Every once and awhile, on certain rare occasions, the universe works in my favor.  I’m always constantly amazed when I connect with someone cool by random happenstance.  Take my friend Dack, for example.  If it weren’t for a chance meeting involving VH1’s Basketball Wives, an Indian self-help guru and a stylist, I would have never met him.

(The backstory is way too lengthy to go in to here.  Just feel free to make up something tellingly lurid and/or sweet, depending on how well you know me.)

I could tell Dack and I would be like two peas in a pod right off the bat.  His sunny disposition and megawatt smile was a strong selling point.  His work ethic, offbeat humor and occasional snark sealed the deal.

After months of being Chatty Cathy’s over the phone and on FB, we finally got the chance to hang out this past weekend while I was in Palm Springs for my BDay.  When Dack showed up, he was wearing two different colored sandals.  Instead of trying to make a good first impression, I threw caution to the wind and quizzed him about his random footwear.  Seems Dack had two favorite pairs of sandals, one black, one brown.  Through a comedy of errors, he ended up with one of each and opted to wear them proudly.  To hear him tell it made perfect sense to me.  “This guy is eclectic,” I thought.  “And kinda goofy.”  He immediately jumped several notches on my likeability scale.

When Dack told me he was from Iowa too, you could have knocked me over with a feather.  I spent a majority of the weekend in complete awe about how much we had in common.  (Or, uh, not … as he doesn’t care for seafood.  I overlooked that slight character defect accordingly.  Ahem.)

More than anything, I find Dack to be an intriguing individual. He can hold up his end of any conversation.  A huge perk in my book.  (And bonus points for not once checking his phone or texting while we were hanging out.)  I feel like I’ve won the new friend lottery.  He’s a Renaissance man crossed with the Man of La Mancha and The Bionic Man.  Clearly, I’m gonna have to step it up to keep up with him.  Or, at a minimum, go back to school to get my Masters.

And to be honest … I’m kinda okay with that.