A good friend of mine talked me into going on a double date with her boyfriend's best friend. No problem, right? Wrong! For our double date, we went on a river canoe trip. My friend and her boyfriend went up Friday, and my date and I were to catch up with them on Saturday. After picking me up, he drove less than the speed limit the entire way. The hour-and-a-half drive seemed to last forever. When we got there, he confessed that he had never canoed before. No problem; I had done this a zillion times. Then he insisted on sitting in the back so he could steer (which he couldn't do). The river was crowded and the current strong from the spring thaw. I was so embarrassed because we kept running into other boats or getting in their way .I finally dug in and started paddling for all I was worth, and we finished our trip quickly. Thank God! Oh, wait. ... Our friends were miles behind us, so I was stuck with this macho geek with nothing to say. That night, the guys were supposed to "cook" over an open fire while we girls went to clean up. The guys used so much lighter fluid that we couldn't eat. Even the boyfriend's dog wouldn't eat it. Breakfast was the same lighter-fluid fiasco, and my "date" backed into a tree as we were leaving. (Don't feel bad for him; he didn't want help backing out). Once home, I dialed my old boyfriend before my date's Honda made it out the drive. If that was what was out there, I wanted to take my chances with someone I knew was not a complete idiot. -- Carmie, 25