Musings & Observations

1998

Well now.... I have always thought that it would be kinda cool to be a columnist like Steve Blow in the Dallas Morning News. I'd be able to express my opinion's and thoughts about things in general and have people actually read it. Well I've given myself the chance here. You'll find out what I've been thinking about on this page. You can also find out how my dates go here as well. Since many people have a small amount of voyeurism in them, I thought I'd just report on my activities right here.......ENJOY!

Happiness does not occur when everything in your live is exactly how you expect and desire it to be. One should not use this as a frame of reference for happiness. Those who do this are not happy for long, if at all.

Happiness is not a magical state of well being as many would suggest. It is a decision that is made every time you think about the subject. It really comes down to the mental choice to exert energy positively or negatively.

I seek a greatlady who exerts positive energy and does not have to constantly ask herself if she is "happy". Her decisions and actions will be of a positive nature. We will work together to offset each others occasional negative flaws and in doing so we both will be much better off.

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The largest segment of mail I receive from women are from those who are at least 10 years older than I am. One of these woman suggested that the problem with my web site idea is that women are taught to act like flowers and wait for the bees (men) to come to them. She suggested that because of this "social taboo" my potential "greatlady" would never give me a second thought even though she may be impressed with my effort.

My guess is that all these older women have a little experience with relationships. They realize that anyone who would go through such an effort to find them probably has lots of positive energy to send their way. Younger ladies seem to be concerned with social taboos and superficial things.

So where are you Ms. "greatlady"?

Occasionally I receive mail telling me that my idea will never work. That is to say that the idea of finding my "greatlady" in this non-traditional way will not be fruitful. No one has yet to able to explain what the traditional ways are. I view this web site as a simple way to make contacts. That is all. I rattle my brain trying to think why it would be that I do not hear from more local ladies. Am I too ugly? Do the jokes make me seem crude and vulgar? Am I trying too hard or too little? I insist on telling the truth. Does this bother most ladies? Sometimes I get so frustrated.

My experiences so far seem to indicate that women just love to be lied to. They want to be told exactly what THEY want to hear. Clever guys know this and capitalize on it. I believe women call them "players". I do not possess this trait. Like it or not I speak the truth and it seems to hang me. I seek someone who does not run from the truth and who is not phony. A large amount of emotional "baggage" is also not desirable.

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My thanks to those who have been leaving messages on my 800 number rather than just hanging up. If you would leave an E-mail address or phone number I'd love it because sometimes I want to reply.

One young lady disagreed with a few things I had to say here...... I'd love to talk with her (please call or e-mail me again) .... The only thing she mentioned specifically was that she knew that co-habitating didn't always work and actually led to more divorces than more traditional methods. I don't know the actual statistics but I will seek data on this subject. I am not sold on cohabitation but I do like the idea and will consider it if the young lady is willing.

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I returned to Phoenix last weekend. My grandfather passed away and I and most of my family attended the funeral. Simply put.....it was very sad!

I get a lot of hang up calls on my 800 number. I am not sure why. I suppose folks just want to hear my voice to see if I am real. It is no problem really. I just wish they would leave a message and tell me something interesting. I invite everyone to check out my voice. I don't sound like a Texan.

I am off to East Texas in a little while. I am spending the holiday with Mom and Granny. I don't expect anything unusual to occur. I do expect to gain a little weight though. :-) I'd like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I rediscovered the Matchmaker network this week. www.dallas.email.net This service gave me the idea to start my web site. What I have done here is really just an expanded version of a Matchmaker Profile. Since I last visited Matchmaker the service has grown. There are a lot more people using the service and it seem that the females have finally caught on to the idea. Guys still outnumber women but not by the large number of a year ago. I have found several interesting local young women on line this time. The problem is standing out from the swarm of other guys on the service. My fingers are crossed.

When the right young woman comes along things are gonna click. I just know it! Unfortunately timing, distance and her priorities stand in my way. I have the idea that I will find a young woman, (or she finds me) who fits my stated qualifications, we will date for a while and if things go well we will cohabitate so we can both decide if we can "deal" with each other. I know others who have done this. It works! The problem I have with the "net thing " is the distance involved. Sure, if she IS the right lady and I am the right guy it will work. The catch is knowing and possibly taking a big chance when you are not sure.

The solution I guess is that I need a reasonably local young lady who fits my qualifications and who I get along with. The circumstances of her life need to be such that she is looking for a "greatguy" and she has her priorities set so as to foster a relationship and potential family. A hint to all is that the words "me" and "my" contained as part of any self centered priorities just won't work. (For example my career or my own selfish needs.)

I get lots of mail from women who want to talk with me. At issue is that many of these women are older and they are far away. I desire to date women who meet my qualifications and are reasonably local. For some reason I get very few qualified local ladies. I have no idea why. Could it be that they are all to politically correct to want to be associated with a guy who laughs at the Outhouse jokes? What would their preacher think?

