CURRENT MISSION

Learning

ABOUT ME

A little of this, a bit of that... How do you expect me to sum myself up?

PHILOSOPHY

Knowledge will save the world. Or at least keep it limping along a bit longer. And the more knowledge that more people have, the better off we'll all be. Or at least we can keep ourselves entertained Nero-style, while the world falls apart around us.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've always had an open-couch policy, even before "couchsurfing" became a thing in its own right.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'd never thought about how I'd let anyone crash on the couch until a friend in grad school had someone coming into town that he couldn't host himself because of a small house and a young baby, so he directed the guy to me instead.

When I later joined the Burning Man community, it opened up a whole new group of interesting people to couchsurf with, in both directions.

Interests

I teach biology, juggle, design board/card games, sew, weave, and various other things that catch my attention, for a minute or a year. You can never have too many skills.

• design
• clubbing
• juggling
• biology
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

In no particular order, Princess Bride, Stardust, Douglas Adams, Robert Heinlein, Chuck Palahniuk, Steven Brust, Name of the Rose, Labyrinth, Jim Butcher, Neal Stephenson, Daniel Quinn, Derrick Jensen, John Wyndham, and I'll admit that I've jumped on the Suzanne Collins and George RR Martin bandwagons.

Meat Loaf/Jim Steinman, Nightwish, Blackmore's Night, Oysterband, Richard Thompson, Fairport Convention, Mary Prankster, Les Miserables, Rent, Bowling for Soup, Florence + the Machine, Gaelic Storm, Warren Zevon, Lacuna Coil

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Probably the thing that gets me the most double-takes is when I say I've dissected a hippo.

Teach, Learn, Share

Even before I started getting paid for it, I've always been a teacher. All you have to do is get me talking about something I know something about, or get me to break out my toys. I was the founding president of the University of Kansas Juggling Club, so I taught lots of people to juggle - balls, clubs, and how to pass them.