Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Last year, I didn't realize it was September 11th until later in the evening and by then I was too tired to go down and see ground zero and the beams of light. I decided I wouldn't let that happen this year.
It was a very somber experience. Everyone was really quiet, but there were people everywhere. There were makeshift memorials set up along the fences surrounding ground zero.
As I walked around, I saw so many people in uniforms. Some were firefighters, some were police officers, and some were in the armed forces. This place means a lot to them. There is a large ramp that goes down into the pit (for construction purposes). There were flags from all the different countries of people who died in the tragedy lining the ramp. 
A lot of people who went down to the site realized for the first time that the beams of light representing the two towers are not actually on the site of the towers. They are about 4 blocks south of ground zero. They sit on top of a parking structure because of all of the work going on at the site. Supposedly, this is the last year they are supposed to have the beams of light.
Then, I stopped a the fire station that sits across the street from ground zero. Inside you could see the memorial for the firefighters that lost their lives from this station. It was very touching.
It was a great experience that I will always remember. I think I went 2 hours without speaking which gave me time to reflect on what had happened 7 years ago.
We went the 2nd night of the open, but still saw Venus Williams and Roger Federer play. It was great. I've never really watched tennis on TV before, but it's quite exciting live. Here's some shots we took.
And here's Federer.
So me and a couple of friends headed up Friday after work on the luxurious Chinatown bus. On Saturday, we woke up and had some fun on the lake in his backyard. We went for a swim and even went for a nice kayak ride. It was absolutely serene. After getting ready, we headed into the city to see all of the Boston sites. We walked most of the Freedom Trail.
On the Freedom Trail, we saw the Old North Church.
Paul Revere’s grave
Bunker Hill
and the Cheers Bar.
I even thought Paul Revere deserved a high five for everything he did.
In the midst of seeing everything (including too many things to blog about), we ate some great Italian panini's in the North End of Boston (Boston's Little Italy). It was really good. After a long day, we headed back to Jon’s house in Georgetown. For the next two days it rained and wouldn’t stop. I wasn’t complaining though because it gave us some time to watch the Olympics and just take a break from life. Even through the rain, Jon took me up to see New Hampshire, which is a beautiful state.
To finish off the trip, we headed to Harvard. It is a beautiful campus. Maybe someday I'll actually go there. Who knows? :)
After two long flights with over 12 hours in the air, I arrived in Maui from New York. As always, it was a tropical paradise. After doing some shopping, we headed straight to the beach to enjoy some warm water and some nice rays.
That morning, we had van pick us up at 2 am to travel up to the volcano to watch the sunrise. Although, it was tiring, the sunrise was beautiful as it rose through the clouds. Then came the fun part; we rode bikes down the entire volcano. It was quite the ride (with very little pedaling). We rode from over 9,000 ft all the way to the beach at sea level. We did take a break to take some pictures.
After recovering from the early wake-up call, we found a blow hole and some natural pools that the ocean created. These small hikes were the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
Another day, we took the “Road to Hanna.” For those who have never been to Maui, the Road to Hanna is a small road (one-lane at times) to a town called Hanna. There’s nothing special about Hanna, but the road is amazing because you are driving along lush cliffs with waterfalls everywhere and neat places to stop along the way, including Black Sand Beach and Red Sand Beach. At the very end of the road, you are rewarded with swimming in the Seven Sacred Pools. It took us 12 hours to take the road there and back, so it was another tiring day, but definitely worth it. By the end, waterfalls were nothing special.
On Saturday, the boys went scuba diving. We love scuba diving so most of the time we actually plan our vacations around scuba diving. For this set of dives, we dove the back wall of Molokini, a small crater off the coast of Maui. The wall is amazing because it is a shear drop off. This one only drops off 300 ft to the ocean floor, but when visibility is 100 ft, all you see is blackness below. With wall dives, you have to worry about your depth, because there is no ocean floor to stop you from going too deep. It was an amazing dive with beautiful fish and coral. We were lucky to see a 6 ft reef shark as well. The next dive was a shallow dive, but we swam with turtles and a giant eagle ray. Maui is definitely a great place to dive. 
