Happy Valentine's Day

No really, I meant it.

I'm not a total ogre afterall.

I think my real problem with Valentine's Day (and most holidays in general) is that it has gotten over-commercialized. Every holiday has become an excuse to buy BUY BUY!

As a nation we're enough in debt without having to make it worse, but retailers try to convince us that if we don't spend money on our loved ones then we must not love them enough.

In fact I heard on the radio this morning that the average amount of money spent on a loved one on Valentine's Day is about $100 per person. A hundred bucks!

It used to be that the simple things in life are free, but not anymore I guess.

Below is a poem that was written by my friend Vicky.

It kind of touches on the theme that love is no longer something magical, but rather just a way of bettering yourself in this world.

My Question - by Victoria Rego
The materialistic idiocy of a narcissistic world
Developed by the destruction of
The common courtesies once plagued by humanity.
Simple gestures of kindness, once upon a time
Meant more than the naivety of a pure soul,
Destroyed by the continuous reminder
That love is no longer an emotion,
Rather a positive chemical reaction
To the pheromones of two beings; at best
Similar to the adverse reaction of one eating chocolate.

How simply complex has our world become
When marriage is no longer a symbol of love
And commitment but rather a financial constitution
Benefiting one or both parties? When companionship
Means be there in bed but no other part of my life,
Have we improved upon the status of relationships
Or destroyed the basic values of civilization.

Basic emotional needs of man/woman/humanity,
No longer take precedence over the desire
To be better than any one else.

How is it that a person pure in heart can be condemned
For wanting to forgive past pains—for believing
In the concept of true love? Is it so wrong to believe?
In this world yes, it is. In this world, the only true belief
Is in the value of money not people.
This is what we teach our children: that the value
Of a person is in the physical appearance
And financial standing of their being
Rather than the spiritual, emotional
Or moral aspects of who they are.

This has become the philosophy of today’s youth.
Thoughts devoured by endless counts of prejudice
Brought on by so-called do-gooders that have forgotten
The basic values of their spiritual beliefs.
That we, as human beings, purpose for being
Is not to destroy but to renew—to develop
The ideas of the past into something grander than before.

Can good truly be born from evil?
In the mass of destruction that we call life,
Is it possible to maintain the purity of open love?

Posted with permission by the author

(You can check out more of her poetry HERE. It's really good stuf!)

-------------

I really hope you have a good Valentine's Day, whether you're single or in a relationship.

And I hope that somebody does something to make your day special, without making it seem contrived.

Pre V-Day Rant

I'm not particularly a fan of Valentine's Day.
It's okay as holidays go, but I think retailers go out of their way to make guys feel inadequate.

"Guys, doesn't your special woman deserve a diamond for Valentine's. Of course she does! And for only the price of 3-months pay, you can prove to her how much you love her."
Yeah, I mean who needs to eat or pay bills for three months anyway?

"Men, if nothing else in your miserable lives, at least on this one day show her you love her by spending wads of cash on her and let her know you care about her. Then you can go back to being a selfish pig the rest of the year"
But what if I'm not a pig and I already show her I care throughout the year?

On the radio the other day I actually heard an ad for how to let your "special someone" know you really love them... by buying them a hot tub for Valentine's.
A hot tub? Really? Are you kidding me?!?

I'm all for letting Hotness know I love her and giving her a card on Valentine's, but I hate being lumped into the 'stupid man' group by the media just because I have XY chromosomes.
The rest of the year, I cook her dinner on a regular basis, I bring flowers home for her on occasion to surprise her, I stick cards in her lunch bag so she finds them at work, I warm the bed up for her before she gets in it, and a ton of other little things.
So really, on Valentine's Day what more can I do other than go broke by spending money I don't have? Besides, I thought money doesn't buy you love.
(I heard you can rent it, though! wacka-wacka!)

If you are truly a selfish prick of a man, then by all means at least on Valentine's Day try to show her you love her by doing something special.
But this media/retail harassment against guys has gotten out of control.

