Week 39 - Mouse

This past week I've been spending a lot of time in the office, prepping for the new project with the Brazilians. This requires acid mixes, buffer calculations for allowing sub-acute acidosis conditions, formalin, fermenter part repairs and sampling extra rumen fluid for coenzymes for my rumen cultures (among other things). Anyhow, I've been sitting at my desk a lot, double-checking manuscripts, and drawing up a game plan and sampling needs. As I sat at my desk earlier this week, a mouse dropped out of the ceiling onto my desk near my laptop. I yelled "Mouse!", but apparently the response to kill the mouse was solely mine, as my Brazilian desk-neighbor watched him scurry away. Just a few days later, the same thing happens. Mouse drops out of the ceiling and I grabbed the closest thing to hit him with. I swung with my iPhone, but no dice. It derailed him from his path, but he made it past my Brazilian neighbor again before I could end it. Suffice it to say - we need a renovation in the worst way. Ever since, I find myself occasionally looking up at the ceiling, waiting for that Ratatouille moment where the rats all fall out of the ceiling. I tried to find you a video of it but it didn't exist on YouTube. Instead, I'll share this one on the Black Death, which my co-workers seemed convinced I would catch for drinking my coffee after the mouse fell on it.

In my efforts to tidy up our buffer calculations, I was led to a buffer spreadsheet designed by a professor at Sao Paulo State University in Brazil. Ironic, since that's where our visitors are from, and I was the one sharing this with them. But it is a very cool sheet, enabling us to calculate buffers that are flexible to the fluctuations in the rumen throughout the day in a simulated environment, while also accurately predicting what this range will be. After testing our buffers out for a few weeks, I feel fairly confident that not only is this sheet the real deal, our buffers work great and the treatments are now locked for our research work. If you'd like to check it out, you can find it here.

During my time in academia, I've been guilty of more than a few bad powerpoint presentations; I would like to think that I give ones better than the average with limited input time. But my wife shared this with me this past week that you should look at and share with all those bad presenters that you can. I took a couple of pointers away from it and the presentation world would be a better place the more that people take these simple messages to heart.

Completely different topic, but have you seen the video to the new song, "Radioactive"? I find the tune catchy and was listening to it on YouTube to see if I liked it enough to burn some free Amazon mp3 credit that I had. Verdict was yes, but not before seeing some creepy puppet fight rings.

Life on the homefront continues forward, with Phil (the ram) calming Betsy down and helping her not to run after sheep. If we can break her of this bad habit by introducing sheep that don't run in the first place, then life for us and the future sheep becomes much simpler. So far, the ram has no backdown in his vocabulary and Betsy knows it from his days back at the in-laws'. Most of the garden is planted and my "solution" to the county domain over my front 30' has been placed. Invasive ground cover that will choke out brush is the gameplan; we'll see how it pans out. First we need some rain to help it root in. For how wet the end of April was, the ground looks pretty dry for the 3rd week of May. Remember to "make hay while the sun shines", because you never know when you'll get this kind of stretch again.

US 315 southbound from Henderson footbridge.

Olentangy River southbound from Henderson footbridge.

Speaking of, I got out on my first couple of real bike rides this week, starting with a ride down the Olentangy River Trail. This bike path is pretty hazardous when populated by a lethal combination of stupid teenagers, fat adults "training" for a marathon, and hardcore bikers trying to rip 25 mph out on a 10 mile trail (there's only so fast you can get your bike turned back around the other direction). However, we hopped in just North of the last road detour and the path is calmer up this direction as well. What was really interesting to me, though, was the dichotomy between the busy highway and the peaceful, scenic Olentangy. These two views were even from the same bridge, just 80 yards apart. I bet most of the people driving back and forth to work every day have no idea of the natural beauty they breeze past; they are in too much of a hurry to enjoy the wonderful, small things around them.

Week 38 - Labor

For those of you who have followed this blog over the past few months, you have to know that we are getting pretty close to my wife's due date for our first child! And yes, it has finally happened. No, not the birth, but instead the video to learn about it. Beware all of you future parents out there (not just future dads), beware, this is a series of hours of your life that can never erase. But since I'm really a big fan of the effective list, let's enumerate the take-homes from the past week's hospital tour, birthing class and associated medical interactions.

