Match.com stats:

Total profile views: 1435 (25 since yesterday)

New received emails: 1

New winks: 0

Optimism level: Ok, so I don’t have power, but at least I have a little information.

[Polls that were previously included have been removed due to formatting errors]
First of all, thanks to those who played along with my little polls- I feel like I should give out prizes for your trouble. I realize that such a small sampling won’t provide any definitive answers on men/women/dating but it’s still better than my lone perspective. (BTW- If you screw up on an answer, let me know and I can fix it but try to avoid drunk polling as I don’t want to get to the point where I’m spending more time on the blog than the actual Match experience. Gracias). So, to consider the preliminary data:

(Day 25) Most seem to think it can’t hurt to pursue people during the holidays. I suppose it’s true that anybody can find the time to write a few lines in an email. I haven’t done a search in about a week, but maybe I’ll do one tomorrow and if anybody particularly excites me, I’ll give it a shot.

(Day 24) As I expected, the women are divided on when is a good time to meet. It’s a crap shoot for men as far as what pace is best so it makes sense to err on the side of caution and take it slow. I wonder if we women who don’t want to waste time should put that fact out there. This brings me to today’s poll:
[Poll removed]

I’m not sure if most women simply agree the shoe size comment is lame or if sexual innuendo in general in a profile is lame. I read way too many profiles where the guys mention how important good sex is. I don’t see the point. Just because a guy says good sex is important in a relationship, it doesn’t necessarily mean HE’S actually good at it. And I don’t imagine many Match success stories began with the reply, “We have a lot of similar interests in movies, books and activities. Oh and I give great head. I’ve got references.” Maybe the guys are trying to weed out the women who aren’t very frisky, but I think they’d be better off leaving the sexual comments out of their profile and realizing that’s something a couple can work on together.

(Day 20) Learning how far most of you will travel to meet someone who shows even slight potential makes me realize I need to somehow conjure up the enthusiasm to do that myself. In case I haven’t already made this clear, my desire for a partner is mostly as a supplement to my life but I don’t feel an overwhelming need to have a man. Perhaps that explains part of the reason I’m being so choosy (or maybe “exclusionary” is a better word).

(Day 19) I wish there was some way to let all the guys on Match know about the shirtless picture situation. I, too, wouldn’t turn away a good prospect because of it (unless he took his own picture in the mirror or if he’s flexing- that’s just too much). The issue with any shirtless picture is that, should we meet, there would be that question in the back of my head: “What kind of woman or relationship is he looking for that he thought semi-nudity was necessary?” I’m sure guys do it because they’d like more women to post bikini shots. They just don’t get the whole cheese factor.

EMAIL #1: This letter came from Stalker Man. Yes, the guy has now sent me three emails since I sent him The Rejection Letter. This one simply said, “Hi Craig.” I’m not sure if he meant, “Hi from Craig” or if he was saying hi to someone named Craig, thinking that maybe I’m a friend of his who set up some elaborate prank just to send him one email. He still hasn’t added a photo but he did change his profile essay to include:

If you want to get married (or maybe not? Hmmmm? either way works) to a guy who (snip) you like and are proud of, have fun, make love, have sex, go out to dinner…

I was amused that he bothered to differentiate between “make love” and “have sex” and that either activity would be followed by dinner out. Later he wrote:

…build a dog house, smell your sheets when they come out of the dryer….

If I had to make a list of 10,000 qualities I want in a man, the urge to smell my sheets would not make the list yet this guy’s using it as a selling point! Moved to folder: Monitor for photo submissions. They’ll certainly all be shirtless.

Tonight a friend’s having a Christmas party at a club right around the corner from me. Since it’s close enough to walk, I’ll be drinking heavily. If there are any hotties (they won’t even have to be that hot since I’ll be wearing the beer goggles), I may have to throw caution to the wind just so I can finally report something juicy to my faithful readers.