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How not to date the Cute Funny Girl in your 

class

Posted by Single Steve

(Image, a dimly lit library, smelling of rich mahogany, me, wearing a satin robe, smoking a pipe, slowly rotating my swiveling plush chair towards you.) Hello, salutations, greetings, please, have a seat, stay a while. And welcome to another awkward edition to my blog.

(Okay, now imagine me naked covered in peanut butter)
For those of you that haven’t thrown up all over keyboard, please proceed. I haven’t written in a while, and it’s probably time to do some more word vomit. People seem to be excited when I tweet “I’m going to write a new blog tonight”, and by people I mean like 1 person. Even though they really have no idea what it’s going to be about, they still seem excited. I think just to teach them a lesson, I’m going to tweet “I’m going to write a new blog”, then immediately post a picture of me naked covered in peanut butter. Yeah, guarantee that’s THE LAST time they get excited I’m writing a new blog.

I’m just kidding, I REALLY appreciate my readers, a lot. In fact, it’s still really weird that people (1 person) even reads this blog. It’s mind boggling, but I’m glad YOU do.

Anyways let  me tell you about a more recently happenings in my life. So I know most of you don’t follow me on twitter, because you think twitter is dumb, well you’re dumb, but you should follow me attwitter.com/SingleSteve, I tweet mostly nonsense all day and sometimes double nonsense when I’ve been drinking. Anyways, if you WERE following me on twitter, you would know that every Wednesday night, I have 6 hours of MBA classes at SDSU. And every Wednesday  I complain about school and how much I hate being in my 2 classes, yada yada. AND every Wednesday I mention how I sit right behind this girl I’ve so cleverly nicknamed “Cute Funny Girl”. You’ve guessed it, she’s cute, she’s funny, and she sits right in front of me. Actually for the first month, I sat on the other side of the room, but I strategically moved myself a few weeks into class, once I overheard her witty-ness interactions with some other classmates. Moving across the room is not creepy, shut up. It’s actually kind of funny, even in grad school, 99.8 percent of the students will sit in one seat on the first day of class, and will sit there for the whole semester. Like it’s assigned seating in second grade. Yeah in second grade you weren’t allowed to move chairs next to Slutty Sally, instead you had to sit next to Stinky Sue. So WHAT, I wanted to sit next to a funny attractive girl, it’s called product placement. I learned that in one my MBA classes, look it up clown. Anyways, the day, literally the day, I product placed myself behind her, we kicked it off. Immediately. One liner sarcastic comments one after each other, back and forth, regarding class, our ridiculous teacher, or the bore-fest that is Managerial Economics. Her personality reminds me a lot of Dee from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, if she was a real person. Anyways, week by week, our friendly banter goes on and on, some might even say it’s flirting. I, of course, find none intrusive ways to test her current relationship status, for example, she came to class one day with scratches on her arm/wrist area, and I made some comment about how if she was trying to kill herself she should try going with the veins, in a funny, I don’t think you actually are trying to kill yourself way. She laughs and says her cats really did a number on her. I said, oh, are you the Single Crazy Cat Lady? Which one of the 22 cats you own was it? She says single yes, crazy cat lady….not yet.  So it was established, I thought, clearly she was single. And for the next weeks after, we kept the banter, kept the jokes, made many references to our single hood.  The weekend before the test, was the weekend of my EPIC bar crawl birthday celebration, which I invited her too, but she declined so she could study for the exam with a study group on that Saturday.  Reasonable excuse.  So at this point we’re texting back and forth, 100 percent in relation to school.

So you know when you first start liking someone, you are EXTREMELY careful with the wording and diction of each text message sent? Or at least I am. You know, you want to be double surely sure, you are coming off funny/witty/interested or whatever the message is supposed to be. Or am I the only one who has this neurotic behavior? Anyways to this point, I had been spot on with our communications. Skip forward to the weekend. Birthday bar crawl. Drunk Town, USA, population 100 people dressed in the same green shirt celebrating me and my friend’s birthday, bar hopping through Pacific Beach. It.Was.A.Great.Day.  Fast forward to the day before the test, I find myself in the library, and about to begin to study for our test. Apparently I met someone on my bar crawl, and was having a text conversation with. Also at the same time, I was having a text conversation with Cute Funny Girl about where to start studying. Sounds harmless right? It would be, if I could operate my iphone correctly and not mix up the conversation threads.

