Tank birthday, 47+ years

Paul B · Oct 7, 2018

Today I went to my first orientation at the Long Island Aquarium. I will volunteer there for the winter and you have to go to a 6 hour class to make sure you know how to talk to people and not be a Perv.

The first part was the touch tank where they explained to us what a hermit crab, starfish and clam are.

It was exciting and I was on the edge of my seat. (even though I was standing up) Then we went through the bird and butterfly exhibit and to the ray feeding tank. After that we were in a classroom for a talk. We were paired up with someone we didn't know and after five minutes we had to tell all we knew about the other person. I was paired up with an older gentleman, even older than me. He was a Korean War Veteran. So I asked him his name, then he got a phone call that he went outside to answer. He came back five minutes later where the instructor said. "OK Time is up"..

So I had to make up stuff about him .

Next week we go to the back scenes of the place which is what I am interested in. I have been back there before but not as a volunteer.
This place rescues seals, turtles, dolphins, whales and I assume Supermodels. They will rescue anything and they take it back to the aquarium where they have facilities to treat these animals. They are responsible for all of New York State.

I am kind of excited to "work" there as a Volunteer because I like to talk and speak to people. But I will talk to penguins or even wood.

Victoria M · Oct 7, 2018

Paul B said:
Today I went to my first orientation at the Long Island Aquarium. I will volunteer there for the winter and you have to go to a 6 hour class to make sure you know how to talk to people and not be a Perv.

The first part was the touch tank where they explained to us what a hermit crab, starfish and clam are.
It was exciting and I was on the edge of my seat. (even though I was standing up) Then we went through the bird and butterfly exhibit and to the ray feeding tank. After that we were in a classroom for a talk. We were paired up with someone we didn't know and after five minutes we had to tell all we knew about the other person. I was paired up with an older gentleman, even older than me. He was a Korean War Veteran. So I asked him his name, then he got a phone call that he went outside to answer. He came back five minutes later where the instructor said. "OK Time is up"..

So I had to make up stuff about him .

Next week we go to the back scenes of the place which is what I am interested in. I have been back there before but not as a volunteer.
This place rescues seals, turtles, dolphins, whales and I assume Supermodels. They will rescue anything and they take it back to the aquarium where they have facilities to treat these animals. They are responsible for all of New York State.

I am kind of excited to "work" there as a Volunteer because I like to talk and speak to people. But I will talk to penguins or even wood.

Oh, that is gonna be so cool!

Paul B · Oct 8, 2018

I think so. I am not sure how I will get the time to do this but I will try. I have to put in at least 8 hours a month. But I can also Captain their boat.
They have a huge shark tank where I may be able to dive in to help clean it. They need to clean the glass and all the "ruins" in it. It looks like Atlantis.
I would like to work with the filtration systems and things like that as opposed to sweeping the floor.

siggy · Oct 8, 2018

Will they let you take pictures behind the scenes? It would be interesting to see there approach.

Subsea · Oct 8, 2018

I would have to pass on the shark tank. Too much rough sandpaper for me. As a retired person, you keep pretty busy for one person.

Paul B · Oct 8, 2018

I really don't know. I am pretty sure they won't let me pose in my Speedo in front of any tanks.

I have toured the back of the place before and I kind of know the curator of the fish part of the place. I am a fan of his work as the huge coral tank is breath taking. I think it may be the largest indoor coral tank in the county. But I could be mistaken.
About half the place is dedicated to rescuing whales, turtles, dolphins and other such things and they have a fully equipped hospital for them.

They offered me the job of Captaining their boat but I don't think I can dedicate that many hours. Not this year anyway.

I go for the next class next week then I can start volunteering. They also have beach clean ups and walks to look for "cold stunned" sea turtles on the miles of beaches we have here. I can also look for them on my boat which is docked right behind the aquarium.

With my wife having MS I am not sure how much time I can dedicate.

siggy · Oct 8, 2018

Paul B said:
They offered me the job of Captaining their boat

Paul B said:
rescuing whales, turtles, dolphins

That must be some boat. I took all the classes and been strip searched, fingerprinted and tested for a 100 meter Captains license. That would be a lot of responsibility for a volunteer.

