CURRENT MISSION

Promote understanding and reduce ignorance everywhere, especially in my own thick skull

ABOUT ME

I live in a great city, Portland, where I moved in late 2008. I'm still exploring the city (by bike, usually, since I don't own a car). I know my way around and can help others, but I'm always willing to explore new places with a guest.

I work in transportation, consulting transit agencies to make their online schedule information easier to use. Sustainable transportation is one of my passions. 'Nuff said. If you want to learn more, go to www.trilliumtransit.com.

For fun, I like to get out hiking and backpacking, cook and eat, drink beer, see movies and listen to music, and read. I play the violin sometimes but wish I made time to practice a lot more.

PHILOSOPHY

My personal philosophy is hard to nail down. I aim to leave a considered life - one where I can feel good about my actions leading to a better world. My priorities in life are social and environmental justice, education for young and old people, accurate information & media and personal honesty. I believe that healthy, cohesive and committed communities are the seeds of personal responsibility.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My friend Avram Pearlman told me about couch surfing. For his couch picture, we were going to haul his pimpin' couch out to the beach and take a picture of it there around sunset, but it never happened. Now I just participate by offering a couch; I've hosted only one couch surfer. If you stay, I can show you around, turn you onto good hiking trails, and take you to some shows.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted several people from CS.com at my home in Arcata. I have yet to surf on someone else's couch, but am looking forward to it!

Interests

Sustainable business, backpacking, promoting sustainable transportation (see www.green-wheels.org), not owning a car, car-free happy hour, digital design, appropriate technology (see a website I helped start, http://www.appropedia.org), literature, music, yoga, Portland's food carts, reading transportation blogs

• writing
• literature
• design
• graphic design
• digital design
• education
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• baking
• yoga
• drinking
• happy hour
• technology
• movies
• reading
• music
• violin
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• surfing
• business
• communications
• teaching
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Decemberists, Beck, Bjork, Blackalicious, Flaming Lips, Gorillaz, Jeff Buckley, MC Lars, Neil Young, Orishas, Ozomatli, Prefuse 73, The Mountain Goats, Tribe Called Quest
Movies: I Heart Huckabees, Squid and the Whale, Smoke Signals, Yes Men, Mulholland Drive
Books: Smila's Sense of Snow, Sometimes a Great Notion, Ana Karenina, This Boy's Life, Sidhartha, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, West (not East) of Eden, Gaviotas, Consilience, True Notebooks, On Beauty, White Teeth

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Playing Azdak in Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle for an audience of ~900 high school students in China was pretty amazing. We yelled over the audience's chatter the whole time, thinking they weren't getting it, but at the climax of the play everyone clapped and cheered. They had been with us the whole time and many were probably discussing it.

Teach, Learn, Share

Speaking (& reading) spanish, playing violin, graphic design, web design & HTML, web-applications, and internet organizing, baking apple crisp, writing, everything transportation policy realted

Countries I’ve Visited

Mexico, Peru, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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