My dogs think I'm pretty funny; they also think I?m exciting to be around, which I take as a compliment. Favorite things? Bach, olives, NYC, Frank Zappa, lying on my back watching clouds, Edward Weston, the beach on the Outer Banks after Labor Day, meditation, the Brooklyn Dodgers, Stephen Dunn's poetry, hiking, the smell of bread, "Wings of Desire", 20-year old friendships and stepping on balloons when the party's over. Things I don't like include: pistachios that won't open, reading the newspaper in a high wind, Oliver Stone, and not being able to play basketball and other sports that require good knees (walking and hiking are fine ? it?s the jumping and quick turns that are a no-no). After college, I lived in Europe for a year; went over with only a motorcycle and a sleeping bag, came back with a sports car, four suitcases, a wife, and enough Italian, French and Spanish to understand directions to the bathroom. Once hitchhiked from New Jersey to Alaska by way of New Orleans to fight forest fires, with only $75 in my pocket. I now refuse to go downtown without my cellphone. Merit badges include: owning seven very different businesses; six cover stories for Newsweek; being on the board of a couple of environmental non-profits; designing and teaching personal growth seminars (we teach what we most need to learn); and spending six years in a yoga ashram (no, it did not include shaving my head and handing out flowers at airports). I'm ineluctably attracted to women with physical vitality who are curious, sensual, and spiritual (without flaunting it), and who are open to frequent paroxysms of helpless laughter. A desire to discuss movies on the ride home is also helpful, plus the occasional duel with water pistols. References upon request.