My wife, Kathi and I are retired and have two grown children and one granddaughter. We are practicing Buddhists. I volunteer at local jails and as a community mediator. Kathi volunteers at the local food bank.

I have lived and worked in many places as an architect, engineer and construction project manager including New York City, Bogotá, Colombia, Yap, FSM, Philippines, Guam, Honolulu, Portland Oregon, Toronto, Hyderabad, India, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. Recently we walked part of the 88 temple pilgrimage in Shikoku. In the near future we hope to travel in Europe, Southeast Asia, India and South America.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We have always traveled a lot for work and pleasure. Over the years we have received so much hospitality and kindness from people we’ve met. We always like to pay hospitality forward which is why we like couch surfing. We love to share all the great things that Northern California has to offer with friends who visit.

Interests

Life is a journey. We are all connected. We are very grateful for all of the experiences we’ve had , the wonderful people we’ve met and friends we have around the world.

• meditation
• hiking
• engineering
• travel
• trekking
• backpacker
• buddhism
• spiritually
• mediation
• art and architecture
• cultures of the world
• natural and man made environment
• sailing and navigation
• sketching and watercolors

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Latin, Indian, Rock, Folk — David Byrne, Julieta Venegas, Zakir Hussain, Willie Nelson, Ry Cooder, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon.

Movies: Apocalypse Now, El Mariachi, Roma, Weber Herzog, Hitchcock

Books: Biographies, Travel and Aventure, Paul Thereoux, Jared Diamond, Pema Chodron, Pablo Neruda, Michael Pollen

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In 2013 after the death of my father. I made a pilgrimage to Mt Kailash and Lake Manesrover in eastern Tibet from western Nepal. Most of the journey was trekking and by Land Cruiser. Much of the trip was over 15,000’ (4500m), highest pass was 18,000’ (5500m)

Teach, Learn, Share

Many interests from design, engineering and construction, travel, to spirituality — see interests

What I Can Share with Hosts

Good at fixing things and home improvement, decent cook, story telling

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, China, Colombia, Guam, India, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Philippines, United States Minor Outlying Islands