We were sadden this week by the loss of a long time local gay friend who succumbed to a painful battle with cancer. We met him on Apollo when we came here eleven years ago. Not only did we enjoy his company, he was the official editor for Apollo Network. I ran everything by his skillful eyes. We will miss him deeply.

Sorry to say that due to back problems I'm still mostly on my back, a position not conducive to computer work.

I have spent a lot of time lying under a lap top scanning the Apollo profiles, and excuse the repetition, but if a person is seriously interested in meeting someone on line, for friendship or more, he must have four things in his Profile:

1: some photos
2: a good description of himself
3. a name (even if it is a fake one)
4. A Location

Eliminate any of the four at your own peril.

Profiles like For Sale signs get weather beaten in time. Spruce yours up often. If nothing else, right now add two things:

1. If you have nothing written in the profile description, write a name there. No one wants to write: "Hey, You."
2. Give a location. If you live in a big city, list it. If you live in a small town, give the state or area. No one wants to write someone who turns out to live three thousands miles away. On the other hand he might write you if he knows some in your area and plans to visit there.

The business world has a saying: Anything that is examined often always improves. So it is with profiles.