Today's winner, and potential cause of my headache, is windsor_king on Yahoo. Do, please, everyone in Huntsville feel free to say hello, as he seems to insist that he's going to be visiting Huntsville in July.

I have my doubts.

In the interest of completeness, let me disclose that this is not the first time this guy has contacted me. There have been several brief instances of 'hi' from him previously, all imploring for me to be his friend because he was coming to town. As you can see by a couple of the initial exchanges I'm including here, we've rarely been online at the same time.

So we've got some ground rules set. What I've said here is the simplified version of the truth: I'll meet up with someone I've encountered online after I've gotten to know them well enough to consider them a real-life friend as well. It's highly unlikely that I would ever agree to meet some random online person whom I hadn't taken the time to know well. About the only way I'd ever consider doing such a thing would be at a very public place for lunch, with a check-in with Jeff beforehand …

… if I wasn't catty enough to suggest to my other friends here in town that they, too, have lunch at the same place and keep an eye on me. I'm friendly, but not stupid. Nor was I born yesterday.

So here's today's conversation. Read through it. See if you get the same odd, creepy, stalkerish vibe I got.

I hit the 'ignore' button. Seemed the safest option.

My frequently-traveling friends, have I estimated the situation correctly? Someone who is truly traveling on business to an unusual location generally should exhibit some degree of interest in the town (s)he's traveling to. Local color, food, museums, parks, etc. Mention the company in question, ask about where it's located in town, ask questions about the airport, etc.

I admit for a moment I hesitated and thought, "Could it be possible that he's really not comfortable telling me what he's working on?" I do live in Huntsville, which is Space Crap and Top Security Clearances Central … and then I remembered something. He's not American. My in-the-industry friends can pipe up on this one, but I'm pretty sure that throws the whole security-clearance issue out with the baby, the bathwater, and a few of the bath toys too.

Then I reread the rest of the conversation, got my head back on straight, closed the window, and started marking up the conversation for your reading enjoyment. Just remember, kids: if you believe everything that random IMers tell you, the greatest sex you've never had is only a motel room away.