Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

[Paul B]

My Bangai Cardinals had babies. Spawning Bangai Cardinals is not a big Whoop because they, (and all healthy fish) do this all the time. Bangai Cardinal babies are rather large as compared to most salt water fish but I didn't catch them. I could not catch anything in my tank unless I take the tank apart and that is not going to happen.

After 2 days I don't see any of the babies but I didn't think I would as, just like in the sea, they would have all been eaten.
(I will look close at some floating algae to see if I find any)

This picture is old and not the Cardinals I have now. Bangai's are one of the shortest lifespan fish we normally keep only living 3 4 or so years.

I am actually surprised these spawned because I got them as babies and they are not fully grown.

 

[Paul B]

NASA stole this idea from me.

The space station is too clean, and it’s making astronauts sick

Scientists hypothesize that cultivating a diverse set of microbes on the International Space Station – and the its eventual replacement – could improve astronaut health.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[MadReefer]

NASA stole this idea from me.

The space station is too clean, and it’s making astronauts sick

Scientists hypothesize that cultivating a diverse set of microbes on the International Space Station – and the its eventual replacement – could improve astronaut health.

www.foxbusiness.com

I would sue them if I were you.

 

[Paul B]

Today, April 1st is the anniversary of the deadliest day in Vietnam in 1970 where we lost over 70 guys on that day alone and over 600 that month.

That was the battle of Fire Support Base Ilingworth which I was in. It's also what my book is about.

 

[Paul B]

Last week one of my Cheap Chinese lights croaked, so after I discovered I couldn't fix it, I bought a new one on Amazon. Today, another cheap Chinese light croaked so first I will take it apart to see if it is fixable. If I can't fix it I will order a new one.

 

[MadReefer]

Still the tank looks good.

 

[Paul B]

I saw this thing on the news this morning that there is this military museum on Long island and they are having some event there so I went. It's a cold, rainy day and I figured I had nothing else to do today so I went. It's almost an hour away and when I got there there is a big sign out front that said "CLOSED". Great, it opens tomorrow.

So I didn't want to waste the day and I went to my favorite LFS on my way home and got a dragon faced pipefish. $20.00. The owner wasn't there or he would have given it to me for probably $15.00. But $20.00 isn't bad and I like them. He had nothing else interesting except tangs and and angels which I don't like so I just took the pipe.

One of these, but not this one.

 

[MadReefer]

I sawca dragon face pipefish for $50. You got a great deal.

 

[Paul B]

I wouldn't pay $50.00 for one (or almost any fish) but I was in a bad mood from having to drive a long way to a place that was closed. If he had two of them, I would have gotten both of them as I like fish in pairs. They have a short lifespan so It won't be with me for ling. But at my age, I also have a short lifespan so whoever inherits my tank will probably get it. That is unless my daughter just flushes everything when I croak.

 

[MadReefer]

It gets along with all the other fish in your tank? I would be concerned my tangs and dwarf angels would harass it; why i did not buy it.

 

[Paul B]

Nothing bothers it. I don't think they taste good.

 

[Paul B]

This Fireclown is a real pain, and I wish their lifespan were not so long. He and his mate are about 35 years old and very annoying, especially when they are spawning, And they are never "not" spawning. I was just looking at my tank and I heard this splashing. The larger one (I'm not sure if it is a male or female) was chasing one of my small yellow clown gobies so much that the gobi kept jumping out of the water and almost made it to the floor.

 

[MadReefer]

This Fireclown is a real pain, and I wish their lifespan were not so long. He and his mate are about 35 years old and very annoying, especially when they are spawning, And they are never "not" spawning. I was just looking at my tank and I heard this splashing. The larger one (I'm not sure if it is a male or female) was chasing one of my small yellow clown gobies so much that the gobi kept jumping out of the water and almost made it to the floor.

In my opinion all Clown Fish are jerks.

 

[Paul B]

They never die. I tried to hire a bus load of Sumo wrestlers to sit in a school bus and run them over. But that just made the clownfish frisky and the Sumo wrestlers hungry.

