Slashdot Mirror
Your Valentine's Day Plans for 2003?
Nos. writes "Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching, and though some of you Slashdot readers will be spending the day alone, there must be some of you out there who won't. So, what are you doing for that someone special this Feb 14th? My fiance is not a geek, and so wouldn't appreciate a 'geeky Valentine's'. Instead, I'm thinking a nice quiet dinner in one of our favourite restaurants. However, I recently got the 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' speech, and quite honestly am out of ideas. Can slashdot help? Obviously slashdot isn't the best place to ask, but I'm sure others are in a similar situation."
As a discordian, I will be celebrating an important religious holiday instead of Valentine's day. Emperor Norton I (patron saint of Emperor Norton I, and all things related)'s birthday is also on Feb 14.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
More often than not a geek knows how to treat a lady better than a lot of guys. Or so it seems at least. Must be because the typical geek is not a "manly-man." Whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. You'll also find that a lot of geeks like poetry and junk - expect that from the Apple folks. They're typically creative people. ;) Maybe one of them will write a love poem for you to give her.
For me, my wife is not a geek but does play an awful lot of DAOC lately... She says she wants a keyboard without a "stupid windows key", I guess it must be a DAOC thing.
Here's what you do - get her an appointment at one of those beauty spas on the 14th, in the evening. Make sure she'll be there for a while, maybe an hour or two. Ya know, the oil treatment, the massage, the whole nine yards. Then, when she gets home - you've got dinner waiting for her. Not any Taco Bell dude, make some spaghetti or something simple - yet not too simple. Make sure to get the red wine, if you can't cook you'd better get her drunk...
Women love this stuff and it's very much worth it - the rest of the year she will always remember this day and you'll NEVER get the "You're not affectionate" speech again.
If you didn't blow your wad on the oil treatment when splurge for diamonds. Doesn't have to be huge or expensive - just a little nugget of love that will always remind her of you (and the great Valentines day you gave her!)
Why don't you cook the meal yourself?
Obviously, cooking a decent dinner takes a lot more time and effort, but isn't that an important part of romance? There are plenty of recipes available over the Internet, and you still have plenty of time to get the ingredients, so you have no excuse! If you live with your SO, get the afternoon off and start preparing and cooking then, so it's ready for just after she gets in.
Myself, I shall be spending SVD with friends, as my girlfriend will be on the other side of the world. Bit of a drag really.
Try cooking a meal yourself, nothing says "I love you" like a home-cooked meal. I know my wife would much rather have a lasagne cooked by me just the way she likes it than go out to a restaurant.
Then afterwards, we might go and run Siege on Asylum MUD together.
Listening for the sound of the coming rain...
Slashdot is really going down the tubes. Sorry, using the word "geek" in your paragraph isn't sufficient to make this "news for nerds" and it certainly isn't "stuff that matters".
When I look back over the list of articles I've had rejected by the editors, this kind of pisses me off...
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
It's been a while since I've had a chance to play the romantic, but here goes.
;^)
My favorite V-Day was one when I lived in an appartment with a roommate. To get away for the night, I got us a hotel room. If you have a place to yourself, you can do this there. Get a bucket, and fill it with ice. Add one bottle of wine. Make sure you get a type she likes. If you're not sure what she likes, try those fruity wines like Arbor Mist, they're generally liked, and fairly cheap. Then, go and get a dozen roses. Split the roses in half, and give half to her as soon as you see her that day. With the other half, make a trail that leads from the door to the bed. Put the wine, and two wine glasses, next to the bed. Lining the path with candles. Also, next to the bed, get a bottle/tube of massage oil, the kind actually intended to rub into someone's back (Google turned up this as an example) and start the evening off with a long backrub for her. Long as in hours (you can type for hours, your hands are strong, right?). From there, you can end the evening as you see fit.
`Lex - Find Me Here: Text Appeal
Where I have to spend money I dont have just to be able to sleep in a bed instead of on the couch.
Bleh...
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/1/28/22056/9730
Hi,
/. community members. Please don't tell me your valentine's day plans. I really don't need to know. More importantly, you don't need to tell me. Just don't do it. The entire frigging world doesn't need to feel all 'together' by telling each other anonymous details about Valentine's day. If you're really that addicted, just get a blog and be done with it. In fact, for future reference these are some other things well worth not sharing with every random stranger:
Dear
1. Your approach to long term financial management
2. What you're going to do when you mom comes to stay next month.
3. Your preferred brand of dishwasher, and why.
4. How you deal with awkward family moments, like funerals of uncles you never really knew that well to begin with.
5. How you brush your teeth.
6. Poetry you write.
7. Anything about Ayn Rand.
8. Your opinion, based on ample experience, on how to deal with failed relationships.
9. How much high school sucked for you personally.
10. Anything about Anne Rice.
Good, I'm glad that's cleared up. Can we go back to interesting stuff now?
Truly, BitterSweets(tm)" are the perfect gift for you OR for someone you love, especially if that special someone is one who doesn't want to hurt your feelings but just doesn't feel that way about you but still wants to be friends so they can torment you with stories about their crushes on someone who doesn't appreciate them like you do, can't love them like you can, and actually takes pleasure in corralling a herd of fawning "just friends" behind themselves as they indulge in one self-destructive relationship after another, with no hope of ever finding true love, despite an army of souls eager to lavish it upon them.
