LOVE IN THE AIR AND ON THE WEB

Love is in the air and on the World Wide Web.

This Valentine's Day, the Internet can help you with virtual cards and flowers, chocolate facts and love poems for that someone special whether you're just dating or celebrating a wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day like me (21 years to be exact).

www.lovingyou.com

This site offers lots of ideas for a romantic Valentine's Day. It offers to help you explore the world of romance in cyberlife.

You can read other people's ideas on how to be romantic, or the site will provide advice on how to dream up your own perfect date.

There are lots of ideas on the most romantic flowers, cities, food, gifts, movies, love songs, nicknames and even scents.

What's the most romantic thing to do with your partner? Topping the list of the Romance Staff is cuddle. I like that. I bet most of these staffers were women.

It kind of reminds me of the movie: "What Women Want." Actor Mel Gibson found out that it's not always what men want.

You can find love advice, love quotes, love poems and polls. You can peruse the top love songs as rated by surfers, as well as listen to the song or read the lyrics.

You can also find advice on dating, or send an e-card. There's romantic clips art and fonts. Of course, there are lots of forum and chat rooms.

Of course meeting people isn't what it once was, thanks to the World Wide Web. The problem is that people may not be what they seem and it's hard to find out the truth. Unlike e-mail, chat personalities are hard to trace back especially for clever criminals. Don't share personal information with strangers.

With that word of advice, let's visit some other sites with romance in mind.

Are you sometimes at a loss of what to say to your "someone special." Then this next site may be of some help.

www.passionup.com

This site offers fill-in-the-blank letters and cards that you can print out.

It may help take some of the stress away from finding just the right words.

The top ten letters include such titles as "Yes, I love you," "Angel of my life," "True love," "I miss you" and "I love you." They come complete with a photo.

You can also pick a famous romantic poem that you can plug in your names.

The top love poems include "How Do I Love Thee?" or "Marriage of the True Minds." The poems include romantic artwork, such as a painting or rose.

Hey, these are poems that have been melting hearts for hundreds of years.

You can also find love coupons you can share on Valentine's Day, from kisses to doing chores around the house.

This site also has lots of pages and activities for good friends.

Need some more gift ideas or more e-cards? Why not try a well-known name: Hallmark.

www.hallmark.com

Hallmark suggests that Cupid has finally discovered technology. "Arrows are out, e-cards are in. Levels of accuracy have increased dramatically." The site offers hundreds of free e-cards for all occasions, and since they're Hallmark, they look very professional. That's not always the case on the Internet, where anybody can set up shop.

One neat appeal of their e-cards is that they can send it immediately or on the day that you select up to one year in advance. How's that for planning ahead? You need to be a member to send e-cards, but it's free. You can also use their calendar to remember important dates and create an address book so that you won't have to remember long e-mail addresses. The site will send you reminders before important dates.

www.virtualflowers.com

If you don't have the budget for the real thing, you can go to this Web site to send a virtual bouquet.

But be ready for some delays. The site is sending up to 12,000 free virtual bouquets per day and you might get a "sorry, we're busy" message from the server. Hit the "Reload" or "Refresh" button in a few seconds and you should be able to get through.

They are lots of beautiful flowers, including a dozen red roses or a single red rose. You can also send a sparkling virtual diamond ring. Of course, that might not be as endearing as the real thing.

Want to learn more about chocolate? Go the experts for expensive chocolate: Godiva.

www.godiva.com

Of course, you can order from the site, but I like to check out the "Guide to Godiva." There's also a neat recipe search and a link to Chocolatier Magazine.

Did you know that as far back as the year 600, the cocoa bean was considered the ultimate status symbol in Mayan and Aztec cultures? According to Godiva, they use the beans as currency and those wealthy enough to have an excess of beans use them to make a chocolate drink that gives them "wisdom and power." I also found it interesting that Columbus discovered more than America. He was the first European to discover cocoa beans and chocolate, according to Godiva.

I also found it interesting that consumers spend more than $7 billion a year on chocolate. U.S. consumers eat 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate annually, representing nearly half of the world's supply. The annual per capita consumption of chocolate is 12 pounds per person.

I also found this interesting fact from Godiva: "Although chocolate is not an aphrodisiac, as the ancient Aztecs believed, chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), a natural substance that is reputed to stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love." And if you're close to popping the question or if you're just dreaming, check out this site from the Diamond Information Center.

www.adiamondisforever.com

One neat thing about the site is you can design your own engagement ring.

First off, you need to answer a few questions, like age, marital status, income range and what size diamond ring do you think is appropriate to give or receive as an engagement ring? In the "Design Your Own," you can create your own design from a selection of classic shapes, hands, and sidestones.

You can also browse their ring gallery which includes more than 7,500 pre-designed engagement rings.

Once you select a ring, the site suggests you can print it out and bring it to a local jeweler.

The site suggests that an engagement ring should cost about two months salary. It also says that almost 74 percent of brides receive a diamond engagement. I would have thought it might be even higher than that.

There's also advice on what constitutes a good diamond, and how that can affect the price.

What's your favorite heart-and-flowers sites? E-mail me at jonia@sehosp.org.

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the Webmaster at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, www.southeastmissourihospital.com.