More dating advice... from the married.

Sorry readers, I should have posted this after Saturday night's dinner. Team Richardson got home and started watching the boob tube and I totally forgot to post this. Enjoy!
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We didn’t plan it, it just happened...

Team Richardson finally had a day where XX and XY did nothing but spend time together... which means we came up with lots of good stuff for the blog. Days like that are good because it gives the creative staff time to figure out what we’re going to rant and Podcast about. Of course, the leading topic was dating.

As the day began to wind down, we began our search for food. Somehow, we decided to dine at a restaurant we’ve eaten at only once before. On our first trip, the food was mediocre... and so was the service. But after months of honing their routine, I must say everything improved by 100%. The food was possibly the best the city has to offer (in Southern cuisine), and the service was great! Until tonight’s meal, Team Richardson seemed to be doing an awesome job of landing the city’s worst servers.

Little intimate restaurants are great for us, as they provide lots of people watching. There’s usually plenty of couples (couples are fun to observe; how they interact with one another and the wait staff could keep us occupied all night), many of which who appear to be on the first (or first few) date(s). New (or at least those who appear to be new) couples are our favorite, they always looks so uncomfortable and cautious. It was during one of these observations that XX blurted out, “Movies make horrible first dates!” She’s right.

The whole dinner and a movie thing should be reserved for couples in their third month of dating (if not more). The reason we feel this way: if your first date is a movie, you’ve just spent two hours with a stranger, and that person is still a stranger by the end of the night. Movies totally prohibit conversation. You go, sit, watch, and listen to a screen... not the person you should be watching and listening to. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to spend a two hours with someone and not learn a single thing about them. After we were done discussing the “movie is a bad date” thing, we came to the realization that dinner (in our opinion) is an equally bad first date. Our reasoning: if the conversation suddenly goes bad, you’re stuck with someone you want nothing to do with for probably another hour or so (well, I guess you could get up and walk out).

So how would we start off dating? Over drinks or coffee. Both occasions are short, cheap, and easy to bail out of if things suddenly head south. After a few dates of this type, both parties should have enough information about one another to decide if they want continue spending time (and in the man's case, money too) with the other. After that, continue to keep it light... maybe a trip to the museum, putt-putt, or bowling. Hell, even a game of Battleship could be a great time (the game moves so slow it forces interaction). After those dates are successfully completed, dinner then becomes an option for the new couple. Hmm... maybe we’ll address dinner locations in a future post/podcast.

--Team Richardson