Putting my money where my mouth is, I have recently made a career change. I have been in the IT field for 12 years, but am moving on to other things. In this case I'm preparing for a master's in Social Work. In addition to being a lot of fun, being a bicycle mechanic gives me the flexibility to gain a lot of social-worky experience.

I'm a strong, loving, generous, conscientious man. I'm also wicked smart. When I'm not doing self-promotion looking for a date, which I gotta admit feels really weird, I'm modest and soft-spoken. I really don't like to put myself to the fore. I'm friendly and approachable, easy to open up to. I'm not shy with a vocabulary or with my wide variety of interests.

I'm an artist, geek, hacker, learner, bicyclist. I'm also an involved dad; and while my daughter doesn't live with me, I spend time with her every day. This makes my schedule a bit hectic, but that's the way it goes.

I'm a multi-career kinda guy: this next one'll be my, hmmmmmm, let's see, fourth? Been a musician, librarian, and a systems analyst. I'm a generalist; I play music, hack (in the good way) computers, learn languages, read literature, listen to *all kinds* of music.

I work out ~6 times a week, mostly on bike; cold-weather milage is about 125-150 miles/week. (Bonus points if you know about fixies!)

You: you're not easily intimidated by a voracious and able curiosity or the learning machine that drives it. You're independent, academically inclined, curious, artistic, a freethinker. You're also willing to work on your own problems, whatever they are; you're capable of being a healthy adult.

I love to work with and help people; In the fall of 2008 I will be going back to grad school for my Master's in Social Work, though I'm getting some PhD research ideas lined up already. I'm looking for a mate to share my life with. If you have serious baggage, that's fine. Lots of us do. I'm no stranger to anxiety, depression, or several other things I won't go into here. But I'm not interested in having fixing or saving someone being the basis of a relationship. That's your job, though I'm very supportive and understanding, and glad to help any way I can.

Here're some things that make me go:

--Performance on the edge. Franz Klammer in the '76 Olympics, John Lennon in the Beatles' Twist and Shout, Greg Lemond's final-stage time trial in the '89 Tour de France, Bjork's voice cracking at its limit. Play it out over the line then haul it back in. Beauty.

--Typography. A well-designed and set book is a thing of beauty. I'm an avid fan of TeX, ConTeXt, calligraphy, typesetting, and Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style".

--Dictionaries, languages (Russian, Spanish, German, Chinese, and a smattering of others), historical linguistics.

--Weirdness: JR 'Bob' Dobbs, The Residents, Discordianism, Laurie Anderson (ok, really, sometimes she's mainstream, but kinda weird sometimes)

--My daughter. Being a daddy is something that comes naturally to me.

Keep it simple: coffee, a walk. Someplace for comfortable conversation and scenery.

Female
Age between 21 and 45
Must not smoke