I'm kind of a strange mix: scientist/mathematician, devout coffee snob, athlete, former punk rock kid, and enthusiast of most things artisanal (food, clothing, design); too scientific for the punk scene I grew up in, too outgoing and athletic to hang with most scientists, too much of an activist to get along with athletes.

I spent my youth in Chicago, studied artificial intelligence in grad school in Boston, and lived a double life as a coffee importer and somewhat serious bicycle racer in San Francisco for a few years before finding my way here. I'm still working on making NYC feel like home, but I think I'm here to stay.

Lately: running R&D for a tech startup that I legitimately think just might change the world (or a small corner of it, at least), spending my spare time working with a Bay Area coffee importing company I helped found, contemplating whether I'm officially a grownup, giving in on the previous question and expending far too much effort searching for the perfect rug for my living room (edit: gave in, acquired perfect rug).

Always: cooking Thai food at 2am, doing artificial intelligence/math research, drinking great coffee, eating and cooking with friends, cycling/lifting/climbing, wishing that dog I just saw were mine, reading fiction, trying to appreciate the world around me.

Telling stories. Getting excited. Jumping very high. Understanding formal systems. Picking up heavy things. Making dinners wherein everything is somehow done at exactly the right time. Giving presents. Sleeping through alarm clocks. Going fast. Relating whatever is happening to an episode of This American Life.

I'm also, stated as humbly as possible, the best fucking kisser you've ever met.

If I'm on a bike: holy fuck my legs are big.

If not: High cheekbones, interestingly-colored eyes, excellent taste in shoes and sweaters, that I'm drinking coffee at 8pm.

Or, at least, these are things that I notice about myself and think you might appreciate about me.

Rushdie. Atwood. Grass. Allende. Saramago. Bulgakov. Nabokov. Le Guin. Cortázar. Saunders. Borges. I like books where, at the end, I feel like I've gotten someone's whole life shoved into my head in a matter of hours.

The King of Kong. Everything by Errol Morris, Almodóvar, and the Coen Brothers. Basically, I like film, but I don't know enough about it to like anything other than the same films that every other overeducated, kinda-hip, city-dwelling person in the world likes.

I don't watch enough TV to have interesting opinions, but I probably like the same shows as you: Breaking Bad, Peep Show, Parks and Recreation, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire.

Anything made with enough heart or enough skill. From Monuments to Masses. Nausea. Tom Waits. Songs: Ohia. The Weakerthans. Tim Barry. Sam Cooke. Tragedy. The Evens. Cheesy metal and live classical. And R. Kelly.

Avocados. Blood oranges. Smoked salt. Arepas. Falafel. Arugula. Fennel. Meyer lemons. Figs. Beets. Good dark chocolate. Sparkling water. When I lived in the Bay Area, I once stopped for vegan pizza on the way home from eating at the French Laundry — I feel like this sums me up pretty well. If you don't get pretty damn excited about food, we probably won't get along.

I'll make it five non-material things that are important to me, instead: new things to learn, physical contact, close friends, delicious things, physical activity.

Machine learning on timeseries data, the future of the publishing/media industry, bespoke clothing, what I'm going to eat for dinner, how to be a good person, my closest friends, whether I have time to adopt a dog.

As a child, on separate occasions I was attacked by a baby goat, a flock of geese, a turkey, and my family dog.

You've got a healthy mix of heart, raw intelligence, and style.

You like to dress up and go on dates. Alternatively, you like to stay in bed and read books.

You'd like to share stories over fancy coffee or cocktails, go bouldering, plan a dinner party, or drag me to shows.

You're exceptional at something, and you'd like to share.