Learn 40 things about your friends and let them learn 40 things about you.

1. Do you like blue cheese dressing? Yes, but the really good stuff is hard to get.

2. Have you ever smoked cigarettes? For 10 years from 16 to 26. Then C. Everett Coop scared the s… out of me and I stopped.

3. Do you own a gun? No, but Ed does. I think it’s risky since you’re likely to shoot someone who is just going after his dog across your lawn. At one time we had 40 or more Revolutionary War muskets in our bedroom in NY. Oh, fine, I said, and no powderhorn.

4. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks or other specialty coffee shop? When I went to Starbucks (in NY – I haven’t been down here), I only ever ordered regular coffee. I don’t need dessert in order to stay awake.

5. What do you think of hot dogs? Love them, but mostly avoid eating them because of the calories. Sometimes, you know, a really good nitrate fix is just what one needs.

6. Favorite Christmas movie? “It’s A Wonderful Life” – I get mushy over it.

7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee – I make great coffee (BJ's proprietary brand is truly good), none of that Maxwell House dishwater. I use no fat Half & Half and one teaspoon of sugar. It’s better than perfect. It can walk off the table on its own.

8. Can you do push ups? Since I lift weights I thought I’d test this out so I just got up and did 10. That’s enough. Phew. But these are a good substitute for my strength lifts on the railing at the pier for when the weather is lousy. So I’m glad you brought this up (whoever YOU are).

9. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? Through years of buying stuff off street tables in New York (some good stuff, if not pricey) and then inheriting really upscale stuff from Ed’s little lockbox, I am hard put to choose a favorite. But my friend, Inese, gave me an amber necklace designed like Aztec jewelry and it just looks great with everything. But, basically, my engagement ring (from Vienna).

10. Favorite hobbies? Piano study (classical, sometimes ragtime), dance work I do on my own (class is out in a place where the music is canned -- in New York they use living, breathing pianists -- down here, they think Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindoor is high art), reading, walking, biking, swimming, writing to the media, and essays in general that fulminate on current issues and I think that includes the blog.

11. Do you have ADD? No, but I am very reactive to any current stimulation that might pull me away from what I was doing before. However, I usually backtrack and resolve the previous activity. (Edward hates that.)

12. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? I can’t think of any. Annoyed with is more to the point. I am annoyed that I procrastinate. I am doing that now since I should be walking before it gets too hot.

13. Middle name? Greeks, I think, don’t know about middle names so I am m.n. deprived.

14. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I must finish and do the bloody walk. I should sync my ipod so I can listen to some new stuff, I am tired of running interference between Chewy, the territorial scourge, and Toots, who is getting a phobia over the whole thing.

15. 3 things I drink the most. Hot V8 juice, orange juice, coffee, water, Pinot Grigio. Okay, that's five. So?

16. Current worry right now? Besides the economy? What to do with Toots, who is really one more cat than I can handle.

17. Current hate(s) right now? People who think Obama ought to be able to resolve 8 years of bullshit in a nanosecond, Rush Limbaugh, Hannity and Combes (sic), the current Republican dunderheads who are standing in the way of helpful legislation … Sarah Palin, forever – let’s permanent seal her woodwork before she comes out again.

18. Favorite place to be? At the piano.

19. How did you ring in the New Year? Went to bed early. I’ve seen the ball. Ed is not a party animal although, a few years ago he did pop for Beluga Caviar ($99 an ounce) and Dom Perignon. That was a fine night.

20. Like to Travel? Sometimes but am hampered by needy animals – I will not board them, and Brunswick needs meds twice a day. I’ve been to London, Paris, Greece, Frankfort (ugh), Mexico (ugh again) and Canada (also Arkansas, truly a foreign country – they serve martinis in a paper cup).

21. Name three people who will complete this. Have already seen a bunch.

22. Do you own slippers? Hand-knit booties I save because my mom knit them. I use socks and change often.

23. What color shirt are you wearing? Ed’s white Brooks Brothers undershirt with sleeves. He doesn’t wear them anymore because it is mostly too hot down here. Also a gray hooded sweatshirt I put on to get the paper from the driveway, not because it’s cold, but to protect myself from the Florida State Bird, the mosquito. I just forgot to take it off.

24. Could you ever make it 39 days on the show Survivor? I’m sure not. I’d vomit to death from proximity to the other contestants. Up there in the hate question, I should have added reality shows.

25. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don’t sing in the shower but if I did, maybe the Tennessee Waltz and Embraceable You and It’s Magic and maybe some Rossini because his tunes are easy to sing. Sometimes I sing when I bike. My voice is very rusty and when I remember, I try to bring it back.

26. Favorite girl names? Leslie, Stephanie, Dana, Lepidoptera – oh wait, that’s a butterfly.

27. Favorite boy names? Jason, Dana, Simon. I never got to name anyone. just my kitties, now passed, Scratch and Sniff. Maybe it's good I didn't have kids.

28. What's in your pocket right now? Nothing, but usually tissue and my ipod.

29. Last thing that made you laugh? Ed said because cigarette prices have gone to $6, now for sure he’d stop. He was not amused when I larfed (immoderately).

30. Worst injury you've ever had? Torn meniscus in each knee, surgery for both, therapy then back to ballet class (what, me stop?) Next.

31. Do you love where you live? Yes. But I'd trade for an upper West Side large apartment in New York City in a nanosecond. Good for us physically – lovely weather, beautiful subtropic foliage, and fantastic wildlife, wonderful house on big water – anathema mentally. Also we might harm the next person who mentions their faith.

32. How many TVs do you have in your house? Three but that’s because we never throw anything out. We only watch one.

33. Who is your loudest friend? My neighbor two houses over. She has a nasal,high-pitched, whiny, shrill way of calling her dog or her husband. P-e-e-e-e-t-t-t-t-t-e-e-e-e-e-er …

34. Does someone have a crush on you? Yes. It’s lucky he’s a wimp or I’d have to shut him down.

35. What is your favorite candy? Godiva chocolates. However, Milky Way Halloween size snacks, one a night, keep me going.

36. Favorite sports team? None at the moment. Been there (the New York Mets, Knicks) – nothing down here grabs my attention.

37. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping.

38. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up today? That damn cat … Also, I woke up several times last night – each time following a vivid dream and ordinarily they are not so recallable. Fascinating this time. I love remembering my dreams.

39. What is your favorite Holiday? Halloween.

40. What are your plans for tomorrow? Why, is it a holiday? More of the same is the safe answer.