So, I performed a public service last night.  Many will argue that it wasn't very bright, and I won't necessarily disagree.  However, I didn't really take any time to consider the consequences.  I'd still probably do it again.

    I finished walking my new pup around 12:30 am last night.  I went back out to the Galaxie to grab a book out of it that I wanted to read before I went to sleep.  It was at that time that I noticed a white, four-door sedan pull up to the row of mailboxes across the street from my house.  I've never seen this vehicle before, and they were acting odd.  As I watched, I saw them open each mailbox in succession, which made it plainly obvious what was going on.  So, in bare feet, I walked toward the car (with no real plan in mind).  They pulled away, in no hurry, and I was able to grab the first three digits of their license plate.  Since I wanted more of their plate, I decided to run back to the house, get the keys to the Galaxie, and follow them.

    It didn't take long before I was made.  They sped up conisderably, and I matched their speed.  The pursuit lasted about four minutes, after which I decided that continuing would be a bad idea, as their driving was becoming progressively hazardous (running stop signs, bottoming out on speed bumps, etc).  I was already on the phone with 911 and was giving them the general direction of travel for the suspect.

    I headed back to a corner where I had lost a hubcab (the first actual turn made in the pursuit) and noticed a black duffel bag on the side of the road, zipped closed.  I instructed the 911 operator to have a cruiser meet me at a Chevron station.

    The officer arrived and I handed over the bag.  He opened it up and found a good deal of mail from all over the area . . . Netflix DVDs, checks, etc . . . We stood there and talked for a bit before he requested to follow me to the mailboxes they were pilfering.  I pulled out, heading southbound, and stopped at a yellow light to give the cop time to follow me.  While we sat there at the light I noticed a white, four-door sedan pull into the 7/11 behind us (North of the Chevron station).  I signalled to the cop that I was going to turn around, and then proceeded to do so.  I pulled into the 7/11 parking lot in time to see two individuals get out of the car.  I pulled the Galaxie up behind their car (essentially blocking it in), and noted the license number 006 - ***.  The two individuals were arrested, and the last update I have seems to be that they may have folded.

    So yes, the two suspects know the car (which isn't parked in a garage), and the neighborhood the car came from.  Not great . . . but all in all, I'm happy they've been apprehended.

    There's just something about a body of water that makes humans want to attach themselves to the back of a boat and be forced to hydroplane along behind it at a high rate of speed.  I'm no exception.  :P

    For my first attempt at wakeboarding, we were down by the Gulf in Corpus Cristi, TX.  I was down there to celebrate a very good friend of mine's graduation from Air Force flight school.

    The first thing I was told is that women generally "get up" faster than men.  Obvious innuendo aside, this does make sense.  Women don't fight the pull of the boat.  While men do.  Again, I'm no exception. 

    Without further ado, here are some pics of me expertly playing part of . . . . boat anchor.

    This Memorial Day weekend I spent a good deal of time grilling for guests.  There aren't any pictures of me cooking, or the food being consumed.  There are however, pictures of the fire side palaver afterwards.

    The conversation was lively, as there was a great deal of diverse opinions and backgrounds.  In fact, the only sensitive topic I think we didn't cover was abortion.  There were existential conversations (mostly surrounding the scientific categorization of fire as "alive" - who hasn't pondered that?), there were racial conversations . . . and on and on.  It was a very good time.

    The decision was made to move the reef out of its original 40 gallon acrylic tank.  Our existing 55 gallon glass tank was already home to several fish, however, the bioload didn't appear to be prohibitive to such a consolodation.  Furthermore, the original 40 gallon tank will become a refugium for the 55 gallon.

    The substrate in the 55 gal is quite a bit different from the 40 gal.  The 40 gal had very fine sand.  The 55 gal has course gravel over a plenum (that used to be used for an undergravel), with semi-course ground coral over top.  This appears to have been a success, as there are bristle worms & apparent copepods living in the course gravel.

    In fact, everything appears to have been a success, as many of the coral (such as the green hydnophora) are extending and opening more than they ever had in the 40.

    I've uploaded pics of the new setup.  Enjoy.

    The Galaxie continues to run strong.  I've been trying to calculate the fuel efficiency, and early reports are grim. :)  I believe I will be seeing a mean calculation of around 10 miles to the gallon.  Of course, all of that is city driving.

    Today we hit 80 degrees, and I couldn't resist dropping the top for my drive to work.  I learned a very interesting factoid about driving a convertible on a sunny day. The sun is ALWAYS in your eyes!!

So . . . in it's most basic form, successful reef keeping (as well as all other aquarial endeavors) relies primarily, on wisking away waste and keeping water quality as near to real world parameters as possible.

