Hi there, I'm Randy Karels. I live in lovely Santa Barbara, California, and am about to get married.

Nice to meet you.

I admire good parents and pastry chefs and those that can backup semi’s with long trailers. I like sharp knives, patches of sunlight on walls, worn stone steps, and my binder clip wallet.

I find cynicism boring.

I try to avoid business-speak, stress, and stepping in puddles when I’m wearing socks. Luckily, all three have never happened at the same time.

For work, I'm a freelance data analyst and web designer. I've been doing it for about seven years, which makes it my longest career to date. It feels good to push the plow, and I feel lucky that I've been able to dodge the global financial meltdown so far. Others have not been so lucky.

I take photos because I can't paint. The only downside of photography is much of it involves sitting at a computer. And I get enough of that during the day. If I had the space, I think I would make doors. Big, heavy wooden doors. Doors that have a presence closed, and look like they've been there forever. Built from the tree at the edge of the meadow that your grandmother climbed. You can see all the way to the river if the weather's good.

While wandering the Barnes and Noble recently, I saw two large signs above the sale racks: "Bargain Self-improvement" "Bargain Religion". I thought "very true…", and continued to the calendars. The calendar by my desk is from July 08 and shows five yellow beasted chats making a nest. They look very industrious and dedicated to the task. The parrots from the month before are just he opposite.

Western North Dakota is beautiful, and I’m glad few people vacation there. I think life is good in the city and in the country and confusing everywhere else. Especially in Super Targets when i can’t find what i’m looking for.

Music and authenticity keep me going. The album you shouldn’t miss is Toumani Diabate’s New Ancient Strings. I just turned 34, and hope to get off my ass once in a while and walk up a steep hill. Maybe I'll see you up there.