Now edited to prevent stalking!

(Boring resume part) I grew up in the midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa). I went to college at the University of Iowa, got my BS in Computer Science and my Masters in Linguistics.

After grad school I sold nearly all of my worldly possessions, got into my car, and drove around the country looking for a nice place to settle down (though I pretty much knew I'd be going to Portland). I've been here a little over a year now, and I'm still in love with this city.

I'm looking forward to visiting my parents this Christmas and bringing back some of the boxes I was storing in their basement. Contents include comic books, photocopied linguistics journal articles, and my proper computer.

I am a baker/manager at a local bakery. I'm well and truly happy there, and I love my co-workers. Outside of work I tend to entertain myself with the internet and games, both traditional (board games, etc) and non (D&D, video games), but only until a friend calls and tells me something interesting is going on, then I go do that! It usually involves potlucks, group-viewings of television (ANTM is my guilty pleasure), eating at the food carts at 12th and hawthorne, or drinking/karaoke at whatever the bar of the month is (previously Dots, Bye and Bye, Langano Lounge; currently Ladd's Inn).

-Solving puzzles, whether it's Sudoku, moving tiles around, mathy word problems, picking a lock, giving advice, or analyzing patterns in linguistic data to create a phonological/morphological analysis.

-not being a dick. I do like to tease though, but only if I like you.

Septum piercing? Tattoo covering my left arm? Honestly I'm not sure, as I'm not other people and I don't recall ever noticing myself for the first time.

I get a lot of compliments on my laugh. Loud, hearty, and contagious. And I laugh a LOT.

Ok, thinking about this on my lunch hour, so here's a few.

Authors(Books): China Mieville (Perdido Street Station, The City & The City, etc), Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's series, and more), Ekaterina Sedia (The Alchemy of Stone), Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods), Alan Moore (The Watchmen, V for Vendetta, etc), Margaret Atwood (Handmaid's Tale, Blind Assassin), (The Phantom Tollbooth), (Flatland), (A Scanner Darkly). I'll read pretty much any bubblegum sci-fi, fantasy, or vampire/werewolf book, it's a little embarrassing sometimes.

Movies: Snatch (and other "heist" type movies), The Big Lebowski (any Cohen Brothers movie, really), Inglourious Basterds (but really, not much of Tarantino's other stuff), Big Fish, Death to Smoochy, The Prestige, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Drowning Mona, The Importance of Being Earnest (also the book), Roadhouse, Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon, most James Bond movies, Boondock Saints. I generally dislike anime, but I do like Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.

TV: I like to rent series on DVD and then watch them all in a sort of marathon. I'm in the middle of Dr. Who (the new reboot, not the original one), just finished Eastbound and Down and The Wire (so fucking awesome). Other shows I've enjoyed include House, Battlestar Galactica, Bones, and stupid cartoons like The Venture Brothers or Sealab 2021. MST3K++

Music: I'll listen to pretty much anything, but I have a soft spot for traditional Jazz and Trip Hop stuff like Thievery Corporation.

Food: Says it above, but it bears repeating: I'm vegan. I made this choice for myself a little over 3 years ago, but please don't be intimidated by it, I'm not a crazy militant. I feel that I'm a pretty good cook, and a damn good baker. Favorites include Pad Thai, Avocado sushi rolls, nachos from Los Gorditos, and the Meatball Sub at Bye & Bye. I like pasta maybe a bit too much for my own good.

I know video games aren't specifically listed in this question, but they fit so: Right now I'm playing a lot of Dragon Age, and I am pretty much in love with any game produced by Bioware. I don't really dig first person shooters, I much prefer JRPG style games like Final Fantasy or whatnot. But not the cheesy anime ones. Also, puzzle games like Portal or the Dr. Layton and Phoenix Wright series'.

Such a boring question. Much more interesting is what you wouldn't want to live without, which is obviously the spirit of the question, but some people take it too literally and talk about air/food/water, or friends and family, which of course are important, and I'd feel like a total ass if I didn't at least mention them here, but they aren't very interesting answers.

Now that that's out of the way, just a few things off the top of my head:
1. Avocados
2. Bourbon
3. my laptop
4. my bicycle
5. public libraries
6. at least one giant hoodie that I can curl up and hide in (I have two that fit the bill)

The specifics of my mental obsessions change on a semi-weekly basis. Sometimes it's D&D, the book I'm reading, the game I'm playing, whatever social event is planned for the evening, or just how badly I'm hungover from the night before.

I also often find myself thinking about conversations I've had, and other responses I could have said, and how the other person would have reacted to that, and so on and so forth.

Or you know, if there's a girl I like, that tends to occupy my mind more than anything else really. Infatuation is fun, if distracting.

I have Fridays off, so I try to spend my morning making sure my apartment doesn't fall over the edge into complete chaos while listening to KMHD (jazz radio), do laundry, etc. In the evenings there's usually something social going on that involves drinking, which I may or may not feel like doing, but I'll probably go out anyway because I don't like to pass up time with my friends.

I'm not wearing any pants right now. (I am at home though, so it's ok.)

...if you read any of this and thought "Hey, he seems like a nice guy (and he's cute too!)"

...if your profile picture isn't just a shot of your cleavage.

...if you know the difference between prescriptive linguistics and descriptive linguistics, and find the latter to be more important.