IMPORTANT NOTE: We are ONLY opening our home to families with children at the moment. We know how hard it is to find good spots to stay if you're a family with kids, so want to help folks who are on the road with their kids.

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Jordan worked at Microsoft for 11 years and figured it was time for a change. Michelle has been studying design and realized she could take a little break from the classroom to visit some of the great design capitols of the world.

Jordan quit his job, Michelle put school on hold, we rented out our house and went traveling: London, Paris, down through France to Nice, over to Barcelona, around Northeastern Spain, up to Berlin, down to Italy, through Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria with a month-long sojourn in Florence, then over to the Canary Islands for some sunshine and beach before heading back to Seattle. Our travel blog is http://www.hive-mind.com/travel/.

In 2008, our son, Zevin Rolihlahla Schwartz, was born. He is just a bucket of high-energy fun and the sweetest, smartest kid you'll meet (yeah, OK, that's his parents talking). Come meet him!

We are regulars at the Burning Man arts festival, participate in large-scale art projects (http://spacevirgin.org/), stilt-walk, scuba dive, organize large, 1,000+ person parties (http://www.hive-mind.com/halloween/), are responsible, clean and self-sufficient. We're friendly and joyful and helpful, as well. At home, we keep bees (http://www.hive-mind.com/bee/blog/), chickens and garden.

Jordan runs a Internet software company (social networks for conferences: www.pathable.com). Michelle takes care of the rest of our lives.

PHILOSOPHY

We regret sins of omission more than sins of commission, so commit!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We regularly host travelers, friends and friends of friends in our Seattle home, such that it has affectionately been called the Fourth Avenue Youth Hostel. We also don't think of ourselves as "tourists" and enjoy meeting people who live in the places we are traveling to, much more than visiting the museums and taking pictures of the tourist sites.

Interests

Burning Man, Beekeeping, Design, Architecture, Mobile social software and Internet services, Gardening, Cooking, Travel

• chickens
• arts
• architecture
• design
• festivals
• dancing
• cooking
• partying
• gardening
• traveling
• socializing
• blogging
• scuba diving
• software
• beaches
• mountains

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Burning Man, worked an archaelogical dig in Israel, scuba diving Belize, Egypt, Thailand, explored the ruins of Central America, backpacked the Cascade Mountains and the Utah desert, produced 1,000+ person parties, picked olives in Italy, but we want more more.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, France, Germany, Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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