CURRENT MISSION

Just keep exploring the planet and appreciating the folks I meet. I keep it simple and try to tread lightly on the earth. I must admit I kind of thrive on winging it. No over planning for me!

ABOUT ME

I am open to new things and attracting what I want in life. It always arrives! I work in the areas of joint ventures and economic development with indigenous people for my job. I like to play outside especially sports that involve speed and courage. I love learning new tricks, reading about cultures, and solving puzzles. I love to travel but also spend a lot of time creating nice gardens and vegie patchs at home.

PHILOSOPHY

Walt Whitman summed me up well when he said "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes". Containing multitudes means that I do many different things and they don't always make sense. I love classical music, I love punk rock. I like playing a tough game of hockey and I like growing delicate flowers. I don't fit into categories or boxes. My life maybe doesn't make sense to the conservative, and maybe not to me either. But I don't need to understand it or figure it all out. Its maybe best left as a magical mystery tour.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We host couch surfers and my kids have couchsurfed in California, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Thailand, Fiji, Indonesia, and Australia. I only host people who are traveling as opposed to people who are moving here, live nearby, or on extended visits.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My wife has been hosting couchsurfers for 3 years. I have been informally involved as the bystander or sometimes as the guy who does the cooking and entertaining. Before the days of couchsurfing, we hosted people, I think we called them freeloaders, all of the time. Hosting has been a life long hobby.

Interests

I love to play old-timer hockey, ski steep slopes, paddle my kayak in the ocean, backpack in remote mountains and beaches, wildlife watch, organic garden both vegetables and flowers, play my drums, cook exotic healthy meals, go to my neighbourhood pub, read many newspapers, create art from found things, frolic, and most fun of all is to just be with my family, wherever, whatever, whenever.

• wildlife
• arts
• cooking
• pub crawls
• gardening
• boating
• flowers
• reading
• traveling
• puzzles
• music
• classical music
• drums
• backpacking
• kayaking
• camping
• skiing
• sports
• hockey
• history
• tourism
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music is a lifestyle to me. I need to play music, I need to hear it and I need to go out and see it performed. I admire Fela Kuti, the Dead Boys, Aggrolites, Leonard Cohen, the Clash, Miles Davis, Patti Smith, Kingstone Trio, Johnathan Richmond...Books are good, mostly history, or human condition stuff like Jim Harrison. I am a movie buff but mostly foreign films like French, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Sunrise at Annapurna Base Camp 22,000 ft. high.
Masai warrior jumping lessons. Schussbombing steep powder slopes at St. Anton. Paddling among Orcas. Being surrounded by wolves, chased by cougars, and followed by bears. Playing tabla drums on a Shikara boat in Kashmir, slowly paddling through the lily pads.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can share my knowledge of the natural history of Vancouver Island and Victoria. I have many personal encounter stories of the wolves, bears, and cougars from my years spent as a wildlife guide. I am a gardener but if you are too I am happy to learn from you.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada

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