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I know I have been guilty of not replying to everyone. Please do not take offence. I receive LOTS of mail. If I didn't get back to you please don't assume it is because I am not interested. Kindly send me a reminder that you haven't heard from me. :-)

Yes, I am still here! I have been real busy lately. Ms Austin has been keeping me busy in person on the weekends and via the computer during the week. I enjoy the time I have been spending with her. She has even convinced me to clean out and organize all my closets. LOL

Happy birthday Ms Austin! :-)

This past weekend I traveled to Phoenix to visit my grandfather who has been in the hospital. He seemed to be doing quite well and he my mother and brother had a great visit. The second purpose of my trip was to see my newborn nephew Jason. He is a neat kid and as soon as I get some pictures from my sister-in-law I will post them for you to see. I traveled to Arizona via Austin because the plane fare from Dallas on short notice was almost $1200. A short drive to Austin and a plane ticket on Southwest Airlines saved me $800. Travel on short notice is such a rip off! It pays to be creative to get around the high fares. As a bonus I got to spend some more time with Ms Austin. I really enjoyed the whole trip.

The only problem I encountered was all the E-mail I received while I was away. I did not bring my laptop with me so when I returned there were more then 200 messages to answer. My apologies to those people I need to reply to. I am doing my best to get to you.

My job search has been yielding fruit. I have been surprised that the resume on this site hasn't attracted much direct interest. (Those head hunters are getting my resume somehow though.) I have generated several leads and interviews from resumes I have sent in response to ads posted on www.computerjobs.com. If you are in the computer field and are looking for a new position I invite you to check out this web site. I am hopeful to have some good news to report to you soon. :-)

Please check out the jokes sections this weekend. I plan to update it real soon.

What a neat weekend! I had a lot of fun. Ms Austin came up last Thursday morning and we were together till Sunday. Thursday evening we went to the Matchbox 20 show. We were not disappointed. These guys sounded great in concert. I would have loved to have been up front but by the time we got to the ticket counter the best seats were all gone. Friday we went to the Ft Worth zoo and Saturday to the State Fair of Texas. Sunday we spent the evening with my friends Jorge and Yolanda and their family. In between time we stayed quite busy. 

I am quite impressed with this young lady. I have nothing but good things to say about her. She is full of energy and when she focuses it in an area she cares about....watch out. She is bright, interesting, funny, quirky and is real good at making me think. :-) How neat! We have plans to get together again next weekend. Guess who is looking forward to that!

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To resurface my rotors or not? That was the question. I know this is a different topic but it is one I pondered yesterday. The brake pads on my car needed replacing this weekend. I called around, talked to people, had inspections and dealt with a bunch of bullshit from folks who just wanted my money. The pads are easy to replace. I could have done it myself but I was unsure about the rotor work. In the end I got the Acura dealer that I always do business with to do the work. They gave me a discount and it turned out to be the cheapest option. Acura does not recommend rotor resurface unless they are damaged.  My rotors were in good shape. Be careful when you need maintenance....it is easy to get ripped off! I could have saved $80 by doing it myself but in the end it wasn't worth it.

Well, as every male knows, females often change their minds. I am pleased to report that Ms Austin changed hers in my favor. Basically, assumptions were made that just weren't true. (I hate assumptions) After a long discussion the issues were resolved. She arrived here Saturday morning and we spent a neat day at Six Flags over Texas in Arlington. I invited my friends Jorge and Yolanda and their children Clarissa and Emilio to meet us later in the afternoon. I was convinced that they would get along great with Ms Austin. I was correct. Things worked out real well. We talked and visited till after the park closed. A good time was had by all. We have been invited to Jorge's place next weekend for dinner. Ms Austin will be here on Thursday for the concert and we have plans for the whole weekend. :-) How about that....LOL

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Folks, the E-mail keeps pouring in. I am very sorry that I can no longer reply to everyone personally as I have been doing. I read every message you send. I will reply to specific questions and those that are really interesting. On average I get 50+ mails a day. And If I miss one day I have over 100 to go through. I do love the jokes...please keep them coming. I can not post everything you send due to a lack of space. They all do get read and most all of them bring a smile to my face. I'd like to thank one and all for keeping me laughing.

Folks, I have no idea what happened. I didn't do anything different. Ms Austin has changed her mind and does not want to come to Dallas as she agreed. Did I get dumped? I guess I did in a way but I can assure all that it was through no fault of my own. She did explain and well, I guess it is a female thing. (I would explain further but I don't want to invade her privacy) Simply put, I now need a date for Sat the 19th at Six Flags and Matchbox 20 on Thursday the 24th. Are you in North Texas? Are you interested. I am here. E-mail works or leave me voice mail on my pager 1-800-690-5376.

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The Labor Day holiday turned out to be real sad for Mom, Granny and I. Mom's dog Mr. Flake had to be put to sleep this weekend. He was 12 years old and had medical problems that really could not be solved. The poodle shown on this web site will be missed by all. :-(

One piece of advice that I hear all the time is "when you stop looking you will find her". The advice is valid enough for some, I suppose. You must understand that I have a good idea of what I seek. If I were to stop "looking" now I'd be left with nothing. I am a particular guy. I am not interested in dating just anyone. I am also not interested in settling down with just anyone.  This advice doesn't hold with me because when I find her I'll stop looking not the other way around.

