He Knows if You’ve Been Bad or Good
Dec 24th
‘Tis the season to hear some of your favorite holiday songs on the radio, have a full date-card, and enjoy this festive time. One of my favorite songs is Bruce Springsteen’s rendition of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
It’s also a time to take inventory on your dating life, manage your digital reputation, and ask yourself, “What information is on the Internet about me?”
I can’t stress enough the importance of protecting your digital reputation. I’ve been impersonated twice already, so, when I was invited to lunch to learn about Michael Schultz’s new service, My Info Guardian, I was very interested to hear what their service could do to help singles date safely, while managing the fine balance of relevant data and minimizing financial or personal information.
Yes, I believe you should do a Google search on your date. Whether you decide to do so before or after a first date, I also think you should keep it to yourself.
Yes, I believe if someone was convicted of a federal crime, that you should know about it before getting involved.
Yes, I was happy that Match.com took the steps to search their members against the national sex offender registry to help singles date more safely.
However, I don’t believe that anyone browsing the world-wide-web should find your phone number, address, net worth, parking tickets, and other data that could put you at a safety risk or possibly steal your identity.
According to Schultz, “Gone are the days where you had to know someone’s social security number to be a digital identity thief.”
You probably know that Facebook owns your data that you happily share on their social networking sites. But did you know that many of the people search sites buy and sell your data? Without your knowledge, information is being sold. This is where MyInfoGuardian steps in. Their service will remove your listings from people search sites.
At the end of the luncheon, guests were given a complimentary membership to their service. I logged on and was stunned to find almost 40 sites that had information, including birthday, age, phone numbers, email, and more. If I want to be found by long-lost friends and relatives, I should be able to do so on my own. Facebook and Twitter are easy enough sites to connect with people of my past, present and future. I like controlling the content I post.
Should you want to know if you’re dating someone with a criminal record? Absolutely. That information cannot be removed from public records by this service. Do you want every date to know your home phone number and address? Probably not. If it’s a date-gone-bad, you don’t want him or her showing up on your doorstep.
MyInfoGuardian is now in the process of removing some of my data from these sites. I’ll let you know the results. I wish you a very happy holiday filled with dating safely, both online and offline or wherever you may roam.
Julie Spira is an online dating expert and author of the bestseller, The Perils of Cyber-Dating. Visit her at CyberDatingExpert.com for dating advice and follow her @JulieSpira on Twitter and at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert
Love Potions – Sugar and Spice Recipes
Dec 9th
There are many recipes on the Internet for the holiday season, but some of my favorites can be found on the Williams-Sonoma website.
This year, they’ve curated a list of recipes guaranteed to spice up your love life. The recipe that made it to the holiday edition of Love Potions is the simple ginger cookies. They say these ginger cookies are irresistible.
Ginger is also high in potassium and is known to improve your immune system.
Photo Credit: Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups pecans or macadamia nuts
- 14 Tbs. (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 extra-large egg
- 1/2 cup dark molasses
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 Tbs. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
- 1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, cut each log into slices 1/8 inch thick. Arrange the slices on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart.
Bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a rack and sprinkle with sugar. Let cool.
10 Affordable Holiday Date Ideas
Dec 8th
We’re in the middle of the holiday season, and while romance is alive and well, sometimes our wallets will feel the pressure.
Our friends at She Knows created a fabulous list of 10 affordable holiday dating ideas and asked me to chime in.
“It’s important to date your mate,” advises Julie Spira, Cyber-dating expert. “Creating rituals together such as a weekly date night will enhance your relationship and give you something to look forward to,” even through the busy holiday.
And, regardless of how busy holidays with kids can be, Spira urges couples to honor your date night. “It will keep your relationship alive!” With these 10 cheap date holiday date ideas, romancing your mate is not only important, it can also be affordable!
Michelle Maffei suggested ice skating, tree lighting ceremonies, watching the Christmas lights, and visiting Santa Claus in her fun list of 10 cheap dates during the holidays. I’d like to add if you live near the water, see if you can attend a local boat parade, where boats are decorated like Christmas trees with different themes and music.
Even if you find yourself dateless, grab a friend and enjoy the same events. You never know who you might run into who is in the same digital boat.
Read the full article on SheKnows and remember to like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and @JulieSpira on Twitter.
Today Show – How to Create an Irresistible Online Dating Profile
Dec 7th
On the Today Show, Kathie Lee and Hoda were joined by Cosmopolitan magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Kate White to talk about one of my favorite subjects, How to Create an Irresistible Dating Profile.
Among the terrific tips, Kate suggested using bullet points in your profile instead of a long, dragged out paragraph and to update your profile to keep it fresh and appearing high in a search.
Although Kate can’t create your personalized online dating profile for you, it’s something that we do every day with our signature irresistible profiles. Enjoy the video and if you need some additional help while looking for love online, let us know at CyberDatingExpert.com/irresistible-profiles
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Julie Spira is an online dating expert and bestselling author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating. Julie creates irresistible profiles for singles on the dating scene. Follow her on Twitter @JulieSpira and at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert
