Online Dating

Thanks to those of you who helped put my online profile in order. I received some excellent feedback from my posse of public relations gurus. There's three of them in my life - lucky me, if I ever get caught with a prostitute I'll have resources for damage control.

So I posted my profile and (eek) some photos. I don't really have any recent pix other than the one below, so I used it. Its me... So there it is.

The way match.com works is that once you've answered the 60 profile questions and the 1000 word essay you're ready to go and they start sending you photos of people who most closely match your settings.

Me, I'm race unimportant, no smoking not negotiable, social drinker, and spiritual not religious. Among other things like no murderers or illicit drugs, but a sense of humor and a love of long walks in the rain could counter act those nos. (I'm kidding Mom!)

You are supposed to read through the profiles that are tucked behind the photos and then you can email the potential mr tpgal or "wink" at them. Winking results in a short prewritten email to let you know the LvrMan69 thinks you're cute and then the ball is in your court.

I haven't "winked" at anyone, but am getting some action inbound. A couple have squarely landed in the HELL no column and a couple others have promise.

I emailed one fella after a wink and didn't hear anything. I mentioned this to my friend at work who has more recent experience with dating than I do and she said not to expect the men to reply to mails in under three days. I don't understand that, but she was right. Five days after sending my response to a wink, I got a lovely email. (She's stunningly beautiful - and smart to boot and it happens to her all the time, so I'm going to chalk it up to the difference between men and women.)

Don't get excited about specific dating details here. I have girlfriends for the neurotic dissection of every word and event.

I will share that, for me, this is some scary stuff. I see how most of you have been able to settle into partnership with some pretty damned awesome people. (No matter how they piss you off you have to admit that they rock!).

I wish I could skip the "does he like me" phase and move into the "where are we vacationing this summer" thing, but it's not realisitc. I am at least smart enough to hide the Martha Stewart wedding magazines before a date. Well, there's a personal confession. I love weddings and generally (er, always) buy the quarterlyMS Wedding magazine. I save them too... yikes, you think I'm a freak.

Getting the reply email from the winker this morning put a little zip in my step. We'll see where this starter date goes. Frankly I'd be thrilled to convert e-communication to a couple dates. That would be huge .