Some cool photos

So I've been following the facebook page "I #$%@%^# love science". Profanity aside they have some pretty cool posts on there. Here are a few of the cool photos.

Cool little story

Is winning all that counts? Are you absolutely sure about that?

Very little has been said about this…..On December 2, Basque athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai - bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner - the certain winner of the race - mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line.

Fernández Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai's mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and, using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first.

Ivan Fernandez Anaya, a Basque runner of 24 years who is considered an athlete with a big future (champion of Spain of 5,000 meters in promise category two years ago) said after the test:
"But even if they had told me that winning would have earned me a place in the Spanish team for the European championships, I wouldn't have done it either. I also think that I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won. And that is very important, because today, with the way things are in all circles, in soccer, in society, in politics, where it seems anything goes, a gesture of honesty goes down well."

He said at the beginning: unfortunately, very little has been said of the gesture. And it's a shame. In my opinion, it would be nice to explain to children, so they do not think that sport is only what they see on TV: violent kicks in abundance, posh statements, fingers in the eyes of the enemy ...

Modern Art

So today's science lesson is about a technique called a Western blot that we often do in lab. The technique is used to test a cell culture for a certain protein by using a molecule (antibody) to attach to it and give off a fluorescent signal so you can see it. You run it down a charge gel to sort by size and then pour the antibody on it and take a picture. It's called a Southern blot because the original idea was from a guy named Edwin Southern probing for DNA. Then there's the Northern blot for RNA, Western for protein, Eastern for fatty acids, and over 10 more variations (South by Southwest, reverse Southern, far Eastern, etc...)....This is what one is supposed to look like.... 

This is what mine looked like.....

I'm not really sure what happened but needless to say I had to redo the experiment. I have deemed it to be "Modern Art" and have printed off and signed several copies for people on the floor. Better luck next time!

Scandals

While everyone seems to be talking about the Manti Te'o scandal this is all I can think about
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/story-man-outsourced-china-could-135701981.html

Australian Open

Keeping along the line of sports, the Australian Open started this week. Obviously for me it's a big deal being one of the 4 Major tennis tournaments of the year but with the time change it's difficult to watch. Last night I caught a little when I got home from work/study around 10 last night for a half hour or so and hope to watch a little more as the week goes along. Definitely a good unwinding activity for me. Still undecided whether the new time zone is better, worse, or not a factor for watching this tournament.

Pep to Bayern Munich?

So this is significant only to people who follow soccer but Barcelona's legendary coach, Pep Guardiola, has come out of retirement and signed for a new team. This is cool news because Bayern Munich is super talented and I'm curious to see how the future will change for them. That is all for notable news today.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/laliga/id/336?cc=5901

Bittersweet Day

So today marks the beginning of the Kohawk tennis season and for the first time in 4 years I will not be there to participate. Don't get my wrong, the first few weeks of practice are miserable. The days are long and repetitive, the conditioning is tough, the challenge matches test all of your nerves and after it's all done you have to go do your homework. But through all the hard work during the season and plenty in the off season I eventually got to experience a few remarkable moments and so I've decided to put a few photos together from my career for old times sake. 

Photo of me my freshmen year. Long (full) head of hair and clean shaven :)

The Racket Center

Winning B flight singles my Freshmen year at conference.

Finally winning conference 5-4 against Luther.

Seniors and Coach Rodgers

Banquet speech after delaying the start for over an hour due to my extensive singles match (more later)

This (and the top photo) are from when I won the 5th and deciding point against Wisconsin Whitewater in my senior day meet. What a moment!

Winning conference led to an appearance in the NCAA tournament

And of course any experience with Rob (Bobo)

Here is my award winning Prezi of Rob now with over 170 views :) 

http://prezi.com/9djdfcx7bsbe/rob-bobo-rye-and-his-career-at-coe/

Coaches and Rob trying to imitate coach

The team

And to top it off a few photos of where the journey began on the city courts of St. Anthony Village. Yes our jerseys were blue....

Outdoor tennis in January?

Only hit off the wall for a bit and the ball got a bit soggy but it was glorious.

Back to work!

So these photos are for comedic purpose and do not represent that actual nature of my work. So on Monday I officially started in lab and my friend Mike (second picture losing decisively at Tetris to me) is rotating there. The lab is in a weird state with me starting, one post Doc returning from a month vacation, another having just submitted a paper and is waiting for reviews, and the other graduate student is about to take here Candidacy Exam so there is not a whole lot of actual lab work going on. We were waiting for samples to finish incubating when we started playing Tetris. I've spent a lot of time filling out paperwork getting access to everything. It's nice to have an office now though I have been staying into the evening because it is a nice place to study. The building is very nice too and since we are in the basement and off of the main campus it doesn't have nearly as much traffic. I have a big presentation coming up quickly in  one of my classes so I've been spending a lot of time with that and studying for other classes but hopefully I'll be able to fit in a few fun things. Recently learned of some new fun things to do in Columbus so hopefully I will be able to check them out this semester or certainly in the summer.

Back to school

So after a lengthy break I am now back at school. I am already busy with classes but I officially joined Dr. Wu's lab and will be pursuing my Ph.D working on HIV which I am very excited about. I will post more details later.