Valentine's Day.  Why don't they call it National Day for kissing up?  You go out, buy your sweetie flowers and chocolate, all in the hopes of getting lucky!  Ya know what?  You ought to be buying your sweetie flowers all through the year!  I know I do!  (still doesn't help much in the getting lucky department, but I can try!) 

Speaking of sweeties, mine calls me last night and says that the oldest dependant in going to have a "friend" join us for dinner.  Can I please go by the store and get her some flowers and then go to a nice restaurant and get some takeout.  So there I go in my innocence.  Off to buy flowers for this kid.  Guess what?  That's right, me and about 4000 of my closest friends!  Guys were flocking to the flower bins at HEB like Piranha's to a cow in the water.  Some of the comments were priceless!  Like "I thought we had an agreement that we weren't doing anything, but her friend told me she was getting me something".  Rookie.  When a woman tells you not to get anything for her and you don't, you might as well pull out the yellow pages and let your fingers do the walking on over to the divorce lawyer pages.

Or, this one, my personal favorite.  "She doesn't really like getting flowers, so I didn't order her any.  But then, at the last minute, I figured I'd get her some anyway."  My interpretation:  Dammit!  I put this on my calender like, what 17 times, and then everytime it beeped to remind me, I was busy.  I tried to order flowers this morning but the lady at the florist laughed at me.  I called 1-800 flowers, but all they told me was I was screwed.  So as a last resort, I came here in the hopes of finding some flowers that weren't wilted, and maybe, just maybe if I looked pathetic enough some nice person would take pity on me and put them into a vase and make it look presentable. (or something along those lines)

And then, the restaurant.  I think PF Changs is a nice, upscale place with great food.  Apparently, so does everyone else in San Antonio.  By the time I parked, walked, walked, walked, had CPR done by a pleasant enough security guard with a brand new defibrilator, walked, walked, and then waited, it was about a 25 minute ordeal to get my to-go order.  On the way back to my parking spot, at least I had the good fortune to cross paths with a nomadic tribe of squirrel herders on their way to Nacogdoches for the annual "Big Nuts and Bushy Tails" festival.  Sounded fun, and I might have gone with them if my family weren't depending on me for sustenance. (that, and one mistake as far as which nuts to pack away for winter can really ruin a guys day)

In the end, all was well.  The chick diggeth the flowers and bear.  The kids diggeth their new games and lots of candy.  The sweetie diggeth the basket of goodies.  An the food was still warm! (kinda)  Good Times.  Good Times!