Outdoors:  Hiking by Issaquah Alps Trails Club, every week.  This is about as good as it gets - it's free, easy, and provides great scenery to boot.  ж  Also, Bicycle Expo, Feb 18^th - 19^th, $8, presenting over 150 exhibitors.  The featured guests aren't exactly household names, but in bicycle circles, they are the big wheel.  ж  Also, Lake Washington Rowing Bash, Feb 18^th, $35.  A three-hour introductory class for those interested in rowing.  The biceps and pectorals you develop from rowing are well worth the calluses.

Music: Seattle Choral Company, the most regal voices in Seattle, present a tribute to America's Black composers, Feb 25^th - 26^th, $22.  You can also do the try-before-you-buy thing when Seattle Choral Company presents at Seattle City Hall, Feb 16^th at noon, free.  ж  Also, <symphony>, Feb 17^th, 18^th, 24^th, & 25^th, $10, an experimental hybrid of music, theater, and visual design.  It's the story of the universe from beginning to end compacted into four movements with a couple of oddball instruments thrown in.

Business Seminars: Entrepreneurship, Green Energy, and Transportation, Feb 15^th, $50.  Most discussions on clean energy are still dreamy pie-in-the-sky scenarios, fantasizing about nonpolluting sources.  This discussion centers on the money side, the business models that will actually spend the bucks to create green energy.  ж  Also, Managing Intellectual Property Risk in China, Feb 16^th, $15.  China definitely has a different set of rules when it comes to IP, and a different kind of a justice system to back it up.  Learn how to increase revenue and decrease risk with your IP in China.

Out of Town: Maxwelton  Aerie Alpaca Ranch on Whidbey Island, $175+.  The old farm house is pretty unassuming from the outside, but the inside is a refurbished country home.  With beach access to the Puget Sound on one side and  pasture and valley views on the other, the notion of "Island Time"  becomes apparent.  It's a getaway of quaint, simple pleasures, of glowing sunsets, playing board games at night, visiting the farm's alpacas, not hearing any other sounds but your own, and gaining clarity of mind once again.  Ninety minutes from Seattle, this is a full home with complete kitchen, living room, and multiple bedrooms, so this place works best for a family or a group of friends  (up to 8) who want to get away together. 

Single's Activity: Lesbian Speed Dating, women ages 40 and under, Feb 16th, $25 when you use discount code NH22 for $5 off. Women for Women at this event. Because, like they say, a good woman is hard to find. This event brings them all together.

Nightlife: Kinetic, Feb 18^th, $18, more than your usual club event.  First, they have a buttload of DJs spinning.  Second, the event is age 18+, so make sure you have your ID handy, if you're buying from the bar.  Third, the event brings together two of Seattle's largest Burning Man communities for performance, the Static Factory and the Space Virgins.

Lecture: Oil Spill - Is Burien Ready? Feb 15^th, free.  Burien hardly springs to mind when you’re considering an oil spill in Puget Sound waters, but apparently, they're thinking about it.  Experts from the state and Coast Guard detail current preparations and answer your questions.

Dance: Dark Room, starting Feb 17^th, $10.  This is kind of a cool avant-garde piece.  The gallery is dark, and the audience wears night-vision scopes to watch the dancers.  The dancers then perform sightless.  ж  Also, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Feb 18^th, $39.  It's comedy ballet, and we're not talking about fat girls in tutus.  This is classic ballet done in a comic way with a prima donna cat- fight style.  ж  Also, A Split Bill, Feb 16^th - 18^th, $18.  Two different choreographers present two differently styled works for the first time.  Think of it as a 2-for-1 deal.

Memoirs: Looking Like the Enemy at KOBO at Higo, 6:30 PM, Feb 16^th, free.  Plucked off Vashion Island at age 17, this is Mary Matsuda Gruenewald’s memoir of the Japanese-American Internment Camps.  ж  Also, Being Caribou, Feb 15^th, 7 PM, free at the Ballard Re-Store.  A documentary of a husband-wife biologist team following the caribou over their thousand-mile trek across Alaska.  ж  Also, Edward Albee Presentation, Feb 16^th, $10.  This accomplished and controversial playwright discusses the creative process and the state of American theater, followed by an audience Q&A.

Adult Themed: Bang 4 the Buck, Feb 19^th, free, but you need to RSVP.  The estrogen will be pumping.  First, a strip-tease lesson for femmes taking it off.  Then, you get to put the new lessons into practice with an amateur women-for-women strip-off.  The night concludes with a Dirty Mixers For Adventurous Singles.  This is a cool event for women, if you're at least up to kissing your girlfriend as a party trick.  All events are women only, so horny single guys need not bother.  ж  Also, A Chocolate Tasting at the Little Red Studio, Feb 18^th, $20, reservations required.  Of course, chocolate is the metaphor.

Organization: Biznik, describing itself as a supportive network that encourages creativity, radical thinking, and community for progressive, socially conscious and urban-minded business people. Biznik hosts several monthly networking events in the Greater Seattle area, generally centered on lunch or happy hour.

Valentine's Day Events: If you haven't thought of something yet, here's how you can pull your can of out the fire:

Valentine's Day Dinner at the Zoo, $50.  A gourmet dinner, live jazz, and a close-up encounter with a raptor.

Spread the Love!, $10, because nothing says I Love You like a burlesque show.  Four saucy starlets perform an array of love-themed acts.

Artists Performance, $12.  A menagerie of arts routines with dance, theater, comedy, acrobalancing, music, poetry, etc., by artists who are life partners, constantly living and performing together.

Dinner: The Earth and Ocean is preparing a couple of special dinners, including a three-course meal and eight-course meal.  Also, the Georgian Room at the Fairmont Hotel prepares a four-course passion-themed meal paired with wine for $115.  Finally, the Salish also has their special dinner, seven courses for $125.

Chocolate and Wine tasting at Venue, $45 per couple.  Taste a dozen chocolates paired with wines in a cool store.

On the flipside, if you still feel the hurt from a passed relationship, then bring down a memento of it to Chop Suey, $5.  They'll take whatever you’ve got and destroy it in some weirdo way on stage, exorcizing those demons of that past relationship for you.

Laugh Lover's Ball, $30.  Comedians taking their shtick to love and relationships.

Eartha Kitt performs at Jazz Alley, $33.  This gal is 79 years old, and she's still sexy as hell.  She'll always be Catwoman to us.

There are a couple of book readings.  A couple of authors on romance read from their books and give tips at Third Place Books, free.  Also, the downtown Barnes and Noble hosts the authors of Tini Bigs Big Martinis, at noon.