Give her an orgasm, that usually works...
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
My plan:
1 - Stay home
2 - Burp
3 - Flatulate
4 - Scratch myself
5 - Call an escort service
I'll probably have more fun than you.
For this day, at least.
I try to make my girlfriend feel nice whenever I can see her. It doesn't take much; a glance, a nice thing to say about something she bought, make her laugh...
These are things she lives all year long and make our relationship strong. If you have a fiance and you are waiting for one day to make up for the rest of the year, you are doing it all wrong.
Think of you relationship with your significant other as one of your projects; if you don't assign time and thought to it, it will fail.
from the it's-extremely-obvious-you-knucklehead department.
Buy her flowers. Buy her nice* jewelry.
* - If you can find it at a department store or in the mall, it isn't nice jewelry.
I sent a gift package to her yesterday.
1. I Love You Teddy Bear.
2. One really nice pen.
3. Small Rosewood gift box with three small carved stone hearts inside.
4. Valentines Card expressing my Love for her.
http://www.Slaveway.com
Do some fairly normal things like you usually would, if you have kids, make sure they're at a babysitters, give her the present of a vibrator, use said present on her in a very sensual way, go down down down and stay there for a while, and make her actually beg you to put her out of her misery with your "big unit" or whatever.
When you actually do give it to her, make sure you last at LEAST 15 minutes. And no athletic shit either. Slow and gentle. Act loving!
No matter if you took her to Arby's previously, that will have been a special Valentine's day.
I quite honestly plan to spend Valintines day at a LAN Party. And as I'm sure many of you are curious, I do have a girlfriend. Yup, I'm that special.
I of course will be dedicating some other day, the following weekend, to her--but she loves me enough to know that I enjoy lanning.
If this was any average lan I would pass it up for her in a moments notice. But this one is an annual event for me.
(plug)
http://www.nwgo.org/register/
4th Annual Presidents day Meltdown.
Hosted in Wenatchee, Washington.
February 14th - 16th
(/plug)
Computational Madness in a round package.
At least far enough to be an "adventurous" trip. Given the month, it would be a nice thing to find a room at an inn somewhere in ski country - preferably with a fireplace and hot tub or jacuzzi. Plan a couple of nice dinners ahead of time for when you're there.
Don't tell her beforehand - just plan it out, and tell her Friday afternoon to pack a bag. The element of surprise is always nice.
And don't bring your geek toys. If you must have your cell, leave it in the car and just check your voicemail if you can't resist the urge. Just wait until she's in a store shopping or something.
For Boston-area geeks, upstate New Hampshire and the Stowe area in Vermont have ample places that meet the description I just gave above.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
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Every 14th of February you get the chance to display your fondness for your
wife or girlfriend by showering her with gifts, flowers, dinner, shows and
any other baubles that women find romantic.
Every Valentines Day you rack your brains for that one special, unique gift
that will show your wife or girlfriend that you really love them more than
anything. Now ladies, I'll let you in on a little secret. Guys really don't
enjoy this that much. Sure seeing that smile on your face when we get it
right is priceless, but that smile is the result of weeks of blood, sweat
and consideration. Another secret guys feel left out. That's right, left
out. There's no special holiday for the ladies to show their appreciation
for the men in their life. Men as a whole are either too proud or just too
embarrassed to admit it. Which is why a new holiday has been created.
March 20th is now officially "Steak and Blowjob Day". Simple, effective and
self-explanatory.
This holiday has been created so you ladies finally have a day to show your
man just how much you love him. No cards, no flowers, no special nights on
the town. The name of the holiday explains it all. Just a steak and a
blowjob. That's it. Finally, this twin pair of Valentines Day and Steak and
Blowjob Day will usher in a new age of love as men everywhere will try THAT
much harder in February to ensure a more memorable March! It's like a
perpetual love machine. The word is already beginning to spread, but as with
any new idea, it needs a little push to start the ball rolling.
"I recently got the 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' speech, and quite honestly am out of ideas."
Funny how this "holiday" falls (more often than not) on the guy. What about the woman being the romantic one and coming up with that "something special".
Eh, fuckit, I'm just bitter. Just out of a slightly-longer-than-a-year relationship and sick this 'You don't do anything romantic anymore' shit. Bleh.
Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
I'm going on a blind date in Ephraim, UT. It's a dinner dance. I don't have to worry about too much. I just need to pay some money, be nice and have a good time. I will be doing one of those date dances. I quite frankly am looking forward to it.
void
Oh, and maybe it's too obvious to need pointing out, but romance doesn't have to be confined to one day a year. What happens the rest of the year makes more of an impact.
11.0010010000111111011010101000100010000101101000
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It echos my thought exactly.
Back when we were dating and then engaged, living in New Orleans, my wife and I would always go out to a romantic restaurant on Valentine's Day, like the amazingly popular Mona Lisa. Now that we live in the Northeast, we prefer to avoid the restaurant rush -- especially since Valentine's Day is on a Friday this year -- so we're staying home and having a meat fondue.
