I was halfway through my own interpretation of the Swan Lake ballet (with ski-boot instead of pointe) in my living room when it hit me. One foot locked into my ski boot and the other splayed outward to demonstrate the Balanchine method, it dawned on me that perhaps I was moving too fast.

I had an idea. What if the Chicago Craigslist users had a voice? What if they told me what they liked / didn’t like on Craigslist? And, most importantly, what if I didn’t have to write a column today?

Since leaving the undergraduate cocoon last June, I’ve proudly joined the ranks of twentysomethings that rule this city. I’ve embraced the post-graduate, pre-professional quarterlife with open arms, and despite its mess of bills, work and other real world loveliness, I’ve noticed quite a few perks. Among them, a refreshing change to my dating discrimination.

“Free stuff” - A fine section of Craigslist that may actually yield used gold. It’s so interesting the types of things that people somehow acquire and yet have no use for – used palettes, print paper, women’s medium jeans. Why a lot of this stuff isn’t donated to the Salvation Army or the like I’ll never know. Strong backs recommended.

Free pool table – balls and sticks. Shark not included.

Bye Bye Big Ben The Bulls trade Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and a second round draft pick to the Cavaliers in an 11 player deal that brings Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons to Chicago. My take on it in the next "Sports Matters" post.

While not hideous (let's call it...unorthodox), this boxy building seems to be straddling the old and new architectural trends found throughout Bucktown and other quickly developing Chicago neighborhoods: If new condos are your guide, bricks seem to have become passe, passed over for masonry and glass. But here at the intersection of North Leavitt Street and West McLean Avenue (just north of Armitage Avenue), brick, glass and stone are jumbled together into cubic confusion.

Hey Chicago - Fill that aching void in your life with some do-gooderism. Why? Because it’s probably better for you than Project Runway, World of Warcraft or huffing Cheeze Whiz.

Usher for Blue Man Group! ‘Nuff said!

So in the greatest of all meaningless games, the East knocked out the West 134-128 in New Orleans, which had put on its best face for the largest sporting event it had hosted since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. 1. The news that eclipsed the game's outcome was the completion of the Jason Kidd trade to Dallas the next day for Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, Trenton Hassell, Keith Van Horn and two future first round draft picks in 2008 and 2010. Seems like the West is caught up in a series of major knee jerk trade reactions.

What r u up 2? What are you up to? Whut ru up 2? Ahh, the day-to-day text message agony I go through. To abbreviate or not abbreviate? What punctuation? Will the receiver pick up on my subtle sarcasm? Should I send it now or wait? Oh! I almost forgot the smiley/winky face!! Disgusting, right?

Put on your miner’s helmet, because we’re literally heading in the nether-regions of Craigslist depravity here.

This is not for kids. Or the squeamish of heart. Or, really, for any decent person.

We’re talking about the Casual Encounters section. Here it’s “nsa” (no strings attached). No pretense, no picking up the check, no romance, just the business. If you don’t bring a fistful of condoms then you probably won’t live to see our next president.

Bucktown's old two-floor houses aren't glamorous, but they do bear themselves with quiet dignity. Sandwiched between two homes on the 1600 block of N. Wolcott (across the street from the "Urban Sandbox" mentioned in the previous post) is this new home: I love - and hate - these juxtapositions peppering Bucktown and other neighborhoods throughout the city: gentrification is rarely so clearly displayed. What are the neighbors thinking?

Uhh… so it’s Valentine’s Day. And since I am a “dating blogger” I suppose that gives me some sort of obligation to mention aforementioned holiday. Now I’m going to go ahead and be relatively neutral in regards to my attitude towards this most sensitive of holy days. (fyi— originally WAS a holy day. Some dude gave himself to the lions in the name of Hallmark or something) Therefore, I will not be writing about “uggh Vaaaalentine’s day” accompanied with an exaggerated eye roll and impassioned petitions for singletons of the world to gorge on Haagen Daaz.

It's that time of the year. The NFL season is over, the NBA playoff drive has yet to really heat up and MLB spring training still feels like a distant snowbound fantasy. But the world keeps turning and there have been some rather significant developments.

• Lakers and Suns make big moves, Bulls tread water: Two blockbuster trades went down last week involving big men with low post credentials. Neither of them involved the 20-30 Chicago Bulls.

Reports say the hard-living, acerbic comic book writer died Sunday in a Las Vegas hospital due to complications from pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60 years old. Writer Mark Evanier, a longtime friend and colleague of the writer has written an official announcement post on Gerber's blog. Fans and pros from the comic-book world are paying their last respects in the comments below.

Girls have always traveled in packs. From middle school cliques to sorority sisters, girls tend to favor the camaraderie and constant companionship of a group. And while it seems that all girls share this affinity to some degree (yes, even me. I was a sucker for the sleepover party) some girls are more prone to pack-mentality than others. It is these women that gather their comrades apres-office, trade shoes and lip-gloss, text their coordinates and meet for the commence of: The Manhunt.

Part II in our descent into the Craigslist personals. This week we’re looking at people who are looking for people… supposedly for reasons other than sex.

or this they have created the Strictly Platonic section. And yet again Craigslist surprises me, because what did I find here but actual civility. Lots of people looking for people… quite possibly without twisted ulterior motives.

While walking down North Avenue this week, I glanced up Wolcott Avenue and spotted this bleak mid-winter scene: So many of the new homes being built in Bucktown have either too many windows or too few. This white, nearly finished building at 1611 N. Wolcott just has oddly placed windows, which for some reason the architect paired with large orange rectangles. It's as though the developer said, "This home needs some flair!" and the architect obliged with a few dashes of color.

I have to admit, I pretty much live my life by Beach Boys lyrics: fun fun fun, let's go surfin' now, help help me Rhonda, etc. However, their oft-quoted sentiment, "I wish they all could be California girls," I have to question. This Tuesday, I hopped a plane to California for a mid-week visit to some friends who recently moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. (Plus, our fair city was turning into a gigantic slushie and I had recently lost my mittens.)

OK, we’ve touched on some commerce, some social get-togetherness and some discussion groups. Now – HOLD ONTO YOUR HATS – we’re going into the personals section.

It’s got a lot of categories here, so we’re going to do this methodically – from semi-tasteful to mind-bendingly awful.

Hopefully, I’ll actually be able to look at more than one post before I reach “awful.”

Believe it or not, the whole personals section isn’t all dating. The first column is Rants and Raves.