Life is great. I can't imagine being happier, yet I wake up each morning with a renewed passion for living. (Sort of like that guy from "Office Space" except not as mellow.)

I grew up in a small town--some would hardly grant it that distinction. It was safe and quiet and boring, but my family still lives there. So I visit occasionally. Our town had no stores, no gas stations, no restaurants, and one bar. Until it burned down.

My undergraduate degree is in English writing from Millikin University--go Big Blue(!)--and my graduate degree is professional communication is from Clemson University--go Tigers(!).

Recently I took a short detour to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where I was pursuing my PhD in communication and rhetoric. Great place. (You should visit sometime.) But a dream job offer came along and the PhD plans went on hold. For now.

I'm not one to lounge about while life speeds past. "Stillness is the antithesis of life."

Thanks to a philosophy of rational egoism, I started getting serious about my health a couple years back. That process is going smashingly, and I look forward to continuing the trek.

It's the era of social media, so I decided to give the digital world a chance at helping me meet people. Basically, I'm looking to meet people that share my values. The rest is simply minor details.

Hmm. What else?

Someone once asked me to describe how I felt about my name in one sentence. I wrote:

"Daniel Thomas--a name of inexorable commonality--falsely represents a Biblical context (specifically deriving from the Hebrew Daniyel meaning "God is my judge" and Thomas in direct reference to the apostle who doubted the resurrected Jesus) when, in fact, my mother, growing up in a family not devoid of Christian influence but certainly liberal about theological instruction, simply took great aural pleasure in hearing the name "Daniel"-- the way it glides off the tongue, as if to suggest flight or a floating consciousness above reproach--and decided, at quite a young age, to name her first, and hopefully her only, son by the pseudo majestic name, taking careful selection in the middle name Thomas, my grandfather's name, as to provide a full sense of (false) regal majesty, enlightenment and wisdom, which, upon first chance, the average human decides to shorten to a more comfortable, down to Earth, form such as Dan, Danny, Dano, Dan the Man, Danwhich (the act of standing between two Dans), Diz to the An O or the most unholy and repulsive form, DANIMAL--which, upon hearing, often causes aural displeasure whose equivalent can best be imagined as two oboes attempting to play in unison."

So, yeah, that pretty much sums me up.

I recently started at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights as a media relations specialist. It's going well, and I enjoy it quite a bit. Long term I'd like to be a professional intellectual who works outside of academia--perhaps as a writer, speaker, or consultant. I would settle for professional ice tea taster.

Information design, strategy games, poker, euchre, InDesign, absorbing pop culture

Books: Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, My Antonia, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Thank you for Arguing, Envisioning Information, White Noise, The Shipping News, 1984, Demian, Things Fall Apart, The Virtue of Selfishness, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, For the New Intellectual, Watchmen, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, The Puppet Masters, The Medusa and the Snail

Movies: Finding Nemo, As Good As It Gets, 300, Meet the Robinsons, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Watchmen, Gran Torino, 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Boondock Saints, The Empire Strikes Back, Spaceballs, Cloverfield, Dan in Real Life, Eulogy, South Park, Amadeus, WALL-E, Monty Python & The Holy Grail

TV: House, LOST, South Park, Dorm Life, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Castle

Music: New York Voices, Queen, Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet, Kurt Elling, Buddy Rich, Lambert-Hendricks-&-Ross, Santana, Manhattan Transfer, The Real Group, Chicago, Groove for Thought, Take 6, Chapter 6, Duwende, Groove Society, Acoustix, Diana Krall

Food: Tamales, Gyros, Lamb Burgers, Cereal, Almonds, Pears, Feta Cheese, Rice, Asparagus, Buffalo Wings

1. Self-esteem
2. My best(est) friends
3. A job
4. Philosophy
5. My loving family
6. Oxygen?

Politics, philosophy (ethics and epistemology mainly), women, new media, the future

At this point in my life, looking for something to do. Having just moved here, I know very little about the DC area. I also know upwards of five people.

I don't mind exploring on my own, staying home to watch a movie, or staying up late to read, but I also wouldn't mind: going on unplanned road trips, seeing a (good) movie, attending a concert or a play, learning to swing dance, talking for hours about the pointless and the profound, or just hanging out and playing a board game.

I have my private life, but generally speaking I'm a very open person. thttp://newmanmu.blogspot.com

...you're looking for someone to carry on a deep philosophical conversation or chat about pop culture, plan a day trip to a DC museum or take a random road trip through Virginia, check out an independent film or watch LOST.

You should message me if it's in your rational self-interest to do so.