CURRENT MISSION

Adventure... FOREVER

ABOUT ME

I'm a lab manager for a research lab studying stem cells. Before that, I studied marine biology. My work was on the invisible, world-wide ecosystem of microbes that live in the earth's crust. I like stem cells, but I'll never stop loving the natural world. You can find more on my blog, at www.shrad.org.

I love the water, and I love exploration. I feel very privileged to do what I do. I like to think we each give ourselves a duty to discover or create something, and then share it with the rest of the world. I want mine to be the exploration of the submarine and subterranean world.

I enjoy scuba diving, chilling on terraces, hiking, rock climbing, smoking weed, and sleeping.

I like to learn how to fix things, I can be fastidious about organizing camping and crafting supplies, and I occasionally become very serious about completing dull tasks fully and correctly. My girlfriend teases that I'm turning into Hank Hill.

PHILOSOPHY

I try to spend the most time being happy as possible, and so far its working out great.

I also think that our society is strangely closed, and that many people put up walls around themselves and lament their isolation while they're surrounded by others doing the same thing. I aim to contribute to groups which break these walls down.

Besides personal fulfillment, my goal is to share the majesty of the seas with as many people as possible.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I use CS to find events in the city, hosting out of town guests, and occasionally finding a place to stay while traveling.

While meeting like minds is nice, I like to meet people who are knowledgeable about things that I'm not, and convince them to tell me stories and things.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted and surfed. I've had amazingly positive experiences and one bad one. I don't regret the bad one because I learned a lot from it. One lesson I'd like to share:

Couchsurfing is not a way to prove that all people can be trusted. Its a way to offer trust intelligently, and its proof that the silent cost of excessive vigilance is paid in the friendships and experiences we miss out on. Risks are usually worth mistakes.

Interests

I like the outdoors and people. For indoor activities, I like mild things that keep your hands busy while letting people talk, like backgammon and jigsaw puzzles.

If anyone wants to go climbing or diving, I'm in. Really, I like almost anything that involves water except drowning.

• causes
• working out
• traveling
• socializing
• puzzles
• blogging
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• camping
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• biology

Music, Movies, and Books

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut;
"Solaris";
"West with the Night", the memoirs of Berryl Markham;
"The Thirteenth Tale";
"House of Leaves";
"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole;
"The Magicians" by Lev Grossman;
"Snowcrash" and "Cryptonomicon", by Neal Stephenson;
"Sharp Teeth".

I love "The Abyss" and "Something the Lord Made". The second one is a biopic of Vivian Thomas and Alfred Blalock, the pioneers of cardiac medicine. Its an incredible movie, with a great cast that was never promoted or released to theaters. If you find it, watch it.">

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Seen a whale breech.

Teach, Learn, Share

If you hit the bottom of a glass ketchup bottle it won't come out. You need to hit it on the side, on the "57".

This applies to other bottles as well. Hitting something on the back is like hitting a car from behind: instead of throwing the passengers forward, it causes whiplash. To expel what is in the bottle, you have to make it stop abruptly. Like a car stopping suddenly, everything is thrown forward.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bermuda, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, United States

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