eBook Readers

I would actually like to have an eBook reader - when they get better. As much as I like to read my books hard copy - I just looked into the 'nook' and it supports PDFs. This got me so excited, that finally I can read [science] papers, on a reader, than on the computer. But one feature that I would like to have along with the ability to read PDFs is the text-to-speech option, which the nook lacks (present in kindle, but no pdfs). Alas! when is someone going to make a reader that supports both the features and make the life of an academic so much more geeky?!

Favorite Animal

As I was waiting for the little zoo train at the St. Louis Zoo yesterday morning, I ran into Natalia - a little girl from the Dominican Republic who is in the US to get a surgery on her leg. One of her legs is much shorter than the other, and she had recently been fixed with a shoe, that helps her walk (and run). Since the train was running late, we decided to walk around some of the exhibits. Natalia, who mostly speaks only spanish told me her favorite animal is the 'elefante', which is also one of my favorite animals :)

The St. Louis zoo has four Asian Elephants, and the male is in an enclosure by himself. The three females, one of which looked like a calf, are together. They also have a separate enclosure with a pool where they can go for a swim. It would have been so cool to see them also swim, along with the baby Hippo!

Hippo under the Water!

I spent this morning at the St. Louis Zoo. I had a great time, walking around and taking a ride in the train around the 90 acre zoo. The first part of the zoo was the River's Edge and had Rhino, Hippos, Cheetah, Bush dogs and elephants. In spite of having been to so many zoos before, I saw so many animals for the first time and it was thrilling. The most wonderful experience of the day was watching a baby hippo swim!

This is the first time I am witnessing a hippo actually swim - this baby was basically doing circles in his pool, with the mom and dad watching from a corner. He has gracious movements, and it was fun to watch him swim along with hundreds of fishes. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our camera on this trip and the pictures were taken with my iPhone.

I am thinking of...

... all the birds of the Galapagos and the disease ecology of their parasites and pathogens...

Galapagos Hawk

Random: Sundial

This sundial, with a 30 foot long style is located in downtown Oshkosh, and is supposedly one of the largest in the world. Though I am fascinated by sundials, I have never attempted to tell the time with it, because of all the corrections involved. This picture was taken in the spring, during one of the gallery nights when my students did a fundraiser for the humane society.

One of the interesting things about this sundial is that it was removed temporarily when they were filming 'Public Enemies' in Oshkosh.

Pausing to reflect...

A coyote we saw at the Grand Canyon in 2007

Missed you Chicago!

I was looking forward to spending part of this week in the Windy City, with plans to visit the Field Museum and the Lincoln Park Zoo, Devon Avenue, Vanille Patisserie and Tamarind Restaurant. Alas, Shankar did not get to go to his conference, and I missed Chicago, and all the wonderful things it has to offer.

Avocado Rice

Last night's dinner was a simple meal with Avocado Rice, Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes and Lettuce sauteed with coconut. Usually when we get avocados, they are ripe and really good for guacamole. This time, I found some Haas avocados at Trader Joe's that were not quite completely ripe, and would hold the shape when diced. I also had a couple of Poblano peppers at home and hence a Navajo type Avocado rice for dinner. The poblano peppers were sliced thinly. The avocado was diced and soaked in lemon. I also used half an onion and some cilantro. The onion, peppers were suateed in butter and then, I added cooked rice, some salt and some hot sauce (left over from a Thai restaurant). Then the cilantro along with the avocados were folded in and mixed well. I wasn't sure how the avocados will hold on the heat, hence I turned off the stove and just let it soften in the warmth of the rice. Served with some yogurt to offset the heat from the peppers, the rice was yummy :)