How does this all work again?

I think the online dating thing has hindered me in my finding someone the old fashioned way. Usually when you find someone online that catches your eye there is a page of information on them. Age, location, music interests, favorite movies, religious beliefs, what kind of person they are looking for, smoker, drinker, etc. When you meet someone the old fashioned way, you have to ask questions to get that kind of information, they don't hand you a resume. Meeting someone the old fashioned way it may take a few dates before the person you are dating drops a major deal breaker bomb, where as you may find out the same information just by looking at a profile for less than a minute.

So when you do find someone that catches your eye out in the real world, what do you do? Flirt immediately? Try to be friends first? Interrogate them to get as much information as possible to decide if they are worth your time? Not everyone who is single is looking, so if you do find someone who catches your eye how do you find out if they're looking or if they're a "it'll happen when it happens" type? Can a "it'll happen when it happens" type be changed? One of the first people to catch my eye during this experiment is one of these types. He's a coworker, but we're on different schedules. It's rather frustrating knowing that he's not really interested in anything, possibly even me. It's hard to get to know someone in such little time. He's a private type when asked questions about himself, not one to jump into a conversation when other coworkers talk about their weekend plans. Online dating has not prepared me for this type of situation. Any advice is welcome as is any venting about dating in general.

Bad Timing?

So only 4 days into this and I'm starting to wonder if my experiment is bad timing. Holidays are fast approaching and I have 4 friends getting married next year. One of them is having an engagement party at the end of the month. The invite was addressed to every single girls least favorite, your name and guest. Seeing as everyone I know at this party will have a date I don't want to be odd girl out. Even if I met someone this week by chance, less than 3 weeks of knowing each other is a little soon to be asking them to attend a big friend function like that. I could fall back to my friend A. We get along great, have a fun together, can read each other's mind, finish each other's sentences, etc. Why am I not dating A? He's gay. Honestly if he wasn't I would have clubbed him over the head and drug him to a little chapel in Vegas by now.

This weekend was uneventful as far as dating/looking goes. I went out with friends Saturday to a bar to hear a local 80's cover band play. I was asked the following morning if there were any single men there. I am assuming there were single men, it's not like they wear signs. It got me thinking though, wouldn't it be nice if people did. Something like Harry Potter's scar with a single letter, S for single, T for taken, M for married. That would make life so much easier, in theory. Does it really make it any easier when you know right away that the guy you think is cute is single, but know for a fact he is out of your league? Somethings are better off left a mystery.