How many GBs in that thing, baby?

You wouldn’t think this external hard drive would be an avenue to procuring dates, but it’s led to me being asked out more than any sassy skirt or flip of the hair ever has.   When I’m editing video projects in the coffeehouse-world, guys often use them as conversation-starters.  It’s like bumming a cigarette or commenting on my BC t-shirt – “My second-cousin’s ex-girlfriend’s dental hygienist went to Boston College!” – a way to approach without being Sketchy Pick Up Line Guy.  There’s the safety of coming across as just being friendly and tech-quisitive, and if all goes well in the discussion of firewire ports and transfer speeds, he can slip in a “Hey, my buddy, who crazily also uses external hard drives, is throwing a party Friday.  There’ll be a lot of computer-users there.  Maybe you’d be interested in coming?”

Another coffeehouse-move: “Do you know the password to get on-line?”  Some establishments offer free wifi but you have to sign onto their network with a password.  It’s usually posted somewhere obvious so the baristas don’t have to spend their shift repeating “greenjellybean_123.”  But if you conveniently forget to wear your contacts so you can’t read the blackboard, you can lean over to the girl at the next table and ask her.  Who knows, she may be so smitten with your piercing non-contacted blue eyes that she’ll ask you to dinner.