We think back to the past Valentine's Days.....the history of the holiday here at the Outpost. Valentines special holiday events started back in 1999. At that time the Outpost was a different place. We were smaller and only had Ten Forward, no Cantina or Alder Hill. There was Research and Development, Communications, Engineering, Security and Counseling. There were no Entertainment Network or EC, or Logistics or Marketing departments or divisions.

I remember that first Valentines Day preparation......we had decided to have a Dating Auction. It was simple enough.....just send an email asking to be a candidate to be in the contest and we put up your name and avatar you used. We had a forum board and others got to bid for an hour online date with your guy friend/girl friend or just a friend.

The best part is we were bidding our precious possessions.....things we loved the most just for an hour date with a favorite peep. That could be a favorite cd, a favorite stuffed animal, poem, someone even bid their parents car.......and a favorite amongst many was lint.....I mean all kinds of lint even belly button lint. Our members tried everything they could to get that date. And the judges picked and matched those that had the most innovative bids. Anyone not getting a bid was matched also *s* after all this was for fun and so sometimes the judges made some strange but fun matches.

Year 2000: We had developed a strong alliance with the Dragons of the galaxy and we had built a place in Research and Development called the Dragon Sanctuary. This was the year of distress for the Dragon Sanctuary. It appeared that the dragons were in deep trouble. You see their home planet had had a drought of big proportions and so their normal food stores were depleted. Their fields were barren and so that is when they came to us.

Then the worst thing happened - the planet we had been getting our supplies from had been attacked and all the crops were destroyed leaving us no way to feed the dragons. So our first humanitarian act would come from the Dating Auction, Counseling designated all proceeds to go help of dragon friends. Some of the Research and Development team found a formula that would sustain our dragons.....it was put in can form and called Spam Dragon. The participants in the auction donated freely of all their precious belongings including a large aluminum ball that Katia was collecting for years. The funding helped to supply our precious dragons for the entire year with sustenance.

Year 2001: This was a year to remember. Due to the previous year the Dragon Sanctuary had become so popular and had so many tourists that they had nearly destroyed the nesting grounds of the dragons. It was driving the dragons away to higher grounds to survive. It was of course not done by the tourists on purpose but nonetheless it had happened. The clean up for this was going to be very expensive. So the Dating Auction 2001 proceeds were destined to help clean, rebuild the beaches and caves dwellings for our Dragon Friends. Our membership's generousity enabled us to once again Save the Dragons.

Year 2002: (Apollo and Cupid : Love Gone Bad) Last year the mischievous Cupid had played one of his well known practical jokes on Ares by shooting a gold-tipped arrow at Apollo, who fell for Daphne. Then he pinged Daphne with a lead-tipped arrow so she would be repulsed by him and ran away. Daphne escapes the love-maddened Apollo when she is turned into a laurel tree but the spurned lover doesn't sulk. He vows to craft objects from her wood, including a crown for himself and wreaths for Roman conquerors. Apollo sought revenge when he realizes what has been done to him and his beloved Daphne. He carved an arrow out from the laurel tree and if he were not to have his love neither would any mortal or immortal.

Well Cupid then came to, who else, his friends in the Counseling Department who adore him and asked for our assistance since he has done some of his best work here at the Outpost. With time short Counseling seeks out their best Captain, CT, and he gathers his trusted ISA officers to take on the mission and head into the hidden Eros Star System to retrieve the Cupid's Love Essence to make new arrows and get rid of the infected ones. The hard to get Love-in-a-mist (a native European plant "Nigella damasscena.... has blue and whitish flowers surrounded by threadlike brackets) to counter the virus is rare and only found in one special place which Cupid has revealed to CT only.

All that is left is the hope that CT would return in time to save Valentine's Day. Or will Apollo's revenge wipe out love? So all proceeds that year went to finance this expensive mission. Of Course CT and his crew succeeded. Thank Goodness and saved the day.

So you see Valentine's Day has always been special here at the Outpost. We wish you all a wonderful holiday and that you will remember our Valentine's Day Motto:

"The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love; hungry to be wanted, to be loved..." --Mother Teresa

Gala Team
Captain Smile