Happy Valentine's Day

For being single, today was pretty good. The sun came out in Detroit today, almost making it up to 40, which felt like 60. At work today, the food service crew served prime rib. It was goooood. I'm enjoying my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies that seriously taste like they just came out of the oven. And last but not least, the Swimsuit Issue came in the mail today.

And here are some thoughts on the Swimsuit Issue:

• I enjoyed seeing all of the old covergirls on the cover, but there were two notables missing: Kathy Ireland and Christie Brinkley.
• Elle McPherson is at least 40 years old, right? I hope I age like her.
• Nice to see Maria Sharapova in the issue, but I would've rather seen Amanda Beard again.
• Another notable missing, Cindy Crawford. And may I add that Super Bowl commercials just aren't the same without her.
• Heidi Klum is sadly past her prime. The whole classic look didn't do it for me.
• A successful Real Worlder, I didn't think it was possible. Of course it helps when you are athletic and gorgeous. I don't think we'll be seeing Mallory Snyder on any MTV challenges anymore.
• If you get a chance, you should read (yes, actually READ) the story about Petra Nemcova and her encounter with the deadly tsunami of 2004. What an unbelievable story.
• My two favorites were Daniella Sarahyba and Yesica Toscanini. So yes, I say yes to Yesica.

Alright, enough silliness, let's talk Econ. Retail sales were up 2.3% last month, well above the projected forecast of 0.9%. This sent stocks up over 100 points today as the economy appears to be strong. I think it's strong also, but I'm not about to have my underwear tied up in a knot over this report. Most of the gains in retail sales were due to gasoline purchases and auto sales, both of which are very volatile. Auto sales were the reason the economy only grew at a 1.1% rate last quarter, so they can fluctuate dramatically. Gasoline purchases went up because of the high energy costs seen more last month. So I would expect a slower retail sales growth number for February, between 0 and 1%.

I still can't believe Dick Cheney shot a guy. He deserves to get made fun of for that, sorry Dick.

Alright, time for sports:

• Bode Miller's loss was Ted Ligety's gain. Bode was in control of the downhill/slalom combined until he was found to have straddled instead of going outside a slalom gate on his first slalom run. This brought everyone back into the gold medal chase, including Ligety, who came from well back in the slalom, then benefitted from seeing competitors in front of him fail to complete their second slalom run.
• Congrats to Miami University Hockey, 2005-06 CCHA Regular season champs after beating Ohio St. 6-3 tonight. Now the Redhawks are fighting for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, along with a CCHA tournament title.
• Villanova showed why they can win the NCAAs with their win over UConn last night. UConn has little experience at the point guard after Marcus Williams, and they are susceptible to pressure defense, which they showed last night. Nova is gutty, gritty, and they find ways to win, which is why I will root for them. How can you not, they start 4 guys under 6'4"!!!!!
• Teams I think can go far in the NCAA: Duke, UConn, Texas, Villanova, Ohio St., West Virginia, Georgetown, NC State, Tennessee
• Teams I'm not sure about: Michigan St., Illinois, Memphis, North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, George Washington, Florida, LSU
• Teams that will disappoint in March: Gonzaga, Iowa, Oklahoma, Boston College

And finally tonight, if you, for some crazy reason haven't told that significant other how you feel about them, here are some songs that help (from experience, these have been sufficient I think):

• Unchained Melody, Righteous Brothers
• Anything by Norah Jones
• Bee Gees, How Deep Is Your Love
• Boyz II Men, In the Still of the Night
• 112, Cupid
• Mariah Carey, We Belong Together
• Stevie Wonder, My Cherie Amore

And that's just a small sampling. I wanted to be a little more diversified, and I think I definitely accomplished that haha. Have a great night.