About Guy

Happiness is like awesomeness: something you do deliberately. I like to fill my life with similar-minded folks who choose to walk on the sunnier side of the street.

What I Like

- hosting people in my home for the next two items
- playing geeky games: board, card, RPG (DnD), Xbox, etc
- watching TV/movies on my home theater system
- making things that are both beautiful and have purpose
- getting out and exploring this amazing city and the bay area
- challenging excuses/rationalizations for not being happy
- trying new things

I am just as happy curling up on the sofa to watch tv or movies as I am exploring the city or going out for dinner or drinks with friends. I tend to prefer a good balance of introverted and extroverted activities in my weekly life.

Where I Work

I do User Experience Design for a living. For those not familiar with this line of work, think of me as the architect who draws up the blueprints for a house. I don't build it, and I don' do the interior design, but the blueprint I draw is the foundation that everyone else works from. Most of my recent work has been for advertising companies where I oversee website design and occasionally get to excercise my skills in software or print design as well. I've been doing this for 15-20ish years, and I've been happily freelancing (by choice) for the last 3ish years. See my professional site (or LinkedIn) for more details.

Where I Live

...in San Francisco, CA, in the micro-neighborhood of Mint Hill on the borderlines of Lower Haight, Castro, and a few other neighborhoods. I love living in SF. I've never lived in the middle of a city and community like this before, and it's amazing! I can get just about anything I need by walking a few short blocks. ...and I cannot even begin to describe the experience of living in San Francisco adequately.

It's the most beautiful and open-minded city I've ever experienced. The really difficult part to describe is the "weight of assumptions" that was lifted off my shoulders when I moved here from Texas in 2000. In TX everyone assumed you were straight, and you may not think this is a big deal. Indeed, neither did I (especially when trying to justify why I didn't want to unhinge my entire life by moving) until it was suddenly no longer an issue. ...until I no longer had to inwardly cringe and wonder how each person was going to react when they realized I am <insert gasp here> gay. I was shocked and dismayed when I moved here to discover that being gay is just another facet of me and no more significant than the color of my hair or eyes. Of course, the flip side of all this is that I constantly try to remind myself that I live in a bubble and that the rest of our nation and the world is not as accepting and understanding of diversity. We all need to work to change that.

Given a choice, I cannot imagine living anywhere else within the United States in this lifetime.