He's got himself a billboard too:
Tom's com-on for a wife
Trying billboard, Web site
By BRIAN HARMON
DAILY NEWS LONG ISLAND BUREAU CHIEF
He cooks, cleans and irons. He owns a house on the bay and, for Pete's sake, he shops at J. Crew and the Gap.
How on Earth is this 41-year-old teacher still single?
Tom Barrella has asked himself the same question for years. Now, bored with the dating scene, the salt-and-pepper-haired bachelor is renting a billboard at the exit of the Midtown Tunnel in hopes of landing a bride.
"This is the last piece of the puzzle - and the most important," said Barrella, whose billboard will face eastbound drivers exiting the tunnel in Hunters Point. "I want the fulfillment of having the right woman in my life."
The high school business teacher is shelling out $20,000 a month for the billboard, which carries his silhouette and a simple message: "see-tom.com."
Barrella also is shelling out big bucks on a public relations firm, all in the hopes of finding "a soul mate." The former computer businessman promised this is no publicity stunt for some Internet-based business.
"I am looking for a woman who's adventurous, energetic, gracious, accomplished, feminine and inquisitive," the hazel-eyed Barrella said without taking a breath. "I know I may not get them all, but I am looking for something special, really, because I feel I have something special to offer."
Barrella also wants kids - two or three - so that means, he said, a woman who is preferably about 30 years old.
On his Web site, which is due to be up and running today, Barrella will post pictures and stories about himself. He will have testimonials from friends and family and quiz his prospective brides on the meaning of love.
There is a link where a female visitor can ask him out on a date, and there's another link where the woman can ask him questions.
"What I'm trying to do with my site is to give you a feel for my personality and to tell you a lot about me," he said. Barrella said he is a "very genuine person" and is "very creative." His hobbies include boating and photography.
He is a former independent record producer, and the Long Island native spent 10 years in Atlanta running a computer business. For three years, Barrella has taught at a high school in Nassau. At home, he said, he cleans, irons and picks out his own clothes. He even sautées some mean shrimp.
Barrella, who is off from teaching for the summer, said he's wondering less about what his students will think about his endeavor than how the school administration will react.
Long Island is still home to Barrella's parents, and a brother and sister. His family has reacted with "guarded hopefulness and weariness," Barrella said.
"This is a way for me to hopefully attract a woman who may find me interesting, and would have never known me if I didn't do something like this."
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Well Ok then...