I have pets!

Work's been stressful lately. I've had to do counts and tallys and stupid little mindless exercises that are necessary because we need to report certain numbers to the state department of health. Meanwhile, the nearly as mindless task of entering all the attendance sheets into my spreadsheet is not being done. My work is piling up. I think all the stuff made necessary by the state department of health has increased my workload about 50% more than normal during the past couple months.

One thing that cheered me up yesterday was a trip to the fish store. My fish tank is finally cycled, so last night I bought four panda corydoras catfish. They're cute. I was at first thinking of getting pygmy cories, but when I saw how small they were I changed my mind. I had a hard time distinguishing them from pieces of aquarium gravel. Even the pandas are barely an inch long, maybe an inch and a quarter, but they are pale and show up better against my black gravel than the grey pygmies would have. Chris and I independently came up with the idea of naming them after the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan, but we can't tell them apart, so I guess they will have to remain nameless.

These are the first pets I've had since... I think since the gerbils my brother and I had for a few months in elementary school. I'm anxious to provide a good environment for them. Next I'll get some cardinal tetras, and finally a betta.

EDIT: see also here for bigger pictures of panda corys.