Though I recently just moved to the West Coast after having lived in the Northeast for my entire life, for the past 7 years I traveled every week for my job - all over the Eastern Seaboard and out to Northern and Southern California. After those 7 years, I found a place I loved, which is why I've given up the traveling work to have a somewhat "normal" 8-to-5 job, though in the same field. I've got a very rewarding job that is stable and pays the bills.

I am very much looking for someone who either has a career or profession, or is getting an education. Don't get me wrong, I am not stuck on someone with a "traditional" job, rather I'm looking for a woman with ambitions and the drive to achieve them. Those ambitions could very well be in the philanthropic realm. I want to build a life with someone here - what form that takes is totally open. Someone who works for themselves, like a photographer, writer, or other sort of entrepreneur would also make an ideal partner for me. I don't intend to work in an office until I drop - I'm working hard to get my finances in position to also work for myself.

I adore intelligence and ambition, but emotional intelligence is also very important to me. I'm a geek/nerd/dork (pick your term) and I'm proud of it. We don't need to have the same interests, but it's important to me that you are passionate about SOMETHING. If it's something I'm also passionate about, great! If not, I'm also very interested, because I love to learn and try new things. I'm looking for a relationship where we compliment each other.

I feel like I'm too young to be having a midlife crisis, and the term "quarter-life crisis" is just unbearable on so many levels. However, after spending the last 7 years traveling every single week for work, I finally found a place that made me happy just getting up every day, and that place is California. So I walked away from the business travel lifestyle, packed the car, and drove 2,650 miles in three days over the holidays. I now have a good job in my field, a new little cottage in Costa Mesa, and a bunch of new friends. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but I've never wanted anything more than this. From the Lost Coast, to San Francisco, to Big Sur, to Newport Beach, I love this place. So much I've got my house on the market on the East Coast, and basically took my entire life and flipped the table over like a Monopoly player that just landed on Boardwalk. With a hotel.

If you like useless trivia, I'm your man.

If you like to fly, I'm your man. (Seriously, I'm a pilot. Not for work, but for fun.)

If you like intelligent conversation, I'm your man.

If you like spirited debate, but can't stand divisive politics, I'm your man.

If you have - or would like to - plan entire vacations around the breweries you could visit, I'm your man. (My personal favorite is Dogfish Head in Delaware.)

If you spent the morning of January 29, 2013, frantically trying to get tickets to Coachella as soon as they went on sale, I'm your man. (FYI - it took me 45 minutes to finally get it to go through, and unfortunately I don't have any extra tickets, so if you want to meet up with me there, I hope you already have tickets, or know where to get them. Mine are spoken for.)

If you love both Archer and Mad Men, I'm your man.

If you have a passion you just HAVE to share with your partner, as long as you're interested in sharing his passions, too, I'm your man.

If your lists of "Things you've done," and "Things you want to try," are orders of magnitude longer than the list of "Things you're not interested in one bit," then I'm your man.

If we ever made a list of our "celebrity hall pass," the rarefied strata of individuals we would want our partners to let us have free reign to fornicate with if ever presented the opportunity, and you list Carrie Brownstein, of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, and Portlandia fame, I'm your man.

If you've ever wanted to go to a concert to see a favorite band of yours, even though the concert was on a weeknight, and two hours from home, and you had to be at work at 8am sharp the next morning, and decided "the hell with it," and not only went to the damn concert, but also powered through and got to work at 8am (ok maybe a few minutes late) and then were ready to go out for drinks with coworkers after work like a boss, then I am DEFINITELY your man.

My eyes. People argue whether they're gray, blue, or some combination thereof... I'm not going to lie, they're my best physical feature.

Books:
I will freely admit, I've not read a lot of fiction these days. It's something I really want to work on. Have I had books that have changed my life? I used to think so, but the older I get, the less important I find them. I used to be an idealist - maybe even a zealot - about my philosophical beliefs. Now I consider myself a pragmatist.

That said, I think my favorite books over the last few years have been "Guns, Germs, and Steel," "1491," and "1493," as they really have given me a whole new outlook on history, one of my very favorite subjects. I'd add to that list "Grounded," about a couple that tried to circle the globe without flying, and "The Box," which I will be straight up honest and say that it's about how the shipping container changed the world.

I told you I was a dork.

Movies:
Much like fiction books, I'm way behind. It's probably my weakest interest in pop culture. Since the late 1990s, I feel like TV has been the medium that produced much higher quality content.

Seriously, in 2012, I saw Ted. I have a lot of catching up to do.

TV:
Currently my favored medium. My interests run in two very different directions:

- High-quality dramatic cable series, like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. My favorite of all time is still The Sopranos. Ignoring the Mafia stuff, I feel like that show is still the most realistic portrayal of a family I've ever seen. Every character on that show is someone I could see being in my own family.
- Absurdist comedy, like Archer, Robot Chicken, the various Seth McFarlane shows, Bob's Burgers, Portlandia, The League, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I enjoy stoner humor despite the fact that I don't get stoned. Draw your own conclusions.

Music:
I spent a lot of my college years getting acquainted with indie/underground/college rock/whatever you want to call it. I'm not going to list all the bands I dig, but I will say that if you look at Sirius XMU's Top 41 of 2012, the Coachella 2013 lineup, and a VERY healthy dose of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, and Clutch, and you like what you hear, we need to talk.

Food:
I need to get a lot healthier in this area, but I love an eclectic meal, but I also love comfort food. Basically the only things I don't care for are bivalves (oysters, clams, etc.) If you are with me and manage to convince me to eat oysters, then you know I think you're pretty f*cking awesome because I'm not wanting to wimp out even though I find even the mere thought of devouring them to make me retch.

- A trip to Big Sur at least once a year
- My pilot's license
- My pet rabbit, though yes, I know, he won't live forever
- The California sun, at least not for long
- My best friend
- Music

The future. I've seriously upended my life to move here, and it scares the shit out of me. But I'd never go back.

Hunting for a new experience. Doesn't matter whether it's a brewpub, trendy club, dive bar, or the start of a 600 mile road trip. I want to do something new.

As self-confident as I am professionally, and in a lot of other ways, the prospect of dating again for the first time in 7 years scares the shit out of me. Get to know me better and I'll tell you things I'm even more loathe to admit, but I can't promise any of them are any more interesting.

None of the above, including my mugshot, deterred you.

Also, if you're interested in the meaning of my screen name.