Picking the Right Date for Valentine's Day

Here's the situation: it's Valentine's Day, and you have two potential people with whom you might choose to go with out on a date on this romantic holiday. How on earth will you choose between them?

You might consider simply choosing the one you like best, but can you really trust your feelings? Fortunately, Geek Logik author Garth Sundem has struck again, finding ways to reduce life's quandaries down to friendly algebraic equations. Here's the back story from his new blog:

While I'm safely removed from the dating pool, Stephanie Street is not (is this perhaps a pseudonym?). She phoned in a Valentine's Day question to the PRI radio program Fair Game, and won the dubious honor of chatting with me and the host on air (tonight, online at www.morefairgame.org by 9:00pm) and thus having her pseudonym forever attached to this equation, heretofore known as The Manometer. Her dilemma was the choice between two proposed Valentine's Day dates—one eight years older, mature and stable and another two years younger, brash and exciting (does this sound like the plot of a Danielle Steel novel to anyone else?). The older gent was thinking basketball game while the younger had gone with the standby wine-and-dine.

Which to choose? Luckily the revolutionary Man-O-Meter makes Stephanie's decision easy (and maybe yours, too). Just plug in the numbers to rank each dude and go with the one that scores highest. And guys—it doesn't take a PhD in String Theory to switch the genders, just be careful with the age variables.

There's not much more to it than that! But before you scroll down to use the tool for doing the math, here's the Valentine's Date equation you'll be solving (and yes, we're a bit suspicious of how Garth names his variables - we think this one may be on par with the urban legend for explaining poor Latin American Chevrolet Nova sales....):

You read that right. The equation is set up to evaluate the "VD" score for each of your potential dates and according to Garth, you should "go out with the guy who scores most." Ahem. All we can say is that it must have made for an interesting radio show. In any case, here's the tool for solving this particular dilemma:

The Geek Logik Man-O-Meter
Input Data	Values
How much would you enjoy the activity he proposed? (Scale of 1-10 with 10 being "private jet to Milan")
How hot is the guy? (Scale of 1-10 with 10 being "magma")
How fun is he? (Scale of 1-10 with 10 being "Pee Wee's Big Adventure")
How stable is he? (Scale of 1-10 with 10 being "the pyramids at Giza" and 1 being "The Leaning Tower of Pisa")
How compatible are you with him (education, life goals, etc.)? (Scale 1-10 with 10 being "Bogey and Bacall")
What are your intentions? (Scale 1-10 with 1 being "keep the Valentine's blues away" and 10 being "for better or worse")
Your age (years)
Guy's age (years)
How traditional are you? (Scale 1-10 with 10 being "Little House on the Prairie" and 1 being "The Osbournes")

Your Potential Date's Score
Calculated Results	Values
Valentine's Date Score (Higher is Better)

To be fair, Garth intended "VD" to stand for "Valentine's Date," but we couldn't keep a straight face after we saw the equation. And as dating selection criteria goes, it beats flipping a coin!

At least we now know that Garth's choice of variables wasn't accidental! It's just a shame he wasn't able to pull off his on-air prank!