CURRENT MISSION

Brew a beer with no calories that is hangover resistant. That and to finally get caught up on leaving references to people who sorely deserve them.

ABOUT ME

I grew up in a small town in the South Jersey pine barrens where I apparently grew turnips. (I don't talk about myself much, so my friends enjoy making up back stories. I'm like a blank canvas...) I went to Rutgers University (big state university in NJ) and now work as a software engineer.

Possessions are only valuable in the joy they bring. My prized possession is the home I own in Somerville. I went through hell to buy it and for all the wrong reasons, but now when I see the joy it brings to the people around me at our many parties and dinners, and the joy they in turn bring to my life, I know it was all worth it.

I've got alot of travelling to catch up on, but it's hard to do with only two weeks of vacation a year. I do love a good road trip though.

PHILOSOPHY

True friends are the ones who are still there after you make a fool of yourself. Corollary: if you've never made a fool of yourself, you have no friends.

There is nothing wrong with a grown man who watches cartoons.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've found roommates on couchsurfing, currently have a house full of them and we have hosted at least a dozen or so people in the past six months or so. I've only surfed with four people, two of the friends, but all with very positive results.

The most important impact couchsurfing has had on me, though, is in my own home town of Boston. I moved up here from New Jersey knowing almost no one in the area and for years had no close friends here. Then I found the couchsurfing community: some of the most fun loving, warm, and welcoming people I've ever met. Not sure why exactly I moved here in the first place, but they are, by and large, the reason I stay. I also love to pay this forward by welcoming other new additions to the area - be it by sharing a beer, a meal, or a simple conversation.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted lots of people at my home in Somerville, and surfed in Cape Cod, Bar Harbor, Manhattan, and Poughkeepsie.

Interests

Blues music (and just about any other type of music made more by man than machine), any outdoors activities (hiking, camping, etc), good food (cooking and eating), good beer (brewing and drinking), roadtrips.

As far as travel goes, I am particularly drawn to places with good food (like Latin America, the Mediterranean, and the far east), good beer (like Germany and Ireland), natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities (think mountains, jungles, safari), and ancient ruins.

• photography
• beauty
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• partying
• drinking
• cartoons
• traveling
• music
• blues
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• camping
• hunting
• engineering
• software
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Blues music is the source of everything good in modern music. Also a big fan of Johnny Cash and Van Morrison. Generally though, I have very broad taste in music and listen to a little bit from almost every genre.

In movies and TV I usually go for comedy. I also have a soft spot for History, Discovery, Food and Travel channels. Lately I've been trying to branch out into news shows as well but I find most of them repetitive and biased.

I haven't finished a book in years, but I start alot of them. Mostly nonfiction, and I like to get as far away from my profession as possible (I've recently read some stuff on Economics, for example, and my latest obsession is beer and brewing).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Probably hiking up Mt Cadillac in Acadia NP at night under the stars to watch the sunrise.

Also the night sky over Colorado, somewhere just outside Rocky Mountain National Park. So many stars it looks like NASA photography! It was also the first time I ever saw a shooting star. Haven't been able to recreate this scene anywhere I've traveled since though, it's like God was teasing me...

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm always willing to teach anyone who will listen about blues music, good beer, and brewing. I'm also a pretty decent cook. Everything else I know is not of interest to anyone, including me :)

As someone who hasn't traveled as much as he'd like to, I want to learn about the places I haven't been, the people I haven't met, and the critters I haven't eaten.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, China, Singapore, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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