From the username, you can doubtless tell I'm a geek. If you can't tell I'm a geek from the username, you're probably not a geek yourself, or at least not the kind of geek who's read Philip K. Dick, which is the kind of geek I am. I cut my teeth on LOTR in 6th grade and never looked back.

My current internet obsession is reading smartass poltical blogs like Balloon Juice , and keeping up with friends on Facebook. I exist at the intersection of some very disparate groups of people--don't we all, though?--and that's a source of constant coolness and occasional flame wars.

I've been concerned more and more with food; I've always been a foodie, to some degree, but I've been thinking a lot lately about where it comes from and how to eat more locally. Would love to be a vegetarian locavore in theory, but I've got a bit too much of the Anthony Bourdain in me to really pull that off.

I like live music, though I hardly ever get out to shows these days. I suck as a companion at such events, though, as I'm there to see the band, with only occasional witty banter.

I teach literature for a living and read it for a hobby. Did I mention I was a geek?

From the old "three adjective" intro on OKC: I am wry, geeky, and frequently obscene

Teaching college and trying to raise reasonably un-neurotic children. Oh, and trying to figure out how to save America.

Words. Real good at words. Makin' em say things. And whut all.

My third eye, bitches!

Books (authors, really): Philip K. Dick (obviously), China Mieville, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Tad Williams, Barbara Hambly, Langston Hughes, Muriel Rukeyser, Jack Gilbert.

Recent faves: Very intrigued by H.L. Mencken's _A Religious Orgy in Tennessee_, his collected columns about the Scopes Monkey Trial. Also, Sinclair Lewis's _It Can't Happen Here_, an alternate history about the coming of fascism to America. It's eerily applicable to certain current events... Getting back into China Mieville after a hiatus--in which he wrote like 47 novels.

Movies: Old faves: LOTR! Old Star Wars. Anything Baz Luhrman. V for Vendetta!!! Good Night, and Good Luck. The Big Lebowski. 40 Year Old Virgin. Knocked Up. Superbad. (Basically anything that's Apatastic.) the Big Lebowski. ("You said 'Big Lebowski' twice." "I like the Big Leboswki." So, I guess that means I should put Blazing Saddles here, too.) Loved the Iron Man movies. Proof that mainstream action movies don't have to be stupid. Also: MUPPETS!! Still trying to figure out if I'm a muppet of a man or a very manly muppet...

Looking forward to: Hugo--loved the book! Avengers. The Firefly reunion show/movie. ("It's totally going to happen" he mutters to himself. "Cosmic justice demands it...")

TV: Community (SAVE GREENDALE!), The Good Wife, the Daily Show, Modern Family.

Music: Americana, esp. Son Volt, Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Shakira (okay, she's South Americana...) and Green Day. Bruce Springsteen. Local Fave: Rob Russell and the Sore Losers. (I'd put him up there with Scott Miller in terms of quality.) But I also own a limited smattering of bluegrass, jazz, swing, funk, and country--so I suppose I'm pretty eclectic.

Foods: Heh. Yeah. Foods. Love em. Love to cook and love to eat. And just about any ethnicity; Italian, Ethiopian, Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Indian.

1) Internet connection (and, of course, a computer) 2) my family 3) BOOKS 4) Gin 5) Tonic 6) Lime

How to save America, or at least small pieces of it.

Watching Doctor Who with my daughter, and then drinking gin and tonics trying to catch up on emails and blogs. When my wife's work schedule changes again, I'll take once again to drinking gin and tonics in bars.

Is that I'm still ambivalent about mentioning genuinely private things in a public forum, even with a pseudonym. Anything I say wouldn't be a genuinely private sharing, which I'd reserve for someone I'd talked to for at least an evening--at which point I'm often willing to spill some quite private things.

You want to talk to someone who's in the middle of the road of his life, in a dark wood, doing the best he can to shine a little light around.