe (as in Mexico) and being required to tip (as in New York) people in the service industry? So-called "polite" society, nothing more.
One thing that angers me about high society is that they just use formal, verbal and behind-the-scenes ways of screwing you over and attacking you. Cowards.
Poverty feeds on itself--sometimes in nasty ways. One of these days, I'm going to write out a whole thesis on this subject. Let's just say that I've had plenty of time in the past to think this through.
It's now time to impeach Bush. I consider him to be the 2nd worst President of all American history. Who's the worst? James Buchanan.
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Now I remember something I wanted to post.
As of this morning, my weight is down to 171 pounds! I'm just starting to get to the point where I'm beginning to look good (if I dress well). I've started working my way out of the diet by slowly increasing my carbs--this week I've consistently gotten near 25 carbs a day.
As for food, I found cereal I can eat! Before all this, I would eat at least 3 bowls of sugared and high carb cereal each morning. I guesstimate that it worked out to about 6 servings @ ~40 carbs per serving = 240 carbs! Add in the carbs from the milk and it's even worse! It's no wonder I put on quite a few pounds after Carolaina and I got married. This cereal I found only has 4 net carbs per (1/2 cup) serving. I eat it with 1/2 cup low carb soy milk which gives me 5 net carbs for breakfast. Those carefully-measured amounts seem pitiful compared to how much cereal I used to have, but I'm also amazed at how long this cereal lasts because of it. I still haven't finished off this first box of it this week--and it's a small box. Oh, here's the brand names so you can get it for yourself: Morning Start (Triple Berry, look for the Atkins symbol on the top-left) and Soy Slender Soymilk (vanilla flavor).
Thanks to ArchSchnitz, I've discovered the joys of diabetic candy and low-carb desserts. A couple of weeks ago, I found a low-carb chocolate-chip cookie mix. It ends up having 6 carbs per (very tiny) cookie. They don't taste anywhere near as good as the wookie cookies, but it's better than nothing. I can't seem to remember the brand name for it. Krusteaz, maybe? I do remember it saying "Carb Control" right under the brand name on the front of the box.
Last time we bought clothes for me, I weighed around 210. The jeans we bought are now baggy and hanging off of me just like those I had at the time. I guess we're going to have to use some of our Christmas money to get me some new jeans. It's a good problem to have, but that doesn't make it any less of a problem.
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So much has happened since I last updated that I've wanted to blog about, but haven't had the time. Unfortunately, I've since forgotten most of what I wanted to write.
Last time I mentioned that we were going back to see Carolaina's Grammie the next weekend. We did and ended up staying at a B&B called the Ashley House. It was a really nice place, and I thought it was a steal at only $55 a night. Hopefully we'll be able to get a room there for the next Pioneer Days.
We had a bit of winter weather overnight, but nowhere near enough. I was hoping to get a snow day, but the ground was too warm for any snow to really stick and the weather slightly too warm for snow. All we got was a very light dusting of a little snow mixed with mostly sleet.
Time seems to be moving so slowly for me. This is mostly intentional because I don't want to wake up one day and find that life has flew past me, so I try to change my perception of the world around me to accommodate.
Lately, though, it's gotten really bad and I know why: I want Christmas to arrive! So, I feel every second...
tick... tick... tick... tick...
Each moment drags by...
tick... tick... tick... tick...
I even feel this even while doing other things. It's like I can feel the weight of time heavily dragging past.
tick... tick... tick... tick...
[sigh] Two more weeks until Christmas.
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