I was literally sitting in the San Diego State library, and started dry heaving once I realized I sent her the “I got real shit faced drunk, met you and don’t remember so good because I’m a douche bag” text. As opposed to the “Hello Classmate! I was wondering if you could direct me where to start this studying, I’m a really hard worker, dependable and a nice guy!” text message I meant to send. FML. And what’s worst is she didn’t even respond to my original question. So now I was dry heaving from anxiety AND I didn’t know where to start studying. Awesome. After that panic attack, I decide it’s time to get serious.  I’m going to third base her. I’m going to add her on facebook. She accepts pretty quickly, and of course, like 99 percent of you do as well when getting a new friend, I facebook stalk the shit out of her. Really cute pictures, looks just as fun and I would think her life would be. Then I see the red flag. You know this red flag, where there’s a photo album, and this photo album has one picture, and this one picture is her and another guy. That’s never a good sign. Never.

But I still cling onto the hope she’s single, I mean, she’s told me and joked with me about it for the last several months, I’m optimistic it’s got to be true.

Day of the test we meet up to do some more studying, I’m thinking today’s the day, today’s the day, I ask her out for the weekend so we can celebrate the test being over.  I ask her what she’s doing this weekend, she says she’s going home to <insert state>, and it’s a pretty big trip, because this is the first time her parents are meeting her boyfriend. GULP. Le sigh. Pit in the bottom of the stomach, activate now. Oh cool, good luck, how long have you guys been dating? A couple months she says. I went from kind of bummed, to just thinking I was foolish? Did I miss all the signs? I don’t think so? I mean, I literally heard her proclaim her singleness-ism multiple times over the last weeks. Don’t really have an answer  for this other than facebook theory. My facebook theory is, she could no longer tell me she’s single once we became facebook friends and I could see her profile and her pictures? It’s all I’ve got. I’m not like distraught over this, it was just nice/exciting to have a crush for a while. Motivation to go to class on Wednesday nights. Saw her tonight in class, same great banter, same witty conversations, see you next week.

That’s all I got. I miss having crushes. I should bring those back. I also miss when I was a 12 year old girl.

So last blog I put a request out for genius new creative ways to meet girls. You guys had some “great” responses.

But I’m not going to do any of those. Unless someone has a baby I can borrow? Or we can make one, I don’t care. Just let me know.  Anyways I’m going to be doing a 2 pronged approach for this little social dating experiment.

Step 1. Cut a hole in the box. Just kidding. The first approach is actually inspired by this:
http://mashable.com/2011/04/20/facebook-ads-for-love/ For those of you that hate reading I’ll summarize. Basically, a guy is taking out targeted facebook ads to find himself a date. GENIUS. I’ve actually played around with facebook ads a little for SingleSteve, but this would be a whole new level of awesome. I’d be curious if it would actually drive in traffic? I mean is there any girl out there that clicks on links on facebook looking for a date? I would need to set up a new site, with “Real” Steve, as opposed to pointing them to Single Steve. I tried to buy DateSteve.com and DateSteven.com, but this guy already owns both, AND used them for exactly the same reason I would have bought them for. Apparently it worked for him, he’s married with a child. So I’m going to need to work out the details of the ads, the landing page, etc. I was actually going to do that this blog, but got uber side tracker by the story above. More to come soon.

Step 2. Put your dick in the box. Except it’s not a box. It’s a deck of cards. And instead of putting your dick in it, you pass out the cards. The idea is pretty cool I think, the companies called Cheek’d. From their website:

Each member receives a deck of calling cards with a series of witty quips and their own personal code. Members can then slip one of the cards to an alluring stranger encountered in their everyday lives – be it in the market, at a restaurant or on the train during a morning commute. The recipient of the card logs onto the Cheek’d website, enters the code, reviews the card-giver’s profile and then can send the card-giver a message for free.

So basically I see a hot stranger, walk up to her, slip her my card, walk off into the sunset. She’s so intrigued by what just happened and the clever line on the card, she goes to the website, logs in with the specific card code. We fall in love, and have 1,000 babies. Sounds pretty simple. I got my cards last week, and I’m going to start passing these out. If you guys have any clever ways to pass these out let me know!

So much more I wanted to write, got off topic, blog is super long. I’ll write more soon.  Leave me your thoughts/feelings/concerns.

Getting Cheeky.

For those of you shy birds, there’s something for you to hook up with your new special someone – or next adventure. Cheek’d is a completely different kind of dating/social networking site.

If you’re on the prowl for a love connection, Cheek’d makes it a bit more accessible for anyone to flirt in a demure manner. And you know what? I kind of love this idea. Many times I’ve seen people that I’ve wanted to talk to, but it’s super nerve wrecking and awkward. But Cheek’d makes it cute and engaging. You simply order “flirt cards” which are look similar to business cards that say cute phrases. On the back of the card it sends the person you’ve got your eye on to a personalized code. They submit it at Cheek’d.com to learn more about you.

