Interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal:  Dinner and a PowerPoint?, by Sue Shellenberger:

You’ve heard of working vacations. Now comes "the working date." Many single people are so busy with careers that they don’t have time for a social life. So they’re increasingly blending work and romance. For some, the practice has provided a path to lasting love. …

A matching work ethic is becoming a kind of compatibility test for many career-minded singles. A typical working date for Scott Friedman, 47, of Denver, a motivational speaker and humorist, starts with, "’Look, I’m busy. You’re busy. Why don’t we order in and we’ll work?’" With one recent partner who also has a demanding career, they would dine on Chinese food at his kitchen table, admiring the city lights from his windows. "Then we’d work for a few hours," he says. "At least," he reasons, he could glance at his date across the room. After that came dessert or a trip out for ice cream. "The actual social part of a four- to five-hour date would be 60 to 90 minutes," he says. The relationship ended for other reasons, but the dates "made me feel better, because I wasn’t always the one saying, ‘Geez, I have so much to do.’" A subsequent relationship tanked partly because the woman wasn’t as busy as he was, Mr. Friedman says. Although she agreed to pass time reading a magazine while he worked after dinner, "it was uncomfortable for me because I knew she was just waiting for me to spend time with her," he says. Feeling guilty, he broke it off. "I decided I was better off by myself."