So the kid wasnt a deal breaker after all. Its great news for us professional single dads that smart and pretty women can be cool with a child in our lives. Its hard to explain how much of a better person you become through parenting and that definitely has positive affect on any partnerships you enter.

Thanks for your contributions I look forward to reading more…

Can I tell you how good the BF was looking when he e-mailed me back and said “I checked out your profile and saw that we have the same favorite book”? Pretty good, indeed!

Your date #2 sounds great – definitely keep after that guy if you feel there’s a cool friend/young professional connection. It’s always good to increase your circle of friends.

As for date #4 – wow, congrats! Sounds great. Don’t let kids be an automatic deal breaker!!!!! I’m a single dad, so I’m pretty passionate about that. One woman I met for drinks post-divorce was set up with me by mutual friends. She admitted she would NEVER date a single dad and was only going out with me because of her friend. We ended up dating over a year. Just give it a chance.

As for online winks – they are bad bad bad. Men who use them are wusses. Women who use them can look desperate to some. Sounds like you got away with it, but my advice is just let the men find you.

@Lance: I live in a smallish city full of people who have hung out with pretty much the same people their whole lives. Very clique-ish. I like that most of the guys I’ve met aren’t from here or haven’t lived here long. It’s been nice getting out of my “circle.” And yes, I delete winks!

@Honey: Thanks for reading! I must admit that I’m slightly disappointed that I made it out relatively unscathed – no nutjobs, no scandals, no good stories really. I guess that’s a good thing!

I’m with Lance on winks–HATE them, but as a girl you can kind of get away with it. Kind of like if you’re in a bar a girl could actually wink at guys and have them approach, but the reverse almost never works. If you forward me your profile name, I could give you a “review” as well! I gave Lance a bunch of tips on his.

As far as anonymity…obviously I use a pen as well, and some key identifying details (of both me and the BF) are used. Because I’m in a relationship, I clear whatever I divulge with him first for obvious reasons. However, for guys I just dated, I vague it up some. I personally only told about three friends that I had a blog because I think it would undermine some of my professional credibility if it were commonly known, though I don’t think it will always be that way.

For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing great and are going to have a blast!

Personally, I hate the wink system, and I think a lot of other online vets agree. I’m sure it works great for women, though, but I know for guys sending a wink is meaningless. Women get so many emails that winks are deleted. My take is if you think someone is cute, take the time to read their profile and write a decent 2-3 line email. We’re already cutting enough corners by dating online as it is.

Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, you should forward me your profile name, I’d love to “review it”!

Also, good deal with dating outside the rooms. I always went by the motto “never dip my pen in the company ink”.