We do now have a new name for the blog courtesy of my girlfriend’s mother (aka Mama). Yes, her southern mother Mama calls it “the blob.” She makes up words for just about everything. Sushi is “osaka,” and the list goes on and on from there. It actually was fun learning a whole new language the last couple weeks.

Although Mama has now returned home, something crazy did happen on her last night here: we thought we actually had killed her. Earlier that day, Sonja had to go work. Since that meant her mom was going to be left home basically sitting on the couch and watching television, Sonja thought it would be a cool idea to drop her off at The Promenade instead.

The Promenade is a place that you can walk around and check out lots of different stores, restaurants and vendors. The problem is that Mama is 77 years old, and doesn’t really like to walk around that much.

When older people turn 77, they act a lot like kids. They’re basically as needy and as painful as kids, but they’re just not as cute. They can’t really run around (actually sometimes they can’t even run at all because it hurts them).

Anyway, she dropped Mama off there around 2:30 pm and basically said “Mama, I’ll see you around 6:30 or 7:00 pm.” At around 6:15 pm, however, Mama started calling saying “Where are you darling? Where are you darling? I’m scared. I’m terrified!” She called about eighteen times.

Mama wasn’t feeling too well because she was standing outside in the cold. Apparently she didn’t want to go into a store because the store didn’t have what she wanted to drink. So instead of sitting in the store relaxing and drinking something good, she decided to stand outside.

By the time Sonja picked her up, Mama said her chest hurt because she’d been outside and that she didn’t feel well. When Mama got back to the house, Sonja banished her down to her bedroom and told her to go to sleep.

When Sonja and I went to go to sleep, we were laying there wondering “Did we kill her? Is Mama still alive in there?” I woke up at 7:00 in the morning and I was waiting for confirmation that Mama was alive – a door squeak or SOME indication that Mama was still alive in the next room.

I kept wondering “Did we kill her mother? Should we go and check on her?” So Sonja wakes up and starts getting up to go to the bathroom, and I say “Babe, should we check on her?” She says “No, she’s all right.” I said “I think I might have heard her snore…”

After two or three more silent minutes pass, I’m still laying there wondering if we killed Mama. Did banishing her to The Promenade do it? Did the extra walking in the 65 degree cold do her in for good? What exactly happened to her? Then right at 8:00 am on the button, I hear the door creak and a toilet flush and I realized that we didn’t kill Mama.

Did Mama kill us by hanging with us for two weeks? Absolutely not. Is it hard? Yes, at times.

When older people travel and visit you in your pond, they are like a fish out of water. They don’t travel well. Young people don’t travel well either for that matter. The only people who travel well are those people in the middle.

I have never written a blog about how to meet women in an airport? It’s very simple.

First of all, airports are places that women go to connect to other places, right? If you think about the psychology of the airport, about half the time you’re traveling for business, and the other half you’re traveling for pleasure. But 100% of the time you want it to be pleasure.

So if I see a woman standing in line at Starbucks – because there is basically a Starbucks in every single airport – I would just say to her, “so, where are you heading to?”

She might respond, “well, I’m heading to San Francisco.” I can ask, “really, do you live there?” She says, “no, I’m just going on business.”

Then you can say, “alright, so we’re in an airport. If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be?” If someone is just going for a business trip, it’s not that big of a deal. They might be going to a great city, but if they are there on business, they probably won’t be able to see much of it.

But if you can get someone to talk in fantasy-mode – if you can get them to talk about where they really want to go – then the conversation can be more fun.

For instance, if the woman says, “oh, I’d much rather go to Italy,” you can ask, “why Italy? What about Italy? Where in Italy?” If you’ve been to Italy, you can contribute something to the conversation and you can have a conversation about where you want to visit and where you’ve been.

It’s fun. You’re also getting someone out of that whole “oh my god, I can’t believe…” zone. “I can’t believe I have to go on this business trip.” You’re getting her to think about things and talk about things that are pleasurable. You’re talking about things that are fun.