 

[Paul B]

We decided to go there the day before and sleep in a hotel. I searched the net for a hotel near by. It's not to far from Yankee Stadium.
I find a place 3 miles from the university and "WAYS" said it would take 40 minutes to get there from the hotel.

40 minutes to go 3 miles is normal for the Bronx or anywhere in the New York City boroughs.

I called to make the reservation and got the front desk. I don't think the girl I spoke to went to Fordham.
She was very nice but may have had the IQ of one of the apples on her desk.

She asked my name. I said very slowly "PAUL BALDASSANO". She asked "Is BALDASSANO your first or last name?".

I said Baldassano is my last name and PAUL, like the Saint is my first name.
OK. Spell it.... I asked Baldassano? She said "No, spell Paul".

OK. P A U L. Like the Saint. What Saint?. I said Saint Paul which I could tell went right over her semi empty head.

So I said, "Would you like me to spell Baldassano. She asked "Whats that?"

I replied, "my last name". She said "Oh OK, spell that".

I spelled my name very slowly 3 times. Then I had to spell it phonetically. 3 times.

B, as in ballerina, A, as in the apple in your head, L, as in lunatic, D as in dope and so on.

Then she asked my E Mail which ends in AOL.COM. She asked "Whats that"?

I said My E Mail. She said "Can I spell it?". I said "spell what"? She said "Spell AOL. COM".

I said "Spell what?" She said "AOL.COM". I said, "Thats it."

She said, "What"? I said AOL.COM.
My wife was hysterical and I said it again but she never heard of it. I know no one uses AOL.COM any more but I was here way before the internet was invented and I got AOL and still have it. This girl who seemed to be about 30 never heard of it. She never even heard of ".COM".

So I spelled it very slowly. A O L . C O M

This conversation is absolutely true and if I knew she was such a genius I would have taped this conversation.
And she got a job at the front desk of a hotel that is rated Excellent.

The place was in the biggest dump in the Bronx but it was only 4 weeks old, kind of like this receptionist.

Our Daughter is going next week to get certified as a Lawyer. She passed the bar last year. I really don't like lawyers so I hope she is not going to be a personal injury lawyer because I won't be able to speak to her any more.

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I wanted to print something on my printer. The thing is the one with the big ink tanks that last for your entire life. It ran for 2 years. I hit "PRINT" and it said, "it has the wrong paper". I have been using that same paper since Carter was President. Then it said something about parameters, then WyFy. In other words, it just didn't want to work so I went and had a large Vodka because I can't deal with these things.

I just want a printer with a big "ON, OFF" switch on the front and a button that says "WORK" and the thing works. I don't want it connected to the internet, I don't want choices of color or black and white, fonts, italics, underline, orientation or anything else.

I just want it to print whatever I send to it, exactly how I send it. If I send it in color I want it in color, if I send black and white, I want it to print in black and white. I don't want any options and I don't want to see a screen. Just on and off and WORK.

No one seems smart enough to make a printer like that.

 

[MadReefer]

Yesterday I wanted to print something on my printer. The thing is the one with the big ink tanks that last for your entire life. It ran for 2 years. I hit "PRINT" and it said, "it has the wrong paper". I have been using that same paper since Carter was President. Then it said something about parameters, then WyFy. In other words, it just didn't want to work so I went and had a large Vodka because I can't deal with these things.

I just want a printer with a big "ON, OFF" switch on the front and a button that says "WORK" and the thing works. I don't want it connected to the internet, I don't want choices of color or black and white, fonts, italics, underline, orientation or anything else.

I just want it to print whatever I send to it, exactly how I send it. If I send it in color I want it in color, if I send black and white, I want it to print in black and white. I don't want any options and I don't want to see a screen. Just on and off and WORK.

No one seems smart enough to make a printer like that.

My printer is just as temperamental. I can print today and then tomorrow it says offline and have to go thru the whole setup. I am a computer person and cannot stand it so showed my wife how to do it and pass ll printing to her.

