Valentine's Day is almost as bad as Christmas....

Valentine’s day is tomorrow, and I can hardly wait to get past it.

If I hear one more ad one more adfor chocolate, flowers, or “gold and pearls and things for girls” I will hurl. For example, for my readers in the listening area for KUGN-AM 590 AM there’s an ad for a well-known chocolate company that I am sick to death of. You know the one—the guy calls the operator for a listing, and she jumps all over him for being a schnook, then changes her tune—because he’s buying this company’s chocolate. It makes me want to turn off the radio.

It’s not that I’m against Valentine’s day. I’m all for it. I think it’s a nice idea for the middle of the most boring month of the year. A little something to brighten up a day or weekend in a dreary month of gray. Yes, it’s true—February is not my favorite month, regardless of the fact it’s when I got married (and no, that has nothing to do with it. Don’t evengo there, or I’ll make you stay after class and clean the erasers.)

What I am against is the same thing I dislike about Christmas. It’s gotten too commercial, too much about the stuff and the sex and the warm fuzzies.

Who was St. Valentine? “He was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were being persecuted. (Aiding Christians at this time was considered a crime against the State.) Claudius took a liking to this prisoner, until he tried to convert the Emperor. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; and when that didn't kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate. Three dates are given for the martyrdom or martyrdoms: 269, 270, or 273.” (Tip of the hat to Jack Oruch, "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February", Speculum 56.3 (July 1981 pp 534-565) p 535. Being martyred doesn’t fill me with thoughts of love, really.

The day really took off as a lover’s holiday of sorts in the 1300’s with the likes of Chaucer, and of course was greatly refined in 19th century America with the advent of mass-produced greeting cards. And we all remember the cute valentine cards we all passed around in grade school. Everybody had to get one, just to be fair, which is somewhat puzzling because all is not fair in love and war.

So, I don’t know what you’ll be doing. I know how I’ll be spending my Valentine’s day. I’ll be spending my day singing love songs to other women, with the missus’ blessing. Seriously—the chorus I belong to does singing valentines, and I’m in a quartet that’ll be singing all day.

Enough for now.

(Published 2/13/09)

Riding in an Electric Egg…

I had the opportunity over Valentine's Day to sing a lot. Doing a singing valentine for the barbershoppers is a ball--women cry, girls get a look that says somebody's gonna get it when they get home (and you can take that two ways at least), and (most) guys get embarrassed.

This isn't about the singing; though I could write a whole blog on that, this isn't about that. It's about the car we shlepped around in.

This year, we (the quartet I sang with) got hauled around in a Prius.

I am going to say this much: for a long highway trip, don't bother. Not quite enough trunk space, and while the back seat is comfortable (some days it stinks to stand about 5'10"), when the brakes grab, boy, you know it.

But all the electronics made the electrogeek in me pay close attention. All kinds of readouts on the dash monitor, telling you more than you'd ever need to know. The geek factor was pretty high, with all that stuff to watch. Sadly, I didn't get to see much of it until after we got done; I got to ride up front on the way to dinner and back. What I did get to see was pretty cool, I gotta admit.

The gas mileage was decent, all things considering. We went something like 184 miles on a quarter tank. The electric motor was quiet; more than once I thought the driver (my brother in law, who had this as a rental) had stalled the thing. He had a ball driving it, let me tell you!

I liked the backup feature: Throw the thing in reverse, and a little camera turns on, so you can see stuff behind you. That would come in handy, some days.

Riding around in the egg-shaped car was cool...but I still don't want one. My car (as of this writing, a 1994 Toyota Corolla) gets as good highway miles, and while the Prius kicks the Corolla's buns in the city, the overall difference is just not enough for me to want to shell out the money for one.

Still...it was a lot of fun to ride around in all day.

Enough for now.

(Posted 2/17/08)