If you’re looking up at the flight departures/arrivals board you can do the same thing. Look at her and say, “where are you heading to?” She answers, “oh, I’m heading to Iowa.” You ask, “okay, if you had to pick any place on this whole board, where would you go and why?” And you say it with a really big smile.

That’s how you start conversations in the airport. Make it fun, make it quick, and just be different! You can find out so much about someone when you do it in this way. Not only that, you’ll be able to find out where they live, where they are going – and who knows? Maybe they are from your hometown but are heading off for vacation, and you can have dinner with them when they return

Or maybe they are heading to the same place you are, and you have a date as soon as the plane touches down!
So what about on the plane? Particularly if you’re not sitting next to them?
It’s really the same thing on the plane. You take an inventory of where they are sitting, and then when you get up to use the restroom, you smile at them as you walk by. She’s probably totally bored on the plane, and she sees you smiling at her, and then the next time you pass by to go to the bathroom, just smile at her again and ask, “how’s the flight?” Or you could say, “oh man, you are so lucky you’re sitting back here right now, I’ve got the kid kickers behind me! You wanna switch?”

I’ve done that. Or sometimes I’ll walk over and I’ll look at her and say, “are the flight attendants treating you as well as they’re treating me? Because I’m sitting up front.” I’ll play around with it, and have a good time.

Those things work every single time on an airplane. You don’t need any more. Those are just simple ways to approach.

Now what if you see people in the concierge part of the airport – not near the gates, would you still just approach them and say, “where are you heading to?”

Why not? “Where are you heading to?” Let’s say you’re sitting in the lounge, waiting to take off and the woman in there is cute. You can stand next to her and say, “going home, or going on vacation?” If she’s on your flight, you’ve already made contact ahead of time. “Going home, or going on vacation?” That’s how you do that.

Let’s say you’re walking around, killing two hours in the airport between connecting flights. You see a woman sitting in an area that implies she’s going to San Francisco, and you’re going to Los Angeles. You go over there and sit down next to her and ask, “wait, is this the flight to LA?” She’ll say, “no, it’s to San Francisco,” and then you can say, “oh man, I am so tired from traveling,” and then share your story with her.

“Man, I’m so tired right now, I’ve been on business trips all week long, and you know what? San Francisco sounds much better than going to LA on business anyway! Are you from San Fran?” You have her laughing and you’ve shared a little bit of a story. What happens next? You start communicating with her.

If you’re in a bookstore – I’ve done this a lot as well – and you see a woman with magazines, you can say, “oh, People magazine – you must have a long flight! Where are you heading to?” That’s it. You don’t have to be so funny.

As I am writing this I am being chatted up by Alan a business traveler who has been making me read this whole thing to him and he has a question.
Go ahead Alan ask away.

Alan…… Right, you can get in a funny line a couple of minutes down the road, but I like to have a good, funny line to open, and that’s where I’m thinking and not acting. And it’s like the three-second rule – I’m sitting there waiting, and then it’s almost creepy when you wait too long!

David: Yeah, you’ve waited way too long and things are not going well. And the fact is, once again, this should all be based on observations. You’re not doing anything that is so earth shattering; you’re just getting inside her head. It goes to the whole theory of becoming a natural at doing this.

You’re not walking over there saying, “let me ask your opinion, do you like 747s better or 767s?” You’re not breaking her train of thought. The reason why so many guys mess up, when it comes down to it, is that you’re pulling her out of her train of thought. You don’t want to do this.

When you pull someone out of their train of thought, you’re inevitably going to crash and burn. She’s not going to be thinking about what you just said. You’re trying to make her think on an entirely different wavelength.

By opening her with observations, you’re getting her to think on the same wavelength of what she’s already thinking about.

So there you have it in airports!

And Alan as you asked me what I was working on to strike up this last part of my blog, you can do the same with women!!

Not only that, but Verizon has the WORST rates when you travel internationally. When I’m traveling abroad, the last thing I want to do is roam on some ridiculous network when T-Mobile is worldwide.

But this blog is not about cell phone service – if it were, I would talk about the new, cool, exciting phones that have just come out and why I don’t have an iPhone. Do you know why I don’t use the iPhone? Because I can use my BlackBerry Pearl and type on it with one hand – I get 400 emails a day – and I can whip right through them.

If I had the iPhone, I’d have to dance around with my pointer finger and try to find everything. I like the fact that it has really fun little graphics, but I sit in front of my 24” Mac all day – I don’t need to be on the internet while I’m driving!

Then again, sitting in LA traffic is so bad, I could probably use the time to be on the internet, but I’d rather be cursing at the people in front and to the sides of me who are staring and almost running into me.

But this blog is neither about bad driving or the power of your cell phone network – or, as they say globally, your mobile.

This blog is about the power of your personal network.

Stop for a second and think about your network: who do you know? If an emergency came up, who do you know? Are there doctors in your network? Do you have doctors as friends that you can call up and get their medical opinion – without having to wait for an appointment?

Do you have a veterinarian friend that you can call up when there is something wrong with your dog? Someone you can trust? Someone who won’t charge you $80 a visit to find out that it was nothing but common diarrhea?

What about clothing and fashion? Do you know people that work in the stores you shop in? Do you know people that call you when something good comes in that would be perfect for you?

Do get deals? When you go out at night, do you get a free drink or appetizer because you are just a great person that connects with people? Do you know people in all different places?

How about when you go buy a car? Instead of getting red-penned to death by the salesclerk – going back and forth bargaining – can you walk into a car dealership and get a low, rock bottom price just because you know people there and you’re respected?

How big is your network?

What about when you go to the airport – they only have one seat left in first class and you’re out of certificates – but because you got friendly with the person behind the counter, they slide you into the seat with no questions asked (and no extra charges?)

What about when you check into a hotel that you’ve been to before? Do they remember you and upgrade you to a suite just because you remembered to ask about their dog or their cousin that was about to get married?

How big is your network? All of the time that you spend chasing the opposite sex – are you attracting people into the power of your network? Are you expanding your social circles?

Are you becoming a more powerful person, or are you just walking around trying to validate yourself by meeting people of the opposite sex?

My network is huge. I just had a question about this cyst that Daphne has, called three people up in a span of five minutes and got an answer – through my network.

Next time you have something going on, who are you going to call?

Instead of chasing the opposite sex, learn to attract the opposite sex and attract a more powerful network by being a more powerful person!

Todays video is all about how to overcome approach anxiety forever!!

Its Saturday time to become a tourist in your own town.

Where did the summer go?

Todays blog is perfect for this weekend.

One of the best things to do is to play tourist in your own town.

Walk around your town on a Saturday and pretend that you’ve never been there before. Why? It will force you to ask for directions and recommendations and to converse with people that you haven’t talked to before.

Maybe you can make this an adventure with somebody. Pretend like you’ve never been there before. Not only will you meet interesting people, but you will also learn things about your town that you probably didn’t already know.

Just because you have lived somewhere your whole life does not mean that you know every restaurant! It doesn’t mean you’ve been to every little shop, or explored every nook and cranny.

By acting like a curious, lost tourist, you will be able to meet more people all day long, which will build up your social network.

If you start connecting with a woman that lives in your town and you want to ask her out, you can say, “look, give me your number, I want to get together with you. I live here, but I made a pact with myself today that I was going to re-explore my town. I’ve lived here my entire life and I wanted to feel like a tourist again. And since you were nice enough to share all of your information, I would like to take you out and show you one of MY favorite places.”

She’ll ask what it is, and you can say, “surprise! Give me your number and we’ll get together next week.” That is how you do it – turn it into a game and still be honest.

Client: Have you done that before?

David: Oh yeah. It works really well. I wasn’t lying to her – I was just doing a social experiment for myself.

Also, it tells the woman that you are self-evolved. You are showing her that you are a man that actually thinks outside the box.

