Winter lovin'...

Everybody needs somebody to love, and there are always options of how to find that somebody. Thankfully, the internet has provided us with tons of new options.

Today's suggested love-finding engine is Love Monkey. It's a simple enough thing. You list people you're attracted to - including their email addresses. The Love Monkey site sends them an email saying somebody - not you, not a friend, not anybody except an anonymous somebody - is attracted to them and invites them to make the same kind of list. If they happen to list you, you both get an email. No muss, no fuss, no going out on a limb and actually talking to them or taking a risk.

Effectively it's how I started dating my now wife. (I know you care, so I'll relate the brief version.) I called into WNAS - our high school radio station - chatting up Jennifer who asked - innocently enough, I guess - who I liked. The answer was pretty simple: two girls, Karlen (my now wife) and Jennifer. Apparently the Jennifer comment wasn't reciprocated, but she took the other half and played Love Monkey with Karlen. Lucky me, things were reciprocated on that front.

And I'm not talking about the new show with Tom Cavanagh. That's a different Love Monkey.