Geek: Definition from Wikipedia; “The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as ‘a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc.'”

Salty: As in pertaining to a person associated with the salty seas. Perhaps an “Old Salt,” indicating a crusty old individual who has been too many years at sea, (perhaps even adrift.)

These are the things I contemplate as I look up my son’s new blog site, www.saltygeek.com

This past week I have been an accomplice to the Salty Geek. The salt part it turns out is a 40 gallon salt water reef aquarium. It turns out that managing a salt water aquarium takes a lot of skill, work and knowledge. My part has been helping with the chemistry. At least here I am on my own turf. Calcium chemistry, alkalinity and pH were part of my every-day work back in the paper industry.

The aquarium is fascinating to watch. There are two clown fish that follow you from one end of the tank to the other. There are also a dozen or so hermit crabs and a couple dozen snails and their specific job is janitorial. They love to eat the algae that likes to grow on the rocks and walls. The largest have shells about an inch in diameter. Most of them are a half inch or smaller. The hermit crabs are continually clamoring over the coral rock picking at the surfaces. The snails slowly ooze their way over the surfaces scraping and cleaning as they go.

This week’s addition has been five coral animals brought in on a chunk of “live rock.” The coral ranges from round mushroom shaped animals over an inch in diameter to patches of stalks with feather dusters on top.

If you are at all interested, I encourage you to visit Glen’s website. At www.SaltyGeek.com

Here is a question for all of my readers. After you look over Glen’s site, think about how it would work for my blog. I see a couple of advantages.

1. It is more polished looking.

2. It is interactive, that is you will be able to comment on the blog about the posting. My existing web site has no opportunity to comment except to reply directly to me via e-mail.

3. There would be an option to pick up new posts by rss feed and not by e-mail, (if that means anything to you.)

4. I currently use a rather restrictive template to create the actual web page. I would probably be more fluid in my web page layout. I still plan to send the text only version by e-mail.

5. The “recent posts” sidebar allows you to catch up if you didn’t have time to check things out when I first posted the blog.

6. There is a search feature that allows you to find an episode about a particular topic.

So what do you think about making the change?
(Yea) Into the fast lane and floor it.
(Nay) Why mess with it?

While we are at it, if anyone wants to drop off my mailing list, just reply to me by e-mail and request a change.

Thanks all. We are heading for Arizona in the morning. Expect to be in Boron, CA by tomorrow evening and all the way to Wickenburg for the Four Corner States Bluegrass Festival by Thursday. See you there.

Gary and Judy

Photo Credit: Glen Dinsmore

Photo Credit: Glen Dinsmore