DarkDiscus
03-08-2004, 11:36 AM
Saturday 3/6/04 - 9:00AM
The alarm went off on time - but I was already awake and I was getting ready to start the day off. I had already decided to skip the water change for the day so I did a second w/c on Friday night so everything would be in order. After all, I was picking up a new fish - a female SS from Cary to try to match with one of the elligible fellows in my bachelor's tank - and I wanted everything to be nice and clean. My Q-tank was in perfect condition and ready for the new fish.
Sandra, however, had a restless night and was not in top form. The rumblings of her not attending were starting, but I promised a quick trip to the store to pick up some "store coffee" to get her day jumpstarted, and that did the trick.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 11:00AM
By my calculations I needed to leave by 11:15AM to make it to North Branford to the meeting by 12:30PM. And I DIDN'T want to be late, as a lot of the fun is in the mingling and hanging out before the dinner and speakers begin. Of course, here I was with 15 minutes to leave and I haven't even had time to get in the shower yet, plus Sandra wasn't quite ready - time to hurry!
Saturday 3/6/04 - 11:25AM
On the road. Only 10 minutes late. I figured with good traffic plus some aggressive driving and a shortcut, we'll be close...
Saturday 3/6/04 - 12:25PM
We made it in record time! The Mapquest directions were pretty good and there was no traffic anywhere. Pulled up, grabbed a spot and hurried in to meet everyone.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 12:30PM
The first person I saw as I walked into the restaurant was Al, aka the Brewmaster, collection dues. I wanted to pay him right away, so I headed over, while I also spotted Ron (Mench) and Gary, who were talking with the infamous Cary Strong, who I had never met but knew from his pics. Since the wife knew and liked Ron and Gary, I pointed them out and she went over to talk to them while I spoke with Al.
Al collected my cash and he noted that it was a pretty good turnout already. He was busy with collecting other fees and preparations for the meeting, so I figured we would chat later and went over to say hello to Ron, Gary and Cary. Ron and Gary had stopped by the apartment last year prior to the NE meeting, so I first met them then and they missed out on a meatloaf dinner due to their lingering over Dave Weber's fish in NYC. Not that I blame them, I'd spend as much time with Dave's fish as possible, too, even with the wife's meatloaf waiting, but when they arrived, we discovered that Ron, in particular, is quite the meatloaf junkie, so... it's been a running joke for the last year. ONE of these days, Ron will get his meatloaf!
I introduced myself to Cary, who, after talking to him a bunch of times on the phone and even doing one of the first spotlights for Simply on him, I felt like I knew already. He's just as nice a guy in person as he is by phone, and we talked a few minutes before the strong desire for beer overcame me and I had to head into the bar.
A pint of Long Trail in hand, I came back into the main dining room where I ran into John and Irene from NY, whose faces I remembered from last year, though I admit I couldn't remember their names, as I'm notoriously bad at putting faces and names together. (I work as a recruiter and I meet a dozen new people every day - after a while you run out of memory storage and just can't remember everyone! So I apologize in advance to everyone I forgot or mis-name in this article!) But as bad as I am, Sandra remembered them both right off - she keeps telling me that we have to meet up with them as she likes them very much! I also spoke with Frank from Long Island - who tells me he may be moving! That would be too bad as I've been trying to get out to see him for a while but things keep popping up. If he's there this summer, I am definitely going out to see him, if not, I'll track him down eventually. I also met Mary, who I remember from the board, but I still can't remember her online name.
I then introduced myself to David Weber who I also had never met before. Dave is also an exceptionally personable and dynamic person and we had a lengthy conversation about beer, fish and England. Sandra had already introduced herself to Dave and insisted to me that he reminded her of someone she used to work with. I'm personally quite happy that he moved out of NYC to a more upstate location as it makes visiting him more convenient. I know, it's a bit selfish, but hey, I'm looking forward to that visit.
Before the pre-dinner segment was over I wanted to remember to pay Cary for the fish he brought me. I hadn't seen her yet, but I think 3 people came up to me already saying that if I didn't want that SS he brought, they would take her! That had me pretty excited already, though I would have to wait until after the meeting to see her!
