After buying a Betta fish, one of my first questions was how large of a tank I needed. A lot of people on the internet have suggested that you need a large tank 2 gallons or larger, with plants and "fish houses" for a Betta to hang out in.
In the last two months I've had the opportunity to try different tanks for my Betta, who I named "fish" (like everyone else in the world apparently). A friend provided me with a small quart-sized tank which is more accurately a bowl. My fish seems to have ADHD and he's quite a hyperactive fellow. He does an "intimidation move" when you walk up to his tank where he darts back and forth while snapping his mouth open and shut. It's quite hilarious to watch and I try to impersonate him around my friends, to the distress of other restaurant patrons. At first I believed that fish's hyperactive activity indicated that he didn't like his tank and wanted out. He seemed to attack the sides of the bowl and I didn't understand why.
So I moved my Betta to a larger, temporary tank which was actually a 1 gallon iced tea pitcher. He seemed to love this new residence and wasn't nearly as hyperactive as before. After a few weeks I decided to buy him a proper 2.5 gallon tank. Again he seemed to enjoy the new environment, and I even bought a fake plant for him to hide in! Apparently you can tell when Betta fish are happy because they create these "bubble nests" on the surface of the water. One morning I would wake up and find a ton of bubbles in one area of the tank!
Another month went by and I made an interesting observation: Fish always seemed to hang out in one small area of the tank, near the corner. The more time that went by, the more he seemed to reside in this virtual "fish apartment" of only a few inches. He also seemed to completely avoid the plant which I thought he would hide in. I made another observation as well: 2.5 gallon tanks are a huge pain in the ass to clean. I already have major OCD, so the last thing I feel like doing is cleaning a giant fishy-smelling tank for an hour every few weeks. Also, I've had nightmares about the glass tank breaking or falling apart, sending 2.5 gallons of nasty fish water throughout my apartment. I then started wondering if fish actually needed such a large tank!
I therefore decided to move fish back to his old quart-sized tank. I thought of this as an experiment.. If he seemed extremely unhappy then I would revert to a larger tank. It was also around this time that I discovered Bettas like to attack their own image in a mirror. Well the sides of the small fish tank are quite mirrored, and this seemed to explain fish's strange aggressiveness towards the side of the tank. To my delight, after moving fish back into his old bowl he was just as happy as in the larger tanks. He's energetic and loves when I walk into the kitchen to visit him. I tend to overfeed fish because he's just so charming.
Although I've only had my Betta fish for a few months, at this point I don't believe Bettas require a giant tank to thrive in. My friend also has a Betta (for over a year) and she has a small tank as well. She agrees and says that her own fish is quite satisfied with a smaller bowl. I think that a lot of people just assume a Betta needs a large tank to thrive because they are thinking in terms of their own preferences (well we don't live in closets do we?)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Nostalgia is the Strangest Thing
Nostalgia is the weirdest thing to me. I mean it makes perfect sense... You did something in the past that you enjoyed, and when thinking about it, you want to do it again to get that same feeling.
This sounds great in theory, but in real life is quite challenging to achieve. Most of the time you'll end up getting more depressed trying to replicate the activity. Today I started thinking about an old video game I used to play and how much fun I had. So I broke out the 10-year-old CD (are you kidding me???) and load up the game. Unfortunately the experience is slightly different this time around.
First the game won't load at all of course.. the screen is blank. Oh right, the resolution on computers in 2001 was a *bit* lower than on computers nowadays. 1080p doesn't work so well with Halo: Combat Evolved which was probably designed in the 90's! After resolving this issue I realize that there are about 10 pixels on the screen... Damn, how graphics have improved. The Halo "Master Chief" character looks like he's made up of around 10 pixels. Is that his head or his ass? Who knows!?
Now that I'm through all the technical issues and whining about pixels, I attempt to play multiplayer on the internet. Wow there are actually still servers up. Well that's hopeful. Unfortunately after getting into a server I realize just how terrible the netcode is. People are warping around hacker-style and some ghetto "rockets only" addon is being used. This is not what I remember from playing epic CTF matches on Blood Gulch back in my happy days. I end up leaving the game, frustrated, because the experience just isn't the same. I couldn't even get into a non-full server without some silly mod or with 500+ latency!
