Ok, it’s time to lay out some ground rules. No one ever seems to want to set out the rules of dating. People seem to want them to be a mystery, an unknown. I think it just makes it easier to change the rules on a whim.

So, here are some rules that I present for inclusion in the public record. No more hiding from these ones.

1. When a man calls to aks you out on a date, if you don’t want to go out, say so. Don’t accept the date, and then wait till after lunch the day of the date and cancel. You see, we are probably looking forward to it. Odds are that if we asked you out, we might even have adjusted our entire schedule just to make time for you. In fact, we would likely crawl over broken glass while being showered in vinegar just for the chance to spend a few hours in your company.

2. When you make a date and then cancel, do not have plans with friends on that same night. Strangely enough, we won’t mind as much that you cancelled if you spend the night working, or sleeping, or preferably pining away in your bedroom wishing that you were with us. What is guaranteed to piss us off is a cancellation at the last minute, only to find out that you went out anyway, just not with us.

3. Please try and remember that we have made you our first priority. We spend extra money, shuffle our work schedules around, blow off friends invitations to go drinking, and quite often the most important thing, we miss TV programs that we would normally have watched were we not spending an evening with you. Is it too much to ask that we get the same in return?

And now, on a wider note. Avi posted a list of reasons to date a geek. Not only did I laugh as I read the list, but I identified with each and every point. You see, for years now, I have developed a hatred for those pretty boy, different woman every night, use them and abuse them assholes that populate every nightclub and bar in the world. And somehow the women continue to fall for their lines. They fall for the “bad boy”, get crushed by him, and then cry on the geek’s shoulders at the end of it all.

If they really paid attention they would see that the geek, although not covered in muscles and expensive clothes, knows how to treat a woman right. We will respect you, treat you like a queen, and never cheat. We know what it’s like to be alone. We are in it for the long haul, not just tonight.

So ladies, next time you are looking for a date, try your local geek. I’m sure you know him already. He is probably the guy who fixed your laptop last month, or came and hooked up your home theatre system. And he did it all for free. No games, no debts, he just did it because he likes the gadgets and he probably likes you.