Love Stinks

5 ways to have infinitely more fun than those stupid couples on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is an exclusionary holiday, which, frankly, is some crap. I have a date this year — waits for applause — but for many years, I did not. From those cold February days came a distaste for Cupid and Hallmark and an appreciation for the Anti-Valentine's Day experience.

And for those of you out there who are spending February 14 alone, take solace in the fact that you will not have to spend money on an expensive dinner or overpriced underwear. No, instead, you get a Saturday, where you can do one of two things: feel sorry for yourself or have fun with it.

Fifty Shades of Grey for one, please
The Twilight fan fiction turned bestseller is getting the cinematic treatment with a release on Valentine's Eve, but the real magic will be at the Saturday evening showings. Revel in the complete lack of chemistry between Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, the fanatical housewives whose husbands never got their knot-tying badge in Boy Scouts and the faint scent of cat dander. At least the soundtrack looks good.

Treat Yo Self
Clothes. Fragrances. Massages. Mimosas. Fine leather goods. Treat Yo Self isn't just a Parks and Rec joke; it's a way of life. What better way to spend Cupid's Saturday than on yourself? You don't need someone else to buy you a mani-pedi or a deep-tissue massage. Go buy that shirt you've been eyeing and match it with some dope pants. This is all about you, and you deserve to treat yo self.

Go to Cliff's Bar & Grill
Okay, so I'm cribbing this one from last year's Anti-Valentine's Day planner when I recommended The Loon, but listen: Just as The Loon rose from the ashes to become the phoenix that is Cliff's, you can move from the realm of dateless misery to toasted indifference. The space might be totally different, but Cliff's whiskey Cokes are a liquid memory of all the good times you've shared. And, unlike your ex, you'll be more than happy to take them back.

Netflix is the friend that never leaves
The streaming service added all 10 seasons of Friends on January 1. So what if you've already seen all the episodes on Nick at Nite and know that "The One With The Secret Closet" was the 14th episode of the eighth season? Get nested with a day's worth of junk food, start from season one, and if you stay committed, you'll be well past the one where Ross and Rachel take a break. See, everyone has rough patches.

Pub golf!
Round up some single friends and do a pub crawl the way it was meant to be done: with a scoring system that encourages drinking a lot. The best part about this is you can play with as few as two people, but a foursome or more is where the party gets going as you chug your way to the lowest round. Plus, friends bring new friends, and with alcohol on your side, you might just end Anti-Valentine's Day a little less single (at least for the night).

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safe suburbs

Dallas neighbor is proclaimed the second safest city in the U.S.

City of Frisco TX - City Hall/Facebook

Frisco residents feel right at home in the second-safest city in America.

One of Dallas' buzziest suburbs is also one of the safest in the U.S.: It's none other than Frisco, which was declared the No. 2 safest city in America for 2025 in a new study by personal finance advisors MoneyGeek.

The website's experts used an unusual metric: They looked at FBI crime statistics from 2023 to determine the cost of crime in 292 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000 residents.

The estimated cost of crime — otherwise known as the "societal cost of crime per resident" – was a mere $287 in 2023 in Frisco. That cost per capita is far lower than the national crime cost, which was $2,178 per resident.

The report also analyzed the city's violent crime and property crime rates per 100,000 residents, and Frisco again came through with flying colors, logging the third-lowest rate of violent crime in 2023, or only 86 crimes committed for every 100,000 residents.

The city didn't fare as well on property crime rate: There were 1,357 property crimes committed in 2023, the 40th lowest rate out of all 292 U.S. cities. It's still better than most places in the country, and way better than Oakland, California, which had the highest property crime rate in the nation with 10,117 crimes committed per 100,000 residents.

Finally, MoneyGeek determined each city's total cost of crime, which the study defines as the "economic losses attributed to crime and its cost to society (individuals, community and nationally) in millions."

In this metric, Frisco had the 11th lowest total crime cost, which came out to more than $65.5 million in 2023.

While some of these statistics may seem damning, Tulane University associate professor of political science Geoffrey T. Dancy warns it is unwise to make assumptions about a city based solely on its crime rates.

"We live in an unequal society," said Dancy in the report. "One often overlooked indicator of that inequality is who gets to engage in the politics of safety. Those who are objectively safe often fear crime and act on it in the counterproductive policies they support. Those who are actually victimized by crime and terrorized by gun violence pay the price and are rarely heard."

Other safe Texas cities in the report include Houston (No. 13), Plano (No. 18), Sugar Land (No. 20), McKinney (No. 22), Round Rock (No. 26), Grand Prairie (No. 42), and League City (No. 48).

In a comparison of just large U.S. cities, Arlington ranked as the No. 12 safest nationally with crime costs amounting to $1,515 per capita.

The top 10 safest American cities for 2025 are:

No. 1 – Ramapo Town, New York
No. 2 – Frisco, Texas
No. 3 – Irvine, California
No. 4 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 5 – Lakewood Township, New Jersey
No. 6 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 7 – Pembroke Pines, Florida
No. 8 – Elk Grove, California
No. 9 – Surprise, Arizona
No. 10 – Sterling Heights, Michigan

In a separate MoneyGeek analysis of the safest small cities in each state, Sachse (located 26 miles northeast of downtown Dallas) came out on top over all other tiny Texas towns with populations between 30,000 and 100,000 residents. In the national comparison, Sachse is the 40th safest small city in America.

For the purpose of the study, violent crime rates were determined based on the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults per 100,000 residents; and property crimes were defined as the rates of burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft offenses per 100,000 residents.

dallas frisco suburbs reports rankings