HN Explorer

Remind HN: It's Valentine's day

25 points by jasonkester ↗ HN
Being geeks, our natural reaction is to point out all the flaws in society that allow a commercial "holiday" like this to exist and thrive. But I have an alternate suggestion.

Try buying your girlfriend flowers. Compare your results with last year and see it there's an improvement.

Remember, you're not caving in to consumerism and peer pressure. You're running a controlled experiment.

Good luck!

16 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 27.2 ms ] thread
patio11
You could come to Japan, where ladies have to buy you chocolate and then the gents choose to reciprocate a month later (or not).

I'd complain on general principles, but since Valentines Bingo has covered my apartment move, two months of rent, and a romantic evening out, I guess I have limited standing.

NickPollard
Is it wrong that when I saw this topic I assumed it was going to be a post about optimizing for holiday promotions?
chc
Unfortunately, Valentine's Day is a little late to run a Valentine's Day promotion unless you're in a brick-and-mortar mall.
mantas
I see your IP is from a flowers shop downtown!
younata
I like to think of Valentine's day not as Valentine's day, but as Single's Awareness Day.

Because that's what I'll be for this year.

jokermatt999
You've still got plenty of hours to change that, if you want. I'm sure there also plenty of other singles out there wishing for a partner today. :) Go for it!
csomar
I think, my problem is how to connect to the right one.
Mz
If she has respiratory problems and/or allergies, flowers might not be the best move. If you buy her chocolates instead, do your best to not make her feel damned if she eats them and damned if she doesn't. (My ex had a talent for making me feel like if I didn't eat the chocolates, I was rejecting him. If I did, well, "it was no wonder I was a fat cow". This did not go over well and made me not fond of Valentine's.)
rick_2047
I really do not get why I need a special day to say I love you. If I wanna say it, I would just go out and say it. If I want to take her out on dinner, I would just take her out of dinner whenever it is convenient for her and not on a day when she would have to wait in long lines just to eat an ice cream.
deafcheese
"I really do not get why I need a special day to say I love you"

It's not about you. It's about her.

aDemoUzer
You are just disguising your acceptance of consumerism by fabricating as an experiment, man.
bobf
On a side note, you can get (at least) double the flowers for the same price on February 15th ;)
kgutteridge
The slightly amusing thing is I did actually buy my girlfriend a card this year, however whilst in the shop I had a great solution come to me that would solve a problem, I obviously was not paying full attention as the left hand inside of the card was clearly aimed at a bloke.

My usual excuse is working with a greetings card company as one of our clients its always a busy time of the year

[Shameless plug] So for those that have forgotten theres a collection of iPhone ecard apps I have been involved in here

Jeego lite (free) http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/jeego-lite/id399428058

Starcards ($0.99) http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/valentine-starcards/id4183077...

Disney Valentines ($0.99) http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/disney-valentines/id416908996