Well gaming is only one example of nostalgia. There are much worse examples. I won't even get into thinking about ex-girlfriends because that is probably the most painful (of course you CAN'T duplicate those experiences.) Typically ex-girlfriends aren't really too fond of you after the breakup. They also tend to gain about 100lbs after high school and college.
What this all really comes down to is that as you get older, activities just are not as fun. Life is exciting when you're a kid, but as you age everything just gets more dull. It could just be me, but I have feeling that a lot of people out there would agree about this. Just think back to Christmas when you were a kid. Pretty awesome right? Magical even. After 20 years... not so much. You're probably more worried these days about filing your IRS tax return on time, or not getting pulled over for exceeding the speed limit by 11mph during the drive to work.
Well, I guess all you can do is try to have fun, however you can. Even though life is pretty dull after 20-25, just make the best of it. Try to go on trips and have new experiences. Use the money you make from your boring office job to enjoy life. What else can you really do?
This sounds great in theory, but in real life is quite challenging to achieve. Most of the time you'll end up getting more depressed trying to replicate the activity. Today I started thinking about an old video game I used to play and how much fun I had. So I broke out the 10-year-old CD (are you kidding me???) and load up the game. Unfortunately the experience is slightly different this time around.
First the game won't load at all of course.. the screen is blank. Oh right, the resolution on computers in 2001 was a *bit* lower than on computers nowadays. 1080p doesn't work so well with Halo: Combat Evolved which was probably designed in the 90's! After resolving this issue I realize that there are about 10 pixels on the screen... Damn, how graphics have improved. The Halo "Master Chief" character looks like he's made up of around 10 pixels. Is that his head or his ass? Who knows!?
Now that I'm through all the technical issues and whining about pixels, I attempt to play multiplayer on the internet. Wow there are actually still servers up. Well that's hopeful. Unfortunately after getting into a server I realize just how terrible the netcode is. People are warping around hacker-style and some ghetto "rockets only" addon is being used. This is not what I remember from playing epic CTF matches on Blood Gulch back in my happy days. I end up leaving the game, frustrated, because the experience just isn't the same. I couldn't even get into a non-full server without some silly mod or with 500+ latency!
Well gaming is only one example of nostalgia. There are much worse examples. I won't even get into thinking about ex-girlfriends because that is probably the most painful (of course you CAN'T duplicate those experiences.) Typically ex-girlfriends aren't really too fond of you after the breakup. They also tend to gain about 100lbs after high school and college.
What this all really comes down to is that as you get older, activities just are not as fun. Life is exciting when you're a kid, but as you age everything just gets more dull. It could just be me, but I have feeling that a lot of people out there would agree about this. Just think back to Christmas when you were a kid. Pretty awesome right? Magical even. After 20 years... not so much. You're probably more worried these days about filing your IRS tax return on time, or not getting pulled over for exceeding the speed limit by 11mph during the drive to work.
Well, I guess all you can do is try to have fun, however you can. Even though life is pretty dull after 20-25, just make the best of it. Try to go on trips and have new experiences. Use the money you make from your boring office job to enjoy life. What else can you really do?
Our Society Makes No Sense... Work, Work, Work, Die
Ever stop to think about how ridiculous our society is? So you spend the first 20 years of your life "being educated", which mostly consists of being lectured by biased teachers who don't know what the hell they are talking about. Being forced to attend a prison where you need a "hallway pass" just to go to the bathroom. Things have also gotten WAY worse for students since 9/11. At least when I attended school, I had some sense of freedom. No, today schools look like a penitentiary, with security cameras, electronic locks, and even on-site police squads. Wow, way to instill creativity and a sense of freedom into our country's youth.
After all that nonsense feel free to rack up some ridiculous bills attending college. Make it through that and you can hopefully bullshit your way into a job where you actually make money... Oh this is where the real fun begins.
