My educational motto, throughout my life, has been breadth not depth. This wasn't a conscious decision, it just worked out that way. I've done a whole lot of things in not a whole lot of time. I'm an Indie Rock Nerd, NPR junkie, and modern day cartographer. Once upon a time I was a community organizer, but I decided I don't like my paycheck being tied to my politics. I've worked in 39 states in the past 36 months. I'm aiming for 50 in 50.

Fair Warning: I travel for work a whole lot, often to single cities for long durations. If you are not in New York, and see my profile, that's probably why. Meeting locals beats sitting in a hotel room watching Storage Wars every day. Currently, I'm in Memphis for several months, and would love to find a tour guide.

As far as paying the bills goes, I make maps. Or, more specifically, I drive around collecting and encoding the information that goes onto the maps. It's a pretty cool job. I get to travel a bunch, and play with fancy high-tech toys. I'm getting ready to go back to school for a related degree, but that's still a little ways off.

Beyond that, I'm a former community organizer, and I still have a great deal of passion for, and drive to do political work. At the moment though, I don't have anything particularly engaging me and commanding my energies and attentions. Keeping an eye open for the next cause to put my time into. Past campaigns include things like traveling around NY with a 15 foot tall wheelchair to advocate for better hospital regulation, becoming a city councilpersons mortal enemy as he obstructed a bill that has since saved thousands of children from lead poisoning, and making senior citizens in the Hamptons really really angry about Medicare.

I am also on a never ending quest to find the Perfect Pizza.

Showing up at historic baseball games by accident. (Both Yankee perfect games in my lifetime, the Mets clinching in '86, Mo's 603rd save, others.)

Using big words in sentences.

I know my way around NYC and environs better than most people you'll ever meet. This is not an idle boast. I really know my way around. Particularly in Queens.

Also Scrabble.

The fact that I am probably wearing a hat. Also, that I have a beard. Those who are particularly perspicacious may, if I am wearing short sleeves, notice that I have the left arm of a particularly swarthy cab driver and the right arm of a pasty computer nerd.

Words: I like books. In particular I like novels by dead russians full of Big Ideas, and your more esoteric SF&F stuff like China Mieville and other things that people who like those things also probably like.

Rules for Radicals changed my life.

Sounds: Instead of listing everything I like I will list a few things I have been listening to a lot lately:

Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Jam, early Style Council, assorted other soul revival stuff and it's various descendants.

Newish stuff from The National, the Flaming Lips, Woven Hand, Colleen Green, Ty Segall, GOAT, and Ice Age.

Third-wave ska bands that I listened to in high school, and new music by people who were in those bands.

Also, a whole lot of NPR and Podcast stuff.

Moving Pictures: I watch a lot of Storage Wars when I'm on the road. It's awful, but hypnotic. I like oddball comedies and heavily serialized, intricately plotted stuff. You know, your Arrested Developments and your Always Sunnys. Your Wires and your Breaking Bads.

I think I like the opening shot of The Player more than the opening from Touch of Evil to which it's a tribute. I enjoy arguing about this with those who disagree.

Flavors: I have a mild obsession with finding the best pizza in New York. I've tried all of the classics (Tottonno's wins amongst them, though Patsy's in Harlem gets points for still serving slices), as well as as many of them fancy newfangled places as I can get to. I'm always looking to try more of them though. Also, since beverages are nominally 'food', I will mention here that I am a big craft beer snob and love tracking down and trying cool new things.

Convictions, taste, stimulants, depressants, words and schadenfreude.

Especially schadenfreude. It's usually funny because it isn't me.

Whether Dexy's Midnight Runners will ever get the respect they deserve for that first record.

Baseball, Politics, and Rock and Roll.

The mechanics of Power.

Getting lost.

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

I learned to get good at scrabble by cheating all the time. I don't anymore, but it taught me to look for parallel words, and how important certain 2 and 3 letter strings are.

I'm not allowed in to Canada.

My reaction to mint is not unlike that of a vampire to garlic.

You want to know why I've been told by US Border Patrol to not attempt to return to Canada for a few years.

You know the song lyric I grabbed this username from.

You want to take me to your favorite place in town. If I'm not in NY, I probably don't know anybody or where anything cool is.