I spent Thanksgiving day in New Jersey with my flatmate and novice crew teammate, Sydney, as well as her family. The ten-hour drive to her relatives' place took us through the flat farmlands of Ohio and the Allegheny mountains of Pennsylvania. I don't really appreciate long periods of time cooped up in a moving vehicle, but at least Syd's family had a Durango which meant that it wasn't as cramped as a normal sedan would have been. Thanksgiving was fantastic, as usual- all the eating can't be a bad thing, right? Roast turkey (flesh of dead bird, as Syd's father put it, albeit in a rather unsavoury manner), mashed potatoes, two kinds of sweet potatoes -unabashed glee-, stuffing, Waldorf salad drenched in whipped cream and mayonnaise (a true artery-blocker), rolls and gravy. Cheesecake, pecan, and pumpkin pie with ice cream for dessert. This is an awesome tradition.

We spent the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, in New York City. It was a 40-minute train ride from New Jersey to Penn Station in downtown Manhattan, pretty uneventful- the train passes under the Hudson River en route to Manhattan. Everyone was out in full force on the streets of downtown NYC, perhaps in attempt to walk off the pounds gained from stuffing their faces the nights before, and probably more due to the fact that it was Black Friday, when there are crazy markdowns and sales in just about every store in the US. We visited the famed department store, Macy's- I found it fascinating how there were wooden escalators in many parts of the building, opposed to the steel ones we see everywhere else. God, was it crowded. I had to emerge to the streets for air after a bit. I'm really not a fan of big crowds, the shoving and such. And I didn't really have much in mind to buy, anyway. The rest of the day saw us roaming Times Square, Bryant Park where there was a quaint art fair, and later Central Park where we got a taste of the ghetto hip-hop culture, thanks to a couple of talented breakdancers who were busking there. In the evening we went down to Greenwich Village for dinner and passed by the NYU campus- I'm so thankful I didn't pick NYU over UMich, it reminds me of SMU, only even more dreary-looking, and I really don't think I'd thrive in a city campus. Where's the greenery? Where's the open spaces? And to top it off, NYU's a Div III school in the NCAA- man I'd take the Big Ten and Div I intercollegiate sports any time.

On Saturday we stopped by Princeton University before leaving New Jersey. Now, that campus is simply amazing- it's basically just all Law Quad-esque buildings, splendid architecture and great photo opportunities. Suits the profile of an esteemed educational institution.

Time really flies after Thanksgiving- the end of term is rapidly approaching, to think classes end in 2 weeks and then it's finals time! Not particularly looking forward to that, though. Oh well. My online enrollment appointment for next semester's classes is later this afternoon- taking three Political Science classes (to think, after next semester I'll only need 5 more credits of Polsci, or 2 classes, to graduate with my bachelor's degree!), an Econ class just in case I decide to take Econ 401 during Spring and somehow squeeze a BA in Econ into my 3 years here (anyway Econ classes are a great cognate for Polsci), and a Biology class about AIDS and other health crises, to fulfill my natural science requirement. 17 credits, as has been the norm for the past 2 terms. I'm pretty happy that I got accepted into the Honors program for Political Science, which means that I'll be spending my senior year writing an Honors thesis on a topic of my choice, in conjunction with a faculty advisor. Tentatively I'll be focusing on the SEA region, probably in the area of security challenges or the economy. Tough, but I think it'll be rewarding, ultimately.

Just started running again on Sunday after taking a whole month off, tried the Arb route. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and yesterday Syd asked if I wanted to go for a "canter" (haha!) in the Arb. It turned out to be more of a "gallop", and it was even better than Sunday's run by myself, I hope I find my mojo for running again pretty soon. On a side note, I've just started erging (rowing on the ergometer) again, will be erging three times a week at 6.30 am with one of the novice rowers, my teammate from last year. I resumed erging just last week after a couple months off, working out with the varsity rowers since they didn't have organized practice during the Thanksgiving week. Surprisingly my times were not as bad as I had imagined they would be after such a prolonged time away from the dratted erg. I think I will have to stand by my assertion that erging is, beyond any shred of doubt, the superior activity when it comes to cardio. It's a non-impact exercise, dramatically reducing the chances of injury, you can do it indoors at any time, it doesn't require any form of power supply besides 2 AA batteries for the monitor, you work all the major (and minor, come to think about it) muscle groups of the body, it really brings your heart rate up for a sustained period of time if you're doing it right, you can train both explosiveness and endurance by changing the flywheel setting, and it's a machine that possesses the ability to let you get in an extremely good workout even if you are short in time. Awesome stuff.

Okay I suppose I ought to get ready for class now. Hopefully I'll have more chances to blog again!

just another day and then I'll hold you tight