Somethin' New (or at least something I came up with while my computer has been broken)

1. My computer got fixed.
2. My wife and I went on a minny vacation.
3. She took me on a date in her home town.

You read right folks, my computer is officially fixed.  Our Internet has given up, but our computer is fixed.  I don't have any time today to catch up, but I will tomorrow morning, and then I'll be posting messages on your blogs, and being my usual pesty self.

On to today's topic!  In my absence, well, really just last night, I came up with a few ideas about what I could blog about.  One was about my thoughts on America's public school system, and how it's not as bad as we all think that it is (as a system anyway), but that would take time, and energy, and a thought process, all of which are shut off because it's Presidents' Day.

So, we'll just have to wait to write about that another day (it's in my drafts though, so if any of you got excited it will be coming in the future).  My other idea that I liked a lot came to me in the middle of the night, when I thought about the young men in my family, and advice that I dispense so readily about dating, and how all of those great pearls of wisdom are not in one place.  Then I thought, why don't I put them all on blog land in ten posts (one post for each tidbit of advice).  I don't like to admit it, but I also thought about how that would give me eleven days of blogging ideas if you included the introduction to the idea, and I think we all know how hard it is to come up with material.  I felt it was genius. 

To begin, let's quickly get something out on the table:  I was not a natural at dating.  I know this probably comes as a surprise to a lot of you, what with my wordsmithing ability, the speed at which I beat Xbox games, and let's be honest, what girl doesn't want to go out with a Dungeon Master, right?  But, even with all of that going for me, the girls really didn't "fall all over me" as it were.  I also didn't really understand a few things about dating.  I didn't understand the laws of odds, or the opportunities I had to go on inexpensive dates.  I didn't get many hours at my job and, therefore, didn't really have the money to date often, or at least I didn't have as much as I thought I needed.

Also, I wasn't much of a planner.  In my religion, girls in high school are advised to go on group dates, and some were very strict on the matter.  So, not only did I need to find a time when her and I could go, I needed to find when she, my buddy, his date, and I could go.  I also found out that the more people who are involved = a bigger possibility that one will flake, and if that one flakes, and there were only two couples, the date was toast.  It was a serious issue that I never figured out how to resolve.

After my mission though, I spent some time with a certain cousin in Phoenix.  I wanted to date, but was finding little success.  He shared a few things with me, and, my blogging community, things took off for me.  I suddenly figured out how to date a lot.  Things weren't peaches and cream right from the start, but with a little trial and error I came up with some rules for dating that I mixed in with a few rules I had figured out in high school.  I can honestly say that without these rules I never would have even found my wife... I'm not even joking.

Now, I must admit that most of my rules will be for the fella's, because, you know, I am one.  It will also be mostly for single people, because, you know, it's for guys trying to get dates.  But, this does not mean that some of the advice won't be for you ladies, it also doesn't mean that I won't want some feedback in the comments in case I'm completely off on something.  My ten rules are still a work in progress and I'm open to constructive criticism.  And, if nothing else, I imagine that they should be entertaining, and remind you of some of your bad dates.

Anyway, hope you're as excited as I am to start the ten tomorrow, or I hope that you'll at least pretend that you are.

Have a nice day.