Society then decides that you're going to get paid a ridiculously low sum of money to work on an HOURLY basis at a place of employment. Great incentive to do quality work... Do the bare minimum or work your ass off and you'll make the same exact amount. Brilliant America. Kiss enough ass and you may end up getting a promotion for an additional 5% pay, if you're lucky. Wow..
Meanwhile inflation continues to rise and you'll be lucky to maintain the standard of living you had when you started that job. Oh yes here's $30,000 a year. No here's $60,000 a year. After taxes and living expenses you'll have enough money leftover to get a few drinks at the local pub.
This system is insane.. We all know who's making the money (scumbags at the top) while the rest of us are wasting our lives sitting in tiny cubicles making some manager feel good about himself. We HAVE the technology to make everyone's lives a lot better, but instead we'll waste all our resources fighting among ourselves.
To summarize, people are morons, and it's not getting any better. Sometimes I think I'm from another planet altogether. Do you think people just took so many drugs back in the day that all their offspring went insane? There has to be an explanation for human behavior someplace right?
I'm a computer guy, so I always talk about how technology is the key. However, politics and bullshit holds everything up. Progress cannot happen when the entire system stalls it. How long will it take for society to move forward? I love watching those movies from a few decades ago, where they talk about "Ah yes in the year 2005, when giant spacecraft will be exploring the galaxy, and we'll all be flying around in aircars, etc". LOL yeah right, not on this planet. Instead we'll just pretend that in 2011 our best technology is still the internal combustion engine developed over 100 years ago.
After all that nonsense feel free to rack up some ridiculous bills attending college. Make it through that and you can hopefully bullshit your way into a job where you actually make money... Oh this is where the real fun begins.
Society then decides that you're going to get paid a ridiculously low sum of money to work on an HOURLY basis at a place of employment. Great incentive to do quality work... Do the bare minimum or work your ass off and you'll make the same exact amount. Brilliant America. Kiss enough ass and you may end up getting a promotion for an additional 5% pay, if you're lucky. Wow..
Meanwhile inflation continues to rise and you'll be lucky to maintain the standard of living you had when you started that job. Oh yes here's $30,000 a year. No here's $60,000 a year. After taxes and living expenses you'll have enough money leftover to get a few drinks at the local pub.
This system is insane.. We all know who's making the money (scumbags at the top) while the rest of us are wasting our lives sitting in tiny cubicles making some manager feel good about himself. We HAVE the technology to make everyone's lives a lot better, but instead we'll waste all our resources fighting among ourselves.
To summarize, people are morons, and it's not getting any better. Sometimes I think I'm from another planet altogether. Do you think people just took so many drugs back in the day that all their offspring went insane? There has to be an explanation for human behavior someplace right?
I'm a computer guy, so I always talk about how technology is the key. However, politics and bullshit holds everything up. Progress cannot happen when the entire system stalls it. How long will it take for society to move forward? I love watching those movies from a few decades ago, where they talk about "Ah yes in the year 2005, when giant spacecraft will be exploring the galaxy, and we'll all be flying around in aircars, etc". LOL yeah right, not on this planet. Instead we'll just pretend that in 2011 our best technology is still the internal combustion engine developed over 100 years ago.
What's The Deal With People Driving Giant Trucks and SUVs?
OK seriously what's the deal with all these people driving around over-sized pickup trucks, and in a recession of all times? I remember back in the 90's when they started getting carried away with SUVs.. Remember the Ford Explorer? Oh, then we had the EXCURSION, the SUBURBAN, those ridiculous cars that had like 8 seats in them. Why not just buy a bus?
I had a friend in high school who used to make fun of these giant vehicles with me. He told me that they might as well come out with a "Ford Idiot", the biggest SUV EVER! I had a girlfriend with parents who would have bought one of those in a second. I mean these people aren't even using all the cargo space for anything. It's just a giant empty vehicle for them to drive around for no apparent reason.
