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Are you serious?

Yes, I am.

I agree that it�s silly that a 27-year-old woman has the hots for a few photos up on a profile, but I see it being far less silly than wanting to smooch on Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.

Unlike wanting a little Jolie-Pitt lovin�, mine isn�t so far-fetched. Tom and I are about the same age. We got our undergrad degrees in the same thing. I don�t find anything on his profile or in his interviews that indicates he�s a schmuck. And if nine out of ten dentists say chewing Trident after meals is a good thing, I�m pretty sure I can scrape up a similar endorsement saying that I�m also not a schmuck.

If he just happens to be the sort of guy who can comfortably carry on a conversation with a woman blessed with the gift of gab, there�s no telling.

Are you a stalker?

I�m not googling his home address, standing outside the MySpace offices, or leaving creepy notes on his car.

I�m just getting the word out that I�m interested in getting to know Tom.

Will we hit it off as friends, eventually date, or just continue as part of each other�s Extended Network? There�s no telling. I have no expectations.

Are you a gold digger?

Nope. I�ve got my own bankroll. It�s not a $6b empire, but I do fine thankyouverymuch.

Why don�t you just send him a message?

How many messages do you think Tom gets daily? From �OMG, UR 2 KEWL,� to �How do I change the colors of my page?� he�s got plenty to sift through.

Also, MySpace is his job. You don�t see him writing comments on people�s pages, posting those silly survey bulletins, or letting everyone know what his weekend plans are with an invite to tag along. I have no expectations for him/someone representing him to do anything more with the /tom site than to filter through the crap he�s sent, write the occasional blog or bulletin, pick up the viable improvement options, and keep the comments clean.

But isn�t Chicago far away from LA?

Yes, it is. But Chicago isn�t my home for too much longer. I�m from Texas, so these winters chill my bones a bit too much. After four years, I�ve given Chicago a fair shake. I love it for the few months it�s above 50 degrees, but the rest of the time I�m watching Law and Order reruns on TNT and eating copious amounts of carbs.

This is no way for a woman to live.

Come January 2008, after spending two extended (and warm!) months in Texas while getting to know my niece and nephew better (they were both born since I moved to Chicago), I�ll be heading to the sunny skies of LA. I�m lucky enough to have an employer who doesn�t care where I work from, so I�m going to take advantage of that perk and keep the sun on my bones.

What does Tom think about this?

I don�t know. If talked with him, I wouldn�t have this silly site.

In the interviews I�ve seen and read, he seems to have a sense of humor to know that I�m of no harm. If he finds this scary, I�m sure I�ll find out through one of those pesky cease and desist letters. �