About Orchids

Every time I pass an orchid -- at Lowe's, at a restaurant, anywhere -- I always stop to admire it. They are such beautiful plants, especially when they're flowering! However, I'd never bought one for myself, because I have always heard that they are hard to care for, and even harder to nuture well enough that it blooms again after the initial time. But there's a first time for everything, and for my birthday back in March, Jose gave me a gorgeous orchid. And I love it.

The problem is that the blooms have finally all fallen off, and I'm anxiously trying to figure out what I need to do to care for it in hopes that it will bloom again. (Side note: at first I was worried that I had done something wrong to cause all the blooms to drop. But then we were at Lowe's over the weekend, and I noticed that every single one of their orchids was bloom-less. So it must just be that time of year?)

Anyway, I've searched all over the web, but there is so much information, and much of it conflicts because there seem to be a zillion different types of orchids. The tag on mine said nothing but "dendrobium." Does anyone out there have experience with orchids? Do I need to cut the stalk now that the flowers have fallen off, or should I leave it? Do I need to do something special with fertilizer? Or just keep watering it weekly like I have been?

If I can keep this one going, I'm totally filling my apartment with orchids.

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I ran yesterday. At 5:15. I did the same workout that some BAM people were doing elsewhere -- a ladder of 200-400-800-400-200 with 200 rest between each one. I walked each of the rest portions. It was incredibly hot. After the 800, I felt like throwing up, so I took it slightly easier on the remaining 400 and 200. I did feel better by the time I got to my cooldown, and so I did the whole mile. Total running was 4 miles. That's the most in quite a while. Baby steps...