I love beer, espresso, cheese, chocolate, travel, & delicious vegetarian food!

I'm a bartender at one of Seattle's first craft beer bars. I can definitely give you tips on delicious local beers, beer bars, & breweries, coffee shops, and the Market.

My favorite thing to do when I'm in a city I don't know is wander aimlessly until I'm lost, and then continue to wander aimlessly until I find myself. There's no better way to get a feel for a place and discover some gems that you probably won't learn about otherwise.

I've been a CSer since 2006, starting as a surfer, then an event organizer, a nomadic ambassador eventually based in Minneapolis, a host, a member of the old Member Disputes & Safety Team, then a city ambassador for Seattle, and now a host and occasional surfer. My experiences with the people I've met on CS have continued to be wonderful, despite the changes in the site's leadership and design.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm on CouchSurfing to make connections as I travel. I enjoy meeting CSers for conversation & fun just as much as hosting or surfing. A couple of my favorite times while traveling have been randomly meeting fellow CSers at a bar or coffee shop, and beginning a friendship from that chance encounter.

It's also great to have the advice & perspective of locals in the places where I stay; my hosts have been very insightful.

Interests

I love beer and brewing, and I live in a great place for such an interest! I am also interested in languages and cultures, quality foods, and social and environmental justice.

I love to cook & bake, and do both a lot. My favorite meal is breakfast; I would eat breakfast for every meal, if I could! I love to eat out, as well, but prefer local restaurants that make their food from scratch over big chains (which I rarely patronize).

Oh yeah, and travel.

• design
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• chocolate
• wine
• cheese
• beer
• coffee
• vegetarian
• shopping
• traveling
• eating out
• surfing
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Media
Radio - The Vinyl Cafe. Says You. A Prairie Home Companion. This American Life. Car Talk. Wire Tap. On the Media, Freakonomics Radio, Radiolab, Planet Money, Alternative Radio. As it Happens. Music from the Hearts of Space. My favorite radio stations are Minnesota Public Radio, KUOW (in Seattle), KFSK (in Petersburg, Alaska), and KLCC in Eugene, Oregon.

I have been a public radio junkie ever since I encountered the man who used to be (in my opinion) the king of intellectual talk radio, Ray Suarez, when he was host of NPR's Talk of the Nation.

Books - Paulo Coehlo : The Alchemist, Michael Palin : In Defense of Food, Charlie Papazian : The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Garrett Oliver : The Brewmaster's Table, Joseph Heller : Catch-22, Robert Pirsig : Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Movies - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. A Clockwork Orange. Garden State. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain.

Music - My favorite is the stuff that was (back in the early to mid 90's) known as emo and post-hardcore. Not the stuff they call "emo" these days. Also like 90's punk, pop-punk, post-punk, classic rock, classic country, lots of folk, a smattering of hip-hop... keep the "crossover country" away from me though, please.

Television - I don't watch much TV; in fact, I personally have not owned one in years. I have, however, managed to become addicted to Battlestar Galactica, which I only gave a chance initially because I had watched the original series when I was a kid. I also like House, maybe because the main character is an arrogant jerk, and for some reason I'm sometimes drawn to such people!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

How do I keep it to just one!? Not gonnna happen, sorry.

1) I've helped save a sinking ship. Really! If you don't believe it, I have pictures.

2) Countless things in Alaska, including the pulsing sights *and sound* of the aurora borealis, huge icebergs calving off glaciers, falling in love, the coming of morning in Lynn Canal, the sun rising *and* setting over Devil's Thumb on summer solstice, and 13 humpback whales engaged in cooperative bubblenet feeding.

3) Learned that CouchSurfing works; that it works both as a way of finding a place to crash, and also as an optimistic philosophy that if you bring people together to have fun and see what each has in common, you can build a great, new community.

Teach, Learn, Share

Lots about beer. A little about cooking. A few nautical knots.

Sometimes, you don't know what you have to teach until it comes up.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Delicious vegetarian food! CouchSurfing tips. Fun conversation.

Countries I’ve Visited

United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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