After the hourlong drive from Trieste, I parked the car, hurriedly paid the meter, and casually-coolly-quickly-sauntered to the beach promenade. Stepping onto the sidewalk, I looked down to my phone to re-check where to meet him. Glancing back up, suddenly I was taken aback. It was one of the loveliest beaches I had seen in......

Norman is sweet. One of the kindest, most empathetic people I’ve ever met. Norman is cute. Taller than me. Norman doesn’t think I should lose any weight, and in fact has come out verbally against it. Norman goes out of his way to help people. Norman has gone out of his way to help me,......

(Recall: Xavier saga part 2) When is enough enough? Do you painstakingly teach common-sense behaviors to a well-intentioned tutee in order to grow a good partner? What does it mean to “deserve ‘better’ “? As we left it, Xavier had shown quite a bit of promise. (He was sort of the “fan favorite”.) Parts of......

Dora and I sat across from each other, respectfully “socially distanced”. I was hungry. “Hmm.. Can you catch??!” “Yes! I’m good at ball sports!” “Ok, here goes!” She tossed over a ham and cheese sandwiched in aluminum foil that she had packed. YUM. Later, some coffee in a jug, and a carton of milk. And......

I must say, this may have been the best blind date I’ve ever had. And the first time I took a blind date out with a group of friends. Let alone the first blind date welcomed into a birthday celebration!  Nelson is 51. Another physics/math major 🙂 turned IT/engineering guy. An entrepreneur who’s had his......

It was the last week of our 30 day competition. Pressure was on! I was again experimenting with little app-texting and going nearly straight to the date. More fun? After all, my shower-hair-makeup-ready routine was down to 40 minutes, and I’d save time not endlessly texting.  Owen and I had a good initial back and......

I really thought “smart, nice, curious, adventurous” were my most important criteria. How does one explain the criteria for connection? For being drawn to someone’s personality? And wanting to see them again even if they don’t perfectly check the boxes? My reaction to this date still mystifies me. I really like Paul as a person.......

Sometimes I think I’m pretty clever. But from the second Quinn opened his mouth, I couldn’t for the life of me place his accent. Italian? “Nope.” Ah I know, it’s Argentinian! “Nope.” Ok, say something in Spanish. “Hola.” Oh you’re Spanish! The charming, quirky voice was an exact replica of Enigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin!) from......

(Read first date: #7) This was Tom again, the financial inclusion CEO guy. The one I was super nervous about seeing the first time. The one who totally impressed me for 3.5 hours with his stories of travel and working in developing countries. It’s now been just over a week since the first date. No......

I was feeling behind on the challenge (only 10 dates after 19 days!), so I thought I’d try to fill my pipeline with less back-and-forth texting. Just as an experiment to see what happens! Rick’s Hinge profile was terse but it did say “human rights technologist,” and high-quality pictures showed a nice, respectful person. Good......