It’s 5/5/05! I’ve finally recovered from a mysterious illness I acquired during a recent trip to China. I’m convinced that I had both SARS and the bird flu. Two weeks of fever and malaise has made me lose five pounds, and I have a washboard stomach from coughing so much. Nothing like getting SARS to get swimsuit-ready!

Keeping with the theme of the day, Chairman Meow has perfected an amazing trick – the High Five.

Wachusett offered free passes today to anyone dressed as an Easter Bunny, so John Gilmour, Alexander Scott, and I rose to the challenge. We were up all night making our costumes, but it paid off—not only did we each get a $46 lift ticket for free, we swept the costume contest! John won “Best Male Easter Bunny” with his Superbunny outfit, garnering a $50 gift certificate to Honey Baked Ham. Alex (as Spacebunny) and I (as the Ultimate Ski Bunny) won “Best Costume” and got a $100 gift certificate to the Elizabeth Grady Salon. We even got on the Wachusett web site! We took lots of photos and videos too, so you can see HOW EASTER BUNNIES TOOK OVER WACHUSETT MOUNTAIN.

My “22nd” birthday occured recently, and we also had a party for the birthday cat. We’re celebrating into the Chinese New Year. I was actually born ON CHINESE NEW YEAR (the year of the Dragon, no less), which is very auspicious.

My black eye has cleared up, and the lip is healing nicely, and I’ve updated my SCIENCE page to include some laboratory protocols. Now everyone can learn my scientific secrets, including a recipe for the best loading dye for agarose gel electrophoresis.

It was a tragic day of skiing – not only did I get a black eye and a deep gash in my upper lip (thus disfiguring the only unscarred place on my whole person), we lost the 10-ride pass that we’ve used for nearly a decade. The lifties almost never punched the card, so my parents skied at Alta for years without buying lift tickets. The whole family could even ski all day on it – poaching Alta was a family Christmas tradition. The pass is now obsolete – and probably a collector’s item, as no one in the ticket office had ever seen one – so we surrendered it in exchange for paltry $20 credit. Gone are the days of the 10-ride pass, otherwise known as the Unofficial Alta Season Pass.

Wendy Chao’s Kitty Cat Hat, worn by Chairman Meow (the real-life Cat in the Hat).

The “Kitty Cat Hat” – hand-knit by Wendy Chao, and seen on celebrity cats like Chairman Meow. Featuring ear holes and a white pom-pom.