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My friend’s grandfather drove a fruit cart in the Bronx in the early 1900s. My friend was very proud of his family’s fruitful legacy and, in particular, his own fruit-picking skills at the grocery store. He would carefully look at the fruit, smell the fruit, squeeze the fruit and sometimes even shake the fruit. He was determined to select the very best fruit available.

If you’re dating, try to compile “must-have” and “deal-breaker” lists to help screen prospective dates. The book Dating After 50 For Dummies by AARP sex and relationships expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz was useful in finalizing my wish list. The longer you’re in the dating market — and it does feel like a market sometimes — might a “must-have” become a “would be nice to have”? And does the deal-breaker list get shorter as well?

My grandmother told me, “It’s as easy to date a rich man as it is to date a poor man.” Or was that marry a rich man? Anyway, I’ve dated both indiscriminately.

Interview 100 people currently engaged in dating and I suspect the majority would say, “This sucks.”

OK, ladies, let’s look at specific male dating behaviors and identify which ones might work for us, too. Here are a few of my favorites from the book How to Date Like a Man by Myreah Moore.

One man I was going out with said that men date different women simultaneously to find the most appealing one. Others tell me you have to kiss many frogs to find your prince.

A recent first date was quite forthcoming. He suggested that I date like a man.

A recent Washington Post article written by Christian Rudder, author of Dataclysm and cofounder of OkCupid, debunked five myths about online dating. The fifth: “Photos are the best way to tell whether you’ll be attracted to someone.”