::A Geek in Korea::

My family headed to the Cincinnati Zoo. This might easily be the first time I’ve been at the Zoo in fifteen years. We, as a family, never did anything downtown before this trip, and now we spend every day we can trying to see something new. Today was incredibly hot, so we were worried about getting around and seeing animals before they all decided that they’d spend the day in the shade.

The Cincinnati Zoo had some great habitats. Many were easy to view, but also seemed to keep the needs of the animals in mind. The caretaker for the Bonobos told us that there was even television for the animals to watch to prevent boredom. They might have not been bored, but they were certainly still gross. One of the animals turned around, proceeded to urinate, then stick it’s finger up it’s own ass. Then, as a bonus viewing treat, we got to watch it eat its own feces. We tried to walk away, but the caretaker kept talking to us so we got to see the whole show.

My wife has a bird phobia that reduces her to a cowering mess when she comes too close to anything with wings. Usually this isn’t a problem if I’m around, as I get charged with being the great male protector. Fear me pidgeons! Anyway, we walked through a Lorikeet Aviary at the zoo. We would have made it through, which I thought was going to be a big step on reducing her fears, until a lorikeet landed on my brother’s arm, deficated, then crawled along his shirt. My dad also had a bird land on his hand. He fed it seeds on a stick. My wife’s eyes about popped out of her skull and we headed for the nearest exit before we were covered in feathers.

After that, we headed to a Thai restaurant. It was good, and you could even set the "hotness" level of your dish by telling them a number. No surprise "rat shit"   peppers like my meal in Thailand. (My site is the first on a google search for the phrase "rat shit peppers".) We had some excellent Thai Singha beer too. We didn’t finish our meals, so we got the take out boxes that are in every Asian restaurant in America. I don’t know why every place in America has those things as take out boxes, as I’ve never seen them in Asia. In Korea, food is delivered in either styrafoam or in actual dishes that you set outside your house when you finish so that busboys from the restaurants can pick them back up.

Tomorrow will be another hot day. We plan to see a Reds game with friends.