If thanks were fishes, I'd buy you an aquarium.

Instead of heading straight home, I want to the Fl Aquarium for a little bit to take a few pics and hang out to attend an event at the new Greek restaurant at Channelside. Since I had a little time to spare I walked around and got a few shots killing time.

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.

I drove past Chicago on my way to OS/2

Kristen wanted to do some shopping, so her brother and I got up early and walked over to the Shed Aquarium and Field Museum for the morning to entertain ourselves. One neat thing at the museum was the display of the largest intact dinosaur fossil yet found; Sue. We had to get back by mid-afternoon since I had surprise tickets for Kristen and myself at Cirque du Soleil's traveling performance of 'Kooza'. I've see about 6 different Cirque shows and this was about on par with the rest. There was a dual wheel that was very much like (though smaller) the one used in the Vegas show 'Ka'. After the show we headed to Greek Town for a last family dinner.

If thanks were fishes, I'd buy you an aquarium.

Since it was a bit cold and rainy, we decided to head over to the Florida Aquarium instead of doing Busch Gardens. since we couldn't go for some reason last time Jason was here, we went to check out the Victory class merchant ship, 'American Victory' that is berthed behind the aquarium complex. Since it was relatively late in the day, we pretty much had the ship to ourselves and after paying the entrance fee went off to explore the many areas of the ship. I've always been enthralled with old places such as historic ships, old factories, hotels, tunnels or warehouses for a little 'urban spelunking'. It is a shame that these places are either so closed up due to liability concerns or destroyed by transients that don't allow the curious to really appreciate them.

The difference between this ship and those found at Patriot's Point in Charleston is that this is still an operating vessel that does tours and trips in the area as well as working as an educational platform. Very little of the ship was actually blocked off from access, and we took that to our advantage in really getting a chance to explore. Besides all the different rooms, this was my first chance to really check out an engine room since most exhibits are all closed off because it is so difficult to block the numerous small nooks and crannies. After bypassing a few signs that I figured would not apply to us, being natural explorers and all, we found ourselves in many great spots, including tall ladders heading up the smokestack and into the bottom areas of the ship. We were found out by one of the custodians of the ship, however he seemed more pleased that we were enthralled with the ship and really curious than he was annoyed and left us to continue the 'self-guided tour'. Since it was near closing time we quickly checked out the bridge area and the front portions of the ship before heading out. Prior to leaving, we did a brisk walk through all the aquarium exhibits.

Afterwards we headed home to check out the movie show times and decided to go see 'Eragon' at the theater. While the acting and graphics were good, the storyline/plot was really, really lacking of anything decently substantial, so I wouldn't recommend getting thus until it becomes a DVD rental, even if then.

Culture is roughly anything we do and the monkeys don't.

I had a pretty busy weekend. On Sunday I visited the Tampa Museum of Art for the first time since I have been in Florida while hanging out with a friend for the afternoon, Cherie. She's always involved in her Master's program and pretty much the only time that the stars align to giver her a few moments is between semesters. The best part about going to events like that with friends, at least those on your level, is the ability to chat about each of the pieces and make jokes. There is definitely a lot of humor in art if you try. After spending quite a bit of time there, we walked over to the University of Tampa campus to explore a bit as well as check out what kind of festival was happening. On the way there we stopped at the amphitheater so I could show here the location of my virtual geocache so she could experience the effect that occurs when standing in a certain spot (think perfect acoustical parabola). Before getting to the campus, we stopped by Snow Park which was once listed a the world's smallest park. It was really fun to walk around UT's Plant Hall since it was a major high end hotel back in the late 1800's. The architecture was really exquisite and we were able to check out a lot of nooks and crannies, even a fire escape or two. It was pretty easy to get lost in the depths of the building and I'm sure it'd have a really spooky feeling if there alone late at night!

After the exploration, we walked around Plant Park where there was an Israeli Independence day celebration. There was a live group doing some reggae (very much like Matisyahu) as we walked around a bit, though seemed to miss the most active time since many booths were packing up. With an hour and a half left, we hit the Florida Aquarium for a little while and got to see the cruise ship 'Miracle' leave dock. That will be the ship upon which I will be staying on the hash cruise in September. After a quick Bennigan's dinner, we headed back to Brandon where Cherie left her car. It took a lot of begging on, ummm, her part, yeah that's it; but finally the skee ball challenge was accepted. I cannot reveal the outcome, however it seems the year of working at Chuck E Cheese in high school actually might have given a bit of an edge.

Overall, it was a fun afternoon. I have a lot of cleaning to do this week and organizing in the garage since I need to find all my hiking gear before taking off at the end of the month for a trip to North Carolina.

An aquarium is an interactive television for cats.

After yesterday's fun, I decided to try to take it a bit easy. I went to the Florida Aquarium for a bit to see the white alligator that is on exhibit. It has been a few months since I had been there so I figured it would be a nice way to relax. After walking around for a bit and enjoying the pretty fish (and copy the aquarium to use as a wall in my bedroom for when I win the billion dollar lottery), I went to a friend's baby shower.

Several of the hashers set up a surprise party for Karen (Juggle These) and set everything up while Jon (ICP) got her out of the house for a bit. I missed the beginning of the festivities, but was able to join the after party that just had a group of remaining freinds hanging out and talking (my favorite part of parties anyway). I'm such a neophyte in terms of gifting in that I had not idea what to get and probably should have called my friend Adrienne for an idea. I just ended up picking up something that might help with baby's teething process and hoped mom might be able to get some use out of it as well. Karen (one of my favorite people) seemed to enjoy the event and quite pleased with the support and eagerly awaits to introduce her daughter to the world.

I think we're all eager for that as well.