So my Secret Santa managed to get me something I wanted that I hadn't actually told anyone I wanted. When I was growing up, I got to visit Biosphere-2 in Arizona right after they started the project and the idea of an enclosed, self-sustaining ecosystem fascinated me. After all, you'll need something like that in order for space travel to ever be viable.

Fast forward twenty years or so and I had been wondering if I could somehow build something like that in my spare time. I wasn't sure how exactly, but it'd be fun. Then today my gift arrives and it needs to be signed for. So I take it in and take a picture of the box, when I notice it says "Open Immediately" on the top of the box. Well okay then! No waiting for me!

I open the thing up and read through the manual quick. No way...a self contained ecosystem in an attractive glass sphere with little shrimp! :-O So I carefully take it out and inspect it and it arrived intact and my shrimp are even active! They're swimming around the sphere as I type this! How fun is that?

As an extra bonus, my Santa also sent a toy octopus for my new baby boy and a narwhal squishable for my daughter who has been begging for one for weeks. The extra thought and continuation of the aquatic theme scores extra bonus points!