GIBBerish February 13

February 13, 2013 W. Gibb – Leader staff Opinion

 

Men's Practical Guide to Valentine's Day!

No need to panic. February 14 is tomorrow. There’s still time to locate the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your significant other. 

However, I should point out that, fair or not, the onus for creating a perfect romantic Day, falls squarely on men’s shoulders. Sorry, guys, but that’s just the way it is. It’s up to you to make this whole hearts and flowers thing work, at least on this one day of the year.

On the bright side, somehow get the right gift, and you might just be able to slide on all those past forgotten anniversaries and birthdays. Choose the wrong gift… well, you recall those -25 C nights this winter? Think colder. And longer.

Practical Rule One: Flowers are always nice. However, you may have waited a little too long to pick some up. The flower shops could be cleaned out. This may, therefore, necessitate an emergency run to the grocery store. 

Under no circumstances, pick up a bouquet that is marked “50 per cent off. Priced for quick sale,” and then forget to take the tag off. And let me emphasize, that if you are trying to “say it with flowers,” presenting her with a cactus is always a mistake.

Practical Rule Two: Never give a woman something she needs on Valentine’s Day (exceptions, a pass to an exclusive spa, a Caribbean cruise). Now you may think a new dish drainer and a scrub brush are just the thing. Wrong. A friend of mine once presented his wife with a sander for Valentine’s Day. He honestly thought she needed one.

He earnestly assures me that he spent about a month, rather worried about just what she was planning to…sand.

No, your gift must be something she wants, something she dreams of. Good luck.

Practical Rule Three: Giving your beloved tickets to a very special event, one that she might even share with you, has potential. However, you need to think this through. Handing her an envelope with “Honey, I got us the last two tickets to Fuzzy McBeard’s seminar, Ripping Tales of the Moose Hunt,” might be a mistake.

Practical Rule Four: Chocolate. Not the ‘three bars for a buck’, but something European, decadent. Do not, however, under any circumstances, jovially remark, as you present the candy, “A few extra laps on the old exercise bike will soon get those extra pounds off.”

Practical Rule Five: The romantic, candle-lit, home-made dinner. Make certain that pizza delivery boxes and/or crumpled fast food bags are not on the counter. Get down the cook book your grandmother gave you 20 years ago (still in the original wrapper) and puzzle out one of the exciting recipes, written in a language with which you are completely unfamiliar.

This could be the evening your beloved and you will never forget. Especially if the two of you get to spend it with the local volunteer fire department. 

Still, as a consolation, now, at least, you will know what the term flambé means.

Since you’re here…

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Everyday is a new day with no mistakes in it

January 4, 2012 Editor Opinion

 

“Every day is a new day,” wrote Lucy Maud Montgomery in  Anne of Green Gables. Well, with this edition, it’s a new month and a new year. Have you made any New Year’s resolutions? Have you sat down and taken stock of what you did last year and then planned for what you want to achieve this year?

Well, according to genius Albert Einstein, “if you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” In other words, money won’t buy you happiness. Goals that revolve around “getting” someone or something are rarely satisfying and, most often, a waste of valuable time. In contrast, the best goals to set are those that will make a positive difference in your life or in the lives of those around you. 

I do this every year. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. Some things get checked off my list and some things don’t. Either way, I still like to feel like I have a purpose or direction to follow during the coming days – (as opposed to flailing around aimlessly until that fateful hour when my heart stops ticking).

In goal setting, it’s important to remember some famous advice: Winston Churchill once said, “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” So, if at first you don’t succeed, then try again… and again… and again… and again… (Get the idea?)

Another piece of advice that I found helpful when “taking stock” is from Kofi Annan: “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

Life doesn’t happen by mistake. Life happens because of choices we make or choices others make. Things, for the most part, don’t happen “to” us. We make choices every moment of every day, whether we acknowledge that fact, or not. 

Something I tell myself and something I tell my children often: “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Think first. Ask yourself, who do I want to be? How will this choice affect me and the people around me? Choose wisely and remember, if you get it wrong, tomorrow is a “new day with no mistakes in it”, so try again.    

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