Want to catch my attention? Tell me something interesting. Present interesting thoughts and or ideas. Don't lie or make yourself out to be someone or thing you are not. I am not impressed by phoniness of any kind! Be yourself and tell the truth!

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Virus warnings and Internet chain letters suck! Please don't send them to me. They are a waste of time and Internet bandwidth. I get lots of mail each day and far too much of it is this trash. I know many of you mean well when you forward this stuff. Please check out these web sites for more information about net hoaxes and legends.

http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
or
http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html
and
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/zdnn/1203/259319.html

I received several messages this evening telling me about a "plug" on Q102 radio (Dallas) this morning. Most likely this occurred on the Lex and Terry show. Apparently, someone called in to bash my web site but as far as I can tell, all it has done is generated hits and positive E-mail. Thank you whoever you are. Next time please try KISS or MIX 102.9. Both stations have better demographics then Q102. I like Lex and Terry and I occasionally listen in the morning but I am quite sure that their audience consists mostly of 18-35 year old males. These are not the folks I am looking for. :-)  My thanks to anyone who would care to mention me to the media. Good or bad,  it does generate hits! This is exactly what I am looking for.

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Ms Austin and I have been communicating almost every night for a long time. The more I talk with her, the more interesting she becomes. She is really into her work and her enthusiasm for it is contagious at times. This young lady has lots of energy and when she gets on a roll...watch out. This is a good thing. :-)

We have plans to get together next month when Matchbox20 comes to town. We have several neat things planned to do. I am hopeful to spend some more time together as soon as she returns to a normal work routine.

I received several letters of advice after I posted the request for help regarding meeting a young lady. (see below) The majority of you told me I shouldn't do anything to twist her arm. That was my approach and it worked. I made a trip to Waco yesterday to meet Ms Austin. The date worked out really well. She turned out to be exactly the same young woman I had been conversing with for hours and hours and hours on the phone and on the computer. The picture she sent me accurately represented reality. What I mean by that is that she didn't send a made up "glamour shot" photo that wouldn't reflect reality. I was quite pleased by this. I loath "phoniness" and untruth.

We ate lunch at a Tex-Mex restraunt then proceeded to the Waco Zoo during the middle of the hot Texas afternoon. The temperature climbed well over 100 but we weren't the only "crazies" at the zoo. I wouldn't have thought that Waco Texas would have had much of a zoo but it turned out to be really nice. We both had a good time there.

After the zoo we went to the mall to buy tickets to see Matchbox 20. It turned out that no one in the mall sold tickets so we had to travel to another store to get them. We ate ice cream and talked for a while. By the time we were done it was 8 pm and we decided to head home. All in all it worked out to be a neat first date. There will be more to come. :-)

Every now and then I come into contact with a someone who catches my attention. A young lady in Austin, Texas popped up on my AOL Instant Messenger one night a few weeks ago. What was unusual about her is that right off the bat she had something interesting to say. She had an opinion and wasn't afraid to express it. Over the past few weeks I have spent hours and hours of time talking with her on the telephone and on the computer. This woman is educated, passionate, motivated, aggressive, intelligent, funny, and, let's not forget, cute. Simply put, she is unique. I am quite impressed by her. Of all the people I talk to this young lady is among the few who has caught my attention. To me she is indeed someone special. So pretty lady, who for the moment shall remain nameless..... when will I get to meet you in person?

Folks in webland.... What can I do to twist this young lady's arm? Any and all suggestions are welcome micheal@greatguy.com .

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Slowly but surely the gums where my wisdom teeth were are healing. I suspect that in a week or two I will be healed and can start considering orthodontics.

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I overheard two guys discussing marriage a few days ago. One guy said to the other, "I am never getting married." "Every one of my friends who got married is miserable now." The conversation continued but I got to thinking about those statements. I knew where he was coming from. The whole point of my "greatguy" effort is to not get into that trap by spending
time and effort up front to find my "greatlady." There is no reason to be miserable in a bad marriage. I am looking for a solid foundation to build into a marriage. Why are there so many divorces? Because too many people go for the wrong things and don't have a solid foundation. My bet is that time and effort focused in the right direction will lead to a happy "greatguy".

I didn't get my wisdom teeth removed last Friday because I learned it was a holiday at my office. I decided to use a "sick day" for my surgery instead. I had the work done yesterday morning. I am pleased to report that all went well and I am in much better shape than I thought I would be. There is a very slight amount of swelling on the left side of my face but that is the extent of the damage. The stitches feel funny and I have to be careful about how I open my mouth. The doctor gave me pain pills but I haven't had to take any.

Mom traveled from Longview to take care of me for the weekend. I am so glad she came. She had the bright idea to use a small package of frozen corn to act as an ice pack for my face. It works beautifully as the corn molds to my face and is really cold. Mom has been waiting on me but I am feeling so good that I don't think that it will be needed. In fact I think we will go out to the movies this afternoon.