1) Our hospital is a CF. Sure, it's recognized as one of the baby hospitals in town and really a great place, but let's be honest... it's under construction, more confusing than Starbuck's menu, and set right into the middle of the worst traffic nightmare in town. I just know she's going to go into labor while I'm at work and she's on the opposite side of the Israelite Exodus crossing the Red Sea (or known as the mass chaos of C-bus rush-hours). But we're going there because it's the only place the doctor goes. Simple as that.

2) I will be an above average dad. How do I know this? Because I met another 20 future dads over the past week and I'm not a chain smoker, wannabe Marine, pants-sagger, junk-food eater, hypocrit, know-it-all, d-bag, wish-I-were academic, "medical professional", obnoxious post-MBA or rich snob. And truth be told, I'm sure their kids will turn out great too, for the most part.

3) I'm slightly terrified of the birthing process. For some reason, I had it in my head that this would be a few hours of pain and sorrow followed quickly by crying baby, exclamation of "It's a (insert gender)!", and loving moments as a proud new family before we were overrun by friends and relatives (no, they're not the same). After sitting through the class, I've realized that this process is not just a few hours of torture for the mother, but living hell for everyone involved during what could be a 24+ hours process (like an Orthodox holiday for the Protestant boyfriend). I'm sure that we will make it through all of this, but for my wife's sake, I hope it goes smoother than some of the videos that were shared with us in class. Some day I will be reminding an obstinate a-hole what their mother did for them, and they won't believe me. For all you out there, thank your mom.

4) There is money to be made if you are willing to be filmed pregnant, naked and screaming - even if you're not a teenager looking for reality gigs. I can't imagine being one of the couples that was roped into the filming, but there is no amount of money that would convince me to allow my wife to sign away her self-decency for the rest of her life. This is a special moment, where the struggle makes the victory so much sweeter, and we won't be sharing it with anyone.

5) Sneaking beer into the hospital for my wife is going to be more difficult and less intelligent than I thought. Once you start realizing how many drugs could be coursing through her veins and how often you will be intruded on by a nurse checking in, you have a severe gut check about that promise you made 6 months ago when you were trying to make her feel better about missing the Christmas toasts. But I'll do anything for you, Dearest, if you really want it.

6) Valet parking is a nice thing for the hospital to do when you're bring them thousands of dollars in business and giving them a purpose for existing. Good call, guys. But then why didn't you want to allow us to leave it there until we check out. Seriously, I have to move my car within 24 hours? And what if I don't?

7) Best part of the whole labor class was the relaxation part. Learning different methods to help my wife feel better both during labor and at home when her back hurts so bad - that was rewarding. I often feel like a helpless bystander as the growing baby tears her apart. I want to help, but don't know how and nothing that I do seems to help. This was worth the time and in-person instruction, and only this.

8) I have been rubbing my wife's back all wrong. When we first arrived, they asked us to have our backs rubbed by the mothers. My wife got back there and showed me how she would like me to rub her back and it was considerably different than what other people have told me to do in the past, and different from what she has accepted from me, too. If only I'd known sooner.

My wife holding 2 market lambs (each about 85 lbs.) while 7 1/2 mths pregnant.

My wife and I are supporting a 4-Her this year in her pursuit of a new experience. So this past week we went over and helped her pick out a 4-H lamb to raise and show. She doesn't come from a farm background at all, but she was a very quick learner as we caught the lambs and helped her choose the one which would be best (heavy boned, fast growing, good muscle). As I elaborated in my last post, I'm so grateful for the people who helped me have these experiences, and even though I don't expect every kid to turn all agriculturalist, it's still great to be able to give others the same opportunities for learning that we had.

We looked pretty ghetto counting out our fundraiser money.

In other news, our annual fundraising event as a grad student organization was this week, Friday and Saturday. Rained out heavily on Friday, we ended up cleaning up and preparing for Saturday, sopping wet in the building's loading dock. Not sure how the end of the money came out, but we broke even for the weekend on the first day. This money goes towards our undergrad field trip opportunities that we host.

New diverter for sampling.

