To the handful of people who 'rated me highly' (4-5 stars): thanks, I'm flattered. Too bad I have no idea who you are. To those who are considering rating me highly, how about just messaging me instead?

I saw a comment on a woman's profile that said she only got one reply per 100 messages she sent; huh, I thought that was just a guy thing...

I've seen too many comments like "I'm a tee and jeans kinda gal, but I also like to dress to the nines," IE vague. That's what inspired me to come up with my sliders below:

materialist-------|---minimalist
..quality ---|------- quantity
.Indoors ----|------ outdoors
...woods --|-------- beach
.....dogs ---------|- cats
.eat out -------|--- cook
..recipes ---|------- improvise
...liberal -|--------- conservative
...winter ----|------ summer
..boozer --------|-- teatotaler
......beer ---------|- cocktail
....bland -------|--- spicy
..artistic --------|-- technical
......bold ------|---- shy
.humble ---|------- proud
.....timid -------|--- confident
focused --------|-- flighty
.....stick -|--------- automatic
...teams ----------| indiv. sports
nightowl --|------- early bird
.....suits -------|--- jeans
..lawyer ---------|- scientist
.love job --|-------- hate job
......lefty -|--------- Righty

I'll add more sliders as they occur to me. Or you can suggest a new one. Feel free to plagiarize my idea; it's not copyrighted!

Remodeling my condo. It really needs it. People often say in their profiles that "you should be passionate about something;" I guess I'm passionate about remodeling my condo with as many recovered/recycled or at least sustainable materials as possible (including bamboo floors in the kitchen). Once that's done, I hope to sell and do the same with the new house I want to build.

On any given Saturday, you might run into me here:
www.ecobuildingbargains.org
(Saturday is the only time they're open while I'm not working.)

coming up with project ideas. My home-improvement dreams can be pretty wild and ambitious sometimes. I do come up with realistic ones, too. Also, saving energy and recycling. And I have a killer oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and an awesome falafel recipe.

...and procrastinating; I'll elaborate more on that tomorrow...

is that I'm shy in a mix 'n' mingle scenario. I've got no problem with one-on-one; not so great in a room full of strangers where I'm supposed to just walk up to people and strike up a conversation. Maybe that's why I'm on OkC. I'm just not into meet markets (or is it "meat markets?")

[Feel free to skip over this section for now. If you'd like to say hi after seeing the rest of my profile, then you can browse through this list to look for a nice ice-breaking nugget ;) ]

Northampton, it's got the best fun to driving distance ratio of any place around (and yes, it's not a book, movie, show, music or food, but it's got all that going on); sofaspace; I like French-press coffee as much for the ritual as for the good coffee; mostly sci-fi books, particularly James P. Hogan or William Gibson (Go Wintermute!); Unforgiven is the only western I like; Good Eats (which luckily lives on in the YouTubes. We'll miss you Alton); Perhaps my favorite song of all time is "In the Waiting Line" by Zero-7; sushi; I have read the entire Harry Potter series, and I'm not ashamed of it; Memento; the Daily Show/Colbert Report; Just recently discovered Reggie Watts; he's my commutin' buddy; Indian cuisine; I've read four Dan Brown novels, and I definitely see a pattern/formula to his stories, but he's still a pretty good page-turner; the Matrix (just the first one); Futurama; Lately, I've been "tuning in" to SoMa FM (digital streaming out of San Fran) and enjoying several of their channels, particularly the randomness of "Cover Me;" Alton Brown's breakfast smoothie; the Abyss; some of the home improvement/woodworking shows on CPTV Create (971 'round here); my own music collection is pretty diverse, to the point that I don't think one could categorize me by it; fresh baked bread (particularly when the weather's cooler); Shaun of the Dead; Used to love HGTV and Food Network before everything went all reality/competition; Admittedly, for a long time I pretty much listened to whatever Clear Channel and Mtv threw my way, but those days are over; blueberry-cornmeal pancakes; Serenity; Dexter; Italian...especially lasagna and ratatouille; the Princess Bride; Big Bang Theory isn't bad; I own just about everything xTc has ever done; I miss Firefly and wish it would come back like Futurama did. Or at least a sequel to Serenity. And I guess here is the best place to confess my addiction to the Walking Dead. I can't walk through a hardware store anymore without asking myself, "would that hammer stop a walker? Could I make a crossbow out of that spring steel?" It's my only must-see TV, and if I could figure out a way to stream or download episodes, I could probably quit the rest of TV cold-turkey.

...in no particular order:

1)My cast iron skillet; it does pancakes, braised chicken, home defense, fly swatting... what doesn't it do?!?

2)Linux; Kubuntu in particular, but open-source software in general.

3)the Daily Show/Colbert Report hour (OK, so that's two things smushed into one. Sue me!)

4)Toe socks. It would be hard to go back to regular socks now.

5)the Dvorak keyboard layout. Ask me or Google it.

6)Tofu, in all its glorious forms.

Long ago in China, a blind old man walked from his village to the large town nearby every week to have dinner and a visit with his son. On one occasion, he stayed longer than usual, and when he got up to leave the sun had gone down. His son fetched him a paper lantern on a stick for his journey home.

The man chuckled and reminded his son that not only had he been blind since the son was a boy, but he'd walked that path every week for years and knew every rock and tree root to avoid by heart. The son said, "it's not to light your path, father; it's to warn others of your approach, so they don't bump into you." The man praised his son for his wisdom and headed home with the lantern out in front of him.

Partway home, on the path outside the town limits, a stranger walked squarely into the old man, knocking them both to the ground. After the stranger helped the old man to his feet, the old man angrily asked him, "how could you be so careless? Did you not see my lantern before me?"

The stranger replied, "your candle had blown out, sir."

up for anything. What did you have in mind?

I spent about nine months studying in Spain on an expired visa. We all (the students in my group) went over on 3-month tourist visas and were supposed to stop by the town hall to get a student extension before it expired. But the day I passed by, the line was out the door, so I skipped it and never went back.

I photoshopped (well, technically "gimped") the extra depth of field into my first three pics.

I have the same laptop as Wolowitz and Sheldon

I baby-talk to my cats.

and ONLY IF you're sitting in front of a computer right now (or on your smarty-phone or tablet). As long as you're sincere, I'll reply.

You don't base your relationship expectations on what you've seen in romantic comedies. I don't think replying to an OkC message could qualify in any way as a "meet cute" anyway.

You're in CT or MA and your county starts with an H, or your town borders one of them (I'm lookin' at you, neighbors in Tolland County...). Anything else and we're probably too far. My work is in Glastonbury and sometimes takes me down to New Haven, so I will take that into consideration as well.

Also (and I guess this goes without saying), you're modern enough to agree that it's cool for a woman to make the first move sometimes.