Hello! My name is David and I am an engineer, musician, and entrepreneur. I recently moved to Santa Clara. CA for a job in mechanical engineering. It's been a great experience! My educational background is in mechanical engineering, and for the last few years I've been working on combining that with my love for writing and recording music in the Seattle, WA area. I'm from Michigan and I lived in Germany for a few years in middle school as well, which has also been an important part of my life.

Every day I learn something more about myself and about life, and I am convinced I have stumbled upon at least some truth. I am happy to share and talk about this stuff...because what else is truly more important in life?

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The quotes below I had listed for a few years on here. I still agree with them, but now they fall within a larger context of what I believe. Main question is: if we agree with these quotes, can we live it out?

"Do what IS right, not what feels right."

"€œIf you want to do something big in your life, you must remember that shyness is only the mind. If you think shy, you act shy. If you think confident you act confident. Therefore never let shyness conquer your mind."€ -Arfa Karim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arfa_Karim)

"I make a statement in the book, that if you don't learn how to be alone, you'll always be lonely, that loneliness is failed solitude. We're raising a generation that has grown up with constant connection, and only knows how to be lonely when not connected. This capacity for generative solitude is very important for the creative process, but if you grow up thinking it's your right and due to be tweeted and retweeted, to have thumbs up on Facebook...we're losing a capacity for autonomy both intellectual and emotional."

"If you believe in your art you believe in yourself" The Augustines

"Be Hard on Yourself. One of my Jesuit mentors used to say, "Be easy with yourself, Jim." If you're reading this list, and taking it at all seriously, you may be beating yourself up about stupid things that you've done in the past. (Believe me, my list is just as long as yours.) But you also want to change yourself, which is good. So be careful to "trust in the slow work of God," as the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin used to say. (He was also a paleontologist, so he knew about things moving really slowly.) Or if you don't believe in God, trust in slow work, period. If you ever get discouraged about your rate of change, just think about trees -- yes, trees. In the summer they're green. In the fall they're red. And no one sees them change."

"€œStay Hungry. Stay Foolish.€" Steve jobs (not that I agree with him a lot, but this seemed spot on)

"When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. I don't want to live thinking about how I'll be remembered." Carlos Slim. I thought this was interesting...not sure if I agree with him, but what a bold thing to say!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've had many great experiences with couchsurfers since 2006, hard to believe it's been that long!

Interests

Arts + Sciences + People stuff

I make a killer quiche and have several Dave's Mystery Meals up my sleeve (assuming I remember where I wrote them down!). I like cooking a lot.

• arts
• books
• reading
• surfing

Music, Movies, and Books

In my life the bands that influenced me the most are: Pinback, Modest Mouse, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Elliot Smith, Johnny Cash.

honorable mention top influences: Tallest Man on Earth, Bon Iver, Joe Pug, El Ten Eleven, Drive-by Truckers.

I'm really liking GusGus now. And classical music too.

All-time favorite movies: Walk the Line, Falling Down, Freedom Writers, Road to Perdition, Into the Wild

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Figured out how health insurance works.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, United States

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