I am never certain of what I should put in here, as I find it impossible to encapsulate someone's persona in this format.

For starters, a few important notes:

1. I am an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs personality matrix.

2. Intelligence is key in what I find attractive, I tend to skip down to the books/authors section of a profile before I read the rest, if nothing there interests me, I move on.

3. I am interested in finding others that are as keen on intelligence as I am, that is to say, if you find intelligence sexy, then I am your man. If not, then move along.

4. I value open minds. If you are unable to debate issues and be open to changing your perceptions and views in light of new information or perspectives, then we will not get along well.

5. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I identify more closely with Libertarians, but I also have disagreements with their policies to some degree. I guess I am truly an Independent and I keep myself informed on what is going on in our government.

6. I am a geek. An unabashed, proud and very outspoken geek, at that. I am happy to go into great detail about my geekiness upon request, but will save the general public the special torture that is me waxing loquacious about being a geek. If you are not pro-geek, or do not find a shared interest in all things geeky, I am not the guy for you.

7. I am not vanilla. Enough said on that topic, you are forewarned.

8. I value honesty above all other things. If you cannot be honest with yourself, you cannot be honest with me. If that is an issue, feel free to look elsewhere.

9. I am not into those that are possessive or jealous. If you are, there will be trouble.

10. I am, first and foremost, dedicated to my children. I also have a good relationship with my ex-wife. If you have problems with a father spending a lot of time and resources with/on his children, or if you are insecure about someone with a good relationship with their ex-spouse, we will certainly not work out.

11. Do you have a job? Do you have a car? Do you have your own place to live? Are you able to lead your own life without being completely enmeshed in mine? Are you, in a nutshell, stable? Some leeway is granted to those that are full-time students, otherwise a no to any of the above will lead to unsatisfactory results.

Am I picky? Hell yes I am. I have been around the block enough times to know what I am looking for. I will not settle for less than that, I will not try to change someone to mold them into what I want. I no longer feel like tilting at windmills in some hopeless endeavor to mold a personality to my liking. I have neither the inclination nor the time to do that.

Please feel free to ask questions. As long as your grammar and spelling are up to snuff I will take the time to reply.

Quotes worth living by:

“Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.” --Miyamoto Musashi, the Book of Five Rings

"He who hesitates is lost" -- Sun Tzu, the Art of War

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed." -- G.K. Chesterton

"Furthermore, we have not even to risk the journey alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world." -- Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

"Have you heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly, 'I seek God! I seek God!' As many of those who do not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter... 'Whither is God,' he cried. 'I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. All of us are murderers.... God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him...'" -- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

"The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest. Difficult tasks are a privilege to them; to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation. They are the most venerable kind of man: that does not preclude their being the most cheerful and the kindliest." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell." -- General William Tecumseh Sherman

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." -- G.W.F. Hegel

“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” --
William Butler Yeats

"This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene III

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." -- President Theodore Roosevelt, April 10, 1899

Well, my kids are the centers of my universe, the hub around which my world revolves. After them, I enjoy my job (gasp!), reading, cooking, socializing and having fun at various venues around town.

My longer term plans include a not-quite-dead dream of being a history professor...not the introductory stuff, mind you, but higher level classes, where the students are there of their own volition, rather than simply fulfilling a course requirement of some type.

In the interim, however, I basically spend time with my kids, working or alternating between being a hermit or a social butterfly, depending upon my mood.

As an afterthought, I have been considering doing more to tap into my creative side...I am sure it is there, but I haven't quite found the proper muse to inspire me to pursue it. Maybe photography or drawing, as I can't carry a tune in a basket...

How do you write something in this section that doesn't sound either self-aggrandizing or rife with trite humility?

I have been told that I am a very good cook, that I am talented with languages, and that I can carry on a conversation quite well.

I have been accused of being overly talkative and prone to higher-than-normal levels of candor, so beware! as that is a potent combination.

I have heard a few different things, though it is often my eyes. Otherwise it is typically my personality, which tends to be very forceful; I am driven and it is quite apparent.

Books: Rather than list them individually, I will just say that I have a keen interest in all things sci-fi or fantasy, along with a healthy dose of philosophy, physics, political science and history. Add a sprinkling of theology and a dash of biographies and you have my collection, more or less. Fine... you want authors? Tolkein, Zahn, Heinlein, Murakami, Borges, Garcia Marquez, Goodkind, Tad Williams, King, Nabokov, McCullough, Jared Diamond, Homer, Hume, Nietzsche, Jung, Rand, Epicurus, Sun Tzu, Mirutomo and many, many others. Now, don't expect any individual books...they are far too numerous to list.

Movies: Being a geek, my first true cinematic love was Star Wars. Still is, to be honest. I also like lots of other movies, from the crass (Idiocracy, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) to the more cerebral (Europa, Europa, Empire of the Sun). Do not trouble me with references to Twilight; I despise that franchise with the blinding heat of a thousand suns.

Television: I don't watch all that much, but I do enjoy True Blood, Avatar: The Last Airbender and many [adult swim] shows. For the less fictional I go for the History, Military or Science channels.

Music: 45 grave, 80s music, adam and the ants, alien sex fiend, apoptygma berzerk, ausgang, bach, bauhaus, beethoven, bjork, black flag, black sabbath, carl orff, christian death, classical music, concrete blonde, dead can dance, dead kennedys, dead milkmen, echo and the bunnymen, exploited, Front 242, gloria mundi, goth music, grieg, iggy pop, industrial music, iron maiden, johnny cash, joy division, killing joke, kmfdm, kommunity fk, led zeppelin, lords of acid, mdfmk, metallica, mozart, nick cave, nitzer ebb, opera, orff, sex gang children, siouxsie & the banshees, sisters of mercy, southern death cult, specimen, the cure, the damned, the pixies, the pogues, the the, the virgin prunes, they might be giants, type o negative, uk decay, and many others.

If you like ICP or consider yourself a 'juggalette' we will have very little in common and my anti-ICP rants will likely drive you to anger or madness. In either result, I couldn't be bothered to care.

1. My kids
2. Books!
3. Stimulating conversation with friends
4. A ready supply of toothpaste.
5. Coffee (or other caffeinated beverage)
6. Even more books, and, preferably, a brilliant, geeky and otherwise attractive woman to discuss them with.

Where my life is going, whether I am being a good father, whether the novels Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Terminal Cafe are prophetic, etc... In other words, it varies depending upon my mood.

Either hanging with my kids, playing hermit while reading a book (or books), or out and about with friends. Depends on the Friday, my mood and whether or not there is something fun going on.

There is far more to me than what I put on this profile.

You find anything intriguing within my profile, if you want to hang out and discuss the finer points of geekdom, you like Dragon*Con, or you just feel like dropping me a line for some other reason.

Those who love physics, philosophy, history, geopolitics, epicurean pursuits and non-Euclidean geometry are encouraged to apply!