There's hardly a more fun and social meal than a fondue. The basic concept of a meat fondue is quite simple -- you cut a couple of pounds of good beef into approximately 1" cubes, skewer them on long fondue forks, and dunk them in a pot of boiling oil. We build a big fire, light candles, and have the fondue accompanied by a variety of sauces, French bread, good cheese, and of course a bottle of two of good red wine. Yes, it's amazingly decadent and terribly unhealthy, but it's a lot of fun, requires minimal preparation, and, because you're always pausing to skewer a new chunk of meat to dip in the oil, the meal is naturally unhurried and gives plenty of time for enjoyable conversation.
My wife suggested we book tickets for opening night as a Valentine's day treat.
I'm a lucky guy.
The trailers look like they're working from Frank Miller's classic run and Michael Clarke Duncan looks like he'll do justice to the Kingpin.
I did this for my wife a couple years ago. Ask her what the best present I ever gave her was, this is it. Ask her what present I got her when I did this, she has no idea.
I started about 2 weeks before Valentine's Day. I created a document and thought of one/two liners about my wife. Things I like, things I love, fond memories, etc. After 2 weeks, I ended up with like 35 things. I went to Hallmark and bought a couple packages of little kid valentine's cards.
I printed out the sheet, cut it up and put one in each card. Valentine's morning, I was out the door before she got up and she woke up to 35 cards throughout the house.
Just a warning, if you do this and figure out a way to top it, let me know.
We are going to see Les Miserables in NYC. The play is about to end its run, and we wanted to make sure we got to see it before it was over.
Live action entertainment is a nice change of pace from the normal dinner-and-a-movie type thing.
The diamond industry is controlled by a global monopoly (DeBeers, who make Microsoft look like boy scouts); they have been known to use violence and intimidation against independent producers/sellers, with machete-wielding militias cutting off the hands of those who don't comply. In southern Africa, the diamond industry exploits miners in atrocious conditions. Those precious stones you may be thinking of buying for your girlfriend/wife/partner fund bloodshed.
The association of diamonds with romance is recent and wholly artificial. It was
engineered in the 20th century by DeBeers' marketing people. They did their job excpetionally well; in America (and to a lesser extent elsewhere in the West), many women are so conditioned to associate diamonds with romance that failing to pay the DeBeers Romance Tax can mean the end of a relationship.
If you're a Linux user, you have said no to the Microsoft monopoly. Why not extend this noble principle to an even more pernicious and murderous multinational corporation? Say no to diamonds, and tell your partner why.
Make it your turn to sleep on the damp patch .
If she has a stuffed animal that she really likes, here's what you do. Buy her flowers, and when she's out sit up her favorite stuffed animal and place the flowers like the animal is holding them. It's sure to work.
Go see Daredevil, which opens that day!
Ladies can dig Ben Affleck in the whole red leather outfit, but it's the oh-so-sexy Jennifer Garner in the black leather, kicking ass left and right, that will get me through the long cold night.
Personally, going to a french restaurant we really like, then have reserved a 1 hr private dance lesson for us for ballroom dancing :)
Figured it was kind of original, plus we'll have fun, it won't be "one of those default v-day gifts", and maybe we'll (me specifically) will learn enough to dance more often at formal events
My wife and I have banned Valentines Day from the relationship. Since it's a faux holiday anyway - brought to you by Hallmark - we decided that we would be better off expressing our love for each other on every other day of the year, forgoing the pricy sentimental pap that comes around every February 14.
And yes, I am blessed to be with a woman who shares my point of view on that issue. In fact, it was her idea.
SpyDock: Scientific Python in a Docker container
My girlfriend is having her wisdom teeth out on the 13th. So my 14th will be spent giving her slurpees and ice cream.
:)
Combined with painkillers, she should be amusing to be around.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
5% of /. readers are getting laid... ... the other 95% wish they were!
my girlfriend, you insensitive clod.
I have tickets for two to a[n off-Broadway] show in NYC. Dinner, show, greeting card, a small token of my esteem (Buffy DVDs!) and I'll get off for about $150.
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
Depending on the restaurant and where you live, it may already be booked up for Valentine's day. If you go restaurant, book now.
That said, cooking her a nice meal is a great idea. Generally, putting your time and effort into doing something scores more points than plunking down some cash.
Some tips if you don't do dinner parties:
- Set the table, and take some time to make it look nice. A tablecloth, napkins (cloth if you've got 'em), some candles a nice candle holder, some flowers (or scatter some flower petals over the table, it saves room and doesn't require a vase) -- it doens't have to be Martha Stewart, but make an effort. You can do this ahead of time. (If you're broke, the dollar store is your friend for this one.)
- Clean up as you go. Nothing is less romantic than a big pile of dirty dishes.
- Except maybe dirty socks and dust bunnies. Clean the house ahead of time too. Make the bed.
- Read recipe instructions carefully, and pre-plan your cooking so that everything is ready at the same time. Like, if the main meal needs to bake for an hour, and dinner is a 6, the whole thing needs to be put together by 5. And while it's in the oven, you have an hour to clean up and get on to the next thing. And remember that you only have 2 hands -- you can't stir 3 things contantly at once while chopping veggies. (Think scheduling algorithms. You are the CPU.)
- Better yet, find recipes that can be made (or mostly made) in advance. You don't want to be frantically racing around the kitchen while your girlfriend sits alone waiting for you. Less time in the kitchen for you means more time with her.
- Don't cook anything heavy. Sure, both of you may love a big meal, but feeling bloated and full is not conducive to romance.
