1. A new template for many years to come.
2024 felt unique, but I feel many future years will closely resemble this year.
2. New continents and new horizons.
Long inter-continental trips. Reaching Country #50 and Continent #5.
3. Meeting new and old friends.
The frequent conference travels helped with that!
4. Designing and Teaching Distributed Computing course.
It brought back memories from my own time as an MSc student in distributed computing.
5. Alaska as a Google Summer of Code organization.
The mentor summit gave deja vu, like a repeat of the last year's experience!
6. A quick trip to UNLV for an NSF workshop.
It was my second time in Las Vegas, again very briefly, with just one night in a hotel.
7. Anchorage Ganesh Temple.
The temple itself is tiny. But nice to know the community.
8. Four papers at the IEEE CCECE conference in Kingston, ON, Canada.
I presented two and two of my students presented another two.
9. Huge malls of Shenzhen, China.
We used to alternate between China and Sri Lanka each year: Sri Lanka (2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019) and China (2014, 2016, and 2018). But that pattern broke with the pandemic. Returning after almost seven years felt historic.
10. Food and cocktails in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Had three dinners in three different restaurants on a single day. That sounds extreme.
11. Sunset view and the view of moving ice in Kotzebue lagoon from the hotel room.
This Arctic town reminded me of Utqiagvik in so many ways.
12. Crossing the International Date Line.
That made our Christmas day disappear in the sky!
13. A train journey to Seward, AK.
We have now covered the entire Alaska railroad. From Anchorage to Fairbanks in the north and Seward in the south.
14. Tavira Portuguese Restaurant in Chevy Chase, MD.
Made me feel connected to my times in Portugal (i.e., the Season 2).
15. Sharks Cove near Pupukea Beach in Oahu, HI.
Loved the weather in Hawaii. Reminded me of Sri Lanka in many ways.
16. La Jolla Cove, San Diego, CA.
Those noisy sea lions and seals looked adorable in the night!
17. Johnny Cay from San Andres, Colombia
Traveling with a family of a friend I made in the conference.
18. Crowded buses in Bogota, Colombia.
Reminded me of my Sri Lanka days. I manage to get around without even having Internet access while in the road.
19. PAEE-ALE conference experience in San Andres, Colombia
Probably my best conference experience so far.
20. Bogota Airport, Colombia.
The capsule hostel "Wait N' Rest" experience in the airport and the always-open restaurants/cafes that let us add whiskey or a cream liqueur (as common across Colombia) to coffee as an extra!
21. Luau in Waipahu, HI.
My first exposure to the Polynesian culture and the indigenous people of Oceania.
22. Extremely hot Abu Dhabi, UAE.
But at least my hotel room was comfy and fancy-looking.
23. Whale watching in Seward, AK.
It is a touristy cute little town.
24. Airport meetups and emotional goodbyes.
Airports in three continents - Toronto, Melbourne, and Shenzhen... with many family reunions - some after almost two decades.
25. Night walks in Little Tokyo, CA.
Staying in a hotel in this cute neighborhood has its perks!
26. Diverse cuisines of Los Angeles, CA.
Been to LA several times. But this time tried cuisines of several origins.
27. The 4-flight trip to San Andres, with a recently sprained ankle, canceled flights, and sleeping in airports.
Anchorage → Minneapolis → Toronto → Bogota → San Andres. A tiresome trip. Discomfort. But a story to share.
28. Christmas decorations and New Year lights in Shenzhen, China
A very crowded new year's eve in OCT!
29. Early mornings at work.
6:15 am - 6:15 pm, as a perfect morning person.
30. Cocktails in the beach in San Andres, Colombia.
The island had a great cocktail scene, many nice beaches, and cocktails in the beaches!
Every year, I have only one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous years. :) 2025 appears special. We are 25% into the 21st century. I wish you a happy new year. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may read the blog posts of all the previous years as well.
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