Lunch is Not a Date

Everyone thinks when you’re an expert on a topic, you have all the answers and never make a mistake. Even better, people love to see it when you screw up as an authority on a topic. I like screwing up myself, too; it gives me plenty of good, funny stories! Like enough to fill a book… and then some. I take this moment to remind you: An expert doesn’t have all the right answers; rather, an expert shares their experiences and uses them to find the right answers and solutions. Sharing those stories illustrates the evidence supporting the solution. Here’s an amusing blunder I made just this week:

This past Tuesday, after a close victory in a heated hockey match, I headed out with my coed team to our sponsor bar, where many volleyball teams who play at a venue called Drucker, hang. I had met one of the woman on a team there a few weeks ago–a setter. Anyone who plays volleyball knows how valuable a setter is and anyone who knows even a little about me knows that I am always recruiting to maintain a strong, long list of volleyball players. When I met the woman, I gave her my email but I had not heard from her, yet; too bad, we needed a setter twice after our meeting. Now I stood before her and her team upon entering the bar. I spoke to her, holding my hockey sticks with my open duffel bag (broken zipper) draped over my shoulder. I needed to get this setter on my vball list and had to be careful; most likely, I hadn’t heard from her because she thought vball was a rouse and I was really hitting on her. (She’s quite pretty, so no doubt that happens a lot and I don’t blame her. I’ve never been a fan of the “bait & switch” technique but many ”experts” encourage it.) So I am rambling on, talking to her, her entire team watching me, as well. I notice her and her teammates’ eyes wandering to my duffel bag from time to time but don’t give it a thought. After all, I’m on a mission here to get another setter on the roster! I have no time for distractions. At the end of the five-minute chat, I gave her my cell digits. I then bid her team farewell and headed to the back of the bar to meet up with my hockey “posse.” Just before reaching the table, I adjusted my bag… and noticed that somehow, most likely because God is a Woman and she enjoys toying with me, my jockstrap–which I always bury at the bottom of the bag–had some how magically worked itself to the top. It was sitting above the bag, on top of all the contents. So, the entire time I was talking with this woman, telling her how we could use her for my undefeated Wednesday team when we needed a sub, my jockstrap, which I’ve owned for five years, wear twice a week for hockey, and have washed… oh… never, was mocking me. I laughed and shared the story with my comrades, who, of course, already knew and were smiling about it. So, if any women out there set, yeah, I still have a slot on the sub-list for another setter, so just get in touch… I promise to hide my jockstrap!

(Also on my examiner post this week.) 

One reason I wrote God, which you know if you listened to my latest radio interview, was because so much advice just targets one area. Some books discuss how to get dates. Others discuss sex and better sex. If you can’t get a date, what’s the good of sex advice? If you date but don’t know how to transition to sex or suck in bed, that has it’s own bag of trouble. So, I wanted to combine the topics, putting them in one convenient area. I do the same with this columns. What’s the point of the advice if I don’t steer you in some direction to apply it? Prepare to be steered…

A new dating site, HeavenDates, is allowing you to sign up for free, currently. Don’t whine to me that you can’t meet anyone if you don’t at least give a free site a whirl. The site is more than just dating, though; they also coordinate events for daters to meet. Just like God, they combine two of the popular dating arenas into one area. Here’s a brief interview with one of the co-founders of the site; next week will be an interview with the other co-founder. It’s nice to get some insight as to why someone would start a dating site. The site itself is offering free memberships and you can find it here: www.heavendates.com.

Before we start, I want to thank Julia Weber for participating in an interview. Here we go (notice how much of what she says goes along with the tips found in this column):

Q: Are you single or married?

A: I am married with three kids: 13, 11 and 9 months old. I actually met my husband on a dating website! I was looking for someone who shared the same interests as me, which at that time I was finding quite difficult since I was new to Canada from Russia. We dated for awhile but knew he was a great match once I found out that he kept his vodka in the freezer. Being Russian that is the norm where I am from, but North Americans like to drink their vodka warm. As soon as I saw this I knew that it was love.

Q: Why did you name the site HeavenDates.com?

A: Heaven is a perfect place where all your dreams come true. Our website will hopefully make dating as close to perfect as possible.

Q: What made you want to start a dating site?

A: The internet is such a popular arena to explore and there are tons of single people in the city. Within an urban city this kind of website does not exist so my sister and I decided to do something about that. We both have tried many websites and noticed that they are all the same with no variety. So, we wanted to create a site that offered a dating experience unlike any other

Q: How did you use your experience with finding your husband through online dating as a reference for your own site?

A: Even though I was 21, had a good job and was considered to be somewhat good looking, I had no friends, dates, and knew no one in Toronto after leaving here for 3 years.

I was not looking for a husband but for someone who is fun to be with, someone who is intelligent, good looking and fun. When I started using on-line dating in 2001 I was looking just for a date to go out to movies, night clubs, restaurants…. After 3 years of dating and competing and who can drink more shooters of vodka we decided to get married. Considering that this is my second marriage- the lesson is – do not look for a husband who may or may not become a friend but look for a friend who may or may not become a husband.

Q: What have been your experiences with online dating?

A: Even tough it is online and one would think you will save time, it is actually time consuming and hard work if you want to get what you want. I think by searching and dating people with similar interests you have better chance to find what you are looking for than by searching by looks, education, etc… This is why I think HeavenDates is unique, by grouping members by major interest.

Q: If you could sum up your site in one sentence, how would you put it?

A: “Bringing zest to dating life”, “Because life is too short…” “Stop stalking and join in on the fun.”

Q: What is the biggest benefit that members will receive from this site?

A: HeavenDates is the only website that encourages you to meet people through social events catered to a particular category of interest. It is great if you have just moved to the city and are looking for a way to learn about the city and date at the same time! We encourage members to meet each other and we make it easier for them to do so by organizing activities for them to go to. The site also enables members to actually see who will be attending a particular event and therefore this creates a screening process for them.

Q: What are some of the unique features offered on your site for members?

A: Well one thing that we offer our members is discounts through the site to special events/activities that they would have not normally tried (i.e. scuba diving). This is definitely one of the benefits of joining. Also, when you sign up for an activity you can see who joined that particular event so you can prescreen the people before you go- it creates no unwanted surprises (like only one sex showing up when you are heterosexual). We give members the chance to pick their sexual preference and cater events to people who are gay or straight.

Q: What’s the best dating advice you have ever received?

A: My problem (or advantage) is that I never listen to other people’s advice. It sounds stubborn but it has actually been more beneficial to me than not because I am able to go for what I want without many fears of others’ opinions.

Hmm… sounds familiar–your friends’ opinions should never carry more weight than your own.

In case you missed my latest radio interview: www.WSRadio.com/BetterSexRadio. Good hostess, good time! Thurs this week will be an interview w/the founders of a new dating site.

Yeah, yeah, I know I haven’t written anything in a while, here any way. Focusing on examiner and some other projects. Still working to re-write some lost articles and been job interviewing. Just subscribe and you’ll get the latest when it comes out. Thanks and sorry for my lack of diligence.