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The mail keeps coming in. Thank you all for writing. I am pleased to report that I have met  several interesting young ladies over the past 3 weeks and I am looking forward to meeting them in person.

Greatguy.com was chosen as one of the webs “Top ten picks of the week” by the tracking service Web Side Story www.hitbox.com/wc/top.html. This mention has nearly doubled the daily hit count to almost 400. How neat! I have receive lots of mail because of this. Please be patient with me. I will reply ASAP!

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I am headed to East Texas to visit mom and granny in a few minutes. (I'll update the jokes next week) It is mom's 51th birthday. OOPS was I supposed to tell her age. :-) Anyway, everyone will get to see my new tags while I am on my trip. The tags were a birthday gift from her to me last month. The tags say GR8GUY. How clever!

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Well, I ran into Denise from Montana during one of my ICQ chat sessions. Dee is an interesting, funny and intelligent young lady. She sent a picture.....cute too! :-)

The fact is that my teeth are bigger than my mouth. So what? Well, for years I thought just that. Then I started this web site and I began thinking about things a bit differently. The issue is that four of my teeth are not perfectly aligned because there was no room for them to fit correctly.  This is not an unusual problem. In fact, it has made orthodontists rich for years. It is just that lately I have become self conscious of these stray teeth.

I sat down one day and read through hundred of women's profiles in the Matchmaker database. One of the most common things that I noticed women were looking for (besides tall and handsome) was a nice smile. Hmmm I thought, my teeth are sound and healthy but I have a crooked smile. If so many ladies mentioned this, I decided that there must be something to it.

My mind tells me that the whole issue is silly but my gut says I need to spend time in the dentists chair. I have convinced myself that a nice smile sells! Your smile speaks for you not just to women but also anyone who you are trying influence. I cannot really do anything about being taller or more handsome but I can improve my smile.

The process starts next Friday when I get all four of my impacted wisdom teeth removed..... Has anyone had this done? Did it hurt? Were there any problems?

I didn't have any dates planned this weekend so I decided I should spend some time promoting my web site. The question at hand was....just what to do. The weather was gorgeous and I thought to myself, just where are all the people going to be this evening. The answer hit me like magic......The West End.... What a wonderful idea! I threw my bike in the back of my car and headed to downtown Dallas. I parked in an outstanding spot in the middle of all the action. The crowds started about 6 PM and it was like a busy day at Six Flags. A whole lot of people saw the back of my car. It was wonderful. I rode my bike around the West End and kept my eye on the car. Occasionally I would stop near the car to watch peoples reaction to my sign. It was a HIT! The crowd downtown was in the right age range and the sign made folks laugh. This is what I was after. :))

The problem as usual is convincing the ladies that check me out that I am not some kind of ax murder they have heard about from their friends. You know, an Internet stalker or other weirdo. Facts are ladies that I am a nice "greatguy". There is really nothing I can do if you don't believe me. Hence I need to go for volume. That is get lots and lots of hits cause somewhere out there there is a young lady who is going to take a chance on a "greatguy" who happens to use the "net" to communicate. Will it be you? My fingers are crossed!

There is a definite problem with discussing the various dates and lunches I go on in this section. The issue is that ladies want to know all about the others I have met. This can cause problems and I know on at least one occasion I scared a young lady off because she thought I had too many possibilities. Indeed this is true. I do make lots of contacts but I only date a SMALL portion of these people. I am extremely picky plus many people live far away. Long distance relationships are expensive. ( I just got my credit card bills from my Atlanta trip. )  As such, I am going to refrain from discussing specific ladies till more of a relationship develops. This is to help keep me out of trouble. :)) I am pleased to report that my extra efforts in making local contacts are paying off.....

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Happy birthday to me.....happy birthday to me! I turned 33 yesterday. You'll never guess what I wished for. *LOL*

I was very frustrated with my ISP, FlashNet, last week. Their web server which hosts this site was down for more than 36 hours. The problem for me was that I had been getting nearly 200 hits a day from folks passing around links to my site via the net. When the server went down people were getting error messages and would likely not forward my link on to their friends. Since the server came back up I am averaging only about 100 hits a day. :(( I suppose that is the price I pay for cheap Internet service. It is not easy to dump FN cause lots of folks have linked directly to me. If it happens again I will take action. You hear that FlashNet!

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I rediscovered the Matchmaker BBS this week. (Matchmaker gave we the idea to start this web site)  My goal was to make more local contacts. I still get lots of mail but as I have stated before....It is from all over the world. I dropped Matchmaker 18 months ago cause there weren't enough ladies on it (lots of guys). Now there seems to be more ladies then before. I have made several new contacts and have dates planned for this week. :)) This is a good thing. *LOL*

Who put the sand in my sugar? Kimberly has the wonderful ability to get people, especially guys, to do anything she wants. She has a pretty face, wonderful smile and Southern charm that would make any guy melt. When I visited with her this was apparent more then once. I also noticed a flip side to that charm when she became annoyed with someone. (not me)  I asked her to explain this and well.......... that was that. I did not deem any of the issues I asked Kim about as major problems. Never the less she got defensive. <Sigh> I do hope she will talk with me again. I still think she is a very special young lady.  There is still hope.

