One of my roommates and one of my best friends work as lab techs at a large biotech firm in the Bay Area. As the nature of lab work requires a lot of sitting around and waiting for shit to incubate, they--along with the rest of the people they work with--have a lot of time to kill. Because everyone works pretty closely and because they are all a bunch of nosy bitches, the lab as a whole gravitates toward shit that one or two people have found to occupy their time.
Last year it was browsing the "Missed Connections" and "Casual Encounters" sections of Craigslist. This year it's setting up profiles on Friendster and Match.com, trolling for suitable mates, and sending them through the vetting process that is the ruthless public scrutiny of everyone in the lab.
The other night, I was chatting with my roommate and she started showing me some of her co-workers' profiles as well as those of the people some of her co-workers have either "winked" at or gone out with. Like anything else on the internet, the cross-section she showed me ran the gamut. My favorite? A 28-year old guy whose unsername is "Puppysmile."
Anyway, she told me I should put one up because it's funny to see who "winks" at you and partly, I'm sure, because she wants me to get a girlfriend. So I did.
my username is naparker.
Posted by nils at 9:21 PM