Bio

The first time I opened my eyes in this beautiful world was in Poprad, Slovakia, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1991. I was raised in Poprad too, traveled a bit around Europe while in high school, did a road trip along the west coast of the US, fell in love with California, went to college in Prague, spent a year in Trondheim, backpacked north of the Arctic Circle, and currently I’m back in California, and still a student.

I don’t watch [insert any popular sport here], I don’t drink beer, and no more than 4% of the music in my playlists has ever been played on the radio. But I do love adventure, I play the piano, and I hear I have pretty blue eyes. I like deep pow, the smell of pine needles, slow motion, thunderstorms, epic fantasy, slightly green bananas, yellow blankets, roasted almonds, and penguins. My favorite color is the color of sunset and I hate getting up with sunrise. I prefer a tent in the mountains to a luxurious hotel room at the beach, but don’t get me wrong, I do love a big, comfortable bed in which I can sleep in.

Working hard towards getting a PhD degree in computer science/AI, I typically spend most of the day studying and/or programming. In the remaining time I never get bored either (unless I accidentally decide to watch an especially boring movie). There are days when I do a lot of in-depth reading on topics I am passionate about and find highly relevant to my life, such as nutrition, technology, or how to get better at being human. Apart from that, I read books too, although it sometimes takes me half a year to finish one. I feel best in nature, so whenever the weather permits, I’m down for a good hike, shredding some trails on my mountain bike, or freeskiing in winter. Although I have never owned a camera, I do love taking and editing pictures from my trips, especially in the nature; therefore, I make sure I always bring someone with a good camera along. If I happen to have a 2-hour window of spare time in the evening, I watch a movie, a thrilling freeskiing or MTB documentary, or an episode of one of the wonderful BBC series about nature. No matter how busy I am though, I usually give myself the pleasure of playing the piano for at least a half hour, for it brings me peace and, by releasing me from the tangle of thoughts and to-dos, it allows me to relax and realign my focus. Much like meditation. Music is in fact the one thing I am addicted to — see, I have music on at almost anything I do, and I enjoy virtually any activity as long as I can listen to my favorite music while doing it.

Hi, I'm Jurik

...pronounced /YUR-ik/. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in A.I., nevertheless this website is about everything but technology. Besides being a computer scientist, I am a leisure-time pianist, a trailer music enthusiast, and a landscape photographer whenever I travel to a national park or another beautiful place in nature. Over the past decade, I have also become a pro at avoiding gluten, yet being able to prepare traditional Slovak dishes and cakes as yummy as their original counterparts (my fiancée can testify to that).