February 15th

Yesterday, valentine's day was such a surreal day. I mean, after spending time in front of the computer, and then going out, I didn't realize how big a deal this day was. I am terrible on days such as this. I usually don't get flowers for my wife, nor candies or anything of the sort. For the first 10 years or so of our marriage, I might have given flowers on valentine's day perhaps just once. And a card? forget it. But the last 5 or six years have been different. I have given flowers, took her out to dinner and the like. Before I just didn't get into it too much. Now i do. And I get lucky too.

Which brings me to yesterday. Driving to pick up josh from school, I noticed a boy on his bike, iPod blaring, carrying a bunch of roses in one hand. I wondered who was the lucky girl. As I passed one of the middle schools, I noticed a lot of the girls had balloons and gifts from their amors. Passing La Quinta high School, on theb electronic billboard, there was a note. Happy Valentine's Day Trang. I love you." Now that was sweet for all to see. Even at the market, when I was looking for a nice dozen roses, other guys were looking too. At the gas station, a flower vendor set up shop, and there were people lined up to get some roses. A woman at the bus stop with a valentine basket, I saw so much valentine love on the streets of Santa Ana. So I guess it still is a romantic day. It doesn't get old.

Today, the waves were blown out, so I decided to run the beach at Newport instead. I needed to get some exercise to clear my head before work, and besides, I had to burn some of the calories from the dinner the night before. Lamb and potatoes and green beans, topped off with a slice of Boston Creme Pie. I ain't dead yet, but that was a cholesterol, calorie buster right there.

So anyway at the beach, as I ran, I finally figured out where all those valentines balloons go. I picked up several deflated balloons and threw then in the trash. But I also saw a lot of other junk, water bottles, wrappers,and trhe most hideous things, those feminie things that women insert when they are menstruating, I forgot the name, but I saw several used plastic applicators on the sand. Really sad, but not surprising when you live in an area with two million other people.