Indeed, meeting people in the city can present a range of challenges – for both men and women. Some are brave enough to adopt extreme measures like going up to someone and claiming to be lost and in need of directions, pretending to be a talent scout, showing up at picnics in the park where one’s name is not on the guest list, and a range of other techniques.

Then when one does meet someone, one has to try to weed out the fakes, those with hidden agendas, those fronting, those double parked while promising to spend eternity with you, those who are as real as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, people who are after your wallet, your body, your belongings, and the list goes on.

Yes indeed, one can walk up to anybody in the subway and meet him or her – but meeting a genuine, real person is sometimes quite a challenge here in the city.

Yeah, I’ve decided that the only way to meet genuine people is to be sincere and up-front about your intentions and say what you’re looking for in a relationship – be it romantic, sexual, short-term, long-term, etc.

The next time I meet a lingerie model at my neighborhood bar here in the city and she invites me home for coffee, I’ll just ask her to be candid and let me know what her intentions are. Is it coffee or is it coffee? It may very well be that I’ll acquiesce to what she’s seeking but I’d rather she come clean about her intentions.

Oh well, I did meet another Victoria’s Secret Model the other day and asked her the same question in her Central Park West apartment after we met at a bar and she invited me over for coffee. Well, she got really upset and showed me the door!

But I’m a principled man, I wanted her to be honest with me. Hey, I can live proudly with myself as I spend long winter evenings under two quilts, three comforters, two blankets, looking at a nightgown catalog and seeing her there as I never saw her before and never ever will outside those pages!

LOL, you win some, you lose some. Principles before Love…just keep some blankets handy!!