Requests module

I went to a launch party for a new website tonight. It was a great mixer for a gay MATCHING service for men looking for a long-term partner. Firstly, big thanks to David Perry & Associates for including me with this launch. Great teamwork guys, wonderful PR.

Now... Partners for Life. Imaging a mix of eHarmony, Vehix, Best Buy and and a well-organized HMO put into one single website for a man who wants a solid relationship with another man. That's about it. It's not a hook-up site. They're very clear with that goal. It's a premium match making site with incredibly complex software programming, demographics and very detailed and flexible matching criteria. Answers aren't yes/no but on a scaled variable, your answers are valued at fine increments to better match who you are and what is is appropriate for you. Sure, it's probably nothing new. Here is the ingenuity. I liked that potential matches can be viewed in a "side by side" comparison, much like shopping online for a car with Vehix, or a camcorder through Best Buy.

The fine engineering? That comes in with the actual matches. Believe me, I was talking to Stuart McFaul from Product Development for a good deal of time. It's not just a site with a search engine for similar matches from most occurring to least occurring key words. This is engineering that's been fine tuned with psychologists, sexologists, statisticians, and an enormous team of gay men who are no strangers to the dating scene. I wanted to know how focused demographics were to relevant regional service. Guys in San Francisco have a different dynamic from guys in Waikiki. It's a different "norm". How will the engineering of the site permit a reliable service (matching based on similarity vs compatibility or "ideals").

The development team has incorporated variables from age preference, race, economics, career, family development, health, and monogamy. It's a brilliant site that has really accepted the complexities of dating and finding a PARTNER. Again, I give them a thumbs up for the brilliance of really establishing a site for searching for long-term relationships, rather than a commercial orgy space on the internet. The site launched today and will expand to Southern California later this year. Projected launch for the major metropolitan cities on the East Coast will be under two years.

Ah, San Francisco, merging high-tech geeks with romance and sustainability...

Are we really so pressured to purchase a service to assist us with finding a mate? Have we been burned beyond repair that a bionic matchmaker is just far easier than healing or learning from our relationships? It's a question that we each have to answer and most likely a process no CPU can fathom, but it's what makes us human.

I just had a glorious day today. The string of storms seemed to have given the Bay Area a break this weekend. It was great yesterday and the sun was shining bright and the wind was mild. Yet another day of t-shirts, jeans, and a lot of people walking around town. Starbucks was crowded and the park was beautiful. That's the routine for a great, clear Sunday in San Francisco.

I had plans to meet a friend for lunch. What's so terrific is this was a playmate of mine a few years back. Incredibly sexy and a great lover. We always had fun and a shared a few smiles along the way but out of the blue, I decided to just have lunch. We met up and just chatted away about the things that were important and things that merely punctuated our lives around us.

San Francisco has been stuck in a stale cycle of "business as usual". We aren't the cutting-edge, creative mecca we once were. Arts are struggling, rent is high, our character has been bleached out by corporate mechanics and diminished by the routine of surviving paycheck to paycheck. There hasn't been a devastating disaster to pull us together as a community. There is no unifying threat such as powerful earthquake, or a monstrous fire, city-wide power failure, the concentrated impact of an out-of-control pandemic. We survived so many tragic events that might be considered cataclysmic in our small town. Many people who are the life-blood of the multiple communities are either dead or have moved away for various reasons. We're exhausted or just conserving our emotional energies, but we still care deep down.

It was refreshing for me to reach out and actually connect with someone on something far above any sexual motivation. It wasn't out of loneliness, but it occurs to me that there are people in my life that I really do think of fondly and want to keep in my life. It's a blessing to have a friend to call just to share a meal with and know that the smiles exchanged are genuine and not a gesture.

OK the first week of 2008 has been interesting.

I got dumped. Well, not really "dumped" in the bad sense. I got the "let's be friends" speech which was actually a remarkably kind and sweet and very sincere request. We're really going to be friends.

In the mean time, I'm back to a strong work routine. Finally got a good hold of the bills now and even though I'm not dating anyone, I can still manage a good degree of sexiness. Honestly, most of my time is not what people expect me to do. I don't go out to clubs, I probably only go into a bar once every month and usually just have two or no more than three drinks. I'm usually in bed before midnight since I like to just sit in bed and fiddle around with my photos, or just read postings from my friends. Otherwise, I'm just sitting in a coffee shop with my face in a comic book.

I honestly really do want to get into a regular schedule at the gym which will happen. One of my colleagues at work is leaving so the workload has been increased. Once we train new personnel, I'll get to the gym. I'm really pushing to get positions filled within two weeks. That's best case scenario.

Lately, I've been stuck in a Justice League Unlimited marathon! OK for dorks that think watching cartoons for hours upon hours is silly, just watch two episodes from either season one or season two. This isn't Tom & Jerry, Anime, or the old Super Friends cartoons. This series is really adult, clever, intelligent, intricate and full of some pretty damn good pounding action. Any comic book fan will get sucked into the series very easily (might even get a little choked up in a few episodes). If you know who Oliver Queen, Dina Lance, Carter Hall, Amanda Waller, General Eiling, or John Stewart are you better just pick up either Season One or Season two. If you like bitch brawls, then definitely pick up season two of Justice League Unlimited and just watch Grudge Match! HOLY SHIT!

In any case, I feel good. Still need to work on chatting up with new people, but I think 2008 is going to be a good year.