After ten years, I've finally cut my hair short. Still adjusting.

I used to be the know-it-all kid in school who always had his hand up. Now I teach college and have to deal with kids like that. Karma is irritating sometimes.

I have three passions: reading, science, and music. The reading ties directly into the former-know-it-all bit, because I really enjoy knowledge for the sake of knowledge. On a given day, you can find me reading anything from history or an autobiography to a book on particle physics to a book on religion. I suppose I'm making an almost certainly quixotic attempt to become a Renaissance man. If only I didn't need to sleep...

I love science and am constantly fascinated by the continuing expansion of human knowledge. My field is physics, in which I have my M.S., and I hope to go back to graduate school to get my Ph.D., preferably in astrophysics, but I also find evolutionary biology, particle physics, and cognitive science very interesting as well.

Music is what I do when I'm not teaching or reading (or wasting time on the computer). I play guitar and piano passably well and occasionally write my own music. I also listen to it constantly, anything from Beethoven to Pink Floyd to Flogging Molly to Megadeth.

Currently teaching math and astronomy at Schenectady County Community College. It turns out that I really enjoy teaching, even with the aforementioned know-it-alls.

In the future, I'd like to go back to graduate school for my doctorate, or find a more permanent teaching position either at a local college or perhaps high school.

I'm really good at math. Calculating a tip? No problemo. Also, I'm no slouch at guitar. Been playing for nine years and still love it.

I'm also a pretty good cook, when I take the time to plan out a meal. I can do good things with chicken, scallions, and peppers.

Finally, I seem to be preternaturally gifted at whacking my extremities on doorjambs/walls/doors. If I didn't know better, I'd swear the things jump out at me.

Until I cut my hair, that was what people noticed most about me. Ask any of my friends my most identifiable feature? Long hair. Now, it's been suggested that my eyes are what people notice about me.

Books: This is a tough one, because it constantly changes depending on what I've read recently. Gun to my head though, I'd say The Dresden Files, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and the Vorkosigan Saga. Favorite genres include fantasy, sci-fi, history, politics, biography, science, and religion.

Movies: I'm not a huge movie buff, so this isn't as difficult. My three favorite movies are currently The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Godfather, and The Empire Strikes Back.

Shows: I don't watch much TV per se; I watch TV shows on Netflix while I'm grading papers or working on my lecture notes. My favorite shows on Netflix are How I Met Your Mother, Sherlock, and Frasier. I also catch the Daily Show whenever I can, and I enjoy other shows like Seinfeld or Parks and Recreation. UPDATE: HOLY SHIT THE WEST WING IS AMAZING

Music: Again, this is a tough question, because it changes a lot depending on what I'm listening to. My all-time favorite bands are probably The Beatles, Metallica, and Pink Floyd. I listen to a lot of metal and classic rock, as well as quite a bit of classical, where my favorite composers are Beethoven, Dvořák, and Mendelssohn. It's very difficult for me not to list all the musicians I love, so in lieu of a long and exhaustive list, I'll just list genres I like: classic rock, progressive rock, classic metal, thrash metal, some death metal, some progressive metal, Baroque (i.e., Bach), Classical (i.e., Mozart, Beethoven's early and middle periods), Romantic (i.e., Beethoven's late period, Dvorak, Mendelssohn), a little folk, and a little punk.

Food: Rare steaks. Sushi (Hana in Albany is my first choice). Potatoes, baked or mashed. Asparagus. Craft beer (RIP Mahar's). Red wine. Earl Grey tea.

Books! At any given time, I have at least two books I'm reading and I need to have access to one of them at all times.

Music! I can't even drive to the grocery store unless I have something to listen to. A day without music is like a day without sun.

Comfortable socks. Seriously, SmartWool is the best sock material ever invented, and necessary in the winter.

Dry-erase markers. How am I supposed to teach if I can't write on the whiteboard?

Science. For me, it is the pinnacle of human ingenuity and creativity. From just observation and deduction, we've invented a planetary information exchange network, sent men to the Moon, and revealed the very deepest laws of the universe. All just a few hundred years after Isaac Newton got hit on the head by an apple.

My friends and family. No man is an island, and having good friends and a loving family has kept me sane and grounded through a lot.

What the future will be like in terms of technology. The long-term implications of the existence of the Internet. How science and religion interact in society. Most importantly, how will humanity get to the stars? I view that as the ultimate goal of mankind: to get us off the planet and into the Universe to explore and discover!

Maybe I'm having a couple beers with a couple friends, or reading by myself with a glass of wine. Perhaps jamming on the guitar with a friend and creating new music. Could be on Reddit. That is a distinct possibility.

I can't ice skate or rollerblade to save my life.

This may out me as a gigantic nerd, but I not only play RPGs, I create my own settings for them.

The phrase "My brain is full of fuck" makes me laugh way harder than it should.

If you want me to talk your ear off about how cool astrophysics is.

If you want to talk music. I'm always down for that.

If you want to discuss taste in reading. You probably have better taste, so I won't take disparagement of my tastes too personally.