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" So, thanks to my new subscription to an online dating service, I already have four (yep, four) dates lined up for next week. Again, this isn&amp;#039;t the first time I&amp;#039;ve dipped my toe into the big online dating pool, but I&amp;#039;d like to think I&amp;#039;m older, wiser, and just a better dater than I was before. My friend, Robyn, who also is active in online dating, has developed a list of rules that at first I thought were a little over the top. But now, I&amp;#039;m starting to see her point. The thing is, is my life is super busy and active, and if I&amp;#039;m going to take an hour out of my schedule to meet someone, it should be worth it. So, here are some of Robyn&amp;#039;s rules, which are part Draconian, part The Rules, with a dash of He&amp;#039;s Just Not That Into You. Do you agree? Disagree? Have more to add?  Schedule dates for a weeknight. For me, weekends are way too-valuable real-estate, and I don&amp;#039;t necessarily want to give up that time for someone who I may just not connect with. My favorite days for dates are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Keep it Short. I never do dinner on a first date, and I&amp;#039;ll only meet for one, maximum, two drinks. Also, I&amp;#039;ve heard friends doing coffee dates or lunch dates, but time-wise, a lunch date would stress me out. I&amp;#039;ve done coffee dates a few times, but since I like to schedule dates after work, drink dates seem to make more sense.  Be Honest. If Robyn knows upfront that it won&amp;#039;t work, she&amp;#039;ll actually tell a guy straight up, before drinks and conversation. Cruel? Not really. It&amp;#039;s better than building false hope\u2014or making both of you suffer in a less-than-scintillating environment. Location, location, location. For me, blind date spots should be close to a subway, shouldn&amp;#039;t be overcrowded, and should be fun\u2014not stuffy. Personally, I like taking all my blind dates to a rotation of 3 or 4 of my favorite spots, since I like seeing a guy on my home turf, as it were. If he&amp;#039;s not into it, then I&amp;#039;m probably not into him.  Conversation. Obviously, keeping it light is important, but sometimes, after a drink, it&amp;#039;s easy to let your guard down and tell him a hilarious anecdote or observation about your ex-boyfriend, or OMG, when me and my ex used to come here, he always ordered the same beer that you just did, isn&amp;#039;t that weird? Don&amp;#039;t let a conversation topic go there. Sometimes, my problem with conversations is the fact that I&amp;#039;m a writer who does a LOT of interviewing on the job, so if I&amp;#039;m nervous or bored, I fall back into interview-mode. (Read: &amp;quot;you had a gerbil growing up? How fascinating. Tell me more about that,&amp;quot; when on the inside, I feel like banging my head against the bar) Ending It. This is tricky. If he says he&amp;#039;ll call, but you&amp;#039;re not into it, should you say something? I confess, sometimes I just let his calls go straight to voicemail until he eventually realizes it&amp;#039;s not going to happen. I know there are better ways to do it, but I&amp;#039;m not good at confrontation! Anyway, first date is tomorrow night (I know, it&amp;#039;s a Thursday and not My Favorite Date Day but I&amp;#039;m meeting a friend after work, so I scheduled this date after my friend meet-up. We&amp;#039;ll see how it goes) So far, the e-mails we&amp;#039;ve exchanged have been fine, but not too sparkly. But we&amp;#039;ll see! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/love-sex/relationships/a2791/a-game-always-has-to-have-rule/>