I did finally get the chance to speak with Al as he was bringing the Simply Discus T-shirts out for sale. If anyone doesn't have their yet, they are very cool and you should contact Al for availability. We spoke about Al's flood at his house and the fact that everyone was in excellent spirits.
I also met Rich from CT and I believe that makes two of them! The one that goes by rlj and the other guy. See how confusing this all gets for me? Sandra has a much better memory than I do for faces and names and would do a better job at this part! Sorry guys!
By that point it was time to sit down for dinner, and, after several pints, I was getting hungry!
Saturday 3/6/04 - 1:15PM
We ended up sitting with Al, Paul Burney and Peter and his wife whose name is lost in the fog of my brain. It was right about now that I began to realize how much smarter it would have been to bring some writing material so I could take notes. Next time I will. The restaurant, which has a name I do remember because it was funny sounding - Doody's Totoket Inn, was really more a pub/restaurant. The pub side had the bar, of course, and a darker pub atmosphere. They had a number of good beers on tap and in bottles. The side we were on was a long banquet hall which was a bit brighter. We had most of that half of the restaurant to ourselves, except for a few tables on the far side of the hall where some small groups of diners were wondering what the heck was going on with all these fish freaks!
Dinner was tasty. I sampled a bunch of the different offerings. I had a stuffed eggplant (rollatini), some chicken which they said was marsala but was actually in a white mushroom sauce, not marsala, a good, crusty roll and some pasta salad. I also tried a taste of the chicken salad and a piece of roast beef. The eggplant was actually pretty good. On second thought I would have had several pieces of eggplant and not had the chicken or the roast beef. (Notice, by the way, I did not forget ANY of what I ate... That, plus my girth, shows where my priorities are...) Al tried the stuffed sole, of which he said the stuffing was good.
They also served some family style pasta and apple pie a la mode for dessert. The pie was very good for restaurant pie.
During dinner fish talk continued to abound. I got to speak with Paul Burney for quite a bit and found out the latest exploits of his wife, aka The Fish Hater. I feel bad for Paul, or at least I used to until he mentioned that while his wife only allows him to keep 4 tanks, they can be of any size he wants. He's pricing out a 2,000 gallon tank now... Only kidding! But he has a few tanks that are greater than the capacity of all the tanks I own. It got me thinking... As Al said, it was the first time that 3 moderators from Simply Discus were seated at a table together. There was the time that Al, Don Lee and I were together at a BBQ at Al's but Don wasn't a mod yet. So it was an historic moment!
Peter and his wife are also very nice people and Sandra discovered that they live in Springfield, MA, not too far from some of her relatives. That stuff makes her the happiest, while I was digging in for more fish-talk.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 2:25PM
As dinner wrapped up, time for the speakers grew near. Henry (HenryD) was our technical expert and he and Al sorted out the projector and computer hook up. I introduced myself to Henry, but he was too busy for us to have a good fish talk. In short order they got everything set up and David Weber stepped up to talk.
Dave's presentation began with a talk on the state of the Amazon river in ancient times and then continued to a tour of parts of the Amazon today, including a lot of great pics of his trip to the region not too long ago.
I don't know about everyone else, but I really enjoy articles, books and stories about firsthand Amazon trips. It's the closest I will ever come to going there, I am sure, and it's all pretty amazing to me. Dave's talk was perfect. Certainly in depth and very riveting including a lot of pics of great fish, the catching process, life along the Amazon and the wholesaler's set up. I learned a lot and appreciated several of the messages that he brought forward.
For those of you that were not there, the key messages that Dave wanted to explain were twofold. First, the Amazon and region have undergone amazing changes both long and short term. Discus, over the course of a season, have to put up with all sorts of changes in conditions as the Amazon goes through its cycle. Therefore they are hardy fish that can handle changes in temperature and water conditions in a tank to a degree. Many have already noted the benefits of some changes in water temperature in terms of encouraging a pair to spawn - perhaps some other simlations of the seasonal change could prove beneficial as well?
