It's been a week since I started using the dating site, and I must say my opinion of it fluctuated a lot in my first 48 hours of using it.
Here's a link for part 1 of my online dating (intro)
Initial impressions, first 24 hours
After setting up my account and answering personality questions that would presumably match me up with ladies that had similar personalities, I browsed through the list of girls that they said I matched up well with. I had no idea how I would "approach" these girls, so my strategy was to take a few things from each of their profiles and try starting a "conversation" about the said topics.
My first week goal was to message a few girls a day, with the expectation that some wouldn't respond. I started with my strategy and started messaging a few girls. The first day total of messages was about 6 or 7. No messages back.
Great. Now it was feeling exactly like applying for jobs when I was unemployed. The profile and picture acting as the cover letter/resume and the girls as the jobs I am applying for. Except in this case, I was not as frustrated with the dating site as I would be applying for work. I figure some patience and due dilligence.
A few more messages sent the next day, no response yet. I had in mind a goal of messaging throughout the week and see the results that came from it, so no worries.
Some Breakthrough
As I am in between doctor's appointments Monday evening, I reach out to another girl and finally get a response back like 20-30 minutes later. After a few exchanges the same evening, we started talking on yahoo messenger. These conversations would take place a few times the next 3 days, a few hours each convo. We ended up setting up a date for this upcoming Tuesday. She seems to have a lot in common and contributes a lot to the conversations, which with most new people, I'm not used to.
In the meanwhile, there were a few other responses, including a facebook connection that has resulted in some conversation - but not as much. So out of the 12 or so messages I sent out, I batted 25%, which is a lot better of a ratio than I could say about a job hunt - so perhaps it wasn't as correct of an analogy as I made it out to be.
Must say that I am impressed with the site so far. It might be one of the better decisions I made in the 2nd half of 2011 - time will tell. All I know is that I "talked" to a lot more girls (or so I think they're women) on this site this week than I would have in any given week.
I'm not the type of guy who picks up girls at bars or goes to clubs and gets women that way. Pretty much every girl I've met and gotten to know has been because she was friends with my friend and we just so happened to meet that way. I feel like I've exhausted just about all of those options, so the dating site was the next logical step.
With a date in my back pocket for this week, I'd say it's been so far, so good. I hope my update next week will be sharing the same sentiments.
9/04/2011
Ruining the Fantasy: My Biggest Fantasy Football Pet Peeves
I just got back from hanging out at my friend Nick's. Towards the end of the night, we started discussing something that will be part of his next podcast- (here's a link of his podcast that he does with another friend and B-Bo Knows reader Chris Williams). The topic of conversation was fantasy football and some of its downfalls. This is a topic that I've been wanting to write about for a while, and no better time to do it than a week away from the NFL season starting. In no particular order, here are some pet peeves of mine concerning fantasy football:
(1) Caring more about your fantasy team than your actual favorite team. One problem with fantasy leagues that has developed over the years is people rooting more for their fantasy team than their team itself. It's not true for all fantasy owners, but there are many people who make less-than-convincing arguments that they want their fantasy football player (let's say Adrian Peterson) rush for 200 yards and 4 TDs, but in a 45-35 Bears victory. There's no possible way you can convince me that you rooting for a guy to do well against your team but rooting for the team to win isn't contradicting your fanhood. If you have Adrian Peterson, great. Start him against your favorite team, as you cannot bench a guy of his talent. But don't actively root for him to do well when in effect, it's actually doing harm to your real team.
(2) If I'm not in your league, I really don't care who is on your team. You'd think that me being a fantasy football nut that I'd be more interested in your team. Nope. Not one bit. If I'm not in the league in question, I care very little about your round-by-round analysis. Sure, there's some aspects that may be interesting to mention (like a tidbit on when a guy got drafted). But if I don't ask about your team, you don't really need to tell me everything about your team. Best of luck to your team is the most supportive thing I can say. I hope you win.
These last three are more about the leagues themselves vs. actual critiques of fantasy football.