Anyway, back to the trucks. It seems like everywhere I go some assclown pulls up in a MASSIVE pickup truck and parks so close to me he has to exit via the passenger side window. Then you have those crazy rednecks who need to back into every damn parking space perfectly as if a panel of judges is watching the exercise.
Similarly those tiny cars piss me off as well. The "Smart Car"? Could it look any more ridiculous? The thing looks like somebody put the "Ford Idiot" into a compactor for a few hours. Well people can do whatever they want.. I'm going to continue driving around my boring looking 35mpg sedan because it's sensible. Everyone else can keep driving around massive pickups like they are going to work at a rock quarry. But we all know they probably work in some crappy office just like the rest of us.
I had a friend in high school who used to make fun of these giant vehicles with me. He told me that they might as well come out with a "Ford Idiot", the biggest SUV EVER! I had a girlfriend with parents who would have bought one of those in a second. I mean these people aren't even using all the cargo space for anything. It's just a giant empty vehicle for them to drive around for no apparent reason.
Anyway, back to the trucks. It seems like everywhere I go some assclown pulls up in a MASSIVE pickup truck and parks so close to me he has to exit via the passenger side window. Then you have those crazy rednecks who need to back into every damn parking space perfectly as if a panel of judges is watching the exercise.
Similarly those tiny cars piss me off as well. The "Smart Car"? Could it look any more ridiculous? The thing looks like somebody put the "Ford Idiot" into a compactor for a few hours. Well people can do whatever they want.. I'm going to continue driving around my boring looking 35mpg sedan because it's sensible. Everyone else can keep driving around massive pickups like they are going to work at a rock quarry. But we all know they probably work in some crappy office just like the rest of us.
Memory Foam Mattress: Sleep Better and Save Money
Recently I started shopping for a new mattress, after my 12 year old spring mattress started sagging to the floor. It's funny because you get used to sleeping on something, and don't realize how terrible it is. My old mattress squeaked and I could feel the supports of it when laying down... not such a good thing. Most mornings I would wake up with a sore back because my bed sagged so much that it provided no support.
So... off to the mall I went, eager to find this new mattress. I was not looking forward to spending $1000+ on something decent, or to moving furniture all over the place in my tiny apartment. Unfortunately, I was only more confused after leaving the mall... So many brands, so many levels of comfort, and then these new memory foam mattresses to wonder about.. Only $3000+ for the nice ones! Wow!
Fortunately after getting home I did some internet research. I was again overwhelmed and confused,until I found this site, which reviews brands and types of mattresses based on feedback from consumers themselves. Wow, somebody really did their homework here..
What becomes obvious almost immediately when reading sleeplikethedead.com, is how memory foam mattresses are superior in almost every way... I was skeptical, so I found one of the most popular brands (Spa Sensations) and decided to do some more research.
Over to Walmart's website I went, where they apparently sold this brand of memory foam mattress. To my amazement, the product received incredibly high reviews, and even better, the price was astonishing... $200-300 for the larger sizes! That's $500+ off of purchasing a major brand name spring mattress. I made my decision almost immediately, and purchased a California King size memory foam mattress from Spa Sensations (again, sold online at Walmart).
The package comes sealed in a box that one person can carry, and once taken out the mattress expands. This makes it incredibly easy to transport compared to a full sized spring mattress. I've been sleeping on mine for 7+ months, and it supports your body very well.. You won't wake up with creaks in your back or stiff arms.. It's firm and supportive.
So I would highly recommend to anyone to seriously look into these knockoff memory foam mattresses. Tempurpedic may have started the trend, but they overcharge big time.. Don't waste your money unless you're an elitist and have cash to throw away. I'm pretty damn picky myself, and the Spa Sensations memory foam mattress is awesome.. Just give it a try, you won't regret saving $500.
PS - Yes I have to thanks a certain friend here who recommended a memory foam mattress far before I ever did any research. I laughed and told him I would never buy one. Time to eat my words I guess..
