i've lived in the bay area for four years now, and i'm enjoying it a lot.

photography is my main hobby, hand me a camera and i can amuse myself for hours. i like the process of taking photos as much as the end result; it's good to have a creative outlet.

i also like learning how to cook new things - baking is like a tasty chemistry experiment. :)

i recently started playing piano again, music was a pretty big part of my life before, it's good to bring it back.

i like playing games with friends (of the board and video varieties - gotta stay current on my industry), trips to museums/aquariums/zoos, live music, and fun/deep conversations with friends, good food, and beer (red wine gives me a headache, white's ok).

i make 3D interactive simulations, which is a fancy way to say video games.

shooting photos. processing photos. printing photos.

also, thinking about my next travel destination.

available light nonhuman photography. i'd like to get better with strobes soon ( a la strobist ), primarily to shoot portraits.

usually that i'm carrying a camera. last time i was shooting, three sets of people handed me their cameras to take group photos.

i'll just make short, unordered, representative lists; there's no way i could be exhaustive here.

books - i'll list authors instead: alastair reynolds, richard k. morgan, peter f. hamilton, dan simmons, iain m. banks, charles stross

comics - i'll sneak these in: fables, gunnerkrigg court, dresden codak, girl genius, xkcd

movies/tv - gattaca, battlestar galactica, porco rosso, cowboy bebop, groundhog day, good eats

music - the beatles, stacey kent, muse, weezer (their older stuff's better), bt, diane birch, daft punk, they might be giants, j.s. bach

food - no real favorite, though my next savory dish to cook will be indian; something about mixing spices is appealing to me. when i'm at restaurants, i have a breakfast override - if breakfast food is available, i must order it.

in no particular order:

friends, learning, play, stories, yummy foods (i could do without non-yummy foods), my camera

my new favorite word: agnotology

you want to get out and shoot photos of things (in nature, museums, the city, wherever), know somewhere good to satisfy my ethiopian food craving, or just chat.