2 in 3
Mood:  lazy
Well, as fate would have it, our old downstairs neighbors have driven a second couple out of the apartment above theirs in a little more than 3 months. We obviously were simply the warm-up act, as it took that lady a full 9 months to push us out. Lo, this new couple lasted MAYBE 2 months there. Today, they pulled up a small U-Haul and started taking crap out. I find it unbelieveable that her family has not been kicked out since they are forcing everyone that shares a hallway with them to leave. However, I imagine that the landlord would get some sort of call from a lawyer about the whole thing. That lady being around here is doubleplusungood...

[New]Speaking of that, I am almost finished with 1984. I am amazed that I'm actually reading a book again, and hopefully it will spur me on to reading much more. Perhaps it's just been too long since I've read something other than a newspaper that was not academic writing... which is horrible writing (yet better than this blog fer sheezy). I would say it is only plusungood.

It's miserably hot again, but it will cool down later this week. Unfortunately, that is when we won't be around here, as Allison and I are heading to BR for an extended weekend. At least my parents have air conditioning. Weather and politics will keep me from living in the South.

Book learnin'
Mood:  bright
Allison and I are completely homebodies. It does get pretty boring after a while. I was bored enough on Saturday to actually clean the shower. It got a good thorough cleaning with all kinds of skin-buring chemicals. Aren't skin-burning chemicals the best kind of chemicals though?

Later we decided to take a trip to the library. Allison didn't like a book she got from the Audobon Library (one of the 50+ braches of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library). that library also has a very small sci-fi collection. I suggested we go to the downtown Central library, which is quite large and under constant renevation (since we've been here at least). I walk right past it on my way to work anyways, so I can easily return our books.

Yes, I said that correctly... OUR books. She borrowed the first two Robert Jordan books. I found and borrowed a book I have thought for a long time I should read, but never have because reading books has fallen out of favor with me. The book I am reading, and already 100+ pages into is the classic "1984" by George Orwell. So far it is pretty good, or as I should say in 1984's Newspeak, it is 'plusgood'. Parallels can be made between the "Party" of the book and the current ruling class of America. I should write more when I finish the book.

At the Cont
Mood:  smelly
Topic: Band stuff
This Friday was the latest live gig for TBQ. We played at the Continental... which seemingly looked like the first 'real' venue we played. HUGE stage, which I like, full professional sound and lights... I really did like the place.

We were to meet for our customary pre-gig practice. This one was really needed, as we haven't had any full band practices since our last show a month ago. And this was not to be a full practice either, as Len could not get off of work... although he was going to be at the gig. This was difficult since he's been absent for a variety of reasons since the last gig, so he has not practiced with us for quite a while. Mark felt uncomfortable with him playing because of that. I was really on the fence... it is not good to play with no practice, but I would hate to have him feel like we didn't want him to play with us. Basically, a no-win situation.

I didn't want to get to practice to early, because the entire Chris leaving the band thing made me uncomfortable as well. These things added together left an awkwardness in the room that was completely palalitable. It was actually so heavy it was causing us to mess up, forget lyrics, the whole nine during the first few songs of practice.

At the gig, Len showed up just as we were sound checking. Afterwards, we found that none of us, including the singer, could remember the first verse of one of our songs. Len needed me to remind him of some of the changes in a couple songs. yeah, I was feeling pretty poopy how that was going. Rich kept asking if I was alright, and everyone basically was telling me I was being moody and hoping I wouldn't let it inhibit my performance. I reassured them that I would perform fine, but this whole situation was very awkward.

In the end, we played decently. Sloppy, but alright. The other two bands seemed to like us, and we're going to try to do some more shows with the other local band that was on the bill. Still, I really don't want our band to step on stage another time in which any of us feel unprepared. It's funny, I could go 2 months without any Kenobis practice, and walk right on stage with the guys and feel comfy. Maybe it was because none of us really cared too much. This band is more serious, or at least I'm approaching it as something more serious.

While I don't think anyone is reading this yet, I'll at least apologize that I haven't written anything funny (or probably interesting) since I began writing again. Hopefully something completely jovial will come by soon. Something funny... like your face! HA!

Got some G Love... and Special Sauce
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: ringing in my ears
I really hadn't listened to any G Love and Special Sauce as I can recall. But tonight they played at the free concert series Thursday At The Square (TATS) in downtown Buffalo. Allison and I took the train down there, got in a bit late, but that just meant we only caught the last 2 songs of the supporting act. I can't recall their name right now, but they played some fun reggae/ska stuff, and the guitarist played a guitar with a body made out of an oil canister. Pretty cool (and good sounding considering).

