I am a computer engineering graduate student in the Toronto area, on the long road towards an academic career as a tenured professor. Along the way, I'm making sure to enjoy time with my friends, with my parents, and engaged in any of several hobbies.

Within 5 to 10 years, I plan to have met Ms. Right, settled down, married, and had kids. How and when this happens are left as an exercise.

(More details about life goals and about romance are in my journal.)

I am shy, contemplative, and considerate

I have just finished my PhD (designing and testing a specific type of image sensor). This is fascinating work. Now that I've graduated, I'm in the process of writing follow-up papers and searching for potential postdoc and tenure-track positions.

With friends, I try to make time regularly to hang out. This includes monthly lunch or dinner trips, spending time at a local mad science/mad art club's workshop, socializing over board games with a group that meets at coffee houses, and playing roleplaying games with friends. My social life underwent a bit of a shake-up last year; I welcome new opportunities to relax with friends over a hobby (be it boardgames, RPGs, or crafts).

To keep in shape, and to learn about another interesting topic, I train in karate. While I'm between dojos at the moment, I still take the time to train once or twice a week (solo or with friends who also train).

When relaxing on my own, I'm often working on an interesting computer programming or electronics project, working math for interesting physics or engineering problems, playing computer games, or knitting (a favourite activity while commuting).

(More details about my weekly schedule are in my journal. I usually stick to it.)

-Working through design problems and optimization problems. Quite a lot of my hobbies touch on this in one way or another; it's a lot of fun!

-Knitting hats. I've made quite a lot of hats (about one per week if that's what I'm working on during subway trips).

-Baking cookies. Recipes available on request!

-Coordinating informal social events. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I ended up in charge of organizing a yearly barbecue and organizing the weekly lunches my social circle used to hold. In the past, I've been involved with other events, but I've scaled back the number that I'm responsible for over the years.

-That I'm knitting, if I'm on the subway. It's a good conversation-starter.

-That I have far more mad science ideas than is probably healthy. Most of these stay on paper, but one gets built every so often.

-That I enjoy talking with people. I'm usually not the one who starts a conversation, but I'll definitely join in one that's going.

It's hard to pick a favourite for any of these, so this list is just a few representative samples.

For science fiction books, I like Larry Niven's "Known Space" books and Iain M. Banks's "Culture" books the most. For fantasy books, the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis and the "Lands of True Game" books by Sheri S. Tepper are probably my favourites. For non-fiction, "A Step Farther Out" by Jerry Pournelle is a thought-provoking, if dated, look at things that could be done on earth and in space.

For movies, it's hard to pick favourites, because I only watch one or two a year and rarely re-watch movies. "Real Genius" and "Ghostbusters" (from the 1980s) are probably my favourite comedies, though "The Incredibles" and "Megamind" are closer to my current tastes comedy-wise. "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" is probably my favourite sci-fi film, and the first "Alien vs. Predator" would be my favourite popcorn-flick.

Every once in a while I'll decide to follow a television series religiously. At the moment, I've finally joined the bandwagon and started watching MLP:FiM. In the past, I was a huge Star Trek: TNG buff, and more recently a Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis fan. Shows that I like but don't usually make the time to watch include House, Bones, Castle, and Doctor Who.

For music, my tastes are all across the map. I enjoy Beatles, quite a lot of classical music, orchestral music in general, and MIDI versions or band covers of old video game tunes. Most of the time I'm too interested in what I'm doing to want music playing as well (I find it distracting), but there's always a time for it.

For food, my favourite restaurant fare is filet mignon, though I don't eat at that calibre of restaurant very often. My usual order will be along the lines of pasta, chicken, or salad. For pub fare, my favourite is chicken fingers (wings are too messy). For my favourite dessert, it's hard to beat butterscotch pudding.

Things that I can't do without:

-Family and friends that I care about and see often.
-A career that I find interesting and enjoy.
-Enough down-time to not burn out.

Things that are very important, but that I can survive the absence of:

-An internet connection.
-Love/romance.

How to build things that would belong in science fiction books, on a "top 10 pranks of all time" list, or (if possible) both.

Formerly: Playing a pencil-and-paper RPG with friends. Silliness frequently ensued.

This is now a weekend activity (though I'd certainly welcome the opportunity to game on Fridays again as well).

I am mortally afraid of acting foolish in public. As a result, I can no longer watch most comedies, as they tend to derive their humour from people doing exactly this.

- We share common interests and you'd like to talk.

(Baking and knitting/crochet have been the most common topics, but this could be anything from science/engineering topics, to coding projects, to tales of RPG adventures, to movies/television/books/music we both enjoy.)

- You would like to date me.

(More accurately, you'd like to meet to see if we like each other and are compatible, prior to dating.)

- You are otherwise interested in making contact/getting to know me.