There are several organisms that can be used to help dissolve and eliminate these wastes. Conversely, there are several organisms who PRODUCE this waste. Usually, this waste is a measurable metric that can be definitively calculated.

Now, for the question. Can a formula be created to encompass the ratio of waste dissolution to waste creation, using factors such as type & number of coral/fish to type & quantity of purifying organisms/mechanisms?

It seems that this would take a good deal of data scrubbing and collection. However, considering the advanced topics I've seen discussed in articles and whatnot, it seems likely that someone has taken a scientific approach to this dilema.

If it hasn't already been done, is it feasible and/or worthwhile?

    It has been just under a week, and I believe the reef is doing OK.  I've been adding updated the reef photo album every other day it seems.  My partial motivation for snapping such a large quantity of photos of the same coral stems from my desire to fine tune my coral photography.

    I've learned a great deal through discussion with other reef keepers.  Most of the discussions I've participated in have been at www.reefcentral.com.  The magazine that hosts that forum seems to be extremely detailed in the methods and nuances of reef keeping.  The forum itself also contains quite a wealth of knowledge, though I've found some of the locals to be somewhat stubborn in responding to inquiries. 

    The only coral that I'm concerned about at this point is one of the torch corals (pictured at the bottom of this entry, as I can't seem to figure out how to embed an image into the post itself).

    I've tested the water, and all parameters seem normal:

    PH:            8.0 +/-
    Nitrate:      5.0 +/- ppm (mg/l)
    Nitrite:       0
    Alkalinity:  Somewhere above 300 ppm

    Granted, these measurements aren't exact.  I'm using a colored strip that you dip into the tank and compare to a chart.

    I will continue to monitor and, at this point, hope that it recovers.

    In an effort to diagnose the electrical issue the Galaxie was experiencing, I settled on a clever procedure I've seen my father perform numerous times.  The basic premise of this procedure involves bypassing the starter solenoid.  In the picture below you will see two red arrows.  That is the location that you need to bridge with a metal object.  You NEED to use something where YOU are insulated from the current.  I used a screw driver with a plastic handle (plastic does not conduct electricity). 

    Once that was successful, I decided the problem must lie with the starter solenoid.  $18 later, I have a new solenoid.  Unfortunately, the problem has no subsided.  Thus I believe the problem then resides within the ignition itself.  My newest theory is aided by the single occurence of the engine not shutting off when I turned the key.  :) 

    In a few months we will be losing some close family friends, as they will be moving to Munich.  While this i an outstanding oppurtunity for them, it is a very large loss for us.  Due to this move overseas, we have been honored with the care of a fairly large reef tank. 

    Currently, we have one 55 gal salt tank with only fish, and one 155 gal fresh tank with only fish.  Here's the breakdown:

55 Gallon Salt

1 Eibli Angel   http://www.themarinecenter.com/angel-eibli.jpg
2 Chromis      http://www.coralreefnetwork.com/stender/fishes/damselfishes/Chromis%20atripectoralis.jpg
2 Clown Fish  http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Jul-21-Mon-2003/photos/clown.jpg
1 Coral Banded Shrimp  http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/img/stenopus1.jpg

155 Gallon Fresh

2 Tinfoil Barbs  http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/Fishpics/tinfoil-barb.jpg
2 Pictus Catfish  http://petfish.net/pix/pictus_yvonne.jpg
1 Plecostomus   http://www.old-forge-tropicals.co.uk/tank/sucker.jpg
3 Assorted Cichlids (I don't remember their type at the moment)

    I don't know all of what is in this inherited reef tank, but I'm sure I will learn.  Fortunately, the family friend will be here for awhile to help with the education process.  The plan is to find homes for the fresh water fish, and move the reef into the 155 gallon tank, and consolidate the salt tanks. 

    The reef tank was moved down to our house last night, and I've posted some pictures of its condition from this morning.  They're in the photo album "reef".

    It would seem that the Galaxie has suffered some type of electrical trauma.  I slid into the wonderful vinyl seat last night, inserted the key . . . . "click click" was the only reply.  My initial suspicion rested upon the battery.  I have seen many cars exhibit the same behavior when the battery has died.

    With that theory in mind, I pulled the Stratus (I seem to have an odd fetish for cosmically themed cars) up to the Galaxie and hooked her up.  Same response.  In fact, the lights on the Galaxie are as strong as ever.  Thus, the easy fix would be futile.

    Unfortunately, as electrical problems go, a dead battery is the extent of my range for troubleshooting.  From here, I have to suspect items such as:  voltage regulator, solenoid, & starter.  Now, while I CAN name some of the electrical components, I cannot on my own, troubleshoot them. 

