I've been described as both zen and zany. My tastes are eclectic but discerning. I enjoy being online, but not living online. I think having a pool table in one's dining room is a great idea, and that more people should proofread their instant messages.

And, yes, I really do go by Skwid.

I am geeky, social, and zany

I'm working, but barely consider that "my life." I have a skill set that somebody wants to pay me for, but "my life" is what happens outside of that 8 hours a weekday spent staring at databases, reports, and spreadsheets. I spend my time off reading books and blogs, participating in communities online and off. I go to Burning Flipside and Myschievia and other Burner-related events. I'm learning, constantly. I enjoy gaming (could be video games, could be board games with friends, or even an RPG), and watching movies and television. I go out dancing once or twice a week, sing karaoke regularly, and I host a weekly dinner, cooking for a group of my closest friends. Or I might be sitting in my comfy chair by the fire, with a cat and a computer competing for lap space, listening to Electronica. OK, to be fair that last one is just literally what I'm doing tonight.

I hope to one day rule as an Iron-Fisted Benevolent Dictator, and Fox News will be first against the wall. In the event that that plan falls through, I'd like to continue my travels in Europe and elsewhere around the globe, learn an East Asian language, write novels, and one day pursue an advanced degree or twelve.

Doing that thing, what do you call it, where you know just the right word to describe something?

I'm reasonably good at dancing, but I'm really good at lightstick dancing. Didn't see that coming, did you?

I can almost always find and embellish the rythym of a drum jam on my djembe.

I have an uncanny ability to spot almost any speling error.

I can set people up to call me on what look like mistakes, but are actually deliberate errors, and I think that's pretty funny.

How does one know what the first things others notice about them are? It doesn't seem like something that comes up in conversation often, except for those people who have extreme outliers in their physical appearance, like extraordinarily large ears or tiny hands.

I have sandy blonde hair but an auburn-red beard...I suppose that's pretty distinctive. I have more freckles on my shoulders than probably any two other people you know, but I don't often wear sleeveless shirts, so that's not a common one. I do get a lot of attention for my shoes, particularly the Doc. Marten's Black-and-White Oxfords I wear most of the time, but also for my Vibram Five-Fingers "toe shoes."

I hate this section...it's too hard to limit them!

I listen to almost every genre of music except Country produced after 1965 or so, and Non-ironic Gangsta rap. Tool, NIN, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Cake, The Presidents of the United States of America, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Fatboy Slim, DJ Shadow, The Rogues, The Chieftains, MC Frontalot, The Beastie Boys, Tchaikovsky, Chant.

And yes, I listen to all of it on Shuffle. I'm a madman.

Favorite TV Shows: Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Star Trek: The Next Generation, House, Chuck, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and almost anything that's got a nerdy edge to it.

I've got to limit myself on movies, so I'll just give my top 5 (subject to change as the winds blow): The Lord of the Rings, Monty Python and the Search For the Holy Grail, Pulp Fiction, Beerfest, and The Fifth Element

Once again, far, far too many books to list. Here's some favorite authors whose books I've read within the past year, though: Neal Stephenson, Steven Brust, Terry Pratchett, Lois McMaster Bujold, Robert Jordan (it's like a sickness...somebody stop me!), C.S Friedman

If there's a cuisine that doesn't have a dish I love, I haven't encountered it yet. Pasta, Sushi, Ethiopian, Indian, Down-home Southern, Libyan, Thai, BBQ, Irish, French, Phở, Steakhouse, Homemade...I love it all. It's a credit to my restraint and metabolism that I'm a thin man.

*A good book (I keep a spare in my car, on my laptop, and several on my phone. I mean it...I never like being without something to read if nothing else is going on).
*My cats.
*My iPhone (I listen to it probably 5-6 hours a day on average).
*The internet (it's a natural extension of my brain, at this point. Without wikipedia and imdb, don't you feel like you've lost functionality?).
*Plans for something fun.
*Friends!

What I'm going to be doing next, what I forgot to do just now, and what I really ought to be doing instead of this enjoyable thing I'm doing. OK, I should probably be thinking about that last one more often than I actually do.

I have no idea what a typical Friday night would be. I might be out with friends, I might be out dancing, I might be home alone or with company. It's one of the few nights of my week in which I do not have a regularly scheduled activity, specifically because it's impossible to plan around.

Oh, I know. On a typical Friday night I am grateful. After all: it's Friday night, and tomorrow I get to sleep in!

I actually liked the 3rd and 4th season of "Enterprise."

You like eccentric, decent-looking guys with pedantic tendencies and a big, er...vocabulary.

You're curious about why just about everyone but my grandmother calls me Skwid.

You're curious about someone who's a Burner but never wants to go to Burning Man.

You should especially message me if you have a suggestion or a question about my profile!