It takes a lot of guts to pretend to be a tourist. How many times have you been with a woman who has complained that she hasn’t seen your vulnerable side? Pretending to be a tourist is a way to show a woman your vulnerability.

All right, let’s go take a walk!

I recently spent a week in Hawaii, and while I was there I learned how to surf for the very first time. Now I’ve got to tell you that Wygant on water, ice or snow tends to be comical and is a sight to see. If you’ve ever seen me tumble down a mountain or sporting ice skates or roller blades, then you know why.

So when I got to Hawaii and Alison suggested that we go surfing, my first thought was “no way,” but I told her “Sure, whatever, I’ll go with you” because I am a trooper . . . and because my ego wouldn’t allow me not to go. So when we get there, I don’t expect be able to get up at all. Now, I’ve normally never had trouble ‘getting it up’ in life, but in this situation I did not expect to get up.

Our surfing instructor, Ron, was a really cool guy and he began to explain everything. I’ll provide a link to his website for any of you who make it to Hawaii one day. As Ron was talking to us, I was in another world thinking “There’s no way I am going to be able to get up on that surfboard. It’s not going to happen.”

Not only that, but I had to overcome my fear of Bruce, the electronic shark in Jaws . . . and weren’t these the same waters where that 14 year-old surfer girl recently had her arm bitten off by a shark? Look, I’ve had a fear of sharks ever since I saw the movie Jaws. I was 13 years-old when Jaws came out, and that was just one of those growing up movies that impact you a lot.

Meanwhile, Ron continued on the sand to teach us how to surf. He showed us how to get up. He showed us how to get down. He taught us everything we needed to know to go out there in the water and do it.

So I got on my board in the water and was going through waves thinking “Damn, man, I am not going to be able to do this. I’m going to get my ass kicked in surfing.” Then something interesting happened.

I get on a wave, stand on one knee, put one leg up, and all of a sudden I think to myself “I am going to get up on this board!” Then I rode it in just like that. A couple of rides later, I stood up and I took the entire wave from start to finish.

It felt amazing to be able to see the mountains that were all around, to be able to see the beautiful Hawaiian sky, to be able to smell the water, and to be able to see the crystal clear water all around me. I was addicted at that moment.

What does this story of my first surfing adventure have to do with dating – or with why you should date like a surfer? Well, surfing is a lot like dating.

In surfing as in dating, there are a lot of ups and there are a lot of downs. There are some times you catch that perfect wave as your board starts inching into the water, then the next thing you know you’re tumbling all over the place having no idea when you’re going to be able to get back up again or how you’re going to feel.

Surfing is just like dating because every time you get your ass kicked by a wave and tumble in the water, you have got to get right back up on that board and try again. You have got to do that in surfing, because you never know when that next wave is going to come that is going to take you all the way into the shore and make you feel victorious.

You have got to do this in dating, because you never know when the next person you run into in the supermarket or the coffee shop is going to be that person with whom you create magic. It’s amazing that dating (and life) are just like surfing.

I surfed for four days while I was in Hawaii. I had a great time. I went out there and kept trying. On some days I was able to get up more than I wiped out. On some days I was able to surf better than I was on others.

On my very last ride of the trip, I jumped off the board in a weird way and jammed by back. It was as I hobbled my way back onto the plane that I realized that surfing and dating are no different.

In surfing there will be some days you’re going to ride the wave and feel great, while on other days you won’t. In dating there will be some days you’re going to meet some great people and think great things about a possible connection with someone, while on other days you’re going to realize things aren’t going to work out with someone and that you have to start all over again.

What you need to realize is that every day and every wave give you a chance to start anew. When you get on a surfboard, you never think about the previous wave or your last wipeout. All you think about is getting up on that board on THIS wave. You take in the beautiful Hawaiian mountains or focus on the waterfall in the mountains above you. Then all you do is look straight ahead, crouch down, get on that board and ride that wave into shore.

