I'm an easy-going, intellectual, semi-vegetarian, left of center, non-religious person, who doesn't smoke or use drugs, who enjoys political discussions and philosophizing, soft mountaineering, gardening, and classical music. I view a relationship as an opportunity to learn and grow, communicate and share intimacy.

I'm playing a bit the scientist I wanted to become when I was younger. After kicking around in my 20s I tried my hand at freelance photography, which, after more floundering, led to alternative energy. That led to training as an engineer. I became an engineer during Reagan's misplaced closing down of Carter's initiatives. Not finding what I wanted here, I spent quite a few years abroad, first on a year long bicycle trip around Europe, and then writing patents in Taiwan, and teaching English, and geography, history, and physics, in Bulgaria. Returning to the states in my 50s, I started a new career in the biological sciences: flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Though this newest leg in my career has been a bit choppy, I've gotten a lot of satisfaction from the journey. The journey is interesting in a physics, statistics, biology sort of way, and the eclectic mix connects a lot of dots for me. In this instance, as in others, I continue to see my life more in terms of becoming, as opposed to having become (but eventually 'having become' is so unavoidable too, isn't it?).

Organizing conferences. I am a bit of a Renaissance person, and I think this works out well. I think outside the box, relish playing devil's advocate, and fancy I might occasionally chart a few paths that aren't there yet.

I'll have to ask - don't know offhand. I suspect something like low-key, not loud, probably in contrast to the irreverence I display when I open my mouth.

My most recent novel is Garcia Marquez's "100 years of solitude". Loved it so much, I read it twice. James Joyce's "Ulysses" sets a benchmark for good literature, "Pray for the repose of the soul of. Does anybody really? Plant him and have done with him". But the long-winded tome is also inconsistent - parts of it are a drag.
I mostly listen to classical music. My taste runs from Gregorian chant to Penderecki and Messiaen, love Beethoven and Shubert late string quartets, Bach fugues and cantatas, Mozart k. 563, Shostakovich and Prokofiev. I also enjoy early Joan Baez and Jonni Mitchell. Though I enjoy jazz, I may not be as sophisticated in keeping up with who's who - my taste runs along the line of Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, and Miles Davis.
My tastes in food tend toward spicy. I also tend to be improvisational in my cooking.

I'll start with three: Food, water, and air. From this baseline we can go up the Maslow hierarchy. Warmth and security strike me as quite basic. Sleep. Friendship and intimacy are a few steps up the ladder. Are we making headway toward self-actualization yet?

I've been criticized for taking this question too literally. OK. Here then is an attempt at defining magic moments 'I couldn't have done ('be' in the ontological sense) without'. Some of these would include: Discovering Albrecht Durer woodcut prints in the Smithsonian during the 1968 anti-war protests (while trying to locate the woman I hitch-hiked to DC with). Robert Persig's "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance". The high I got from organizing my first technical roundtable for Whatcom Solar Association. Comradderie in those alternative energy years. The high I got from organizing "George Orwell's 1984: Myth, Reality, and Legend" while in engineering school. The 'revelation' of learning about the Mandebrot set, deterministic chaos, and fractals. Satisfaction from having survived the bugs, and the rigors of biking 100 miles a day, over the Great Lakes on a trip from Minnesota to Montreal and NYC. Running around Roma and Firenze in search of more Caravaggio's and Pontormo's. Visiting Pontormo's "Deposition" in Santa Felicita at least once a day while in Firenze. Discovering Luca Signorelli's frescoes in the Duomo at Orvieto. An amazing, now almost hallucinogenic experience to recall, bike trip over the mountains between Firenze and Bolonga. The Giovanni Bellini's in Venezia, as well as the very early morning fog and colors of the city. The Vienna Boys Choir performance of Haydn's "Nelson Mass" in the small, opera house like Hapsburg chapel. Vermeer's "Milkmaid" in the Rijsmuseum (another one of those visit-with-frequently's). The mellifluous chants of Yoan Kukozel performed by opera singers in Sofia's central cathedral on Easter. Prisoner's dilemma, self-organizing algorithms, and game theory. Karl Popper's "Open society and its enemies". Lost innocence from having won a Pyrrhic victory over the Bulgarian Department of Education. A lot of chess while taking a winter rail trip across Siberia. The mountain villagers of Eastern Turkey, who, suspicious at first of the intrepid adventurer, always brought out pan bread and goat cheese for their 'American friend'. Stuart Kauffman's "The origins of order" (albeit a lifelong project, as it inevitably puts me to sleep after 10 pages). The (mis-)adventures of starting a scientific career late in life. Insights from losing hearing in one ear, hints of "A man may see how this world goes with no eyes". 17 years with probably the easiest kid in the world to raise.

While the question was put in the present tense 'do', I answered it as if in the past participle sense 'done'. Seems to me what one 'can't do without' follows most naturally from one's experiences, especially those that have left an impress.

I mull over whatever comes my way. My mind easily goes from the particular to the general (perhaps from early playing around with numbers). I enjoy trying to make sense of it, and I may well be a junkie for 'Ah-ha' moments (partial reinforcement schedules are most addicting). Do the ah-ha moments increase dopamine in the nucleus accumbens too?

Probably at home. I'm not averse to the social life, but I tend to live modestly, and on Friday night it's likely I'm watching the news, listening to some Shubert, or even planning something work related.

Sorry... I'd rather be parsimonious with 'private' information.

You're as prone as I am to philosophical conversations, and to enjoying sharp turns in perspective. I like it piquant. You also want a relatively open relationship (outer directed, not one that collapses into solipsism or a Byzantine tangle of emotions), sharing thoughts, hiking, adventuring, social activism. You're not stuck on 'dating', but would enjoy friendship either with or without intimacy. A long term relationship is a possibility. Age is not particularly important, however passion/imagination (having something to talk about) is.

"Lust is easy. Love is hard. Friendship is most important." - Carl Reiner