On the work front, I was struck with an epiphany not too long ago as I was rebuilding the pumps from a nitro-glycerin kit we had stockpiled. The septum diverter in that kit was a perfect replacement for the current set-up and with a little bit of plastic tubing downsizing, the diverter is now set in place on our fermenters, enabling me to complete my design for real-time VFA and H2(aq) sampling. It's game on, folks.



Finally, I learned a life lesson this week about coconuts. Don't eat them fresh - they're disgusting. I now know I would never survive on that island with Gilligan. I love breaking them open, but the taste was much chalkier and more sour than I expected. I'm not even sure I would make booze with them.

Breaking it was fun. Tossing away representation of wasted money was not.

Week 37 - Loss

We buried a good man this Thursday. After defeating cancer and fighting dementia, it was the heart failure that Grandpa couldn't overcome. He hung on long enough for most all the family to gather around one more time, the hospital room full of loving faces, brother and sister, nieces and children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was a man who knew what hard work really meant, who knew that family always mattered most and who put his faith forward into action, leading his family forth by example. The hole left by his loss will be impossible to fill by any one person in this family. We all loved him so much and he knew it; this was obvious as we gathered around the bed to pray and sing hymns. He was smiling and positive, telling me to make sure I took care of the fields and the horses, later reminding us of what still needed done on the farm (even machinery that didn't exist anymore). He held my hand as he told me that he knew he had to go, and that he was so grateful I was there, that we were there to see him one last time. I know he said other kind things to me, which I swore I would write down and remember, but after saying goodbye, it was hard to revisit the subject to remember for a while. Besides, as I sat there, holding his handshake (strong, dairy-farmer grip to the end) and looking into his clear eyes, nothing else needed said. We both knew that it was farewell, and he knew that I loved him; I made sure to tell him that we all loved him. And then it was time to go, leaving him to his closest family for the last hours of his life.

Often when someone passes, people feel regret, but I have only memories. My wife is correct when she talks about how important it is to live close enough to your family to visit them. Growing up 1/4 mile away on the family farm, Grandma and Grandpa were a staple in my life. We would sit on the porch and eat peanuts or snap peas, talking about the weather, the livestock, the Buckeyes or the sunset. He would come out and shoot hook-shots off one foot, just like he learned to do during his basketball years. Or I would find him under a plow as he asked me to grab for a tool as we talked about the new calf on the ground. We baled hay together and fixed fences, while debating whose animals really caused the problem. I was blessed to live so close to them and enjoy so much time with them; I'm only disappointed that the last years of his life were while I was so far away at school or Europe, and that when I returned the dementia had already started to settle in. And I wish I hadn't been in Chicago for his last birthday, calling him from the van on the way home, and losing reception in forsaken Indiana, but he understood, and he was happy I was able to call him. Most of all, I wish that he had been able to hold our first child in his arms - he was so excited for us when we told him about the baby.

Me with my first market steer project.

Grandpa shaped my life in more ways than I can cover in a blog post, but I will tell you about the most critical one, because it is one of my favorite examples of the man. When I was 9 years old, we moved back to Ohio and he gave us a piece of the farm to live on. Being a wild thing recently returned from the woods of Michigan, this was a great time, but my carefree days were interrupted by this distraction called 4-H. My brother and grandpa had gone out and come back with a steer on a trailer, black as the night sky with this white blaze up the middle of his face. Houdini would become a love of mine, helping my brother feed him and water him whenever I could. I later took rabbits so that I could be in 4-H with my brother and learn about animals, thinking that I would never actually tackle a cattle project myself. But as the years rolled by, one thing led to another, and eventually I was hooked on the love of animals, the livestock industry and the idea of becoming a veterinarian. And all of this was just because Grandpa wanted us to have the experience of taking care of the stock, just like his children. Years later, I am pursuing my 3rd degree related to Animal Science, the love of which was first introduced to me by Grandpa so long ago.

Grandma and Grandpa with us my last year in 4-H.

Sitting and watching the clipping at NAILE with Grandpa.

Me, with my sister, years into college - continuing a family tradition.

Peace, like a sunset on the empty streets of Italy.

