I recently saw a graphic posted on Facebook with the following one-liner: "Sadly, the days of people using proper English are went." I found it cleverly drives home the point that many people have become far too lazy to check their IMs and text messages for punctuation and grammar before sending them off. We all have at least one friend or relative who does this, and maybe we're guilty of it ourselves at times. As a writer/editor/proofreader by trade, my writing is usually impeccable. If I happen to notice a misspelling on my part after the text was sent, I'm quick to write the word correctly with an asterisk next to it, letting the recipient know it was done accidentally. I realize that this is to be expected from someone who writes for a living, and that others may not be such sticklers for grammar and spelling when having casual conversations with friends and family. But I just can't help it when people are too sloppy, peppering the conversation w...

Online dating has become the rage over the last 10 or so years. We've all seen commercials for sites like match.com and eharmony.com touting how they've helped countless people find true love. While many of these couples state that they didn't actually fall in love until meeting in person and going on a few dates (which makes sense), others assert that they knew they were in love after merely a few conversations via the web. Is this even plausible? My take on it is that you can't fall in love without actually seeing and interacting with someone in person first. If it feels like love following a conversation or two online, then you must be falling in love with the idea of being in love. We don't get a good sense of someone - their gestures, mannerisms, demeanor, and more - without seeing him face to face. How do you know the person you're talking to is really a blonde 38-year-old divorcee from New York? For all you know, it could really be a few teenagers...