You need to have that same mindset about every date you go on and about every relationship you have. You should never thing about past dates. Don’t think about past disappointments. Treat each date as you would treat a new wave. Every wave is different and gives you an opportunity to start anew. Similarly, everyone you date is different, and you can start anew every single day. That is really amazing when you think about it.

To Ron, I want to say thanks for a wonderful time surfing in Hawaii. You were a great instructor! For anyone who wants to visit my friend Ron in Hawaii, here is his website. http://www.kauaisurflessons.net/index.html Aloha.

For those of you that want to see my surfing skills……enjoy.

Its summer travel season and I am off to Hawaii tomorrow, so i thought i would share a recent travel related adventure with you all….

By the way airports are great places to meet people.

Recently I was sitting in the Las Vegas airport and I realized – why would anybody actually want to fly Southwest?

They just landed the flight, you get three minutes to board the plane so they remain on time – basically I think Southwest should just move all of their terminals to the Greyhound bus terminal, because really Southwest is just the bus in the sky.

Everybody’s lined up in their little groups like robots, waiting to get on the plane. They then hustle on the plane so that they can go find a seat next to somebody they don’t want to sit next to in the first place – really if you think about it, flying on Southwest is a great way to meet people. You can pick and choose whom you want to sit next to!

On the plane ride here, I actually got on the plane and I was going to sit down, and there was this perfect seat in the front of the plane. This guy was sitting there in the corner all by himself, and everybody was walking by him and I couldn’t figure out why.

So I go put my bag in the overhead compartment, and as I start to sit down, all I can smell is the lovely smell of underarm sweat! Apparently, this man didn’t believe in using deodorant.

It’s amazing that a person can get on an airplane in a public place and smell like they just finished a six-hour workout. He smelled so bad, he made Burger King and McDonald’s smell delicious – which is definitely a tough thing to do.

So as I was waiting for the bus in the sky to get home, I realized it’s just not the most civil and humane way to do it. So now I’ve decided that Southwest needs to land in the middle of the city, basically right next to the Greyhound buses, so you have the two options.

This plane I’m on right now has been to six places – it went from Midland to Albuquerque to Phoenix to Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Some people actually got on in Albuquerque to save $3.50 over all the rest of the airlines so that they can spend six hours in the sky instead of spending just two hours flying direct from Albuquerque to LA. Time is worth more to me than saving $3.50!

It’s pretty amazing, because I once flew Southwest – well, I had to, there was nothing else to fly – Southwest is generally my last option. I flew on this flight that took me from LA to St. Louis and I was sitting down next to someone who was going to Long Island, New York. He had six stops to get there!

It is literally a bus – it flies up in the air, touches down for three and a half minutes, everyone hustles like a bunch of sheep to get on the plane. The cheery Southwest flight attendants then tell some kind of joke – and they are pretty good, they’re a lot better than the sourpusses that work for American Airlines and United.

I asked the guy with six stops going to Long Island how much his airfare was and he told me it was like $265. Do you know I fly to New York City regularly on American Airlines for $299? I told him that he’d saved $34 to spend the entire day on the airplane, and he said, “huh. I guess the commercials don’t tell the truth!”

Let me tell you guys – I’m a huge fan of saving time. If you think about it, unless you are socializing in the aisles of the airplane, flirting with everybody on there – what’s the point of being up there for nine hours just to save $34?

It’s just not worth the extra time. I’d rather spend my time in the airport, flirting with the person next to me, having some fun and exchanging phone numbers – and then getting on that plane knowing that I had a good time and I can get somewhere automatically.

You don’t really need to fly a bus in the sky. I think that Southwest should change the shape of their planes to look like buses.

One more thing about flying – on a 45-minute flight, you really don’t need to give out peanuts and water and everything else. You don’t need to feed the people for 45 minutes! It’s ridiculous – people can survive not eating for 45 minutes. It’d actually do some people good!

Perhaps instead of offering peanuts, they should offer some stretching exercises instead. People don’t need to be entertained 24/7.

How about this idea: how about a speed dating event in an airplane for 45 minutes – that would be more fun!