Describe Users/JamesKrause here.
James Krause (A.K.A. Congofeet)
James has lived in Davis since 2001 when he moved up here from East Los Angeles to attend UC Davis. After graduation he sort of got "stuck" here and has happily (and yet grudgingly) been living here since.
James in very interested in all things fish and has several aquariums in his apartment including a 300 gallon tank. I think they add up to about 700 gallons. (Anybody else interested in fish here?)
James' Davis Time line
(I'll fill in more things as they occur to me)
September 2001: Moved to Davis to attend UC Davis, lived in Primero Grove (which I believe was used as some sort of student housing overflow as I and all my roommates got in on appeal)
Started to get to know the love of my life (though she didn't know it at the time)
June 2002: Moved out of student housing, and put all my crap into a storage unit at Stonegate Self Storage and went home for the summer.
September 2002: Moved into Arlington Farm, otherwise known as the sophomore dorms, with 3 other guys...our apartment was the source of much debauchery; it was soooo filthy.
June 2003: Moved my crap back into Stonegate Self Storage and went back home to work as in the previous summer.
September 2003: Moved into Greystone with my best friend. Apartment #164. We both really liked it there until Babe took over, this is where my disdain for Stonesfair Management kind of started. Luckily we were both graduating the year she took over and did not have to deal with all of her terrible practices. I was actually offered $500 to stay, but I didn't.
June 2006: Graduated! Major in Biology; Minor in Aquaculture
September 2006: Moved into Eastlake Apartments with my aforementioned girlfriend. At the time we signed the lease Billie was the manager (though Stonesfair Management was the property owner), but by the time move in came she was either fired/laid off/forced into retirement. She was one of the reasons why me chose Eastlake, and said the higher ups did not like her and were trying to get rid of her; which I guess was true. I have not truly hated this complex until recently when they got rid of Jorge...well that and the pain that it was stop my ceiling from dripping water (if you are interested I guess I can go into that story).
February 2007: Started working at the UC Davis Aquatic Toxicology Lab (ATL; that's what the cool kids call it) located at CABA. It was my first job out of school and gave me some good experience.
September 2008: Started working concurrently at the Kueltz Lab in the Department of Animal Science.
September 2009: Quit working at ATL to work full time in the Kueltz Lab.
May 2010: Got laid off from Kueltz Lab due to lack of funding.
July 2010: Started working for Floating Islands West. We build islands that are deployed into any water way after being planted with any type of plant you want. They cleanse the water and are made out of recycled plastic, can't get much better than that. (edit: due to the state of CA budget woes, a grant that the company was depending on is in limbo resulting in my layoff as of December 2010. Anybody need an out of work fish biologist?)
June 2011-September 2012: Worked at ACE Hardware in the pet department as the resident fish expert.
September 2012 - Future! Began work on my dream! (see "Random Aside" below) Rivers to Reef. We hope to open in late September or early October. Stay tuned for details!
Present: Living at Portage Bay Apartments has been a dream compared to Eastlake Apartments. My fiancee and I have renewed our lease, without a second thought.
- Addendum As of right now (7/3/13) living at Portage Bay Apartments has become a nightmare. New management has taken over and is claiming that I am committing a lease violation by having my fish tanks. Under old management my tanks were never a problem, and frankly it is not mentioned any where in the lease that having a large aquarium is against the rules. I am going to have to set off and find a new place, and might have to leave Davis to live in Woodland or Sacramento as this is very unexpected and many apartments are full. I loved living at my current place under the kind management of Jacque, but since she has been let go (I know she would not have quit, because she loved it here and loved the residents) this place is hell.
Finally opened my store! Rivers to Reef
Random Aside: I have this dream of opening a fish (aquarium) store in Davis and I think it would be extremely viable. I have an immense knowledge base that I have built over the past decade of my personal fish keeping, as well as at my past jobs. I would love to do it here in Davis, and would want to make it a destination, that people could bring their families and enjoy the atmosphere and learn about fish and their care. I have always felt that fish do not get the love and respect that they deserve and would love to inspire a new generation of fish lovers. I just wish I could figure out a way to get my idea and passion off the ground.
(I'll maybe add to this thing as I see fit later. Please bear with me as I get this formatting down, I used to know html like the back of my hand.)
