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When it rains...
Dec. 4th, 2002 09:00 pmNo, this is not a report on the weather, although...
It snowed all day yesterday, albeit without gusto. When I drove home last night, the flakes - which had been falling in a lackluster fashion for most of the day - started to plump up and I figured we'd be in for a snowy morning, but I was wrong. Today, the sky was gray, and the snow had started to melt down here (as opposed to "up there" in the mountains).
No, the title of the post refers to the usage I got out of my cell phone answering calls from clients.
Primo: It would appear I am headed to Houston for a short gig next week. I don't yet know what I'll be doing, but that's no big deal. (Who knows? Maybe I'll get some after-hours Christmas shopping done!)
Segundo: More written work arrived today. If I had not divided my efforts today between the store and the translation, I would have finished the work tonight, but as it turns out, I have about 1000 words left for tomorrow morning. That's okay, since the client expects to see it by 3 pm tomorrow, at which point I may just get another chunk of similar work.
Tercero: More written work was offered, which I declined, as I was engaged. Fortunately, the calls arrived in the right order, as this last call was from my lowest-paying client.
* * * While in Santa Fe, I stopped by a pet shop to buy some fish flakes for the aquarium at the store and some cat food for "Baby," our cat of some seven-plus years. Previously, I'd noticed some inexpensive glass vases on sale at Michaels, intended to house an aquatic plant at the top of the vase, while a betta (aka Siamese fighting fish) lives in the water underneath.
We've had one of these "environments" at the store for some time (it predates the aquarium), and it's certainly a conversation piece. Among other things, it was also certainly expensive (about $40, if memory serves).
Anyway, the vases at Michaels were on sale for $3. Colored rocks could be had for a song. Water is pretty much free. So that left me the task of pricing the plants and the fish to figure out what the cost-of-goods would be for one of these setups.
The bettas at the PetSmart were on sale for $3.49. If we assume a similar price for an aquatic plant, then the COGs for an "environment" run about $12. The idea was planted of perhaps selling a test item at the store for much less than $40, or to decorate my office with one of these vases. Or both.
So I got two bettas, which in retrospect may have been unwise. These fish prefer an environment in which the water is about 75°F, but the ambient temperature in the house - especially when there's nobody home - is far lower than that (and I do not intend to spend oodles of cash heating the house to keep two bettas comfortable). Then again, 75°F is what they prefer, according to various sources. Given the otherwise rotten environmental conditions they're exposed to in the wild, perhaps life isn't so bad here. (And despite what I said above, I am burning electricity to keep these fish warm, or at least warmer than they might otherwise be.)
I still have to get hold of some aquatic plants, though.
Cheers...
It snowed all day yesterday, albeit without gusto. When I drove home last night, the flakes - which had been falling in a lackluster fashion for most of the day - started to plump up and I figured we'd be in for a snowy morning, but I was wrong. Today, the sky was gray, and the snow had started to melt down here (as opposed to "up there" in the mountains).
No, the title of the post refers to the usage I got out of my cell phone answering calls from clients.
Primo: It would appear I am headed to Houston for a short gig next week. I don't yet know what I'll be doing, but that's no big deal. (Who knows? Maybe I'll get some after-hours Christmas shopping done!)
Segundo: More written work arrived today. If I had not divided my efforts today between the store and the translation, I would have finished the work tonight, but as it turns out, I have about 1000 words left for tomorrow morning. That's okay, since the client expects to see it by 3 pm tomorrow, at which point I may just get another chunk of similar work.
Tercero: More written work was offered, which I declined, as I was engaged. Fortunately, the calls arrived in the right order, as this last call was from my lowest-paying client.
We've had one of these "environments" at the store for some time (it predates the aquarium), and it's certainly a conversation piece. Among other things, it was also certainly expensive (about $40, if memory serves).
Anyway, the vases at Michaels were on sale for $3. Colored rocks could be had for a song. Water is pretty much free. So that left me the task of pricing the plants and the fish to figure out what the cost-of-goods would be for one of these setups.
The bettas at the PetSmart were on sale for $3.49. If we assume a similar price for an aquatic plant, then the COGs for an "environment" run about $12. The idea was planted of perhaps selling a test item at the store for much less than $40, or to decorate my office with one of these vases. Or both.
So I got two bettas, which in retrospect may have been unwise. These fish prefer an environment in which the water is about 75°F, but the ambient temperature in the house - especially when there's nobody home - is far lower than that (and I do not intend to spend oodles of cash heating the house to keep two bettas comfortable). Then again, 75°F is what they prefer, according to various sources. Given the otherwise rotten environmental conditions they're exposed to in the wild, perhaps life isn't so bad here. (And despite what I said above, I am burning electricity to keep these fish warm, or at least warmer than they might otherwise be.)
I still have to get hold of some aquatic plants, though.
Cheers...
