Why I Oughta...

I spent some time this past week digging around online and physically in ONE pet store looking at fish tanks and equipment.  I had a tank when I was younger (junior high-ish) that was 30 gallons and I had a lot of fun with it.  The Elmhurst Library has a tank and every time I take the Babe there, it is our first stop in the children's section and she goes nuts.  I figure that this might be a fun family activity: keeping a tank.  Nat thinks this is a VERY bad idea for a variety of reasons including the work involved, the upkeep, my track record on things, etc. She's likely correct, but that doesn't mean I won't keep looking and perhaps even pull the trigger. Do you guys have tanks at home with your kids?  Tell me I'm nuts - that this will end up being too much work.  Or...do you and your kids love it?  I think big, so 10 gallons is too small potatoes for me.  I was thinking of 30 gallons as a nice middle ground starter tank.  Freshwater...

Last week, Google (Full Disclosure:  I work there !) kicked off our fourth annual Doodle 4 Google contest - a competition open to K-12 students in US Schools.  Students are invited to create their own Google Doodle (those creative adaptations of our logo that run occasionally on our homepage) inspired by this year's theme of:  "What I'd like to do someday...". Google is upping the ante with some pretty rad prizes, but those are secondary to the top prize:  one lucky student gets a chance to have his or her artwork appear on the Google.com homepage for one day and admired by hundreds of millions of people! There are two key differences this year.  First, is that instead of making teachers/schools register their entire classes, we've now opened it up to anyone - parents can now register their kids, too!  Second, Google has recruited some celebrity judges (Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Davis - creator of Garfield and others).  To register now, head to the ...