In late 2006, Greg and I both found ourselves taking a hiatus from life in our hometown of Sarasota. (We both grew up here, never knew each other but share some of the same friends). Greg had spent 10 years living in Orlando and was ready for a change. I had spent 12 years living in various cities across the country and was ready to decide on a permanent zip code.

After a month of retreat at the beach near my parent's house, I decided to check in with Sarasota people via myspace (One of those newfangled online social networking sites). There were plenty of locals I had not seen in a while, and what better way to re-connect? As I was communicating with a few people from high school years, I kept seeing one of their friends pop up with an interesting profile "photo". The photo was a Frank Frazetta painting (think 1970s sci-fi fantasy art). I recognized the artist because right before I'd left Brooklyn I bought a 1984 calendar of paintings by Frank Frazetta. That led my initial inquiry to Gregory Pennenga. A few weeks later he responded and we soon made plans for dinner. I thought he would be just a good friend until he showed up for our first date in a velvet blazer and took me to the nicest place in town. It was, for each of us, the first time we had ever gone on a blind/myspace date. It was also the last time for each of us! (These were our myspace profile photos when we first "met")