Greetings, reader. Thanks for visiting my profile. This is by far the most difficult to box to fill in because all of the others are pretty effective at summarizing me. Virtually everything I type I have to delete because I realize it's spelled out elsewhere! Oh, the angst.

I suppose the essentials are that I'm laid-back, introverted, and I can be pretty funny--or at least I can produce a lot of groans. That sounds dirty, doesn't it? I was referring to my propensity for punning, but now that you mention it...

Ahem. I guess I could take this opportunity to summarize a few things I'm not. I'm not spontaneous; I like to know what I'll be doing in advance to avoid being jittery, at least if I'm expected to go places and do things I've never been or done before.

I am also not interested in travel. I'm truly astonished by the number of profiles I read on here by people eager to get out of the country and "experience other cultures." I'm skeptical about a tourist being able to experience much of a culture and still make the flight home, but more importantly I just don't like wandering around unfamiliar cities. I get a little nervous just visiting Louisville, and that's just a nice southern town full of people eager to commit vehicular homicide--or at least vehicular assault. I'm sure I'd enjoy a cruise or a long train ride with someone, but I'd rather explore the myriad random things to do in my own back yard than fly across the globe.

Time to give a synopsis of the last few decades of my life! Fortunately, it's easy. I grew up in Alabama, near Birmingham, and somehow escaped without a southern accent. I spent four years in college in Cleveland, Ohio and acquired a BS in computer engineering in 2004. Next I planned to spend six or eight years in grad school in Blacksburg, Virginia. Things did not quite work out that way, because despite my enjoyment of teaching, I didn't count on disliking the research element. I finished my MS in 2007 but did not go for the PhD; instead I moved to Lexington and became employed.

A year later, the economy blew up in everyone's face. Apparently I ducked at just the right time because by some miracle, nothing changed for me. In short: I'm here in Lexington, working full time writing embedded software to control assorted hardware devices. I love this work, which feeds my techie side and enables me to engage all my other random low-tech interests. You can read about some of those below! The only thing I'm really lacking is companionship of some sort...which might have something to do with why I'm telling you all this in the first place. Hint hint.

Well, I'll start with relationship things. I enjoy making things for others, especially endless streams of mix CDs, their contents dependent on the recipient. You'll probably get the opportunity, for better or worse, to see lots of unusual movies. I don't get angry very often, because I'm always cognizant of the fact that most thing that irritate me are pretty stupid. This can be a pickle in relationships where the other partner is not aware of the absurdity of the things that upset her! Exceptions include willful cruelty or callous disregard. I think one of the most enjoyable aspects of a relationship for me is conversation; I like talking over long rambles and over the phone, chats over dinner and the the like. I especially like people who are enthusiastic about their interests, especially if they are different from mine. If nothing else, it makes it easier to buy them birthday presents!

More generally, I love to learn new things in a pretty broad variety of subjects. I'm prone to buying a chemistry or music history textbook on a whim to refresh or acquire knowledge. I pay an unreasonable sum for access to the Grove Encyclopedia of music where I can research obscure composers and decide what to hear next. Since I have an engineering degree it almost goes without saying that I enjoy taking things apart and failing to put them back together correctly; I also love programming and computers but as that's my day job, I do much less of it than I used to in my free time.

I've become a food enthusiast, and I'm dramatically less picky than I used to be. I like both high-end restaurants and total dives. In fact, if you e-mailed me and invited me to dinner somewhere, I'd almost certainly go. Hint hint.

I sometimes get comments on my hair, and people don't have a problem remembering my face--for good or ill! If I don't know you, I come off as shy. If I'm dating you I come off as talkative and nervous until I've been with you awhile, at which point I come off as super awesome ;-)

I read a lot of literature, so it's hard to toss off favorites off the top of my head. Two come to mind as being more amazing than I expected: Alain Robbe-Grillet's "Jealousy" and Max Frisch's "Man in the Holocene." I have a theoretical fondness for ancient literature in translation, even it doesn't always live up to its reputation. Among modern classics, I've enjoyed Faulkner and Nabokov. I also like poetry, especially Philip Larkin. I try to have a book going at all times, and I usually choose it at random using random.org!

Netflix enables me to watch a movie a week, and I try to let it surprise me by shuffling my queue around. Probably my favorite movies of all time are 2001: A Space Odyssey and Tartovsky's original Solaris. This is a bit odd because otherwise I don't watch much science fiction. I love classics and foreign films. There's even a special place in my heart for silent movies.

I could probably write for a decade about music. In fact, I did write for several months about John Cage at cageblog.blogspot.com. This correctly implies an enthusiasm for difficult music--here's to melody-less, atonal high modernism! But that's not everything. I also love indie rock, not-very-indie rock, punk rock, emo, depressed female singer-songwriters, cornball oldies, scratchy old blues records, occasional Christian bands like mewithoutYou even though I don't believe in God, baroque music with a good harpsichord rhythm, long-winded Romantic symphonies, and attempts at performing medieval songs. About the only genres I'm not into are jazz (dammit, I don't have time!) and modern country (some sort of rebellion against my dad, most likely). And all the other stuff I haven't heard, too.

I'll eat most things once. A few favorites are good fried chicken, an extraordinarily tender steak, any kind of hamburger under the sun, Chinese buffets, crazy fancy meals with French names I can't translate, and meat-and-three southern-style fare. I never cook at home because it's no fun to cook for myself. I'd love someone to cook for (and with!) though. Hint hint.

Well, I'd be sad if my vast music collection disappeared one day, and equally sad if my potted plant died. I've kept that croton alive for eight years and I want it to stick around for eighty more!

It would be awfully hard to get anything done if I lost my glasses, and while having clothes to wear doesn't strictly improve my own productivity, I suspect it improves others'.

It's obvious that I can live without love, but it would be depressing to stop hoping for it. Finally, it's hard to go for too long without a good conversation with someone.

Where and what to eat tonight.
Crazy ideas for classical and popular internet radio stations. Academic subjects I wish I had studied.
Books I should buy so that I can self-study academic subjects I wish I had studied.
How it would be nice to have a dog.
How to improve the probability of being married in the not too distant future.

I'm pretty set in my routine. I go to a delicious early dinner for one right around 5:00 to beat the crowds. Common locales include Azure, Ramsey's, Malone's, and Winchell's. You can recognize me as the guy sitting alone at a table reading the Atlantic or Skeptic or some other magazine.

After that I read or listen to music. At some point I'll take a nice long walk, assuming the temperature is at least a little above zero. Late in the evening a friend and I read over the phone--novels, plays, poetry. Incidentally, if you enjoy reading over the phone I'd love to add you to my schedule!

In some ways, I'm a stereotypical single male, so it's best to avoid coming over unannounced without giving me a chance to clean.

I also hate laundry. I wash nearly everything in one load once per week and it only leaves the dryer when I decided what to put on each day.

Oh yeah, I also have a bit of social anxiety. This explains why I'm on OKC instead of out in the real world.

...anything I said above sounds interesting. I do enjoy reading and replying to e-mails! I also like to talk on the phone if it comes to that (sarcasm often does not go over well in e-mail!). On the other hand, I don't like internet chat and absolutely despise texting...maybe I'm a demanding bastard, but I prefer someone's attention to be on me when we're having a conversation.