Modern dating: texting and online dating

Dating is really annoying.  But it’s kind of exciting. We all know there are tons of people out there who are looking for someone not unlike us but the trick is finding said person. For those of us in college or working in the service industry, there are plenty of opportunities to meet people. I am only imagine how often a decent-looking bartender gets asked out. But for those of us with office jobs that are predominantly male and hobbies that tend to not attract many potential mates, it’s difficult.

Every time I see a commercial for eHarmony.com or match.com, they say that 1 in 5 or so relationships now starts online. Despite being an engineer and addicted to facebook, the idea of meeting someone online has never really appealed to me. Nonetheless, I have an eharmony account. In the first couple months of 2009, I met 2 young ladies through there and had 3 or 4 dates with each. I wasn’t actually all that interested in either of them and discontinued using eharmony after 3 months, in favor of attempting to go out to bars and meet ladies there more often. 2 months ago I renewed my eHarmony account and 3 people have survived the multiple choice and short answer part only for me to then close but one I chose to actually send a personal message to. She was a recently graduated law student and had tons in common and after exchanging several emails (through eharmony), she suddenly closed the match –immediately after sending me a nice long message about how she is obsessed with Asian cultures and wants to play tennis. So, that’s it. I can’t respond anymore and I’ll never know what she was thinking or what she suddenly realized unless she re-opens the match. I actually had high hopes for this one. I hope she accidentally hit the wrong button and realizes it soon when she starts wondering why she hasn’t gotten a reply from me.

It also is a weird feeling to see someone you know in person on an online dating site. Eharmony only shows you people that it thinks are good matches so you only see a small percentage of the people registered. Last week, 2 people I know from church showed up as matches for me. Laura has since closed the match, not unexpectedly, and the other one has had no action. It’s somehow weird, but then again, so is this whole texting culture. When I see an article about texting to ask out a girl and they aren’t totally turned off by this, it makes me realize that the culture of dating in America really has changed – even in the last 10 years. Isn’t texting pretty much analogous to email or facebook message, and aren’t both of those still taboo as well?

Pick Six and Michigan still atop the Asbury college football rankings

This year, the phrase "pick six" has been used a lot more than I have noticed previously. I hadn't really heard anyone use it until a couple of years ago but it has become the standard way to refer to an interception that is taken back for a touchdown. I don't think I like this phrase but maybe it'll grow on me.

Of the 25 games I put into my computer predictor (all top 25 teams plus all ACC and SEC games), my computer only got two wrong and beat the spread on 15 out of 25. The two my computer got wrong were Arkansas over Auburn and Texas A&M over Texas Tech. My computer has always liked Auburn a lot and I guess it was down on A&M after their loss to Arkansas. I'm glad my computer got the WF win over FSU. People don't respect the Demon Deacons football program. I'm not sure I do either.

Georgia comes in at #31, Virginia Tech #34, and Wake Forest #39.

Next week doesn't appear to have many interesting games, which suits me just fine since I will be playing bridge all day Saturday at the Athens sectional, but here are my computer predictions. Something must be wrong - the computer is picking Wake to beat another perennial power in the ACC.

LSU 33, @Tennessee 14
@Oregon 34, Arizona State 29
Michigan 24, @Michigan State 16
Georgia Tech 37, @Virginia 24
@Wake Forest 27, Virginia Tech 26
Georgia 28, @Vanderbilt 17
@Duke 30, Florida State 26
@Auburn 28, Florida 26

Week 5 Rankings have Michigan at the Top

So, my new rankings for this week have Michigan at the top and initially they had unranked Texas Tech at the top, with Alabama and LSU #17 and 18. That all looked really wrong so I spent the last hour and a half looking for glaring errors and I found one - not in the algorithm but a typo or misaligned column. That resulted mostly in the strength of schedule numbers being way off. Anyway, these new rankings for week 5 look pretty good, with the exception of Michigan at the top. Just in time to watch the new episode of Pan Am.

I like that my computer ranks Clemson #4, more respect than the poll voters give them. The one team that my computer seems to have way off is Wisconsin, fresh off a good beating of Nebraska. And of course, I like that Georgia Tech is ranked so high. They seem to now be on a collision course to go into homecoming on October 29 against Clemson, both with 8-0 records. Both the Yellow Jackets and Tigers will be bog favorites in their next 3 games - GT vs. Maryland, Virginia, and Miami; Clemson vs. Boston College, Maryland, and North Carolina). Hopefully College Gameday will be in Atlanta that day.

