Fish Parents and Fatalities

Brian and I have dog-fever. We want a dog so badly. But, our apartment has a ten pound weight limit on pets (whaaat? I know...I mean, I know cats fatter than that). And of course, I want a big dog with a big bark that will tell people to leave me alone, especially when Brian's gone. Brian likes small dogs--that's what he grew up with. Well, this weekend, we went to PetSmart, and of course, the Humane Society was there with all of their precious pups. I fell in love with this dog named Duke...sadly, I had to leave him there. He was definitely more than 10 pounds. But we did not live empty-handed! Brian and I both are sort of enchanted by fishtanks...I literally will sit in front of a tank and watch fish swim around for indefinite periods of time. Of course like always, I want to touch them, but that's never too successful. Ask Clay, Cam, and Mr. Jimmy about my attempts to catch a fish while swimming around in the Gulf last summer at BigStuf...

Anywhoo, we ended up getting a 15 gallon tank and setting it up beautifully. It's a classy fishtank =) Pictures at the bottom...

Yes, it's beautiful :) Or so we think. We followed the guidelines laid out for us by the fish experts at PetSmart and didn't buy fish the same day as the tank. Instead, we went back and got the fish the next day, and got the water checked...basically, we did all these things we'd never done for a fishtank before. We were very responsible fish parents. So, we bought a few tiger barb little fishes and a placostamus (spelling?) I named Petey. He eats algae and keep my tank clean. Although he's slacking, because it's looking a little cloudy. Well, everyone was quite happy on Day 1. We fed them, nutured them, and gave them lots of attention (AKA, watching them skittishly figure out the tank. So cute.). Well, Brian got up for work and had to go in early on Monday, Day 2, and found two of the tiger barbs DEAD! I also noticed this after I came down for breakfast, so I quickly began to fuss over the remaining two fish. Well, I had plans to go workout at the track at 11, and they were still kicking. But when I returned, the other two were dead too! Somehow, we have failed at being fish parents. Petey is still kicking it, but he's hugging the water heater thing that warms up the water...he thinks it's cozy. I think he needs to get to cleaning my tank! I'm hopefully headed back to PetSmart tomorrow to settle this...did you know that you can return a fish? Yes, I didn't know this, but apparently if you get a fish and either you don't like it or it's bullying your other fish, you can return it! Have you ever heard of such a thing? Well, I'm going to attempt to return my dead fish...we'll see how it goes. I still haven't decided how I'm going to transport them...Ziploc bag?

Speaking of working out on the track, it turns out the sun in El Paso is kicking in because I have a massive sunburn! Granted, the girls and I sat on the track for about 1.5 hours talking after we did our workout...but man, my legs hurt today!

We got some great news this week in that our friends, Stuart and Dana, are finally coming to El Paso! Stuart was in Ranger school but is graduating this week, so hopefully they'll be here within the next month! They're the last ones from Benning to come out here and we're all excited for their arrival! She did tell me though that she'd run 16 miles last week...whhhat? Yes, I'm in trouble...I've got about 12 miles to pick up before she gets here...probably won't get to 12! It's a little difficult to run out here; I feel like I'm still acclimating to the higher altitude. When you run outside, it feels like your throat is on fire. Kind of like running during the winter, but a little different.  While we're talking about running, big shout out to Mary and Stacey for completing the Disney Princess Half-Marathon! Go see Stacey's post; they look adorable! Mary, now let's hear your side of the story... =)

Other weekend homework we had this past weekend was for Brian to paint a rock. Yes, you heard me correctly. Brian and his company are training up at White Sands for the next few weeks, and they like for the companies that train there to paint a rock with their company's emblem on it to show who's all been there. Well let me tell you: A-Co's emblem is insanely detailed and slightly disturbing...I mean, it's a skull devouring a snake. Gross. Ok, I knew Brian was pretty good with paint; he did a lot of it when he was growing up. But oh my gosh, what he did was amazing! Literally, if I had tried this, I would've epically failed.

Other than that, I have been reformatting my resume about 13 times. Seriously. Let me tell you: I'd love to find a job. I know I'm a substitute, buuut, fulltime is always nice! So, when applying for any job nowadays, you have to post your resume online. Which sounds like awesome thing from an employer's standpoint. The problem is, everyone uses different online forms, which means you re-enter your information every time you apply...I mean people, I have a professional resume. It's just on paper. I've gotten savvy though and now I just copy and paste...but it does get old!

Ok, I'm having issues with pictures, but here are the fishtank and Brian's rock!



 Tiger barbs...the ones that died on me!



Well, that's about it from El Paso! We've entered the windy season so the other night, I literally was pushed up the stairway outside. It was blowing so hard I had to run up the stairs because I thought I was going to fall over! Most days the wind is fine....but it can flare up! Chao!