The Slimy Side of Life

As of today, there is a slimy side to my life - Slimy the Snail, that is. Slimy is the newest addition to the aquarium family. He's a Golden Snail, and I must say he's certainly an active little guy. I've never had a live snail before, so it's quite a shock seeing this shell moving around the aquarium under its own steam! Here's a peek at him:

(c) Fullmoondolphin 2007

This was taken just after I put Slimy in the tank.

(c) Fullmoondolphin 2007

This was taken shortly after the first one - Slimy quickly decided that he wanted to explore his new home. No laying about for this little dude!

I was originally going to get a bottom feeder fish of some sort, but the lady at the store recommended that I go with a snail instead. Since the bottom feeders they had grow to about 6 inches, I'm rather glad she suggested the snail, as I would have been a bit concerned about the frogs with a fish that large!

I've also got a new camera, thanks to some bonuses at work. I received an award for 5 years' service, and an award for our Safety Program, and had to choose something that I wanted. I was thinking of a video camera, but then decided this was the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a new digital camera, since I would get more use out of it. Plus, it would have been a long time before I'd be able to get one myself! I decided on a Canon S3 IS, and I have to say that I'm thrilled with it. The 12X optical zoom is wonderful, the colour is very true, the image stabilization works extremely well, and the video function is awesome. So in a way I got a decent video camera in the bargain anyhow. I wouldn't have been able to get this camera had it not been on sale, so I'm thinking that there was no accident with the timing of the bonuses. They were actually supposed to have been done at the beginning of January, but were delayed. Which is a good thing, as it turns out.

Slimy's pictures were taken with the new camera, and here are a couple of other ones:

(c) Fullmoondolphin 2007

The super macro function - very clear and crisp.

(c) Fullmoondolphin 2007

The zoom function works very nicely, and is very stable.

(c) Fullmoondolphin 2007

Snow mould on the front lawn. Nasty, nasty, stuff!

(c) Fullmoondolphin 2007

See? The Easter Bunny IS real!

This large guy was on a neighbour's front lawn - too cute!

The rest of the test pictures are on the Echoes In Time site, if you want to go take a look at them. There are two new albums - "Spring In the Air?" and "New Camera", and I've also updated the "Fauna" album.

Since it's been awhile, just a quick update on other news. I've slowly managed to get the dental work done. Just had the last bit of work done last Wednesday, and of course it was the worst of it all. A root canal. Ugh. Actually, the procedure wasn't bad at all, except for having to stay in the chair for about 2 1/2 hours. The tooth wasn't nearly as sore as she kept telling me it was going to be - not for the first night and the next day, at any rate. However, it was pretty damned nasty for the two days after that, although that was only when I brushed it or inadvertently bit down on it. It's still pretty tender today, but it's doing better, and I was even able to chew some soft food on it without aggravating it too badly.

There really isn't a lot of other news to speak of. Just mainly focusing on work, and trying to rest in the evenings and on weekends. The fibromyalgia's been worse since Mom got sick, and I think work is not helping it to get any better. But I have to work, so all I can do is rest as much as possible when I'm not working. Of course I end up spending a fair bit of time on the computer, and I've found a site that I think you might all like.

They give away free software programs and games on a daily basis - a different one each day. You have to download, install, and activate them in the specified time period in order to have the full version on your computer. The only thing you don't get is tech support and future upgrades. But I don't care about that - if I can get a full program or game free, I'm not going to complain about not getting tech support or upgrades! They give away one game and one program per day, so I check the site on a daily basis. I've gotten quite a few games, most of which are enjoyable. I didn't like a couple of them, but that's no big deal - I can just uninstall them. I haven't come across many software applications that I wanted, although they did have some that I'd have loved to get just before I found the site! I have downloaded a couple, but haven't had the occasion to try them out yet, although they sound very useful. At any rate, if you want to check it out, go to Giveaway of the Day .

There's not much else in the way of news, so I'll wander off for now. Take care everyone!