I told my dad about Sunday's ketchup incident. He suggested ketchup tanker trucks for my restaurant. Genius!

Speaking of Dad...he hurt himself pretty badly at work on Friday. He walked into a beam and smashed his nose and took a couple gouges out of his forehead. He said he was bleeding like crazy. Not only did he not go to the ER, but he worked the rest of the day. I swear he's Superman.

May crept up on me. It felt like it was so far off, and now I've...

I love ketchup. I don't put it on things that some consider weird, like baked beans and eggs...just the normal things like burgers and fries. The amount of ketchup I go through with an appropriate meal though is grounds for being teased. Ernie said that when he was at Marco Island, he almost bought me a shirt that said, "I like ketchup on my ketchup."

Ernie and I went to Applebee's yesterday for a late lunch/early dinner. He got honey glazed salmon, I got fish...

Remember how my dad taped Survivor and Desperate Housewives and mailed it to me so that Ernie could see them, since Ernie was in Marco Island? Well, we popped the tape into the VCR last night...and the VCR broke. Not only does it just suck to have something break, but I'm one of "those" people who gets sentimentally attach to practically every item I own. Ernie pretty much already had everything when I moved in, and besides my clothes and books and CDs and all that jazz,...

Ernie has been gone since early Thursday morning. He got back last night. He went to Marco Island with a bunch of co-workers from various branches. They have a trip contest where he works, and he reached the goal to go. Only spouses can go with, so I stayed home with the dogs and fish. I'd been keeping my mouth shut about his absence because I really don't feel the need to advertise to all of the internet that I'm home alone, especially with what has been going on.

I missed...

I got a master freshwater test kit that it seems every fish lover and their brother raves about. I can test pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I did the tests Friday night, and everything is good. That gave me the green light to get a new pleco.

I picked out a cute little guy at the fish store and drove him home. I named him Kramer. I put the bag into the tank to float it. After about 15 minutes, I went to add some tank water to the bag, and I discovered that Kramer...

I think I'm going to go shopping for a water test kit today. I was trying to be conservative with spending this month, because I go three weekends between paychecks instead of the usual two weeks this month (I get paid twice a month, not bi-weekly), but it's not like I'm buying stupid stuff. Besides, I enjoy doting on my fish, and I want them to be as happy and healthy as possible.

I sure have learned a lot about fish in the past few months. I've actually been feeling guilty because...

I got some algae wafers for him on my lunch hour yesterday. I couldn't wait to get home and see if he wanted any. I walked in the house, went straight to the aquarium...and he was stuck to the filter again. He was dead this time though.

When I get home, the dogs are always the ones who get attention first, and they know it...they're ready to go outside and then get fed. Buddy was barking, mad that he was being ignored. But when I kneeled down in front...

I got home today and discovered that Herman didn't just have a fin stuck the filter again...he was wrapped around the filter intake tube, his side completely stuck to it. Once again, I thought he was for sure dead...but I still rushed to unplug the filter. Once again, he swam off like everything was normal, playing it cool. Relieved, I plugged the filter back in...and watched Herman immediately swim back over and get stuck in the same position.

Oh, Herman....

I thought about John yesterday. I couldn't help it. It was his birthday, and his username was staring at me every time I looked at the main forum page. Plus, yesterday's tragedy at Virginia Tech also sent my thoughts to him. He lives outside of Blacksburg, we went there whenever I visited him. He took me to Virginia Tech once. We went to the bookstore. He said maybe we'd live in Blacksburg someday.

Of course, that didn't happen...and it never will.

I miss him....

This place can be really negative, especially when you're a moderator. One of the reasons I was excited when I was asked to be a mod was that I would be able to help keep the peace and help keep this place organized. I always hated it when I saw a thread out of place or a person being mean to somebody. Being a mod meant I could do something about it. Not to mention I like so many people here. I've made some great friends.

Lately though, I've been wondering why I still come here....

Fish shopping didn't go as planned. I wanted to get one female rosy barb, but they only had two male rosy barbs. They were in the tank with two other types of fish, but those two were obviously buddies, swimming around after and with each other. I didn't want to break them up, so I got them both. Their names are Steve and Skippy. I got another red eye tetra so that Oliver can have a friend. His name is Alex. I also got another angel so Jasper can have a friend. His name is Jerry.
...

I went downstairs this morning to take the dogs out and make Ernie's lunch. When I flicked on the kitchen light, I looked over at the aquarium in the dining room and saw my pleco Herman stuck to the filter!!! I thought for sure he was dead, but I dove down into the cabinet and yanked the filter's plug to shut it off. Herman simply swam off and started sucking on the back tank wall. The poor little guy has a hole in his fin now though. I couldn't really get a pic that showed...

Dad came up with a plan to let me delay a car payment for a month (the money goes to him, it's his car I'm buying) so that money can go towards my student loan. Then, I pitch in an extra $50 this month, an extra $50 next month...and my student loan will be paid off! *fans self* Dad said he was impressed that I put my entire tax refund ($1,000) towards paying it off, so he could tell how badly I want it gone. Woohay! By then, my wisdom teeth will be paid off, and I can throw all that money...

Man, I love buying stuff. My debit card is so fun. I just felt like saying that again, even though it's already been said numerous times. It's a good thing that I signed up for a checking account around the same time I got a raise. I was saving money on my old salary already, so I'm still doing okay. One nice thing is that I've been able to pick up things I was planning to buy anyway when they are on sale, as opposed to saying no because I don't have the cash on me and then ending up paying...

Easter wasn't exciting, but it was fine. My brakes have been squealing lately, so Ernie put new pads and rotors on. She was also due for an oil change, so he did that as well. There was a hole in the drip pan, so...yeah...big mess. Poor Ernie! I love watching him work on my car...gettin' dirty, doin' guy stuff. In exchange for labor, I took him out to Big Boy for Easter dinner (yeah, I know, we're so fancy!). We each had fish & chips, but we got different desserts...