The peanut butter jar ecosystems I keep, along with the microscope, live in the room which by default becomes our library as well as the, "goodness, visitors are arriving...better dump that junk in the spare room" room.

As things go, the ecosystems were a bit out of reach for a few months until I finally made an effort to sort through a few piles of junk recently.

I was very happy to find that some of the systems, resting comfortably near the window, have not only survived, but thrived.

One is just filled with Amphipods...given their abundance in the wild, this isn't the most miraculous act of God, but they were only microscopic nothings when I collected the pond sample a few months ago.

I think these two samples are Pontoporeia, but they could be Hyalella. At least, that is what the Microlife book I am reading tells me. For the record, they are quite safe; I put them back in their home after snapping a few pics of them in a drop of water.

Dreadnots – Robotic Hands of God: The new release from the band, available as a free download from their website, a solid mix of beats and samples that the Dreadnots have completely mastered over the years. It is also possible that the intervention from the first track helped the remainder of the songs in a positive fashion.

District 9: I really don’t go to movies much, but Nicole was pretty intent on seeing this one in the theater and I’m glad we did. Without question, I enjoyed this movie more than any I have seen in a long time (maybe since Shaun of the Dead). I would think that even if you aren’t a sci-fi fan (which I kinda only pretend to be by obligation of being male and a geek), the drama and emotion of this movie would override any turnoffs a flick about aliens would cause. Maybe the only turnoff is that it gets a bit gun-happy at points, but they are really big guns that make lots of big carnage…well, okay, that isn’t really making it sound any better…

Hippo in the City: Laughed myself stupid watching this last night.

Secret Weapons: A fascinating book about insects and their defense mechanisms. If they ever mutate to being ten feet big, we are in deep trouble.

Here is how you can tell I'm a bad person.

We were sitting on a relatively empty beach at Lake Erie last month. From the corner of my eye, I saw something skittering along the sand. By time I realized it was the little mouse in the picture above, it had jumped onto a blanket of an unsuspecting family enjoying themselves under the sun.

"Watch this," I said to Nicole. "This is going to be funny."

Within a few seconds, the family jolted up, bouncing away from the blanket, kicking over the typical props one has at the beach. The mouse, unhappy with this reaction, charged back off from whence it came.

Me, I just sat laughing and laughing, much to the dirty looks of the people who were spooked by the little guy.

I suppose a better person would have called the mouse to their attention before the mouse did. I'm sure a better person, even if he or she found the situation amusing, might have worked a little harder than I did to hide the hysterical laughing.

However, I'm not sure a better person would have snapped a picture of the mouse eating an Oreo, so I guess it all evens out.

Sebadoh - Magnet's Coil: Second week in a row with a representative from the Bakesale album, and one of the better tracks from the release.

The Locust - Who Wants a Dose of the Clap?: Well, no awards for song titles today, but the screamy goodness of The Locust is always fun in its self-defined short doses (although they did clock 3 seconds over a minute with this song).

The dB's - Change With the Changing Times: From The Sound of Music, this is a post-Chris Stamey release which has its ups and downs. I'm rarely compelled to listen to this album, but realize when I hear it that the Peter Holsapple-led albums are still pretty fun listens.

Genesis - The Waiting Room: This is actually Jeff Buckley's fault; his cover of "Back in NYC" got stuck in my head and I decided to rip the entire Lamb Lies Down on Broadway double album. I go very back and forth on the Peter Gabriel-led epic, but I tend to enjoy it most when I haven't heard it for a long while. This song is just a crazy bunch of noises serving as part of the adventures of Rael which I'd really rather just not get into.

Crainium - A New Music For a New Kitchen: Should set these guys up on a date with The Locust.

Queensryche - Waiting for 22: Whoa, forgot this was on the iPod. So, that is two crazy punk songs and two interludes on cheezy concept albums. Will there be a tie breaker...

Philemon Arthur & The Dung - Var Och Sommar: I dunno. This random eight is just getting away from me today.

Sebadoh - Cranberry Bog: It is a strange day when an old Sebadoh song can bring calm and closure to a very hectic Random Eight.

I suspect it isn't that hard in a tight shot, but even after watching her fly up into the trees, I couldn't spot her for a good while. For as large as they are, it amazes me how easily they can hide given even a little growth around them.

I better be cute.

Left for Dead: Nicole is the household gamer, but after buying a second controller for our Xbox, I started joining her on the campaigns to kill zombies (er, infected, as to not use the zed word). I'm actually growing to a point where I'm not too bad at the game, with the possible exception of when my finger slips and I shoot Nicole in the back of the head. Whoops.

