Ring shopping

Ha ha ha. No, I'm not engaged. I'm not even dating right now. I'm shopping for my annual birthday ring. I try to buy myself something sparkly on my birthday--a tradition that really started back in 1996 or so when my grandfather gave me some cash for my birthday and I decided to use the money to buy myself presents "from him"--and it's usually a ring. Last year I bought my class ring to celebrate finally getting my degree, the year before was a big garnet. Because I'm partial to yellow gold (and because I have a lot of silver already) and because I like keeping it balanced between middle finger rings and ring finger rings, it can get tricky finding something I'll wear that I don't hate. Did you know the industry standard ring size is a 7? You didn't? Well, it is. And my ring finger is a 5.5-6. This year I decided to go for blue topaz in yellow gold. Not just any blue topaz, mind you. I want London blue or a new one called "Neptune's garden". The nature of topaz is such that it can be coated with various minerals to make for some really lovely colors and iridescence, and I'm all for unusual stones--who else do you know who has an ametrine? Probably no one. Anyway, I want one of those in yellow gold. And I don't want a solitaire. And it has to be under $500, because that's the most I'll pay for a ring right now. And I don't want to have to pay to have it resized. And I don't want it wider than half an inch. And I want it to have an old-fashioned/antique feel.

Now, you do a search for me and see if you can find ANYTHING (in the United States, anyway) that meets those criteria.

I dare you.

And if you magically find something, you may earn my undying love and possibly dinner.

Too much to ask?

I don't think it's too much to ask that a single man over 25 has at least one pair of quality shoes, the ability to match his clothes to each other and the occasion, and more than white ankle socks in his sock drawer.

I honestly don't think it's too much to ask. I've managed to figure out what shoes are a good investment (granted, I have an advantage because I know an awful lot about clothes, but it's not that hard to do), I don't waste money on bad (cheap, ugly, low quality, etc, because inexpensive costume jewelry is just fine by me!) jewelry, and I care that my clothes match who I am, where I'm going, and each other. I refuse to look like I just got back from the gym or rolled out of bed unless I HAVE just done those things.

Get a grip, guys. You're adults now. Put a little effort into what you wear and how you look. I'm not asking you to look like Brad Pitt all the time, but pretend that what you wear matters, ok? Thanks.