The Family

A while back our fishtank overheated.  When Christina checked the tank around noon and found the temp was up at 98 degrees; the normal temp is closer to 78.  Anyway, we’re getting to the point of restocking the tank.  The first addition was a few new rocks from a friend’s tank that are covered in soft coral.  Unfortunately, they have yet to really start showing themselves.  So pics aren’t really that interesting.

However, today we bought a new fish.  The green mandarin goby:

Next week we’re going to hit up the year end sale. (30% 0ff nearly all stock, and a few specials like a 90 gallon tank for $200 <= super price)  We’ll be after some snails, some crabs, and maybe a shrimp.

Last year there seemed to be a big push to say happy holidays instead of merry Christmas. It annoyed me. (It also annoys me that the school Halloween carnival must now be called Fall Festival.) Last year i protested “happy holidays” by going thru my collection of good-intention Christmas cards and freecycling all the ones that said happy holidays.

I just now received a link to a song on youtube, “It’s Called Christmas”. I listened to it. Naturally it’s protesting our adopting the politically correct “happy holidays,” rather than greeting each other with, “Merry Christmas.” It’s very catchy. It makes the point that the holiday is about the birth of Christ… i could not help thinking about Winter Solstice and wondering if the “pagans” were singing, “It’s Called Winter Solstice” when we Christianized their holiday and made it about the birth of Christ.

I guess i am a little more tolerant of “happy holidays” now, though for me it will always be Christmas.

OK, I am writing this on Kevin’s behest. I’m relaying the idea, but all elements of said idea are Kevin’s.

So, this year, Christmas Eve can be anything purchased from a truck stop. For bonus points, it is suggested that you have a picture of the truck stop (or even a picture of yourself at the truck stop) and we can see just how truck-stop-ish your location was.

Normal funding rules apply .. Kevin says the absolute max is $20.

For names, he made two lists – first alphabetized by first name, second alphabetized by middle name.

Chris       gives to     Annie Lee, Christina   Michael, Kevin
Christina      "         C, Luke 
Kevin          "         Jane, Nelia 
Luke           "         Jean, Ramona
Nelia          "         Luke, Chris
Ramona         "         Michael, Kevin  Annie Lee, Christina

OK .. any questions, just ask Kevin.

Edit 11/27 – Chris & Ramona swapped names

Here’s the backyard this morning.

Yes, I shoveled the drive and the sidewalk and the front steps. First use of the snowboots this season 🙂 And warm enough that I didn’t need to wear a coat.

I am glad that I took today & Friday off. This is good playing time.

rather amazing… i would love to do this… i used to imagine wearing something so much like these guys are wearing and doing exactly what they are doing, only i never dreamed it could actually be done.

Looked like the original post was getting lost under all the interesting pictures. So I’m starting a new one.

But first, some tangential observations. ….

I – Christina, we’re having trouble using your Amazon link. I’m not sure, but it looks like what would happen if you linked to your wish list while logged into your Amazon account. The logged in URL and the general public URL are different .. if you could look into that, that would be great. Thanks!

II – My flight plans are made so now it is totally official. I will be in Texas in December. Whoo-hoo!!!!
I’ll be in for two weeks, flying in Dec 20 and flying out Jan 4. So now we need to have a discussion about the itenerary for that time. From talking with Mom, it sounds like Christmas will work out well. We should probably get on the phone to hash that out. I’m also hoping to work in trips to Dallas and San Antonio. More plans 🙂

OK, back to the post ..

My last post read

…. I’d get rid of the stockings.

The socks are from Santa. ….. it is beginning to feel rather silly to be populating the socks for each other (adults).

And so much money gets poured into the little toys (sometimes very, very expensive little toys). I’d personally rather that all went under the tree. I like the fruits and nuts and candy. But can’t we come up with some other way to give each other canned olives?

I have gotten some tentative agreement on this.

Since we’ll be coming into Austin for Christmas day, does it make sense for you that you three (Chris, Christina, Aleah) will have your Christmas morning for whatever part Santa plays this year .. and then, for the rest of us, stockings are just skipped?

Three new pictures are up.

I like the water effect; best if viewed larger. Kinda sad that the details on the duck are totally gone though. Maybe next time I’m down by the river I’ll play with the exposure levels a bit. I think if I took a lower exposure I might keep the duck’s details.

This one begs for a bit of play in photoshop. Going for more ‘rustic’ colors would probably make this one really great. Otherwise, I took this one on a lark. I like the framing of the shot.

Here’s the cleanup crew hard at work in the fishtank. Poor astraea snail bit the dust and we’ve got a hermit crab and a nassarius snail going to town. Too bad I wasn’t able to get a picture when there were about five crabs around. This shot is actually a crop of a larger shot, but I wasn’t interested in blurry rocks in the background.

This is another picture i have enjoyed playing with… though all i did to it was let photoshop make the corrections.

Are the colors true?

Kevin & I were talking and the conversation wound its way round to Buck Rogers, that classic TV sci-fi show that I enjoyed so much, before I had sense.

Kevin did not remember Hawk. Hawk was my favorite character. I don’t really remember that silly robot that everyone remembers, and I can’t remember the theme song even though I practically sang along with it, but I do remember Hawk. And how cool he was. When describing him to Kevin, I told him that Hawk was the Spock of Buck Rogers. And we all know how cool Spock is.

Partly, of course, because he was a birdman and his costume was sooooo realistic and made it so believable and plausible that he was, in fact, a bird-man.

Sigh. So I looked him up online to remind Kevin of who Hawk was.

About Hawk || Gallery

A man in a feather hat. And I was so impresesd.

Sigh. Hawk was still a cool character. With a very cool ship.

do you mind my playing with your pictures?

I like this one… it’s sweet… but i think it’s better for adjusting the colors. It is hard to get true colors inside. I dislike the flash because it washes out the center, but without the flash, the colors are often a little off or dull. Fortunately with photoshop it is possible to correct.

I have been playing with curves lately. Curves is very useful for correcting color and light. I don’t feel like i know what i am doing yet. I did this picture 3 times… well, finished it once, but started it 3 times. I like the final one (of course – would not have posted it if i hadn’t) but i may do it again one day.

And, Chris, the question is serious…. I liked this one enough to post it, but i do wonder how you feel about my photoshopping your photos? When i do it do you want to see the changed one? or does it slightly irritate?