(3) Any league that has less than 12 teams is not a real league. I know a few people that play in 8 team leagues and tell me all about their stacked teams. Guess what? Your team SHOULD be stacked. In a 15 round draft setup, a 12-team league drafts 180 players. In an 8-team league, it's only 120. That leaves an extra 60 guys on the free agent wire that would normally be owned in a regular (i.e. 12 team) league. I draw the line at 10-team leagues, but don't do those for money. All of my leagues are 12 teams, and I'd actually like to get into a 14 or 16 team league. That's where great fantasy owners separate themselves from average ones. Otherwise, every team is an all-star team and more of a crapshoot than it already is.
(4) Don't trade me a player before the season starts that you drafted many many rounds after the player you wanted. If I wanted the player that you offered me in a trade, I would have picked him in one of the 4-5 rounds before you picked him. Please don't try playing me for a fool. It also doesn't help when the garbage player that you offer to me is off your team about a week later.
(5) Please look at my roster before offering me a trade. I am not going to trade someone on my team if it's a thin position on my team. I am also not going to accept a trade when the player(s) I will be getting in return offer no value to my team. Please look at my roster when you are offering a trade and make sure the trade finds a way to benefit both trades.
There's probably others I can't think of right now, but these are the main ones. If this offended you as a fantasy owner, good.
To all of you fantasy football players, best of luck - I really do mean that. Just don't lose sight of your real team and don't play me for a fool if you're in a league with me.
(1) Caring more about your fantasy team than your actual favorite team. One problem with fantasy leagues that has developed over the years is people rooting more for their fantasy team than their team itself. It's not true for all fantasy owners, but there are many people who make less-than-convincing arguments that they want their fantasy football player (let's say Adrian Peterson) rush for 200 yards and 4 TDs, but in a 45-35 Bears victory. There's no possible way you can convince me that you rooting for a guy to do well against your team but rooting for the team to win isn't contradicting your fanhood. If you have Adrian Peterson, great. Start him against your favorite team, as you cannot bench a guy of his talent. But don't actively root for him to do well when in effect, it's actually doing harm to your real team.
(2) If I'm not in your league, I really don't care who is on your team. You'd think that me being a fantasy football nut that I'd be more interested in your team. Nope. Not one bit. If I'm not in the league in question, I care very little about your round-by-round analysis. Sure, there's some aspects that may be interesting to mention (like a tidbit on when a guy got drafted). But if I don't ask about your team, you don't really need to tell me everything about your team. Best of luck to your team is the most supportive thing I can say. I hope you win.
These last three are more about the leagues themselves vs. actual critiques of fantasy football.
(3) Any league that has less than 12 teams is not a real league. I know a few people that play in 8 team leagues and tell me all about their stacked teams. Guess what? Your team SHOULD be stacked. In a 15 round draft setup, a 12-team league drafts 180 players. In an 8-team league, it's only 120. That leaves an extra 60 guys on the free agent wire that would normally be owned in a regular (i.e. 12 team) league. I draw the line at 10-team leagues, but don't do those for money. All of my leagues are 12 teams, and I'd actually like to get into a 14 or 16 team league. That's where great fantasy owners separate themselves from average ones. Otherwise, every team is an all-star team and more of a crapshoot than it already is.
(4) Don't trade me a player before the season starts that you drafted many many rounds after the player you wanted. If I wanted the player that you offered me in a trade, I would have picked him in one of the 4-5 rounds before you picked him. Please don't try playing me for a fool. It also doesn't help when the garbage player that you offer to me is off your team about a week later.
(5) Please look at my roster before offering me a trade. I am not going to trade someone on my team if it's a thin position on my team. I am also not going to accept a trade when the player(s) I will be getting in return offer no value to my team. Please look at my roster when you are offering a trade and make sure the trade finds a way to benefit both trades.
There's probably others I can't think of right now, but these are the main ones. If this offended you as a fantasy owner, good.
To all of you fantasy football players, best of luck - I really do mean that. Just don't lose sight of your real team and don't play me for a fool if you're in a league with me.
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