Getting to know me...

I am a 30 year old young professional hailing originally from Huntsville, Alabama.  I lived in Alabama until I finished high school and then joined the US Marine Corps as a machinegunner in 1999.  My four year stint with the Marines took me on two deployments to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.  My enlistment expired in the summer of 2003, so I left and returned to Alabama, where began my undergraduate education in History with a Philosophy minor.  After graduating cum laude in 2006, I moved to Austin, Texas with some friends for about 7 months before enrolling in the Security Studies graduate program at Kansas State University.  During this period I studied everything from military history and US foreign policy to terrorism and animal rights organizations.  I am currently employed by the US Dept. of Homeland Security for a 2 and a 1/2 year fellowship with the Department's Office of Policy.  I have a wide variety of personal interests such a science fiction literature, film, and television, transhumanism, existential risks, philosophy, utilitarianism, bioethics, Ayn Rand, Peter Singer, foreign travel (I've been to 21 countries), cat watching, geopolitics, TED talks, modern art and design, classical music, indie music, buddhism, coffee, beer, and deviled eggs.  I am also currently romantically involved with Jamie Gentry, a graduate student at the University of Chicago studying Latin America.  We have a lovely cat named Queso who wakes me up every day at 3:30am..who