El Guapo

I probably don't want to know the answer to this, but how many of the bettas you see in the little jars at Petsmart actually get sold? I realize that a large percentage of them that are sold are probably not cared for properly and die miserable deaths soon after purchase, but they seem to have 40 or 50-ish bettas in stock at all times. Even assuming they get proper care while sitting in those jars (a big if), they can't possibly sell them all, right? Do they euthanize them after a certain point? Do they just die on the shelf and are considered a cost of doing business? Or do they really take the time to keep the water changed (would probably have to be almost daily, right?) until the fish is sold?

This is the best I could do. I call him Squee.

Thanks guys. I put a java fern and an anubias (?) in there about a month ago and they seem to be thriving. Thinking about getting something to float on the top but the betta seems pretty happy as is and I don't want to risk overcrowding. It also has a small piece of driftwood that I'm trying to get the java fern to attach to. The only other living thing is a nerite snail who's been pretty good at keeping the algae off the cheesy aquarium decorations the kid picked out. Dumb question but if I add distilled water I don't have to condition it, right? This has turned out to be a much more interesting project than I thought. Fortunately, or unfortunately, our house isn't well suited for multiple aquariums otherwise it would be very easy for me to get carried away.

The kids recently talked me into getting a betta. We bought a five gallon tank at Petsmart and set everything up before I knew what I was doing. Fortunately the betta survived and after a lot of googling, I think I'm getting the hang of this. Seriously thinking about setting up a planted tank now - you guys with the reefs have me jealous but I'm not ready to commit to that just yet. Anyway, I bought one of those API test kits a couple of weeks ago and started monitoring the water. Everything has been fine except pH, which seems to hover between what looks like 7.6 and 8.0 (I think, maybe y'all can give me tips on how to distinguish between the color gradiants on the card). As I understand it, that's a little hard for a betta but it comes out of the faucet at 8+. Any tips on how to lower pH? I bought an almond leaf but that hasn't helped. The guy at Aquatek said to buy a reverse osmosis filter, which probably ain't happening.

Had a Swifty last night and I agree that it is an excellent beer.

That's that place just outside of New Braunfels, right? Yes, it's legit. Also legit: Real Deal Soul Food, Weimar, TX.

Pho Phi at Metric & Parmer is really good.

Finished Season 2 this morning. Didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Season 1; in fact I came close to giving up on it about 2/3 of the way through. As others have said, too many plot holes, too much suspension of belief, too many crises that required too many highly problematic dominoes to fall in exactly the right order to resolve. And that overdone dark lighting. They had some of this stuff it in Season 1 but stretched them to the breaking point in Season 2.

I'm still pissed about Arkansas 2003 (I think).

Making bittering hops great again.

Stopped by yesterday and filled a growler of a WC style IPA called Lucifer something. Outstanding. These guys just don't make a bad beer, do they? The bartender thanked us for coming in and mentioned that the construction was really hurting their business. He said Google maps had been giving people inaccurate directions and falsely reporting road closures. I don't know how google keeps up with that stuff but I imagine it can't be easy with all the construction. Go support these guys, they deserve it. Edit: talking about Hi-Sign in case that wasn't clear.

Celis has a "golden lager" on tap right now, not to be confused with a golden ale they've had recently. I asked the bartender if that was the pilsner they used to brew back in the day and he said it was the same beer but that it was never a pilsner, it was a golden lager. I always thought Celis Golden was a pilsner but I didn't argue; whatever it was was fantastic. Sorry, wasn't a big fan of the nitro raspberry and I usually like oddball stuff on nitro. Maybe I missed something because that was the only nitro tap I saw.

I just installed the NBC channel on my Roku. We'll see how this works. So far so good.