In my life, I've never lived anywhere longer than 5 years. So when people ask me where I'm from, I have to ask them to be more specific!

I've lived: Amelia Island Florida, Oklahoma City, Washington D.C. (suburbs), Ithaca New York (Cornell), Seattle, Portland, Corvallis, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Maui, Austin, Salt Lake City, and Tucson. I've spent some amount of time in every U.S. state but Alaska. International travel has included a month in Mexico City, driving a rental car from the north coast of Spain to the South then visiting Portugal--and a bunch of random trips to Canada.

All because I was fortunate enough to make it into my 40s without getting married or having any kids--so I've had a lot of spare time. My trusty Honda Element and I have been living the hobo life for the past year, roaming the USA. (But I usually stay in hotels so I can get programming work done during the day.) My address is in Florida, but I'm not committed to anywhere in particular...if someone could convince me to stay somewhere a while, I would.

My early years were consumed with computers, and I appreciate them to the point where I practically think like one--in a good way, I hope! But I had something of a realization in my mid-20s about there being a bigger world out there (I guess Burning Man and LSD and all of that jazz had something to do with it). So I sold my condo, quit my programming job, and moved to LA to go to film school. I wound up returning to software development, but I approach it differently now.

Despite my computer know-how, I don't have strong feelings for some of the common "geek" subculture (video games, Anime, amateur radio, a joke printed on every shirt I wear, etc.) Don't get me wrong--I have plenty of geek cred, and can get along fine with people who still do these things. But I've sort of outgrown it to where my own aesthetics are a bit more design-oriented. :)

I'm a "color inside the lines" kind of guy -but- I also think one should carry Wite-Out and a Sharpie (in case the lines were printed in the wrong place.) I believe that the world should be more fair, and that it's our job to make it that way because it won't get that way on its own. I made this, and I think it's important:

http://blackhighlighter.org

(If you find that at all interesting, please write me, I want to talk to you about it.)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I started an account on couchsurfing in January 2011. It was suggested to me by a friend when I mentioned I was moving to Austin, and wondered if anyone had connections there...he said to try it out.

As it happens I settled in pretty quickly and didn't really need it for sleeping-on-a-couch purposes. But over the years I've hosted a few times, and been to a couple of parties. Never had need to stay anywhere! But since 2016 I've been on the move again, and so perhaps I'll drop some people a note if I'm in their neighborhood...

Interests

I don't like to constrain myself to any particular subject or hobby. If someone's interested in something and can explain why, I'll probably want to talk about it. I like learning the inside workings of things--if someone has a job where they can tell me secrets about the job only people "in the industry" know, I want to know too. :-)

But when I'm on my own I'll do graphic design, Wikipedia, analyze music videos, or tinker on a programming project.

Lucid dreaming has been a topic that I've been deeply interested in for over a decade--and I will talk about my experiences with that with pretty much anyone who will listen.

• arts
• architecture
• design
• graphic design
• photography
• partying
• movies
• music
• karaoke
• engineering
• logic
• software
• cryptography
• music-videos

Music, Movies, and Books

I still keep tabs on Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, who I grew up with as "favorites" and are still making music. They're not what I listen to on a daily basis, but I still tend towards electronic and synth-pop: Mesh, Presets, DE/Vision, The Algorithm, BT. Is Keane synth-pop? I'm listening to some chiptunes lately--Boss Fight, Chipzel, Savlonic, anything in that area.

Saw singer/songwriters Michael Penn and Aimee Mann play a lot when I lived in LA (they're married), and I like their stuff a lot. They would play fairly regular shows at a tiny venue that's not there anymore. :-( Robbie Williams, Death Cab for Cutie...

I'm flexible. Driving between cities there's a lot of places you can only pick up Christian stations, and when that's all there is to listen to you can sometimes find some pretty good/deep songs on there, too.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amazing is subjective. But in retrospect I think one of the "how did I convince myself to do that?" things was to leave software engineering to move to Los Angeles and go to film school.

I had a lot of experiences as a result of going down that path that I wouldn't otherwise... booking experimental bands at a sci-fi-themed pizza place, working in a vegan raw food restaurant, getting into framing art. Things I never thought I'd have experienced if you'd asked me in my college days as an electrical engineer.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I have no qualms taking whatever I might have spent on a hotel and applying that toward us doing something interesting...

e.g. I'm not really out to couchsurf to save money. Rather, to spend it on something other than a rectangular hotel room with a TV I won't watch, a phone I won't use, and those little wrapped bar soaps (that you should keep away from my OCD mom because she has a closet full of those... :-/)

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Mexico, Portugal, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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