Take a big leap

But look before you do -- a day like today comes every four years

By ANDREW GUY JR.
Houston Chronicle

Leap year.

Leap year day.

Tacked on every four years.

Consider today an extra day to use for something meaningful. An extra day to do -- or begin to do -- something on your list of "things I want to do in my lifetime."

Who doesn't wish for more time, one more day to complete one more task?

Well, here it is.

Carpe diem and all that.

How special is leap year?

So special that tiny Anthony, Texas, sets aside an entire weekend to celebrate it. So special that an old Scottish legend states that only on this day is it proper for a woman to propose marriage to a man. So special that it inspired a man-chasing cartoon character named Sadie Hawkins, who in turn inspired a high school dance to which the girls invite the boys.

So special that it can't be wasted.

Do something.

Not sure what?

Keep reading.

Science sync

First, a bit of science.

Leap year is, essentially, a correction. To keep the calendar synchronized with the seasons (the position of the sun in the sky), an extra day is added every four years.

Without the extra day, the seasons would eventually start turning out of time.

Spring would start occurring in February, then in January, then in December. (Don't dismiss winter just yet. It would take centuries for this to actually occur.)

"It's a calendar fix," said Carolyn Sumners, director of physical sciences and youth education at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. "Our astronomical timekeeping devices do not sync perfectly all the time."

"The Earth does not turn the exact number of times we need to get the years straight, so we have to mess around with the days to get the days right."

The extra day holds special meaning for her. She and her husband, Houston artist Gary Young, married on the day in 1984.

"We were in love. It was a leap year. What can I say?" Sumners laughed. "I'm an astronomer, and he's an artist, so we wanted to do something special.

Plus it's leap year. You're supposed to take chances."
There are advantages to being married on this day.

Anniversaries are harder to forget.

So what do they tell people who ask how long they've been married?

"We say we're celebrating our fifth anniversary," Sumners said. "Then, if they look at our (18-year-old) son Scott and say,`Yeah, right,' we'll tell them we've been married for 20 years but celebrating our fifth real anniversary."

Awwwwwwwwww!

Rapper Ja Rule celebrates his birthday today. So do actor Antonio Sabato Jr. and motivational speaker Tony Robbins.

Karl Baer, the famed embryologist who discovered that mammals develop from eggs, was a leap-day baby, and so was Stanley Swash, one of the first CEOs of the Woolworth's chain.

But wait.

It would be too easy to talk about leap-day babies and how their birthdays are only every four years and how the man born in 1960 isn't 44 but really 11 and his wife pipes in, "But he acts like he's 11" and everyone laughs.

Oh, how funny!

Too easy.

But we're going to do it anyway.

If we don't, we're likely to get an earful from the 3,800 residents of Anthony, who are wrapping up their Fifth Quadrennial World Wide Leap Year Festival.

Anthony -- propped halfway between El Paso and Las Cruces, N.M. -- bills itself as the Leap Year Capital of the World and Home of the World Wide Leap Year Birthday Club.

"It gives everybody in the world an extra day," said festival organizer Mary Ann Brown. "That in itself says it should be recognized."

Brown, who turns 18 or 72 today, has given some throught to the practical implications of Feb. 29.

"People who are on salaries work one more day that month for nothing. But people who are wage workers get an extra day's pay that year," Brown said. "The amount of interest that banks make by having an extra day per year is probably a fabulous figure."

And the amount of fun to be had today is fabulous, too.

Be adventurous
Don't be lame.

Avoid declaring, "I'm finally going to clean out that garage!"

Train for something. Always wanted to ride the MS150? Hop on your bike right now. Memorial Park, Hermann Park and most of the city's bayous have bike trails.

Several health clubs offer training for the event, including classes on cycling and spinning. A list can be found at www.ms150.org.

The downtown YMCA has cycling classes Mondays-Thursdays, 5:15 a.m.-5:30 p.m. The late class also offers spinning.

(For information, go to www.ymcahouston.org or call 713-758-9226.)

The same thing applies if you've always wanted to run a marathon. Get on your shoes and go jogging. Now.

(For info on training programs, check with the HP Houston Marathon at www.hphoustonmarathon.com or with Houston Fit at www.houstonfit.com.)

Don't want to run?

Take a hike.

Houston has some nice ones -- more if you venture outside into the metro area. It can be as simple as taking a stroll along a bayou or as adventurous as hiking in the Texas Hill Country.

Huntsville State Park, about an hour north of Houston, offers great trails for both hiking and running. (Contact: www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/huntsvil/ or 936-295-5644)

Then there's the granddaddy of Texana hiking, Big Bend National Park. The 801,000-acre park in West Texas is 108 miles south of Alpine. (Contact: www.nps.gov/bibe or 432-477-2251)

Not into woods, trees and wide-open spaces?

Surf. About an hour south of Houston lies a big, big body of water. Granted, the waves in Galveston aren't as big as those in Hawaii or Southern California, but they are a lot closer..

The island has several surf shops. Surf Specialties, on the seawall, offers boards and advice. (Contact: www.surfspecialties.com or 409-763-1559)

Prefer to sail the open winds, your hair billowing, your lips quivering?

Take to the air.

