I’ve been thinking lately, I’ve been doing this since March, I have 32 dates (actually 34, but I’ll get to those soon) under my belt, and I’ve met some wonderful people (we won’t mention the other ones), but I can’t help but wonder if I am still sabotaging my chances by posting all the details of the dates on here. I know you have all mentioned this to me before, and of course I have thought of this. It’s been fun, but I’ve been debating taking a month off from posting about specific dates. Maybe just give some generals instead of the play-by-play, just to test it out. I’m sure my dating field will open up once the guys know they don’t have to worry about the review. Maybe I’ll give the guys the chance to decide. That might work too.

What do you guys think? Good idea? Bad idea? The Holiday season isn’t usually a great time for dating anyways.

Well since letters are now pretty much extinct I guess emails are the next best thing. When you get an email from somebody and they actually took time out of their day and put thought into what they were saying it’s so nice. It’s so much better than instant messages too, it shows you that you were on somebody’s mind, even if you weren’t around. Plus you get to go back and re-read it whenever you want.

Not to mention sometimes emails are the only way you can keep in contact with far away friends (right Barb)!

We really do have more fun

I agreed to be set-up on a blind date a couple of months ago. The details weren’t clear at the time, but I’ll agree to just about anything, which can be good and can be bad. I haven’t really known the person doing the set-up for long, but he didn’t do so bad.

It was a set-up with his brother, back from college for the holidays. I’m sure all my friends are collectively saying, “of course she’ll get along with him, there’s no chance of a future with someone who lives so far away.” Of course I did get along with him, and not just because I’m not going to see much of him either. He was a very nice, polite, young man. Younger than I would usually go for, but not robbing the cradle young.

We met for a drink at Vincent’s, a very low key, relaxed kind of place. I was late, he was later, which is understandable since he’s not really from the area anymore. I honestly can’t get irritated at people for being late either, that would be very hypocritical (thanks Danny). Luckily there were a few people there who I knew so I did a little chatting while I waited. After a few minutes I saw someone standing by the bar looking around, and I figured it must be him. It was really weird to have no idea what the person I was meeting looked like.

I hate the nervous, akward first hello, but after that was over we sat down and didn’t have any problems keeping the conversation going. He was fun to talk to, and we certainly had a lot to cover since we did not know each other at all, after all I just found out what his name was earlier that day.

After a bit he suggested we go ice skating, and he had done his homework and knew of a rink in town and everything. It’s been years since I’ve done any ice skating, but I figured what the hell, it was something different. We drove over to the rink and when we got there we realized it was all high school kids. I think I was the oldest person on the rink, and quite possibly the worst skater, but it was fun.

As we skated round and round and dodged teenagers we had time to talk some more. He had some interesting things to say, he introduced me to the Ladder Theory which I had to check out. I’m not sure I agree with it, but it’s good for a laugh. My favorite part is: “Tom develops an attraction to Jane, and one day tries to kiss her. Jane tell Tom she doesn’t think of him that way and she wants to remain friends. The next few weeks contact between the two falls off. Jane starts fucking an outlaw biker.”

Around 10 the rink closed down, curfew time. We headed back to the bar, and decided to go in for another drink. While we were there he told me his dating game plan. I’ve heard it before, but it was kind of funny that he told me about it while we were actually on a date. You start out with a plan to meet, say for drinks, but the guy has more in mind in case the date is going well. If it isn’t going well you finish the date during the first portion, but if it is going well you suggest the next destination. This way you can politely bow out of a date early without the girl being any wiser. Lucky for me he suggested ice skating, or I would have felt like a real loser.

The date lasted quite a bit longer than I had expected it to. I was thinking about bringing him to a couple of shows, but I think it would be weird to take him to hang out with a bunch of my friends that he didn’t know. At the end of the date my throat started getting a little dry, which probably means that I talked too much, which I sometimes have a problem with. But he did send me an email about 48 hours later, another rule of his I think.

I think he is the first blind date that I’ve had that wasn’t too scared to contact me before he read the review. That says a lot. He suggested some good books too, may have even convinced me to put down a magazine and pick up a book for a change. I’m planning on seeing him again when he comes back into town…can’t hurt right?

I saw this on CNN the other day, but then I couldn’t find any links to articles. Of course Moxie, always on top of everything (no pun intended folks), has the story on her site. Match is being accused of sending bogus emails. I kinda had a feeling, since I haven’t signed in for at least three months, yet I still continue to get winks. Hey now that I think of it they still never refunded my $ 30 for that extra month they charged me after I cancelled, do I waste the time on hold for customer service or do I just forget about it again? Some good comments under the article too.

is today. For more information on the United Nations’ designation of November 25 as a day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women visit the United Nations’ website. There are many different forms of violence against women. One such form is Domestic Violence and according to statistics it touches the majority of Americans in one way or another. For more information on Domestic Violence check out these resources.

On this lovely Thanksgiving Day I realize that there are plenty of things that I have to be thankful for. Most important is family and friends, and the fact that I get to spend so much time with them. I am also thankful for my health, a job(s) I love, and of course a day off from work! Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. I hope you all realize how many things we have to be thankful for.

I am the new Dating Editor at Bella Online, a website for women. Be sure to check out my articles, I plan on updating twice a week. Don’t worry after this past week I shouldn’t be neglecting Linneadates anymore either. We also have a Dating Forum so if you have any questions or just want to chat we’d love to hear from you!

Well it’s been a long, exhausting week. I haven’t had much to say, as you can see. I just wanted to leave you all with this little story from my night out. I was talking to this guy at a bar a few days ago and he excused himself to answer the phone. First of all he answered with a “What” instead of a “Hello.” Kind of rude but I figured he didn’t really want to talk to the person. He then proceeded to argue with whoever was on the other line for about 5 minutes. I overheard parts of the conversation while talking to a couple of my friends, particularly the loud parts like “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

He ended the conversation with “I’m hanging up now, I’m hanging up now”…click. I could see him walking back towards me, and I tried to keep my shoulder turned a little so he would get the hint. It was obvious to me that he was talking to his girl. He sat down next to me and explained, “Sorry, that was my mom.” Not sure what would have been worse, him having a girl-friend, or him talking to his mom that way.

Hey everyone, I have my first article up over at Baggage Reclaim. Check it out, it’s called Dating - Back to Basics. It was a lot of fun writing, I’m planning on doing monthly contributions over there, possibly more.