Some computer predictions for week 6 games:
@LSU 34, Florida 16
Oklahoma 31, @Texas 23
Auburn 31, @Arkansas 30
@Georgia Tech 40, Maryland 23
@Virginia Tech 24, Miami 21
@Wake Forest 28, Florida State 26
Georgia 30, @Tennessee 28
@South Carolina 31, Kentucky 14
@Clemson 35, Boston College 13

Don't ask for someone's number and then never call

I don’t understand women sometimes. I’ve been a regular customer at a local restaurant lately. I always sit at the bar and always order one of two things – grilled tilapia or salmon – and always see the same bartender M on Monday night. So, we were on a first name basis and after M dumped her boyfriend, she asked for my number. I obliged, hugged goodbye and left.

After a few more trips, M said “Why haven’t you called me?” “Because you didn’t give me your phone number, but you have mine. Why haven't you called?” “Well here's my number…” A few days later I called and left a message, mildly suggesting we get a drink after she gets off work. A couple of weeks pass, she doesn’t respond and I don’t mention it when I see her at the bar. Now she says she promises to call me and really does want to hang out when she's not bartending.

So I refrain from going to her restaurant for a couple of weeks and then M sends me a text: “You gonna come visit me tonight?” “Maybe. Do you miss me?” No response so I didn't go and haven't been since. I guess I am mildly interested in her but these are signs of being undependable, and I can’t handle undependable.

ASsure, ENsure, INsure

Alright, it’s time for a grammar lesson. I’ve seen these words misused a lot lately and I feel a need to make sure my friends know how to properly use the three words. While they have the same general idea of guaranteeing that something will be done, assure, ensure, and insure are not interchangeable.

 

This line was in an email I received earlier today at work: “Make sure you get our CE and BIO folks down quickly to evaluate and assure all materials are properly handled.” It really irks me when highly educated people, in this case a colonel, make simple grammar mistakes. Typos and carelessness that occurs from going too fast is one thing and easily overlooked but things like using the wrong word make you look dumb.

 

Insure has to do with money and guarantees some financial retribution if things go wrong. To insure is to “secure from harm of loss.” The ones doing the insuring are almost always insurance companies. State Farm insures the driver so that he woudn’t be liable for the whole cost of an accident. Doctors, likewise, are insured by insurance companies to protect them from being financially liable if the doctor screws up a procedure or gets sued by a patient.

 

Assure has to do with one’s feelings. To assure is to “put someone’s mind at rest.” A assures B that he will show up at an expected time. Being assures of something should remove doubt or anxiety and make someone feel better about a particular event. The object of the verb assure must something alive that has feelings.

 

Ensure is merely a guarantee that something will be done. To ensure is to “make certain of something.” It’s sort of a promise and has no implication of financial redress. If I host a party, I will ensure that there is an adequate amount of food and drink. (Ensure is the word that should have been used instead of assure in the quote in the second paragraph.)

Investing in Chipotle

One of the first things I did when I got a job and started having regular income was put some money in the stock market. One of the things I regret is not investing as much as I could afford in Chipotle. Instead, I only invested a small amount in Chipotle and my portfolio overall has performed only slightly better than the Dow in these 3+ years.

 

You all know I love Chipotle and how it would make me so much happier if someone would bring one to Warner Robins.  I might well be able to afford to do it myself if I had put all my money in Chipotle stock for the last 3 or 4 years. Then again, if I could afford to open a restaurant, I wouldn’t do it here – I’d go some place where I actually want to live, like the Dunwoody.

 

And I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t invest in companies just because you like their products so I didn’t put much into it. There were doubters all around about how Chipotle could continue to grow so rapidly and those doubters have continued to be proven wrong.

 

Three years ago to the day, Chipotle stock traded for $60.31 per share and at the moment it is trading for $344.53 per share. Wow! That’s a 471% increase. In that time, the Dow Jones is up 1.17%.

 

Yesterday when Chipotle got to 335, I sold all but one of my Chipotle shares. There’s no way this can continue to go up so much and analysts have been saying for awhile that it’s overpriced and way overdue for a major drop despite the fact that it is perhaps the best company in the fast casual food industry.

Week 3 Rankings

Georgia Tech and Georgia both won big last weekend. Tech set several school and ACC records with their 768 offensive yard performance against Kansas. The ACC fared reasonably well in it's slate of marquee non-conference matchups. Clemson beat Auburn and Miami beat Ohio State soundly but Florida State was outclassed by Oklahoma and West Virginia barely held off Maryland.

This week, my computer rankings look a little more normal as Oklahoma is the clear #1.

A few computer predictions for week 4:
Georgia Tech 31, North Carolina 28
Georgia 33, Mississippi 24
Clemson 30, Florida State 24
Arkansas 31, Alabama 30
West Virginia 28, LSU 26