I don't like Fort Lauderdale. I am glad I didn't waste my youth on that garish place. One week of my middle age was enough! (although, I will hope to return, but not for my vacationing pleasure)
The hotel was huge. It was reasonably clean, and I had no true complaints aside from the entire city, and hence the hotel, being a complete ripoff; and the drain in our tub didn't work. Rather than complain,I spent an extra five miinutes in the shower after I turned it off, making sure all the suds and grunge went down the drain with the water.
Oh, and there was the food poisoning the hotel also had to offer. On the first night of the meet, we ate at the hotel restaurant. The food tasted pretty good, and honestly, I felt fine for two whole days before getting sick. So I don't think I can blame my chicken. I prefer to blame the burger. Brian had a "caesar salad" which consisted of large hearts of romaine laid across his plate, uncut, on a bed of cheese with a little dressing.
Anyway, four kids from another swim team ended up hospitalized from their meal in the same restaurant, and the ones who got sick had chicken for dinner. But, that's all behind us and all I have now is a pony-tail headache that won't go away no matter what I do.
Otherwise, the weather was reasonable for South Florida in April. It didn't rain once while Brian and I were there, at least not during the day. It was, however, extremely hot, and the seats at the pool are all in direct sunlight. We all got burnt in one form or another. Brian is walking around like robot man, three whole days after sustaining this burn. It was a bad one,though. I always knew I didn't trust spray on sunblock, especially when swimming in the ocean. Give me the old CopperBabies any day...SPF 50! So now everyone has an appointment to see their dermatologists.
But oh ... the meet! It was not such a huge success. Megan wasn't really expected to outperform, and she didn't. She missed her two times in the events she was entered into, and the preliminary times for next year indicate she may not even qualify anymore. The meet was oversubscribed, and the only way to get the kids out is to drop the times AGAIN. So many fast kids! Anyway, she did a couple of time trials, did very well in the 1000, dropped about 18 seconds, still not a national cut, though. Makes you wonder how well she might have done had she actually done it while she was swimming so well three weeks earlier!
And then she did the 1650 for the first time, with a pretty good time in that as well, for a first swim at her age. I have no real reference for that one, since it's the first time she'd ever done it. They put her in with some fast-ish time, and she was in the fastest heat of three. She came in second to last in the heat, but her coaches were happy with the time and her pace.
And here we are, back to reality. Unbelievably, I had a call to work today! I told her I can't do it, used the banquet book as an excuse. I really did have to tie up loose ends, but that involved a phone call and an email. I just hope it will be OK. I worked on it for eight hours (!) yesterday, on top of all the time I've already spent on the stupid thing. The banquet is next Sunday.
Megan is debating whether or not to do spring track. She probably doesn't want to, I think she wants to sit at home and eat skittle for two weeks before she has to go back to spring training. I'm not going to force her, but I think she wants me to, so she can blame me if she hates it; but just in case she likes it, I thinks he would like to try it. She's just unmotivated.
OK, I see that this is getting sort of a tad on the boring side. I can't think of much of interest to write because I really would like to just lie down and go to sleep right now!!! I have to work on some laundry, and think about dinner. It's chilly and gray outside.
In other news: well, there is no other news. Maybe next time.
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