Dave also stressed that a great wild fish is a great wild fish. He himself was once caught up with where the fish came from - which river, which village, which bend in the river. The fact is that if the fish is an incredible specimen, that what counts. Dave also showed some "red" discus and pointed out which were blue discus with red coloring and which were brown discus with red coloring. So I learned how to tell the difference at long last - it's in the fins. A blue discus will have the blue striations on the anal fin whereas a brown will not. I've been wondering that for years and it's not in the books. That was nice to learn.
It was a great talk and a lot of fun. I could have listened to Dave all day, but I was also looking forward to hearing what Cary had in store for us.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 3:30PM
So with Dave taking a beer break - I never asked him if he did switch to the Long Trail from the Bass - Cary stepped up to do his thing. The two of them had the perfect combo for speakers - first the wilds, then the domestics. Cary, who was not looking quite like the undead as in some pics I have seen, talked a lot about his hatchery, crossing fish and developing strains, including some information on his own strains and what he has been working on.
I think every one of us who has been into fishkeeping knows about ups and downs in their own personal enjoyment of the hobby. Sometimes you are very intense and really into it and sometimes you have to step back a bit, it's only natural. Therefore I always find it amazing when someone can devote themselves to it to the level it takes to be a breeder. Cary is one of those people who has the "perfectionist" thing hanging over his head. Everything has to be just right. You can tell just by looking at his tanks and hearing him talk. That has to be hard, but Cary - not to mention all of the other breeders, too - keeps it going even when he may not feel like it sometimes. When I talked to him earlier, he was definitely tired - flying around to different locations to give talks plus all of the work in the hatchery, plus family life - that can't be easy. But when he started to give the talk, you can still tell that despite everything - he still has the fish bug!
It's funny, but just hearing about the line breeding, back crossing and techniques to take the peppering out of the pigeons is great entertainment for me. I really like the genetics and it's pretty hard to get information out of a lot of people, but I learned more from Cary just talking offhand about some of the strain work he has done than I will learn in 6 months of asking questions on the board or reading books. In fact in all of the discus books I have read there has been no concrete information on how to actually breed fish to create, enhance or strengthen a strain. Obviously it's pretty closely guarded stuff, but Cary will help you out as best you can. Even when he just says, "This fish is an X." He will follow up with a little story about how the cross was made and what fish he crossed to get it. Great stuff.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 4:40PM
So things ran a little long! It was a great time. My wife enjoyed everything as well, but by this point she was really wanting to go home. I promised to lead everyone over to Al's, however, and there was some back and forth on that. Sandra, being a good sport, said that since I knew the way I could go even though she didn't want to.
First I wanted to collect my fish from Cary. The SS female was awesome. Great color and shape and just getting big enough to start thinking about breeding her. Plus in great health - despite the long trip and visit with Dave Weber.
By that point, however, everyone had already left! And, since Sandra really wanted to go, I agreed not to stop by Al's for the post-meeting festivities. I was bummed, but she had been a good sport and I DID want to get my new fish home!
For tales of the party at Al's I must leave it to others!
Saturday 3/6/04 - 5:50PM
Made it home and got the SS into the quarantine tank. She is in great shape. A little burn on her dorsal and that's about it. She ate a few blackworms about 5 minutes into the tank and is staring at the adult fish in the next tank. Cary had said that she was trying to pair up with a male fish he brought for Peter while they were at David Weber's place, so she's getting there! I certainly have a few boys who will be happy to meet her!
All in all it was a great time. I had the chance to meet - or re-meet some great people and folks I "talk" to on the board all the time. It could easily be a weekend of fun, but I guess that's what the ACA is for.
One quick comment - remember that pretty much everyone you meet on the board has a board persona and their real persona - even people that sometimes come off as gruff or having an attitude on the board are almost universally great people in real life. It's amazing the difference sometimes! The fact to remember is that fish people are nearly all great folks!
