This is probably my 8th thanksgiving weekend in this country. Somehow I have never tried to combine this with an India vacation or something. Most of the thanksgiving weekends, I have done nothing:
Thanksgiving 1998: I remember sitting in the lab developing web pages. I was only two months into this country at that time and sadly, didn't have anybody to go and visit. All my friends had plans, more importantly they all had relatives here. Not me.
Thanksgiving 1999: I didn't do much either. I think I was doing my internship with my prof's company at that time. I remember one of my friends visited us, in the middle of his MBA at Wharton. I had so much work that I didn't get to spend any time with him. It was all ok at that time because I was going to take my first India vacation the following month.
Thanksgiving 2000: Absolutely no idea either. My best guess is that I was working very hard on my M.S. thesis at that time since it was due in December. I remember doing a lot of experiments in the lab, trying to wrap it up. My first nightout was done when I was writing my thesis! I somehow managed without putting a nightout during my undergrad.
Thanksgiving 2001: Yes, my first trip to the east coast. I went to Philly, to visit my friend who was still doing his MBA at Wharton. A few of us gathered and I made my first visit to New York and New Jersey. Nothing like getting together with a bunch of undergrad friends. Things are always different with them. I took the famous "fall tree in princeton" shot near my friend's apartment in Princeton, NJ during this time. I had just bought a really nice camera - canon elan 7e and I was practising shooting with it. In fact, the three of us bought the exact same camera and lens. I was having quite a bit of fun with the camera. It cost about $900 at that time. I took pretty pictures of NY in the night. We visited empire state, liberty island, grand central station, etc. roamed around the island quite a bit. It was just a couple of months we all witnessed the destruction of the two World Trade Center buildings. So I never got to see those :-(
Thanksgiving 2002: I think I was still lazing around in LA. I went to Joshua Tree National Park, around 100 miles east of LA with a couple of other friends. It was ok, nothing spectacular. They were feeling pretty cold, so we left around 4pm or so. I guess that park should be visited during spring so you may get a chance to see a lot of desert flowers. Nothing much happened apart from this trip.
Thanksgiving 2003: I was married by this time and I didn't have any clue about it during the previous thanksgiving. This thanksgiving was the first one with my wife. We had also just moved to San Diego. I had my first experience of shopping during black friday! Since I didn't know about the general craziness around this time, I casually ventured into circuit city at 8 am thinking that I was early. I could walk out only with a 48 pack AA battery pack! Some batteries are still left BTW. I remember buying it for only $5. We were otherwise getting settled in the new apartment.
Thanksgiving 2004: Nothing again. We didn't do much. We did some early shopping this time and bought a bunch of things. We got screwed in one rebate. Otherwise, we just lazed around at home, enjoying the four days. Sometimes, just relaxing at home could be a great feeling!
Thanksgiving 2005: We are driving to the Bay area to meet so many friends. The plan is to start driving tomorrow morning at 4 am - don't know how this is going to work out. We shall see. While coming back, the traffic is going to be pretty bad. Can't help that. There are really a lot of people to meet in the Bay Area....thanksgiving is probably the ideal weekend to do that. Most of them will be there.
Edit: Nov 28th 2005 - the day after the thanksgiving weekend:
Traffic on the way to Bay Area was fine - it took me exactly 7 hours to reach my friend's place in Sunnyvale. Had a great time there with my wife. We met quite a few friends there, had tons of good food. While coming back, the traffic onto 152 E was pretty bad, so in an instant, I decided to take the 101S itself. It took me 8 hours and 15 minutes to reach San Diego, for an additional 55 miles on 101. It wasn't that bad, though I lost about 45 minutes in traffic on 101, just 10 miles south of the 152 junction.
Thanksgiving 2006: God knows!
Thanksgiving 1998: I remember sitting in the lab developing web pages. I was only two months into this country at that time and sadly, didn't have anybody to go and visit. All my friends had plans, more importantly they all had relatives here. Not me.
Thanksgiving 1999: I didn't do much either. I think I was doing my internship with my prof's company at that time. I remember one of my friends visited us, in the middle of his MBA at Wharton. I had so much work that I didn't get to spend any time with him. It was all ok at that time because I was going to take my first India vacation the following month.
Thanksgiving 2000: Absolutely no idea either. My best guess is that I was working very hard on my M.S. thesis at that time since it was due in December. I remember doing a lot of experiments in the lab, trying to wrap it up. My first nightout was done when I was writing my thesis! I somehow managed without putting a nightout during my undergrad.
Thanksgiving 2001: Yes, my first trip to the east coast. I went to Philly, to visit my friend who was still doing his MBA at Wharton. A few of us gathered and I made my first visit to New York and New Jersey. Nothing like getting together with a bunch of undergrad friends. Things are always different with them. I took the famous "fall tree in princeton" shot near my friend's apartment in Princeton, NJ during this time. I had just bought a really nice camera - canon elan 7e and I was practising shooting with it. In fact, the three of us bought the exact same camera and lens. I was having quite a bit of fun with the camera. It cost about $900 at that time. I took pretty pictures of NY in the night. We visited empire state, liberty island, grand central station, etc. roamed around the island quite a bit. It was just a couple of months we all witnessed the destruction of the two World Trade Center buildings. So I never got to see those :-(
Thanksgiving 2002: I think I was still lazing around in LA. I went to Joshua Tree National Park, around 100 miles east of LA with a couple of other friends. It was ok, nothing spectacular. They were feeling pretty cold, so we left around 4pm or so. I guess that park should be visited during spring so you may get a chance to see a lot of desert flowers. Nothing much happened apart from this trip.
Thanksgiving 2003: I was married by this time and I didn't have any clue about it during the previous thanksgiving. This thanksgiving was the first one with my wife. We had also just moved to San Diego. I had my first experience of shopping during black friday! Since I didn't know about the general craziness around this time, I casually ventured into circuit city at 8 am thinking that I was early. I could walk out only with a 48 pack AA battery pack! Some batteries are still left BTW. I remember buying it for only $5. We were otherwise getting settled in the new apartment.
Thanksgiving 2004: Nothing again. We didn't do much. We did some early shopping this time and bought a bunch of things. We got screwed in one rebate. Otherwise, we just lazed around at home, enjoying the four days. Sometimes, just relaxing at home could be a great feeling!
Thanksgiving 2005: We are driving to the Bay area to meet so many friends. The plan is to start driving tomorrow morning at 4 am - don't know how this is going to work out. We shall see. While coming back, the traffic is going to be pretty bad. Can't help that. There are really a lot of people to meet in the Bay Area....thanksgiving is probably the ideal weekend to do that. Most of them will be there.
Edit: Nov 28th 2005 - the day after the thanksgiving weekend:
Traffic on the way to Bay Area was fine - it took me exactly 7 hours to reach my friend's place in Sunnyvale. Had a great time there with my wife. We met quite a few friends there, had tons of good food. While coming back, the traffic onto 152 E was pretty bad, so in an instant, I decided to take the 101S itself. It took me 8 hours and 15 minutes to reach San Diego, for an additional 55 miles on 101. It wasn't that bad, though I lost about 45 minutes in traffic on 101, just 10 miles south of the 152 junction.
Thanksgiving 2006: God knows!
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