There is that...

So, I have already given my first two excuses for blogging truancy (1) running the lives of 4.5 people plus me at work and (2) learning three tax codes in one month.  Somewhat convincing, I realize, but still a little lame given the length of my truancy. However, here's by far the most convincing excuse of the three which will all but certainly clinch your forgiveness:  "So, there was this girl..."  :) 
 

Her name is Danielle (this is actually a picture from our first "official" date, the aforementioned Jays game at Fenway) -- she has actually already made a cameo appearance on this blog as my "friend from Queen's, NY" (how stealthy of me, no?)  We actually met on the steps of our church walking in for our first small group meeting last fall... uncharacteristically, we were both late and, seizing the moment, I decided this was an ideal time to display my witticism by remarking how it is impossible to be late in Boston since almost everything systematically starts 5-10 minutes after the actual listed start time (seriously, it's like Boston has its own time zone when you first move here).  Suffice it to say that I immediately charmed off her feet based on my insane hilarity... well, not exactly, but I am convinced first impressions mattered :)  We started hanging out a bigger group just before Christmas and consistently had fun together.  However, despite this pairing being self-evident very quickly to nearly everybody in our social circle (leading to some elaborate behind-the-scenes mechanations to which I was blissfully acluistic until quite recently), I am a bit slow with these things and, although it was certainly in the back of my mind, I never really caught the wave until the middle of March or so.  Anyway, long story short, we started e-mailing each other every day, and I started conducting a series of "experiments" (I am a scientist, so shoot me :) to get to know her better.  Obviously, these experiments were highly successful (publishable results, look right here!) and after a couple of "unofficial" dates shrouded in ambiguity, we started "officially" dating about one month ago at the ball game.

Seeing as how CV-intensive we are around MIT, I thought I would briefly, semi-seriously summarize Danielle's top ten qualifications to date me (believe me, just any CV will not do): 

1) She is a huge baseball fan. 

2) Although she is from New York City, she is NOT (I cannot emphasize this enough - NOT) a Yankees fan (a Mets girl - I am OK with that since I really have no preferences in the National League - Yankees fandom would have been a deal-breaker though, I simply cannot live with that :)  Also, she has agreed to adopt the Blue Jays as her American League team, so it works out all around.) 

3) We are on the same page in terms of our faith (although she is a little more Pentecostal than I... perhaps she will get me clapping one of these days) and our moral stands, which for ultra-conservative, "square" me is actually a very non-trivial thing to find. 

4) She laughs at approximately 95% of all my attempted jokes, the highest percentage ever recorded in human trials (even I only find roughly 80% of my jokes funny). 

5) She is very funny herself, particularly when she lapses back into a NYC accent and/or her "cool", Snoop Dogg-style urbanspeak (I now actually understand what the sentence "I will be rollin' outta da hood in my hooptie, and won't be frontin' by showing up late--I ain't playin' --fo schizzle." means... I will leave it to you to determine if that is a positive or a negative... still unsure myself :) 

6) As a nurse, she is also a bit of a science geek (although, SHOCKINGLY, I am without question still the geekier half). 

7) We enjoy doing almost all of the same, commonly-viewed-as-lame activities and also both enjoy competing with each other in said activities... beneath my somewhat passive exterior, I am a super-competitive person, so this totally works for me (she is still convinced she can "school" me in crokinole... that'll be the day...) 

8) She is one of the most thoughtful, caring, kind, trustworthy and authentic people I have ever met, which are pretty much the top five personality attributes I value in somebody. 

9) She makes excellent cake. 

10) She is undeniably cute. 

When you put this resume together with some pretty obvious (to us at least) "God prompts" that this is a good idea, I think her qualifications are all in order :) 

So, I guess you could call this a "good couple of months"... again, my sincerest apologies for my blogging truancy, but I suspect you now understand.  Hope you enjoyed "MEGA-BLOG"... I will try to be a bit more timely in the future!