ABOUT ME

I love conversation, new experiences, culture, non-rodent mammals, deciduous trees and scenic mountain views.

I play well with others.

My great ambition in life--which I will never realize--is to write a novel about a global war between different factions of anthropomorphic animals (elephants, dolphins, gnats, you name it). It would be amazing. Somewhere in an alternate universe there are a million monkeys on a million typewriters collectively stealing my thunder.

PHILOSOPHY

The greatest things in the world are:
1) Becoming friends with smart, interesting, friendly people.
2) Playing with animals
3) Experiencing beauty.
4) Solving intellectually hard problems.

A life well-lived is one that lets me do all four of the above as much as possible. Work lets me do #4 and some of #1. Life outside of work (including travel) is about maximizing 1-3.

Interests

Walking, talking, meeting people

• animals
• arts
• culture
• books
• beauty
• walking
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• business

Music, Movies, and Books

This would take forever (I really like arts & letters), but a representative sample

Movies:
Lord of The Rings
Godfather
Big Lebowski
The Princess Bride
Grizzly Man

Books:
Alice Munro
His Dark Materials (i.e., The Golden Compass trilogy)
Murakami
Ishiguro
Anna Karenina
Earthsea stuff by Ursula Leguin
P.G. Wodehouse
Borges
Harry Potter

Music: just about anything.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've seen a lot of beautiful stuff, but nothing will ever top Victoria Falls in Zambia.

Teach, Learn, Share

Happy to talk about my life, and the types of things I like to think about--art, business, politics.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States