Here's a lot more random stuff about me.... Ehm, the beginning is pretty much my online dating profile. ;-)

Little things that make me happy include bad puns, bread knives that look like bread, snow, avocados and things lined up in parallel (better yet- BIG things lined up in parallel). I play squash, and I've done some indoor rock climbing. But, look, if you knew me through college you would be as amused as I am that I posess a gym bag.

I also like old maps, Jon Stewart, and the em-dash.

I used to think I was a scientist. I loved science fairs and competitions as a kid, and seeing how elegant math explained the world. Then I got into my head (ooops, no pun intended) that I wanted to be a forensic psychologist and so I end up majoring in psychology. Except, working for the FBI as a profiler sounded dangerous. One thing leads to another and off I go to grad school for linguistics, whereupon I learn that no, I'm really an engineer. All this time I should have been building things (not physical things so much as software, see below). Except, here's the thing, since I was nine I've wanted to be a newspaper publisher. I know, bad timing now, right? S'ok. I'm already scheming. You'll be getting your news from me in a few years.

Unrelatedly, I've always been a little troubled by the fact that I exist. Sometimes when I think about it too much I actually feel a bit of surprise when I realize again that, in fact, I am here. How is it that we have (or think we have) a unified existence (that is, I am just one conscious being) out of the network of neurons in our brain with no obvious centralization? Why are some brain states related to conscious experience while others are not?

I enjoy the music and have stellar headphones. My favorite bands include BNL, Fastball, 3EB, Vertical Horizon, Green Day... I also like Avril Lavigne (yes, I have a pink CD) and Eminem (yes, I like hip hop, but who the hell is Slim Shady??).

One of my college roomates introduced me and the rest of our group to the commedian Eddie Izzard. He's fantastic. This is my favorite clip of his. One of my favorite clips of all time is Steven Colbert explaining Cingular's purchase of AT&T. Unfortunately Viacom made YouTube pull the clip and I haven't found it again. After that there is A Bit of Fry and Laurie: Tricky Linguistics and also Mystery by a much older Laurie, star of the TV show House, which I am a big fan of. Especially when you can hear his British accent sneak through.

Computer models of the World Trade Center made by NIST that I got by sending a FOIA request.