The
man in the video above is just one of the reasons that I ended up
pursuing the path I chose.As a kid, I didn't really know him or of him
that well. There wasn't cable TV with his jungle adventures, and we
certainly didn't watch late night television. But National Geographic
and Nature documentaries lead to a love of wild animals, and little did I
know but he was cultivating one of the best places to go see those
animals. Mind you, the Columbus Zoo didn't turn out to be the #1 US zoo
overnight. No, it took decades of hard work by Jack Hanna and his team
to build the zoo up into a respected exhibition and conservation
location for all kinds of wild species. And the work hasn't stopped.
Just this week, he was telling us about a new cheetah exhibit that will
allow them to reach 60+ mph, one of the only in the United States.
He
sure does love animals, and I could go on forever about all the great
things he has done for Columbus, the zoo, the animals, the state of
Ohio, our country and the world's awareness of endangered species, their
habits and our interaction with them. His handling of the Zanesville
"accident" a couple years ago was professional and balanced a
consideration for the well-being of the animals with the safety of the
local human residents. I know he got a lot of flak for that, but he did a
good job using his celebrity persona to make a difference in a
disaster.
The clouded leopard made a brief appearance this weekend. :)
But
this post really isn't all about how great Jack Hanna is. My wife says
I'm pretty creepy for how much I like him, but when we had the chance to
meet him this week at a cancer research fundraiser hosted by a local
farmer impacted by cancer, I jumped all over it. So we got to meet him,
and get our picture taken with him and I told him how much I appreciated
his speaking at my graduation back in December (read more).
And we got our picture taken with him! And he signed a picture over to
our little girl; he got a kick out of the fact that they both had the
same name. :)
Daddy and baby girl looking at the rhino.
Ironically,
this was also our first week out at the zoo. I really believe that all
of the time I would spend at the zoo growing up sparked my curiosity,
practiced my reading, gave me great exercise and improved my
conversational relationship with my family. It is not just the knowledge
of the animals, but the observation of them and the appreciation for
them that develops over time that make a zoo membership worth it, over
and above just a simple trip there on a yearly basis. And it is this
love of animals and nature that I hope we will be able to nourish in
Hannah as well. She is following in the footsteps of two parents who
truly believe in taking care of this world around us, protecting the
enviroment and habitats, and raising wholesome food for the community.
And before she can learn to plant the seeds or shear a sheep, she will
learn to watch the moose in their solemn quiet, the bears in their
slumber, the gorillas in their playfulness and the elephants in their
discovery.
Our baby girl at the zoo with the old grizzly bears.
In
other news this week, I finally got my car cleaned. My wife said I had
to if I wanted to ever haul our little Hannah in it. There is a great
place down off of campus that will vacuum your car, clean the interior
and wash it for about $15. It takes around 15-20 minutes, and they do a
really good job. In preparation, I pulled all of the junk out of my car
(and there was a lot of it) and put it all in the garage (where it has
since been all put away, I promise). In the process, I found a little
toad living in my doorjam, doubtless surviving on all the good bugs
living in my car. When I picked up the car from the carwash, I also came
away with 2 extra pocketknives that I had given up for lost (and since
then I have lost 2 others). All in all, it was a pretty good day for a
carwash, and I am now approved to transport the little girl, just in
time for daycare next week.
And in case you are wondering how the little girl is doing...
She is going pretty great. :)
On
the work front, I have finally gotten the protocol put together for our
lab to take protozoal video and turn it into objective data for the
motility and size of protozoa under the influence of different
treatments. This is pretty big for our lab and hopefully will lead to
some real good data down the road. Finally, I have made a unique impact
on the productivity and value of our lab. Of course, I owe some thanks
along the way, especially to the guy who shared "Tetratracker" plugin
with us for the ImageJ (even though he didn't know much about how to use
it), and to two of my interns, Logan and Brooklyn, who have put in a
fair bit of time on this over the summer, as well as the muscle biology
lab for the microscope. But my primary gratitude is towards J. Pederson
for his very helpful instructions on cleaning up videos with the binary
conversion and image subtraction in ImageJ. If anyone needs help
learning this process, I recommend you search his YouTube channel for
lots of image analysis problem-solving.
He is how I learned to take a video like this in grayscale...
Correct the contrast and subtract the non-motile background...
And end up with clearly defined moving objects to use with any multitracker plugin.
Until next time, just keep your chin up and smile. :)
But
this post really isn't all about how great Jack Hanna is. My wife says
I'm pretty creepy for how much I like him, but when we had the chance to
meet him this week at a cancer research fundraiser hosted by a local
farmer impacted by cancer, I jumped all over it. So we got to meet him,
and get our picture taken with him and I told him how much I appreciated
his speaking at my graduation back in December (read more).
And we got our picture taken with him! And he signed a picture over to
our little girl; he got a kick out of the fact that they both had the
same name. :)
In
other news this week, I finally got my car cleaned. My wife said I had
to if I wanted to ever haul our little Hannah in it. There is a great
place down off of campus that will vacuum your car, clean the interior
and wash it for about $15. It takes around 15-20 minutes, and they do a
really good job. In preparation, I pulled all of the junk out of my car
(and there was a lot of it) and put it all in the garage (where it has
since been all put away, I promise). In the process, I found a little
toad living in my doorjam, doubtless surviving on all the good bugs
living in my car. When I picked up the car from the carwash, I also came
away with 2 extra pocketknives that I had given up for lost (and since
then I have lost 2 others). All in all, it was a pretty good day for a
carwash, and I am now approved to transport the little girl, just in
time for daycare next week.
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