AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 14, 2005 — The Hallmark day of Love. Buy flowers, candy? Have a romantic dinner? Well, FFP and I agree that what we should do is make our upcoming New York trek our Valentine's gift to each other.

So we have an ordinary day and an evening with friends.

First I go to water aerobics with my dad. There are several more students than the last time we were there. Discussion ranges around dining and travel and children.

After the class I do a like recumbent bike and a few exercises and then rush home. I feel in a rush although I really don't have much to do. I eat and get a shower and go to do a few errands. Mail a package to my great nephew for his birthday. Go to Costco and get granola bars, cereal and low fat Laughing Cow cheese. (When we travel, I take bars and these 3/4 ounce triangles of cheese just in case we get caught on a plane somewhere, foodless. Being ready for emergencies seems to keep them at bay. Not really. But I like to think contingencies. After shopping at Costco, I buy some Costco gas and then I go to Office Depot and buy an expensive laser printer for Forrest and a cartridge for it (the one that comes with it has a short life) and a USB cable. I have decided to quit shopping and buy an inexpensive one and see how it works for us. It has one nice advantage: it's small.

When I get home, I take care of the setting up of the printer. First, I convince FFP that he should ditch the old WIN95 machine with its attendant cords and a giant old school monitor. That clears desk space big time to use for the little printer. I also toss an old modem and its attendant cords and a phone FFP wasn't using. This takes a surprising amount of time, including installing and testing the printer and getting other machines on the network to see it.

Finally we get ready to go out. I kind of drag my feet, taking my time. Sure enough, we are exactly on time to the party. Giving a party on Valentine's Day is a great idea. We know a bunch of the people but, oddly, we don't think there is any overlap with the people we had for our Christmas party. (Although maybe there are some people we should have invited or maybe even did and they couldn't make it.)

We talk to people, including band members and the caterer and his helpers. We have snacks and drinks. (Reminder to self: three of these festive drinks with Chambord and champagne is more than enough because, you know, of the Chambord. I switch to a glass of red wine which disappears while I'm dancing before I finish it and then have water.) We dance, we talk to people, we eat a fabuluous salmon, roast beef, vegies, salad meal that is served. We leave at a reasonable hour though, around ten.

While standing in line for food at the party a guy is asking us about his trip to France. Where should he stay, should he spend the entire time in Paris? I mention that the hotel where we stayed is near the Marais. He says, "I thought that was where all the homosexuals hung out. Is it overrun with homosexuals." I hope I looked properly shocked. "Well, there are a lot of art galleries," I say helplessly. I recover and tell him that he should just see Paris (and maybe a few side trips like Versailles) if he only has six nights. "You can get a musuem pass, do the Louvre, the Picasso Musuem, Muse d'Orsay." And, of course, he says, "Well, we aren't that into museums." At which point I want to say, "Just go to Wimberley." But I don't.

At home I read a few newspapers and we watch CSI: Miami but FFP falls asleep on the extremely unlikely plot lines. So we go to sleep for real.