Another fish tale

Yes, it is a pain in the butt to keep fish. You have to do water changes. You have to clean the gravel. The filters get all nasty and need to be changed. There is a lot of work. Technology and science have changed the way we keep fish. We had fish when I was growing up. My mom would clean out the 10 gallon tank every time it got cloudy, which was once a week. There was no one around to tell us about the nitrogen cycle. There were no remedies. Today, it is much easier. You just have to resist the impulse to pour all the water out and start all over.

But, there are great benefits to keepign an aquarium. There is a peaceful feeling about fish and their environment. It is really amazing how by just sitting and watching them, you stress seems to fade away. The water coming out of the filter has a great calming effect. I would not be able to sleep without the tank in the living room humming away. Air stones work to ease tension as well. I imagine that each bubble is a care of the day, floating off to the surface and dissipating. There is even something natal about sticking a few fingers in to the warm water.

It is easy to lose yourself with aquariums. If you decide to get one, they are a great source of release. But, a warning...they are hard work to start up. The benefits, you will find, are greater than the effort.



( I was going to post a pick of one of my tanks, but they need cleaning. )

Christianity in the US

Much to the chagrin of our Christian naysayers, Christianity is alive and well in the United States. As much as atheists would like to admit, they are not moving very far forward in reducing religion in America. When I was shopping, the racks were full of shirts and hoodies with 'Jesus' and 'God' written on them. Even Books-a-Million had Christian tshirts for sale and selling them like hotcakes. Mainstream America is still very much Christian and it shows no signs of changing.

I'm not saying give up on your ideals atheists, but you need to come up with a new plan. Instead of openly and loudly challenging Christianity, you should try a more subtle way. You know, like the snake in the Garden of Eden. I'm sorry if that is too 'religous' for you, but it is hard to come up with metaphors that are common enough for every one to understand.

Fish are people too

Well, honestly, not exactly. I have found over the years that fish are more that just hidden creatures in the water. I have kept fish for almost 10 years and have found they are pretty much on par with pet lizards, birds, cats and, at times, dogs. Naturally, the biggest draw back is that you can't take the out on the town, except for bettas. More about betta later.

If the truth be known, fish have different personalities, modes and are quit trainable. You can train goldfish to move a ball from one end of an aquarium to another. Oscars can be trained to bat a ball around or swim through hoops. You can pratically spend as much time with your fish as you can a cat. then, there are other cirtters too. I have kept crayfish, crawdads to some of you, and they are a real hoot. Yep, there is more to fish other than just floating around.

But, I was horrorified when I learned that people in Japan eat live fish. No, I am not talking about college kids swallowing goldfish. I am talking about taking a fish, scaling it, gutting it and frying it ALIVE! If you are interested, search YouTube for 'eating live fish.' You may not want to watch, but there it is.

Oh, about the bettas. As some of you know, bettas are air breathing fish and usually live in vases and cups. They are quit comfortable in this as they don't do a lot of swimming around even in the wild. Any way, I travelled from Colorado to Tennessee with a betta setting in my car's cupholder. He just continued on like everything was normal.

Later, I tell of the health benefit associated with keeping fish.

Disban Unions

A hundred years or so, the factory worker was overworked and underpaid. A fantastic new thing called a union, helped the workers with better salary and benefits. It would be argued that unions helped shape the economy of the countty. Now, it's time for the unions to shape up and ship out. It was apparent when the unions agreed to cut worker salaries that unions have out lived their usefulness. Now, don't get me wrong, unions have done good for the nation and it's working class.

The United Auto Workers have killed the American auto industry. Our cars are overpriced and the quality of American cars, bluntly, suck. Now, the American Big Three are in trouble and the UAW is doing very little to help sustain their existence. When the Big Three asked for help from the government, the UAW refused to compromise on reducing worker salaries. You have to give to get UAW. Now, more or your union workers will be out of work because of layoffs. Wouldn't it be more logical to reduce salaries to help the economy AND your union workers? Oh, I'm sorry, does that get in the way of your greed?

Thanks to the US Senate, the Big Three will not be getting extra money to stay afloat. It's not the government that let you down, it is your union workes. The UAW needs to step out of the way to save the economy.

I got my new cell phone today. It took me about a week to decide what phone I was going to get. I settled on a LG Dare through Verizon (since I have had good luck for 7 years with VZW). I don't really want to say 'I settled' because it was a long, exhaustive research project to figure out what phone to get. I had a Motorola V9m. It was an excellant phone and it still is. I plan on keeping it for a back up. All of the phones, most of anyway, didn't seem to be much of an upgrade. My V9 maybe two years old, but some of the other phones are less than what I already have. The Dare is new, touch screen and part of the newer generation of phones. Every thing was just another cell phone, rehashed into something 'new.'

I would recommend a Dare for anyone looking for a new phone. The touch screen gets some getting used to, but it is a good phone.

What's My Line?

Recently, I have been watching a lot of old tv shows on YouTube. My favorite has been "What's My Line?" I began to miss a lot of the grand personalities that that have left us over the last 20 years. The actors and comedians truly made up the Golden Age of Hollywood. There is no single actor that I can think of who could mirror Cary Grant in style and grace. Where are the glamour girls such as Jayne Mansfield and Janet Leigh? Their like, I am afraid, shall not soon pass our way again.



Then, I started thinking about a 'modern' "What's My Line?" I started thinking about which movie stars would appear as a myster guest. Would Tom Cruise appear? What about Kate Blanchett? I am sure there are those that would like to appear. But, there are none equal to Jimmy Stewart! Where have they all gone?

Or, is it possible that "What's My Line?" was just that rare special television shows? It is considered one of the best television shows ever produced.

Just a thought! LOL!

The New Day

I just love the evenings. No matter what the day brought you can think better of it because tomorrow is a new day. What ever you screwed up today, you have a chance to screw up something else. Better yet, what you screwed up today will come back to haunt you tomorrow. That's okay, because you get the chance to start over again on another new day with the chance to screw up something totally different. Fear not! You can always get something right. Then, the next new day, you get the chance to do something good again. You can mix it up any way you like. Screw something up one day and get something right on the next new day.

The upshot is that no matter what has happened in your life, the next day is what you make of it. No matter how bad it is, tomorrow can be better. Don't let people get you caught up with what you have done, because you can make it right or even better the next day.