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December 12, 2005Viva Vivarium!The literal definition of a "Vivarium" is an enclosure or reserve for keeping plants and animals alive in their natural habitat in order to observe and study them. Today's entry is all about the bragging. Calvin (have I mentioned?) can do ANYTHING. Up to and including the creating of a completely self-contained, automated, KICK ASS ecosystem in which our Thai Water Dragons can thrive. First, he stared with the base cage, which we bought from Cages by Design.
 Then, he cut a hole in the bottom of the cage, and installed a small pond liner.  After setting in the pond, he created a rock waterfall by gluing the rocks in place and grouting the seams.   Here's what it looked like when he was finished with this stage. He set the pump in the pond and ran the hose up behind the rocks, and ran the power cord underneath the cage:   He then took the large pieces of bark that we purchased at Pets, Inc. and affixed them to the back of the cage:   After the bark was set, he added moss to the seams, and attached some decorative plants and vines:    After all of that was done, the final step was to add the rocks and substrate to the bottom of the cage:  After two weeks (plus some, I think!) of hard and dedicated work, Calvin was finally finished and we turned the vivarium over to the dragons:       Didn't he do an incredible job??? The man makes me so proud I could just keel over. When the fogger in the pond is turned on, and the humidifier is pumping a cloud in from above, it looks all "Dragons in the Mist". I'll try to capture a picture that does it justice. Joining Dana (and Nicole): Noting that there are some of Dana and Nicole's choices that I agree with and some that I do not (most notably that I happen to have LOVED "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle", and I HATE "Oops I Did It Again", which when Dana finds out she will shun me forever), here are my selections for the subjects in question. LAURA'S TOP 10 WITH A BACKUP OF FIVE BEST POP SONGS OF ALL TIMES IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: (there's a reason they're all from the 80's) 1. She Bop: Cyndi Lauper. It's all inclusive. It's encompassing. It leaves no one (she, he, we, I, you, they) out. It's rated G for those who choose to believe it's talking about dancing, and rated R for those who choose to believe it's about drugs or sex. Plus, Cyndi RAWKED the hair and bracelets. 2. Mony Mony: Billy Idol. Here she comes now, singing Mony Mony... ("Hey motherfuckers get laid get fucked!") Well, shoot 'em down, turn around, come on, honey... ("Hey motherfuckers get laid get fucked!"). I rest my case. 3. Walk Like an Egyptian: The Bangles. The five times repeated song of my 8th grade dance. The song that inspired "Can't Hardly Wait" style spontaneous synchronized dancing, for the first time ever in real life that I've ever seen. And anybody can slide their feet up the street and bend their back. 4. Mr. Roboto: Styx. The only Japanese any of us know, and it isn't even a swear word. 5. I Ran: Flock of Seagulls. Let's celebrate the band that put the phrase "One Hit Wonder" on the map. 6. Method of Modern Love: Hall and Oates. Just cuz' it's fun to listen to a club full of mostly drunk people try to remember how to spell. Good times. Good times. 7. Hungry Like the Wolf: Duran Duran. One, there has to be a Duran Duran song on this list. Two, this has the BEST video. It was, like, one of the first videos on MTV to tell a story. Ish. 8. Conga: Gloria Estefan. She brought the latin beat into pop music for us cultureless Americans, and we love her for it. Plus, I can sing every word of this song, at full speed. When this song first came out, me and my girlfriend could line dance to this like a mofo. 9. In the Air Tonight: Phil Collins. If I have to explain why, then you don't understand me AT ALL. 10. 1999: Prince. We're not sure how one is supposed to party in 1999. Not even when it was 1999. Probably because we were all distracted by being petrified of that Y2K thing (Remember that? Remember how we, like, TOTALLY forgot all about it the SECOND we realized it was 12:01 and the lights were still on?). But! It sounded like a good idea, and so we accepted Prince and his vagueness. Backups: (aka "Honorable Mentions") 1. Addicted to Love: Robert Palmer. It was the 80's. The song was about cocaine. 'Nuff said. 2. Heartbeat: Don Johnson. The song we kind of liked but never admitted to. 3. Margaritaville: Jimmy Buffet. I don't care if this is really considered pop or not (and if not, what is it?). There is NOBODY out there who hasn't been drunk at a Buffet concert, slurring this song at the top of their lungs, at least once in their life. That they can remember. 4. Dead Man's Party: Oingo Boingo. Zombies are hot. 5. Footloose: Kenny Loggins. Back when we thought that all boundaries could be crossed and all problems could be solved by coming together and dancing like idiots to saccharine songs so sweet they'd make your teeth ache. (Wow. Weeding these down was tough. I could have mentioned Thriller. And Jump. And She's a Maniac. And Don't You Forget About Me. And Money for Nothing - remember that video? And Centerfold. And about 10 John Cougar songs. I understand why this discussion occupied Dana and Nicole for 45 minutes.) Some more pictures, just because.  Calvin and I went to the Tempe Art Festival last weekend.  Where we had lunch.  Calvin putting up with my picture taking. Barely.  Good food here.  Calvin was dorking around with the camera one night. These are the trees in our back yard.  Our single little rose from our struggling rose bush. Comments on this entry? Head on over to The Blog!
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