Welcome to the Wiki, James! —TomGarberson-Haha, thanks for gussying up my page. I've been roaming daviswiki for a long time now and thought I'd contribute. JamesKrause
2010-06-30 08:55:51 The lack of a comment bar on AM/PM is just a throwback to the times when we didn't have to have them on every page. Nobody has needed one yet, so it can probably can do without one. See Cut that comment bar out for more on the reasons it's probably better to leave the comment bar off. —WilliamLewis
- while I do agree that leaving the comments section out of some entries is an obvious decision, AM/PM is a business. I actually saw it as the random link and thought to leave a comment about the rib sandwich that they have there being an somewhat okay substitute for the mcRib which has gone missing in my life. After adding it I wanted to see what people thought about its addition before leaving the comment. So I am up in the air about it, what do you think? -James
Why not just edit the page directly? The rib sandwich being a good substitute for the McRib is definitely something that should be on the page and it doesn't need to have your name behind it, either. Like this.—wl
Part of me feels that opinions should be kept to a comments section though, while the stuff above should be more informative. I can see the other side of the argument though, I guess it just depends on what side of the argument you fall on. I do like how much less cluttered a non-commented entry is. Thanks for the help. -James
2011-03-28 17:15:38 I'm a longtime saltwater tropical owner, although right now we have a freshwater tank we inherited from somebody who moved. Fish are great. —JabberWokky
2011-03-29 08:08:07 Fish are awesome! Thanks Wokky! Do you feel an aquarium store (sort of in the vein of Capitol Aquarium, except with reasonable prices) would be viable in Davis? —JamesKrause
- Possibly... I have no idea how popular tanks are in Davis, or how hard it would be to beat PetCo. For the casual folk you'll also be competing WalMart, but you also have the advantage of college students often not being able to have any pets other than fish. -jw
- I can and will be able to compete with PetCo and WalMart. Many of their things are over priced and not many know this. I can beat many of their prices by 25% (at least) while still being able to maintain a profit margin of at least 50%. Fish stores make their money off of selling fish, their products are just kind of the icing on top. I could sell a neon tetra for $1 (or even $0.75) and still be able to make a very large profit. This price is much less than the major stores, but still allows me to keep a very significant margin. I would actually want to compete with PetCo because of how they treat their fish. The only place that they have the advantage is in tank sales, but that can be compensated for by bundling the tank with larger profit margin items. (I've put a lot of thought into this :P)- —JamesKrause
2011-03-29 08:41:12 Thanks for chiming in over on the ban discussion. It's always good to get fresh perspectives! —TomGarberson
- np —JamesKrause
2011-04-07 14:04:22 I just want to know how you checked the future. If you can do that, I have a business proposition for you. —JabberWokky
- If I knew how to look into the future why would I share that knowledge? That being said... if I could look into the future, what is your business proposition... you know... if I could look into the future... not that I can... —JamesKrause
2012-09-08 23:53:21 I'm excited about there being an aquarium store in Davis. Are you really going to have tetras for $1.00? Also, just out of curiosity, how come you only run part of your site out of wordpress? —MikeyCrews
- We should be able to sell several different tetras (and other fish) for around a buck. I use wordpress on the articles page so people can comment, and I am going to treat that page as more of a community page where people can ask questions, debate, etc. My other pages I built (and I am continuing to build) from scratch, and wordpress didn't really let me do what I wanted. -James
2012-09-10 12:49:43 saw an edit on your Rivers to Reef store; exciting stuff! Glad Davis will have a dedicated fish shop - I always had to travel to Sac to get the more exotic and healthier fishes (fresh and saltwater). Goodluck I know a lot of people will appreciate a store like this. —tyang
- Thank you for your kind words. I know that Davis has been in need of a fish specialty store for quite some time. We plan on carrying many more exotic species than Petco and the pet section at ACE Hardware does. I am excited to get up and running, it's been my dream. -James
2012-09-11 15:27:18 Maybe you should start a fish questions page, similar to how there is a dental questions page. My first question is actually a hardware question. The flouresent light on my 10 gallon tank went out last week and a I tried switching bulbs but it still doesn't work. Do those fixtures stop working after awhile. it's about 10 years old... —MikeyCrews
- Does the bulb flash and not turn on? Or, does it not even start at all? If it does not start at all it might be your starter. On some models of ballast this is a small cylinder about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. You can try replacing that. I know that they sell them at ACE Hardware. You can also have your bulb tested there at the key desk to make sure the bulb is good. It would not be completely out of the question to have purchased a malfunctioning bulb. Hope this helps! -James
2012-10-01 18:36:12 I'm stoked for the store, Davis needs an aquarium. I trust you will be having live Brine shrimp? —StevenDaubert
-
We will absolutely have live brine. We will also be caring live daphnia, and live black worms. -James
Score, I've furthered my query on the R2R page ♥ Daubert
2013-05-06 13:43:25 That's me, wiki strong arm. No time for love, Dr. Jones. —JabberWokky
2013-07-17 22:02:52 Hi James, I get water plants from Walker Avenue Nursery in Santa Rosa. They're great folks, and they come by about once a month during the warm season. If there are particular species you think we should stock, by all means let us know. As to the Wiki, I prefer NPOV, but we're definitely outvoted on that here. —DonShor
2013-09-15 14:21:57 IMO even public figures deserve privacy, maybe especially public figures. Furthermore, when a store decides to open and close on 'strange hours' it's their choice. It's a different ballgame when you have an appointment, yes, then it would be rude.
I always feel grateful that I can do some shopping because other people have stores. It's a privilege in a rich world. When he blows customers off because the times are irregular, then that's his choice. He has no obligation whatsoever. Maybe he disappoints people, but he certainly doesn't disappoint his grandson. I wouldn't have known this if it weren't for your comment. Like I said, if you were to report my shopping behavior ("I saw Constantia, she was looking at the glue section in Ace."), I wouldn't be glad. I am a very open person and post quite some stuff on Twitter etc. but I choose myself, and that's the difference. —ConstantiaOomen
2013-09-17 16:08:35 I thought it was a friendly, neighborly comment. I think there's a split between people who see this as just another internet website versus those who see it as a community website of neighbors being neighbors. —JabberWokky
2013-09-18 13:44:18 your comment was innocuous enough. (I never attributed malice, that was another nameless editor) Besides you area also a downtown business owner it stands to reason you would know a little bit more than the average about another downtown business owner. —StevenDaubert
2013-09-18 13:52:05 Definitely innocuous and clearly well-intended. Sorry you got caught up in an overreaction. I should have weighed in sooner, but then again, it didn't seem like a big deal and I certainly didn't see it going the way it did... ah well, we've all been on the losing end of a wiki debate at one time or another. —CovertProfessor
2013-09-18 14:13:13 James-I hope you don't think I was piling on you personally—I wasn't. I agreed with Constantia and thought a Talk page was reasonable. —PeteB
2013-09-18 14:32:06 Ha! Yes indeed. —CovertProfessor
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