There's something I have noticed about guys in Manhattan ... they look but don't talk.

I will be the first to admit that I am not hitting the clubs and aggressively putting myself out into the dating world but is it so hard to smile or strike up a conversation with a stranger of the opposite sex?

What's interesting is that within the last month or two those guys who have started a conversation with me have not been from, or even in, Manhattan.

For example, I was recently in a Chicago airport and a guy from Texas who was standing in front of me in the security line turned around and smiled and asked how I was doing. And during that same trip I was sitting in the food court area of the airport wasting time because of a delayed flight when a Chicago-native (who now lives in Oklahoma) sitting at an adjacent table started talking to me and ended up joining me at my table. I have yet to experience such male friendliness in New York.

Why? My thought is that people-men and women, alike-are just too self-consumed. They are running to a meeting, they are on the phone or Blackberry, they have their iPod headphones stuck in their ears or maybe they just want to be perceived as "important" so they stick their nose up in the air and walk on pretending to be oblivious to those around them. Whatever the reason, people just keep to themselves.

Being from the West Coast and required to travel every few months on business, I do notice a difference in guys outside of Manhattan.