I'm a jokester. I can be serious too, though a lot of people tell me I can't be.

I may or may not add you.

I'm practical and resourceful, which can be utilized for humorous effect. If you faintly hear circus music playing extra slow on a loop you might want to search your bedroom for a hidden CD player.

I'm friendly, straightforward and honest. Some people find me blunt and intimidating. Make of that what you will.

I ride my bike a lot, if you ride on MKT/Katy or on SE Rangeline / New Haven Road you'll probably see me there. This year I had resolved to be in at least one bike race, which I did in March, the Froze Toes road race. I've signed up for another one in July, the Show Me State Games road race.

From that you've probably figured that I *do* athletic stuff rather than sit on my ass and watch other people do it. (Watching football whilst ingesting beer and wings being the prime example.)

I'm a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering. I research composite materials, and I work with nanotechnology. Technically I am polyglot, (Norwegian, English, German, Swedish, Danish) though Swedish and Danish are very similar to Norwegian so they don't really count :)

What I *do* on a day-to-day basis is to use various machines to make small pieces of material that I then break in a testing apparatus. The nanotechnology research mainly entails looking at a computer screen. If you want to know more, message me.

I'm cuddly.

LIKES:

I like people. I like cheese and red wine. I love to cook for my friends. Then there's travel and seeing new places. I like driving fast and listening to loud music, both at the same time. It would be great if there were an Autobahn in the US, so you could go 130+ mph without getting in trouble. Additionally I like: The song “I Like” by Men Without Hats, Boulevard unfiltered wheat beer (Kansas City beer), New Belgium 1554 … hanging out with friends in coffeeshops, going to restaurants, riding my mountain bike on the trail and my road bike on back country roads, feel the wind rushing through my hair and hear the blood rushing through my ears. I like going to the gym, to a reasonable degree. I'm not a gym-head.

I like discussing current events, as in what goes on in the world today, not the latest celebrity gossip. (Who cares about that anyways?)

DISLIKES (Rant ahead):

I don't like Jazz, soul, or reggae. If you these are great, that's fine, but I don't. I dislike Le Corbousier architecture. I find it inhuman. Karmann Ghias I think are the ugliest cars ever made. I detest musicals, in particular “Hair” or “Cats” or some such. If you like these things that's fine, just don't go on and on about how great it is and that I should like it. You'll only annoy me. I don't tell you what to like.

Don't be the “holier than thou” type, not matter how noble you perceive your cause to be. If you're the type that attacks the character of someone who argues with you, stay the hell away from me and any other decent person.

ABOUT YOU: (The important bit!)

If your interests are different than mine, that's not a problem. (Though if you think it is, it will be. That's self-fullfilling prophecy for you.) Compatibility is what matters. Compatibility does NOT mean agreeing on everything or having identical interests. We can be very different TYPES and still mesh. We won't know until we hang out. It'd be nice if you've been places, or at least desire to go places.

Deal breakers:

-Heavy drug use (I don't do any illicit drugs. Neither should you. And definitely no heavy drugs.)

-Excessive alcohol consumption (Getting drunk a lot)

-Unreliability

Still with me? :)

Challenge me.

What I care about is that you don't take your issues out on those around you, and that if you're not happy with where you are, that you're trying to do something about that. It's OK to try and fail, it's not okay to just sit and whine.