Are two dates better than one?

HV referenced "The Book" in one of her posts. I have also read "The Book" and mostly agree with the stuff the author is saying. One of the tips is to date up to three guys at the same time.

At first I was resistant to the idea, but I gave it a try. It wasn't as tough/weird as I thought it would be (though I did have to keep track of their names/details so that I didn't get them all mixed up - not quite a spreadsheet, but close!). The idea is not to put all your emotional eggs in one basket and to take your time to get to know lots of guys. Eventually, some of them will drop off and others will start to rise to the top. Now that I'm back in the dating game after a brief hiaitus, I'm trying to apply the same approach. The only thing I'm unsure of is how much to tell each of the guys about my dating plans. I want to be honest, but I also don't want to turn them off, either. I also don't want any of them to feel that they are in competition with each other (a la Bachelorette).

I have two dates set up for this week, plus I'm communicating with a third guy(though it hasn't gotten past the e-mail stage yet):

The date with A1 is tonight. We are meeting for dinner. I spoke with A2 on the phone last night. He called while I was driving my new car, so I asked if I could call him back once I got home. Our conversation was good, but we didn't connect quite as well as A1 and I did. A2 is a cop and is a little bit jaded (I think), having been exposed to some of the worst aspects of society/humanity. I am a much more optimistic and positive person. You could argue that I need someone more realistic than I am to balance out my (sometimes naive) enthusiasm, but don't want someone to dampen it too much.

When A1 and I were communicating by e-mail last week I told him about my planned trip to Vegas in December and he'd joked about asking to come with me in any capacity (pool boy, drink valet, lotion applier). So, when he called the other day, the first thing he said on the phone as, "Hello, I'm applying for the position of Towel Wrangler for you in Las Vegas." LOL. I like that kind of attitude.

Fire, Air and Water: I am a fire sign (Saggitarius). We tend to get along well with other fire signs (Aries, Leo). We also get along fairly well with air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) who do a good job of "fanning our flames" as long as they don't "blow out the fire." Water (Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio) and Earth (Capricorn, Virgo, Taurus) tend to put our fire out.

A1 is a Gemini. A2 is a Cancer. Based solely on the one conversation I've had with each of them so far, I'd say that the Air/Water description I gave above is pretty accurate. I'll know for sure once I've met them both.