Friday, June 3, 2011
How To Get Rid of Junk Mail
Postal junk mail has really started to annoy me recently. It seems like the volume of it has gone way up, to the point where I have an entire trashcan full every month. Not only is it annoying, but your personal information is being sold and traded all over the place, and when you throw away junk mail (unless you "sanitize" it), you are putting personal information out there for people to use for such things as identity theft. With that in mind, I decided to look into how to really get rid of junk mail, and found this website immediately- http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/ which has a lot of interesting tips. I know that some of you probably receive a lot more junkmail than I do. Sure it's some work to follow the steps below, but in the long run you'll be saving a lot of time, and your personal information won't be passed around like a cheap prostitute.
Here is the method I came up with that I felt was most efficient and effective:
1) Go to the following website and sign up: http://www.dmachoice.org. Click on all four junk-mail categories on the left and follow instructions (basically find the button at the bottom for opting out of everything). The first link goes to a "Consumer Credit Reporting Companies" where you want to opt out, and it will do this for five years.
2) Sign up here: http://www.catalogchoice.org. Basically you want to take every piece of junk mail you receive on an ongoing basis, and search for the company name on the website. If it exists you can opt out using the button (and sometimes a form).
3) If the company does not exist on the catalogchoice website, you can opt out manually by emailing or using the customer service "contact us" form on the company's website. You can also fax them if they have a number (I use faxzero.com). What you want to do is send them a message like this:
Subject: Remove (name) From Mailing List
Message: Please remove the following name and address from your postal mailing list. (Name), (Address). Please do not rent or trade my contact information with any other organization. Thank you.
What's important is that you match exactly the name and address they have written on the spam they sent you. So if they have your name as "Johhny D Cupcakes" put it down just like that in your message. If they sent it to "Current Resident" then use that for the name instead. List your account number or any unique identification number if you can, but most of the time I couldn't find that information. It will probably take a few months before these changes take effect, but in the long run it should be much less work. Good luck!
UPDATE (08/06/2011)...
I just wanted to put a small update here. So far after following the above instructions, I haven't seen a huge difference in junk mail. A few of the really stubborn and annoying places are still sending me spam today, two months later. I'm assuming that they "lost" my many requests to be taken off their stupid mailing lists. Still, I believe the amount of junk mail I receive will lessen over time. It takes a few months just to be taken off of these stupid mailing lists in the first place.
Also there is another angle I failed to mention. Apparently many of these junk mail providers are paying for the bulk of the postal service's fees. So you're actually paying less for mail service because these companies are paying for all this advertising... It's something to think about at least. I still hate junk mail, but would I want to pay $1 to send a letter? Or $20 to order something from Amazon? Hmmm..
UPDATE (07/07/2012)...
Well a year later and I have seen a big difference in junk mail. Only the most stubborn companies are still spamming me! Notably Comcast and financial institutions that I actually belong to such as my bank. However I have almost completely stopped receiving unsolicited mail from everyone else! I'd say the process was definitely worth it.
Here is the method I came up with that I felt was most efficient and effective:
1) Go to the following website and sign up: http://www.dmachoice.org. Click on all four junk-mail categories on the left and follow instructions (basically find the button at the bottom for opting out of everything). The first link goes to a "Consumer Credit Reporting Companies" where you want to opt out, and it will do this for five years.
2) Sign up here: http://www.catalogchoice.org. Basically you want to take every piece of junk mail you receive on an ongoing basis, and search for the company name on the website. If it exists you can opt out using the button (and sometimes a form).
3) If the company does not exist on the catalogchoice website, you can opt out manually by emailing or using the customer service "contact us" form on the company's website. You can also fax them if they have a number (I use faxzero.com). What you want to do is send them a message like this:
Subject: Remove (name) From Mailing List
Message: Please remove the following name and address from your postal mailing list. (Name), (Address). Please do not rent or trade my contact information with any other organization. Thank you.
