Last week, I went on a perfect date. We started out at Caracas, the Venezuelan arepa bar in the East Village for a light snack. Conversation flowed effortlessly. We moved on to see a performance of Matt & Ben at P.S. 122, a funny play made all the more endearing because my date and I had both gone to college in Somerville, Mass, where the play was set. We finished off the evening over coffee and tea at Mudspot, where we realized that not only did we get most of our information from the same media outlets (Salon.com, the New Yorker, and Gothamist, among others), but that we both had been putting money away in our ING Orange accounts. What a coincidence — we had so much in common!

The only problem with the date was that it was with Doug, one of my closest friends. Doug is happily engaged, and was in fact recently featured in a Salon.com article highlighting groom weblogs. (Isn’t he fantastic? Smart, funny, witty, and sensitive — and he cooks too!) Doug is one of the reasons that other guys I go on actual dates with never quite seem to measure up.

So, here’s to Doug — thank you for making sure that I end up with a guy who’s at least as amazing, smart, funny, thoughtful, and talented as you are, and for supporting me while I sort through the junk.

Many times I have wondered about how I might possibly juggle work and family life. Not that this is an immediate concern, mind you, given the fact that I haven’t even gone on a date in a while, but I was thinking about it recently because of an article in Sunday’s NYT magazine. Lisa Belkin, who often writes about employment issues, described what she termed the “opt-out revolution,” a wave of well-educated women who aren’t climbing the career ladder because they choose not to.

That’s all fine and dandy for these women, since they are all part of two-parent families where the husband is making a big fat salary. In my future, however, I see things turning out somewhat differently. First, no matter what line of business my perspective spouse is in, my own salary is likely to max out pretty quickly — the non-profit world is not a moneymaker. Second, there may not be a spouse at all, let alone a high-salaried one. Although I don’t like to think about it, there is a chance that I may end up making the decision to raise a child by myself. Finally, my dream spouse is much more likely to be an artist, a schoolteacher, or a legal aid lawyer than a corporate lawyer or a banker — this is a good thing.

Sometimes I wonder — I have the capacity to earn a much bigger salary as a corporate lawyer — could I ever go back? Not likely, certainly not for anything other than a short-term stint. Maybe I should reconsider dating those corporate lawyers and investment bankers . . . hmm.

Note — as pointed out my one of my cohorts, there was a Salon article that’s more in line with my thinking on this issue.

Many times I have wondered about how I might possibly juggle work and family life. Not that this is an immediate concern, mind you, given the fact that I haven’t even gone on a date in a while, but I was thinking about it recently because of an article in Sunday’s NYT magazine. Lisa Belkin, who often writes about employment issues, described what she termed the “opt-out revolution,” a wave of well-educated women who aren’t climbing the career ladder because they choose not to.

That’s all fine and dandy for these women, since they are all part of two-parent families where the husband is making a big fat salary. In my future, however, I see things turning out somewhat differently. First, no matter what line of business my perspective spouse is in, my own salary is likely to max out pretty quickly — the non-profit world is not a moneymaker. Second, there may not be a spouse at all, let alone a high-salaried one. Although I don’t like to think about it, there is a chance that I may end up making the decision to raise a child by myself. Finally, my dream spouse is much more likely to be an artist, a schoolteacher, or a legal aid lawyer than a corporate lawyer or a banker — this is a good thing.

Sometimes I wonder — I have the capacity to earn a much bigger salary as a corporate lawyer — could I ever go back? Not likely, certainly not for anything other than a short-term stint. Maybe I should reconsider dating those corporate lawyers and investment bankers . . . hmm.

Note — as pointed out my one of my cohorts, there was a Salon article that’s more in line with my thinking on this issue.