Sunday, September 25, 2011

How Did Anybody Hook Up Before Facebook?

Tonight I'm having dinner with two guys I hooked up with via computer dating in 1965. Yep. You read that right. As computers go, that's the Jurassic Era. Mark Zuckerberg's PARENTS were barely out of diapers. 
          Operation Match was started by two Harvard lads who may be dead now for all I know. [Ooops, not dead yet! I found them. See link below.] Their minions went around the country, hitting the college campuses and downtown bars frequented by the young and nubile, handing out questionnaires to anyone with $3.00. The good news was that chances of meeting an unemployed cab driver were slim and none at that stage. 
          We filled out the questionnaires for ourselves, then did it all over again for the fabulous attributes we wanted in our ideal dates. Afterward, an anonymous mainframe sorted it all out, then mailed out a printout of the people we matched up with. Or "with whom we were matched," if you want to nitpick. 
          In case you think I'm just making all this stuff up, you can read a recent article about the guys who started Operation Match HERE. Here's ANOTHER. One of the founders is now a judge in D.C. Depending on how good I look, I'll post some pictures from tonight later. Meanwhile, here's how we matched up back in the day. Who needs Facebook? 


          
          

1 comment:

thisismary said...

You were once tangentially associated with someone that had MINIONS at their disposal? When I grow up, I am going to have minions that I can dispatch here and there. That sounds like fun. Hugs! Mary