i haven't set foot outside my house since monday, can you believe that? i did bring the trash out tuesday night, that's about it. so when i went out today to get some groceries, the cold air stung my nose, having been insulated from winter for about a week. the sidewalks were icy, last night's slush solidifying into slippery hazard spots.

i have a neighbor who also works from home. i see the back of her macbook whenever i go out into my backyard, her window faces my porch. i call her a "she" but i've never actually seen this person before, so as far as i know it could be a guy. i'm curious if she leads the same kind of life i do, and i wonder if she's internet savvy and writes a blog. it'd be very easy to get in touch with her, i could just tape an invitation outside so only she would see it, yet at the same time only a select few neighbors know about my lurking internet presence and i'm not sure if want to invite just anyone into the inner circle.

i almost forgot to mention the most exciting news of the day: the other female guppy finally gave birth today to about 10 fries. i noticed one when i was feeding them this morning, and then saw another, and another. they were all hiding near the surface of the aquarium, amongst the long floating grasses. i feel bad for them. as much as i want to attribute their eventually death to the whole circle of life notion, i still think it's a horrible way to go, to be eaten by your parents. i'm beginning to regret ever getting these pairs of guppies. at the very least i need to separate the males from the females. if only they laid eggs instead of live births, i'd probably never see any fries in the tank. i feel like the aquarium will eventually be haunted by the ghosts of these dead baby guppies. feeling the tank getting a little bit dirty, i did another round of gravel vacuuming, water replacement, and algae scrubbing. then i went online looking to buy a used 10 gallon aquarium - a possible birthing tank.

in the evening i made some ravioli with a generic ground beef and tomato sauce. i hadn't seen an tao since last night, he was supposed to go into chinatown today. his fish was still thawing in the kitchen sink, been there since last night. fortunately it didn't smell very much but i'm extremely sensitive to that fishy odor and whenever i caught a whiff it'd make me slightly nauseous. he finally came back after 10pm and cooked his fish so i don't have to see it in the sink anymore.

nikon coolpix 4500 f3.6 17.7mm 1/32 sec focus distance 2cm

canon 18-55mm lens f5.6 55.0mm 1/60 sec focus distance 11.4"

canon 70-300mm lens f5.6 300mm 1/125 sec focus distance 4.9ft

from time to time i like to demonstrate my macro phototaking capacity. as you can see, my nikon coolpix 4500 is still the best macro camera i have. as for my canon SLR, the two lenses i own aren't exactly macro-capable. the 18-55mm is good for generic use as well as landscapes (although i found some chip marks inside the lens tonight, i wonder where those came from). the 70-300mm telephoto is a great long range lens and i use it for birds as well as large flying insects like dragonflies and butterflies.