The rest of the profile should give people an idea of what I'm like, so I don't feel that this bit really needs to be too lengthy and out-of-control. And believe me, anyplace you can get away with reading LESS from me is a good thing; I'm a notoriously verbose person.

I live on Indy's northwest side in a small apartment that's perpetually filled with empty Amazon boxes for some reason. The neighborhood is kind of crummy, but the rent is cheap. I'm an amateur historian, a rabid civil libertarian, a self-identified apostate, a consumer of fine science fiction, a lover of whiskies and a computer nerd. I use the last of these to make just enough money to keep me well-supplied with bourbon, new computer parts and 20-sided dice.

After working in the public sector for more than a decade, I spent some time doing independent IT contract work. Now I'm working at a software company in Indianapolis. It's not what I want to do forever, but the environment at the company is really great and I'm enjoying it for now.

When not doing vague, boring software-type things, I spend a great deal of time with my family. I have seven nephews and nieces, three of which live quite close to me--so a lot of my energy goes into being a tertiary caregiver for them.

When I get time to relax, I enjoy a good mix of "me" time as well as spending time with my friends.

When by myself, I like to read a pretty even amount of both fiction and non-fiction. As a self-identifying nerd, my fiction dance card is mostly filled with science fiction, fantasy and what H.P. Lovecraft called "weird fiction." As both a political junkie and a history buff, my non-fiction preferences trend toward those topics--especially general military history and a few select periods (Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, the Enlightenment, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, World War I & World War II, etc.). When the weather cooperates (read: isn't boiling hot), I like to pop in my earbuds and take a walk around my neighborhood. I do play the occasional computer game, although this tends to be less of my entertainment time than it was in my youth. I like to draw and write sometimes (pencil sketches and bad sci-fi short stories, mostly). I also talk to myself--kind of a lot, actually. If someone were to put a listening device in my apartment for 24 hours, they'd probably catch some pretty interesting self-conversations.

When with my pals, I like to sing karaoke at my favorite dive bar, go camping, hit the shooting range, play cards (euchre especially; it seems to be an Indiana staple), play good ol' fashioned pencil-and-paper roleplaying games, attend the occasional local concert (my younger brother plays in an excellent local punk band) and mostly just have hours-long conversations (sometimes fueled by cocktails, sometimes not). Topics of conversation may or may not include: Politics, religion, history, what we'd do with a million dollars, what we should name the hypothetical bar we might one day own together, and whether or not we would have made good Vikings.

I've been told that I'm a gifted conversationalist, and given how much I like to talk I hope that's true. I'm also reasonably good at both problem-solving and reading people (i.e. their intentions and overall nature). I'm also your go-to guy if the Final Jeopardy category is "Star Trek" (I'm an unabashed Trekkie) or "World War II".

I'm a large fellow with a (usually) gregarious nature, so I'm not exactly hard to pick out in a room. As to what people notice first? I honestly couldn't say. Probably my loud mouth :P

Books:
As I mentioned above, with fiction I tend to gravitate toward science fiction, fantasy and "weird fiction" (that kind of odd intersection of sci-fi and horror). My favorite authors include Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, George R.R. Martin, H.P. Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kurt Vonnegut, etc.

My non-fiction tastes tend to be history or political philosophy.

Top five books:
1) 'Ender's Game' (Card)
2) 'The Moon Is a Marsh Mistress' (Heinlein)
3) 'The Age of Reason' (Paine)
4) 'The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich' (Shirer)
5) 'The Lord of the Rings' (Tolkien)

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Movies:
I tend to like typical "guy" movies (action films and comedies), but I also love big epics when they're done well, historical dramas, and of course being a nerd I love science fiction films.

Top five movies:
1) 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'
2) 'Patton'
3) 'Ravenous'
4) 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley'
5) 'The Return of the Jedi'

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Television:
I probably watch more TV than I really should. The Internet and my DVR just make it too easy to watch what I want, whenever I want (for the most part). I tend to like high-quality crime dramas, period pieces, sci-fi and black comedies.

Top five TV shows:
(as of April 2013)
1) 'Archer'
2) 'Vikings'
3) 'Game of Thrones'
4) 'The Americans'
5) 'New Girl'

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Music:
I like a fairly wide range of music, and by that I mean that there are at least a handful of songs that I enjoy in almost any conceivable genre of music.

The bands that really get my attention tend to be somewhere in the hugely-varied mega-genre called "hard rock", (e.g. heavy metal, industrial, grunge, punk, etc.).

Top five bands:
1) Tool
2) Faith No More
3) Alice in Chains
4) Pop Will Eat Itself
5) Nine Inch Nails

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Top five foods:
1) scallops in almost any form
2) grilled cheese sandwiches
3) lamb vindaloo
4) cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto
5) biscuits & gravy

1) Carbohydrates
2) Fats
3) Proteins
4) Vitamins
5) Minerals
6) Water

...what I would do with super powers. Also: building an supervillain-style lair on Baffin Island.

I'm usually out with friends, enjoying frosty adult beverages and belting out some karaoke. If it's not that, then I'm probably at home with a book. Or maybe babysitting. Sometimes I get tricked into babysitting on a Friday night.

I'm willing to answer almost any question, personal or not; so feel free to ask. I can't think of anything that I just want to toss out here from the get-go, though. I saw Hootie and the Blowfish in concert in 1996...and liked it. There. I guess that's pretty embarrassing :P

To be honest, I'm just always looking for interesting people with whom to converse. If I happen to get a date or two through OKC, more's the better. Really though, I'm a bored nerd in search of good conversation. If you see anything in my profile that makes you think you might like to have a conversation with me, go ahead and shoot me a message.

Also in the interest of honesty though, I should say that I have little patience for the willfully ignorant, the overtly religious or the socially disengaged. I don't demand that everyone in my life be a radical firebrand, but if you simply don't have opinions and don't seem to care about things outside of your immediate sphere of experience, we probably won't have much to talk about.