Twenty five years in Minneapolis (lovely), three in Boston (bleh), three in the Bay area (lovely), and one traveling (amazing).

I'm finally getting a clue now in my early 30's, and a year out of the rat race enjoying life on the road made a few things very clear. It was wonderful enough that I will have to do it again.

Si valley engineer - which I enjoy, but there are some long term alternatives on the table. I decided midway through the yearlong trip that I would go back to engineering for a year upon my return to see if the life that gets shaped around that is still good enough. If so, I do that for two or three years and take off again on another year long trip. If not, I'll give something else a try.

The ability to repeat the "work two to three years and travel for one" mode of living until I retire would be great. I don't know how feasible it is but it's my plan for the foreseeable future.

I'll make this into stuff I like and am maybe good at.

Stuff I like and do frequently: bicycling, cooking, reading, dancing to electronic music, traveling, photography, yoga.

Stuff I like but don't do very often: hiking, camping, origami, bowling, playing with legos.

Stuff I plan on doing based on happenings from the trip: buying a motorcycle, learning (more) massage.

books over the past year: Anything by Alan Watts (I wish I knew of him a decade ago); Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta was a surprisingly good set of short stories; On the Road by Jack Karouac wasn't necessarily good writing but at the time I read it I emotionally understood exactly what he was trying to achieve; India After Gandhi by Ramchandra Guha is the best history book I've read in years; Charles Stross for some heady science fiction; Open Secrets by Alice Munro was great; A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry is well written and provided some depth to the people I saw on the street in India but didn't get to know.

food: I like most foods I've tried, but simple foods done really well are my favorite - things like bread, cheese, tea, beer, certain vegetables and some meats.

music: lately a lot of electro stuff with dopey lyrics like electric six and ladytron.

Friends, touch, love.

Materially there isn't much I can't live without, but I do like the iphone, the sushi, the bicycle, and all that stuff we all love.

How to live well. How to keep the brain entertained while I'm here.

If you've done a lot of traveling, are into electronic music, or want to wander the town taking photos. I need someone to get me out of my comfort zone with the photography.