By John Johnston
The Cincinnati Enquirer

This Valentine's Day was a bit different than any other for Mark Motz, 35, of Anderson Township and Rachel Lindahl, 27, of downtown.

Mark metz gives Rachel Lindahl a goodbye hug after their date. (Meggan Booker/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Their blind date - which included dinner at La Normandie - came about after they were matched from among a pool of 10 Tristate singles. The selection committee was the 8,718 people who logged on to vote at Cincinnati.Com, which sponsored the contest with the Enquirer and WCPO-TV (Channel 9).

Channel 9's Good Morning Tri-State will show video highlights of the date this morning. Here's what the couple had to say:

Overall impressions:

He said: "It was a good time. We had fun. We didn't know each other, so it was get-to-know you kind of talk, and we wound up having a pretty good conversation.

She said: "We had a good time. Mark's funny. He's easy to talk to."

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the Riverfest fireworks and 1 being a wet dud, the sparks this date generated rate a ...

He said: "Probably a 7."

She said: "I don't want to say a number. Even though there were no sparks, there definitely was a connection."

Mark and Rachel dined at La Normandie, downtown. (Meggan Booker/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

What about your date appealed to you:

He said: "She's really nice. And she's very attractive, and she's a bright girl. I think we got along OK. You never know the first time you're out with somebody. I was pleasantly rewarded with a nice evening."

She said: "I just felt real comfortable around him. We kind of have the same sense of humor, so we could joke about the same things."

The date ended with...

He said: "A parking ticket for her. We left the restaurant and we walked back toward her car. We stopped in Shanghai Mama's for a little while. She had a parking ticket, poor thing. I felt so bad."

She said: "He followed me to make sure I got home OK."

Any plans to see each other again?

He said: "We definitely agreed to talk to one another...and maybe get together again sometime."

She said: "You never know. I haven't given it any thought."

If I had the whole thing to do over again, I...

He said: "Would. It was definitely a lot of fun. We were talking about people we heard from over the course of the week.."

She said: "Would have valeted my car and not got a ticket."

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E-mail jjohnston@enquirer.com