[Queue dramatic movie trailer music and trailer voice]
−       ” Take a good look at the people around you…your co-workers, your facebook friends, the Starbucks regular – yes – even your brother…How well do you really know them?”

−        (Beat) “Bet you wouldn’t think they all have something in common…”

−        (Beat)[slowly] “But they do.”

−        (Beat) “They are all part of a secret society, a little thing called [dramatic pause] E-HARMONY.”

[The End]

But they are likely in the closet about it – so don’t expect to overhear details at the water cooler. I have to admit it – the commercials, they finally got to me. I mean who doesn’t want to find a match based on 29, scientifically-tested dimensions of compatibility? As such, I took the plunge and signed up the second week in August.

To be honest, I was skeptical about the idea of online dating – especially the quality of the bachelor pool. I figured they were either:

1. One-night stand letharios
2. D-E-S-P-E-R-A-D-O
3. Dejected leftovers and all around damaged goods
4. all of the above

Sign Me Up!

But alas, I was being too harsh – I mean I am none of those things and I signed up. I would hate to be erroneously pre-judged as any of the above. So I decided to believe that there ARE fellow decent souls online.

But I still resented the fact that I signed up because I thought I had enough going for me, that I should have been able to meet decent candidates in real life. The thing is, now that I’ve seen how efficient the process is and how easy it is to make the first move (rejection factor stings much less) I’m thinking the advent of online dating has made men even less likely to pick up in real life.

After researching some of the major and cheaper sites, I decided to commit to e-harmony (cheesiest name ever) for a few reasons:

• Legit filtering system – beats searching by superficial criteria on regular sites.
• Laziness – they send you matches daily = minimal work effort for you
• Fee Paying – I felt a sizable fee would thwart predators and weed out the one-night stand letharios. There is a saying – you get what you pay for ($120 for 3 months).
• Positive word of mouth – it has worked well for many people, including colleagues of mine

Once you fill out the huge questionnaire and your profile, you can “review your matches for free.” I found that claim a bit misleading because you cannot see pictures, which let’s face it, is very important. You MUST PAY for that privilege. I also thought I would get 100 matches on day 1 to review. But they pace the matches and send you a 5-7 daily.

Stay tuned – ladies and gentlemen more to come.

Would you ever sign up for online dating? Have you tried it before? Drop a comment!