In response to number five, I love that picture of those gerbils. They are so cute. There actually was a time when I seriously considered getting a Siberian hamster (what's the difference between a hamster and gerbil anyway?) whose personality was different from his fellow hamsters; he was much calmer and not nearly as frenetic in his play activities. Everything he did, he did with dignity. And I was going to call him... Socrates.