And we're lucky to have all of you on Simply Discus!
The alarm went off on time - but I was already awake and I was getting ready to start the day off. I had already decided to skip the water change for the day so I did a second w/c on Friday night so everything would be in order. After all, I was picking up a new fish - a female SS from Cary to try to match with one of the elligible fellows in my bachelor's tank - and I wanted everything to be nice and clean. My Q-tank was in perfect condition and ready for the new fish.
Sandra, however, had a restless night and was not in top form. The rumblings of her not attending were starting, but I promised a quick trip to the store to pick up some "store coffee" to get her day jumpstarted, and that did the trick.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 11:00AM
By my calculations I needed to leave by 11:15AM to make it to North Branford to the meeting by 12:30PM. And I DIDN'T want to be late, as a lot of the fun is in the mingling and hanging out before the dinner and speakers begin. Of course, here I was with 15 minutes to leave and I haven't even had time to get in the shower yet, plus Sandra wasn't quite ready - time to hurry!
Saturday 3/6/04 - 11:25AM
On the road. Only 10 minutes late. I figured with good traffic plus some aggressive driving and a shortcut, we'll be close...
Saturday 3/6/04 - 12:25PM
We made it in record time! The Mapquest directions were pretty good and there was no traffic anywhere. Pulled up, grabbed a spot and hurried in to meet everyone.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 12:30PM
The first person I saw as I walked into the restaurant was Al, aka the Brewmaster, collection dues. I wanted to pay him right away, so I headed over, while I also spotted Ron (Mench) and Gary, who were talking with the infamous Cary Strong, who I had never met but knew from his pics. Since the wife knew and liked Ron and Gary, I pointed them out and she went over to talk to them while I spoke with Al.
Al collected my cash and he noted that it was a pretty good turnout already. He was busy with collecting other fees and preparations for the meeting, so I figured we would chat later and went over to say hello to Ron, Gary and Cary. Ron and Gary had stopped by the apartment last year prior to the NE meeting, so I first met them then and they missed out on a meatloaf dinner due to their lingering over Dave Weber's fish in NYC. Not that I blame them, I'd spend as much time with Dave's fish as possible, too, even with the wife's meatloaf waiting, but when they arrived, we discovered that Ron, in particular, is quite the meatloaf junkie, so... it's been a running joke for the last year. ONE of these days, Ron will get his meatloaf!
I introduced myself to Cary, who, after talking to him a bunch of times on the phone and even doing one of the first spotlights for Simply on him, I felt like I knew already. He's just as nice a guy in person as he is by phone, and we talked a few minutes before the strong desire for beer overcame me and I had to head into the bar.
A pint of Long Trail in hand, I came back into the main dining room where I ran into John and Irene from NY, whose faces I remembered from last year, though I admit I couldn't remember their names, as I'm notoriously bad at putting faces and names together. (I work as a recruiter and I meet a dozen new people every day - after a while you run out of memory storage and just can't remember everyone! So I apologize in advance to everyone I forgot or mis-name in this article!) But as bad as I am, Sandra remembered them both right off - she keeps telling me that we have to meet up with them as she likes them very much! I also spoke with Frank from Long Island - who tells me he may be moving! That would be too bad as I've been trying to get out to see him for a while but things keep popping up. If he's there this summer, I am definitely going out to see him, if not, I'll track him down eventually. I also met Mary, who I remember from the board, but I still can't remember her online name.
I then introduced myself to David Weber who I also had never met before. Dave is also an exceptionally personable and dynamic person and we had a lengthy conversation about beer, fish and England. Sandra had already introduced herself to Dave and insisted to me that he reminded her of someone she used to work with. I'm personally quite happy that he moved out of NYC to a more upstate location as it makes visiting him more convenient. I know, it's a bit selfish, but hey, I'm looking forward to that visit.
Before the pre-dinner segment was over I wanted to remember to pay Cary for the fish he brought me. I hadn't seen her yet, but I think 3 people came up to me already saying that if I didn't want that SS he brought, they would take her! That had me pretty excited already, though I would have to wait until after the meeting to see her!