What's important is that you match exactly the name and address they have written on the spam they sent you. So if they have your name as "Johhny D Cupcakes" put it down just like that in your message. If they sent it to "Current Resident" then use that for the name instead. List your account number or any unique identification number if you can, but most of the time I couldn't find that information. It will probably take a few months before these changes take effect, but in the long run it should be much less work. Good luck!
UPDATE (08/06/2011)...
I just wanted to put a small update here. So far after following the above instructions, I haven't seen a huge difference in junk mail. A few of the really stubborn and annoying places are still sending me spam today, two months later. I'm assuming that they "lost" my many requests to be taken off their stupid mailing lists. Still, I believe the amount of junk mail I receive will lessen over time. It takes a few months just to be taken off of these stupid mailing lists in the first place.
Also there is another angle I failed to mention. Apparently many of these junk mail providers are paying for the bulk of the postal service's fees. So you're actually paying less for mail service because these companies are paying for all this advertising... It's something to think about at least. I still hate junk mail, but would I want to pay $1 to send a letter? Or $20 to order something from Amazon? Hmmm..
UPDATE (07/07/2012)...
Well a year later and I have seen a big difference in junk mail. Only the most stubborn companies are still spamming me! Notably Comcast and financial institutions that I actually belong to such as my bank. However I have almost completely stopped receiving unsolicited mail from everyone else! I'd say the process was definitely worth it.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Life is Awkward
It seems like every social situation I get into these days is incredibly awkward. People (myself included) just aren't used to social contact or adjusted for it, and when it comes down to the real thing, everyone just sits around playing with their phones and waiting for events to end.
I certainly do this myself. Today I was at an event and since everyone looked "awkward".. "shy".. "bored" or whatever word you want to use, I decided to play TOWER BATTLE on my Nexus One. An awesome game for sure, but it kind of defeated the purpose of going to a social event. The worst part is, I've been single for a long time and can't afford to be socially awkward all the time.
Don't you hate when you run into those people who seem to be experts at every social situation? I always find that Europeans are great at it. It's like they always have something interesting to talk about... epic stories and fun topics. I've been told that English people are very "dry", but from my own observations they always seem vibrant and have a lot to say. It seems like they aren't afraid to have fun.
When it comes to social situations, I always find that I end up either talking to somebody I know and am comfortable with, or I shut down and say a few polite words to strangers before escaping to some sort of phone related activity. Of course nobody else is any better.. Women especially seem to be experts at playing with their phones all the time instead of socializing.
It makes one wonder; what did people do before cell phones were around? Play with their wallets? Stare at the ceiling? Or just force themselves to socialize? It's sad when you see kids, who have no inhibitions talking to everyone in the room, yet all the people past puberty are scared to death to make human contact. Well, that's the world today I guess. Somehow people still manage to meet out there. Maybe it just requires massive amounts of alcohol or caffeine to socialize properly.
I certainly do this myself. Today I was at an event and since everyone looked "awkward".. "shy".. "bored" or whatever word you want to use, I decided to play TOWER BATTLE on my Nexus One. An awesome game for sure, but it kind of defeated the purpose of going to a social event. The worst part is, I've been single for a long time and can't afford to be socially awkward all the time.
Don't you hate when you run into those people who seem to be experts at every social situation? I always find that Europeans are great at it. It's like they always have something interesting to talk about... epic stories and fun topics. I've been told that English people are very "dry", but from my own observations they always seem vibrant and have a lot to say. It seems like they aren't afraid to have fun.
When it comes to social situations, I always find that I end up either talking to somebody I know and am comfortable with, or I shut down and say a few polite words to strangers before escaping to some sort of phone related activity. Of course nobody else is any better.. Women especially seem to be experts at playing with their phones all the time instead of socializing.
It makes one wonder; what did people do before cell phones were around? Play with their wallets? Stare at the ceiling? Or just force themselves to socialize? It's sad when you see kids, who have no inhibitions talking to everyone in the room, yet all the people past puberty are scared to death to make human contact. Well, that's the world today I guess. Somehow people still manage to meet out there. Maybe it just requires massive amounts of alcohol or caffeine to socialize properly.
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