I coach a high school policy debate team in St. Paul and evaluate state standardized tests. It's a living! I enjoy photography and watching baseball games, and try to take at least one baseball-related trip somewhere every season. (I used to teach English as a foreign language to Japanese business people).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've stayed with others overseas and had others stay with me overseas. I think that it's a great way to get to know a place better than the standard-order convention hotel routine, and I enjoy meeting new people.

Interests

Apart from my debate work...photography (the old-fashioned way), baseball (third-generation Cubs fan), opera (Wayne Tigges in "The Marriage of Figaro" might have been the best performance I've attended), reading (I usually have multiple books going on), crossword puzzles (I can complete the NYT crossword ~90% of the time...as far as British cryptics go, I'm a fan of the Sir Lancelot puzzle in the Mail on Sunday), documentary films (watching them rather than making them...)

• books
• performing arts
• photography
• documentaries
• cooking
• coach
• boating
• movies
• reading
• puzzles
• opera
• baseball
• business

Music, Movies, and Books

Top five albums: The Who--Who's Next; Pink Floyd--The Dark Side of the Moon; Radiohead--The Bends; The Rolling Stones--Let It Bleed; Led Zeppelin--(IV). My favorite movie may well have been "Twelve Angry Men," and my favorite novel is probably "Mockingbird," by Walter Tevis. (He's the guy who also wrote "The Hustler" and "The Man Who Fell to Earth").

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Somehow ended up on a boat tour of the Dniester River in the frozen conflict zone that is Transnistria...guided by a Russian armor corps commander and a graduate of the summer international debate program at Wake Forest University...

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm in favor of all of these things.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can cook if you'd like. Otherwise, my dry sense of humor and interest in a wide variety of subjects.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macao, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Japan, United States