Hi! I missed you blog friends. You have probably been online all week. Question is, where have I been?

Besides having a busy week involving houseguests (of the two and four legged variety) a six hour road trip beginning very early Friday morning, it was hard to sneak in work (let alone fun like blogging) without a working internet connection near my house.

I almost didn't move because of Time Warner Cable. My suspicions of hassle were confirmed as I spent the last two weeks trying to get the internet at my house, which I still didn't have when I left yesterday. 

I had happily been mooching off my neighbors connection for a few days when sometime Wednesday, the connection got weak. I was able to look at webpages and update my Facebook status sometimes but couldn't seem to do things like attach documents to emails (you know, work). I was relieved that I was going to have my strong consistent connection on Thursday when the cable guy came to turn on my internet.

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In this mini-series I'm calling Freaky Friday, I'm going to take a retrospective look at the anatomy of the date (including finances) and glean some life knowledge from my awful experiences (if only to make myself feel better and hopefully help you to avoid the same mistakes). Here's round three. Names as usual are changed to protect the embarrassed.

In an unusual plot twist, this week it's me starring as the terrible date. I know I seem kind of perfect (or at least more perfect then some of the fine specimens I've gone on a date with) but I too have made dating mistakes. I particular I think of one horrible date I have yet to recover from (which happens to be my only experience with eHarmony).

So with eHarmony you answer a seemingly ridiculous amount of questions about yourself. With the questions, you also rank the importance of the value on a scale. I remember being fairly liberal about most of this but I do remember a specific item I marked very important: no kids. At 22, I didn't want no baby mama drama (I may not have been nurturing but at least I was honest).

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In this mini-series I'm calling Freaky Friday, I'm going to take a retrospective look at the anatomy of the date (including finances) and glean some life knowledge from my awful experiences (if only to make myself feel better and hopefully help you to avoid the same mistakes). Here's round two, a continuation of a month-long series I started last week. Names as usual are changed to protect the embarrassed.

It was one of those scenarios that didn't quite match up for me and Hoot. He though I was cute from seeing me in a meeting and then we just kept missing each other, he was gone, then I was gone. We talked by phone and had good chemistry. I even asked around town about him and was told he was a fine specimen of a man. Great.

After a few weeks of back and forth, we both found we were going to be in town on the same night. It was a Monday and where I lived, there was nothing open on a Monday night. He was going to come over after work and we would have dinner at my place and maybe watch some television.

An hour later then I was expecting (I was avoiding housework and other chores so as not to break a sweat) there was a knock on the door. True to form, Sadie Dog yelped like the part beagle she is and I got up to answer. I had carefully chosen a slightly off the shoulder green sweater and nice-on-me jeans. I was showing a little skin in the neck area, sexy without over doing it and the sweater was soft, in case he would happen to touch it. Light makeup and hair up, I was up for anything. Why am I going into my appearance? You'll see...

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Note from Nicole: I've asked a couple of my favorite bloggers to guest post while I'm gone to keep my blog going for a few days. Right after sending out an email to my blogger friends about my wrist, Sean was admitted into the hospital. He had 'emergency' surgery and is doing fine but he'll be in the hospital for a little while. Because people have stepped in to help, Breaking Even has kept going and I've spent the time in the hopsital with Sean without giving the blog a second thought. Thanks for continuing to read. I'll be back soon.

I'm Kelly and I write Almost Frugal,  a blog about frugality and personal finance in France. Nicole and I found each other through the French speaking community (although we're both Americans) and I'm happy to be guest posting for her, although not for why she needs a guest post!

Life has a way of throwing curve balls at you, doesn't it? One day you're trucking along nicely, minding your own business and the next day BOOM. Your car dies, or your basement floods, or your wrist starts hurting after too much time spent pecking at the keyboard.

We've all heard the expression "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" and it sounds kind of trite to be sure. But if you think about it, successfully coping with an emergency does depend on making a pitcher of ice-cold lemonade instead of complaining (ahem) bitterly about the bushel of lemons that just fell into your lap. Here are three rules that can help you get over the hump.

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Some of you may know that I met my current boyfriend on the internet. I met him in round three of internet dating and I've done Yahoo, Match, and eHarmony. I've also tried Nerve.com, blind dates, and having general faith in the goodness of people.

In this mini-series I'm calling Freaky Friday, I'm going to take a retrospective look at the anatomy of the date (including finances) and glean some life knowledge from my awful experiences (if only to make myself feel better and hopefully help you to avoid the same mistakes). Here's round one.

Under religion on Crazy Christian (CC)'s profile, he indicated "Protestant" and most Protestants I know are pretty laid back so it didn't signal a "red flag" right off. (Later, my friend Ally proceeded to tell me the Protestant spectrum, ranging from "we believe in God, whatever dude" to "wear a skirt, keep your hair long, and shut up, woman".) You will see why I nicknamed the guy CC very soon.

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