I’m a creative professional at work and creatively adventurous with family, friends, and when I’m just plain creating in an energizing and unstructured environment. When it comes to vacations and time with friends and family, I prefer a rough plan that has plenty of opportunity for living in the moment and following life wherever the adventure leads. I have a flexible and relaxed attitude towards life. I’m both independent and collaborative and I have a strong sense of self, ethics, and purpose in life. I take calculated risks while applying the Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared.” I prefer a balanced mix of social and solitary time. I improvise/compose on the piano and I’m learning the acoustic guitar, finger picking style. I’m generally a happy person and I bounce back quickly from adversity. My wide circle of friends and several close friends are very much a part of me and I’ll often make time for them. I pursue life with a sense of curiosity, exploration, adventure, passion, and fun. I have numerous hobbies, am a very capable cook, can fix nearly anything electrical or mechanical including my son’s cracked iPad. I consume information and readily share it depending on the situation and need. I also enjoy the arts, theater, fiction and non-fiction books, and experiencing the lively ecological wonderland that we call the PacificNW and I call home.
I have three kids and the empty-nest situation is occurring, with my daughter already at WWU, my oldest son about to join her there in the autumn, and my youngest set to be a high school sophomore, and happy band-geek. I enjoy kids and the pell-mell artistic chaos that occurs every other week as hordes of my kids’ friends descend on my house to play board games, roll-playing, and watch the latest viral YouTube videos and anime series.

I'm a Software Development Manager at a very well known medical software company. I help others succeed by coaching, mentoring, inspiring, and leading by example. Although aspects of my job are highly technical, it is the human part of my job that I enjoy the most.
Outside of work, I'm a dedicated and fun father of three brilliant, playful, and very affectionate kids: boys ages 14 (high school freshman Pre-IB program), 16 (high school senior IB program), and daughter 18 (Western Washington University freshman). I really enjoy kids and I'm pondering what I'll be doing with all my free time when my youngest goes off to college.
I'm learning the acoustic guitar, composing on the piano, writing a sci-fi book (that has an emphasis on compelling characters rather than technology), learning Spanish (Berlitz and a Subliminal software program), and enjoying everything that Portland and the beautiful Pacific NW has to offer.

understanding other people that are quite different from myself. I'm able to change my perspective throughout the day depending on the situation. I can be an excellent technical problem solver, highly organized and exceptionally analytical, which is essential in my job. I can also be highly intuitive, creative, artistic, and collaborative, which helps me to help my friends, family, and coworkers. I'm also really good at seeing the bright side of things, regardless of the situation. Maybe this is why I enjoy improv comedy, because the rule is that you can never say no even if it leads to a potentially dire situation...an optimistic attitude coupled with creativity can always result in warm laughter.

I'm friendly, high-energy, relaxed, and happy.

Books: Bartimaeus Trilogy, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Freakonomics, Guns Germs & Steel, Perseus Jackson & the Olympiads, Harry Potter, Catch-22.
Movies: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Wall-E, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Princess Bride, While you were Sleeping, Good Will Hunting, Monsters Inc., Its a Wonderful Life, The Matrix, Casablanca, Groundhog Day.
Music: Everything except acid rock, really squeaky jazz, and tuneless rap.
Food: Thai, Sushi, Italian, Mexican. Although mostly I eat an omnivorous Mediterranean diet.

(1) My kids
(2) Friends
(3) A wonderfully alive planet
(4) Musical instrument
(5) Something to write with
(6) Communications technology to stay in touch with others

(1) How to help people help themselves, whether it is through technological means (like my work) or being the best friend possible to those that I love.
(2) New musical or fiction book ideas (this structured list format for this profile makes me laugh because some might think I'm entirely a linear thinker when in fact I'm quite artistic and creative).
(3) Interplay of science and society. How does the urban form of a city affect the way we interact? How do new types of devices change how we form social groups and connections? How does all of this help to foster creativity towards solving the world's problems?
(4) How can I help my 8 year old nephew succeed at Farmville and Spore? (Life can't always be taken seriously)

Out with friends....Or out with a special someone if I'm in a relationship...which I'm not currently in at the moment.

I read somewhere that you shouldn't write something that is published on the Internet unless you wouldn't mind seeing it in a newspaper. Well, years ago, I worked at the Daily Texan newspaper (circulation 50,000/day) and I wrote some pretty amusing editorial articles. The most notable was one in response to an article that ran in the previous week's paper about Kim Bassinger. Someone had taken her picture (in a bathing suit) and put a dotted line around it and had the words "clip and save" causing a huge uproar on campus. So in an effort to realize a bit of equality, I wrote an article that called on the Editor to get a photo of him taken with his first cup of coffee for the day in hand. I have no idea if he was a turn-on for the women readers, but I must say that once his photo ran, complete with a clip-and-save dotted line with his apology below it, the sense of "balance" on campus was restored.

Vancouver Clause: Please read!!! :-)
* If you have kids, you either need to live in Vancouver/Clark County area or you should be accepting of my kid-reality that will keep me living in Vancouver for the next 3 years. (although I'm happy to drive anywhere in the Portland area on a frequent basis to see a good friend or someone special.)
* If you don't have kids, you need to be OK with the fact that I live in Vancouver.
I love Portland, especially SE and NE Portland, I used to live in Tualatin, and I work in NW Portland, so it may be in the cards if I find that special someone.
* You are employed full-time and are at least satisfied in your job.
* You are educated and enjoy learning.
* You have an upbeat, positive outlook on life.
* You're a non-smoker.
* You have at least a couple close friends in the area.
* You're not planning on moving across the country or to a different country during the next decade.