It’s not often I’m lost for words. But I’m lost for words. It’s not often I’m embarrassed, either. But I was, sincerely, when this morning’s editorial meeting was interrupted by a 4-person singing Valentines telegram, a red rose and some candy, not to mention fifteen Valentine’s cards courtesy of Metroblogging Portland. The singing telegrams, who were awesome, even did a version of “When I’m Sixty Four,” that was, well, stellar, in front of the Mercury’s entire editorial team. We’ll have some video up later, courtesy of Amy’s cellphone. In the mean time, here are some of the cards:There’s one from City Commissioner Randy Leonard, apologizing for pelting me square on the head with a snowball a few weeks back, and even Zoe, daughter of Metblogs’ Betsy, was kind enough to send some candy. “Sorry about the flavor but it’s all I had,” she writes. That’s alright! There’s a (fake) one from police chief, Rosie Sizer, among the cards, and two or three from “Sammy the Sheep,” which are, of course, in very bad taste.

I gather the effort was inspired by Metblogs’ Banana Lee Fishbones, and orchestrated at last night’s Metblogs meet-up. So thanks a lot, Banana. And thanks, a lot, Metblogs. You’re too kind. Steve is trying to convince the telegrams to enter next year’s Pizazz competition—they blatantly should, they were BRILLIANT. 15 Valentines! Wow! What a great feeling! I’ll be starting to fall in love with myself, at this rate.