With today's Internet dating services, there is no need to go on blind dates.

An Internet dating service can get you a date with someone who has the same interests as you. No longer are you stuck a long boring date with someone you have nothing in common with.

My sister-in-law has been unmarried for many years. She is now in her mid fifties and is still going out on blind dates. She is an office manager for a large computer company. She is the executive secretary to the vice president of the corporation. Part of her job is to train new office workers. She is very outgoing and fun loving so the young people that she trains always want to fix her up with friends and relatives. She has gone through some long evenings on several of these blind dates, yet she continues to go on them.

My sister-in-law is quite child like sometimes. She is great at her job, but when it comes to her personal life she is indecisive and vulnerable. She has a hard time saying no because she does not want to offend anyone.

One of her blind dates has turned into several additional outings and the man is really a loser.

I have tried to explain to her that she is going to hurt his feelings worse if she continues to see him when she knows that he is not someone that she wants to spend time with. It took her several months to finally get through to this guy that she is not interested in a relationship with him.

I could not believe it when she told me a few weeks ago that she was going out again on another blind date.

She had two blind dates scheduled in the same week. She insists that she does not want to get married again and does not even want a committed relationship.

I explained that I am concerned about her safety. She assured me that the men that she agrees to go on blind dates with are well known to the people that set her up. She said she likes going to different restaurants and she enjoys meeting new people. She even appreciates her single life style more after meeting some of these guys. I can understand why. What I don't understand is why she keeps doing this to herself.

She called me after her last two blind dates.

She said that for she is done going on them after her last experience. The man that she was meeting was the cousin of one of the newer girls at work. This girl likes my sister-in-law and has gone out to lunch with her and also out for happy hour after work.

The cousin was to meet my sister-in-law at a restaurant. The restaurant has fine dining as well as a more casual bar and grill area. The cousin showed up wearing gym clothes because he did not have time to change after his work out. He was thirty years old and still in college and living with his mother. My sister-in-law stayed for a drink in the bar area and left. During the drink he was watching the basketball game that was playing on the television in the bar.

The co-worker told my sister-in-law that she thought my sister-in-law would be good at helping her cousin move on with his life. My sister-in-law felt like she was asked to parent rather than date the cousin. She is finally done with going out on blind dates.

I don't know why she went out on blind dates in the first place.

It is so easy nowadays with an Internet dating service to find someone with your same interests. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than going out on a blind date.