Everyone, I survived the flight to Bangkok. I did have an unexpected layover in Seoul, Korea probably due to the awfulness that went on a few days ago. I am all right, was not affected by the tsunami and earthquakes. The flights were basically uneventful. I had no trouble finding my friends at the airport in Bangkok. The Hong Kong airport is beautiful.

When my trip is over, I will give everyone details.

Thank you for everyone's concern, it has been much appreciated.

Anjali

Hello Everyone! I leave for my trip tomorrow. I'm feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement! Hopefully I've packed everything I need.

I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

This past year has been very special for me. Although, I complain about my job, looking back a full year it is remarkable of how much I have learned and the added responsibility I have been given. I am looking forward to what my job will have to offer in this upcoming year.

I have also had some very memorable moments with old and new friends. This year I got to go to the Patriot League Tournament, a Cubs game in Chicago, US Open and saw my first D-I football game (Michigan vs Indiana). And all the Georgetown basketball games at the MCI Center. I saw Pitt, Duke & Syracuse (as well as many other teams, but these 3 are the most prominent). The Syracuse game being the best, Syracuse winning on a last second shot! Not too shabby on the sports front.

Musically, I did not fare as well. I did see Sarah McLachlan at Merrriweather Pavilion. That was awesome, I don't think I will ever get tired of listening to Sarah. I also saw my friend Adam sing in his band, he is the lead singer. Boy, did he blow me away! Adam is really good.

Also, this year seemed to be the year of weddings. During the summer it seemed like every other weekend either I or someone I knew was attending a wedding. I was very lucky to see my friend, Shirali get married this year. A beautiful wedding on Long Island. Not only did I go to the wedding, I also had lots of fun at her Bachelorette party. It was a very awesome night in NYC.

And who can forget foosball? B. Hepp bought his table first and who knew that I was gifted in playing offense! Matt A. and I were able to go undefeated all weekend! A few months later, 2 foosball tables showed up at work. What a great way to get re-energized or blow of some steam. My roomate (Jill) and I couldn't resist buying our own table. The table offers endless amount of entertainment!

With the purchase of a new table, all the housemates felt it was appropriate to throw a Holiday/Foosball party. Adam/Anjali almost staged "The Greatest Comeback Ever" against Kristen/Zac. I believe we were down 9-3. We ended up losing 10-9. Pretty close. The party was a huge success and wouldn't have been so without everyone showing up, it was a great mix of old friends, new friends and co-workers.

Hopefully next year will be just as great as this past year!

Once again, this year wouldn't have been great for me without all the wondeful people in my life. Thank you for being there!

Can't wait till next year!

One of my favorite Op/Ed columnists is retiring at the end of the year. I was introduced to him by my father, but not to his Op/Ed columns, rather his columns "On Language" in the New York Times Magazine. At first, I would groan whenever my father handed me the columns but over time, I realized how clever they were as well as entertaining. That's right, I'm talking about William Safire. Even though his last Op/Ed column isn't going to be till January 24, 2005, today's column would've worked very well. Today's column is about the reporters who can be charged with contempt if they do not tell who their sources are. Safire got it right, the Judges who are charging these reporters are crazy. Reporting the news would not be where it is today without these sources, whistle-blowers, leaks, etc. I feel the press is privileged to report about anything except maybe stuff that is detrimental to national security. How else are we supposed to know what is going on? Should our news be government regulated? If so, to what degree? Does this scare anyone? I feel if the news were regulated by the government we would not know a lot of things.

On other news, I've missed the last couple of episodes of the O.C. I know, I was almost ashamed to admit it. I was reading the news online this morning and stumbled across this article. I sent the article to Matt and he felt that this story line is unnecessary. At first, I felt the same way. Especially lately where it seems like this story line is being used in practically every show just to increase ratings. But, after thinking about this for a little while, I don't think it will be a bad idea. It will actually add another dimension to Marissa's character. This will obviously be a short term thing, but I think in the end it will be all right.

As you can probably tell, when you now go to anjalivora.com you see my blog first. I got tired of clicking on the picture to take you to my blog. A link (Anjali's Pictures) to the right will take you to my pictures. Hope everyone likes this minor redesign.