Valentine's & More

hello all. i know that it has been unacceptably long since i posted, but i have excuses... good ones. of course, from my last post, you know that i was out of commission with bronchitis for a few days, and as a matter of fact, i still have a lingering cough from it. i feel much better now, though. i ended up alternating napping, studying, coughing, and feeling pukey from the anitbiotic last tuesday, and i went ahead and took my exam on wednesday. i still wasn't feeling well, but i gave it my best shot... with no cough medicine, since the prescription stuff the doctor gave me "may cause dizziness, may cause drowsiness, do not operate machinery while taking." of course, as i am susceptible to all side effects of all medicines, it did make me dizzy and sleepy. so, it was a bad idea to take it and then take a test. so i coughed my way through, and i'll find out how my disease-muddled brain handled it in about half an hour.

on to my second excuse, i have a huge (35-40 min) presentation on friday, not to mention the project outline that i had promised dr. v. this week. so, i had to work on both of these, and as of right now, the outline is dr. v.'s hands and the powerpoint for friday's presentation is finished. i just need to practice and time it now to be sure that my 35 slides will do the trick. in addition to this extra work, i have all of the regular class stuff to contend with, too (you know, readings, class discussions, etc.).

now, i am just bursting with tidbits that i wish to share. unfortunately, time is not on my side. i have class in a little while, and a big pile of stuff (class work, household chores, etc.) waiting for me when i get home. so, i'll share as much as i can now and save the rest for another time. i'll start by wishing everyone a belated happy valentine's day. a totally commercialized holiday designed to sell candy and flowers to be sure, but one that i (along with most women) enjoy nonetheless. chad and i celebrated not with our usual hockey game and dinner (since the pilots didn't have a game at home this year) but by spending the night in a (free) hotel room at the isle of capri resort and casino in biloxi monday night. i know what some of you are thinking - me (who as a general rule doesn't see the thrill of slot machines and is disinclined to fork over tons of cash for things like black jack, a card game that i do enjoy sometimes, poker, or roulette) staying in biloxi? yeah, i did. and it was fun, despite excessive smoke inhalation (which you can be sure exacerbated my lingering cough). chad brought me peach roses monday afternoon before we left (lovely, i tell you, and they smell wonderful), and we headed for biloxi shortly after. the hotel room was free, which made it that much better. we were also curious to see how biloxi is faring in their post-katrina clean-up efforts. most of the folks i know who are from the mississippi coast say that things aren't really as horrible there as the pictures from the news would have us all think. driving down hwy 90 (right along the water), things still look absolutely horrific. that is where all the houses were washed away, with nothing but concrete slabs left, along with quite a few casinos. there is a sign on what's left of the grand casino that says, "may it rest in pieces," which amused me. the demolition crews were hard at work trying to get it cleaned up, though. amazingly, there are houses along the water that look perfectly fine... right next to a slab where a neighboring house used to be. of course, chad and i had to drive down and have a look at the mississippi coast coliseum (home to the sea wolves, one of the ice pilots' biggest rivals - when they play, that is). it actually looks like it's in good shape. there were a lot of people working there, and we did not see a casino in its parking lot (there was one there right after katrina - we saw pics on the news). the workers had air conditioners hooked up, and the building itself looks really good. i don't think it's impossible for them to have a hockey team next season. this feeling is enhanced when we consider that the rest of biloxi doesn't look too bad. yes, there are blue tarps, but not as many as you might think, and you know the prevalent sight of snapped off trees that typically follow a hurricane? well, we saw very few...and there are a lot of people in biloxi right now. the neighborhoods that weren't right on the water don't look too bad. casinos are reopening, and the imperial palace looks positively grand (from the outside). the isle of capri definitely took a hit (there is a gaping hole where part of the parking lot between it and casino magic caved in), and construction is ongoing, but the part that is up and running (including the two restaurants) looks quite nice. all of the hotel rooms have been remodeled, and they look really cute. so, if sponsorship is an issue for the sea wolves, it shouldn't be for too much longer since there are several casinos open.

anyway, there was a couple checking in behind us, and we eavesdropped a little. they were supposed to go to new york for the week, but due to the big snow storm up there, they ended up going to biloxi. how disappointing would that be? anyway, we had a lovely time... lost some cash in the casino (which was to be expected, but it still wasn't nearly as much as the cost of the room, so it was still a fantastic deal with the free room and all), but we got free drinks (pina colada, yummy) out of it. we ate at the buffet instead of the other restaurant because i couldn't decide what i wanted. i ended up eating a little bit of a ton of really different foods (chinese, pesto salmon, au grautin potatoes, asparagus, etc.... then yummy pie), and it was tasty. we planned to order room service for breakfast, but ended up doing the buffet again - and again, because i couldn't decide what i wanted, so i ate a little bit of a lot of different stuff. anyway, we had a good time before we headed home yesterday (i'll spare you any more details that might make you uncomfortable).

ok... i have to go to class now. but expect more soon on the topics of the olympics and a couple of recent phone calls from my brother (and i'll explain why just the fact that he called me is weird). ta ta for now.