Wait, let me skip to the end. The key to figuring me out lies in the fact that I played guitars in a punk rock band but my secret dream is to be a Beach Boy. Not Brian Wilson, just one of the other guys who just go "oooooooOOOOOOooooaaaaaahhh".

I guess to properly describe myself, I need to borrow some adjectives from the movie poster of the 1987 skateboarding classic "Thrashin'": "hot", "reckless", "totally insane". Wait, that's not right.

Ok, start over, you know, in movies, Brendan Fraser wears a funny windbreaker and he's an unpopular dork and the whole time you're thinking "oh man, he's never gonna get any chicks" but then later, after some heart-tugging, heart-stealing heartbreak, a wacky gay friend says "Girl, let's see what we can do here" and he takes off the windbreaker and, depending on how realistic the movie is, maybe a pair of glasses, and Brendan Fraser is foxy Brendan Fraser again, and in the next scene he's doing a model and you're like "I guess I should have seen that coming". Yeah, I'm nothing like that. I don't know why I told that story.

I'm honest because, I mean, why not be? Feeling good about yourself is one of the greatest luxuries. I had an awesome childhood but as an adult, I've worked hard, despite myself, and feel like I'm where I want to be. My main professional fulfillment comes from building things, these days it's companies. There are some anomalies in my life. I have 3 degrees in International Relations and History. I don't use any of them professionally but if you give me grief about it, I always respond that knowing history makes you better at whatever you end up doing, blah blah blah. I feel like I'm pretty accomplished at this point but I've also got big ambitions that I'm on the road to achieving. I've recently gotten pretty interested in some of the new philanthropy models and I've started incorporating that into my plans as well.

I'm from Colorado originally so that woodsy, outdoorsy part of me is difficult to deny but my parents are also big foodies and winos. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Let's say wine-enthusiasts. I'm athletic to the extent that there's no sport out there at which I won't try and be terrible. Occasionally I do something awesome and try to pretend I meant to do that. I play on Expert Guitar Hero and Rock Band which is really something that should be more impressive to people than it actually is in real life.

I only occasionally pretend I'm Batman.

Also, why do some of the "Users I'm similar to" have the description "Hornier"? Gee, thanks for that unprompted assessment OKC.

...is hard to describe. I work for a travel company as a chief executive. I know, I'm as surprised as you are that I ended up this way. I have three degrees, two bahs and a mah, as my friend likes to say, in International Relations and History that go mainly unused. Of course, were you to say this to me, I'd give you a lot of argument that understanding history and people makes you better at whatever you end up doing and yadda yadda yadda.

...pontificating on cold war history, playing Rock Band, telling computers what to do, playing with my dog, accumulating television shows on my Tivo.

I love to use obscure language and I start gesticulating wildly when I'm into a conversation.

Hmm, books, well I already mentioned the late Mr. Adams. Right now I'm re-reading John Lewis Gaddis' We Now Know. He was my old prof at Ohio U and it's still a terrific book. One that's reawakened my desire to write a biography of Maxim Litvinov. Movies, I'll watch anything but lately I've noticed my attention span isn't quite there. Music, I love pop punk, I guess I've also seen it called 2nd wave punk. Food, I'm a fan of many cuisines, I'm a foodie, I admit it. I'm way too uncool to be a hipster but it's definitely one of my hipster-ish qualities. It's been hard being single for the last 6 months, I miss going to my local faves like Rosemary's, Picasso, and Chinois. And now I really miss Chinois, because it's closed. Sigh.

I'm an adherent of the philosophy of healthy detachment from the material world but assuming the intent here is to list things that are important to me.

1. My dog Abbie. 2. Tivo. 3. My weekly phone conversations with my parents. 4. The Wall Street Journal 5. My daily work out (I do skip it sometimes but I'm always sorry) 6. My bike, now that I'm riding it everywhere. Take that, Las Vegas.

The Question. I already know the answer: 42.

hoping that I never have any such thing as a "typical" Friday night.

I'm a slight pyrophobe. I also occasionally wonder what brand of autism I have. I keep a tight rein on my Sheldon moments.

I like interesting conversations and independent people. I like ambition over laziness, funny over dull, and explorers over agoraphobics. Let's start there and see where it goes.