Monkey business

Michael is on vacation this week which means I am the boss. Since we are a team of two that means I am the boss of me, which gets kinda boring after the first day. Thankfully, he left me with some important responsibilities such as watering his plant and babysitting the Sea Monkeys.

Yes, the Sea Monkeys.

Just after our big department move, Michael bought a Sea Monkey kit. They were slow to start but now he has seven monkeys swimming around in there. Today I decided to take a picture of them and name them all.

Yes, name the Sea Monkeys.

I have been studying them carefully. I've been watching them grow since they were the size of a period, so I have gotten to know them pretty well. First there's Macro, who I will also affectionately call Big Mac, or just Mac, for short. Next there's the fraternal twins, Tuesday and Wednesday. I was originally just going to assign them all a day of the week, since there was seven of them, but then I decided I only really liked the names Tuesday and Wednesday. I call them twins because I had a hard time telling them apart. They both like to hover near the bottom and stare out of the tank at you, kind of like a puppy in a pet store. Wednesday has a longer tail and Tuesday often has a bend in hers as if she is trying to imitate the pose of a mermaid. Tuesday is my favourite. Next is Edgar, a funny, squat little monkey. Chico is also a smaller monkey but with a really really long tail. Perry and Pixel are the smallest of the group, Pixel being tinier than Perry. I actually just discovered Pixel this morning.

Big Mac is pregnant. You can tell because when Sea Monkeys are pregnant they show two black dots at the base of their tails. Michael says sometimes they give live birth. Maybe I should set up a Monkey Cam.

I had to feed the monkeys today and oxygenate the water. Before he left, Michael made me do a trial run of the oxygenating duties. To do this, you have to pour the tank out into another container and then back into the tank. Repeat once or twice. I was nervous about this trial run. The Sea Monkey aquarium is small and oblong. The container I was to pour the contents of the aquarium into was a wide mouth water bottle. I have problems pouring things without dribbling. Sometimes it seems the best way to avoid the dribbles is to do it quickly. So nervously this is what I did, but I still managed to leave a rather significant puddle. Michael, Mr. Laid Back himself, looked aghast (maybe I'm exaggerating, but I think he at least gasped). I felt awful thinking of the tiny baby sea monkeys that were now floundering in that puddle. But at lunch time Michael went out and bought a measuring cup which has a much larger opening, making it much easier and less stressful to pour into. So far, no stress. Oh yeah, and work is going fine too.

Today after work a bunch of us met up at Earl's on Main for drinks on the patio. I do NOT recommend the Bellini there unless you are a humming bird looking for a glass of syrupy nectar. I was going to tell a story about our good time at Earl's but I can't remember any of the quotes except for when Cindy was driving us home and she noticed a rotten egg smell and she said, "that wasn't me, that's my car."

"It's probably from your catalytic converter," I said.

"You know that stuff?" Judy said. "Wow, you're a smart little blond."

Ignoring the dumb blond reference because I was in a good mood I said, "yeah, that's what makes me hot." That's right lug nuts, I know your grease nipples from your drive shaft and I can bake a cake. Hm, should I start using this as my pick up line?