Transition

  For those who may not realize this I have been back to University now for three weeks.  I have to say I expected the transition from traveling to be a bit challenging, but thankfully it has been going smoothly enough to date.  It's great how the mind after a bit of refreshing can get back most of which was though to be lost.  I have really been enjoying living close to the university.  This morning I timed it to be 150 seconds from my front steps to the side doors of the main engineering building.  Which is great since it has been unbelievably cold many mornings of late.  I live on the main level of a house with my cousin and another guy.  Thankfully they both can cook some capital meals, because my specialty has been hamburger helper (other than the maple glazed salmon I was able to whip up the other week).  Maybe I will stick to washing the dishes.  I do have to say there is no doubt that our place looks like a bachelor pad with blankets for curtains, covers on both of the couches, lots of meat and microwavables in the freezer and needless to say a few dishes lingering around the sink.  If anyone is ever in town or has some time while passing through look me up.

Videos

Picasa has recently enabled the uploading of videos. Due to space that videos consume I have been uploading them on my secondary picasa web account. There are a few videos now posted with the possibility of a few more to come. To view click Jon's Video Gallery. There is also a link to the right under the same heading for future viewings.

Andies, Rockies, Himalayas

Slideshows

I was playing around with a slideshow feature (from myspace) with a few old photos from the past year.

GE ecomagination

I find desalination an interesting topic/field so I have been putting a bit of research into it. While studying what I could online I have found out that GE has been investing greatly into this field for obvious reasons. I know GE has had some serious ecologically damaging habits in the past, but it at least appears that they are trying to change that for their future. Which on their part is a wise business move. Below is a link to a commercial they produced that I have to say I enjoyed (quite humorous - fishing for fresh water).
ecomagination commercial
Also if you are interested in a few of their ecomagination projects click the following link:
ecomagination projects

The Pond

After a year in the absence I was able to get back out on the pond Saturday night.  Despite the bitter cold it felt great to get back on the blades.  I thought that I would feel a bit rusty after such a break from the sport, but once I laced up, it felt like I had never left.  The ice surface is only a few minute walk from my place here in Fredericton as well which makes it ever so convenient to get rid of some steam after doing a bit of school work (ok, maybe when I am trying to procrastinate from my classwork).

Passport

It seems like I will have to set aside my passport for a short while now as I embark on a few months of scholastic activity.  Which reminds me I need to send away for a new passport since the one I have now does not have a free page. A quick side story about this issue while traveling that I found Interesting was when I entered China they did not give me a full page Travel Visa in my passport as is typical (instead they issued me a travel permit for Tibet and the rest of China on an 8x10 piece of paper I had to carry on my person)  If they had put a visa in my passport I would have not had enough space for my Russian Visa which would have severely hindered my Trans-Siberian trip along with my flight from Moscow to NYC.

Issues

I have to say I enjoy a few of the new features that blogger has implemented for making the template layout much more user friendly compared to beta.  However in the change over from blogger beta there seemed to be a few issues with some of my old post/comments.  The code is a bit different now also for editing in HTML.  Some day I may get around to tinkering with it again.  Until that day.

New Blogger

I am trying out the new blogger functions.  I was never totally happy with my last template so hopefully I can find something that I find more suitable.

Around The World

On my flight back to North America flying from Zurich to New York City we passed over PEI at which time I had come to realize that I had made a full circuit of the globe on this journey.  I thought that was kind of neet (not something I get to do everyday and not something I thought I would be doing this trip).  I do much rather westward travel so I am very glad how it worked out for me to make it back in this fashion (the whole jet leg time zone thing treats me better heading west).  So after 13 hours of flights from Moscow to Zurich to NYC I got to kick back and relax in the city for the afternoon and evening.  I can't say I did anything super special.  Visited Time Sq of course then Rockefeller Centre to see the big Christmas tree.  I tried to find Gimbles, but was unable to do so unfortunately.  Then went back to the hostel in Brooklyn to spend the night and catch up on some sleep (had to wake up at 3:00 am to catch my flight plus 9 more time zones crossed).  I arrived in Nashville late morning yesterday (Wednesday) where my parents picked me up and I am now back at Shira and Bobby's new place in Knoxville. To rap it up - It has been a great trip - Sad it is over - But glad to be "home".  Merry Christmas to one and all.

Moscow

Wow, Moscow is a really amazing city.  I only wish I had more time to explore it.  Walking through the arches into the Red Square.  Looking at Lenin's mausoleum then the Kremlin just behind.  Walking by the ever colourful St. Basil's Cathedral.  To cap it all off the architecture all over the city is wonderful.  I do have to say the Metro was incredibly confusing at first since it is all in Russian, but I think I am starting to get the hang of it. I am off since I want to make the most of my time while I have it here in Moscow.  (The train ride went great- but stories of that will wait for another day)