- Consider her favourite foods when choosing a recipes. Sounds obvious, but keep that in mind.
- That said, plan a meal that makes some sense. A really spicy dish will overpower a delicate one. This isn't hard to do if stick to a theme (Italian, French, Mexican) and keep things simple.
- If you're trying a new recipe, and/or you're not an experienced cook, make it ahead of time. Make sure it tastes fine, cooks for the time you expect it to, that you have all the cooking utensils required, etc. Recipes usually need to be adjusted to your kitchen.
- For the adventerous: Pay attention to how you serve and plate the food. You don't need to go overboard, but a little parsley never hurts. Put dinner rolls in a basket or a bowl instead of tossing the plastic bag on the table. Don't spread pots all over the table if you can help it.
Hope that helps. It may seem silly, but taking some time to make things look nice (as well as taste good) is part of what restaurants do. Though it may sound like a lot, there really isn't much to it -- you don't need to go overboard, but just take a moment to think about how everything looks. If this isn't something you normally do, you'll really wow her by making the effort.I can spell. I just can't type.
I have not seen a post this important in some time. DeBeers is doing everything they can to keep this information secret (or at lest under-publicized)! It is your moral obligation to mod up the parent of this post.
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
Women don't get drafted, either.
Despite having the vote.
Lovely world, isn't it...you don't hear feminists complaining about the benefits of being female, just the drawbacks.
May we never see th
My girlfriend and I are going to see Dare Devil =)
this is the most important sig ever! In your face 446154!
This year, my wife is having surgery on Valentines Day, so nothing special this year. Last year however, we went to dinner at a really nice restraunt in downtown LA, then to the LA Philharmonic. It wasn't too expensive (Except for the dinner! $12 for a f'ing dinner salad or cup of soup!), and it was pretty romantic.
Do you actually read /.? We just had an article on how the whole diamond industry is a 20th century fabrication. Don't buy diamonds unless you're planning to cut something. If you've got to get her shiny glass, get zirconium or a polishedrock in a nice setting or even a crystal of some sort, but not a diamomd for crying out loud.
Reformat the Hard Drive filled with pr0n.
And then start the quest to fill it once more.
Read Errant Story.
You know that she'll come back.
alt.suicide.holiday I know what I'm doing! ;-)
The opinons expressed are those of the voices in the author's head and are not necessarily those of the author.
My girlfriend lives 8 hours away. I will be walking around on valenties day ripping down anything with hearts, plucking the petals off of flowers, and making faces at every couple I see.
The masses are the crack whores of religion.
Last year I got up in the wee hours of the morning and drove 500 miles so I could take my fiance out for dinner on valentine's day. She broke up with me the next morning. It seems that she had made the decision to dump me days before, but thought it was more sensitive and kind to let me drive across three states and then break up with me. Hell, I wish she had just done it over the phone. It would have saved me the gas and time.
The tackiest part is that right before we went to bed on Valentine's Day (i.e. before she had said anything about breaking up) she left the room, went to her computer, and emailed me a letter saying how much she loved me, how hard this was to do, blah, blah...
I mean, what's the deal with women and bad timing? I've just sat through two hours of emotional agony, then I start to regain some composure. I log on to email my friends and family to let them know that the wedding is off...and the first thing that I POP'd was a letter from her. Like I really need all of that thrust back into my face again!
Second that suggestion.
GET A REAL CORKSCREW. Pocketknife/multi-tool corkscrews don't cut it. At the VERY least get a proper "winged" wine corkscrew, they're only a few dollars.
Brookstone has some REALLY nice corkpullers. Push a lever down and it automatically twists the screw in, pull it back up and it pulls the cork out. Insanely easy, and it's a flashy way to open a bottle of wine too. I'm sure you struggling to get the cork out of your bottle of wine with a crappy pocketknife will kill the mood. Plus I don't know how many times substandard corkscrews have resulted in small chunks of cork ending up in the wine for me... (I have one that is not a Brookstone puller, but is 99% identical to the ones they sell. It is GREAT.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Sorry I'm posting as an AC, but I'm having problems with my account.
What do girls want on Valentine's Day? Just something that a) shows that you care and b) shows that you know her.
My (also geek) boyfriend likes to get me stuffed animals (cute things like Chococat and Hello Kitty and Nyago) and flowers. I love that! He also made me a KDE desktop theme that was really cute.
But, seriously, geek girl or not, you can NEVER go wrong with flowers. Pink rosebuds are nice, and less expensive then long-stemmed roses.
Dinner and flowers, plus a little something (wrapped up?) is failsafe, and really easy to customize.
If your girl wants romantic, take her to a place where she can really dress up; girls like to dress up. Or order in gourmet (gourmet grocery stores will some times do that) or reserve a night at a nice hotel.
Hotels are good options (if you don't mind being late for work the next day) because, as long as it's a nice one, you get a beautiful ambiance, room service, fine dining, and a chance to surprise her with something new and romantic. Add fresh flowers and a (sexy?) gift, and you're set!
Now maybe you guys can help me- WHAT DO I GET MY GEEK BOYFRIEND???
Valentine's Day? Aw crap, I forgot to get a girlfriend again!