 

[Paul B]

My 12 year old Grand Daughter is coming over on Easter and she will take care of it for me.

When I went to grammar school I never had trouble with my quill pen. I miss those days.

 

[Paul B]

So yesterday was an exciting and expensive day.

Our Daughter graduated college over 20 years ago and a few years ago went back to Fordham Law School and yesterday in Manhattan she was sworn in as a full-fledged lawyer.

That part is great. But we had to go into Manhattan to see this big deal 15-minute ceremony.

We now live on eastern Long Island, about 60 miles from the city. It is impossible to park there, so we take a bus. It's called "The Hampton Jitney" and looks like a Greyhound bus.

It was very cold and pouring rain. My wife is handicapped and uses a walker. I help put her shoes on and she wanted to wear these red shoes which I told her (Repeatedly) were no good for that type of day. Due to her MS her foot doesn't fall flat on the ground and the shoes kept coming off after about every 5 steps forcing her to walk with one shoe and I have to get down and try to put the stupid (Inappropriate) shoe back on.

Anyway, we get on the Jitney which costs about 60 bucks. The thing went fine for about 50 minutes, and it was bumper-to-bumper traffic, so we were not getting very far, but we traveled about 30 miles. We are going slow and through the rain and fog I see smoke. (We are in the last seats of the bus) At first I figured it was from all the rain, but now I smell antifreeze. We pull over to the side of the highway, and the driver gets out, and I hear him open the engine hatch in the back of the bus.

That is never a good sign. He gets back on the bus and informs us that it is stuck. He calls for another bus to pick us up, but it will take over an hour to get to us. GREAT.

We all get out of the bus in the rain and I asked the driver if I could see the problem. I figured with my shoe lace and my wife's shoe I could possibly fix the problem. I looked in, and it was a huge diesel engine. Antifreeze was shooting out of the cylinder block and head, so the thing blew a head gasket, which required the engine to be removed. My shoelaces and my wife's shoes were not enough to do the job, so we called a UBER.

We had to walk off the highway and my wife walks very slow, especially with one shoe. The normally 5 minute walk took about 20 minutes to get to a place we could wait for the UBER and we were cold and soaked

The car comes, $80.00. So we get on the bumper to bumper traffic highway and in an hour make it into the city.

We get to the Courthouse and go through the metal detector etc. And meet our Daughter and our Son N Law.

She is all decked out in her red outfit for the swearing in and looks beautiful. WE are very proud of her.

After the ceremony, we took them out to dinner in a Keens steakhouse on 6th Ave. Which opened in 1885.

I don't hardly eat steak even though this is the most famous steakhouse in Manhattan and looked for fish. They had one fish on the menu. Dover Sole which I like until I saw the price.

$70.00 for a piece of fish that looks like flounder. I thought that was a bit much so I went for the cheaper meal of "Giant" shrimp for $42.00. The 5 Giant shrimp were normal-sized small shrimp and they were almost ten bucks a shrimp.

My Son N Law ordered a $160.00 steak.

So it was a great day (almost) even though I could have bought a but load of Copperband Butterflies for the $700.00 + it cost me. Including the ride there

 

[Paul B]

This morning like all mornings I went for my walk. It was dark, pouring rain, cold and windy but those conditions don't concern a real Man. :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I put on my yellow, full rain gear and set out



I started to see Earthworms and I like to collect them for my fish. I forgot my plastic bag and tweezers to make it easier to pick them up. But being it was cold, I put my hands in my pocket and found that I still had a zip lock bag from last year.

I didn't have a tweezer, but real Men also don't have a problem picking up worms so I collected about two dozen. I could have collected two hundred but this is a couple of months supply and if I get too many they start to croak.



I'm not sure if they starve, get lonely or miss Facebook so I don't want too many.

I got home and woke up my wife to tell her I collected a bag of mud encrusted worms to which she said "EEEEWwwwww, What are you going to do with them?" I told her I put them in her underwear drawer to warm them up before I put them in my worm box.

I will be making my own dinner for a while.