I'm a NY transplant by way of Portland, San Diego, Boston, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.

It must be the Bedouin genes, but it's always been hard for me to settle in. That said, I finally feel at home in Brooklyn. That has a lot to do with having family nearby (including a brand-new, drooly niece) and my newfound free time for biking, brewing, backpacking, and other b-activities. Buseums...

I love the sun and daytime activities and not-so-much the late nights out. But I'll always jump at the opportunity to go to pub trivia or attend a Secret Science Club lecture, even if it goes till the wee hours.

I served my last day of a 3.5-year sentence in finance a few months ago, and couldn't be happier about leaving Wall Street! Since then I've gone on a quick trip to South America, making my way down from Bogota to Buenos Aires over two months (half of that spent on buses--at least sometimes it felt that way). Up next is some studying and other grad school prep; eventually I'd like to start a stats program. Mainly just trying to jump-start my brain after 3+ years of inactivity.

dabbling and useless trivia. I'm more breadth than depth, but I'm working on that. I'm an information sponge; I love learning new things, but squeeze more in and I'll just as easily forget some other things (e.g., my Spanish improved a lot during my S. America trip, but I'm pretty sure I don't speak Arabic anymore).

Also I know a few Excel shortcuts.

I'm quiet and a bit shy at first, and probably still a bit shy at second, but I get over it pretty quickly after that.

Also, not shown in these pictures, but the hair. It's slowly exploding into a decent A[rab]fro.

I'm currently sort-of reading Cloud Atlas, but very very slowly (more to do with bad reading habits than the quality of the book; this should change now that I've left the bank, and my neglected Brooklyn Public Library card will finally get some use again--recommend something!). I'm guessing there will be a few GRE, calc, and linear algebra books in my future...

I like waiting for TV show seasons or series to end and then going through all of them over a few days or weeks. Now I'm re-watching The West Wing, and will eventually marathon-watch Season 5 of Breaking Bad and maybe re-marathon BSG when I have a chance. My "real-time" shows are Parks & Rec, Modern Family, and Community. Eventually I'll have to figure out how to watch Season 3 of Downton Abbey without cable. I usually don't get home in time to watch Jeopardy!, but I sometimes play the "board" on J-Archive the next day.

I've been listening to a lot of over the past few months: Mumford & Sons, Ray LaMontagne, Of Monsters and Men, Ellie Goulding, and The Head and the Heart. And at the end of the day I'll always go back to classical and jazz. It's been a while since I've gone, but I used to go to Bargemusic's free recitals whenever I had an open Saturday afternoon.

I'll eat anything. (This was maybe a bad policy in parts of South America, but I'm still alive.)

- Bikes to get around the city
- Car to get out of the city
- Weekly Google Hangouts with the family
- Lip balm
- Cameras, and my gadgets in general
- A few key sub-reddit subscriptions to stay [un-]informed, about world news, NY goings-on, pictures of bikes, and occasional TrueReddit articles

relaxing back in Brooklyn, resting for a hopefully productive weekend (doesn't always work out that way, but it's nice to try...). Every once in a while a quick happy hour with friends, but I prefer Saturday/Sunday morning dim sum over Friday night bars or clubs.

Worth knowing: I'll ride laps around Prospect Park and all over the city on my bike, and trek for four days to get to Machu Picchu, but walking down the sidewalk, I have a slight limp. It doesn't bother me, but there it is...

...if you want to have a beer or two at Habitat in Greenpoint and play some trivia.
...if you want to go for a ride around Brooklyn/Prospect Park and explore (and if you don't have one, I have extra bikes [as mandated by Brooklyn Law]).
...if you want to meet at the Bell House in Gowanus to see a Secret Science Club lecture.
...if any of the above sounds like someone worth getting to know.