Ripper Hollow

Since 2009 is coming to a close, I thought I’d reflect on what I achieved throughout the year.

1. I bought my first home in April of 2009. This is a big achievement for me. It’s a 3 bedroom, 1 den, 2 1/2 bath house.  I have a huge front yard on a corner lot.  The backyard isn’t so small either.  This was a foreclosed home, and it was on the market for a few months with no offers.  I think I was the only offer on the house.  The house didn’t need much work done to it.  I had to have the upstairs bathroom floor and tub replaced due to water damage, but that was it.  I still need to finish replacing the power receptacles in 2 bedrooms, the den, and the bathrooms.

I’m also working on plans to build an addition on top of the garage for a bonus room/home theatre.  That will probably include moving the upstairs bathroom, the furnace closet,  and possibly the stairs.  A friend of mine is going to work on a couple different plans for it.  I’m already saving up for the work.  I’m guessing it might cost upwards of $30-50k.  It seems like a lot of money, but it will definitely add value to the house.

2. On May 1st, I hit my 2 year mark at Chevron, becoming a Operator Trainee 3. I love working at the refinery, and am happy I landed such a great career. In May I’ll become a full Operator.  I started working at Chevron Richmond Refinery in May 2007.  The business unit I work at is RLOP (Richmond Lube Oil Plant).  We have 4 outside jobs, which includes 6 different plants.  I already have 3 outside jobs under my belt.

I’m not sure what my career goals at the refinery are yet, but I’ve got at least 30 years to go.  I’ve got plenty of time to think of that.

I’m also on the fire brigade at the refinery.  I only train a couple times a year, and I get to help out when there’s an emergency.  We don’t have many fires or spills anymore, which is a good thing.  I’m content with the training and the occasional helping hand to the department.

3. I’ve been working on my 26 gallon planted aquarium since about March or so. I started it with too few plants, so the tank didn’t really take off all that well.  I recently ordered a bunch of new plants, so the tank is now heavily planted.  I’m still battling a few different types of algae, but hope to rid myself of it soon.  Right now I have 7 neon tetras, 4 blue mystery snails, 3 Chinese algae eaters, and a bunch of plants.  I plan on getting 3 more neon tetras, 4 nerite snails, and 5 or 6 otocinclus.  I also use dry fertilizers for the plants.  I have a whole regiment for it.

After I set up my 20 gallon shrimp tank early next year, I’d love to get a 100 gallon tank.  I figure the more tanks I have, the happier I’ll be.

Popularity: 7% [?]

It looks like I’m getting a new type of algae (new to me at least). I believe it’s BBA, black beard algae. I’ve increased my CO2 to about 4 bps instead of 2 1/2, so I’ll check my water parameters in a few days to see how that goes. I might dose some Flourish Excel tommorrow as well, as I’m still battling string algae. I’m going to order some nerite snails soon to help the mystery snails and Chinese alga eaters with the algae as well. I’m thinking about ordering a couple oto’s as well.

On a happy note, my Christmas moss is starting to grow out on my moss wall a little bit, and the weeping moss on my driftwood is a nice bright green under the algae. I think I’ll spot treat it with excel as well.

Popularity: 8% [?]