My girlfriend and I are both on a pretty tight budget this year so we don't have a lot to spend on fancy dinner and drinks and what not. So what we have planned is an erotic picnic at home. Put on some good music. Have some delicious food that can be eaten from a lounging position. And for desert have a number of items that can be eaten off of each other or fed to each other. Chocolate syrup, whipped cream, chocolate covered strawberries...you get the idea. You could even go as far as getting some flavored massage oils. Also, I planning on picking up a couple bottles of champagne. One good bottle for drinking and one cheap bottle for licking off of each other. Should be a very fun evening ;)
...tell her you won't wear your pocket protector anymore....or wear any clothing with Tux on it.... ;-)
I've got my plans.. nice dinner at a place we can dress nice, and its paid for buy someone else(the best!) But, I'd like to find a nice gift...
/. a while back, anyone have any more info on that kinda thing(where to get, what's cool, wats not, etc)?
She got a tri-gold necklace for christmas and that went over great.. but i'd like to find a pendant to go with.. something just as unique... and well, geeky(she does product design and manufacturing.. )...
I saw some of the Titanium Jewelry on
..because RMS is holding a seminar on Free Software and the GNU project at a local college on Feb 14th. I am in Mumbai, India BTW..
She's playing at Casinorama. w00^!
... I get to spend Valentine's day having epidural cortizone (sp?) injections into the L5 and L6 vertebrae. Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like a 12 guage needle through your back...
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
She said 'you don't do anything romantic anymore'? Guess what, it's over. Pack your bags, next train leaves for splitsville. If she needs to be constantly entertained, she's already looking past you.
What you need is a woman like my wife. She hates valentine's day. With a passion. I never cared one way or another. If anything, on February 14th, we celebrate the one week anniversary of my birthday. She doesn't need a special day, as I prefer to surprise her with little things throughout the year. I'm grocery shopping, and I see a type of candy she might like, so I buy it. She's happy; I was thinking about her when I wasn't with her.
Sure, she liked the 'big gun' romantic things (like the eight hour drive I made after we had been broken up to beg her to come back. Before we were married, BTW) but she's mature enough to understand it's the little things that count.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
It depends on the mall, now doesn't it?
Some malls have a very nice selection.
But the trans-continental trip for me would be a serious time-consumer.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Some kleenex, oh and make sure the blinds are closed. No one needs to know I can jizz all over my forehead.
Sorry dudes/dudettes, I've got no SO to worry about, so I'm off to the movies to see how bad Affleck will suck as Daredevil.
... this should be a poll...
Ligaguinggligagiggagoogoogwillgo
No one else said it, and I'm sure that sums up the plans of about 80% of slashdotters, doesn't it?
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it!
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
As a geek, I will be spending Valentine's Day alone with my boxen.
I'll spend the day with my Windows box, not my linux box, as Windows goes down so many more times in a day.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I have lots of fun things in mind for Valentine's Day!
- Trying not to weep openly in public
- Trying not to think about all the great sex my ex-girlfriends must be having right about now
- Stockpiling cheap hooch, 'cause once you get started, it can be tough to find the booze store when you need more
- Finding a comfortable, out-of-the-way gutter
- Maybe looking into that heroin addiction idea I've been kicking around
That's all I've got planned so far... anyone else have ideas?
Porn and Tequila.
Well, one of three things...
Either I'll have a date this weekend, and then we'll do something on Valentine's day next week...
OR I'll go out with her on Valentine's day...
OR I'll go out with her on the day after Valentine's day.
From experience, having no date on Valentine's day sucks. Everyone is all cuddly with their {boy|girl}friend, and then it makes you feel even more alone in the world.
Slashdot is a waste of time. I enjoy wasting time.
Valentine's Day
Venereal Disease
VD. Coincidence?
I'm the urban spaceman babe, but here comes the twist... I don't exist
Since I just moved to Boulder and don't really have many friends to hang out with, and since my girlfriend is in Boston and will remain there for the forseeable future, and since Dave's girlfriend is a thousand miles away, I'll probably do dinner with him. Somewhere public - ladies always smile at me when they think I'm gay ;) Then I'll go home and read Sutton&Barto.
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
I have a friend who has a propensity for wine&cheese parties. I seem to recall some Frenchmen showing up with a bottle of Gallo, and being kicked out for their insolence. Wholly deserved, IMHO.
There are many ways of applying force to the cork, involving levers, air pressure, who knows what else. Use what you like, but just make sure of one thing: if you get a screw-in kind, it should look like it's made of some kind of helicially wrapped wire (ie no rod down the middle). There are some otherwise great corkscrews that are built like a wood screw (rod down the middle) - these have a great deal of frontal area and easily split the cork while wedging it into the bottle.
Other than that, I use a bartender-style corkscrew, but it has a built-in foil cutter (not just a knife blade, but a 4-wheel cutter that lets you remove the foil by clamping it over the neck and twisting a quarter turn). For that reason alone I prefer it to any Screwpull(tm) etc. Bonus: it was $3.99 CAD in a loquor commission in Halifax.
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
What about having an electrode trickle current into the pleasure centers of your brain?
Why is sex good? Just a bunch of chemicals released into your brain. Same reason food is good, or anything else... choose your poison wisely.
Probably sex is healthier than lots of other ways of releasing the appropriate chemicals, but what do you mean "should be"?
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
Well, yeah. A wine and cheese party is something you may well be expected to bring a really decent wine to. However, if it's just you and your significant other, there's no point in spending more than about £5 on a bottle of wine unless you're both utter wine snobs.