If I were single I’d be all up on this. It’s cute, flirty and and not too forward. Yet at the same time it’s intriguing enough to reel someone in. It’s worth a try if you’re on the market. It digital dating genius I think.

If you’ve been Cheek’d PLEASE SHARE what it’s like!

all eyes on cheek'd

Cheek'd Swarm!

Use Cheek'd

#vindiesel gets cheekd!

The Squeaky Blog

April 14th, 2011

The Web and Dating

We are living in the digital age. We buy our movie tickets onFandango, make reservations at our favorite restaurant onOpenTable and even use the web to find that special someone with whom we can share these experiences with.

People have been using the web for dating since the days when you had to connect to AOL via a screaming 56k modem only to find yourself immersed in creep-filled chat rooms, with strangers prompting you with the all too famous “A/S/L?”. Over the years however, people have become more comfortable with the idea of online dating and are doing it more than ever (dating that is).

Sure you can use your favorite social media outlet to find someone who interests you, but why bother when there are a ton of sites out there that find potential matches for you. Sites like OKCupid.comprovide users with a free to use service where they can sign up, create profiles and start browsing local singles. You answer a series of questions and based on your answers you are matched up with other singles.

There are also premium dating sites that users pay to access. Sites like Match.com (which recently bought OKCupid) oreharmony.com essentially match you up with singles that fit various criteria. Then there are sites like Cheekd.com which is taking a new approach.

Cheekd.com is bridging the gap between the web and real life encounters. They offer their members cards which can be handed out should you happen to meet someone who has sparked your interest. Card recipients can then access the member’s profile by entering the code found on the card. With this daring new tactic, Cheek’d is empowering their users with a sense of mystery which in turn may intrigue the recipients of these cards even more and provoke connections.

We are all looking for that special someone and in this day and age the web is making finding him or her a lot easier. At first it seemed as though people were uncomfortable with meeting strangers online but gradually it has grown to be much more socially acceptable and we are curious to see how many people are using online dating sites 10 years from now, and what kind of innovative ideas they will implement to stir things up a bit.

http://blog.squeakywheelmedia.com/index.php/2011/04/the-web-and-dating/

Lori Cheek: Cheek'd

THE FACTS
Name: Lori Cheek
Job Description: Founder/ CEO of Cheek'd
Company info:http://www.cheekd.com/

Founded in NYC in April 2009 and Officially Launched in May 2010, Cheek'd is a savvy online social circuit which draws on the age old custom of networking with business cards. The company designs personal cards with clever catch phrases and unique ID numbers which direct card receivers to an online profile to learn more about the card giver. It's like online dating, only backwards. Photo by John Nasta.

WHO ARE YOU?

1. What made you decide to start your company? 
I'm actually an architect and one evening after a design event in Soho, a male colleague/ friend and I went across the street to grab a bite. While I'd excused myself from the table, he had written "want to have dinner?" on the back of his business card and slipped it to an attractive woman as he and I were leaving the restaurant. I loved the mystery behind this handsome stranger handing off this flirtatious gesture and immediately came up with the idea of creating these mysterious black cards with a variety of pre-printed "lines" (which could be used in many different scenarios) and a code that would lead to the card giver's online profile instead of offering their personal information on a typical business card. It's like online dating, in reverse. The cards would create real life/ real time connections and take the online dating world offline. Two years later, in May of 2010, I launched Cheekd.com.

2. Where do you see your business in 5 years? 
We're shipping internationally for free and are currently in 39 states and 13 countries. We were featured on the cover of the NY Times Style Section back in July of 2010 and were coined as "the next generation of online dating." I clearly see us as that-- the next Match.com, where members don't have to sit behind computers shuffling through online profiles or counting on the chances that their soul mate is also on that same dating site-- we are providing the opportunity to find love in real life all over the world, in any situation at any time of day. 

3. Who was your inspiration? 
I've always had ideas and dreamt of creating my own business. The idea of Cheek'd, particularly, couldn't be left without action. I'd have to say my friend that night and the gesture of handing his card was ultimately the inspiration, but my drive to bring it to life is what has really brought it to this level of success.

4. What turns you on? 
Humor. I think the Cheek'd cards are actually quite sexy because they all have a presumptuous sense of humor, with lines such as "act natural. we can get awkward later." or "i just put all my drinks on your tab." and "i'm totally cooler than your date." One can even customize the cards to say whatever they'd like and represent their own personality. 