G Love and Special Sauce are VERY talented. They make me ashamed that I even own a guitar to some extent. I didn't like the vocal stylings as much as I liked the music. I am very glad I saw them, and they put on a really good show, but I doubt I'd pay money to see them again. Just not exactly my cup of tea.

Observation for the night... young males do not know how to properly wear hats anymore. I swear, every baseball cap-wearing sucker had it some crazy configuration, whether it was simply backwards (which is almost acceptable) or cocked at an off-angle. What I also found is that there is a new way to wear a baseball cap; that is to wear it straight, but have it set VERY far back on the head. Essentially, it is placed where a yarmulke is worn... but it's a BASEBALL CAP. The wearer has about 1/3 of his hair/scalp exposed under the bill. I tried very hard to not sneeze so that it wouldn't fly off their heads. I know, people are trying to be individuals, but hats are formed to fit a certain way on the head. It's not like anyone wears a shirt sideways so that the arm holes are in the middle of the chest and back. At least not yet...

Two bands, two dramas
Topic: Band stuff
Tuesday is the day for Broadcast practice. After an interesting Monday due to the change in my main band, Tuesday's practice was going to be nice. It didn't happen. Turns out there is a relationship problem going on here as well. Rich and I decided it would be better for us to leave rather than intrude upon an argument. Plus, it gave us time to talk about our other band situation, which is a bit more serious.

Rich and I got some Dairy Queen and talked for about an hour about what we should do now that Chris is leaving the band. I think we're close to the same wavelength, and I'll try to start the ball rolling with e-mails to the rest of the band. Note to all you kiddies out there... it is much easier to be in a band when all the members live close by each other. With us, right now I'm in the middle, while the other 4 members are 45 minutes + away in all different directions. It makes having conversations difficult.

Just another day
Mood:  down
Topic: Band stuff
Does it ever seem like 4 months just slip right by? :)

Maybe I'll start posting here semi-regularly again, but no promises.

Today was seemingly like any other day. Got up and was too tired. Rushed through breakfast. Hastily threw together my 'lunch snack'. Drove to the subway station. Weather was too hot. Took the train, went to work. Traded band e-mails back and forth like usual.

Then different things happened. The good: bumping into friends working downtown. Jill and Yaw were doing a traffic count at the intersection of Broadway and Washington, which is basically on my way from work to the train line. I was able to talk to them for a while. It felt good to actually be able to bump into people you know around 'town'... a thing that has not happened often in the past year.

The bad: After grocery shopping, I was bumming at home, waiting to go onto campus to help a fellow classmate with some GIS labs. I check my e-mail. Of course there is one in the band folder, but it is much different. Our bassist is moving out of town, meaning he will be leaving the band. I have never been in a situation like this, with a member leaving the band. Luckily, it is with absolutely no anger or animosity. Plus, he will play our currently scheduled gigs... he's a solid guy. Still, it now leaves the band in a somewhat precarious place. How are we going to fill the spot? Do we now waste time auditioning new players when we already don't have enough time for recording, writing, and general practice?

Chris was a bit of the odd duck in the band... different background musically and such. Still, he was the first guy I talked to about making a band. I still remember how nervous I was e-mailing someone about an ad on the WNY Music message board looking for a band. I was (am) totally insecure about my playing ability in an 'audition' sense since I do not have amazing technique... or decent technique. But he was not judgmental at all, and we started what was to become a stress-free band (well, sorta! Can't have it perfect). He did so much legwork... making ads to find other band members, writing to all of them, finding us shows, plugging us whenever he could. While we sometimes rolled our eyes to it, I honestly don't know if we would have played out by now had we not had someone leading the sled. I am now the 'original' member of this project (but Rich and Mark have really been there from the start of the 'band').

Perhaps more updates will come.

Going downhill
Mood:  a-ok
Band practice was fairly lackluster this past Friday. Just for whatever reason, we weren't 'feeling it.' It did, however, follow our pattern of having a good practice, then a mediocre one, repeat. So it was mediocre. It was probably the worst I played at practice in this calendar year. Still some progress was made, with April 23rd being our first date to play out. It'll still be iffy whether or not we'll really be completely ready by that date. More on that later... maybe a couple days later.

But alas, the title of this post is not about Friday's practice, but about Saturday evening. It marked the very first time I went downhill (alpine) skiing! Allison, Kaitlin (Allison's math buddy), Yaw and I joined Angelika and her happy band of Germans for skiing fun. We took two cars, mine being the English speaking, and the other being the German speaking. All the Germans had skiied some before, and Angelika was looking forward to doing some snowboarding again. In my car, Kaitlin owned her own snowboard, but the rest of us were ameteurs. Allison had gone twice before and disliked it, but I talked her into going (it helped that Kaitlin wanted to go as well). Yaw, being from Ghana, had hardly seen snow before, much less skied. He wasn't going to try it, but we all talked him into it. We seem like bastards, talking people into doing things they don't want!

We travelled to Ellicotville, which is about an hour southeast of Buffalo. We went in the evening, getting a pass from 5:30 until 10:30. And off to the wussy hill we went! Despite being afraid of heights, I really wasn't at all uncomfortable going up the ski lift. I also wasn't too uncomfortable launching myself down the hill. Ok, launching is the wrong word... how about easing myself down the hill. I got to the bottom without falling, with a few stops. Allison fell a couple times, the last time hitting her head a little bit. It ended up being the end of the day for her, as she really confirmed that she didn't like skiing. I felt bad about that, but she generally had someone around to talk to all evening.

I kept going down the hill. I have to say I REALLY enjoyed it, and I can't wait to go again! I tried helping Yaw go down too, but he found his own style. He'd just fly down the hill, and then fall down to stop himself! After a bunch more runs on the little hill, Angelika and Kaitlin found us, and I said I was ready to try a bigger hill. They took me there.

Man, those were fun too! The first one I almost killed someone. That someone could have been me, but most probably it would have been someone I hit. During the last bit of the hill, there were a LOT of people going down, and I was losing control on my speed. I did get down safely, and didn't hit anyone. So my ski leaders took me down that hill again, and then some more hills, and then down some medium difficulty hills. The last one was tough, as it was steep and there were a lot of icy patches I hit. I was also pretty tired, so I fell over a few times while turning. But overall, it was a ton of fun, maybe even more fun than cross-country.

shows
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: ringing ears
Music weekend. Friday was band practice. We found out that Chris, the bass player, wanted to book a show in April. Well, it was closer to 'booked' than 'wanted to book.' So, our new first time playing out is April 24th in beautiful Buffalo, NY. We only practice once a week... so with 8 more practices left, we have to be tight enough to play a set. It's going to be interesting... we're still feeling out a few songs, and we're not super tight on many. It's rock n' roll, so I'm not worried about messing up, but as they say, you only get one chance at a first impression.

Practice went about pretty well. We have a tendancy of having a great practice, then a mediocre one, repeat... so we had a practice on the better side. Still, we ran out of time to really get through some of our new songs. I have some new recordings of some new songs, but the quality is about the same as the one I posted here, so I probably won't put up any new links.

Today, I went to a show with Rich, the drummer, his girlfriend Jen, and Len, the other guitarist. It was the Lizzard Ball, and yes, it is spelled with two L's. It's been an annual event since '78, and started in honor of the Blizzard of '77 (see, Lizzard is blizzard without the B [and with a captial 'L']). It is sponsered by the Erie County Green Party, meaning that it was cool to be there, but you also had to deal with weird older hippie-types. And you had to be hit on by homosexuals (more on that later).

Rich gave me a free ticket, which was nice, because the show was $10 for students. He had free tickets because his primary band, the Broadcast Schedule, was playing there. They are a two piece, with Rich banging the drums and Marissa (I think that is her name) on guitar and vocals. Cool band, and they sounded better than the first time I saw them. Besides watching them play, it was nice to talk to Len and Rich outside of the band setting, and it was also nice to meet Jen.

So yeah, while Rich was playing, a guy jumped on stage, went to the back, and put a blue pamphlet on a guitar amp and on one of Rich's toms. It ended up that it was some advertisement for a drag party. It was given to Rich because some guys thought he was sexy! I asked Jen if she was jealous, and she was definitely not... and she was happy that it was a pamphlet for a drag party rather than some Jesus recruiter! As we were about to leave, the same guy came up from my side, put his hand on my shoulder, and got pretty close to me. He asked if I had a pen. I had to disapoint him by saying I did not. He walked away, and we left. Len felt left out because he wasn't even slightly hit on by a man. And actually, I don't think Jen was hit on either...

