Off-Topic

A guy I went to high school with (a few years ahead of me) married a girl in my class a few weeks (or days, maybe, I'm not really sure) before he died of testicular cancer. I can't even imagine the emotions at that wedding.

Lab.

edit: also adopt a dog. I did and it's the best decision I ever made. It's also the most expensive one....outside of buying a house/car!

I have a dating/logistical question: I've been talking to this girl on match.com throughout the week, and it's time to propose actually meeting in person. Somehow we've talked a lot about how we both love to play tennis, and she's training for a marathon, so I was thinking about suggesting we meet up to hit around some (tennis) or go for a run. First, is this a good idea? Now, the logistical problem: she lives in Arlington and I live in Bethesda. Being in workout clothes and all sweaty would probably preclude grabbing a bit to eat or something afterwards, and it's not like we're going to shower/change in each other's apartments when we've just met. Thoughts?

I don't think it'd be awkward at all. It's different, low pressure, and free. I think you should go for it

Mine was a rescue that had surgery a few weeks before I adopted him and had to take him to follow up appointments. The rescue never told me that these appointments were once a week for 12 weeks and cost $100 a pop.

But outside of that, the cost of owning a dog is pretty substantial. Food, toys, crates, training, vaccinnes, etc.

Running isn't conducive to conversation, so I'd scratch that idea and go with something tennis related. Maybe pick a place that has a concessions or a street vender near by so you can cool off and get a drink and chat a little more after you're done playing tennis. That will show her you are interested and capable of having casual conversation despite the fact heading to dinner after you've spent the afternoon sweating isn't really an option.

One of my friends had been trying to get me to sign up for eharmony for FOREVER. I kept refusing but it was getting to the point I was losing patience with her about it. They were having some free communication 4th of July weekend thing and she called me. I asked her if I filled the damned thing out if she would swear to never mention eharmony to me again. She swore, she promised, I got it in writing. I completed the entire survey thing and got the following response-

"We're very sorry, but our matching system cannot predict good matches for you.
eHarmony's patented matching system was developed after extensive research into marital satisfaction. We use each person's responses to our Relationship Questionnaire to predict the pairings of individuals that are highly likely to result in satisfying long-term relationships, based on what we learned through our research.

Unfortunately, based on responses to our questionnaire, we occasionally find situations where our matching system cannot identify high quality compatible matches, and this has happened in your case. Please understand that it is a result of our matching process and in no way reflects on you as a person or your ability to be in a happy relationship.

We apologize and regret our inability to find good matches for you. The time you spent completing our questionnaire, however, has enabled us to provide you with a free Personality Profile.. This Personality Profile lets you learn more about yourself and should provide you with valuable insights.

We wish you all the best in your search for that special someone."

I don't think the running idea is awful...not ideal, but doable. If she's training for a marathon, she shouldn't be running to the point she's out of breath, but will you be winded? Make sure she doesn't run some freak pace, thus making conversation impossible. Tennis seems worse....hard to hold a conversation 50 feet away from someone (or whatever the distance). See if she's willing to come up to Bethesda....run a couple miles on the CCT and then stroll over to Cosi or one of the spots w/ outdoor seating on Bethesda Row.

I prefer the second picture, got a cute Catherine Zeta-Jones meets Maggie Grace in Taken thing going on

Trust Leafee, QT. This guy knows women.

You did improv in High School? That's really cool.

Thanks, Kettle.

Adopting. Mine had some issues (cataracts) that didn't crop up until 6 months after I adopted him. No way to see those at the time I adopted him though.

edit: mine was $250 to adopt, but he needed to be neutered, micro-chipped, and had a abscess on his paw...so it was worth it.