will this mini compact fluorescent light bulb fit into the light compartment of the 5 gallon minibow hood? i guess i'll find out next week. i just can't stand the yellow glow of the incandescent bulb. even though this fluorescent light has less wattage (10w), it's rated as a full spectrum, which will be good for plants.
salmon cream cheese on toasted onion bagel
with capers and scallions and ground pepper
the past few days i've been having trouble falling asleep. i go to bed way too late (last night i think it was 5am) and when i'm actually in bed it takes me a long time to become unconscious. i think i may have too many blankets. i'm using this thick heavy cotton comforter my parents left here for an tao's wife. after she left, i took the blanket for an additional layer of insulation. unfortunately, not only is it making me overheated at nights, but it's also weighing me down! i spent most of the time searching for that cool spot under the covers.
the vacuum bags i ordered last wednesday finally arrived today. i can't remember the last time i was this excited to vacuum the floors. i tore open one of the packages and removed my old bag (heavy and thick with dust, i wrapped it up in a bag and thew it away), replacing it with a new one. what a difference! i had okay suction before, but now it was on maximum power, the kind of vacuuming that lifts up the carpets and eat up dust i never even knew i had before. and since this was a brand new bag, it had none of that weird funky aftersmell i had with the old filled bag. my only regret is my house isn't big enough for me to do anymore vacuuming.
the aquaclear filter that's currently running my 7 gallon minibow is amazingly quiet. that wasn't always the case: when i first got it, it would gurgle and hum so loudly i thought it was broken. but after a few months of use, it seemed to have settled down and now it's so silent i sometimes think it's not turned on. 
i can't tell what the difference is now (compared to before) but i noticed the water outflow sort of gently bubbles up from the layers of filtration medium in one particular sweat spot before it cascades back into the tank. once my biowheel filter arrives, i will have a full assortment of filtration: undergravel (hexagon tank), aquaclear (7 minibow), in-tank whisper (5 minibow), and the whisper power filter (10 gallon). having not experienced the biowheel yet, i'm going to say that the aquaclear is my current favorite. i like how you can mix and match different media to fit inside the filtration cage. the whisper power filter is loud and i have no confidence that it does a better job than the aquaclear. as for the in-tank filtration, it takes up too much space in the tank (although it is absolutely noiseless). and finally the undergravel, it's a miracle that solitary cherry barb hasn't died yet, i guess the filtration must be doing something right.
i've been pinging for about a month (ever since i switched over to adium for my instant messaging capability) with no answer but for some reason tonight i got in touch with two of the people i met while i was in china, one through QQ, the other through MSN. it was a hodge podge of chinese and english, with me doing most of the english.