Found this whilst preparing for 11 Nov: Let me know if you will http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM
Life is TOO SHORT! carpe diem Precautions for: 1. Life + 2. Swine flu ... 1. Don't sweat the petty things. 2. Don't pet the sweaty things.

For Pete's sake! Why do some people jump to the wrong conclusion? FRIENDS for LIFE (first) is NOT sordid or tawdry!!
Okay - guess I gotta post this up front: Why "Friends first"? - because I don't want to do "Long Term" with a non-friend ...
(um ...er...and, if I'm NOT your ex - please don't attribute his behaviour to me, okay? Let's move forward...)

Tall fishing tales...? (i.e. size does matter, otherwise why would it be that "the one that got away" is always "thiiiiiis big" ??)
Oh - wrong type of fishing story?...never mind...(but remember: Big is GOOD for goalies...)
Sonofagun!! No wonder I couldn't breathe (in the Pond...) I'm a man, not a fish!!!
(warm-blooded, not cold - soft-skinned, not slimy scales - lungs, not gills) C.U. on the shore...

Nice guys finish last, only because we let others finish first... (and, I'm a genuine Warm Male...which can come in handy on cold nights!)

Hope you (somebody, anybody, Bueller? Mom??) like my Remembrance pic (i.e. I'm for real...)

Dunno if it's "Catch & Release", wrong bait/lure, wrong corner of the Pond or just "something in the water"
(i.e. perhaps you're confused by the refraction factor and/or the moustache, but ... I'm not a carp).
Think I'm gonna angle upstream - Consider me TOTGA, looking for my lobster ("...You in your small corner, and I in mine...")

No, I'm not interested in helping you smuggle money from some 3rd World country (nor am I keen on sponsoring you into Canada, especially if we haven't even met...).
And, all that spam for Viagara...? Ya definitely must be thinkin' of some other MacGregrrrr... (cuz I'm definitely not a customer...enuf said...)

First, the "Basics":

I'm a single dad every other week, then I only log on when my son's asleep
(i.e. only after I've worn him out playing, adventuring and reading).

Sorry I can't upload more pictures here - I've got tons of them online, under the name... MacGregrrrr (and, pix are worth 1,000 words... which saves a lot of typing - chuckle!)

Just noticed somebody's comment: "Don't need a man, but would like one" (and I'm still chuckling).
Ya know what? Sometimes it's the simple statements that are the most profound
(i.e. to call a spade a spade: I'm not desperate, but I figure we'd be foolishly naive to assume "somebody" is simply going to discover us without a little hint or gentle nudge in the right direction... but whadda I know... ?)

Looking forward to hearing from you.
MacGregrrrr!!!!
(P.S. I'm allergic to cats - it's a simple fact of life - sorry to all you cat-owners, but...it's no fun when I can't breathe and my eyes are all puffed up...hmmm...that's actually a apt analogy for life, isn't it?...but...I digress...)

"A strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others."
-- Ben, from the movie "Barnyard"
(i.e. perhaps we redeem ourselves through the redemption of others...?)

Part 2 (if you liked "The Basics", and want more...)

Those who thus appreciate true valour should, in their daily intercourse, set gentleness first and aim to win the esteem of others. If you affect valour and act with violence, the world will in the end detest you and look upon you as wild beasts. Of this you should take heed.
-Emperor Meiji

Good news: I'm a carpenter's son...
Bad news: ...but I'm not perfect...

Good news: ...and therefore there's no danger of me getting nailed to a cross any time soon!
Bad news: However, it seems many women are looking for "the perfect man"...

Good news: ...whereas I'd say you don't have to be "perfect" - you only have to be a perfect fit with me!
Bad news: You haven't found me...yet...

Good news: I'm not a couch potato - I still play hockey, swim, bike, and more...
Bad news: ...and if you don't want to come along...you'll continue to be alone...

Good news: I won't force you to to come along, or to change...
Bad news: ...and if you think forcing is okay...I'm forced to say "no, thanks".

Good news: I'm not looking or anybody to support me...
Bad news: ...but if you're ONLY looking for somebody to support you...you'd better look elsewhere.

Good news: I love baking banana muffins, shortbread, cooking prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, and barbequing...
Bad news: ...therefore if you're allergic to bananas, prime rib or BBQ, I'm probably allergic to you.

Good news: If you've read this far, you know a tiny bit more about me...
Bad news: ...but if all you've been doing is reading, it means you've been reading instead of writing (me) !!!

I used to judge people with the "puppy/baby" test (i.e. anybody who likes puppies and babies can't be all bad, can they...?) - now, however, I'm more inclined to think along the lines of mutual respect, best friends (for life), and a holdover from the Army: "would I trust this person with my life...and equally, should they trust me with theirs...?"

So, here I am now - looking for a nice woman who'll appreciate me, and vice versa - how's that?
(i.e. nice guys deserve nice gals who deserve nice guys, in my simplistic world; where we're friends for life and never hurt each other intentionally, where we treat others the way we'd like to be treated, where pets would never die and friends never have to move away, where it costs so little to be magnanimous instead of selfish, where we "pay it forward", where bullies get the tables turned on them, where we don't sweat the small things and don't pet the sweaty things...)

Sum up?
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
-Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor, best known for his Meditations on Stoic philosophy, AD 121-180)

"Music hath charms to sooth the savage beast." (heck - imagine what it'll do for us NON-savages ...!!!)

All good stories end with: "...and they lived happily ever after...", which goes hand in hand with Browning's: "Come, grow old with me...the best is yet to be..."

Loss of hope, rather than loss of life, is the factor that really decides wars, battles, and even the smallest combats.
The all-time experience of warfare shows that when men reach the point where they see, or feel, that further effort and sacrifice can do no more than delay the end they commonly lose the will to spin it out, and bow to the inevitable.
-B.H. Liddell Hart: Defence of the West (1950)

1st, 2nd, 3rd date, etc.? Relax & do something mutually non-stressful
(i.e. when you say "go for a walk" - I'm with you, as long as we can leave the body armour and automatic weapons at home)
===
Something for the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month:
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of ‘Cat,’ and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. “I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,” she said. “I think that’s what he would have wanted.”
===
Laurence Bunyon, For The Fallen

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
===
Heard Chantal Kreviazuk sing "All I Can Do" unplugged on CHUM FM (felt compelled to look up the lyrics - I've always liked her version of "Leaving On A Jet Plane", too):

When you're on your own
When you're at a fork in the road
You don't know which way to go
There's too many suns in our rows
You haven't laughed in a while
When you can't even fake a smile
When you feel ashamed
The uniform don't make you brave

Chorus:
All I can do is love you to pieces
Give you a shoulder to cry when you need it
When the day is long and the night is coming down on you
All I can do, All I can do, All I can do

When you forget your name
and the pleasure can't disguise your pain
and you don't feel the same
I won't forget the love you made

Chorus:
All I can do is love you to pieces
Give you a shoulder to cry when you need it
When the day is long and the night is coming down on you
All I can do, All I can do, All I can do

What a lovely day to shape your dreams
And you don't even have to sleep
You can make it what you want to be
You can fly away
You can change your name
You can have a happy face
It can be so real

ohhhhhh

Chorus:
All I can do is love you to pieces
Give you a shoulder to cry when you need it
When the day is long and the night is coming down on you
All I can do, All I can do, All I can do, Is all that I can do
==
More recently I've taken a shining to "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne:

You're not alone, Together we stand
I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand
(ed. ran out of room)