Also known as the 'You don't spend enough money on me anymore' speech.
I hope your wallet is fat enough to deal with this one.
I have no girlfriend, you insensitive clod!
and
Just get her some rufees, sure she won't remember, but I'm sure you'll have a good time.
So, please explain the following terms to the vast majority of us who are clueless and have never heard them before:
I'll be at the Anime Club at UTexas. I just want to forget that that day is Valentine's Day.
Well, I bought 6 white roses, and 6 red roses. I'm getting up insanely early that morning and driving the white roses to her house, putting them in a good spot, then leaving, so she can find them when she wakes up. I'll see her later that day at choir practice, where I'll have the red roses and a poem, which is printed on photo paper with a background consisting of a heart with musical notes hanging on it. Hopefully this will make for a good Valentine's Day!
I thought valentines day was another drinking holiday. What's this about romance? Seriously, if your sweetie doesn't believe that you love her by valentines day, that one day won't change things.
IME, Nothing says "I love you" like some hard pounding anal sex.
Get out the viagra and the KY jelly and have at it!
If she doesn't like it in her arse, try doggy style vaginal sex, all women love that. Just don't put it in her vagina after having anal sex. The bacteria can give her a rude infection.
no offense here.. but Im way bored with people prejudicing me as a geek,no need for another to prejudice us all themselves. tell me?in what way does being a geek correlates to being pathetic with girls?
i've never been into these special days to be romantic ... i like to buy my wife flowers at random times throughout the year, so she never really 'expects' them on a given day ... the moment she starts expecting something to be done like that, i'm going to stop doing it, because i think that just takes everything out of it ... i don't have any specific plans yet this year, but last year i carved a CD into a heart, and that went over really well ... she's a geek, but not a computer geek by any stretch (geek of geology, actually ... i never thought they existed, but trust me, they *do*) ... she's still got that disc, too ... sorry i don't have any specific advice, but really, do something out of the ordinary on this day, because being romantic (random dinners, candies, flowers, etc) should be a normal thing
09
sign me up!
Okay here's where you've got it all wrong. And coming from a girl's point of view, I'd advise you listen. It's not so much the diamond that the girl wants, it's the DeBeers commercial! Think about it... two wonderfully in love people hanging about in shadows exquisitely dressed. That's what the girl wants... and since on the whole guys aren't more unique and tend to let commercials dictate what they do... diamonds epitomize the moment. So it's not really the fault of the diamond. If it's the bloodshed you're worried about, do some research. It's diamonds from the war-torn Congo that are funding the fighting. But you can get diamonds from other parts of the world. Some jewellers use these "peace" diamonds exclusively...but then... they are more expensive... Personally I don't want my guy to spend a fortune on me, I just want him to spend a lot of time on it. =) oh and as a side note, it DOES have a history: Wearing a diamond ring on the fourth finger of the left hand dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was believed that the vena amorous (the vein of love) ran from that finger directly to the heart.
My girlfriend lives 11 hours away by plane, we literally are an ocean apart. :-P
We were in a relationship where we saw eachother once every 2 months or so.
Best valentine I ever did was flying over there, without telling her.
I wrote a little valentine card with a small rhyme that asked her to open the front door for me. Handed the card to her mother... waited in front of the door...
The surprise effect did it all...
Too bad I could only stay there for the weekend.
When I got back to work on monday morning, people were wondering why I looked like crap. I told them it was the 2000 metre height difference, 7 hours time difference and 20 degrees celcius temperature difference... but I don't think they got it
Don't you mean Single's Awareness Day?
we've been together five years now, and really valentine's day has become a non-event.
if i'm out at the market and see some nice flowers, then i just buy them for her - for no particular reason other than i love her and want to make her smile (which flowers do the best of all i might add). likewise for a CD or DVD i think she might like.
we go out for meals and to the cinema when we feel like it, not because it's a 'special day'. well, our anniversary i suppose is the one 'special day' we do plan for.
geeks are terrible for planning things like this, so i find ad-hoc to be easiest in the end.
o.
[sent 2 me by bitter single female friend last year]
hearts and roses and kisses galore....
what the hell is all that shit for
people get mushy amd start acting queer
its definitely the most annoying day of the year
this day needs to get the hell over with and pass
before i shove a dozen roses up cupid's ass
i'll spend the day so drunk i can't speak
and wear all black for the rest of the week
guys act all sweet but soon it will fade
for all they are doing is trying to get laid
the arrow cupid shot at me must not have hit
because i think love is a bunch of shit
so thers my story.....what can say
love bites my ass.....FUCK VALENTINE'S DAY!!
"I like people. They're like little Happy Meals with legs" - Spike
I'm so glad you'll never breed.
I just got a job working at Motorola as the local grunt and oddly enough it reminds me of BOfH. However, through a friend of mine who is also a coworker, I met a wonderful girl, let's call her, "Joyce", and she's just as geeky as me. She's built her own computer, loves the internet and all the electronic goodies she can scrounge up. Not only is she beautiful, but she's tall too! She's 5'11" tall and has sparkly brown eyes. I'd tell you what my plans are for the night, but if she reads this, she'll know what's in store for her! In the past week, she's done more for me than my ex ever did. I guarantee she and her daughter mean more to me than anything in the world.
