All in all its another brick from the wall.

I had to go by my old USF house house to meet a contractor regarding window replacements and to fix an issue with one of the tenant's sinks and decided to run by campus to check out the new student center. The new building is fairly grand and will be quite the focal point for campus activities. It has a 3-4 story atrium with modern rooms, displays and a great layout that I wish was available when I attended the university. I did get in a couple of shots of the old building being demolished and could even see the remains of some of the rooms in which I use to hide away to study. I rarely get a chance to visit the campus any more, but it is nice to walk through on occasion.

Have you ever wondered why aquarium water tastes funny?

Kristen was able to get a couple of passes to the opening of a renovated/updated area called "Ocean Commotion" in the Florida Aquarium. Through her work with City of Tampa Riverwalk project, she has been in touch with many of the downtown businesses and attractions and knows many of the associated marketing people. We arrived a little early and had name tags waiting for us as we walked around for a little while. There was an open bar available along with hor d'ourves also being served as we sat around and enjoyed the exhibits in relative solitude. The opening itself didn't take very long with a relatively minor showing as the event was in likely competition with the baseball playoff game that evening; which was mentioned several times in the brief speeches.

There were not any really huge changes as I didn't recognize any additional exhibits as this seemed to be more of a rebranding or minor renovation than anything significant. The redesign, however was quite nice and I enjoyed the more vibrant colors where previously it was a fairly dark area. The public thoroughfare was completely refurbished along with a new theme; something along the lines of a voting for a favorite animated character at the end of the walk through which there were various interpretative displays conveying different characters. While it was obviously geared towards children, my anecdotal experience with kids has me guess that they really are not so interested in that kind of theme. Having interactive displays is great, but they really are not going to go much more in depth than pushing a few buttons to see a change and won't really process a lot out of it. I'd be surprised of anyone ever pays attention to the theme of voting for a character other than parents that are dragging kids along and specifically directing their attention to it in a "Here honey, you need to come here and enter your vote. Do it right now I tell you!" The overall increase in visual and interactive displays will appeal to a young audience that would more appreciate the color and technology; 'oh look, something shiny!' I would love to see a display that actually has a real, serious FAQ list near each display, or just one collection per section. Something like a list regarding SCUBA diving for the shows or basic elements of each species would be useful for those interested in taking the time to learn more but not wanting/remembering to google when they get home. I did like the new exhibit and plan to continue the membership I've had at the Fl Aquarium for the past few years. My new camera hasn't come in yet, but when it does I may try to find a time in the late afternoon before closing to bring it out with a tripod and get in some decent shots. I have a new wide angle lens coming in as well, so hopefully my future panoramic shots will require less stitching, but with applications such as photosynth becoming more popular, it might not be necessary.

Is the Cesarean Section an historic district in Rome?

While reading some travel forums for idea of next year's trip, I found a post of a great deal from NYC to Rome for ~$320 round-trip. I had been planning on doing Peru and Ecuador next year, but now looks I'll either have to move it or squeeze in another trip. I have now booked the flight and leave NYC April 28 and return May 12. I'll probably add an extra day or so to play in New York so I can take in some shows, see sites, etc, so this will probably end up being a 17-18 day trip. This will be my first trip to Europe, so I'm excited about the possibilities. Over the next few weeks I'll start making plans and seeing what is out there. I need to check out travel opportunities to places such as Athens and Paris (which I'd definitely think I'd like to spend a couple of days to get to the Normandy beaches). Overall I travel cheap and light, so hopefully the entire trip would cost $1500-$2000with airfare, but we'll see if that is realistic. This year's New Zealand / Australia trip was a bit expensive because a lot of specialty events/activities (bungee jumping, liveaboard SCUBA trip, etc) and a lot of flights (12-14 different legs). If anyone has insights or ideas, then definitely let me know!