Personal Interests

Outdoor adventures

Staring at a screen all day isn't good for your eyes any more than sitting is.  As much as I love technology and connected devices, I also love taking time to unplug and reconnect with the Earth.  One of California's greatest blessings is the variety of different outdoor activities all within a day's drive.  My favorites include snowboarding, surfing, running, camping, hiking, and throwing frisbee with friends.  One of my fondest memories is waking up in Newport Beach, driving 2.5 hours to Big Bear Mountain, snowboarding half the day, and then driving back for an evening sunset surf: what a surreal experience!

Cooking

I started cooking a lot in my undergraduate mainly as a way to save money.  As I expanded into different styles I learned to really love the practice of experimenting with different flavors.  It's also a rather social activity: I used to host pizza nights that transitioned to themed weekly potlucks with other new graduate students when I arrived at UCI. While I frequently experiment with new dishes, I particularly enjoy refining some of my favorite American comfort food recipes.  Many of them come from my dad: his pasta sauce is superb and I've been perfecting a chili recipe inspired by many different styles I found online.  Once I've got a few nailed down I'll probably post them on a blog to share.  For now, I'll just have to tease you with some pictures:

Music

These days I mostly follow more modern electronic / jam music including Lotus, String Cheese Incident, Beats Antique, Opiuo, Big Gigantic, and Gramatik (who launched his own cryptocurrency to fund his freely-released music!).  I used to be more into metal e.g. Porcupine Tree, Tool, Mars Volta, and Apocalyptica.  I also occasionally put on more easy listening such as jazz / blues or Latin / Spanish guitar (e.g. Santana, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Paco de Lucia).