Buy the Girl Some Flowers? Brilliant!

Is it over?

I'm talking about Valentine's Day, the greeting-card/flower-industry created day of relationship flagellation. If men's hair loss is accelerated by stress, then VD is probably the greatest thing that ever happened to Rogaine. All those poor schmoes, standing in card shops and other such establishments, all furrowing their brows in desperate attempts to make the appropriate sacrifices at Cupid's Altar.

Insanity, I tell ya.

It's not that I'm not a romantic guy, I'll put up my notions of and inclinations to romance up against anything Hallmark or FTD has thought of on their best day. (I'm not sure about Harlequin - I'll give it a go, but how do you compete with people whose job it is to think up phrases like "heaving alabaster bosom"?) But, frankly, I somewhat resent being told by a bunch of companies that I have to buy their flowers/cards/chocolate (ok, maybe not the chocolate) just to participate in a "holiday" created mainly for their own benefit. And let's face it, if you really need such an artificial day to prompt you to express your feelings of affection and love to your S.O., Via Con Dios because you've got a larger set of issues at play... I'll make the obligatory gestures too, but I'd much rather take that time, effort and moola and roll it into something deliciously creative, deeply touching and totally unexpected.

February 14th? What are you doing on April 23rd?