Coffee Culture, Leipzig Germany, Feburary 2006

Photo by C. McTague

Official job or profession: physicist or hack mathematician.

Other activities that I might wish were my professions: musician, climber, photographer.

Various hobbies: fishing, canoeing, cooking, and soccer (fusball, football, futball).

I have a pet or two, although I don't live with either, and one isn't really mine. Anyway, my pets are Indiana my iguana who has been my faithful friend since 1998, and my mother and step-father have a wonderful poodle Chelsa.

I have called several places home over the last few years. Not too many that I don't have a connection to anywhere, but enough (diverse) places that my life has been interesting. Anyway, the current list of places is: Madison Wisconsin, USA (where I was born and raised; where I lived until I was 29 and were my family resides); Santa Fe New Mexico, USA (where I lived on and off for 4 years (26-30); Davis California, USA (where I lived right after I got my PhD, where my brother (and TC) live, and where I will live at least some time in my future); Leipzig (Saxony), Germany (where I spent my 30th and 31st years working at the MPI-MIS); finally, I have spent a lot of time in Chicago over the years, during my undergrad I was there every 2-3 weeks for a few days.

Folks who have had a big impact on my thinking and life: Albert Einstein, Henri Poincare, Clarance Darrow,Miles Davis, Steven Biko, Thich Naht Hanh, Alex Lowe, Oswald Avery, David Hume, Friz Freleng, and good old Abe Lincoln.

Idols (non-professional) I've been lucky enough to hang out with: Max Roach, Tony Williams, Desmond Tutu.

Other people's words that are very important to me.

I absolutely love coffee; in particular, espresso and Turkish coffee. For me, (and some of my very close friends), drinking coffee is a true ritual. Of course, living in Europe only strengthened this trend. (They sometimes say that a mathematician is a machine that turns paper and coffee into theorems; I don't prove many theorems, but I certainly drink a lot of coffee.)

I have been known to occasionally enjoy a bit of whiskey (one of my favorite traditional home remedies), and Scotch in particular. Usually such fine substances are enjoyed in the presence of my Dad and other close friends.

I of course like other assorted spirits, but truth be told, I don't drink them very often.

I am a comic book dork as my brother likes to say, but I am not a very good one. Also, Bugs Bunny is my hero.

I can be obsessed with baseball at times, especially in October.

I have been associated with rides (vehicles) with a fair amount of character...

I am a bit of a movie fan.

I am in love with books.

And, finally, I have dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysnomia, dyscalculia, and an attention deficit disorder.

Just for fun, here is a list of very odd assortment of facts I have accumulated accidentally, and a collection of very weird and wild bits of madness I have stumbled across or have had been introduced to via some of my more insane friends.