Doing Valentine’s Day Right

valentines This year, Valentine’s Day landed on Thursday.  Valentine’s Day is a day where we buy lots of perishable presents – flowers, candy, etc.  So of course, the stores have all the Valentine’s Day items at 50% off even today…  they don’t save until next year.

By celebrating on Friday instead of Thursday, we had the luxury of going out on a weekend night instead of a weekday night.  But I also saved 50% on the gifts.  Totally cheap?  Probably; but I bought twice as much stuff…. I think I’ll do it again next year.  Unfortunately, Feb 14, 2009 is a Saturday.  So I’ll have to come up with a new excuse for waiting an extra day…

The Drag Race This Morning

The scene was intense.  Tensions where high.  There at the stoplight, head to head were a brand new, 2008 Mercedes McLaren SLR and a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid.  What a match!  The SLR, with a price tag of ~$450,000 can shoot out of the gate in less than 4 seconds.   The Hybrid, an equally impressive yet not quite as fast machine would prove a difficult battle.

I was driving the Honda.  The driver of the SLR smiled as he noticed me admiring his car.  We waited for what seemed an eternity for the light to turn green.  When it finally changed, the SLR quickly zoomed ahead, but the stoplight where we both turned left was only a few hundred feet ahead.  On the curve, I made my move.

Rounding the turn, the Honda nestled quickly into the wide-open carpool-only onramp entering highway 85.  The SLR sat idly at the back of a very long line of other cheap cars.  I proudly smiled as I looked in my rear view mirror.  That was the last time I ever saw the Mercedes Mclaren SLR.

Winner:  Honda Civic Hybrid.  Cost:  $22,000.