For someone who believes that the unexamined life isn't worth living, I'm not particularly good at talking about myself without a little direction. Under duress, this is the best description I've come up with:

There was this book that I got when I was a kid called "The Way Things Work". In it, cartoon mammoths went about showing the way things like airplanes, car transmissions, transistors, thermostats, and bullet-proof vests work. I think its explanation of a fire extinguisher kept me from hacksawing open the expired one under the kitchen sink when I was 9 and may have saved my life. I still kind of want to cut one open, though.

I write software for a telecom startup in Midtown. It's the sort of thing that everyone uses but no one notices unless it's broken. The best sign of a great design might be if it melts into the background and users forget that it exists. I just started cycling at the velodrome by Hartsfield, but it's outdoors and the weather has been conspiring against me so far: my bike is just too damn pretty to get wet. I'd post a picture, but apparently it's against the rules.

One of my other hobbies is hacking my Roomba. It's not as crazy as it sounds: I got a degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech specializing in Machine Learning and my best friend has a graduate degree in robotics. It's going to be pretty hard to hide my excitement the day robots enslave humanity.

I always wanted to do Industrial Design, but I chickened out thinking that my lack of a natural ability to draw would kill that dream. Turns out it's apparently *not true* so I'm shopping around for drawing classes. Things are gonna change, just as soon as I can draw a cool mustache.

Books: I kind of rotate through several books at a time, but currently I'm reading
- Anti-Intellectualism in American Life - Richard Hofstadter
- Visual Explanations - Edward Tufte (what a stupendous badass)
- Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein
- Meditations in an Emergency - Frank O'Hara
- Terminal City - Motter and Lark
- The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler

I'm reticent to call out a favorite author, but John Irving and Bret Easton Ellis both seem to have stuck with me for a long time.

Movies: This is a really touchy subject because a fellow cinephile will look at your list and then say to themselves "What a douche. He forgot Lawrence of Arabia?" I like a lot of movies (witness my choice paralysis some time when I want to pick a DVD to watch), and I can usually give a pretty good justification as to what's genuinely compelling about them. You probably won't catch me watching crap, unless you were at my house the one time all of the channels went out except TNT and I watched a Cold Case marathon while doing some work. That was something awful.

Music: I mostly listen to music at work within the past year so it's really affected where my music tastes have gone. Turns out it's hard for me to concentrate on code while music with words is playing. I just end up paying attention to the words and the mathy side of my brain shuts off. I'm sure someone who knows anything about cog sci could explain that pretty well. Anyway, this means I've been listening to a lot of...*consults recently played in iTunes*... Don Caballero, 65daysofstatic, Battles, Boards of Canada, Crystal Castles. I apparently still manage to sneak in a shitload of Nine Inch Nails, Björk, Soul Coughing, and TV on the Radio despite the words. I used to work at a radio station, so I take it pretty seriously trying to find new people who are playing interesting things. It doesn't strictly mean that I won't listen to something that gets airplay on Top 40 or rock stations, but that's a pretty safe bet. My favorite radio show to this day plays on 91.1 WREK in Atlanta and is called "Longboards and Longhorns". Seriously. Half 60's surf rock, half old country music. Scoff if you want, but think how awesome you thought the sountrack for _That Quentin Tarantino Movie_ was. Then look at how much old country and surf rock there is.

Food: I do enjoy the Expensive Sandwich because that's the sort of Stuff White People Like. Have you seen that website? I died a little inside after reading it. It hit a little too close to home.

I noticed the "East Coast liberal academics" (god I love every time I've been called that) at OKCupid forgot to mention TV. I moved into a place recently where I finally had a TV, and a huge TV with cable *and* a DVR at that. To the outside observer, it must have been like watching someone discover fire. Fortunately that tailed off quickly. I'm mostly an Adult Swim watcher these days, though I'm very particular about even that. I've had a few friends over the years work there and it's always cool to see something and go, "Hey, didn't Will work on this Aqua Teen?" I was pretty much inconsolable over Frisky Dingo getting cancelled. Yup. Over a stupid TV show. My previous life as a chemist makes me really interested in Breaking Bad, and I think I might lose it if Mad Men doesn't come back soon.

This ethnographer for Nokia research said that when asked what the three most important things to have on your person when leaving the house, about half of the entire human population, myself included, will answer: 'wallet', 'keys', and 'cellphone'. I thought that was kind of deep. Basically everyone answers 'identity', 'access', and 'communication'.

I think the other things would be lots of sunlight, open space, and time.

These days? Robots.

having dinner and drinks with friends. I'm a big fan of places with good food and great beer, so the Brick Store or Vortex are pretty good bets. There's always the Highlander if you like your drinks with a side of abuse from the staff. But that's why my friends love it so. Hell, one of them got proposed to there and is planning on having the wedding on the patio.

I wish I was better at creating.

you're capable of both speaking and writing the Queen's English, even if choose not to.