Back in your salad days, it was all about the dressing.

Come Saturday night, the guys would put on their coolest outfits and hit a bar or two armed with such quality pick-up lines as: "Let's say we rearrange the alphabet and put U and I together?" For the ladies, the weekend also meant dressing to kill and, despite the occasional urge to kill, putting up with the "what's you're sign" preening of potential suitors to sort out Mr. Goodbar from a sea of bland NECCO Wafers.

In youthful days there was college and the diet of dates dorm life provides. There were rock concerts and trips to the beach to spark your social life. Perhaps meeting members of the opposite sex was never all that easy, but for a time opportunity knocked on a regular basis.

Fast forward a few years. College is over, your career is in high gear and thirty-something or more candles decorate your birthday cake. You work almost non-stop, a condition that leaves little time or energy to put up with the now-horrifying prospect of a bar crawl. There are nice, eligible guys or girls at work, but such romances are foolhardy and ill-advisable in today's corporate world. Friends, once happy to set you up on a blind date, are now either entrenched in the sheltered world of marriage and children or desperately seeking companionship themselves.

What do you do?

The first step: relax.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your job is tough….long hours…etc., etc. All that is true, but unavoidable. In today's fast-paced world your life is bound to be zipping along at a full and crazy pace for years and years to come. But we are often our own worse enemies. No job is so all encompassing that you can't allow yourself at least one night of fun a week. Just do it.

Consider this as well. Odds are that any person you meet will likely be in the same boat - just as lonely and just as overworked. This commonality can certainly work to your advantage.

Once you decide that, by hook or crook, you will set some time aside for yourself and the search for that certain somebody, you need to determine where to meet and mingle.

You might want to think about signing up for an adult education class. Many single men and women meet once a week to learn about everything from Tuscan cooking to hand-made pottery. Find a course that interests you and you can be assured that the people you meet there will share those interests. If you love Shakespeare, you are guaranteed to meet someone with a similar passion while attending a three-session series on "The History of the Globe Theater."

Are you active in your church? Then really, really be active in your church. If shared religion is important to you in a significant other, volunteering your time to the various bazaars, picnics, pancake breakfasts and fundraisers your church holds from time to time is a good way to meet someone who fits the bill. You just have to have a little faith.

If you can tell the business end of a squash racquet, consider joining a local gym or athletic club. If you don't happen to meet someone special, at least you will be in better shape and better your odds of doing so once you step off the Stairmaster.

The advice here is simple. Everybody has hobbies and interests. To meet the like-minded all you need to do is join a group or organization that caters to them. If you like to hike and camp, join the Appalachian Mountain Club. Into HAM radio? Join a radio club? Own a Ferret? Hop on the Internet and find a local group of other rodent admirers.

It all comes down to what is often said about the lottery. You can't win if you don't play.