Paul B · Oct 8, 2018

Well, Then wanted me to Captain their boat last year before I decided to become a volunteer. The Captains job is a paid position.
I also have a 100 Tonne Masters License.

I think the boat holds about 100 people but I am not sure.

Paul B · Oct 10, 2018

Today I will run my diatom filter on the tank while I work on other projects. Some algae came back in the tank and my algae scrubber has an algae growth an inch thick. That is probably because for a month or two I didn't rinse the frozen food, but I will start doing that again. I wanted to grow the sponges and other microfauna which I think I accomplished. Now I want to clean it up again. I also have not changed any water since I moved here and with the gravel and all the stuff I brought here from my other house I am sure a lot of stuff rotted in there and turned into algae.

It's all good and natural and everything is growing and looks extremely healthy. The pipefish are full of eggs and the fireclowns constantly spawn.
I don't have any other paired fish now so that's all the spawning I have. I want some more interesting, small fish but have not found any yet.
All the corals look better than they ever did.

Next week, weather permitting I will collect some water. I like to change some water about 5 times a year and it's due.

Paul B · Oct 13, 2018

Last night this guy jumped out. Oh well, I guess he wanted to expand his horizons.

Fin · Oct 13, 2018

Paul B · Oct 13, 2018

Thanks, but I am sure he is more sorrier than I am. I told him, like I tell all my fish not to jump.

Fin · Oct 13, 2018

Wrasses never listen.

Paul B · Oct 13, 2018

No they don't. Neither do firefish, moray eels, jawfish and a few others. I should just put a trampoline around the tank for the ones that want to jump.

Fin · Oct 13, 2018

I once lost a moray eel out of my 200. Like that was not enough room for him. Couldn't find him anywhere. A few weeks later, I moved my TV stand / cabinet all the way across the room and there he was. All dried up about 20 feet from the aquarium. That was a jump and a road trip. Good thing my wife had not run across it on his journey across the room. I would have been a widower very early on.

atoll · Oct 13, 2018

Paul, one of my friend's reposted this and I thought you might appreciate it.

I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing backwards.

Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.

For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every ten seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a month, leaving us more than 280,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.

Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry.' Were bad-tempered and impatient, and maybe letting us kill some ***hole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.....

An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10am. Old guys always get up early to pee, so what the heck. Besides, like I said, I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical son-of-a-*****.

If captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser.

Boot camp would be easier for old guys.... We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.

They could lighten up on the obstacle course however..... I've been in combat and never saw a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any push-ups after completing basic training.

Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too..... I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.

An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave or to start a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.

These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.

Let us old guys track down those terrorists..... The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple million hacked off old farts with bad attitudes and automatic weapons, who know that their best years are already behind them.

HEY!! How about recruiting Women over 50.... in menopause! You think MEN have attitudes? Ohhhhhhhh my goodness!!! If nothing else, put them on border patrol. They'll have it secured the first night!

Send this to all of your senior friends in big type so they can read it.

Paul B · Oct 13, 2018

I love it and agree with all of it.

Paul B · Oct 16, 2018

I put my boat away yesterday which mad me a little sad but it is getting cold and windy here. My marina didn't have room so I drove it to another marina a few miles away. The water was very calm but it did rain a little. I winterized it and won't see it until the spring. I looked for but didn't see any frost bitten turtles on the way and I was the only boat out.

Today I will go to the tax department to file my new exemption for my new house. They give you an exemption if you are a Veteran and a bigger exemption if you served in a combat zone and a bigger exemption if you were in combat and another exemption if you have a combat related symptom or injury. If I get another exemption, they will owe me money.

Actually all the exemptions come out to like 10 or 15% of your taxes and here on Long Island we pay some of the highest taxes in the country. (The deduction comes out to about one dollar and eighty five cents. ) I think it's because of the excellent amphipods we can collect here.

After fifty years the Veterans Administration tells me I have PTSD and a disability. (also hearing loss and tinnitus and probably Fishitis)
I don't know about the PTSD because I feel I am fine. I do run around in circles eating flies and I occasionally recite paragraphs from "Horton Hears a Who" in Arabic but only on Tuesdays, besides that, I am great.