I'm the kind of techie who goes to underground art events. Or, the kind of artsy that goes to underground tech events... take your pick!

I'm so Canadian that I speak French and have expert canoeing skills, but I lived in California for a very long time as well and work increasingly with people around the globe. I feel more and more like a citizen of the world. Well, the part of the world that gets room service, anyway.

I'm happiest when I'm around smart, enthusiastic people who love learning, don't label themselves, and make their own adventures. I'm lucky and grateful that I get so many chances to do so.

Trying to be my own boss. Which means I have an employee I can't fire, no matter how much time he wastes on OKCupid.

For the past twelve years, I've been chasing career and new experiences all over the continent. It makes me feel and act a lot younger than my chronological age.

But all this excitement also caused me to miss out on some of the more important things in life. This year I'm back in Canada and living a somewhat quieter life, but I'm taking much better care of myself. I regularly go to the place with the heavy things and pick them up and put them down again. I'm losing crazy amounts of weight. I walk around the neighborhood for hours, listening to NPR podcasts. Getting better at cooking. I'm trying to work on projects that are both ethical and technically innovative. And I'm trying to make a life that's more open to another person.

To be honest, I think I'm the guy nobody notices until zingers start arriving from the back of the room.

When I find something great I find whoever made it and consume their entire oeuvre. So for me it's not usually individual works of art, it's people.

Artists: I like the art that some friends produce, but it's pointless to name-drop. For known artists, I'm a bit obsessed with Swoon.

Books: complicated. Ask in person?

TV: is usually evil. But there's Jon Stewart, David Simon (The Wire, Homicide, etc.) & a few others

Film: My tastes are so broad it's hard to pick favorites. I'm happy going to a Tarsem movie for sheer visual innovation, and I'm happy going to an Errol Morris documentary. And stuff with superheroes and explosions too.

Music: lately - Arcade Fire, Glitch Mob, Foster the People, ALT-J (∆).

Food: Nowadays it's low carb or slow carb, so sugary desserts are out and homemade bison chili is in. (I don't expect you to follow my diet, though.)

Good kitchen utensils.

Passport.

The internets.

Beautiful environments and visual stimulation. I almost went crazy when I moved to a bland suburb of San José.

Stupidity. I get antsy if a few months go by and I haven't done something really stupid. The good kind of stupid, that might involve months of planning, trips to the library and several hardware stores, phone calls to experts...

Someone or something to care about.

How to compress a funny idea into 140 characters.

I'm very attracted to intelligence. When I see a woman doing a brilliant presentation on something, my mind ...wanders.

You aren't a puritan, but you believe being intoxicated or consuming entertainment aren't the most fun things you can do with your time. (P.S. that wasn't intended as innuendo... no wait, actually it is!)

Even if other people give you grief over it, you can't stop yourself from being unselfconsciously enthusiastic about some things. Which is a good thing, because that's what life is about and some people find that adorable.