I’ve been awaiting the arrival of Wilma. We’re at the point now that we’re not going to worry about a category-two storm, even if it kicks up to a category two. We’ll survive. Basically, what it comes down to is how much we’ll have to clean up tomorrow.
What really gets me is the news coverage. For the past day or two, it’s been the same information over and over again. The same areas have been told to evacuate. We’re still going to be hit either tonight or Monday morning. It’s probably going to be a category- two storm. The local channels are using interviews as filler. There are the officials repeating the basic information and the residents saying that they’ll either get out of Dodge or rough it out.
This leaves me to watch The West Wing, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Crossing Jordan over the local NBC affiliate’s web site. My parents are actually watching a DVD. At I have an option. I hate it when the networks just preempt shows with no regard for what the people actually want to watch.
How much coverage can one person take? I think there should be a law limiting hurricane coverage to 12 minutes per hour. Let the stations use their commercial breaks if they think that the coverage is so important.
The irony is that I’m tempted to give updates about how the hurricane has affected me, but I’m inclined to not do so. Not only do I not want to encourage anyone, but also my power will probably be out.
It’s just as well. I’m trying to think of other things to write about.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
The dating game
How does a guy get a date?
That’s one of those things that have always confused me. I know it happens because people go one to get married and at least some of those marriages have to have come from a first date. I was thinking about all of those dating and matchmaking sites and how I have yet to find one that works.
I haven’t tried many, but I find that sites tend not to do too much for me. The problem is that with the pay sites, the free version stinks. What usually happens is that I find a site, try the free version for a while and usually get a few promising leads. However, the free versions don’t make it easy to correspond with that many people at once, so I sign up. Once I’ve paid good money, what few conversations I’m having dry up. I go an entire month without really meeting anyone.
The big problem is actually getting started. Few people want to bother with someone who has a free account because they’re likely to be someone using a free account to get you to go to a pay site. (Even paid accounts might do this.) This is another motivating reason to pay. However, once paid, I still might not get a response.
I don’t know why that is. Probably it’s because I’m competing with hundreds of other guys doing the same thing and it’s very easy for us to come across as losers that try to hard. How do I try without making it look like I’m actually trying? If I make the first move, it could appear aggressive. However, if I wait, I run the risk of paying $20 for a month of nothing.
Dating is a lot like gambling. Everyone has a system and they all seem to be just a little off. I have yet to find a magic word or phrase that will get me a response. Right now, I’d be happy for that. I just want a chance, or at least the possibility of thinking I have a chance, at maybe meeting someone.
The question is, if I ever met a woman, would I know what to do with myself?
That’s one of those things that have always confused me. I know it happens because people go one to get married and at least some of those marriages have to have come from a first date. I was thinking about all of those dating and matchmaking sites and how I have yet to find one that works.
I haven’t tried many, but I find that sites tend not to do too much for me. The problem is that with the pay sites, the free version stinks. What usually happens is that I find a site, try the free version for a while and usually get a few promising leads. However, the free versions don’t make it easy to correspond with that many people at once, so I sign up. Once I’ve paid good money, what few conversations I’m having dry up. I go an entire month without really meeting anyone.
The big problem is actually getting started. Few people want to bother with someone who has a free account because they’re likely to be someone using a free account to get you to go to a pay site. (Even paid accounts might do this.) This is another motivating reason to pay. However, once paid, I still might not get a response.
I don’t know why that is. Probably it’s because I’m competing with hundreds of other guys doing the same thing and it’s very easy for us to come across as losers that try to hard. How do I try without making it look like I’m actually trying? If I make the first move, it could appear aggressive. However, if I wait, I run the risk of paying $20 for a month of nothing.
Dating is a lot like gambling. Everyone has a system and they all seem to be just a little off. I have yet to find a magic word or phrase that will get me a response. Right now, I’d be happy for that. I just want a chance, or at least the possibility of thinking I have a chance, at maybe meeting someone.
The question is, if I ever met a woman, would I know what to do with myself?
Monday, October 10, 2005
search engines and portals
I honestly didn’t expect to get many visitors here, but I signed up with one of those site-tracking services anyway. I wanted to see who was visiting and where the visitors were coming from. As I would have expected, quite a number of people are in the South Florida area. A good 70% of the visitors are in the same time zone as me. I do make mention of local landmarks. Someone even did a search for Barry University.
That actually got me thinking. Most of the hits seem to come from my profile page on Epinions, but I do get a few from portals and search engines. Since I’m using the basic (free) site tracker, I can’t see hits by search terms, but I can get an idea from the referring URLs.
Someone, apparently from Texas, did a search for Wolf Camera. Ok. That’s understandable. Someone in Ontario did a search for “check from Epinions” and came up with this blog. A hit is a hit, but I have to wonder what that person was looking for.
The most common search term seems to be Miami. I don’t know what they expect to find here. Then again, that’s the problem with search engines. You enter a word or a name and you get anything. The thing is that I don’t even live in Miami proper. I actually live in Biscayne Park, which is just a little north of Miami. (I’m only about a mile away from Barry University and about two or three miles from the local Johnson and Wales campus.)
Either way, it’s gratifying that people find their way here, however it is that you got here. If you came by search engine, though, I’d appreciate a comment about how close a match this blog was to what you were looking for.
That actually got me thinking. Most of the hits seem to come from my profile page on Epinions, but I do get a few from portals and search engines. Since I’m using the basic (free) site tracker, I can’t see hits by search terms, but I can get an idea from the referring URLs.
Someone, apparently from Texas, did a search for Wolf Camera. Ok. That’s understandable. Someone in Ontario did a search for “check from Epinions” and came up with this blog. A hit is a hit, but I have to wonder what that person was looking for.
The most common search term seems to be Miami. I don’t know what they expect to find here. Then again, that’s the problem with search engines. You enter a word or a name and you get anything. The thing is that I don’t even live in Miami proper. I actually live in Biscayne Park, which is just a little north of Miami. (I’m only about a mile away from Barry University and about two or three miles from the local Johnson and Wales campus.)
Either way, it’s gratifying that people find their way here, however it is that you got here. If you came by search engine, though, I’d appreciate a comment about how close a match this blog was to what you were looking for.
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