Sly-Dial: The perfect service for confrontation-phobes

As anyone who's done a bit of dating can attest, playing the field can be a learning experience. Personally speaking, my years of dating taught me many key things that have helped me greatly in my marriage. I learned that I should never miss a birthday, that leaving the seat down is a great way to say "I love you," and that one needs to deal with problems quickly, honestly, and directly.

My biggest teacher in this regard was Holly. During one Christmas break, she ducked my calls, made cryptic statements about friends that she was seeing, and refused to get into a conversation that lasted more than a few minutes. After about two weeks, she finally admitted that an old boyfriend had proposed to her and that she was dumping me. Later, when I had my own break-ups, I was careful to avoid Holly's mistakes. I tried to make things quick and clear, and I generally sucked it up and did my dirty work face-to-face.

Still, the Holly method is actually pretty popular; in the age of e-Mail, text messaging, and cell phones, it seems somewhat old fashioned to actually conduct one's relationships in person. In fact, between webcams and social networking sites, I'm beginning to wonder if one even needs to actually meet a boyfriend or girlfriend!