Where in the world is Jay Bazuzi?

In the United States, yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. If you're feeling cynical (I usually am), this is the day when Americans:

• celebrate killing off the natives
• gorge on food, including turkey
• watch lots of TV, including the incredibly crappy Macy's Day Parade

While I live in Seattle, WA, my dad's family has gotten in the habit of meeting in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. That's where I am now*.

It's a nice opportuntity to see all these people (16 in all). We rent an enormous house. Each couple cooks for one day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). The food is quite varied, and gets more interesting each year.

There are some aspects of this trip that are particularly challenging for me. I'm not looking for sympathy, though.

• The long plane trip (I'm pretty big and don't fit well; I'm traveling with a small child)
• Squeezing the 3 of us in to a bed that fits 2
• The TV. We don't have TV at home, and these people seem to watch it all day.
• Loads of chemical-ridden, low-nutrient, high-sugar & white flour foods

The worst TV was certainly the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's so false: the singers are clearly lip-syncing, there is little talent on display, it's supposedly a parade but really it's a TV specimercial. The "reporters" are totally idoitic. People insist on keeping this thing on the TV for the entire length of the program.

To balance out the bitching, there is some stuff I've really enjoyed:

• The variety of food
• Rest & relaxation
• Talking with my family
• swimming in the very cold ocean
• watching the wind, weather, and waves change
• seeing my son have a blast playing with my younger cousins

Tomorrow morning we pack up our stuff & head out. First it's back to Virginia to see more family for a couple days, and then I return home to Seattle. Shortly after I get back I'll return to fermentation. Ginger soda, here I come!

*Satellite imagery on MSN Virtual Earth was much better than Google Maps