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The good news is that my hit count is way up this week. That means lots of new leads. I really like the local ones. One thing I learned with my Atlanta trip is that I am going to have to spend lots of time getting to know my "greatlady".  The ability to go out after work to see a movie or eat ice cream seems like lots of fun. I will travel for a person who I deem strong enough to make it worthwhile.

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My friend Jack wrote to tell me that he thought my "loafer" cartoon was racist and offensive. I asked him to explain and he did. The cartoon has been replaced. I'd like to thank the friends I consulted on this topic for their opinions. All my friend said the cartoon wasn't that bad however they could see where some might be bothered by it. I don't pull stuff cause one person complains. In this case my friends concurred just a wee bit.

My trip to Georgia to visit Kimberly went great. My weekend was very busy. We bowled, rode go-carts at Speed Zone (I passed her....*LOL*), ate out several times and spent all day Sunday hiking in the North Georgia mountains. My feet are still sore from that. I really enjoyed the hike. We talked and found out stuff about each other. Guess what! We have even more things in common. :))

As I suspected she is a very pretty young woman. I did manage to get a picture of her and if she approves (fingers crossed), I'll post it in the pictures section of this web. I am sure you will agree that she is a very attractive young woman.

As dates go this one went very well. I did goof up one time and managed to discuss a sore subject. I must tell you that I meant well but.......... We have been following this up with E-mail and I am pleased to report that this issue was the only time she was annoyed with me. I have asked for forgivness and feel a strong urge to send flowers. :))) I also learned that I couldn't always tell when she was teasing and more than once I made a fool of myself. I hope that over time I will learn to distinguishwhen she is teasing. :))

I also spent a little time with my Aunt and cousins in Georiga. I stayed at my aunts place over night but only got to visit with them for a little while cause I was so busy with Kimberly. I did spend some time getting my cousins PC up and running again. I am sure that he is very pleased about that.

I am looking forward to another trip to GA and will be working with Kimberly to arrange it before June.

Well, it is midnight and I managed to keep Kimberly up way too late while we were talking on the phone. The real unique thing about this young woman is that I relate to her so well. She consistently understands what I have to say and even when the topic wanders to something technical that is work related she responds with intelligent feedback. Simply put, she understands what is going on and why and she is even interested. This is such a treat and is very rare. I also believe that the reverse is very true.

We discussed plans for our upcoming meeting and I am very much looking forward to the trip. We pretty much have Friday planned out and on Saturday we intend to go hiking with a group of folks in the Georgia mountains. My fingers are crossed for great weather. Sunday I'll probably spend with my cousins and aunt but Sunday night I plan to meet Kim for some go-cart riding! This sounds really fun.

I spent this weekend at moms getting plenty of advise from both her and granny regarding my upcoming trip. Oh my goodness, I bet I don't remember half of what they told me. <Sigh> I'll bet Kim won't mind though. :))

I am very sorry that I haven't been on ICQ or IM as much as normal but as you can see I have been real busy. I am also behind with E-mail. I hope everyone will be patient with me. I also haven't been able to update the jokes this weekend either. Stay tuned......I'll work on that later this week. Kimberly definitely has me going in many directions. :)))

One word can describe what was on my mind all last week......Kimberly. Ladies and gentlemen this young woman is dynamite. I recently received an E-mail from a friend of hers who lives in Sri Lanka. His name is Rasi (actually it is a big long name but everyone calls him Rasi for short <grin> ) and he has had the pleasure of meeting Kim when she visited him and his family. Rasi confirmed my impressions of Kimberly and he even used the words "one in a million" a time or two. Rasi and family are good friends of Kim and he had only the nicest of things to say about her and her visit. I am so impressed. Independent confirmation of my impressions cannot be ignored.

I am pleased to report that Kim and I have arranged to meet in Atlanta on April 24th. Boy am I looking forward to that. I guarantee you that I will be "big time" nervous all day on the 24th cause I'll be real afraid that I'll screw up........ My fingers will be crossed....... In the mean time I look forward to hearing from Kimberly.

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Well, the Microsoft Windows CE "love fest" in San Jose went well. I was real impressed with their product and the tools they have to develop software for it. The new computers such as the Palm / PC, handheld /PC and Auto PC were impressive as well. I had the pleasure of meeting many fellow developers and made several new friends. Microsoft put on a great show and I'll say that a good time was had by all us "geeks".

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The IRS "commith" and it is looking for blood! I hate April 15th cause I always have to PAY. Grrrrrrr! This year my "uncle" is going to shaft me big time! <Sigh>

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I'd publicly like to thank all those who have been feeding me jokes. Dee, Larry, Beth, Pam, Rosie, Kim (from Oregon), Joseph and Jeff. You guys don't know how much you make my day with your funny stuff. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR INCLUDING ME ON YOUR DISTRIBUTION LISTS!

