I was born in Riverside, CA where I lived most of my life, except for a year long stint in Seattle until I moved to New Haven, CT in 2014. I'm a Californian forever who's come to love the east coast.

I like being happy around other happy people and I am genuinely interested in just about everything and everyone under the sun.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Honestly, I'm here because my friends asked me to signup so that I could help them host people for their event.

I wouldn't have signed up though if the idea of opening up my home to people didn't appeal to me. I think it's a fantastically special way to meet new people and learn about the world.

Interests

My largest hobby is my job - programming and software development.

My second largest is woodworking, specifically with hand tools. Once upon a time I had a three car garage with a power tool heavy shop and my move to New Haven and the loss of space forced me to rediscover the hobby in a new way, relying heavily on hand tools and traditional methods.

Then, there's music and beer and cooking and travel and reading and yoyos and well, I happen to just be interested in everything.

• writing
• cooking
• beer
• reading
• woodworking
• music
• travel
• programming
• standup jetskis
• yoyos

Music, Movies, and Books

I love most music and I am a huge Spotify addict. I also hit live shows pretty regularly. Listening to music consumes most of my ears' time.

https://open.spotify.com/user/jlewalle

I do read a lot, but it tends to happen in bursts where I switch between fiction and non-fiction. A favorite book is hard. Lists of favorites are hard in general for me, as you can see.

My favorite movies are probably Almost Famous, Forest Gump, Black Snake Moan and Man on Fire. This is one area where I feel confident enough to actually create a list.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I feel like I'd have to be pretty fast and loose with the word amazing to answer this one.

Teach, Learn, Share

If I host you and you're interested I'll teach you how to hand cut dovetails. Or, maybe a simple yoyo trick?

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Dominica, Dominican Republic, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Scotland, South Korea, Switzerland