Bad f-ing day
Mood:  sad
It's been a busy week and a half, and today was just sucky. I got less sleep than I really wanted, which makes bad days worse. Then, as I'm going out to my car, the neighbor lady has to come out and confront me in the hall. I guess we're 'stomping' when we walk in our apartment, and 'running' inbetween rooms. The noise we make is intolerable to her. So, I had to have a 20-minute discussion with her, reassuring her that we are, in fact, not stomping our feet or running. We are actually trying our fucking hardest to not make any noise when walking, just to avoid her. I even volunteered to give her a test... I went upstairs, took off my shoes, and did three passes through the dining room... first nearly tiptoeing (like I feel I have to do because of her), second walking normally, and third stomping my feet. I think she heard the difference. Although, I think she has the cognitive capacity of a schoolkid, so I'll probably have to repeat the experiment seven times for her to commit it to memory. This goddamn apartment feels like a jail. I'm sick of it. The floors and walls are thin, and the floors creak with every movement. How are we supposed to walk any quieter?? Maybe I should install zip lines around the place, so we can shimmy through the air in the apartment.

That made me late for class. It's hard to concentrate in class with crap like that going in the back of my head. But alas, after class I had to go home to work on some homework. Also, I wanted to check on the NHL labor talks. Well, the internet was dead here. Also, Allison's computer wouldn't turn on, so it's broken. Then, just as I was leaving for the afternoon class, I saw the NHL press conference officially canceling the season. That sucks. Really bad. It's such and embarrassment that they couldn't get something together, but I'm too preoccupied to talk about it.

I have to head into school here after dinner to work on a few assignments. I have 2 papers/projects due tomorrow, AND my first midterm. Then, twice this weekend I have to get together for a stupid group project... group projects in grad school, especially with 6 people, suck really bad. We can't get all 6 of us in the same place at the same time, so we have to do two dates. I'm probably going to feel pretty pissy until Saturday, when I get to play music with the band again. That will hopefully bring me back to near sanity.

The Solution
Mood:  rushed
Jean, you are going to love this... this morning, Allison came up with the answer to our spider problem. Well, it's not quite a huge problem, but we usually see a spider to kill about once a week or so. Anyways, the solution... larger and more aggressive spiders! She woke up for her shower, and there she saw a spider eating another one. Ok, so we don't like the idea of larger and more aggressive (yet fewer) spiders in our place either, so Allison smashed them both.

Geog. lab is really boring. So far, it's stuff I did all the time at my old job, so nothing new. It'll probably be like that most of the time, until we play with rasters and TINs. And that, my friends, is how you bore a blog reading crowd (besides Alvin and Jessica, they'll be ENTHRALLED).

Speaking of enthralled, this is how I feel because Mr. Zach Puchacz is coming up to watch the Super Bowl with me! He's flying in Sunday afternoon, and heading back to NJ on Monday. Just a quick visit. I'm very pleased to have a good buddy there to watch the game with. We will be eating wings for sure! Also, he is in need of a quick vacation... just do a search for Teterburo Airport (where he works) and you'll see what he dealt with this week!

This is almost against my better judgement, but I am linking to an mp3 from The Bailey Quarters. This song is called "Quick Change (The Ways You Make Me Feel)". Please, please remember this was recorded with just one mic picking up the practice noise. Low quality, but maybe you'll get a sense of what we're doing. As we make better mp3s, I'll share them from time to time. I won't be able to host them forever, because of my limited webspace, so if you like it, save it to your hard drive. Enjoy!

Who drove around with his car window down today?
Mood:  rushed
It's me! It's me! Yes, it was balmy today, in the mid thirties. However, the sun was shining, so when I got to my car after the afternoon class, it was really warm in there. Especially when wearing winter clothes. So I turned off the heater, turned up the music, and put down the window! Felt great I'll tell ya.

I was woken up by the downstairs neighbors at 6:20 this morning. Not from the usual suspects... but from one of their daughters. She kept yelling "Mommy" over and over again for about 15 or 20 minutes. It's like she woke up scared for some reason (maybe, like Jean or me, she saw a big spider!), but she couldn't wake up her mom up to calm her down. Strange, since she said she's a 'light sleeper,' and the slightest noise we make in the bedrooms, like tip-toeing wrong, wakes her up for the whole night. Whatever. What was really strange was that tonght, while grocery shopping, I heard an eerily similar cry for "Mommy" across the store. The kid was about half the store down from the mom, and was screaming for her. The mom yelled back "Aisle 17!" Some parents really suck, letting their kids wander away like that, and not trying to get them back quickly. However, the cry was so similar, I have begun to wonder if maybe I didn't wake up to the neighbor's cries, and perhaps it was me hearing the future. I think that should merit a response from Rhea at some point :) Could it be that I was picking up something from the future, especially since Allison didn't hear the cries, and somehow, the parents downstairs didn't wake up from 20 minutes of yelling. Was I the only one hearing these sounds, just bouncing around my brain, in anticipation of some deja vu?