We have been had. Ray's story about being sued and shutting down Joke-A-Day was a hoax. (See below) Ray says happy April Fools Day. "What a gag!" LOL He sure got me. <Grin>

I must apologize for not getting this section of the web updated on time. I know for a fact that some of you are regular readers and are probably wondering what's up. Well, there is a young lady in North Georgia who has been occupying my time and thoughts since last Friday. Her name is Kimberly and I have tossed and turned for several nights with her in the back of my mind. This young lady matches all the requirements I have stated I was looking for in a "greatlady" and then some. She is definitely a "Georgia Peach".

Kim is intelligent, very well educated, clever and a wonderful communicator. She is also an energetic self employed professional. Besides all that, she is an outgoing and friendly young woman with morals and conviction. This lady is a "small town girl" with a Georgian accent that just "melts" this "greatguy". I have yet to see a picture but I have a general idea of what she looks like from things that she has said. Mmmmmmm good! She brought up the idea of a picture yesterday and said she would send one soon. Fact is, I really don't need to see that picture to know that she possess traits that I am looking for. As such her looks don't matter much.

I am all set to fly to Atlanta as soon as she gives the OK. I am fortunate in that Kim lives near my aunt and several cousins so I have family within 30 miles of her. Looks like I might have a home away from home. That certainly works out well for me.

I have Ray's Joke-A-Day to thank for pointing Kim my way. She saw the March 5th ad recently and things have been interesting ever since. *LOL*

Counselor, you have my attention!

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Speaking of lawyers.....Kim told me that Ray and Joke-A-Day were being sued by a real jerk for harassment. The story is a lame one and basically the guy is an "Asshole" just like Ray said. This morning I read Ray's mailing about the subject and got all fired up! Kim asked me the other day why I had negative feelings towards lawyers. Here is a good reason. For details about this subject check out Ray's site at www.jokeaday.com.

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I am traveling to San Jose on Saturday to attend a Windows CE developers conference. If you live in the area let me know. I'd love to meet with you. Simply page me (see the link on my main page) or drop me E-mail.

Spring has sprung in Dallas. What a wonderful day! I had stored up a bunch of extra energy over the past few weeks. The weather had been too cold and wet to get out and ride my bike. Today was just perfect to get out and ride. I went over to White Rock Lake about noon. I parked my car in a strategic location so that passers by would see my greatguy sign on my car. Then off I went for 24 miles, almost non stop. That was the most I have ever ridden on a single trip. It was 4:30 when I made it back to the car. What a ride! My legs are going to be real sore tomorrow and Tuesday. I worked my legs real hard yesterday at the gym as well. I'd love my "great lady" to be interested in bike riding or maybe roller blading. I am considering buying a pair of blades.

I set a lunch date up with Susan for some time this week. Her schedule was kind of busy so she is going to page me when she can go. We have chatted on the phone several times. She seems like a real nice lady. She saw one of my billboards a few months ago and we have been chatting ever since.

I have made several new leads over the past two weeks. I report more as soon as things firm up a bit.

The timer for my chocolate chip cookies just went off. Got to go for now.

My cyber-older sister from Florida wrote me to complain about two of the cartoons I had posted in the "Outhouse". She said she was shocked after reading the Valentine's Day story in the "Loveshack" then clicking over to the outhouse and viewing those cartoons. She insisted that no "nice" young lady would ever contact me after seeing "those" cartoons. Well, being the greatguy I am I decided to remove both cartoons. Interestingly both were sent to me by women. If you would like to see the cartoons simply send me E-mail and I'll send them your way.

Thanks Pam for fixing my bad spelling and grammar!

Joke-A-Day is amazing. Once again my E-mail inbox has been overflowing with lots stuff from all kinds of nice people. There have been many older women that have written praises about my efforts. I think what is going on is that the older ladies really understand what I am trying to do since they have been through at least one relationship.

I have also heard from a few single moms. Their story is the same as I have mentioned before. My deal with this is the EX husband not the kids. The odds for living a life with as few problems as possible are much better with a lady who doesn't have kids. No doubt I would date a single mom but the circumstances would have to be unusual for the relationship to go to far. (Widow or grown kids for example)

There were a few guys who replied in this batch of mail as well. I was tickled to hear from them. And no there was not a gay one in the bunch. I was very proud of those letters.

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I met Pam #1 at the airport several days ago. Her two friends Shelly and Cari were with her. Pam is a nice young lady. She is funny, pretty and quite fun to be around. The problem of course is that she lives in Nebraska. <Sigh> We all walked around DFW airport looking for their departure gate and a locker to put the bags in while we went to eat. Of course the departure gate was across the other side of the terminal. Time wasn't an issue as they had 4 hours.

We made it to my car and obviously Pam did not realize the size of the lettering that says www.greatguy.com on the back window. *LOL* I told them they were going to ride in the greatguy-mobile. <Grin> I treated them all to Tex-Mex at La Hacienda ranch in Grapevine. We discussed their trip while we stuffed our faces. I enjoyed the outing. When we returned to the airport Pam gave me a T-Shirt from the Virgin Islands. It was just the right size and I proudly wear it to the gym. Thanks Pam.

