Close Encounters of the Herpetologist Kind I met Jeff Corwin !!!! By LoraBabyGirl2001@aol.com My sister, my cousin, my best friend and I drove down to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from New York on July 20th, 2002. I am the one that originally started liking Jeff because one day, about a year ago, I landed on Animal Planet while channel surfing. I stopped and watched him and he was hysterical. My 11-year-old daughter (that is right, I am 35 years old!!) would always know when I was watching him because I would laugh out loud. We started to watch him together which was really nice because it gave us some bonding time as well. He is just so knowledgeable and funny. It doesnąt hurt that he seems soooo nice and is such a cutie!!! It took about 5 hours to get to Pittsburgh after all the bathroom stops we had to make. Jeff was coming on at 4:45 PM and would stay through 6:15 because he was throwing the first pitch of the Pirates game. We arrived around 3:30 PM. We found the booth where he was signing autographs and there were only about 10 people in line, most of them 13 or less (I was feeling very old). I told my companions, "You guys do what you want but I am getting in line and waiting!" Of course, they all like him now as well so they followed right behind me. The weather was sunny and the bank thermostat peeked at 98 degrees!!! We stood out in the heat and sun waiting for over an hour. I brought this really nice color photo I had scanned on my PC and I left a white border around it for him to sign it. The picture came from the People Magazine with the 50 Most Beautiful People and he looks really good with his snake around his neck Then it was 4:40 and another Animal Planet guy on top of a trailer started a "We Love Jeff" chant to distract everyone and sure enough I look to my left and there is Jeff walking up with a bunch of people surrounding him. He went and sat at a table under a tent. The people in charge said only one autograph per person. I was kind of bummed because I wanted to get one for my daughter who could not come with us. I gave away the extra color shots I had to some young girls and boys standing behind us. They were psyched because the pictures Animal Planet had for Jeff to autograph were tiny black and white pictures. He was looking so incredibly good. His face was clean-shaven and his hair was perfect. He had on a long sleeved blue sweater that was well fitted. He is probably used to the heat and it did not even bother him but I was dying in a short-sleeved shirt. He was very polite and nice. He always addressed people by their first name and was actually thanking people for coming!!! I gave him a t-shirt for his birthday. He said, "this is real great" and then he asked me about what kind of company it was. I then thanked him and he said, "Thanks for coming, Lora". I was really impressed by him, even more now then I already was. I asked him if I could shake his hand and he extended his hand and we shook. Off I went in a daze. My sister makes glass beads and jewelry. She gave him a necklace for his wife and Jeff said that she was going to come but was tired. The best part of all is that my cousin taped some short video clips on her digital. There was one of us chanting "We Love Jeff" (which is now my new slogan!), one of me waiting in line with a big smile on my face and Jeff is in the background, one of me handing him the t-shirt and him signing my autograph. I also have a couple of nice digital pictures of him. So we were out of there by 5:30 and back on the road to come home that is the end of my story. TOTALLY WORTH THE LONG DRIVE AND EXTREME HEAT TO MEET JEFF CORWIN !!!!! WE LOVE JEFF !!!!