I like to sit on the back porch and listen to the sound of rain falling. Not the sound the drops make when they land, but the soft susurrus of the rain as it falls through the sky. Once you tune out all the planes, trains, automobiles, neighbors and the sound of your own breathing, it makes itself known. I especially enjoy it in the morning while I have coffee, when I'm in that half-awake/semi-conscious state which is the border between sleeping and waking. It's a very satisfying way to start my day.

I believe that how you do something is as important as the thing itself. That's why I like to use hand tools when I'm working with wood. It seems more . . . direct, distilled. It's also why it takes me an hour or more to shine my shoes when it could take less than 15 minutes.

"It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier." - Robert Heinlein

I traded in my excruciating existence as a wage-slave to a Big Bank. Now I'm a full-time student in the area of Marine Carpentry & Boatbuilding. This is pretty much the most important thing in my life right now. I wake up each morning eager to get to class and learn some new tool or technique. I haven't been this enthusiastic about anything in a long time.

Also, I am a knight errant in the crusade against Dehumanizing Bureaucracy. I challenge power-mad Middle Managers to single combat whenever the opportunity arises. My battlecry is "Dammit, I'm a human being, not a number on a card!!!"

not judging a book by its cover.
making people laugh.
shining shoes.
waxing my moustache.
thinking of witty repartee . . . an hour after the opportunity to say it has passed.

are my handlebar moustache and the tattoo of a classic Nintendo controller on each of my forearms. Unless I'm wearing my party clothes. Then they probably notice my fine hat and shoes before the tattoos.

Food: chocolate, apples, oranges, kalamatta olives, cheese (though I don't eat it much due to lactose intolerance), Belgian ales, German lager, bacon, marzipan, cranberries, blended fruit beverages

Books: Stranger in a Strange Land, The Book of Five Rings, The Ethical Slut, The Impractical Cabinetmaker, A Book of Luminous Things, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Little Prince, The Repairman Jack novels, The Richard Sharpe novels, and lots of others. I'm an avid reader. I put a lot of miles on my library card every month.

Movies: Shawshank Redemption, Dark City, Superman, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Schindler's List, Scent of a Woman, Billy Elliott, Spiderman, Strange Brew, Monty Python, Doctor Zhivago, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, Indiana Jones, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins and a bunch more.

Music: I like all kinds of different genres and styles. I think music is a fundamental part of human existence. I enjoy talking about music as well as listening to it (with others or by myself). I especially value the artist/audience interaction of live music. I wish I were better at making music myself.

Books,Friends,Trees,Rain,Touch,Quiet. In no particular hierarchical order. Also, my neti pot and my Chapstick.

whether the human consciousness is even capable of understanding a "fundamental theory of everything." I wonder whether our biology is a limiting factor: we only have these five senses to interpret such a vast spectrum of input.

what comes after capitalism and how I can be a part of building a new culture of equitable exchange between human beings.

hanging out with friends.
reading a good book.
catching up on my Hulu or Netflix queues.
cooking.
tinkering in my workshop, making something out of wood or sea glass or whatever is lying around.

you're interested in getting to know a charming nerd who likes board games, cooking and eating, stimulating conversations and travelling trough life with a hopeful heart and a healthy sense of wonder.

you appreciate a handsome moustache.