Kid Silver - Dead City Sunbeams: I bought this CD ten years ago and instantly made it part of my excessive rotation. At one point back then, I had accidentally left the CD at work over the weekend and, missed hearing it so much, that I debated strongly about driving to the office to retrieve it (I didn't, but appreciate the glorious days in which we live where digital copies of songs are readily available on many pieces of hardware). Some random thought brought the music back into my head, and since then I've been listening to it practically nonstop...again.

Roald Dahl - Skin and Other Stories: I'm about five stories into this collection. In my early days, I had the misconception that Dahl was a happy-go-lucky writer of silly stories like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory until I learned that, 1. the Charlie book is kinda messed up in itself, and 2. Dahl is a pretty dark writer. Skin is proving to be no exception.

Link: Starts with a Bang, an astrophysics science blog that is very well written and informative (although I don't know what is up with the American Gladiator costume for the professor / writer in his bio).

For some reason, I'm always a big fan of snapping shots of fungus.

Edith Piaf - Escale: Kinda rings like carnival music, which is somewhat odd in that I'm currently reading Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan Howard, which is very carnival oriented (much more so than necromancer-oriented, now that I think of it).

Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - Early in the Morning: From their new release that we saw the supporting show for a few weeks ago. The duo have grown into pure corny pop music now, but the dB's legacy is still evident in the undertones of most of their songs.

The Books - That Right Ain't Shit: I just really dig The Lemon of Pink, and, despite the rather stupid title that has no reflection on the song whatsoever, this is a great track from it.

Sebadoh - Careful: A fun, fast song from the Bakesale album that was just about at the pinnacle of the band's music.

Tom Waits - Come on Up to the House: I wasn't very into the Mule Variations release when it came out, but after seeing Tom's shows twice in the past few years, a lot of the tracks have grown on me. This one in particular just seems like a very classic Waits song.

Billie Holiday - Nice Work If You Can Get It: I think I just like the old, beat up sound of a song beyond restoration.

Tom Waits - Underground: From the live, and ever so fun Big Time, I never had a problem getting into the Frank's Wild Years trilogy.

Thuja - Untitled #3: From Pine Cone Temples, this is really a great beatless, experimental band who is willing to mix up the crazed noise genre with real (and even beautiful) music embedded in the tracks.

This shot is a few months old now. The goslings were already growing in some adult feathers; I'm sure they are probably nearly fully grown now.

I saved it from a vicious kitten attack, and then it posed to have its picture taken.

I uncovered our Furminator and decided to give Sasha a long-needed brushing. I created a mass of fur that, in its own way, resembled another kitty.

Although she loves being brushed, I don't think she was terribly fond of the blob of her fur sneaking up on her.

Of course, it is all fun and games until somebody gets a hairball.

Oz is tired. The week started with company, continued with a disrupted schedule, and has not allowed him to get any sleep because he is simply too curious to let any change in the routine alone.

He crawled into a box way too small for his body and completely zonked out.

Coco, however, couldn't let him alone.

She curled against him, nuzzling the box and his backside. However, Oz paid her no attention.

So, she started getting goofy. Poking, prodding, and not leaving him alone.

Ozzy finally woke up and began washing his sister.

And continued washing her. Finally Oz wandered off, looking for a quiet place to nap.

Coco claimed the open box.

And sat there as if it were her box all along.

Sunny Day Real Estate - Rodeo Jones: I don't think there is a band that sounds more 90's on the iPod than SDRE. They aren't exactly grunge, but sorta grungy, although they certainly don't annoy me the way the grunge bands did back then. I suppose you could say that in a decade worth forgetting musically, they carry slight traces of a timestamp, but still sound pretty good given that it is now the future.

Johnny Cash - We'll Meet Again: Does that mean he is coming back as a zombie?

Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat: Title track from probably the oddest VU record; and as a package it is probably my favorite studio album.

Lucienne Boyer - Mon Meilleur Ami: Enjoyable as always, but one of these relic songs never stands out above the others for me.

The Paper Chase - We Know Where You Sleep: I'm still in a phase where, no matter what Paper Chase appears on the Random Eight, I'm going to refer to the latest release, Someday This Could All Be Yours, which after a few months of listening is still a favorite play of mine. That said, this track from the previous release carries a similar compelling sound on a very fun album.

Brian Tyler - Bubba's Lament: From the Bubba Ho-Tep soundtrack, a fairly quiet interlude with the riff responsible for me buying the album in the first place.

Marillion - Going Under: From the alcoholic lament, Clutching at Straws. This song was left off the cassette release, which I had before owning the CD, and somehow 20 years later I still remember it for that reason.

The Boom - Trapped Like a Mime: The Boom has been mentioned here before; a wicked-sounding mix that is a really good time.

Windy dusk at Lake Erie.