I did finally get the chance to speak with Al as he was bringing the Simply Discus T-shirts out for sale. If anyone doesn't have their yet, they are very cool and you should contact Al for availability. We spoke about Al's flood at his house and the fact that everyone was in excellent spirits.
I also met Rich from CT and I believe that makes two of them! The one that goes by rlj and the other guy. See how confusing this all gets for me? Sandra has a much better memory than I do for faces and names and would do a better job at this part! Sorry guys!
By that point it was time to sit down for dinner, and, after several pints, I was getting hungry!
Saturday 3/6/04 - 1:15PM
We ended up sitting with Al, Paul Burney and Peter and his wife whose name is lost in the fog of my brain. It was right about now that I began to realize how much smarter it would have been to bring some writing material so I could take notes. Next time I will. The restaurant, which has a name I do remember because it was funny sounding - Doody's Totoket Inn, was really more a pub/restaurant. The pub side had the bar, of course, and a darker pub atmosphere. They had a number of good beers on tap and in bottles. The side we were on was a long banquet hall which was a bit brighter. We had most of that half of the restaurant to ourselves, except for a few tables on the far side of the hall where some small groups of diners were wondering what the heck was going on with all these fish freaks!
Dinner was tasty. I sampled a bunch of the different offerings. I had a stuffed eggplant (rollatini), some chicken which they said was marsala but was actually in a white mushroom sauce, not marsala, a good, crusty roll and some pasta salad. I also tried a taste of the chicken salad and a piece of roast beef. The eggplant was actually pretty good. On second thought I would have had several pieces of eggplant and not had the chicken or the roast beef. (Notice, by the way, I did not forget ANY of what I ate... That, plus my girth, shows where my priorities are...) Al tried the stuffed sole, of which he said the stuffing was good.
They also served some family style pasta and apple pie a la mode for dessert. The pie was very good for restaurant pie.
During dinner fish talk continued to abound. I got to speak with Paul Burney for quite a bit and found out the latest exploits of his wife, aka The Fish Hater. I feel bad for Paul, or at least I used to until he mentioned that while his wife only allows him to keep 4 tanks, they can be of any size he wants. He's pricing out a 2,000 gallon tank now... Only kidding! But he has a few tanks that are greater than the capacity of all the tanks I own. It got me thinking... As Al said, it was the first time that 3 moderators from Simply Discus were seated at a table together. There was the time that Al, Don Lee and I were together at a BBQ at Al's but Don wasn't a mod yet. So it was an historic moment!
Peter and his wife are also very nice people and Sandra discovered that they live in Springfield, MA, not too far from some of her relatives. That stuff makes her the happiest, while I was digging in for more fish-talk.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 2:25PM
As dinner wrapped up, time for the speakers grew near. Henry (HenryD) was our technical expert and he and Al sorted out the projector and computer hook up. I introduced myself to Henry, but he was too busy for us to have a good fish talk. In short order they got everything set up and David Weber stepped up to talk.
Dave's presentation began with a talk on the state of the Amazon river in ancient times and then continued to a tour of parts of the Amazon today, including a lot of great pics of his trip to the region not too long ago.
I don't know about everyone else, but I really enjoy articles, books and stories about firsthand Amazon trips. It's the closest I will ever come to going there, I am sure, and it's all pretty amazing to me. Dave's talk was perfect. Certainly in depth and very riveting including a lot of pics of great fish, the catching process, life along the Amazon and the wholesaler's set up. I learned a lot and appreciated several of the messages that he brought forward.
For those of you that were not there, the key messages that Dave wanted to explain were twofold. First, the Amazon and region have undergone amazing changes both long and short term. Discus, over the course of a season, have to put up with all sorts of changes in conditions as the Amazon goes through its cycle. Therefore they are hardy fish that can handle changes in temperature and water conditions in a tank to a degree. Many have already noted the benefits of some changes in water temperature in terms of encouraging a pair to spawn - perhaps some other simlations of the seasonal change could prove beneficial as well?