All work-related activities pale in comparison to the loss of my Grandpa, even though I've been working straight through everything to get a project off with the Brazilians and summer interns as fast as possible. In a way, having new people to train and protocols to arrange has given me something to focus on while the pain of loss diminishes. It is fun to see the Brazilians' responses to some of the things in the lab that were also awesome to me in the beginning, but I have grown accustomed to over time. And I remember that other people struggle through things far worse than my troubles. Knowing that he had a strong faith in God and having experienced his strong love of family leaves me with peace at the end.

Week 36 - Brazilians

As I was saying at the end of my last post, this week we have been hosting a couple of Brazilian visiting scholars at our house. When my advisor first approached me about this, I was willing to put them up at our place and my wife agreed so long as we could get them into their own home by May so that we could prepare for the baby and enjoy the last month and a half in peace together. And so we embarked on our own little cultural adventure. 

I want to share with you my biggest lessons from this experience, but before I do, I thought I'd tell you a but about these two visitors. They absolutely loved Betsy, respected our house and our privacy as our own, and were the most polite and agreeable houseguests we could have ever asked for. In fact, they were even easier than some of our own friends here in the States. 

However, here are a few lessons we learned from this experience that will help you bridge the cultural differences. 

1) Electronics are much cheaper here than in Brazil. I had a similar experience in the Netherlands. This leads to a willingness to buy things that would seem like impulse buys to us. 

2) The concept of U-scan groceries was foreign to them. Our trust in the shopper (or our self-confidence in being able to catch the thief) is not what they expected.

3) Our water is safe to drink without question, and our roads are paved throughout the city and suburbs. Hershey's chocolate is dirt cheap. We don't realize how great we have it. 

4) Don't put your trash can by the toilet. I use it for tossing Kleenexes but it is apparently a sign that you can't flush toilet paper.

5) Only put the soap at the kitchen sink that you want used on dishes. It is too difficult to explain that some is for hands and some is for dishes. 

6) They are very well-prepared to deal with our society. Public transportation doesn't scare them, they love the Big Bang Theory, and online banking and ATMs are common at home. The world is so different and yet not so different at all.

Cow tower we built at the Tri-State registration. Thank you, "Clarifly".

On the work front this past week was the Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. I'm gonna flat out say that I can't stand Ft. Wayne. The town is dead and backwards. But... this is a great place for a conference because nobody can sneak away and skip out; there's nowhere to go! And the ladies at the GrandWayne  Convention Center run a clean and efficient conference center. Great environment, little technology issues and good food. This conference has great speakers and the networking time is busy and friendly.

This year my biggest geek moment came when I met someone who used to work at the old Hoover lab in West Virginia. She showed me old pictures of their fermenters and suddenly the manual came to life. I realized how much our system has changed compared to the original system, and she had ideas to solve problems I had been struggling with back at work. It's "aha" moments like this (and networking/brainstorming over beer) that make conferences worth every penny.

Back on the home front we have broken into two main themes. I am working on home improvement projects in preparation for the baby. My wife is completely tied up with baby showers and room arrangements. Slowly but surely we are inching towards B-day and baby won't wait.

Late this weekend, my brother and I drove up to Camp Ohio and taught mountain biking to high schoolers. It's nice to get out and ride a bit, and I remembered just how much I need to get out to ride for Pelotonia this year.

Saturday night, we dropped by the hospital to visit my grandpa. Complaining of heart trouble, he was admitted to the hospital Friday night. My prayers are with him, my grandpa and the whole family. He has not been doing well and he seemed so unhappy in the hospital that night. We brought him a flower to let him see the sunshine that is outside and talked to him about the farm and how it looks while he is stuck inside. In his heart he will always be a farmer - no retirement can take that away. And I know he is miserable when stuck against his will in the hospital. Losing control of your mind is one of the things I fear most.

Farewell to George Jones this week.

Week 35 - Chicago

It's been a long time since I went up to the Windy City, but when my advisor told me I could go to an intestinal microbiology conference I was all in. Of course, I don't like leaving my wife behind, but it's easier when it's a short duration and much close than my recent trips to Iowa. So we rented a big van, loaded up a bunch of poster board from some nice guys downtown and I told everyone to pack light or I'd strap them to the top of the van. Plan must've worked because we had no trouble fitting 8 people in with the boards and their luggage for a 12 passenger van with the backseat removed.

