Feast of Valentine

February 9, 2026

Good morning! Do you use the same coffee cup every single day — or do you rotate a few of your favourites — or don’t you care — or don’t you drink? Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?  (Send your votes) Later this week it will be the most dreaded of all holy days… The Feast of Valentine.  (Not Lincoln’s birthday; for that, look further down.) And, why is it so dreaded? Here is the answer:  Because it is the one day of the year when expectations exceed outcomes by the greatest margin. And, secondarily, it is awkward.

• $100 value?
  • Tomorrow — Tuesday February 10 — you can procure an unprecedented and unique Valentine kit from McDonald’s — free of charge.
  • The catch is, you’ve gotta be first in line.
  • It’s a caviar kit, featuring an ounce of luxurious sturgeon roe, creme fraiche, caviar spoon, a few chimkin nuggets, and I’m not sure what else…
  • The drink might be extra.
• At long last… the Hallmarks have switched from the Countdown to Christmas to LoveUary.
• Here is a classic Feast of Valentine puzzle for all of you math wizards who are among my respected readers:
  • In a burst of romantic euphoria, two young lovers carve their initials on the trunk of a basswood tree, exactly four feet from the ground.
  • Over the next forty years the tree grows taller and stronger — through good years and bad.
  • In good years with plenty of rain and sunshine — there are 13 of those — the tree grows five inches each year.
  • In bad years with inadequate rain and scorching hot weather — there are 16 of those — the tree grows only 1.5″ each year.
  • During the eleven remaining years, the tree grows exactly the arithmetic mean per year of the good years and the bad years.
  • When the two lovers return to inspect their tree 40 years after first declaring their carved-in-a-trree-trunk love for each other, at what height do they find their initials within the heart?
    • (It’s not a trick question… the tree is still there and didn’t get chopped down or get otherwise damaged or destroyed.)
  • Answer next week… but try to work it on your own before then.
• We are blessed to live immediately adjacent to a 10-acre city park.
  • This park features a brand spanking new ice skating rink, groomed daily, brightly lit at night until 10 o’clock.
  • Other parts of the park are lit throughout the entire night with fewer lumens.
  • Even though there are rarely skaters, we love the ambience of the pristine ice rink just sitting there in the bright light, framed with the softness of new-fallen snow, beckoning someone, anyone, to swoosh across its smooth, glistening surface.
  • The number one users of the park?  Hundt hikers.
• Here’s another arithmetic problem:
  • Following a 55% average increase in automobile insurance in 2024, drivers are cheering a 15% decrease occurring in 2025.  (Insurify)
  • What is the net result of that — and is it cause for celebration?
  • May I please have another bowl of porridge?
• What makes something worth $1,000,000,000,000 — $1 trillion?
  • WalMart, that cute little general store on the town square in Bentonville, Arkansas, recently was announced as the world’s newest trillionaire.
  • Which prompts the question, what makes something, anything, worth $1 trillion?
  • Hint:  Grade #3 economics.
  • Answer:  Someone, somewhere is willing to pay that amount for it, pure and simple.
    • In other news, WalMart reportedly loses $3,000,000,000 annually from shoplifting and theft.  (Backman)
• Captain Marvel and Spiderman notwithstanding, is heroism a thing of the past?
  • It might be — at least in the business and organizational world.
    • “Leaderism is the belief that great leaders are the cure for every ill.
    • It feeds on our desire for clarity and comfort, for a world of heroes and villains in which someone strong will keep us safe.
    • The more anxious we are, the more leaderist we become.  (Give us a king!  Not that king, a different king!  Wait… how about a Queen?!)
    • At the core of leaderism is an image of leadership that is popular in business and in business schools.
    • Leaders influence and inspire.
    • They portray confidence, tell a simple story, and promise to disrupt institutions.”  (Petriglieri)
  • Superhero leaders are an outdated ideal.
  • Collaboration and consensus are in.
    • “During a crisis, today’s most effective (and heralded) leaders know how to navigate complex emotions, find common ground, and stay flexible.” (Gooty, Etc., et al.)
      • “Countless leadership training initiatives, development programs, and executive succession plans are based upon untenable and unrealistic assumptions,
      • favouring those leaders who project confidence and certainty,
      • even when such qualities may be elusive at best and counterp[roductive ast worst.
      • True leadership during a crisis calls for engagement with often messy, chaotic thoughts, intense emotions, and precarious relationships,
      • both inside and outside the organization.” (Ibid.)
• The Brain Economy… if you don’t know about it, watch for it to explode as a talking point — and as a point of reference.
  • Question #1:  In the brain economy, what is most strongly associated with higher economic productivity?
  • Answer #1:  Improved cognitive health and mental well-being.
• And, lest we forget, Thursday of this week is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, sadly obscured by a torrent of truffles and red rose petals.