My second Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the States has arrived. Before the holiday weekend, I finished up my Master’s thesis and handed it in to my university. Before handing the thesis in, I did a presentation on my research for my adviser and a small number of professors and colleagues in the department, and I think that went pretty well. Unlike a PhD dissertation defense, I’m not being evaluated on my presentation, so there wasn’t much pressure. My thesis went through a couple of revisions to make sure that the content, spelling/grammar and formatting were correct, so hopefully the university won’t reject it because the margins are 0.1 inch off or something. If the thesis is accepted, then all I have to do is to pass my two courses for the semester and I shall receive my Master’s degree diploma in the mail in January. Even though my thesis is done, I’ll probably still continue to work on the project to add features and fix bugs.
I was pretty happy to finish my thesis before Thanksgiving, because it meant I had more free time to enjoy the holiday and go shopping for Black Friday deals. I went to the nearby outlet stores on Black Friday midnight to buy some clothing, and I bought a couple of t-shirts, two pair of jeans and a pair of runners for about $100 which is pretty good considering that they are all from decent brands. There were a fair number of people braving the winter chills at the outlets, but it’s not really crowded or crazy like some Wal-Marts and big box store that sell electronics. I don’t think I’m ever going to those places to line up for Black Friday sale. On the downside for shopping in the wee hours of the morning, I was pretty much half-asleep during the day time on Friday because I didn’t get enough sleep. Besides clothing, I also picked up a vehicle GPS from an online retailer because my car doesn’t have navigation. I’ll probably write a post on my new gadget once I receive it in the mail.
I hope all of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend as well.