Celebrate Valentine’s whenever you desire

Happy Feb. 16, everyone, a day that seems just as appropriate to celebrate as Feb. 14 this year.

Feb. 14, of course, is Valentine’s Day. But as I sat in the office Wednesday, my hair still wet from melting snow and my feet stuffed into a pair of clunky rubber boots, it seemed like everybody was a little grumpy.

One woman I know was a bit annoyed because her boyfriend made a big show of asking her what kind of flowers she wanted and then reminding her that she was only getting flowers because it was expected of him.

My own plans for the evening, which didn’t involve a specific Valentine but did involve a lot of chocolate, were canceled because of the snow. Down in Virginia, my parents had to cancel their Valentine’s Day plans to stay the night in a little inn because of the icy weather.

And I just overheard a co-worker tell someone she was going to help out her boyfriend on a construction job for the evening. Another friend decided she was going to her Wednesday night yoga class.

With all the snow and ice Wednesday, the stress at work and no time to enjoy ourselves, I vote we celebrate Valentine’s Day today, or at least spread things out a little more during the year.

After all, that’s what most men complain about when it comes to Valentine’s Day. Men argue they’d rather be spontaneous year-round than be forced into the obligatory present on one day.

It seems scientists treat Valentine’s Day like any old day, too. They’ve got love boiled down to pheromones and mathematical formulas.

In an Associated Press story earlier this week, in which a reporter rounded up recent studies and surveys, researchers at Northwestern University used speed dating to determine that both men and women need to feel that you’re interested in them, but not in everybody else.

The results of the study, which included 163 participants, showed that those who weren’t selective gave off certain signals that prospective partners were able to pick up on.

Researchers at Cornell University found that there’s an awful lot of lying on the Internet. They should have asked my friends – there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence – but instead went all scientific data on us. The Cornell crew found that on four of the more popular dating sites, women “systematically” lied about their weight and men lied about their height.

In another study, the Elsevier journal “Appetite” examined women’s reactions to images of chocolate. The study of 85 dieters and non-dieters found that dieting leads to an increased desire for the item that is forbidden.

So stock up when the big heart-shaped candy boxes are marked down in the day-after sales. Give a box to your sweetheart today, and maybe another next week. Be spontaneous. Do something romantic in the days after Valentine’s Day.