I'm a geek with an artistic streak. I love photography, both viewing (William Eggleston, William Christenberry, Stephen Shore) and creating (my photos have been described as "desolate", in a good way). I have now photographed every town/village/hamlet/ghost town in North Dakota (that's over 900 places). I love modernist graphic and industrial design. I listen to KEXP and The Current, though I don't go to hear live music as often as I'd like.

I live and work on Capitol Hill, and usually find myself hanging out with similarly geeky people (such as urbmon and btmspox). I have a harder time finding people into the same sort of art and design I'm into, though I am impressed with the number of people I know who can tell Helvetica from Akzidenz-Grotesk.

I am inquisitive, pragmatic, and often barefoot

When I'm working, I'm developing web-based interfaces to massive amounts of data. Outside of work, I'm into photography. I go on day-, week-, and month-long photography trips. I also go on the occasional hike in the woods.

I like spending my summers outdoors and my winters indoors.

I'm really good at spotting Pavement Ends signs from a long way away.

Why is that, you ask? Well, I'm slowly working on photographing every little dot on the map in Washington (and have now finished North Dakota). This takes me to lots of middles of nowheres, and often, I find that I'm heading towards the next town on the map and I see a yellow sign off in the distance. If it's "Pavement Ends", that means I'm spending the next 20 minutes driving down a dusty road.

is that I'm 6'5" (well, ok, probably only 6'4-1/2").

(a) Non-photography books: Safety of Objects by A. M. Homes, The World of Normal Boys by K. M. Soehnlein, The House With a Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs, Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim, anything by Edward Gorey

Photography books: William Eggleston's Guide, Uncommon Places by Stephen Shore, Southern Photographs by William Christenberry, Commercial Residential by Robert Adams.

(b) The Conversation, Office Space, Dandelion (especially for the visuals), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

(c) Clinic, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Built to Spill, Interpol, REM, Joy Division, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided By Voices, Explosions in the Sky, Tall Dwarfs

(d) Pad Thai, Phở, anything with mock duck in it

I'd like to think that I'm a pretty adaptable person and could find a way to enjoy myself in almost any situation. However, let's say I woke up one morning and found myself in Ulan Bator, Mongolia (a desert island's just too boring, sorry). The first things I'd want to find would be a camera and film. Then, I'd like to find a computer, even if the only thing I could get would be an old East German Robotron KC85 or an Elektronika BK-0010 or something. After that, hmm... Does "the intarwebs" count as one thing? That probably takes up the other four, at least.

Urban Planning. Yes, really. I walk around and I can't help but think how much nicer a place would be with a subway stop or more street-facing retail (both of which will eventually be coming to Capitol Hill).

I worry that my self-summary makes me sound unapproachable, but I don't know how to fix it.

I recently rediscovered that I still have a crush on a guy I was friends with from 6th to 12th grade.

I still make faces at myself in the mirror, as though I am still 8 years old.

- you actually made it this far down on my profile.
- you like to go on walks around the city and look at all the little bits that hold it together.
- you like (or are at least aware of) William Christenberry, Stephen Shore, or Robert Adams.
- you think I sound interesting but also like an elitist jerk (I'm not, really!).
- you think I sound uninteresting and would like to tell me so.