Not to mention that if you're a single person on this day, you're made out to be some kind of freak. And this happens to both guys and gals.
'Cause nothing makes you feel more appreciated than being ostracized by society because you don't have a date on Valentine's.
"Oooh honey, don't get near the single person. You might catch something."


It should be a special day, but I don't think we should be told how to make it special.

----

On the flip side, I don't hate the holiday THIS much!

So Much For Working At NASA

I failed horribly at the Moon Survival Challenge.

28%

I did much better at surviving a zombie apocolypse, though.

Blue Tarp Camper

I'm not advocating Pemco Insurance (and I'm not knocking it, either) but this commercial of theirs pretty much looks like most of our camping trips last summer.


*sniff!* Ah, the moist Washington air!

Doing Okay

This past Friday (02/08/08) Hotness had some surgery.
Everything's okay and she's doing a lot better now that the anethesia has worn off, but she's still hobbling around the house until she's all healed and back to normal.
(Well, as normal as she's going to get anyway)

So, I had sort of a 'snow day' on Friday because of the surgery.
I had to come in late to work, 'cause I had to drop her off. Then they called me to let me know I could come and get her, so I left a little after noon.
Since she needed constant attention, I took the remainder of the day off.
I think I was at work a total of 2-1/2 hours. I might as well have just taken the whole day off, but we weren't sure how long the surgery would take.

-------

On Saturday (02/09/08), we celebrated our 'anniversary'.
Though we aren't married, we have been together now for just over 10 years.
Fed 9th is the date we went out together and discovered that we had a lot in common.

We really didn't do anything that day, as she was still getting over the surgery. But we got to spend the day together in our PJ's, so it was nice and relaxing.

-------

On Sunday (02/10/08), she was doing much better so we went to the gym that morning.
She got on the treadmill and just walked slowly for about 15 minutes while I did other stuff.
Later that day, we went to some friends' house for Indian food (YUM!) and just had a nice evening with everyone.

Hope the weekend was sufficiently exciting (or not) for all of you.

Ultimate Warrior

Back in the day (oh... about 20 years ago or so) I used to watch wrasslin' on Saturday nights, just like every pre-pubescent kid my age. I even watched it with my grandmother. She loved it!

I had my favorites, like Hulk Hogan, George "The Animal" Steele, Junkyard Dog, etc....
But there was one who stood out from all the others.
He wasn't one of my favorites but I always enjoyed when he was on the bill for the evening 'cause he made it intersting to watch....
The Ultimate Warrior.

This guy was off the hook!
Here's a little video about some of the interviews he used to give:


My favorite line in all that is;
"The family that I live for only breathes the air that smells of combat!"

Uh... what?
Yeah whatever.

Anyway, I was reminded of him today thanks to Chris Sims and I watched some old videos on YouTube with the Warrior and remembered my formative years as a youngster watching him on TV.

VRBT200

I got this little puppy the other day to use instead of the Bluetooth earpiece I got with my phone.

The earpiece kind of hurts my ear after a while, and I really only use it in the car.

Except for when I need to wear it at the upcoming Comic Book conventions so people can get hold of me. I never hear my phone, so they send somebody to find me all the time. (You won't have to do that THIS year, guys!)

Here's a review on it in case you're interested in it.

The review is pretty spot-on with my feelings about it.
I like it.

I don’t have to wear it on my ear.
It’s pretty clear, so you can have a conversation on it with other people in the car.

My one drawback is that sometimes it doesn’t pick up voice commands when I’m trying to dial a number, but that might be more of a limitation of my phone rather than this thing. (Even my Bluetooth earpiece gets the voice commands wrong, so it’s probably my phone)

But I haven't had a problem when talking to people while using it.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a hands-free device to use in the car, but don’t want to wear an earpiece, this is pretty nifty.
Target has them for about $50 - $60, but I got mine at Costco for a lot less!