Although by now many of us have grown tired of the refrain "we don't know how lucky we are," it bears repeating in some situations. For one, we often forget that our dining services are exemplary. The food may not always be exactly what you're in the mood for, and sure, everyone gets tired of chicken sandwiches sometimes-but visit any state school's cafeteria and you will be sobbing remorsefully over every piece of that precious baked scrod. The fact remains that Valentine caters to our needs fairly well, and their services go far beyond simply providing food.

The staff are invariably polite and actually look happy to see us, even in the middle of the lunch crunch. The occasional theme dinners break up the monotony with their unique menus and extra touches, like the square-dancing band or nonalcoholic beer. The midnight study breaks during finals with bagels and hot chocolate have surely saved some students from going crazy. The chefs even go out of their way to incorporate recipes you may have brought from home into the menu-most schools would scoff if you presented them with detailed instructions for pierogi, but Valentine chefs just sigh forebearingly and work their magic.

Despite all these perks, there are times when Valentine slips. For instance, during Passover this year, most of the food being served at the main grill and traditional lines was off-limits to those attempting to keep the holiday's eating laws. Students who wanted to keep kosher had the option of ordering prepackaged Passover meals ahead of time; however, if no such meal was ordered, the selection at Valentine for the past week has been minimal. There could have been a bit more planning involved in the process, and while there was no need to make up new dishes, rearranging the order of days could have granted those observing Passover some more culinary variety. Valentine ordinarily serves at least one entree per day that would have been acceptable for Passover; however, none of it managed to land on that week.

Although it is obviously not possible for Valentine to provide the necessary food specific to all religious occasions, it would be helpful if they kept in mind that some Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent, so varying or adding to the vegetarian selections, or having some kind of fish every Friday for those seven weeks would also be beneficial.

That said, Valentine puts in so much effort to make our lives here more interesting, at least the time we spend eating, that they deserve praise for their efforts.