9/29

Shumai is in his new 20-g long (and not high) tank and predictably, he is very upset. He's really resistant to change. I would be happy to keep him in his deluxe 5-gal forever if he would be happy to never grow any larger. But he likes his krill (and earthworms and freeze-dried tubifex and of course tetra baby reptile which Eugene's Brother claims is growing him too fast), so I figured now that my parents are out of town it would be a good time to set up larger accomodations. They'll have fewer objections this way than if they were to witness the physical moving-in of the 20-gal. It's shockingly large.

They just called from Vegas. By this time tomorrow dad's presentation, which he has been working on for months, will be over. I'm home left with the daunting tasks of waking my brother up in the morning and administering my dog's arthritis medication. Fortunately tonight he swallowed it without complaint, so I didn't have to get my fingers in his food, which I hate because there seems to be a lot of fish oil in the medicine.

Today was Race for the Cure. I woke up at 5:45 and decided Eugene's Brother should share this bleary-eyed joy with me and drive me to Kapiolani Park. Baby Diva and I ran the 5K (alrighty, "ran" is a generous description of what we did) and did not come in dead last. I think someone with a stroller did. Ah well, it was fun. Most people had "in memory/celebration of ..." signs pinned onto their numbers. There was a really little boy sitting on his dad's shoulders, wearing one that said "My Mommy." I hope it said "in celebration of." I managed to collect $100 in donations. Also, if I neglected to mention, I was sponsored by Baby Diva's wonderful mom Katie and the Association of Nurse Anesthetists (RFC patrons.) And lastly, some post-race enlightenment: Balance bars taste 300x better than Luna bars.

Hung around for a bit and then decided to call E's B from a pay phone. Woke him up again and asked really nicely if he would come pick me up. He did. When we got home, he took out his business math homework but fell asleep on the couch instead. Then Ryan and his family came by with a paper I needed to fill out/sign that affirms that I do not practice witchcraft or anything else that would make me an unfit godparent to dear Zachary (isn't he cute? So is his sister.). He's being baptized next week (more on this later), the day before his surgery.

I can't remember if E's B got up of his own accord or if I had to drag him out the door ... we had lots to do. Buy a 20-g, 25 pounds of gravel, a brick, duck food. We found the first two things at PD. We went to Home Depot for the brick and a transparent vinyl sheet, but found neither. We went to KP for the duck food. We ate at Coco's (their new menu includes mini octopus curry, Calpico Water drinks, and scallops.) We went home and promptly fell asleep.

I sent him home at 5:30 and washed the gravel and wiped down the tank. I put the filter/pump inside along with Shumai's trusty pile of rocks, and propped up his "friend window" (mirror) on the outside, set up my reading light for him, and put him in. I just checked on him. He's still upset.

That was pretty much my day. I am exhausted. But still full from lunch.

Cousins are here. I described the toad problem to them -- Les says caffeine is the answer, it's toxic to them. Seeing that I can't offer the toads a pitcher of Coke or anything, I wonder if I can go dissolve some Excedrin tablets in the pond next door. The pond, according to my dad and Eugene's Brother, is the reason we have these toads in the first place.

Tomorrow: October! Eugene's Brother's last day with third grade. Wednesday he moves to K, where I work. I don't really like working very closely to him, but soon I should know if/when my new position starts. More on that too, later. Night.