5. What advice do you have for tomorrow’s female entrepreneurs? 
Coming up with an idea is relatively easy. Ideas come about every day. Making them happen is the hard part. It's cliche, but you only live once-- I've risked just about everything I have on this project and I'm gambling on ME (someone I know extremely well and trust will make this happen). It's been the most rewarding experience of my life. If you believe in what you're doing, jump in 100% and don't look back. 

6. Tell us a sexy secret ;-) 
I'm a magician and can make cards disappear. : )

http://sparkingcinderella.blogspot.com/2011/04/lori-cheek-cheekd.html?spref=tw

love at first sight

online dating in reverse

http://cheekd.tumblr.com/

Cheek'd Kentucky Derby Party

It's a Cheek'd Kentucky Derby Party! Please join Lori Cheek & the Cheek'd Gang for the 137th Run for the Roses.

Saturday, May 7th

3:30pm - 7:30pm 

Gaslight

39 Ninth Avenue (corner of 14th St.)

*DRESS CODE REQUIRED: Southern Charm (Hats, Ascots, Bowties, Seersucker Suits, etc.)

*Bring cash for gambling

*Bring friends and make them wear a hat

*$5 Mint Julep & Bloody Mary Drink Specials all day.

***SPECIAL PERFORMANCE BY OFFICIAL HANK***

RSVP IS A MUST by Wednesday, May 4th: info@cheekd.com

dotbox : making ecommerce more social

Social Media News: Celebrities Launch Sites with Social Media Interaction

The world of Social Media is ever-expanding. Traditionally technology companies have dominated the space, but now as the social media atmosphere grows,  celebrities are getting into the game. This week hip-hop mogul, Jay-Z, and sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen both launched new websites that focus on social media interaction.

Jay-Z’s new website, titled “Life & Times”, is a hub featuring a fusion of the rapper’s everyday activities and things that he finds inspirational, which he depicts in a Tumblr-esque layout.  Users are encouraged to “Like” and provide comments, which allows for an authentic connection that most celebrities are not utilizing.

Child-stars-turned-fashion-moguls Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have launched StyleMint, a web-based clothing recommendation/subscription service, live this July. The site will offer products in a similar delivery method to other subscription sites like ShoeDazzle.com andSendTheTrend.com—however when users sign up they are sent a variety of product suggestions each month and are then able to buy from the selection.

Congrats are in order for, Cheek’d (a new age online dating service), as they are the winners of the inaugural TechStars Startup Madness tournament! Thank you to all of our friends and clients for voting them to the top.

Winners!

Cheek'd in the April Issue of Sweden's Elle Magazine!

i'll be your #techstar

2011 TechStars Startup Madness - Cheek'd

VICTORY

2011 TechStars Startup Madness - Congratulations & Recap of the Tournament | This or That

2011 TechStars Startup Madness - Congratulations & Recap of the Tournament | This or That

First deck of Cheek'd cards ordered in Vienna, AUSTRIA!

Testimonial from @techstars startup madness

I registered for Workables to test the site even though I believed it to be far inferior to Cheek'd both as an idea and a potential business. The first thing I noticed was that visually it's not very attractive. It's pretty bare and it doesn't do a whole lot. The second thing I noticed is that as far as I can tell there are only 10 people who have ever used it. At least I could only find 10 things posted that somebody wanted done or was offering to do. I checked all the categories and job listings and didn't see that anyone was using the site. I then asked myself why I would pay $5/mo. for premium functions to do what I could post on Craigslist for free. It seems to be a bad, electronic version of the Pennysaver. 

Cheek'd on the other hand, comes into this competition as a fully-formed and fully-functioning business with a growing user base and on-going sales. The product is versatile and can be customized to the individual, has at least two different ways of generating revenue and has been expanding globally offering cards in several languages. Throughout the 5 previous rounds of the competition I've been struck by the negative comments about how someone using Cheek'd cards must lack social skills or that the cards are somehow a crutch. The comments were universally from men, which says alot about what men don't know about dating or interacting with women. (Forgive me the hetero-centric slant, but I can only speak from own experience). The card is a tool for dating just like a good haircut. It offers you a new way to present yourself. It allows you to cast a wide net and have fun in the process. Using a card to get someone's attention has nothing to do with fear of rejection or lack of social ability. It has to do with flirting, allure, mystery and seduction. It's a 21st C. part of the dance. The Cheek'd original concept of combining real life encounters and an on-line experience are already proving successful, which is one of the many reasons Cheek'd should easily win Techstars.

http://thisorthat.com/t/cheekd-vs-workables

Punchd vs. Cheek'd | This or That

Punchd vs. Cheek'd | This or That