Hi, I'm glad you stopped by!

First, allow me a couple of quotes that express my thoughts on all this much better than I could on my own:

"...the highest mental health is not liking myself but being joyfully interested in everything but myself." - John Piper

"You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words:... Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling ... of that something which you were born desiring?" -C.S. Lewis

"Friendship arises. .. when two .... discover that they have in common some insight or interest.... As Emerson said, Do you love me? means Do you see the same truth? - or, at least, Do you care about the same truth? The man who agrees with us that some question, little regarded by others, is of great importance can be our Friend.... That is why those pathetic people who simply "want friends" can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. Where the truthful answer to the question "Do you see the same truth?" would be "I don't care about the truth - I only want [you to be my] friend", no friendship can arise. Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers." - also C.S. Lewis.

I have a wonderful life as a single person, but I think life would be even better if I were to find a best friend who could become a spouse. And - as the quotes above probably gave away - I seek a high degree of resonance out of any contacts that I may make here. Certainly not 100% similarity or agreement (how boring would that be?), but that thing that clicks when a profile is read or a person is met; saying "Ah! You see the world as I do!"

Here's what you might like to know about me:
I'm serious, silly, and even seriously silly sometimes.
I'm well-educated, well-employed, and generally happiest when I'm a well doer.
Definitely an intellectual.
Kind of a foodie.
A decent cook - especially if I don't have to follow a recipe
I'm a Christian, and my faith is really important to me. That said, I'm only a goody one-shoe and come with a healthy dose of snark and sarcasm.
I love kayaking and inline skating.
Conversations that evolve across wildly disparate subjects make me happy.
I have strong opinions on what makes for a good pen.
I'm always up for an adventure.
I love puns, and irony even more.
My Myers-Briggs type is ENFP.
I appreciate well-designed objects (houses, coffee cups, you name it...) as pieces of art.
I believe investing in people can lead to some of the greatest returns in life.
I've been to 35 states and 16 countries, and look forward to making those numbers climb right on up.
One of my most favorite places on earth is Edisto Island in the springtime.
There are very few occasions where it is appropriate to start that many sentences with "I". This happens to be one of them, but rest assured this is not my typical speech pattern. Indeed, I look forward to hearing your story.

I have a great job with a big "corporate America" company, communicating about software. But while I work hard, it doesn't define me. I prefer to think about volunteering, reading, assisting at my church, spending time with my friends and creative pursuits when I think about "what I do with my life".

Also, I've been bought with a price - that of Christ's blood - and my life is not my own. I do - as best I can - what I believe God would have me be doing. And only by His help and grace does that ever happen.

Making my own Halloween costumes. Thinking I can read all the books in the world. Inline skating. Social media. Coordinating things. Losing my keys. Random trivia (the more random, the better). English grammar. Finding Waldo. Knowing just a little about an awful lot of things. Deciding various things need to be invented, whether or not they already exist , or whether or not they're just wishful thinking(e.g., libraries, pizza delivery, self-mowing lawns). Reciting the first half of the Gettysburg address.

Movies:
* Shawshank Redemption (I know, that answer is positively cliche. And yet, still so true)
* Love Actually
* Fight Club
* Being John Malkovich
* Rudy
* Slumdog Millionaire
* The Goonies
* The Princess Bride
* Guy Ritchie flicks

Authors of books that I love:
Roald Dahl
A. A. Milne
Pat Conroy
Phillip Yancey
Tim Keller
Deitrich Bonhoeffer
Anne Lamott
David Platt
Robert Jordan
Neil Gaiman

TV:
House
Chuck
Lie To Me
Fringe
Doc Martin
Wallace and Gromit
Good Eats
Suits

Food:
Yes. Love it. Especially:
Italian
Thai
Vietnamese
Japanese
Greek / Mediterranean
Home Cooking
Pie

Jesus
Family/Friends
New information
Adventures
Being outside
Creative outlets

Everything. No, really. I love thinking about all sorts of things, and how they work.

Science
Theology
How people work/psychology
Where to find the perfect pumpkin beer
Whether or not I can snooze for 7 more minutes
Road trip possibilities
How I don't think any language actually follows its own rules 100% of the time. Every last one is a "well, you sorta had to be there" inside joke. Yet, they're fascinating.
What the next steps in life might be. I have a suspicion that I'll move out of "corporate America" eventually.

Assuming my second identity and leaping tall buildings in a single bound to save the world from an evil monster who 'fesses up to his devious plan right before I best him.

I am not fond of cooked carrots.

We're at least a 75% match, and no more than 20% "enemy".
You have an active, faithful, obedient (even if not perfect) relationship with Jesus (the best adventures in life lie here, after all).
You have a touch of the zany.
You can articulate the points where you sense a resonance between us.

(For what it's worth, I often find this resonance I seek in those who work in the engineering, architecture, IT, design, ministry and/or web-related fields - or who at least enjoy them, even if they're a barista or janitor by profession. That's not to say that you must be in one of those fields, but it bears mentioning, and it didn't come up in any of the other questions.)

Extra points for proving you've read all the way to the bottom of this profile by mentioning one or more of the following words in your message: xylophone, gestalt, teacup, gusto, smudge.
:)