Pam #2 I met through the plug that Kidd Kraddick did on his morning radio show about my web site. Pam and I have been chatting via ICQ and E-mail for awhile. She invited me to meet her at the North Texas Irish Festival this past weekend. Pam was volunteering at the fair and I decided to take her up on the offer. She had already sent me a picture so I knew what she looked like. She told me that she would be wearing blue jeans, a green sweatshirt and of course she has red hair. Now it sounds like it would be real easy to find someone like that but remember she was at the Irish Festival. My oh my were there a lot of people who matched that description. *LOL*

We had no agreed upon time to meet. She told me where would be working and when. I got to the fair after it stopped raining but by then she was on her 4 hour break. I wandered around the fair for four hours till she went back on duty at 8 pm. There were lots of things going on in the mean time. I kept looking for her in the crowd but it was hopeless. Eight O'clock finally came around and I caught up with her while she was selling beer tickets. Unfortunately tickets sell briskly at an Irish festival so we only got to chat for a little while between customers. I enjoyed our brief visit and look forward to spending more time with her soon as she lives in North Texas. I just wish that I would have caught her during her 4 hours off. <Sigh> I was tired and cold so I left around 9:30 pm.We have talked almost every day since.

I have made several more leads this week and several of those are local. My fingers are crossed.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. For the purpose of meeting friends it can't be beat. I have met and chatted with folks from all over the globe. Some of them are wonderful people. If only a few of them lived a little closer...... It is going to take time for me to find my "great lady". It definitely will require lots of "in person" dating. This is real hard when the young ladies live across the globe. Oh what's a great guy to do about that. <Sigh>. Joke-A-Day folks please don't let me discourage you from contacting me. I'd love to hear from you.

Tomorrow I will meet Pam and her friend at the airport. She contacted me from a Joke-A-Day ad I ran several months ago. She is a funny young lady and I am real glad I met her. I am looking forward to our visit.

There are a few local ladies I have been chatting with as well. For now it seems that they are on the fence. Maybe they are afraid that I am some kind of "weirdo". I can assure all that this is not the case. Would you like mom's E-mail address? You can ask her if I am a weirdo. <Grin>

The vinyl lettering I put on the back of my car is working great! I keep getting looks and waves and horn toots as I go down the road. My thanks to all the friendly people in Dallas.

One of the good things about Dallas is our airport is a huge regional hub. On occasion I get the chance to meet some of  the ladies I chat with when they are "passing through". A few months ago I met Pam from an ad I ran on Joke-A-Day. She lives in Nebraska and will be traveling through real soon. Pam has contributed lots of jokes to greatguy.com and is a real funny person. I am looking forward to meeting her in person.

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I am very bad with details. Several days ago I chatted with a young lady at the gym. Friday evening I thought I saw her again but I am so bad with details that I wasn't sure if it was her or not. I have a hard time recognizing people unless I have met them a few times. I don't even know what color my mom's eyes are. Rather than sounding like an idiot I decided to just walk on. Lynn, if that was you, please say hi if I see you again. 

My friend Paul sent me a message last week that included the following ..

My girlfriend works with a woman who is interested in meeting "an engineer-type who is a bit nerdy". I'd say that you fill those shoes quite nicely.

HA HA HA OK, I am an "engineer-type" and I do sit in front of a computer a lot. In fact I earn my living doing it. I suppose I am a "nerd" and a "geek" too. This sure does beat flipping hamburgers or driving a beer truck. I am not in the least concerned about these stereotypes. In this computer age we live in my "nerdiness" is in demand. My "great lady" will understand who I am and won't care about such silliness. I do have lots of other non-nerdy qualities. Want to go work out?

I discussed this young lady with Paul over lunch and I asked him if she had visited my web site. I hate totally blind dates, I explained, and the web allows the young lady to find out a little about me before we meet. In this way it is not a totally "blind" date. The whole idea of greatguy.com is to make contacts with ladies and to avoid totally blind dates.

I have yet to hear from Paul's friend.....We shall see!

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Kidd Kraddick mentioned greatguy.com on his morning radio show last week. I didn't hear it but I knew something was up when my pager started going off with messages from women. Wow, was that cool! KISS-FM has the highest rated morning show in the Dallas market and the majority of his listeners are women in just the right age range. Well, for those of you that think that the women who respond to me are "fat and ugly" (I know a few of you do)........ have I got a few pictures to show you!

Thanks Kidd, I'll keep you posted!

Billboard advertising does work. Friday I was riding a life cycle at the gym when I struck up a conversation with the woman next to me. She was an attractive young lady and she was intensely studying a text book when I noticed her. We talked about her studies and stuff then I told her that I was looking for a great lady and that I was a Great Guy.........dot COM. Well her mouth dropped open. "I saw your billboard on Greenville Avenue last week", she said. "I was wondering who put up that sign and now I met you out of the blue". I thought that that was real cool. I didn't ask her out or anything. I don't even know if she is married. I do know her name is Lynn. Who knows maybe we will chat again.

