A first

Today I had a big first, that is, my first interview as a scientist in a morning news radio show (sorry guys, the interview is in Spanish). Mediated by my brother-in-law, I was interviewed by Javier Solorzano, a well known Mexican journalist about the current flu outbreak in Mexico. While I am not a flu expert, I am a microbiologist in training and tried to provide some input from a foreign scientist point of view. I have to thank Javier Solorzano for making the interview incredibly easy by taking a conversational tone.

Beyond the interview one aspect I thought was kind of funny has to do with perspective. I have always pictured people being interviewed on the radio as a man or woman sitting in a room holding the phone, intently answering the questions. As for me, I did during the interview what I always do when I am on the phone. That is, I spent the entire time pacing back and forth in our conference room answering the phone call.

Kind of funny how that works.

Screwing around

We are having a wonderful winter day in TN, think sunny, Carolina blue skies, and 60 degrees. Yep, just your regular winter day in the SE end of the US of A. Anyhow, I was out in the back yard screwing around with my Xmas/birthday gift and after playing around in Photoshop for a bit, I wanted to post these 2 pix. They are not all that great, but I was glad that I did something right by cranking up the Fstop and going as far as I could with the shutter speed without totally bleaching the picture. The color pictures are actually kind of boring, unless you are a pine tree aficionado, but I thought inverting the pictures and framing them (thanks Nate!) improved them some. Anyhow, these are my lame attempts at some creative photography on a beautiful day. The thumbnails are ok, but click on the image to get the full view.

R ticles of interest

As I was doing my regular run of newspapers at work these two pieces caught my eye:

1. Mexico City trying to clean up.

2. Cutting down on cardboard boxes for moves.

The Mexico City one, in particular, caught my eye. The fact that the population needs a civil ethics crash course on not throwing trash everywhere compounded by the general view that the government should pick the trash up since they are being paid for it, through taxes, is fairly interesting. So, is the incredibly low percent of Mexico City residents that recycle (10%, compared to 77% of Americans).

In the small population sample that encompasses my family, I can say that we do not recycle...at all. I actually remember talking about recycling around 5th grade or so, as well as a big push by my grade school to start recycling and educate people about recycling. Unfortunately there is a big need for Mexican citizens to think beyond the individual, and this does not stop at trash and recycling. Some time ago a supreme court justice in Mexico posted an opinion where he suggested that the country needed a change in ethics where the Mexican individual needs to think beyond the me and now, and start thinking for the benefit of the nation and the community.

The plastic box article I thought was an interesting counter point of the greenification of the US. Besides, I know plenty of us that have moved quite a bit so I figured it couldn't hurt to pass along the link.

Where were you?

I know this question is going to be asked a lot, but I just wanted to ask my two or three readers: where were you January 20th, 2009 when Obama officially took office?

Me? I was laying down getting my teeth cleaned. I guess I will be the most unforgettable teeth cleaning ever. I got to hear some of the ceremony in the waiting room thanks to a dude that had it streaming from his cell phone. Lots of people at Vandy must have been trying to stream the ceremony because web access was crawling all morning.

Obama on Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop

I read about how Obama sat in this show in 2001 when he was an Illinois senator and apparently the episode never aired because, according to the piece I read, Obama was a little too good or smooth when he shot the piece. Make sure you let the clip finish and let it jump to the 2nd clip, where the prez-to-be hops on to talking about a little politcs. This clip made me think of the 60 mins interview where the Obama's talked at one point about how when they were dating Barack Obama was driving a car with a rusted out end where Michelle could see through. How does that sound for elitism?

Kidnapping expert kidnapped

Nothing says 'tis the season for giving like kidnapping an expert in kidnappings. Well, this is exactly what happened in my [not so]beloved home country recently as reported here. While I have not been a fan of my birth nation for quite some time, or a fine representative of it, I dare say that the frequent reports of kidnappings, narc killings, corruption scandals and you name it are starting to make me wonder whether things are about to get much worse before things get better. Actually, a supreme court justice in Mexico thinks the country is starting to slip from the hands of those that care for a better Mexico (article in Spanish). While on the topic, an exchange with my sister's boyfriend also yielded this news piece (sorry, also in Spanish) about a drug lord that was busted recenlty and that during a gun fight tried to call for help from two police chiefs.

Maybe I am naive in not worrying for the safety of my mom and sisters who live in Mexico City or my dad and sister who live in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. I guess I just have convinced myself that since we are not loaded and are not narcs that we should be safe but for a robbery here or there. As far as I know, the only one in my immediate family that has been robbed at gun point was my dad a few years back while taking a cab. My oldest sister has had 2 cars stolen, but never while she was in the car.

Here is hoping that things turn around in Mexico and that Nat and I make it to and back without a hitch.

You tell me this now...

Courtesy of one of Nat's coworkers, US News thinks this about my career. I guess this tells me I should have started my subscription to their mag a long time ago and maybe I should have listened to all the voices in my head.