There's a time and a place for big, romantic gestures.

So there I was late this afternoon, schmoozing in one of the local wine shops that I frequent on Saturdays when they're tasting new and interesting wines. A customer walks in and wants a specific champagne in a half-bottle. It being 4:30 on Valentine's Day and all, the shop's champagne selection was wearing a bit thin, and they not only didn't have the precise label the guy wanted in a 375-ml bottle, they actually had only one half-bottle of champagne remaining. (They did still have a pretty good selection of regular size bottles, though.) After whining about it at length, he decided that the half-bottle they had was too expensive (and while it was certainly expensive for my tastes - as it was $55 - it probably wasn't grossly overpriced, as the 750-ml bottle of the same champagne was $79), and ended up not getting anything.

Come on, guy: it's Valentine's Day. Splurge and buy a whole bottle of something. There can't be many good reasons for having only a half-bottle of champagne when you could have a whole bottle instead.

And a very happy Valentine's Day to you, as well.