As Valentine’s Day nears and the oh-so-sweet smell of love is in the air (queue the violins), there is hope for the loveless masses convinced that Cupid stinks like a rotten egg (violins come to a sudden and screeching halt).

Yep, it’s officially Dump Your Significant Jerk Week. This is the much-needed spot on the ol’ calendar where guys & gals in humdrum and/or dysfunctional relationships come to their senses – finally ending that love connection gone bad.

(Personal note not intended for the general public: If you’re reading this dear, I’ve changed. Promise. Just give me another chance…)

Of course, not too coincidently, this also gives you precious time before Valentine’s Day to hook up with that dreamy-new paramour you’ve had your eyes on (wink, wink). Hey, just because love didn’t work out the first couple dozen times doesn’t mean it won’t this time…

Having relationship issues of your own? Perhaps this video from The Love Solver can put you on the right path:

With all the debate over iPhone v. Droid v. Blackberry v. Palm, Sarah Palin seems to have gone old school and taken matters into her own hands – literally.  This weekend the former Governor of Alaska gave a speech to the National Tea Party conference in Nashville, and a slight bend of her arm revealed that Palin was glancing at her hand for the same reason that Gordy Mayfield was glancing at his in your third-grade spelling test.  Which is to say that Palin had a crib sheet on her palm.

The topic of the speech was her top three hitlist for the GOP.  Close-ups of her hand seem to indicate that what was written there was “Energy, tax cuts, lift American spirits,” with the word “budget” crossed out.

We want to know what the people would have liked to see on that… er, handy… crib sheet.  And this brings us to Monday’s PALIN PALM CHALLENGE, wherein we’ll be giving away a free T-shirt* at random for every 25 unique folks that shout out with a #palinpalm tweet on our @cafepress Twitter account.  Yes, democracy is alive everywhere.

WHAT YOU DO:

1. Follow us on Twitter.
2. Think about what you’d want to write on Sarah Palin’s palm.
3. Tweet at @cafepress with the words or phrase, using the hashtag #palinpalm

Example:

smile – you betcha – snow machine #palinpalm @cafepress

That’s it! We’ll choose T-shirt recipients randomly among the tweeters for every 25 tweets that contain both the #palinpalm hashtag and the @cafepress.

*T-shirt must be chosen out of the CafePress Markeplace, and have a retail value of $30 or less.

Not that there’s a bad time to visit New Orleans (well, maybe hurricane season), but the next few days are gonna be crazy-fun in the Crescent City.

With long-suffering New Orleans Saints fans cheering on this weekend’s football game, and Mardi Gras just around the corner (specifically, the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse), les bons temps are going to roll.

All that’s to say it’s a good time to head to The Big Easy, sit outside at Cafe duMonde and enjoy some beignets and chicory coffee.  If you can’t travel this year (and you don’t live in Indiana), consider a break from your usual Superbowl party fare of cheap beer and bagged chips – duMonde ships their beignet batter and their coffee.

I have no guarantees about the football game, but I do guarantee that from NOLA to North L.A. the Mardi Gras celebrations are going to be wild (for those keeping track, this year Fat Tuesday is on February 16).  Whether you’re into collecting beads or just showing your Cajun pride, it’s a fun holiday to gear up for.  And remember that it’s easy to get beads in the Big Easy, just flash a smile (or anything else).

While some choose a pilgrimage to Mecca, Lourdes, Delphi or Fenway Park, I take an alternate journey: Pennsylvania. No, not the milk chocolate factory in Hershey. But rather Punxsutawney — the rodent-lovin’ town where Groundhog Day is ground zero.

Growing up in the Midwest where the winters are nasty & cruel (in a good year), I quickly gravitated towards any slim hope of Baywatch weather on the horizon … be it real or imagined. So while I never actually took a plane, train or snowmobile to visit Punxsutawney, I’ve always followed the event religiously from afar.

This year, Punxsutawney Phil once again poked his wet nose from his subterranean penthouse suite.  (Hey, with endorsements, book deals and personal appearance fees, Phil is now clearing seven figures annually.)  Much to my dismay (but to the excitement of hoodie manufacturers across the globe), Phil saw his shadow. That means six more b-b-b-blistery weeks of winter.  Ouch.  Good thing I like skiing and snowboarding.

For a front-row seat of the prognosticating action:

So cheer up, warm-weather fans. We may be in for 6 more weeks of winter, but at least we’re not living underground in a den only to be forced out once a year for a blustery photo op by a man in an silly hat with cold hands. Very cold hands.

ABC’s LOST season premiere is just a few hours away (at least here on the West coast), and there are lots of LOSTies at CafePress waiting anxiously for the final season to take-off!

But after a few months of darkness, there’s nothing like a quick recap of what’s happened in seasons 1-5 (to help prepare for tonight’s big event).  That’s why fellow LOSTies at the office got together this afternoon and were quickly transported back to island (where we reunited with 1977, the love square between Sawyer, Juliet, Kate, and Jack…and other exciting details).  We hope you’re caught up on the action too.  And to get caught up in all the current action, be sure to tune in on ABC at 8/7c tonight.

LOST fans everywhere are counting down to tonight’s highly-anticipated Season 6 premiere, and nowhere is that more evident than on the Lost T-shirts.

With spoilers leaking all over the internet, we’ll take a break from the “What’s going to happen” and do a catch-up via the T-shirts.  (And hey – if you see a plot point missing, feel free to make your own LOST T-shirt.)  Here, in short, summary, is where we currently are with the survivors of Oceanic 316 (and those other random people that crashed on the next intentionally doomed flight):

With the launch of our new custom underwear designer (all of it American Apparel), we’re starting February off with the 2010 Chattypants Challenge Extravaganza!  Think about what you want your underwear to say – to the world, to your significant other, or just to yourself.

We’ll be giving away a free pair of customized undies at random for every 40 unique folks that shout out with a #chattypants tweet on our @cafepress Twitter account.

WHAT YOU DO:

1. Follow us on Twitter
2. Go check our our underwear designer
3. Tweet at @cafepress with the phrase your underwear would say, using the hashtag #chattypants

Example:

Let’s say that you’re a realtor.  You might want to make some “I’m gorgeous inside” underwear – hey, you deserve a little levity in this trying real estate market.

Your tweet would look like this:

I’m gorgeous inside #chattypants @cafepress

The underwear designer only accepts a certain number of characters (less than 140), so you shouldn’t have a problem fitting your phrase, the hashtag and @cafepress into the tweet.

That’s it!  We’ll choose undie recipients randomly among the tweeters for every 40 tweets that contain both the #chattypants hashtag and the @cafepress.

Now get on out there and let your underwear do the talking.