Who needs a voice?

Well I am officially speechless. No I am not choked up by the latest Jennifer Lopez movie or by the latest new report from the snowed in East Coast. It is nothing so heroic, just a simple sickness that has stricken me of my voice. While this would normally not upset me to a huge degree, besides the fact that I love the sound of my own voice, I am supposed to give a talk at a convention in Dallas on Monday morning. My first talk in this new job. In the wise words of Buddah, This Sucks! I am now trying every home remedy from lots of tea with honey (I like this one), lots of OJ (not so bad), and gargling salt water (first I had to learn to gargle, what can I say I lived a deprived life). But now the only real thing I can do is keep my mouth shut and try to save my voice as much as possible for Monday. For all you friends and family who have tried calling me this weekend, this is why I have been unwilling to pick up my phone, trust me it is not personal. Well except for one of you. Ok calm down, that is my limit of humor for the day.

I would also like to make a special recognition to my cousin who is right now living out a real-life Titanic like story in the middle of the Pacific. She is college student who is doing what is called a semester at sea. This program is for college students to spend six months on a cruise ship touring the world by sea while learning in on-board classrooms. The semester had just started with the cruise ship leaving Vancouver on its way to Korea. Well mother nature has been busy this past month with Tsunamis, earthquakes, hail in CA, incredible snow on the east coast, and unbelievable waves in the Pacific. Their ship, the MV Explorer was hit by multiple 50ft waves which disabled 3 of the 4 engines, ALL onboard communication and a whole slew of other mechanical functions. Coast guard cutters from Alaska and CA have been dispatched while the ship is limping toward Hawaii. It is expected to make landfall on Feb 1^st if all goes well. You can read all about it at (http://www.semesteratsea.com/voyages/spring2005/index.html). To all the students who are living one hell of an adventure, hang in there, you too L.S.