One popular place to do this is AstroWorld, which opens Saturday. Last year nearly 8,000 park visitors tried the Barnstormer, which swings riders 153 feet into the air, combining elements of sky diving, hang gliding and free flight. (Contact: www.sixflagshouston.com)

Or try sky diving.

Skydive Spaceland, 30 minutes south of downtown Houston, offers classes and training. Facilities include a 14,000-square-foot hangar, a 2,600-square-foot air-conditioned packing area, training rooms, a video production room, a pro shop, restrooms, showers and a restaurant. (Contact: www.skydivespaceland.com)

The Texas Skydiving Center in Austin is open seven days a week and offers classes, training and certification in sky diving. (Contact: www.austinskydiving.com or 979-773-9100)


Conquer your fears
We're all afraid of something.

Spiders. Rats. Heights. Angelina Jolie's lips.

Time to acknowledge our fears.

And get over them.

Afraid of heights? Go to the observation deck of a tall building. Two of the most impressive are at 75-story JP Morgan Chase Tower at 600 Travis downtown and at the 60-story Williams Tower, 2800 Post Oak Blvd. near the Galleria.

The Chase observation deck is on the 60th floor and provides a nice overview of downtown and the surrounding areas.

The tower was drawn to be 80 stories tall, but that plan was scrapped because of concerns about Hobby Airport flight paths.

Admission to the observation deck, which is open daily except Sundays, is free.

Williams Tower has an observation deck on the 51st floor.

Still feeling vertically challenged?

Not sold on observation decks? Still terrified of heights but want to deal with your fear of them?

Ride a ferris wheel. Maybe you've always wanted to ride one but never got around to it -- or never worked up the nerve.


Tilman Fertitta's Downtown Aquarium has one of the city's most talked-about ferris wheels.

Situated in the heart of the Theater District, the ride is lined in blue neon lights and rises 100 feet. As you approach downtown on Interstate 45 southbound, the image of a bright blue spider spins against the skyline. Critics say the contraption is tacky, a garish spot in an otherwise artsy district.

We say ... who cares?

Go ride it.

Some people don't want to soar. They'd rather float. Whether in the Gulf of Mexico or a community or private swimming pool, swimming is a popular pastime.

For those who can.

Some of us can't.

Dozens of swimming classes are offered all over town.

Leisure Learning Unlimited, for example, has classes for adult beginners in which the emphasis is on "front and back floating, breathing, beginning front crawl, elementary backstroke, back crawl, sidestroke, breast stroke and personal water safety." Intermediate classes focus on more advanced strokes, flip turns and racing dives. (Contact: www.llu.com or 713-529-4414)

The YMCA also offers classes at its branches. (Contact: www.ymcahouston.org)


Alter your appearance
Want a tattoo but don't want the permanent mark? Get a small one you can hide with clothing, or a temporary one.

If you've always wanted to get something other than your ear pierced, do your research. The Association of Professional Piercers offers tips, including what to look for in a piercer, and even provides a Piercee's Bill of Rights on its Web site, www.safepiercing.org..

More importantly, local piercers say, do some soul searching first.

"Think about it," said Bryiah Dailey, owner of Taurian Piercing & Metals. "Please. That's important. People come in here all ready to do it, but when you get them back there on the table, they're like, `Wait, wait, wait.'

"People shouldn't do it on a whim and just because their friends are doing it. It takes a bit of a commitment."

It also takes about eight weeks to heal, Dailey said.

Afraid of the needle?

There are other ways to change your looks.

Try a new hairstyle.

Or don't comb your hair at all.

Look at Carrot Top.

And Don King.

To them, every day is leap year day.


Indulge yourself
Who says this day has to be all about self-actualization?

Watch Cheaters (KNWS, Channel 51, at 7 p.m.).

Devour a box of Krispy Kremes. Eat carbs.

Buy yourself roses. Get a pedicure.

Get your car detailed. It's not cheap -- most jobs start at $100 -- but having your car detailed can have practical advantages.

"People consider it an extravagance, but a car is usually the second-biggest investment people can make," said Clayton Clark, vice president of Houston's Bubbles Car Wash chain. "The better off they maintain their car, the better the resale value and the more they'll get out of it."

At Bubbles the range is from $100, to get the interior detailed and washed, to $300, for the full interior and exterior treatment.

"It's funny, because a lot of people, after they've gotten their cars detailed, say they're going to keep it longer," Clark said. "It may seem expensive, but it's worth it."


Relive your childhood
Always wanted to tap dance?

Here is your chance.

The Houston Metropolitian Dance Company offers first-rate tap-dancing classes for teens and adults. (Contact: www.houstonmetdance.com or 713-522-6375)

Houston City Dance Studio has classes in everything from tap to ballet. (Contact: www.houstoncitydance.com or 713-529-6100)


Help someone else
Volunteer.

Volunteer Houston, a non-profit, lists dozens of opportunities to help others. (Contact: www.volunteerhouston.org or 713-965-0031)

Another well-known nonprofit, Star of Hope, also regularly needs volunteers. (Contact: www.sohmission.org/index.html or 713-748-0700)

Whatever you do today, make it count. Enrich your life.

Remember: This day is a gift.