Another Xmas, another New Year

I planned my vacation rather late this year (November), because of my new job. This time I left on Friday morning Dec. 23rd and worked till the day before. I really don't like that too much because I like to leave in a relaxed way. But it wasn't that bad. I checked in online at the KLM site and got a seat near the emergeny exit which, in a Boeing 767 means there are no seats in front of you. Great for extra leg space! I arrived in time and check in and subsequent passport control went smooth as can be. I have seen that different from time to time.

Arriving on time in Atlanta, I got through immigration and customs in a fairly good time. I collected my heavy suitcase (filled with gifts) and went to the National Car rental desk to confirm my car and got on the shuttle bus to the parking lot. I have driven a rental from Atlanta tot Tallhassee before, but this time I could use my TomTom navigation for the first time to get me there. I choose a champagne colored Chevy Malibu Maxx, installed my gear and off I was! Previously I always took the wrong turn and ended up taking some detour in Atlanta, but not this time: my GPS gave me the right information and I figured I would be a Carrie's house by 7pm. However, I did not take into account that Friday the 23rd was going to be the busiest day of the year: I got stuck in a traffic jam on the I-75 and that took me so long I didn't get there untill about 9:45pm. Bummer!

My girlfriend was still busy setting up the Christmas tree when I arrived, so I helped her with that and put all my presents under the tree. After a short but good night, we got up and finished decorating and then went shopping for our Christmas dinner (a standing pot roast). It was a great dinner! Also I got some great gifts: a retro 70's style LED watch and a personalized "I love you" keychain with Carrie's photo in it! On Monday we went to see King Kong (a blast) and enjoyed ourselves around the house.

I lounged and shopped a bit later that week. Carrie had to work on Tuesday, so I went looking at a TiVo at Best Buy and bought her one later that day. Initially I had some trouble setting it up because of the way her TV (a Sanyo) is set up. She had a DVD and a VCR connected to it before, and the TiVo off course replaced the VCR. But one thing I did not know, is that once the TiVo is hooked up, you can't watch TV and record a program at the same time: you need a splitter for the cable signal for that. Also, I figured she would need a S-VHS cable to hook up the DVD.

Anyway: the same day we booked a room at the Isle of Capri casino for Wednesday and Thursday night after seeing a clip on CNN that told us they reopened. Carrie was very set on playing some Texas Hold'em Poker, so we planned for a three day trip to Biloxi. The guy from the booking office said it would be 159 dollars for the first night and 99 for the second night, if we signed up for a card from the casino as a special offer. But when we got there (a 6 hour drive), they told us that this wasn't true. But nevertheless: after some arguing about it, they gave us that rate. But we didn't stay for the two nights.

Disaster area
What we weren't prepared for, was the total wreckage Biloxi was in. When we arrived around 4pm that wednesday, we found that the whole coastline - or 'strip' - was one big diaster area. It turned out that the Isle of Capri Casino was the only one that was reopened after hurricane Katrina hit it in August. All the others were still busy getting restored or rebuild! It was just outrageous! After scoping out the hotel - our room was really nice - I wanted to go for a dinner outside the hotel (since the buffet didn't sound appealing). Big mistake. We drove for about 1 hour and didn't see one place that was open! In fact, I think the casino