Relationship journalist and radio host Amy Spencer is the girl to go to when people want to know how the whole love thing works.

Author Barbara Bérot knows how dramatic love can be. Her debut novel, When Europa Rode the Bull, is an erotic tale of betrayal and loss.

You've probably been through high school science, so we'll assume you know who Pavlov was. He was the guy with the dogs and the bells who trained dogs to want food when he rang a bell, bringing to light the notion that animals can be trained to react a certain way when placed in certain situations.

This edition of The HookUp is out to do a little myth-busting. We'd like to disabuse you of commonly held notions about hooking up. The first is this: Contrary to popular belief, the gym is not the best place to find a date.

We need to rethink last week's plan to cure bad flirting with practice. We still think it's a good idea, but we've learned it may only be a good idea on paper.

It's confession time. Not like every week isn't a confession, but this is real confession, like only between you and us. Here goes: We here at The Hookup are bad flirts.

A friend recently went on a blindish date. I say "blindish" because she and the guy had talked once or twice, but this was their first face-to-face meeting. It was also their first face-to-face in-depth conversation.

You always carry a torch for your first. Have you ever heard that saying? We have, and to our annoyance, we've discovered that it's mostly true.

We're coming up for air from the Harry Potter cave to talk a bit about alone time and how it can make or break your relationship.

People say the darnedest things. And by "people" we mean "male strangers."

This is me flirting with you. This is me batting my eyelashes, smiling pretty and posing suggestively in your general direction – all in an effort to get your attention. I'm not sure as yet what I want to do with your attention once I get it; therefore I reserve the right to give it back at any time. This is also me not caring about your girlfriend. It's summertime, you're here, I'm here. You've got attention to give, and I want it. So this is me flirting with you. Hi!

Let's play a game. It's called "Seriously, What Is That." The rules are pretty simple. We describe a few dating conundrums that have ticked us off and made us ask "Seriously, what is that?" And then you provide an answer. Here we go:

Last week's condom comment set off a firestorm of feedback, most of which centered on responsibility and self-protection and the like. For the record, women carrying condoms is still weird. But not weird enough to overlook the risk of herpes. Duh. So that's that.

A few weeks back, we waxed psychotic on why a married man should wear his wedding band to signify his lack of availability. We're not going back on that. But we did realize that there's more to it.

If your guy had issues with his last girlfriend, chances are he'll have a version of those same issues with you.

Younger men are great. We love younger men.

Since we all know how ranty the HookUp can get, let us first condense our weekend so that everyone is on the same page before we get on our soapbox.