I'm going to ramble only a bit more... I'm extremely tired, yet have to keep writing a paper. As I said, Allison and I got groceries today... we've been out for almost a week. We are proud that we have now officially "Idiot Proofed" the grocery bagging process. hate when you get soft things, like breads, cheeses and such, smashed or broken on the bottom of the bag or cart? Well, we put all the items on the conveyor belt in the exact order we wanted them into the cart for stacking. Then I loaded the bags into the cart, ensuring that heavy things were on the bottom, and fragile things on top. It's really not that hard of a process, but I don't feel like I should have to do it. They just shouldn't smash my bread!

Exciting band news... a week or so ago, we chose a name. We are The Bailey Quarters. Isn't that swell? Anyways, we recorded our last practice, and I got the mp3s today. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I was thinking of putting them somewhere for my faithful blog readers to enjoy, but I might wait until we have recordings with less... how do you say... ah, yes... fuckups. However, keep your eyes peeled, I might leave a link to one somewhere later on.

I just watched the State of the Union... I'm too busy and tired to comment on it fully right now, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow. Have a pleasant day.

Totally busy week
Mood:  down
Wow. Busy busy busy. From band practices, to school work, to work work, to visiting Niagara Falls on a VERY cold night, it's been a busy week or so. I feel so busy that I actually quit a job. Sorta. I have my research assistantship still, that's going well. However, I had been working 4 extra hours for another prof. It was just proving to be too much time for me. It doesn't sound like much, but with 16 credit hours of graduate level work, plus all other things, it is a lot. So I simplified a bit.

On a this-state-is-strange note, this week is Sales Tax Free week. I guess the state and all the counties waive their sales tax on clothing and shoes (and some other items) for one week. I guess I'm going to go out and get some pants, because if I don't now, I'll have to pay the extra 9.25%. Ouch babe!

Allison and I went to Brad and Heather's (my uncle and aunt, respectively) yesterday for dinner. We had some baked pasta dish, then Adam, my cousin, beat down Brad and Eric, my other cousin there, in 4-handed Cribbage. This was good, because we don't have food here. We'll need to go grocery shopping very soon. And do laundry. And dishes. Man it's all piled up already!

New All-Time Records (For Me!)
Mood:  a-ok
I have now been to all my classes this semester, and two of them twice. The repeats were ok, and as I expected, we got the boring side of 510 today. I wrote exactly 2 lines of notes during all 80 minutes of class. During the first 5 minutes, I wrote "Planning is:" Then, it took 70 minutes of class to get to the definition the Prof wanted, which was the 2nd line: "Practical argumentation about collective resources and their disposition." During the 70 minutes, he wanted us to come up with definitions, and he'd try to find the holes in their coverage. And not 10 seconds after he said his definition, someone found an example that would break his definition... the internet. Planners do not 'work' with the internet, yet it is a collective resource. I know this sounds really lame, but it was kinda cool in class. Basically, you can never define a profession completely... they always branch and split too much for succinct definition.

My last class, Urban Simulation with Dr. Yin looks to be really fun. We're going to be doing 3-D visualization with GIS data. SWEET. Plus, no tests or textbook. This is the first of my new records: only $63 spent on books for a semester. Another record low is the single book needed for an entire semester. Oh, there are plenty of articles to read from the course reserves, but only one dang book! Hoorah!

Now on to today's last new record. Actually, this record is broken every single day, but this day marks an aniversary. Allison and I have now been together for four [4] years! We've lived together for about 2 and a half years now as well. What a wonderful time it has been! It is such a comfortable relationship... no pressure to do anything special. Heck, we've been in the computer room together for the past 2 hours or so, and have barely interchanged words. But it's cool like that. I surprised Allison with some lilies when she got home, and then we went to dinner at the Olive Garden. And that's it. No big production from either of us is needed. I love her very much and I can only hope that this is only still the beginning stages of a very long, possibly lifetime, relationship. On that note, I will sign off. Hey, I'm starting to get a hang of this 'post everyday or something' ideal! Wait until the real semester crunch hits!