All things considered, the drive there was pretty good. Boring through northern Indiana, but who isn't bored by Indiana? Conversation was nice and having an IPass makes the skyway so much faster. We made great time into the city but luck ran out when a semi ties to run us of the road for an exit. Next thing I know we're stuck in recalculation mode with 4 backseat drivers trying to tell me in mandarin where I should've gone at the last light. My copilot being equally frazzled, we struggled trough the city and managed to miss our turns and finally map the whole place by unforced and forced errors.

View from our conference at UChicago Booth.

Poster boards dropped off and hotel checked in, the search for a parking garage ensued. Suffice it I say that I was about ready to drive the van off the road into the river just to be rid of the damn thing. 8'2" is definitely not a comfortable clearance for the van in my opinion and the 10' garage "just around the corner" was never to be found. Eventually, my labmate and I parked in a prepay lot under Michigan Ave. I highly recommend this, as did the guys at the Sheraton; it was cheaper and relatively more stress-free.

The conference was great, as expected (although the weather left some to be desired), with headliner Rudolf Thauer and many others speaking on the microbial work being done globally. As I sat there listening, I realized just how relevant my research is to these people and felt as if I'd finally found a group where I could talk about my work and get serious questions. I can see why this was the conference Tim prioritized during his time at OSU and how much opportunities like it directed his career.

Award for most versatile research poster at the conference. Who needs an umbrella?

 My first-ever picture with "the bean" at Millenium Park. Our advisor didn't laugh like I hoped.

Like any other city, I checked out the bar scene, made some friends the night I went out by myself, and made some more friends the night we went out post-conference in a group. I now have some people to look up at JAM and even if my business card was only used for a cell number to call a drinking buddy, at least they'll remember me in a positive light. Too often people shy away from alcohol at meetings because they don't want to be perceived in that way, but behind the curtain, it's a fact of life for many people we interact with. Imagine how much more we could get done if everyone relaxed about their potential perceptions or falsely inflated morals and we could just sit, talk and theorize. Just one more reason why my advisor is perfect for me. He appreciates a good beer and unofficial brainstorm session now and then.

Nice patch of weather.

We drove into the late night on the way back and so I was obviously exhausted upon return. My gratitude to our lab manager for dropping off the posterboards since I was at the airport picking up our new Brazilians. Yes, you heard that right, we have Brazilians in the lab for the summer from Sao Paulo State and they are staying at our house currently. They arrived Thursday morning and I picked them up at the airport. We headed back to the lab and I forced them through a full day of work before we actually went home for the day and got them all settled in. They are the most polite Brazilians I have ever met and were so excited when they saw Betsy. One more perk to owning a dog seems to be the ability to bridge a culture/language divide and break the ice for everyone. Any culture can appreciate a cute dog.

My wife finished painting the baby room this week and our furniture is all put together!

Research turkeys - goal to improve bone strength.

Friday marked a field trip to the NE corner of the state where we led undergrads (and 2 Brazilians) on a tour of poultry production and research. We were even able to visit with an organically certified Amish co-op, which was a brand new experience for me. I know that some people in our department would prefer that we never acknowledged the existence of the organic production and the voodoo that seems to follow it around (including their soil tech who "knows the soil"). But my colleague and I have a different take on the experience. Without these experiences, college students will never know what is going on in the industry. Sure, the organic aspect is a small fragment of the total poultry image, but it is an aspect that deserves consideration nonetheless. If we ignore it, then we have failed to provide the well-balanced education that we claim to be giving to these undergraduates. We should never be afraid to show them something new, and we should always be ready to cover both the positives and negatives of different production and marketing methods. The trips sparked some good conversation and I'm glad that we did it.

Finally, just a word of advice from one former meat science student to my readers. When we were in the grocery this weekend with the Brazilians, they were looking at the different meats that we sell. They pointed out bacon and I looked at it because I rarely look at bacon in the store. I had never realized the disparities in quality of bacon that is offered. If your bacon ever looks like the one on the right, don't waste your money on it. This pale colored (somewhat due to smoking, which is all good and well) bacon with the sloppy, lumpy fat detaching from the muscle will never cook up like you hoped it would. So the take home is, if you're buying bacon, buy the good stuff. Get fat that is smooth and white, not lumpy and falling apart. Life's too short to save money on bad bacon.

Can you see the difference?