I love living in big cities, and I love being in the wilderness miles from the closest human. For the most part, the latter is much rarer than I'd prefer, which I'm working on.

An old school nerd at heart, and a jack of at least a few trades. I was once accused of being an 'iconoclast' by a high school music teacher, a rich compliment.

I tend to keep things pretty simple and drama-free. Prosaic, even.

All the favorite moments I can think of involve a punishing hike in a beautiful place.

A married couple, friends of mine for many years, wanted a child, asked me to help, and a short while later an amazing little girl was born. I moved to the area in 2011 to be around as an occasional, auxiliary parent. (okc's offspring to the right needs a "yes and no" option)

Which finds me living in Oakland and working in the financial district doing computery stuff, which seems pretty decent; it allows me to have a car but never use it, the optimal situation.

Things doing: learning the mandolin, trying to bake more, studying the fellow BART adventurers, supporting my local neighborhood dive bar.

Enneagram aficionados would describe me as a "9," able to legitimately get along with everyone.

I think I have an excellent direction sense. I also consistently catch dropped objects before they hit the ground, and feel like a goddamn ninja every time.

I have a pretty great ear for pitch and beat (I got rhythm ~and~ music), yet still ask for more.

The hair can get a kind of mad scientist vibe pretty often.

Books: Ilium/Olympos, the Hyperion Cantos, Confederacy of Dunces, Lord of the Rings, John Hodgman's works of Complete World Knowledge, Lord of Light, Fiasco, Infinite Jest, Jitterbug Perfume...

Movies: Enter the Void, Run Lola Run, Hot Tub Time Machine, Big Lebowski and all other Coen Bros movies, Wizard People Dear Readers, Tron, Blazing Saddles, Wet Hot American Summer, Blade Runner, The Jerk, Amelie, Dr Strangelove, 2001, Dude Where's My Car...

Shows: Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, Archer, Arrested Development, Farscape, Adventure Time, The Wire, Band of Brothers, Deadwood...

Music: Anything and everything, as long as it's really good. A lot of classical music, a lot of electronic bleeps and bloops music, and literally 99% of bootiemashup.com

Recent addictions: Tune-Yards, M83, Nouvelle Vague, the Magnetic Fields, Sister Suvi, LMFAO, Hooray For Earth, The Trucks, Cut Copy, Eleanor Friedberger, Summer Camp, Veronica Falls, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Battles, The Radio Dept., Tame Impala, Dirty Projectors, Empty Space Orchestra, Yeah Yeah Yeahs...

Food: crispy Italian pizzas, all the sushi, ethiopian, fine baked goods...

A good book nearby at all times
Regular camping
Amazing friends
Yeast
The past, as there is always more of it
Olive brine

How lucky we are to live in these times, whether the next few generations will be able to keep this ball rolling.

I tend to have various music stuck in my head at all moments, which I may or may not pay more attention to than the outside world.

Unwinding from the week at the bar with friends, or solo and meeting strangers. Or just as likely, at home playing scales or tacking something to the wall.

I like to punish my GPS by intentionally taking different routes and forcing her to repeatedly recalculate the directions.

A fish once bit my nipple hard enough to draw blood.

If you want to hang out sometime, coffee or a beer or wandering the farmer's market or a neat hike.