Hi There, I am Josh. I am an Engineer by profession, a laid back and funny (or at least fun to be around) guy, but also a wanderlust Millennial at heart.

https://www.facebook.com/zastrow.j

I’m a pretty laid back guy, very driven with work but aside from that I have very little to worry about

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I originally joined Couchsurfing because I was a broke college kid who was pretty low maintenance; I thought sleeping on someone's couch was an excellent way to squeeze out some easy accommodations.

Since then I have slept on countless couches but all outside the CS community--my friends have helped me out in more ways than I can imagine. However I had no problem hitting up my friends, I was under the notion that at CS I would be overstaying my welcome crashing on some persons couch whom I have done nothing for (aside from hopefully providing a slightly entertaining profile). Also the couch necessity was no longer there like it had been during undergrad.

Though recently I've had a couple long conversations about joining this community with my close friends, who are avid couch surfers. They've told stories about all the unforgettable experiences, the lasting friendships, the changes in travel plans and even the serious relationships formed from the connections made here, and that really struck a chord with me. I'm a social guy and put a lot of value on my friends and connections I make. I think it's one of the most import things in life. Seems like there is a lot of that going on in CS, so that's why I'm here.

Interests

Music:

On my 12th birthday my dad told me to close my eyes and hold out my hand. I felt the weight of what seemed like a suitcase in my hands. When I opened my eyes, I found I was holding a guitar case, an acoustic guitar just like the one my dad owned. I frowned and wondered why he got me it, since what I really wanted was a weird handmade wooden banjo I saw at a crafts fair a month before. By my next birthday, the only thing I asked for was another guitar, this time electric. I joined a Jazz Band, a Garage Band and obsessed over music theory. I got my second electric guitar at 17, my third at 20. Engineering eventually took over, so now a days when ever theres a campfire or after party in the living room, one of my friends will hand me a guitar and we'll all belt out the words to a long string of radio classics. Aside from that, maybe every third day or so I pick up one and play for a while. That is one of the things I miss about leaving home.

Cooking:

My mom is more or less a vegetarian, and growing up my family didn't have much money. Tofu and rice seems to stick out a lot in my mind when I think of family dinners. But just as vivid a memory, were the meals I had at restaurants on those special nights we all went out. I could never get enough of the amazing food made at these places, and as a means to remediate this problem I set out to replicate what I ate. This grew from an excessive watching of Food Network (when the channel had shows that taught you to cook), to many, many hours in the kitchen making (and remaking) my favorite foods. Aside from my two guitars, cookware was all I asked for presents growing up. Most people were convinced I would grow up to be a chef. Again, Engineering took over still on frequent occasion the roommates and I would invite over a large group of our friends and we'd feast. Periodically I'll catch that same bug I had when I was younger, and I spend a week in the kitchen perfecting one dish. The most recent endeavor was Ramen, almost immediately after eating at Yume Wo Katare.

Skiing:

This has become a huge passion for me, heavily influenced by my friends. My best buddy Andrew is an unbelievable snowboarder, growing up on the parks at Wachusett Mountain while I barely even dabbled in the sport back in High school. Three years ago we became roommates, and I started finding more opportunities to hit the mountains. My brother was more of a skier, but left his gear behind when he moved to North Carolina, so I used his stuff for a year. Then I started getting really serious. I invested in a new setup, I watched uncountable number of freestyle ski videos. I fell, and fell again.. then fell more. I grew up longboarding, bombing all the hills in my neighborhood, so I wasn't really afraid of landing on snow. I have a large group of really amazing skiers and snowboarders back home -- they're meeting me in Japan this year for some backcountry skiing. My friends have really helped me out with this sport and it holds some of my favorite memories of the past three years

A.I/Machine Learning/Programming/Data:

Read my About Me section for more details on this! I'm always self conscious of geeking out too hard on this subject.

• cooking
• wine
• beer
• coffee
• fitness
• music
• guitar
• skiing
• programming
• healthy lifestyle

Music, Movies, and Books

Current reads:

Range
You’re Not Listening
Secrets of Sand Hill

Music:
I love small shows and venues at a few gems around San Francisco. House, disco, electronic, some techno depending on the DJ. Though I can dance to anything

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I walked into my manager office and told him my dreams. I told him that I was either going to quit or work remotely part time in order to pursue the field of Artificial Intelligence.

I also had already bought a one way ticket to Germany. Fortunately he went with the latter.

Traveled the world for three years while working remotely. Eventually landed in San Francisco and joined a startup. Rest is history.

Teach, Learn, Share

Not sure what to put here, so I'm going to fill it with quotes!

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing it is stupid" - Albert Einstein

"A boat in a harbor is safe. But that's not what boats are built for" -unknown

"Man who rises before the sun 365 days a year never fails to make his family rich" -chinese proverb

"You'll be fine. You're 25. Feeling unsure and lost is part of your path. Don't avoid it. See what those feelings are showing you and use it. Take a breath. You'll be okay. Even if you don't feel okay all the time. " - Louis C.K

"Follow your dreams, or someone will pay you to follow theirs" -unknown

"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not Much." - Jim Rohn

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories, my life, good jokes, a couple songs maybe a bottle of wine if you're into that.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam