Thanksgiving Recap

Awesome things I did in Hawaii:

- Attended the Triple Crown Surfing competition in the North Shore of Haleiwa. The waves were killer - 10-15 feet high.

- Ate at Kua'aina burger. 1/3 burger with 1/2 an avocado on top. And fries. Best. Burger. Ever.

- Ate at Alan Wong's. Menu included:

• Baked Lobster Mousse Wrapped in Nori with Crab Avocado Stuffing
• Steamed Clams with Kalua Pig, Shiitake Mushrooms in a Foil Bag
• Hamakua Springs Whole Tomato Salad with Li Hing Mui Ume Vinaigrette
• Maui Cattle Company “Garlic Steak” - Pipikaula Potato Gratin, Boursin Goat Cheese, Roasted Vegetables, Red Wine and Shallot Glaze
• Waialua Chocolate Sampler

- Shave ice at Wailoa Shave Ice. Green tea and strawberry. Yum!

- Watched Kicking and Screaming and Blades of Glory.

- And spent time with family :)

Thankgiving

I flew out this morning to Honolulu for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, the drive to the airport (granted, at 6am) was nice and quick and getting through security to the gate was also quick. Plus, the flight itself was quiet (no kids or high school groups to annoy me). I watched Transformers, which was pretty bad but passed the time.

Seeing family in Hawaii is always nice. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. I will be spend the next few days relaxing on the beach and at home!

Go see Travis live

Last night I traveled up to SF to see Travis at the Fillmore with some coworkers. I hadn't ever heard of Travis until last month when I was asked if I wanted to go, and since I figured it would be a fun way to get to know my coworkers, I agreed. I half-heartedly listened to their music too, but wasn't incredibly excited about going.

The concert itself definitely changed my opinion of the group. They are so good live! Now I'm a big fan. So go see Travis live! And go to the Fillmore. It's a great venue. We were about 50 feet from the stage.

Reason #46 to love the Prius

Today I was the first time I had to get gas for my prius. Gas is $3.50 at the moment. Luckily, I only needed to get 8.8 gallons to refill the car. I currently get 43 mpg! So awesome :)

Changes

I've learned a lot in the past few weeks. I took out my first loan. I bought my first car. I bought car insurance. Up next - becoming a California citizen!

Honest Tea

At work I drink tea. Lots of it. I've fallen in love with Honest Tea's "Just Green Tea," drinking maybe 3-5 glasses a day. It's so addicting, 0 calories, organic, and healthy! And, as a side project, I've been collecting the bottle caps, which have quotes. So far I have around 60 unique ones, that I hope to get up on the internet one day. I'll rank first in SERPs for Honest Tea quotes!

Stanford 25, USC 24

Work has been much of the same and I continue to feel more distant from Stanford. That is, until this Saturday, when I checked NCAA scores and found that Stanford had beaten USC 25-24! I couldn't believe it! Jenny and I were on campus that evening, and were fortunate enough to catch a large crowd gathering around Maples. Over 1000 students, alumni (as old as upper 50s) came out to cheer on the newly revitalized Stanford football team as they rolled in at midnight. As far as sports moments at Stanford, this ranks right up there with Nick Robinson's trey at the buzzer to beat Arizona in 2004. For once, an entire campus was united and behind the football team, which just last year had only won one game. And now that I'm an alumni, I can really see how the players, they're just kids too, were so happy to get off that bus to fans. Many of them, for the past four years, got off the bus at midnight to an empty campus, rejected from yet another lost. But that night, they were heroes and they deserved it. Guess all of the good things happen once I leave. But, as they say, once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.