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i found some time today to vacuum the aquarium some more. once again i siphoned out about 2 gallons of water and replaced it with some fresh water i had sitting out for 24 hours. i felt quite satisfied looking down at the layer of dirt at the bottom of the siphon bucket. i'm still pretty amazed as to where all that waste came from: do fish really poop that much? i should've been cleaning weeks ago! the next time i visit a pet store i also want to get some ammonia/nitrate packets for the filter. i haven't taken a pH test (not that it'd indicate anything) but i think the water has a high level of phosphate, which is affecting the plants because they're showing burn spots on the leaves which is a sign of over-fertilizing. it's not like i have an aquatic jungle. as a matter of fact, probably the exact opposite: the ambulias are pretty much gone, eaten by the guppies. i don't know if they do this because they need the roughage in their diet or is it out of stress. the mondo grass aren't doing too well either, most of it have turned yellow and died. if i only had a carbon dioxide injector!

for lunch i made some more shake & bake chicken, the poor man's fried chicken. later i felt this craving for chocolate and walked down to brooks to buy some candy. i recognized the cashier from my last snack run, and she gave me a look of reocognition as i paid for my $4 worth of treats with a credit card.

as i predicted last night, i was able to meet the deadline so i got an extension. i definitely work better when there's a deadline though. as soon as i received word of the reprieve, the wind seemed to let out of my sail and i lost my focus. a bag of gummi bears and a box of raisinets further helped dull my razor-sharp edge.

i ate the rest of my chicken for dinner and spent the evening trying to find a suitable sleeve for my macbook. i think it might be the maxprotect but they didn't seem to have the 15" versions and when i wrote the company, i got an e-mail back in broken english saying the new model will arrive in a few weeks.