	Posted M 5.0, Malawi.
	Posted Yay. About half an hour or so of work left. I sooooo want to go home and sleeeeeeep..
	Posted M 5.0, Fiji region.
	Posted M 5.0, Ryukyu Islands, Japan.
	Posted M 5.1, Nias region, Indonesia.
	Posted oheresy’s 26 gallon tall bow front.
	Posted I have a strange deficiency (or something) going….
	Posted I was thinking of upgrading my light to a MH….
	Posted My First Planted Setup (100g).
	Posted M 5.2, southern Sumatra, Indonesia.
	Posted First shots emerge of SpaceShipTwo.
	Posted Namebench Helps You Find the Fastest DNS Server for Your Computer [Downloads].
	Posted M 5.9, Malawi.
	Posted The Boxee Beta.
	Posted M 5.0, Jalisco, Mexico.
	Posted M 5.1, Cook Strait, New Zealand.
	Posted Product Reviews.
	Posted Image Hosting.
	Posted Photo Gallery.
	Posted Photo Competition.
	Posted *Tank Tracker.
	Posted Dark Suckers.
	Posted M 5.2, Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
	Posted AirPort Utility.
	Posted Make Google Chrome Open with Permanently Pinned Tabs [Google Chrome].
	Posted Bought an AirPort Extreme earlier this evening. All set up. Easy enough. Not really for power users who like to control every little bit of the configuration though (like me). Very nice though..
	Posted M 5.3, Pacific-Antarctic Ridge.
	Posted M 6.4, southeast of the Loyalty Islands.
	Shared Nutrient Deficiency or Algae?.
	Posted A High-End Makeover.
	Posted A Stargate Atlantis Theater is Born.
	Posted Apple tablet set for spring launch?.
	Posted 28F right now. Weeeeee. I wish it would snow. It hasn’t snowed here in about 15 years or so..
	Shared Old photo of me in my disco getup. Taken about 6 years ago I think..
	Shared A photo back in the day when I worked at the renaissance faire. Yes, that’s me in a kilt! =).
	Shared Another disco getup photo from ren faire disco party..
	Shared Me when I was a little Raider fan..
	Posted Hmm…been getting quite a few errors in Google Reader lately. Irritating..
	Posted The Moon, In Technicolor [Image Cache].
	Shared My little Harley..
	Posted M 5.2, central Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
	Posted M 5.0, Izu Islands, Japan region.
	Posted M 5.9, Simeulue, Indonesia.
	Posted M 5.2, Kuril Islands.
	Shared Nutrient Deficiency or Algae?. Nutrient Deficiency or Algae?
	Posted GNOME Screenshot.
	Posted M 6.1, Sea of Okhotsk.
	Posted Frogplay: 1921.
	Posted Actualización de SuperDrive.
	Posted M 5.3, Mindanao, Philippines.
	Posted M 5.0, south of the Fiji Islands.
	Posted 10 Critical Things You Have to Consider in Life.
	Posted M 5.0, off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
	Posted M 5.0, near the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia.
	Posted Finally started raining a little bit ago. ITS ABOUT TIME!!! =) That means it’ll be a little warmer tonight (but not much warmer)..
	Posted M 5.1, Santa Cruz Islands.
	Posted totem-plugin-viewer.
	Posted M 5.0, Malawi.
	Posted M 5.5, Tonga.
	Posted Introducing Metalink.
	Shared Trigger Event. Trigger Event
	Posted Deficiency or algae?.
	Shared Neon Tetras.
	Posted You Can Write Like a Professional: Here’s How.
	Posted Donate Google Voice Transcriptions for Better Results [Voicemail].
	Posted M 5.0, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia.
	Posted M 5.4, Malawi.
	Posted Poised: 1921.
	Posted Nuts and Bolts: 1919.
	Posted M 5.1, Tonga.
	Posted M 5.1, Maharashtra, India.
	Shared Neon Tetras. Neon Tetras
	Posted M 5.0, Ryukyu Islands, Japan.
	Posted M 5.0, Pakistan.
	Posted M 5.1, Jalisco, Mexico.
	Posted M 5.7, east of the Kuril Islands.
	Posted So I recently purchased an AirPort Extreme. I have my cable modem connected to it, and then my 24 port gigabit switch connected to it. I have both computers upstairs on wireless N (iMac and PC), and my other computers in my office on the gigabit switch. My iMac can see the other PC upstairs on the network, but it doesn’t show my computers….
	Posted Alex, I just wanted to say congratulations on your wedding day. I hope you and your wife are happy together for the rest of time..
	Posted Donate Voicemails to Google Transcription Research.
	Posted M 5.3, Bangladesh.
	Posted M 5.2, Xinjiang-Gansu border region, China.
	Posted M 5.1, Alamagan region, Northern Mariana Islands.
	Posted M 5.3, Timor region, Indonesia.
	Posted Now watching Plaguers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918554/ 3/10 stars on IMDB. lol!.
	Posted Dlink DSM-380 is official Boxee Box!.

Popularity: 2% [?]

When I started my 26 gallon bowfront aquarium a few months back, I started out with 10 neon tetras. I only have 7 left at this point. I’m not sure why I lost 3, but the others are very healthy. I plan on getting at least 4 more in the near future.

From Wikipedia:

Neon tetras are considered easy to keep in a community aquarium that is at least 60 cm (24 inches), with a pH of 6.0–7.8 and KH of 1.0–2.0.  Neons are best kept in a densely planted tank with subdued light and an ideal temperature of 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit to resemble their native Amazon environment.  Neon tetras are omnivores and will accept most flake foods, but should also have some small foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, freeze-dried bloodworms, tubifex, which can be stuck to the side of your aquarium, and micro pellet food to supplement their diet.

I’ve taken a ton of photos of my aquarium, and while the neons are definitely not camera shy, they move too fast for the current settings on my camera. I need to increase the shutter speed to get a clear shot. It also doesn’t help that I have a broken tripod.

I feed my neons a combination of flake and freeze dried bloodworms once a day. I also give them frozen bloodworms or frozen tubifex once every other week. They seem to enjoy this emmensely.

I also have other tank inhabitants, but I’ll save them for another post.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I have a strange nutrient deficiency (or something) going on with one of my plants. the leaves are curling and turning black. The black parts are fairly rough to the touch. I’m also still having trouble with string hair algae. I change 50% water weekly, and dose dry fertilizers, 1/16 tsp Trace & Fe 3x week and 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, K2SO4, 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x week. I think I’ll try increasing my CO2 injection. I need to find my drop checker. I have no idea where it is, and I really don’t want to order a new one.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Update: Seems that this is normal for this type of anubias.  I might also have a low phosphate level.  I’ve decided to up my KH2PO4 from 1/16 tsp to 1/8 tsp.  I’ll see if that helps.  I need to get a phosphate level test kit.

Popularity: 21% [?]