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!
I read somewhere, that in order to balance things out again, the 20th of March is now officially "Steak and Blowjob Day".
My husband gave me a wonderful present a couple of Christmases ago, though it looks funny in with your long list of X-rated suggestions. It was one of those "Fantazein" clocks you can program with messages. Anyway, he programmed it to say "Don't worry be happy", and later with other things he thought would amuse me, such as "Don't mess with Besty" (his favorite misspelling of my name.) I thought it was very romantic, and I still smile every time I see it, two years after he bought it.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
Here in the Netherlands a lot of people totally ignore valentines day. It was introduced here by shops and such and now everybody that can get a bit of money of it (TV, *shops, magazins, blah) acts like half our country does something to celebrate valentines day while we don't:) It's a bit the same with christmas - until TV was invented nobody had thought of the possibility of putting presents under a tree in the living room (we did have the tree though). Instead we put presents under the chimney with Sinterklaas (5 december) but since everybody got a TV and TV got controlled by money more and more people don't celebrate Sinterklaas anymore and have all started to put presents under a tree to celebrate a religious holiday from a religion nobody even remotely believes in anymore. Though many people think "Valentines day? One big commercial" and totally ignore it. The same for christmaspresents.
0x or or snor perron?!
I work down the street from a choclatier (sp?) and will grab some of that before heading home on friday.
then valentine's eve we have reservations at Finale in Harvard Square. good food - better desserts.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Followed by a long hard dance in bed. Followed by Mexican food and big-*ssed margaritas from the local Tex-Mex restaurant.
As my wife told me shortly before I proposed, "Nothing says I love you like going shooting with your honey on Valentine's day."
nope nope nope. you guys have it all wrong. Ive been married 10 years to a lady who never complains about being romantic, and its so freaking easy.
Rule one: You should not be romantic on one day of the year, then sit around watching football and scratching your ass the rest of the time.
Rule two: No matter what she says, its not the big things that matter. Its not the present, or the dinner. Its the thought.
Rule three (and the final rule): Do little nice things several times a year. Get her a card that says shes special, 3 to 6 times, randomly, per year. Just go to Hallmark, find a sappy one, and write a single line about how lucky you are. Leave it on her pillow. Don't make a big deal out of it. Make her dinner at least once a month. Preferably once per week. Rub her feet at least once a month, a really really good rub. with lotion or oil. Tell her you love her daily, but always word it different, so it doesnt sound like you are just saying it out of habit. Let her know how your life is better WITH her than it was before, at least once every few weeks.
Let her be useful. Let her feel that you are helpless without you. Don't actually become a helpless idiot, just let her think she is smarter than you when it comes to everything that is not a computer. Despite what you think, she is probably right anyway.
You getting the idea? You can't be a spaz all year, and just make up for it on one day, and expect her to be happy.
Women generally don't need alot of love, they just need a steady supply. Little things that say you care, on a regular basis. Then on Valentines, shes not so worried about what she does, just who she spends it with.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Damn! the only person I can think of who is a bigger loser than you is Rick Austenson. Wait, i am exagerating, Josh Havens is also a bigger loser than you.
Why don't you just spend Valentines Day reading "sprite comics" and beating off to anime. You goddamn loser linux fags make the rest of us slashdotters look bad by association.
I don't know how you ever got a girl, but have you checked to see if she was born a woman?
This wasn't a Valentine's Day thingie, but a First Anniversary thing. I suspect it'll work for Valentine's Day too :)
... and, barring Alzheimer's, it's something that she'll never lose :)
My partner, Vikki, loves lobster. Can't get enough of it, in fact. So when I saw a 2-pound cold-water lobster tail, frozen, at the store, I bought it. Thawed, broiled it myself, basting it every three minutes with clarified butter and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, then served it to her on a very large plate, with a small bowl of peas (she likes canned peas. Go figure).
She ate until she could hold no more, and the next day she sliced up the leftover lobster and made a lobster sandwich. She still talks about this, fourteen years later.
Yeah, rocks are nice, but something truely memorable in the kitchen can be even nicer. Expensive as this was, it sure was cheaper than a decent diamond ring
Another idea, for later on, is to use some Moritz's "Ice Cubes" in the bedroom. They are very tasty, and melt just like tanning butter *GRIN* I know that I ruined one grrlfriend for life when I smeared some on her backside, then kissed and licked it off, telling her that she'll never again be able to tell somebody to "Kiss my *ss!" without thinking of me *WEG*
Lemon curry?
Bah. Humbug.
if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
other years: I have cooked her favourite dish, or sent her flowers etc
but like somebody else said, don't save all the love for 1 day a year!
---- Put Sig here:
I especially like the part about the pr0n:
:)
"If you're in a couple, then you don't have to worry about being romantic, since it's pretty much impossible to be romantic while downing tequila shots and watching some guy's hairy ass bouncing up and down."
nuff said
Okay, the only fun way to have a Happy Valentines Day......
Go to Victoria's Secret or Fredrick's and pick out something VERY sexy i.e. crotchless panties and a real sleazy dress.
Next...go to your favorite adult video/bookstore and get a couple of items...like her favorite toy, some kama sutra oil, maybe some 'wet', pick up a couple of really nasty vids.
Next, talk her into a 3some and then get on your cell and call her best friend. Get her to agree to going out with the two of you. Naturally, she'll agree.
