Happy President's Day!

There's a shopworn, tired story I've been telling about Valentine's Day this week, so I won't repeat it here. But nevertheless, I think I might not have noticed this year's passage of the Big Greeting Card industry's self-created holiday were it not for a cadre of married or otherwise taken men complaining about it. After 27 years of this holiday for me, I'm done caring about it. Here's why:

I didn't date all that much in high school. That's because I was awkward and invisible.

I didn't date a whole lot in college, either. That's because I thought at the time that long-distance running was really, really important. I made these silly rules for myself, like no hanging out with women past Wednesday if I had a track or cross country meet that Saturday. And if the Big 12 meet was coming up, I more or less put myself on lockdown for the two weeks prior. That understandably annoyed people and drove a few away. Now I can see how idiotic that was, which is why I now don't put my cycling ahead of too many things in life. I want to do well in my racing and I spend a fair amount of time at it, but not to the outright exclusion of other things I want to do. To do so would be to miss out on a lot of other experiences.

So by the time I got done with college, I was gainfully employed, living in a new town and thinking things were pretty good. But the one thing I thought was missing was what everyone else seemed to have, which was a nice, long stable relationship. Before long, that's what I had. For about three years, I was mostly involved with one person or another. Most of that time was spent with one person, followed by a couple of brief flame-outs and then a longish stint with someone else.

Come Feb. 17, I will have been single for exactly one year. And at this point in time, that doesn't really bother me at all. Some people, like S.C.'s girlfriend, poke fun at me for it, but no skin off my teeth. Relationships are fine. In fact, there's a lot of really great things about them. But it's not a big priority for me anymore. I sort of understand all the Facebook and Twitter updates lamenting the loneliness of being single on Feb. 14, but I say fuck that noise.

Speaking of which, check me out on Twitter, yo.

I celebrated Valentine's Day with a 40-or-so mile ride with Britton K., Chuong D. and Jason K. Britton and I rode Homeboy Bikes, which was a good decision. After several miles in snowfall, a few centimeters of ice built up on virtually every component of my ride. Even the bell stopped working. It was a pretty quiet ride for the last 10 miles or so. There were lots of frozen hands and feet, but I was glad we did it anyway. I don't think a lot of other folks I'll be facing this year were out riding today.

After a couple errands, I spent the evening with a plate of Gates, a few cold ones and Donnie Darko.

Happy Valentine's Day to me! Now listen to each of these songs.