Another One Bites the Dust

Tiger Barb 1
Originally uploaded by MewissaPR

I am now down to five fish in my aquarium. This morning, after giving the fish their food, I looked around the aquarium to see how my fish were doing, but I could only locate one of my two tiger barbs, much like the one pictured here. I quickly noticed something sitting at the bottom of the tank next to one of the fake plants. It was mostly just some white, flaky stuff. I soon realized that it has a bit of a tail on it. It was one of the two tiger barbs! I am not sure if it died on its own or not, but it was obvious that my surviving fish had a late-night snack of tiger barb last night. I wonder how long the remaining tiger barb will live. Hopefully the larger fish in the aquarium leave him alone.

Poker Face

I would not consider myself to be a big fan of Lady Gaga, but each time I hear her song "Poker Face" it seems to grow on me more. Most of my exposure to this song though is from others' interpretations of it. Those include versions from South Park and by Christopher Walken. Now, someone has combined these two videos together with the original Lady Gaga video, and they did a terrific job at it. There is just one problem though. Watching Eric Cartman performing the song makes me want to buy Rockband 2 or Band Hero for our Wii, but I do not know which one to get.

The Biter

totoro teeth
Originally uploaded by chotda

Yesterday, for the second time in as many weeks, Emma was bitten at daycare. Last week when she was bitten, there was a slight visible mark, but it did not look too bad. This time though, the mark on her arm was much more prominent. From what her teacher told us, the bruise on Emma’s arm appeared immediately after she was bitten. Fortunately the skin was not broken. This could be in part because Emma was wearing both a T-shirt and a sweatshirt at the time.

We are not sure of the circumstances surrounding the previous bite, but yesterday the girl who bit Emma did so because Emma was sitting in the chair that the other girl wanted to sit in for lunch. Emma was one of three victims of this other girl yesterday, causing the girl to be sent home for the day. This girl may end up being removed from the daycare center if the biting continues. However, Emma will soon be getting away from her as Emma will be transitioning to the preschool class after Thanksgiving.

We spoke with Emma about biting last night, letting her know that biting someone else is not acceptable. Emma says that this girl is still her friend, but I wonder if she will try to avoid her at daycare for the next week until she moves to the preschool class.

Starting Thanksgiving Early

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Mel's grandmother's house in Iowa. We rode there with Mel's brother and his two kids. After that ride, I have to say that being squeezed in the back of a minivan next to Emma in her car seat was not the most comfortable way to spend a three hour drive each way, but it was worth it as we did save some gas.

We had a tasty dinner and got to see much of Mel's family. Emma really enjoyed seeing all of her cousins. She also had a great time playing in the leaves in the yard. Emma and I will be back down to Mel's grandmother's house next month for Christmas, but Mel has decided that after Thanksgiving, she is done going on long car trips until the baby is born. So Mel will not be able to make it there then.

Garden Jawa

Skywalker Garden Jawa
Originally uploaded by Official Star Wars Blog

This morning I discovered one of the latest offerings from StarWarsShop.com, the Garden Jawa. For just $34.99, plus shipping, this solid-resin, fully-painted, Jawa, complete with a garden hose, could find himself along side the garden gnomes that we already have. He measures about one foot tall. As much as I want this, I am going to refrain from buying it as I know my mother needs ideas for Christmas presents for me. The garden Jawa is not available to ship until December 9, but I would guess they will sell out quickly, so I sincerely hope someone orders this for me for Christmas. If I do get this for Christmas, the next thing I will need to do is to convince Mel to let me place it in the yard.

Wii Fit

wii fit at the airport
Originally uploaded by davidking

As part of my renewed effort to lose some weight, I have decided that I really need to become more active. I haven't really gotten any real exercise since completing RAGBRAI in July. As it is getting a bit too cold outside to do much cycling, unless I were to buy some cold-weather cycling gear, I have returned to exercising using the Wii Fit. My plan is to alternate between days of aerobic exercise and days of strength and yoga exercises. Today was my second day of this exercising. I hope I can keep it up. Or maybe I should use some of the money I got for my birthday to buy some clothing for cycling in cold weather.

Overweight

scaled
Originally uploaded by wader

I have written about this a few times already within the past year or so, but I am going to write about it again. I am overweight. When I last went to the doctor for a checkup, he told me that I should probably try to lose ten pounds or so. Well, that was ten pounds ago, but in the wrong direction. As of this morning, I weigh 225.6 pounds. I would really like to get my weight down to 200 pounds, but my doctor says that 205 pounds would be good enough. Just a few months ago, I realized that the size 34 waist pants that I had been wearing were not going to work any longer. I was not pleased that I had to move up to size 36, there being no size 35, but at this point I do not think a size 35 would even fit comfortably.

So today I am going to resume paying close attention to what I eat. That means that I will no longer be touching any of the leftover Halloween candy that sits in a bowl a mere six feet from the desk in my office. I really should ask Mel to take to work to share with her colleagues all of the candy from the bowl that she will not eat. That would really help me out. My goal is to lose at least one pound each week. That means I should reach my goal of 205 pounds in 22 weeks, by April 13.