Stop by a good wine store and get lots of really good wine or champagne and some sugar cubes, if you chose champagne.
Go by and pick up her best friend.
Head for one of those 'adult motels' that show XXXXXX rated videos or at least one that has a vcr. Bring all the items you bought so far.
Check into the room, turn down the lights, pop the cork on your adult beverage, pour 3 glasses FULL, if it was champagne, add a sugar cube to each. Have your girlfriend or wife change into her outfit you purchased a few hours earlier. When she enters the room, pop in one of the videos you rented earlier or order a real naughty one on the pay-per-view from the motel. Drink the beverages REAL fast and pour another and just sip it.
Sit back and enjoy!
Show him you care for him and want him. If he is a true geek then posessions are ok for christmas, but you are the gift he wants most.
This Valentine's day I will be at school from 8-1:50, and at work from 2-10. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get a call from my boyfriend, who lives across the country, and who may be shipped off to Kuwait next month.
.02
Your girlfriend is luckier than she realizes. And if all she can do is complain about your efforts, then maybe you should rethink the relationship?
Whatever you do, regardless of what you think about v-day (*cough* crass consumerism at its worst *cough* another way to alienate women from men by bringing out the greediness in women and confusion in men *cough* not a real holiday if you don't get off work for it *cough*)you should celebrate being together and loving each other. And you probably shouldn't wait until valentine's day to do it, or stop after it's over.
My lame
Spend a day in the park or at the beach. Don't go hiking or do anything too strenous. Avoid movies at all costs unless its preceeded by a nice, informal dinner or followed by a cup of coffee and intellectual conversation. End the night with a walk through the park during the twilight hours. If it rains, bring a trenchcoat and umbrella. Rain adds a nice serene effect. Don't go through any given park after 9 PM unless you're packing. If you find yourself going out to dinner frequently, a nice change to make the occasion special is definately called for.
And always bring some kind of gift.
St. Valentine's Day is one among several holidays that have been imported and... altered... by the Japanese. Here, the burden falls almost entirely upon women to supply men with large amounts of chocolate. I'm not too surprised that this was turned into yet another occasion upon which women are expected to service men. Which will make it doubly effective when I serve up a candlelit dinner to my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, and take her to the Nagasaki lantern festival on Saturday. I am gambling a bit on the dinner, though - so far the only western food she likes is hamburgers, and she doesn't like my take on Japanese... As an interesting aside, the Japanese confectionary industry manufactured another holiday in March - White Day. On that day, men are supposed to give marshmellows to the ladies. At work I have made a habit of making s'mores for the ladies on Valentine's Day...
I really love myself so I'm gonna spend the day compiling stuff on my new dual p4 xeon, which of course I bought as a present to myself.
God I love me!
Ahh.. we'll go to this Seafood Resteraunt in
New Bedford, MA called Davey's Locker. It's the
first resteraunt I took her too when we were dating (19 years ago).
My Wife and I don't buy into the diamond trap.
No expensive gifts are necessary. But remembering an booking a reservation, flollowed by
a small floral arangement works for her.
(In addition to all of the above)
Barry White or Marvin Gaye.
'nuff said
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
"Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching, and though some of you Slashdot readers will be spending the day alone, there must be some of you out there who won't" I've been thinking more and more lately, how cool it would be to have a techie/geek girlfriend ~> wife. To share my interest in Linux (and sci fi for that matter!) would go a LONG way to keeping a realtionship going. Why not have "Slashdot. Love for Nerds. Relationships that matter" ??? Model it after yahoo's presonals. Complete w/ pics., plenty of text for "About Me", "About my mate"...etc that sort of thing. I -know- it would be very popular.
Iron Maiden might work if you're dating a metal chick. If not, here are a few I use:
Sarah Brightman (at low volume!)
Renaissance
Keiko Matsui
Diana Krall
Annie Haslam
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (if she likes prog)
There are other jewels as well that make nice gifts. I had great success recently with a platinum pendant studded with a few small sapphires.
Err... on the subject of history - the wedding ring was introduced in Egypt, yes. Diamonds, no.
The first wedding rings were made from grass, actually.
The diamond entered into the setting (so to speak) in medieval Italy.
I'm also a strong believer in the shared bubble bath with a bottle of wine.
The last thing to consider is the following - even if you manage to put together a perfect Valentine's day and gain much much pointage, try to remember that getting your significant other flowers on a random Thursday in October may actually score you more points in the strange game of love.
Over the years, I've learned something important about gift-associated holidays. This idea is mostly directed toward women. If you have expectations of your person, tell him or her what they are. Then if you are disappointed, it will truely be his/her fault. And you are allowed to pull out the guilt cannons. Otherwise, you are only allowed to be somewhat disappointed.
Speaking of disappointing, my plans are as follows:
Well for one I'm trying to get a new job since I got laid off.
So here's the solution - buy Polar Bear diamonds!
Mined in the Canadian artic, no DeBeers involved.
They're polished and cut by Inuit (eskimo) people, who are paid good money and are happy to have jobs that don't require them to move hundreds or thousands of miles away, while helping to raise the northnern economy out of poverty.
Each is inscribed with a tiny polar bear (viewable only by microscope). Sorry, lost the link!
Long. Blow. Job.
My work here is done.