Tired of Love Triangles
I’m getting a little tired of love triangles in fiction. I don’t mean to offend anyone. I probably have dozens of love triangles in my own stories and I don’t even realize it. My concern is that they seem to be everywhere now, not because they’re realistic or even make for good fiction, but simply [...]
Pet Peeve #22: Drive Safe!
How many times in your life has someone told you in parting, “Drive safe”? How many times have you said it (or the grammatically correct version, “Drive safely”)? Okay, I get it. It’s just one of those things we say. It’s really no different than saying “goodbye.” So then why do we even say it? [...]
No One Decides Quickly and Everyone’s a Good Friend
…or a more boring title would be “Survey Results.” Because that’s what today is all about. I want to thank everyone who took my crazy little survey last week. 47 people filled it out, and the 23rd person (you know who you are) was randomly selected by random.org to receive my copy of Rework by [...]
The Psychology of Sex #7: Match.com
Although I’m a completely open person who is comfortable talking about pretty much anything with anyone, there are two circumstances in which I’m exceedingly shy: Initiating a conversation with a woman who is a complete stranger. Walking into a crowded room in which I know very few people. Unfortunately for me, those two areas eliminate [...]
The Movies That Move You
I really want to settle down into bed with Mockingjay (Kindle edition!), so fortunately my friend Ariel had a blog entry/contest for me to post today: I love the collective gasp of the crowd when the actor rounds the corner during a chase scene and is confronted by a giant alien – or really any [...]
Pet Peeve #11: The Delusion of Bread and Butter Pickles
Think about the first time you went to the store as an adult to buy pickles. No, I take that back–think about the first time that I went to the store as an adult to buy pickles. You approach the pickle aisle thinking that this will be easy. You’ll just get the kind of pickles [...]
Rework Contest and Survey
Two things happened to me almost simultaneously a few weeks ago: I had a really interesting idea for a new type of job search website, and I began reading a fantastic book about starting a business and being creative. The book is called Rework, by 37Signals CEO Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, and I [...]
The Ease of Modern Chivalry
Men probably don’t think about this all that often, but we really have it easy in 2010 thanks to the diminishing standards of chivalry. For this I want to express my sincere gratitude to modern women. 60 years ago, a man walking down the street with a woman might have encountered a puddle on the [...]
The Milk Seduction
A few weeks ago, I had a brilliant/ridiculous idea for getting the attention of women. In the movies (and presumably in real life), guys send drinks over to women at restaurants and bars. The waiter shows up at the ladies’ table, puts down the drinks, and points across the room at the guys. If the [...]
Management Tactic #13: The Freedom of Limitations
Whenever I go home to Virginia, I play pickup soccer with my father. His pickup game is played on a real soccer field with marked sidelines and goals. We play 11 or 12 people per side, and people generally spread out across the field. I always walk away from the Virginia pickup game feeling like [...]
I’m Not That Guy
I’ve read a lot of profiles in my week on Match.com (and OkCupid, thanks to their awesome blog that sucked me in). So far I’ve been “winked” at 36 times on Match, and I usually check out the person’s profile before deciding what to do next. There are a few things I look at right [...]
Prank Wars
As I’ve written about before, I love a good prank. Some sleight of hand where you have someone thinking one thing while something else is going on. Something that doesn’t offend or inconvenience the target, but it fools them for some amount of time. Thus it’s no surprise that I love College Humor’s Prank Wars. [...]
Confession #15: Whining About Wine
I love the idea of drinking wine. I love swishing it around in the glass (I’m a stemless kind of guy). I love smelling it, listening to it, tasting it. I love all the pretense around wine. It’s like a prop for overacting. The more you pretend to know about wine, the more fun it [...]
The True Adventures of Jamey on Match.com
I love being single. Really, I love it. I have all this time to do whatever I want with whomever I want. I don’t have to spend all this time getting to know a woman and all the calling and expectations and dates…I love the complete freedom. That being said, I still gravitate towards finding [...]
The High of a New Idea
There are many things that get me high on life: The feeling after I finish writing a short story Cat cuddles Popeye’s chicken A really good hug Replaying my own soccer highlights in my head Watching any commercial with the Arcade Fire song “Wake Up” as the music Today I’m high on a new website [...]
The Peace Park Story
Today I’m going to write about something a bit serious and somber. Thanks to having parents who fully supported my desire to become fluent in Japanese, I had the good fortune of going abroad to Japan for two summers in high school (and then for my entire junior year of college–see more stories about that [...]
Confession #14: The Least Spontaneous Person
Sometimes I think I’m the least spontaneous person in the world. I’ve already written about how I use Outlook to plan my life. I plan ahead for meals, for friendships, for alone time and social time. Time is the key–I’m incredibly intentional about my time. Because of this intentionality, I miss out on things. If [...]
Who Is the Ultimate Man?
Over the years, there have been dozens of men who were the ultimate men of their time. Guys like Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, and Bruce Campbell. But lately, thanks to a squadron of loyal fans and some very effective marketing campaigns, there are a few men that have become the very personification of the ultimate [...]
Welcome to Deer Tick
A former girlfriend of mine once saw John Mayer before he was John Mayer. Have you ever had that happen? I think I had that happen tonight. I saw a band called Deer Tick at Off Broadway in St. Louis tonight. Just got back. Ears are still ringing. They were at capacity with about 200 [...]
A Little Push
I don’t surf the web all that much. Granted, I’m on the internet all day. Constantly. But I spend most of my time on my e-mail and Google Reader. I like my content delivered to me–I don’t like to have to go out and find it. That means when I do venture out into the [...]
How to Give Birth to LeBron James in One Easy Step
The other day I was listening to a fascinating discussion with famed author Malcolm Gladwell about national sports teams. A while ago, Gladwell noticed that a disproportionate number of players on the Canadian national hockey team were born in January, February, or March. The best players in the country, almost all of them born in [...]
Pet Peeve #9: Songs That Contain Traffic Noises
One of the great things about taking a solo road trip, as I discovered this past weekend, is that you can do whatever you want in the car. You can: wipe your sticky hands on your jeans undo your belt. And your jeans. And your zipper fart at will sing at the top of your [...]
The Coolest Movie Theater Ever
I don’t go to movies at AMC theaters in St. Louis. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the theaters. They usually have big, comfortable seats and stadium seating. The biggest issue I have is that their popcorn is terrible, and I’m a popcorn guy. So the independent chains get my money. However, I saw a movie [...]
