CURRENT MISSION

Keep running

ABOUT ME

I spend a significant amount of time working on the garden and post-war Royal Oak bungalow which I share with my life partner. We're planting native plants - mostly green, some edible. We keep 550 gallons of rain water in our many rain barrels, which sometimes bridges the gap between rainfalls. Worms eat our garbage, producing black gold while living in a terrarium in the basement. It allows us to put a small garbage bag on the curb next to the overflowing recycling bin every week, and it saves us from having to pay for plant nutrients.

I run quite a bit - I'm usually training for a long distance race of some sort, currently a marathon. When I'm not training for a race, it's usually because I'm recovering from a race or giving myself some down time so as to not become fatigued. I've run 23 marathons, the last one in May 2019, and I am currently eyeing one in late June. I also bike a bit, most notably I've done 2 RAGBRAIs, and I'm adding a 3rd this year. I do enjoy hiking and paddling as well. I don't go to the gym much, but I do enjoy pilates from time to time.

I ride a vintage motorcycle - an '81 Yamaha, cruiser style. Sometimes I take a day and just ride. I've ridden through much of our pleasant lower peninsula. I wrote most of this profile sitting in a coffee shop approximately 1 hour from home which turned into 2.5 hours from home because I rode the motorcycle on twisty back roads to get there.

When it's raining, I'm, in addition to rejoicing for the garden, often catching up on shows that my home-built MythTV DVR recorded from the air waves. And sometimes I spend time re-learning how to play the violin.

When I'm in the mood to explore, I'll trek into strange lands, often just down Woodward into the depths of my beloved Detroit. I'm a bit of an amateur architecture nut. I can spend hours driving, biking, or walking through residential, downtown, and industrial streets taking in all that the scenery has to offer. I'm particularly fond of 1920s styles of architecture, of which we have many fine examples here in southeast Michigan. And yet, I'm not into urban exploring, mostly in an effort to keep the police off my back.

I can't go more than a month or two without getting up north or seeing one of our Great Lakes. It's a good thing that we're surrounded by so many trees and so much water. I hope to some day soon have a plot of land somewhere in or near the tip of the mitt.

PHILOSOPHY

Everyone can do as they please so long as they aren't hurting anyone.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting and surfing.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far I've couchsurfed twice and hosted four times with my life partner. I'm starting to branch out on my own.

Interests

Running, Motorcycling, Home/car/bike/motorcycle maintenance, Gardening, Canoeing, Architecture, Hiking, Tinkering with my numerous Linux boxes.

• architecture
• coffee
• pilates
• marathon
• running
• walking
• gardening
• shopping
• violin
• cycling
• hiking
• canoeing
• surfing
• emergency services
• lakes

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Pretty much anything but rap and country, with a few exceptions. More specifically, I've been spending a lot of time listening to Michigan based folk/roots/americana artists such as Seth and May, Chris Dorman, Red Tail Ring, and others on the Earthwork music label. The Ragbirds, Caravan of Thieves, Steve Leaf, Nickel Creek, and Dar Williams are other favorites of mine. I am a perpetual Jane's Addiction fan - went to see them at Detroit's Fillmore, got there early enough to be in the front row (baby!) , and even shook Perry Farrell's hand (woooo!). I've also, despite the cliche, always had a bit of a thing for commonly influential '60s/'70s rock - The Beatles, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin.

Movies: I enjoy movies for the purpose of entertainment in the moment, but I don't necessarily retain much from them. As such, I'm open to seeing most any type of movie - apocalyptic action flicks, dramas, comedies, tear-jerkers , whatever... except horror, I'm not really into that. And I'd rather not pay to see movies typically described as chick-flicks. I have a strange affinity for gangster movies - I really liked Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and I'll often rent movies like The Godfather(s), Goodfellas, Scarface, stuff like that. I got excited when I saw that the Main Art would soon have a midnight showing of Pulp Fiction. When I go see movies with people, I tend to prefer educational or somehow intellectually enriching flicks like Waste Land, Waiting for Superman, Shame - hey, I found it intellectually enriching, didn't you? I recently went to a midnight showing of Serenity, although I'm not really into Sci-Fi.

Books: I don't read as much as I'd like due to either not having enough time or having an inadequate attention span. I'm currently, and slowly, reading "On the Grid" by Scott Huler. I tend to buy historical books like those Images of America books or anything that explores the history of Detroit.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

With fear of being immodest, I ran and finished the Boston Marathon twice.
Have paddled the inland waterway in northern Michigan.