Tuesday at Marquee is always a good time. The last time I went, I was accompanied by a random, gorgeous 21 year old brunette who I met as she was smoking outside of a restaurant near my place. Things were going swimmingly well with her until she went to the bathroom around 3 AM, and a random gorgeous 21 year old blonde started making out with me unprovoked. Quite literally - I was walking over to a friend's table, and was grabbed and accosted by kisses. This sort of thing is a rarity, and depending on the club and the night, can be either welcomed (as it was with this girl) or cause for actually tipping the bathroom attendant a buck or two so that you can rinse with his listerine with impunity.

Anyway, the first gorgeous 21 year old returned in time to see these shenanigans, and being a.) invested in our conversation and in a few shots she'd bought me and b.) intoxicated and emotionally lathered, was having none of it. I could only see a head being shaken in disgrace and slight disgust at me through a puff of blonde hair.

I was disappointed. But then I recalled her telling me about her boyfriend. Ah well...

These are the sort of stories that make for a rich, if shallow, life. But tonight it was not to be. The Dalai Lama and Michio Kaku needed my love, or rather, I needed theirs.

In fact, as of late, I've been laying off the dating, and to a certain extent, the socializing. I've certainly not been looking for any new women in my life romantically. Most of my effort is going into building the social man, and I'm quite happy with the friends I have. But more significantly, I've run into a problem with dating.

There are lots of stunningly attractive girls here; I've dated a few of them, and one of them was my girlfriend for a stint. She was tyrannically beautiful; spending any amount of time looking into her eyes was a better way of kicking serotonin release into high gear than popping a tab of ecstasy. But the problem with every single really, really beautiful girl I've known is...

well, where to start?

Ok, it is unfair to generalize. But to generalize (just because its unfair doesn't mean it is off limits), a woman to whom much of the world is handed on a silver platter tends to become jaded. She may find it hard to appreciate the simple joy of consistency when something hot and new and exciting is there to tempt her the moment consistency becomes boredom, and boredom becomes intrigue.

Still, who doesn't want to date a really beautiful girl?

Well, for starters a man who wants a greater chance of meeting a girl who is a solid long-term partner. For many reasons, most of all because they do not have instant access to all of life's temptations, the girls who you wouldn't call beauty queens are generally more reliable, more loyal, and more likely to be good girlfriend material. Generally.

So, much like partying versus reading, we have a classic opportunity cost problem here. And, in speaking with a client today about this exact issue in his life, I thought of a metaphor that was useful in guiding him toward an answer.

Here we have a chart of the five year positions of three stocks - Nvidia, Broadcom, and Berkshire Hathaway. Nvidia makes graphics chips (and its growth funded much of my racing habit back in 2003), Broadcom makes networking chips, and Berkshire Hathaway owns such standbys as Gillette and Dairy Queen.

Nvidia is the hot tech stock with solid fundamentals, but a challenging market. Its like the hot girl with good values who lives in, and occasionally falls victim to the land of temptation.

Broadcom is the formerly hot tech stock with decent fundamentals. Its like the beauty queen who gained fifty pounds after high school.

Then you have steady, reliable Berkshire Hathaway. You know your money is safe there and you know you're getting your dividend every year. At this point, the metaphor should be pretty clear.

So the question is, what is your tolerance for risk? Unlike the stock market, you can't diversify in women (unless you're a sheik, a certain kind of Mormon or sleazy). Some people are just more risk-tolerant. In fact, they might downright like the ride, the bumps and the grand adventure of it all. Others are more risk averse, deriving their happiness in the knowledge that their positions are safe and stable.

Of course, there is one other kind of stock. The hot tech stock with the solid fundamentals in a can't-lose market position...

But how many Googles are there out there?