I'm finally back at my regular nail salon again after traipsing all over the area trying to find a nail tech that could compare to LeAnn and I've missed her so damn much for so many reasons. LeAnn was out on medical leave for a tumor on her lung since January and I've run the gambit of getting nails done at several salons in Virginia Beach and Vegas as well as buying hundreds of dollars in supplies to try to do them myself. And no one can do nails like LeAnn. But this isn't entirely about my plight of maintaining acrylic nails over the last 10 months . It's actually about all the other reasons I enjoy going to this salon. One thing that's so much better about going to Hair One near my house is that it's this tiny little hole in the wall beauty salon whose primary source of patrons is little blue-haired ladies going once a week to get their hair re-blued. The entire shop is about 1000 square feet and everyone there knows everyone. Since the space is so small and the hair stylists are mingled in amongst the nail techs, conversations flow from chair to chair without boundaries.

One topic that came up this afternoon was couples meeting online and how that affects dating and how we portray ourselves in a "public" sphere like the Internet. It started a rousing discussion and we all theorized that if we were to fill out a profile on a dating web site would our life mate find it and be interested or would we be as interested in him or her if the tables were turned.

There are all kinds of repercussions from courtship online. The thrill of the cologne your mate has chosen for your first date has been replaced by the thrill of his knowing the difference between who and whom and using complete punctuation in his first "wink" to you. I have a hard time word smithing a decent about page for myself online and I have no aspirations of it meriting a long-term relationship based off of its content.

So I'm trying to decide what qualities I would highlight to my mate (who is currently watching hockey and playing video games only an arm's reach from me right now). I would probably say that I'm patient and compassionate, but stubborn and just a tad compulsive. I'm not sure if it matters that I like to sew and take photos, but it does matter that I find writing really important and am allergic to PowerPoint.

What qualities would Rich project in his bio? Would I be attracted to an ex-Army artilleryman now hockey goalie or would I not make it past swooning over his photo and stats that he's 6'5" tall?

What qualities would you pimp online and what are the ones you think your friends find the most important about you? Maybe the Internet is the new Five and Dime for love.