Earlier that day a vendor was in my office. He told me the he saw the same billboard and knew that I had something to do with it. He checked out this web site and couldn't believe that it was dedicated to just me. He thought there were a bunch of guys on here. Someday maybe but for now, I am looking for MY "great lady".

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Several of you have asked about Michele. Have we gone out....etc. Well we have chatted a little via E-mail and she has sent some funny jokes but that is all. She has been busy with her work. I have not been given a "blow off" so who knows. We shall see. I have to admit that I never know when "I'm busy" really means I am not interested. One thing for sure.......My great lady will be honest and direct with me.

Folks sex sells. Don't believe me? Turn on any TV news show you want. The topic of discussion will be president Clinton and his former intern. The press just loves it. They can now legitimately act like Howard Stern and get away with it under the guise of "the public has the right to know". The reality is that their discussions on this topic sells ads just like Howard does.

Well this member of the public is sick of the whole thing. When I want stuff like this I'll listen to Howard (except they took him off in Dallas). I want to hear about what the President is doing to lower my taxes or fix the schools or crime or bazillions of other things. I am not interested in what goes on in his bedroom. I don't care. It is between himself, his mistress(es) and his wife. Please leave me out of all the details. I am interested in knowing about the subject but just a brief mention on the evening news is all I require. If the president is proven to have lied under oath then we have a big deal. Until this is proven.....enough is enough.

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A very small percentage (< 1%) of the E-mail I receive is critical of me. There are two issues that come up. The first goes something like this....."how is it that you can announce to the world how *desperate* you are". The second is......."I smoke and / or I have kids......I feel as though you slapped me in the face by stating that you aren't interested in these things".

Well I don't mind kids......It is the step-kids issue that concerns me. If the lady is a widow there is no problem at all. If not, there will always be ties to the EX that I am not interested in. As for smoking.....I am very sorry but smoking is OUT. It is just too nasty for me.

*Desperate* I addressed elsewhere on my site. Simply put this is NOT an attempt to just get a date. I am looking for the right lady for me and this web site works 24 hours a day 7 days a week to help me find her. It is just as simple as that.

The flu finally worked its way out of my system. Thank Goodness! I am pretty much back to normal. I went back to the gym last evening and couldn't do my regular workout. I had been out of the gym for at least 10 days and I needed to slowly get back into my normal workout routine.

I purchased some rub on lettering from Fastsigns before coming down with the flu and I finally got them installed on my car. The sign says www.greatguy.com. This is a great way to advertise my web site. Previously I had been doing this but I was using shoe polish and latex paint. Both worked well till it rained then it was a pain. The letters should eliminate these problems plus they look better.

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I got to go on my lunch date yesterday. I liked the young lady. Her name is Michele and she has a job which is right up my alley with this web site. She is attractive and intelligent and seems like a nice young lady. If I didn't screw up real bad yesterday, I hope we will see each other again. We shall see.

A week ago I went shopping for a new pair of glasses. I paraded from store to store trying on different frames and asking about prices. Six hours and $250 later I had a nice pair of new specs and little did I know.....the flu. Of course I cannot prove that trying on eyeglasses was the source of the infection, but it is a good guess.

I was in bed with fever, chills, muscle aches and just a general rotten feeling for four days. I was able to get out of bed on Thursday afternoon and have been feeling much better ever since. The exception has been my throat. I have not had such a bad sore throat since my tonsils were removed years ago. I went to the doctor on Friday and well...he wasn't much help. He prescribed antibiotics but admitted that they probably wouldn't help. They didn't. So I sit here typing away and wondering what I'll eat on this day. With my sore throat my choices are limited. I wonder If a pizza would taste good blended in the blender with some apple sauce?

The flu has come at a bad time as I have met a real interesting young lady that I wanted to date this week but the flu put that on hold. My fingers are crossed for next week. She is in a position to meet lots of guys so this delay may cost me a greatgirl. <Big Frown> Boy, I hope not but if the throat doesn't clear up soon...............

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My web site was down yet again on Thursday and Friday. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Geo-Cities may be cheep for hosting my web site but it is very unreliable and the customer service sucks. I have moved greatguy.com to flash.net. If you have a bookmark to my old Geo-Cities address you may want to change it to simply www.greatguy.com.

I woke up from a nightmare in a cold sweat a few nights ago. At issue was an invasion of my privacy. In the nightmare, the E-mail that I have been sending and receiving from my greatguy account was being ridiculed on a TV talk show. A clever "co called" friend had cracked the password on my E-mail account and was sharing it with the world.

What was so scary about this was not the content of the E-mail. I am not embarassed or fearful of anything I write because it is all true. What is scary is the thought that my privacy was invaded by someone without my knowledge. Further more what if my passwords for my financial accounts were stolen or "cracked". This is what is really scary.

Change your passwords and PIN numbers reguarly. This is one of the prices of convenience in our electronic world.

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I haven't been on any dates since before Christmas. The problem is that I have not been making enough good contacts that are local. I still am getting E-mail and am chatting on the phone with ladies from out of state but it is hard to date someone that is more than a few hours away.

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