Dave also stressed that a great wild fish is a great wild fish. He himself was once caught up with where the fish came from - which river, which village, which bend in the river. The fact is that if the fish is an incredible specimen, that what counts. Dave also showed some "red" discus and pointed out which were blue discus with red coloring and which were brown discus with red coloring. So I learned how to tell the difference at long last - it's in the fins. A blue discus will have the blue striations on the anal fin whereas a brown will not. I've been wondering that for years and it's not in the books. That was nice to learn.
It was a great talk and a lot of fun. I could have listened to Dave all day, but I was also looking forward to hearing what Cary had in store for us.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 3:30PM
So with Dave taking a beer break - I never asked him if he did switch to the Long Trail from the Bass - Cary stepped up to do his thing. The two of them had the perfect combo for speakers - first the wilds, then the domestics. Cary, who was not looking quite like the undead as in some pics I have seen, talked a lot about his hatchery, crossing fish and developing strains, including some information on his own strains and what he has been working on.
I think every one of us who has been into fishkeeping knows about ups and downs in their own personal enjoyment of the hobby. Sometimes you are very intense and really into it and sometimes you have to step back a bit, it's only natural. Therefore I always find it amazing when someone can devote themselves to it to the level it takes to be a breeder. Cary is one of those people who has the "perfectionist" thing hanging over his head. Everything has to be just right. You can tell just by looking at his tanks and hearing him talk. That has to be hard, but Cary - not to mention all of the other breeders, too - keeps it going even when he may not feel like it sometimes. When I talked to him earlier, he was definitely tired - flying around to different locations to give talks plus all of the work in the hatchery, plus family life - that can't be easy. But when he started to give the talk, you can still tell that despite everything - he still has the fish bug!
It's funny, but just hearing about the line breeding, back crossing and techniques to take the peppering out of the pigeons is great entertainment for me. I really like the genetics and it's pretty hard to get information out of a lot of people, but I learned more from Cary just talking offhand about some of the strain work he has done than I will learn in 6 months of asking questions on the board or reading books. In fact in all of the discus books I have read there has been no concrete information on how to actually breed fish to create, enhance or strengthen a strain. Obviously it's pretty closely guarded stuff, but Cary will help you out as best you can. Even when he just says, "This fish is an X." He will follow up with a little story about how the cross was made and what fish he crossed to get it. Great stuff.
Saturday 3/6/04 - 4:40PM
So things ran a little long! It was a great time. My wife enjoyed everything as well, but by this point she was really wanting to go home. I promised to lead everyone over to Al's, however, and there was some back and forth on that. Sandra, being a good sport, said that since I knew the way I could go even though she didn't want to.
First I wanted to collect my fish from Cary. The SS female was awesome. Great color and shape and just getting big enough to start thinking about breeding her. Plus in great health - despite the long trip and visit with Dave Weber.
By that point, however, everyone had already left! And, since Sandra really wanted to go, I agreed not to stop by Al's for the post-meeting festivities. I was bummed, but she had been a good sport and I DID want to get my new fish home!
For tales of the party at Al's I must leave it to others!
Saturday 3/6/04 - 5:50PM
Made it home and got the SS into the quarantine tank. She is in great shape. A little burn on her dorsal and that's about it. She ate a few blackworms about 5 minutes into the tank and is staring at the adult fish in the next tank. Cary had said that she was trying to pair up with a male fish he brought for Peter while they were at David Weber's place, so she's getting there! I certainly have a few boys who will be happy to meet her!
All in all it was a great time. I had the chance to meet - or re-meet some great people and folks I "talk" to on the board all the time. It could easily be a weekend of fun, but I guess that's what the ACA is for.
One quick comment - remember that pretty much everyone you meet on the board has a board persona and their real persona - even people that sometimes come off as gruff or having an attitude on the board are almost universally great people in real life. It's amazing the difference sometimes! The fact to remember is that fish people are nearly all great folks!
And we're lucky to have all of you on Simply Discus!