"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” ~ William Shakespeare

Ah, love! Finding it is a challenge; keeping it, even more so. It's been the subject of literature, music, and art for ages. It seems we spend our lives seeking it or trying to get over it.

Modern love is difficult. In an age where we are all "connected" via the Interwebs, it's only natural that online dating would sky rocket: a recent study by U.S. researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says one third of married couples met online. And yet, despite all of this "connection," we don't seem connected in daily life. At this moment, I have 1,020 Facebook "friends," roughly 300 Twitter followers, and 270 connections on Instagram, but because I work from home, I spend most days alone in my house, not interacting with a soul except my daughter in real life.

Newly divorced after fourteen years of marriage, and living in a remote rural area, I decided to sign up for some online dating sites. After all, I met my former husband on match.com, and in 2001, we were pioneers in the online dating world!

It turns out, dating online in 2017 is vastly different.

Frustrated with the options presented in online dating, I joked that I was going to start a blog about the foils and follies of my post-divorce dating attempts. I posted my thoughts on social media. I received so many comments, "likes" and private messages about that post, that I have decided to do just that and create this blog.

So, here's a toast (with my Diet Coke) to the birth of a new blog - yay, just what the world needs.

I would be remiss if I didn't include the collection of profile pictures I have "swiped left" on, along with my fictional captions I imagine underneath the photo. And I will do that shortly.

But to start, here is a simple list of rules for online dating for men. If you are a single man contemplating signing up for the many online dating options, please refer to this simple checklist before doing so.

1. Don't look like Hannibal Lecter in your profile photo. Pretty simple. If you have doubts as to whether you resemble the human-flesh eating serial killer, it's probably best to just not sign up for a dating service.

2. Don't use a pixelated or dated photo.

3. You may be enticed by attempts to look sexy. Don't. Your attempt at making "fish lips" or a sexy face only makes you look like you have to poop.

4. Don't use a photo with 87 other people in it, because I can't tell which one you are.

5. Like #3, you may be tempted to post that half-naked selfie you snapped while flexing your bicep in the gym locker room. Again, don't.

Stay tuned for more from my #adventuresindating