Match.com

Well, I did it. It was raining cats and dogs two Sundays ago, so I knew I wasn't leaving the house. I had work to do - preparing to teach a new course, but I knew I wasn't going to spend all day on that. So, when one of those pop up ads appeared while I was doing email, enticing me with eligible bachelors...I jumped!

So now my profile is out there for all the world to see along with some photos. Every day I check to see who's viewed my profile. Or match.com sends me people who seem to match my profile and I can "wink" at them to let them know I'm interested. Then they can wink back at me or email me or even IM me! Of course I can do the same.

I must admit, there have been lots of profiles that caught my attention. A couple men who have reached out to me have mystified me though - I said I wanted to meet people in my "neighborhood" - people who can help me get acquainted with New York - and I get emails from England, Texas, and Washington State! Some even say they're willing to relocate. Isn't that odd? I just want to meet someone for coffee for heaven's sake! I do have to keep getting out the map because there are so many little towns and villages around that I don't recognize in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut that are actually within a reasonable distance.

Writing my profile was interesting - deciding what to say, wanting to be open and honest without scaring anyone away. What's the thing I can say to reveal my true self without revealing everything. I'm such an open book but I think that's a good thing. When someone's profile only reveals a few things and they don't complete any of the entries it makes me wonder (a) why they're bothering and (b) what they're hiding. Or if they're "shy" or don't know what to say, it makes me wonder what they'd have to say in person. I certainly don't want to carry the conversation. I know this is supposed to be an entry way, not the whole deal, so it is interesting to see what catches my eye and what I seem to want to reject. I want to have fun with it and so I'll just hold it lightly as another way to meet people in my new home town, or nearby anyhow.

I did volunteer this past Sunday at the Rhinebeck Farmers Market. It's a great market and I'm delighted to help out in any way I can. Two of the faculty members from CIA have stands - one runs a farm with his wife, and the other makes homemade pasta. There are 30 vendors total. One of the vendors makes the absolute best fallafel I have ever tasted. It's the first thing I get when I go to market - served in fresh pita from the city and tucked in with some yummy pickled vegetables and sauces. I've never had anything like it. It's fun to have a ritual too - get my fallafel and wander past all the vendors deciding what I might like to buy. Then when I'm finished eating I go back and pick up the things that caught my eye. This week I got chiaggi beets to try (can you even believe that?!), some sugar snap peas, some broccoli, and something called "scapes." They're the sprout from garlic that you actually cut off before they flower. This lets the energy go to the bulb in the ground, and you can use these "tops" with a mild garlic taste in salads or scrambled eggs or in risotto, etc. Fun to experiment.

Guess that's all for now.... Oh, that new class I'm teaching? Today was session #1 of 8 sessions and it went very well. Lots of good feedback from participants - they were really engaged and really could see the application for their work. It warms my heart to think that a training class I've brought to the organization might actually be the thing that transforms the way work shows up for some people - that they might actually see the possibility of life at work being different, better, more effective, etc. Man, this is great stuff!

Ciao, oh one more thing.... HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY TO HELEN BALMFORTH!! My nephew Mike's wife celebrated her birthday this past weekend. She's just the best and I hated like hell to miss that party. Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS TO KAITLIN ZIMMERMAN (nephew Dan and Amy's daughter) ON THE OCCASION OF HER HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION!! This is the hard part about not being in Michigan - missing being with family when important milestones are reached. I hope you know, Helen and Kate, how much I love you and how BIG my wishes are for your health and happiness.

Ciao for real.

Love,
V