tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29515370155419170892011-11-27T17:31:02.946-08:00Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-31951064539454187322008-08-26T11:36:00.000-07:002008-08-26T11:39:08.349-07:00

There's been a little shakeup at the offices of DATE (namely, there were a rather inconvenient four days between leases for me), so posts are going to be few this week on DATE. However, we'll return soon with more rip-roaring gigglies to make all your dating dreams come true*.*Statement has not been evaluated by the FDA...or any other agency, federal or otherwise.

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-39677465474018689222008-08-23T22:36:00.000-07:002008-08-23T23:35:22.416-07:00

Thanks for helping to continue to create DATE! Another entry full of strictly pragmatic advice tonight, culled straight from your answers to this week's poll question about certain words you may or may not have ever said on a first date.Some of you seem as shocked as I am that these words might pop up - but let's be fair, you can't be on your A game all the time if you can barely support the

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-58120139310540840642008-08-20T22:21:00.000-07:002008-08-20T23:36:05.244-07:00

It's hard not to start this post like one of those pamphlets you pick up in the high school guidance counselor's office. "I've got hair in strange places and my voice cracks as much as my skin - am I a man now?" "My mom wears sunglasses and has lots of coverup - is my dad a bad person?"There's nothing pretty about being stood up. It's a pretty fantastically awful feeling, getting dressed,

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-25501654879764116852008-08-20T01:45:00.000-07:002008-08-20T02:55:45.286-07:00

With all these magnificent dates you seem to be going on lately, there's one scenario we haven't considered yet: the date you want to get out of.There are so many reasons one might want to get of a date. Oh, I've nothing to wear! Whoops, it seems I've scheduled our tira misu for the same time as my shiatsu. Dog ate your number?So, what are valid excuses? Let's start right at the beginning. Not

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-12180002716973270922008-08-15T22:19:00.000-07:002008-08-19T23:16:09.993-07:00

First, my friends, allow me to apologize for the paucity of posts this week on DATE. But trust us, we've been doing research.Lots of research.In any event, it's time to answer that most pressing of questions, that dating quagmire which so many enter and so few navigate well: how long until we get to the nookie?This week's poll asked you when you got naked with a prospective partner (before or on

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-27994830599817610232008-08-12T22:34:00.000-07:002008-08-12T23:14:00.914-07:00

If it's happened once, it's happened...actually, it's happened almost every time two people have ever gone on a first date with each other: the nerves get to one or the other of you and the night turns into an uphill battle not to grab for the Valium.Kids, it's time for us to reconsider all this pressure: boy meets boy, boy asks boy out, boy agrees and then realizes he can barely crawl out from

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-3023930880319793192008-08-11T19:05:00.000-07:002008-08-11T19:10:11.045-07:00

I'm heartened to know that the work I'm doing on this blog needs to be done.Last night, enjoying a cup of tea and a cigarette on the balcony (yes, sometimes writers' lives really do involve moments like this), I heard two of my (straight male) friends having the following conversation:"See, when you're a man, you're hoping your partner will never change, never get old and fat, but when you're a

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-41610581039549489872008-08-09T23:23:00.000-07:002008-08-09T23:47:50.728-07:00

I apologize for the tardiness of the last part of the dating filters series. Being late on assignment makes me hope my potential dates aren't reading this blog...In any event, to wrap up the discussion of dating filters and to bring everything together I want to talk about the fundamental issue here: deal breakers.Deal breakers, as the term suggests, are the things we aren't for any reason

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-14136241938285901052008-08-07T22:12:00.000-07:002008-08-08T00:03:19.834-07:00

Welcome to part three of our discussion of dating filters! It's been a hard week of talking, no? A little rapid growth in dating perspective never hurt anyone, though. Tonight's installment: change isn't always a good thing.Dating Scenario One: Two people are, say, taking a walk through a local arboretum, talking, laughing, smiling, maybe even having some Dostoevskian eye-talk. Things are going

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-17903500308571353292008-08-06T23:38:00.001-07:002008-08-07T00:14:54.255-07:00

All right, there's still a wee bit of time left to vote in the poll, but this boy's got places to go and people to see, so I'm calling the results: when asked, "On a first date I..." 14% each responded "always head to my favorite restaurant" and "never do the same thing twice," while 21% of you said create an exit strategy with a friend." Actually, by far most respondents (50%) said, "Date? Ha!"

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-4430719132093654202008-08-06T20:24:00.000-07:002008-08-06T20:52:22.664-07:00

Bloggers should never announce their plans for a multi-part series: life intervened, and here I am, two days behind schedule. Plus that poll didn't close exactly when I thought it did...which makes me feel really intelligent, what with having posted it and all.Anyway, I've crawled my way to my laptop to continue our discussion of dating filters.While self-segregation is a largely self-centered

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-46724028264717562552008-08-04T17:08:00.000-07:002008-08-04T17:38:12.349-07:00

This week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, I'm running a series on what I like to call dating filters: the series of burning hoops and litmus tests we put ourselves and others through before saying, "Yes, I will meet you for a drink this Friday." (Wednesday's post will be based on the results of the poll on the right side of your screen - don't forget to vote!)Is there anything

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-5302397631073732642008-08-04T15:05:00.000-07:002008-08-04T15:07:32.405-07:00

There's still a couple of days left to vote in DATE's first poll (it's over to the right of your screen). The results of the poll will affect my entry for the day it closes. So, wanna help make DATE? Vote!Also, please keep sending in your questions! We've gotten a few and are anxious to publish our first DATE advice column!Thanks, readers!

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-30871328931422270842008-08-03T22:58:00.000-07:002008-08-03T23:59:39.965-07:00

In more from the world of first-date advice, I've got another fast fix-it for all of our wonderful readers:Pay for your own experience.I believe you'll come to see that part of our central philosophy at DATE is dating egalitarianism. We're living in a world where feminist criticism has given us an opportunity to shine new light on all of life's experiences, but somehow not enough of this light

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-35956300284361699352008-08-01T23:45:00.000-07:002008-08-02T00:17:16.892-07:00

The prevalence of dating advice in our culture is manifest in the amount of it must of us can quote off the top of our heads without quite being able to name a source. The number three seems to be particularly important in American dating lore: two of the most important things you hear about dating as an American are 1) no nookie until after the third date and 2) wait three days to call.DATE is

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-82489680530959961542008-07-31T08:13:00.000-07:002008-07-31T08:51:27.524-07:00

One of my key motivations in starting this blog was to get out the following message: with all due apologies to the restaurant industry, I don't think anyone should ever go to a restaurant on a first date ever again.It's not just that the restaurant as first rendezvous is played out (which it is): I want you to swear to me that, even if your next date involves dinner and a movie, you won't

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-70861507174295660962008-07-30T23:04:00.000-07:002008-07-31T07:03:10.920-07:00

The fact that the name of this blog wasn't available as a URL created the dual fun of marriage puns, though I'd like to say again that DATE has absolutely positively nothing to do with anyone's big day. So no, this isn't about booking a chapel a year in advance. This is about the first step: getting a date.The first thing I have to do is dispel one of the worst dating myths that we've all had

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2951537015541917089.post-52517040024855010272008-07-30T13:04:00.001-07:002008-07-30T21:33:51.009-07:00

Unlike most men I've ever dated, my keyboard doesn't care if I have any spinach in my teeth. There is some of the same anxiety, though. Will he (or the readers) think I'm funny? Is that schmutz on my shirt? (Did I pick the right template?) Will he call again? (Will anyone subscribe to my RSS?)While starting a new blog is a bit more of an investment than a first date, I think that's more

Erik Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01055015846786622241noreply@blogger.com1