tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82943766605807526892024-02-19T19:38:04.561+08:00Rockin' it Out(til rockin' it out goes wrong)Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comBlogger316125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-17679158183139998962014-03-06T23:07:00.002+08:002014-03-06T23:07:27.121+08:00Christmas Down Under
Last December we traveled down to Australia for the first time to spend our Christmas break. Since then we decided that when we wrote travel blogs we didn't want to include simply a summary of the trip itinerary. Rather, we wanted to try to write about our impressions and reflections on the trip which might be more interesting to read. Thus, I'm going to Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-51829948785839190632014-02-23T08:22:00.001+08:002014-02-23T08:22:31.394+08:00Hong Kong Home Brew Competition 2014
Since my last home brew related post things have been moving steady. In December/January we brewed three different batches: a porter with cacao nibs, a double IPA, and a rye pale ale. While spending Christmas in Australia, I did some shopping at a brewing shop called Grain and Grape and picked up some quality ingredients for the IPA and the rye. I was Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-1003772162145924402014-02-21T17:52:00.000+08:002014-02-22T14:23:44.501+08:00Adventures in Hong Kong: Cheung Chau Island
By November, we are dying for a break from work, but with no school holidays from September to December we are kind of on Hong Kong lock down until Christmas. Hong Kong has a lot to offer so we decided to take an overnight trip to the outlying island of Cheung Chau. Our good friends, Becky and Vlada, go to Macau pretty often to "get away" from Hong Kong, but we decided to try something closer Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-76345625188634117032014-02-20T17:10:00.000+08:002014-02-20T17:10:26.752+08:00Mixing Work and Pleasure #5: NYU Abu Dhabi
Occasionally I get the opportunity to visit different university campuses around the world with my job as a University Counselor. My last fly in was about two years ago at SCAD in Savannah and Atlanta, GA. These are great opportunities to see a campus first hand and report back to my students. This past November, I was invited to NYU Abu Dhabi. Everyone knows NYU in NYC,but did you know Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-13817712738632964282013-12-02T22:24:00.000+08:002013-12-02T22:24:32.213+08:00Home Brew Part 4: Fall Brew-ha-ha
It's been a while since I've posted on my most recent hobby of brewing beer. My colleague and I started brewing back in March and we were able to knock out about four batches before the summer holidays. During that time I did some serious research, hitting up several major breweries while we were back in the States, including: Harpoon (Boston), Victory (Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-57083954722917875712013-12-01T17:04:00.000+08:002013-12-01T17:04:07.606+08:0010,000 Buddhas
On a random weekend this Fall we had a surprise visit from a couple of friends from GT CCF - Kara and Eddie! They were passing through on a 2-week trip to China and we were fortunate to be the first stop. Marisa and I had been planning on doing some new touristy things in Hong Kong this year, so the timing was perfect. On a beautiful Saturday we hit up the Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-77790595632760936482013-11-02T09:59:00.002+08:002013-11-02T09:59:40.662+08:00Home and Away Football Tournament 2013
So the Open Mic Night that I mentioned before was part of a fundraising effort for our school staff team that would participate in the "Home and Away Football Tournament". This is the third annual football tournament that raises funds and awareness of the political refugees and asylum-seekers living in Hong Kong. Basically all sixteen teams in the tournamentJustin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-45317730190740120452013-10-31T15:51:00.000+08:002013-10-31T15:51:00.992+08:00Open Mic Night
A few weeks ago I decided to organize a school staff team to compete in a charity soccer tournament to raise money for political refugees/asylum seekers in Hong Kong. The tournament was to be held at our school and I figured it was only right for us to be represented. Since it is a charity tournament, one of the requirements was for our team to raise as muchJustin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-48882990298258244972013-10-05T09:12:00.001+08:002013-10-05T09:12:13.659+08:00Mid-Autumn in Macau
After the whirlwind tour of the U.S. this summer we had a sense of missing some relaxation once we arrived back in Hong Kong. With a quick glance at our school calendar we saw that there would be a long weekend in September that just might do the trick. The easiest place to get away for a weekend is the nearby Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Macau.
Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-88103955506298455132013-09-27T20:29:00.001+08:002013-09-27T20:29:51.226+08:00Junk Boat
One rite of passage that every resident of Hong Kong must experience is that of the full-day junk boat tour. Arriving back in Hong Kong from our summer travels it seemed that everyone was thinking the same thing, with three different opportunities for junk-boating on three consecutive weekends. We had rented a junk boat before for Marisa's 30th birthday in May, Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-2560381664078045482013-09-23T10:09:00.000+08:002013-09-23T10:09:22.060+08:00Taylor Guitar Factory Tour
While visiting family in California in August I finally had a chance to visit the deceptively elusive Taylor Guitar Factory in El Cajon (north San Diego County). On several previous trips I happened to visit during Christmas and the 4th of July, which happen to be the two times of the year when the factory is shut down. Not this time!
Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-85236503190344137732013-09-11T19:02:00.001+08:002013-09-11T19:02:29.053+08:00Miscell-Asian: Photo-Taking 101
Justin and I come across a lot of things while living in Hong Kong that an American would just not see on a day to day basis. We have been collecting observations that we want to share with you about Hong Kong culture or the general term "Asian". One of my favorite things about living overseas is learning the nuances of another culture. While with any culture some traditions or customs can beJustin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-41453849901818603432013-09-05T17:36:00.001+08:002013-09-05T17:36:26.127+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour: VA
I had the added bonus of visiting the beautiful state of Virginia and visiting with some of my dear friends. The main reason for my visit to Virginia was to take my last two master's on-campus classes called intensives at Liberty University. I did the same thing last summer and it was good to be a college students again. But school is boring to talk about so lets talk about more exciting thingsJustin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-86294370318389441412013-08-31T15:38:00.000+08:002013-09-05T17:37:13.141+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - CA
With the hopes of finding a little down time before going back to Hong Kong we spent our last week in Huntington Beach with an overnight trip down to Escondido in North San Diego County. Our time consisted of visiting with family and friends, spending time at the pool and beach, and of course - visiting breweries.
Highlights from our time Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-7812795151683405652013-08-23T12:49:00.001+08:002013-09-05T17:42:26.312+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - Boston and Newburyport, MA
In recent years a summer trip up to the New England area has become a given as we have family in Newburyport as well as friends in Boston. It doesn't hurt that ol' Beantown is a great city with lots of colleges for Marisa to visit and breweries for me to check out. Last year we came down for a Red Sox game, toured Boston College and endured a Sam Adams Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-1793630970248175342013-08-22T11:44:00.000+08:002013-09-05T17:47:12.049+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - GA
Atlanta is always an essential stop on our visits to the States and it tends to be where we spend the bulk of our time since we have so many family and friends there. This year I spent a week there by myself while Marisa finished her graduate school in Virginia, and then we came back to spend about two weeks there before heading to California for the end of our Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-84293158191894893332013-08-15T04:02:00.002+08:002013-09-05T17:47:53.049+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - South Carolina
While in Atlanta for a two-week stint, we broke it up with a quick trip up to Greenville, SC to visit my brother and his family. It has been a busy year for their family, especially with the addition of their son Fisher in March. We were eager to see them after a year and to see how much our niece, Arden, had grown. It was a nice couple of days where weJustin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-9295155114064771702013-08-13T22:50:00.000+08:002013-08-13T22:50:16.578+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - New York City
From Philadelphia we took a train into New York City for a day with the main purpose of seeing the Atlanta Braves take on the N.Y. Mets at Citi Field. We went in a bit earlier to spend some time walking around and to meet up with our friends, Andy and Amy who live in Brooklyn. The weather was hot and the tourists were out in droves, but it ended up being a Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-15316245055123402272013-08-12T23:12:00.000+08:002013-08-12T23:12:00.451+08:00Jackson US Summer Tour 2013 - PA
On this summer tour I came one week behind Marisa and had a short week in Atlanta before flying up to visit my mom and step dad in Philadelphia. We were joined by Marisa who came up from Virginia after finishing her summer classes. It had been a few years since we'd visited them in Pennsylvania, so we were excited to see them and check out some new sights.&Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-35211540349597433912013-07-17T22:06:00.003+08:002013-07-17T22:06:26.889+08:00Home Brew Part 3: The Good, the Bad, and the U-mazing
In this third installment of the home-brewing series (see part one and part two) I'll walk you through the next three batches of home brew that we produced this spring.
Our best home brew to date - the Edinburgh IPA
First........the Good. Since time was short for us before the end of the school year we decided to go with a Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-79708507980569363492013-06-20T20:41:00.000+08:002013-06-20T20:41:00.239+08:0030 Years Young: Another day another decade
If every birthday could be like my 30th than it wouldn't be so bad getting old. As many of you already know I love birthdays and mine is no exception especially with such a big one- 30! This year was awesome because I think I had celebrations for almost 2 weeks.
It started a bit early with my brother and his family visiting and we had an all dessert night celebration at the Sheraton's Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-72186978574222291412013-06-19T17:00:00.001+08:002013-06-19T17:00:51.783+08:00The Aston's do Hong Kong!
I can't even begin to put into words how wonderful it was to see my brother and his family a few weeks back. My brother was going on a surfing trip in Indonesia and thought it might be fun to stop through Hong Kong with the whole family. And I am so glad they did. It had been two years since I had seen him, my sister-in-law, and my two nieces. And when I say the Aston's did Hong Kong I mean it Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-57482211204165615302013-06-05T14:54:00.000+08:002013-06-05T14:54:00.313+08:00Me and My Diabetes
August 16, 2012 - After a wonderful summer vacation in the States in-between assignments in Germany and Hong Kong, Marisa and I found ourselves down in Port Orange, FL visiting my mom, stepdad, brother and his family. It was wonderful to finally relax after spending the previous month working on visa paperwork and receiving/shipping boxes from Germany and to Hong Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-65780198357026205352013-05-28T19:12:00.000+08:002013-05-28T19:12:26.365+08:00Easter in Malaysia - Penang
We strategically planned our trip so that we would end on a beach for a few days - and we're so glad that we did. With all of the driving and touring throughout the week, we were looking forward to just settling down, unpacking our bags and not doing anything. Penang is an area on the eastern coast of Malaysia, up near the border with Thailand. We Justin Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909878418998872040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8294376660580752689.post-66093845432437147502013-05-26T21:17:00.000+08:002013-05-26T21:17:18.020+08:00Easter in Malaysia- Cameron Highlands...a highlight!
After the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur, we head to the lush hills of the Cameron Highlands. As a person getting more and more into tea as she gets older I was very excited to visit this area of Malaysia. In addition to the tea plantations, we were also given a glimpse into the local peoples' daily lives and activities. Some tribal people still live up in the Cameron Highlands and use the Justin and Marisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02403490744140366346noreply@blogger.com