    At this point in time, the Galaxie is running well, and there isn't a whole lot of major work I can do on it due to lack of expendable funds.  So, I sit here trying to compile a mental to-do list, and realize, I might as well put that list here, because my mental lists are always getting misplaced.  :)

    I'll break the list down into three parts: Mechanical, Interior, Exterior

Mechanical

1. Fine tune, and possibly rebuild the carb
2. Replace the intake manifold with an aluminum one
3. Replace the exhaust headers with high flow headers
4. Replace springs on the rear end
5. Check compression in all cylinders

Interior

1. Steering wheel needs repair
2. Rearview mirror is loose, and needs to be tightened
3. Front seats are torn on some of the seams
4. Instrument cluster cover needs new silver trim paint
5. In dash clock doesn't work
6. New stereo and speakers
7. Interior chrome needs to be refinished
8. Front window rails need to be greased
9. Rear driver's side window motor needs to be replaced
10. Power lock vacuum system needs to be troubleshot

Exterior

1. New paint job
2. Aluminum trim needs to be re-anodized
3. New chrome mags
4. Rust on frame and under floor boards needs to be addressed.
5. All glass may need to be replaced
6. convertible top needs to be replaced (and top frame restored)

For now, that's what I can think of . . . more to come (I'm sure).

    There are tons of personality tests on the Internet.  They're right up there with chain letters and porn sites.  Quite frankly, I find them a little self-indulgent (but then again, so are blog sites . . . and here I am).  Nevertheless, I found one that was semi-interesting . . . so I participated.  It's somewhat accurate.  The questions were a little obvious, thus true pyschological profiling is next to impossible.  So, without further ado:

Extraversion                      |||||||||||||||||| 73%
Stability                            |||||||||||||| 56%
Orderliness                        |||||||||||||| 53%
Empathy                          |||||||||| 36%
Interdependence              |||||||||||| 43%
Intellectual                       |||||||||||||||| 63%
Mystical                            |||||||||||||||| 63%
Artistic                             |||||| 30%
Religious                           |||||| 30%
Hedonism                         |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Materialism                        |||||||||||| 43%
Narcissism                          |||||||||||| 50%
Adventurousness               |||||||||||||||| 63%
Work ethic                        |||||| 30%
Self absorbed                    |||||||||||| 50%
Conflict seeking                 |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Need to dominate             |||||||||| 36%
 Romantic                         |||||||||||| 43%
Avoidant                           |||||||||| 36%
Anti-authority                    |||||||||||||||| 70%
Wealth                             |||||| 23%
Dependency                     |||||||||||| 50%
Change averse                  |||||||||||| 43%
Cautiousness                    |||||||||||||||| 70%
Individuality                      |||||| 30%
Sexuality                          |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Peter pan complex            |||||||||||||||| 63%
Physical security                |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Food indulgent                  |||||||||||| 50%
Histrionic                          |||||| 30%
Paranoia                           |||||||||||||||| 70%
Vanity                              |||||||||||||| 56%
Hypersensitivity                 |||||||||| 36%
Female cliche                    |||||| 30%

    This afternoon I traveled to my local dept/grocery store to purchase a fan.  You see, ever since my childhood, I've prefered to sleep with a fan on.  Winter, summer, 100 degrees or -30 below . . . I prefer to slumber with 10 mp/h winds beating on my face.  :)  The white noise is soothing as well (How the hell does one select a color to describe a sound?)

    As summer is enroute, the store had plenty of fans.  Now, I need a free standing fan.  As I scanned the isle I found a selection of two such fans.  I noticed both of them came with remotes.  A remote?!? What the hell for?  Is this in the event that you've suddenly become stricken with heat stroke, and cannot manage to drag your sweaty, dizzy self over the fan to turn it on in an effort to relieve your malady?

    No, of course it's not.  It's because our culture has a remote fetish.  Everything must have the option for us to remain fat and lazy whilst carrying on with our self-important lives.  It reminds me of the short story "The Machine Stops", by E.M. Forster.  The amazing point to note is that this short story was written in 1909. I happened to have found it published, in it's entirety on the Web (of couse):

http://www.plexus.org/forster.html

    Truly an eerie story in it's rough similarity to present day existence from the prophetic mind of someone who lived a life without T.V., airplanes, and of course, the Internet. 

    Also noted, the 1900-1909 decade saw the arrest of a woman for smoking in public.  It won't be long before that happens again at the current rate of anti-smoking sentiment, but I digress . . .

    Nevertheless, "The Machine Stops" is a fantastic story that should only take about an hour to read.  So, as I remotely control my fan, my T.V., my VCR, my computer, stereo, camera, camcorder, hot tub, life, I ask only . . . where the hell are the flying cars?