I'm passionate about the things I love (or hate), but
generally reserved about myself. I've already tried that
"reserved" thing here, but it seems not to work too well, so
I'll try something different this time around. So please
forgive me for being less humble and more verbose than I
normally am.

I'm considered very smart, even in a profession that
attracts very smart people. What that has taught me is that,
no matter how much I learn, I still know only the tiniest
fraction of what there is to be learned.

I'm athletic and very fit, but I'm not a gym rat. I'd rather
be out doing something fun than being indoors
"exercising". But seriously, it's too late for me to be a
world champion at anything, so I do this for my own pleasure
and to enjoy the company of other enthusiasts.

I'm generally fun to be around, and have a quick sense of
humor.

I read widely: fiction, science (and even science fiction),
history. I love movies, from art house films to indie
documentaries to grade 'B' horror movies.

I love food, from "haute cuisine" to comfort food. When I am
not eating out, I'm cooking. I love wine, from great old
Bordeaux to plain red plonk.

I listen to all kinds of music. Well, except for country.

I love art and architecture, and collect works by local
contemporary artists to the extent that my finances allow.

I've traveled widely all over the US, Canada, Europe, Japan
and China.

I like women who have the same general philosophy as me:
intelligent, accomplished, athletic, independent, confident
without being too arrogant, open-minded. I like women
who don't need anything from me, but like my company anyway,
and don't mind being treated like a "princess" from time to
time. Age is not too important: from 5-7 years younger to a
few years older is fine, but what really matters is the
extent to which someone has lived their life consciously,
deliberately and artfully. Don't judge me too harshly if I
admit that I am more likely to be attracted to women who are
slender (but not scrawny); but it has to be said, that there
is more than one kind of beauty, and variety is very much
the spice of life. "Cuteness" often wins out over sheer
ravishing good looks, in my book.

I don't think it's a failure to meet someone nice just a few
times, to enjoy a few meals or cups of coffee and a nice
time, and then part ways.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so even when I do things for
my own pleasure, I am always trying to do them a little
better than the last time. Each time I cook, I ask myself,
what could I do better next time? Each time I ski, I
carefully try to figure out how I can make each turn a bit
prettier or take a straighter line through the moguls. Every
time I go out windsurfing, I try to get the jumps a bit
higher, or get a bit more spray from a top turn off
of a wave.

I'm always on the lookout for something new, but I don't
turn my nose up at things that are old. Emerson once said
something to the effect that, if you want to see something
new, walk the same way every day; he was right about that,
both figuratively and literally.

Cooking for my friends. And I don't mean "I make really
good such-and-so". What I mean is more like, angels weep
with joy when they eat my food. Yeah, I know that sounds
like bragging, but it really is true.

Mixing old-school drinks.

Skiing in the woods or down steep bumpy trails.

Windsurfing in the waves.

Hacking. OK, I'm seriously good at this, too. I'm especially
good at taking something complicated and figuring out how to
make it simple.

I'm not nearly as good at playing guitar, learning foreign
languages, or playing hockey. But I plug ahead at all of
these for my own pleasure.

People notice that I dress very well for someone who is a
professional geek.

People notice that they have guessed my age wrong, usually
thinking I am 5 to 10 years younger than I actually am. This
is not always such a good thing...

Well, I read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, listen
to a lot of music, and eat lots of delicious food. It's
probably best to list some old favorites and recent
highlights. And why not add some TV shows, and art
and architecture for good measure?

BOOKS. The Long Firm. Light in August. The Book of
Illusions. Anything by William Faulkner or Iain Banks. Guns,
Germs and Steel. On Food and Cooking. The Regeneration
Trilogy. Soon I Will Be Invincible. Haruki Murakami. Jake
Arnott. Paul Auster. Brunelleschi's Dome. The Perfect Heresy.
A Clockwork Orange. I am fed up to death with young
authors who cannot manage to write a good novel in under
450 pages. I've paid my dues and read lots of fat novels,
but really, doesn't anyone use an editor any more?

MOVIES. Kurosawa, Kieslowski, and Cronenburg. The
Seven Samurai. Blue; White; Red. Dead Ringers; A History of
Violence. Kung Fu Hustle. The Limey. The Silence of the
Lambs. Snatch. Indie documentaries. Chinatown. Film noir.
I really liked The International. Same thing here, though.
Why must we sit through 140 minutes of a pretty good film,
when cutting 30 minutes would have given us 110 minutes of
real pleasure? Please, get an editor.

TELEVISION. Fawlty Towers. The Office. Lost. House.

MUSIC. Indie rock, jazz, and blues. Gang of Four. LCD
Soundsystem. Pavement. Sonic Youth. Joy Division. Thelonious
Monk. Charlie Parker. Albert King. Muddy Waters. Osvaldo
Golijov. Sylvius Leopold Weiss. Deerhoof. The Books. 1960s
psychedelia and garage rock.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE. Ste. Chapelle. King's College
Chapel. Terminal 4 at the Madrid Airport. The London Science
Museum. The Pantheon. Bernard Maybeck. Rembrandt.
Edward Hopper. John Singer Sargent. Francis Bacon.
Gerhard Richter.

FOOD. French food. Italian food. Chinese food.
Mexican food. Indian food. Home cooking. Anything that's
made with care from fresh ingredients. Except if the
ingredients includes beets.

Good food, especially good bread and cheese, olive oil, and
red wine.

My kitchen tools, especially my Japanese chef's knives.

The tools of my other trades: my laptop, my wave boards, my
fat skis, and my Gibson ES-335.

Good conversations.

A sense of humor.

The number six.

The sorry state of the environment, and the poor economic
models that cause us to treat the earth as though it's
having a giant fire sale.

How to improve on the last thing I cooked.

How to make that last turn prettier, whether it be on skis
or on a windsurfing board.

Maybe I'm relaxing at home; I could be playing my guitar, or
watching some junk TV, or having a drink, or (most likely)
all three. Maybe I'm out at dinner with friends. Or perhaps
I'm driving north to go skiing for the weekend. Or driving
to the Cape to go windsurfing for the weekend.

Sorry. I'm saving that for those conversations I enjoy so much.

First off, don't message me if you voted for George W Bush
or John McCain. We don't live in the same universe. That's a
deal-breaker.

If you use lots of text speak, or have poor spelling or
grammar, that's a hole you will have to climb out of. Call
me a snob if you like, but those just make a poor impression
on me.

You should message me if you are interested; I don't so much
mean interested in me, I mean interested in
everything.

Did I mention I like coffee? And food? Message me if you
want to have coffee or lunch with someone new, who is also
interested in just about everything. If we have a nice
conversation and nothing else ever happens, that counts as
time well spent.

You could message me if you want to meet up for some surfing
or windsurfing; or some skiing. Those seasons overlap for
me, so looking for a windsurfing partner in December or
March is just fine; January and February... well, the water
is too hard, even for me.

If you're in your (late) 20s or (early) 30s and think I
sound cool except that I am "too old", don't worry: I
probably think you're "too young". But don't let that stop
you. See "interested" and "nice conversation" above; no
committment is asked or expected.