To relax, I like a long walk or a tall beer, and conversation is a good companion to either one. When the mood is right I really enjoy dancing like a lunatic, but I don't get the chance all that often. I like to cook & appreciate food when I have the time: ask about my triple chocolate cheesecake. I like high-quality science fiction and am starting to trace some of it back to nonfiction and literature. On a related note, I spend a lot of time thinking about the following short list: Science, technology, philosophy, politics. Some examples of these: Solid state physics, new electronic devices, scale preferences of world models, ecology and social justice are also "values". The examples aren't exhaustive, though...anything is interesting from the right perspective.
I like just about everyone I meet, unless I sense some kind of negative intent, and it can take a long time for me to notice even that. It's nice when people conform in unimportant ways, but don't listen to the crowd when it comes to the big issues. I like to be around people who do something that they're proud of, especially if they're really good at what they do. I like to learn things from my friends, and to teach them things. Folks who are honest without being brutal. Oh, and unflappable people seem to do better around me: my friends say bizarre things to happen to me much more often than one would expect. Think of that engine from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, only remember that truth is stranger than fiction: if you can handle that, we'll get along just fine.
Louis Armstrong, Cake, the Aislers Set, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, U2, Bright Eyes, The Doves, Tom Waits, Credence Clearwater Revival, Weezer. Any genre if it's done well.
The Blues Brothers, Office Space, Bowling for Columbine, Memento, Coffee and Cigarettes, Snatch, Grave of the Fireflies... I'll watch most anything once. I've never fallen asleep during a movie.
I like The Daily Show, Charlie Rose, The Simpsons, NOVA, Samurai Jack, Letterman, and yelling unfair and unbalanced criticism at Fox News whenever someone else puts it on.
Vineland, Memoir in Antproof Case, Uncle Tungsten, The Alphabet vs. The Goddess, The Botany of Desire, Warmth Disperses and Time Passes. SciFi by: Ursula LeGuinn, Robert Heinlein, Douglas Adams, Neal Stephenson, etc. I'd list some philosophy books, too, except that reading them has taught me much, much less than talking about them has.
Enoch Root. Who cares if he's a fictional character, and obscure, and not fully explained...he's my hero. Ignoti et quasi occulti, baby. Also: "The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." - Albert Einstein , "My First Impression of the USA," 1921