Interests
Stuff that didn't get its own page. :(
I like walking up the San Gabriel mountains after dinner every now and then. About 20 miles from Caltech to the first good lookout and back, so give me a yell if you're in town and would like to see LA at night. During Autumn/Fall it's sometimes clear enough to see the ocean and maybe even Catalina island.
I'm part of the Caltech Alpine Club, with whom I sometimes go rock or mountain climbing. They're a great bunch of people and it's always a blast sneaking away from the mothership for a weekend of nature and adventure.
I'm an early adopter of Couch Surfing, with which I've had dozens upon dozens of awesome experiences all around the world. No, it's not especially risky. Safer than driving and much more fun!
I'm very enthusiastic about space exploration. Recent blogs on the topic.
I like taking interesting photos with my newnearly dead Olympus XZ-1, mostly consisting of panoramas and time lapses. My old camera, a Canon Powershot A530 did excellent service over 4 years, 25000 photos, 3 circumnavigations, and a handful of unintentional swims.
I'm hugely into the ongoing energy transition. Here's a recent blog about it.
Literature has been largely overlooked on this page. Here's some reviews of books I've read in the last few years. I've read most of the ancient epics, including much of the Aeneid in the original Latin. I've enjoyed Lattimore's translations of The Iliad and Odyssey - they're my personal preference. I visited Cephalonia in the northern summer of 2011, because I think there is a better than even chance that it is Homeric Ithaca.