Michael

About me:

I am a fourth-year graduate student at OSU, where I study automorphic forms with my advisor Jim Cogdell; I am a mathematician for aesthetic reasons, because I know that, like poets and musicians, mathematicians are makers of patterns.

I am, when time permits, a writer of fiction, a poet, a designer of games.

I am an ELCA Lutheran, and I also study Buddhism, finding Christian faith and Buddhist practice a natural, healthy, and spiritually fulfilling complementation.

I am enamored with Munchkin, Killer Bunnies, Cosmic Encounter, and Robo Rally, and I think that the minds behind Kingdom of Loathing are some of the cleverest people on the Internet.

I feel more comfortable with cards in my hand, and play a solitaire version of the Blank Card Game with an unsettling compulsion.

I am partially wolf...oddly furry, stronger and smarter when the moon is full, and allergic to belladonna.

I am owner and caretaker of two adorable cats, Chloë (calico) and Tori (tortoise-shell), who have inherited my addiction to NPR; I am housemate to Analysis "Annie" Latte, a feral mad-scientist bunny rabbit who lives in my basement and secretly plots against me.

I am a lover of language, words and wordplay, witty repartee and belles lettres; I am a speaker of English, Portuguese, and Spanish, a reader of French and Russian. I believe that Garrison Keillor's voice is what God should sound like, and that Sarah Vowell's voice is sexy.

I am half of MOE, an NTN trivia force to be reckoned with on Tuesday nights at the local bw-3.

I find jigsaw puzzles a Zen experience, and my lifetime goal is to do one of those 18000 piecers from Ravensburger...maybe when I'm tenured.

I am addicted to learning things and acquiring skills; in free time that, in retrospect, I may or may not have had, I have in recent years learned, among other things: an Irish drinking song repertoire, the soprano and tenor recorders, tin- and pennywhistles, hypnosis, advanced smoothiecrafting, and how to make mouthwatering chai on the stove, in a saucepan.

Also, I have a blog (which I don't update often enough, but I'm working on that) on Livejournal, where my user name is also "tweedcap". Oh, and I wear a tweed cap. Did you figure that out?