Winter Wonderland
Mood:  cool
Yes, winter has finally fallen on Buffalo. I'd say we received about 6-8 inches of snow today, although I haven't checked weather reports to corroborate that. The roads were really bad, though. Bad enough that this afternoon, I spun out on a road. I turned left onto Sheridan, which luckily is a divided road. As I straightened out, the back of my car decided to keep turning. At low speed, it wasn't bad, and I stoped after about a 140 degree turn, backed up, and kept going. No problems, but I decided to stay in the rest of the day.

This morning started with Environmental Planning and Policies with Dr. Page. He is my only repeat professor this semester, teaching a very similar course. Good news: no textbook for this class! Also, no tests. A bunch of smallish (3-4 page) papers is about it. Angelika is in that class as well, as she was in the last environmental class. It is good to have someone to bitch with about class stuff if needs be. After the class, I went with Angelika and Greg, another first year in that class, to the Talking Leaves bookstore. We were braving the blowing snow to pick up the book for Dr. Raja's course. It was a small paperback book, 'worth' $63.00. Yuck!

After a few hours at home, I ventured to my first ever class on North Campus. It is a geography course, GIS for Environmental Modeling. I think it'll be a fun class. The entire class is a project. No homework, no tests, and it appears to have no reading (text-wise) either. The professor, Dr. Bian, is actually old friends with Dr. Greg Veeck, a geography professor I know from WMU. Small world 4 shizzle! We did the usual introduce-yourself-thingy, and she asked me a few questions about why I'm taking a GIS course in geography when planning offers them. I think she just wanted to show the class that the GIS in the geography department is really top-notch. I'll say it is much better than the planning, but only because of it's usage. In planning, it is mostly a tool to use... Geographic Information Systems. In geography, it is a discipline... Geographic Information Science. There is a difference. Anyways, I really like GIS as a tool and a discipline, so this is a good class for me.

Now it is time to watch some Star Trek (the Undiscovered Country) on Spike TV and fall asleep.

The Internet goes out... and the first day of class
Mood:  happy
Topic: School
I could not post last night, as our cable internet was lost for most of the night. Allison was extremely bored, as this meant she could not play EQ. But alas, I am changing the date of this post to the 18th, so no one will be the wiser!

Now THIS is what I'm expecting for class in Buffalo. I spent about 10 minutes clearing off my car in the morning, yet the roads were perfect. My first class was Planning Concepts and Controversies with Dr. Sternberg. The class has no papers, and even better, no textbook! There is a good amount of reading on the shared network 'course reserve,' but not purchasing a book is very pleasant. I think the class will be boring and interesting at different times... yeah, that makes sense :)

The 2nd class I attended was Quantitative Methods, taught by Dr. Raja. The class was directly after Sternberg's, but it seems that an Archetecture class reserved the same room at the same time. The solution... move OUR class back an hour! By doing this, it would interupt the lab time for another of my courses. Later in the day I found out that I could attend the Friday [8:00 AM] lab instead... O J0Y 4 M3!!1 However, this class will be enjoyable. It is basically a stats class, and I was basically a stats minor during undergraduate (by basically, I mean exactly, in both usages of the word in the previous sentence).

I got a fun piece of mail... a cell phone company wanted me to call a number so they could send me a free phone! I should call to confirm my address for them to send me the phone, but say my address is up their asses! So then, they'd have to send the free phone up their asses! HAHAHAHA! I won't go on my cell phone rant today, since I still have one topic to touch on.

The turtles are 1 year in our possession! Yes Jean, I will avoid naming my children after elements (although Berrium would be sweet), famous mathematitions (Newton Burtch?) or irrational numbers (although the symbol for Pi would rule in the way the symbol for Prince ruled as a name). Here are comparative pictures to show how much the little dudes/dudettes have grown in a year with us.

This first picture is what the turtles looked like last year around this time. We placed them on this plate, which is a fairly large plate, to give some scale to how big they are. They were probably close to the size of a half-dollar coin.





Now this image is from yesterday. They are placed again on the same style plate. They have definitely grown a lot! They are probably 3 times as big now, by my estimation. Also, their coloration is becoming more mature. Red-Eared Sliders get darker with age, and eventually they will look nearly black.





Pretty sweet, eh?