I was telling Augie that I wanted to write a post about online dating.  "Before you do that," he said, "do a search on your blog for ‘online dating.’"  So I did.  But this post is different (so there).  Although I truly believe that it is highly unlikely that I’ll end up with someone that I met through online dating, I still put my profile back online.  Why?  Well, on the positive side, you do end up meeting people you wouldn’t meet ordinarily, which is a good thing, and going on dates helps you stay in the game, at least mentally.  On the negative side, since the last time my profile was up, I turned 35.  There’s something about 35 — I think many people use it as a cutoff point.  Suddenly, I’m getting emails from guys who are closer to my dad’s age than mine — absolutely disgusting (no offense, dad — you’re not disgusting). 

And if that wasn’t enough, I recently had the experience of having my entire profile ripped off.  Some guy emailed me recently saying how much we had in common, and giving a few examples.  His profile was still "being reviewed by Customer Care" so I couldn’t see it, but when I checked back a few days later, his profile was up.  It was, word for word with a few minor tweaks, EXACTLY what I had written in my profile.  I sent him an email calling him on it.  His response?  "Yes, I took the parts of your profile that worked for me as well. I was having a problem figuring out what to say and you covered it very nicely."  Well, gee thanks.  So then it boils down to this:  Apparently this guy and I have so much in common that I was able to give words to his personality without even meeting him, but he’s slimy enough to rip off someone’s profile.  Date, or no date?

This is just another example of why I’m fairly confident that I won’t be meeting my boyfriend/husband online, but a girl’s gotta keep her bases covered, so the profile stays up, at least for now.