CURRENT MISSION

To become my best self.

ABOUT ME

I'm an English and Spanish teacher, and a couple other things. I'm laid back, funny, smart, independent, and fun. I've traveled North America from Alaska to Guatemala (I was a tour guide, so I've seen everything you have ever heard of, plus a few things you haven't. And if you want travel tips for USA, Mexico, or Central America... I'm that guy.) I've visited a few European countries and am looking forward to more, but my next big excursion is going to be Asia.

PHILOSOPHY

I help people manifest the means to express and to act on love.

I am slightly embarrassed at how cheezy that sounds, but when I look at my approach to my career, and at the endeavors to which I devote my time, there is no other honest way to say what I am about.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As a participant in your home, I'd hope to share a few meals, some good conversation, and maybe a local adventure or two. I don't need a nanny or tour guide, but anyone with the courage to host a surfer (or to be one) is probably pretty interesting. I mostly eat a veganish diet (vegan plus fish), but I don't have any judgments about meat, which I'll often cook if friends are coming over.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have done all manner of hosting of and staying with interesting new people. But this is my first activity on this site.

Oh, I also worked for the Green Tortoise for about ten years, which is kind of like hosting 30 surfers at a time, except I did it for 200-300 days out of the year, and got paid.

Interests

I like swimming, poetry slam, skydiving, hiking, and reading. I also love learning stuff! Recent interests include history, linguistics, cognitive sciences, evolutionary psychology, and the potential of networking (both computer and interpersonal). I am not a techie about it, I just think there are a lot of really interesting and useful ideas in those fields.

• fish
• poetry
• dancing
• tango
• cooking
• vegan
• dieting
• reading
• traveling
• guitar
• piano
• fishing
• hiking
• skydiving
• swimming
• teaching
• history
• psychology
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: The Better Angels of our Nature or anything at all by Stephen Pinker. Jhumpa Lahiri, Breece DJ Pancake. Ursula LeGuin, because if in our thousands of milennia we humans had collectively achieved nothing but the publication Birthday of the World, it would be enough. The Grapes of Wrath - because that whole massive narrative of misery evaporates on final page in Rosasharn's act of mercy.

Music: not to be indecisive, but I like it all. Ah, okay the first dozen to jump to mind: Manu Chao, the Distillers, Steely Dan, the Overwhelming Colorfast, Foo Fighters, Neil Young, Dr Dre, Eminem, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, Talking Heads, Arkona, Fugazi.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Made my 1000th skydive over Burning Man in Aug 2013.
- Slept on top of a Mayan pyramid deep in the Peten jungle.
- When we had no rope, I organized volunteers into a human chain to save a drowning man.
- Officiated my friends' wedding 15 years ago. They have perhaps the most stable, loving marriage I've ever known, and two wonderful sons who adore me as much as I do them.

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach Spanish and English professionally, so if you have an interest in either, or in language generally, then we are going to have some fun conversations! I have also taught skydiving, fire breathing, guitar, and plumbing.

I want to learn: Mandarin, Japanese, and anything to do with computers. And the piano. And I want to learn to dance salsa and tango, in addition to the wild joyous flail that I do now.