CURRENT MISSION

Road trip across America to promote my book, research my next book and meet interesting people

ABOUT ME

The official profile is here

I had a traditional research career until recently: PhD, post-doc, industrial R&D job, some entrepreneurial stuff. I have been blogging at ribbonfarm.com for 3 years now, and just published a book, Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making.

PHILOSOPHY

I don't really have one. I make stuff up as I go along. I suppose that's a philosophy of sorts. Creative destruction in the sense of Nietzsche probably sums it up.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Currently, I am a newbie to couchsurfing, and figured I'd join and experiment with it on my road-trip from DC to Vegas in May.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None. Did some hostel-living while backpacking through Europe in 1998 though.

Interests

Writing and reading are my main interests. Mostly non-fiction and eclectic. The categories on my blog are a fairly good indication of my current interests.

Cooking (vegetarian and vegan) clocks in at #2.

• writing
• books
• cooking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• reading
• blogging
• backpacking
• engineering
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Impro by Keith Johnstone
Seeing Like a State by James Scott
Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
The Organization Man by William Whyte
The Office (both BBC and NBC versions)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Rather wimpy list, I am afraid:

1. Seen a tiger in the wild
2. Hiked in the Himalayas above 13,000 feet
3. Camped out in a tropical rainforest for 10 days, on the Indo-Burmese border
4. Seen a total solar eclipse
5. Backpacked through Europe for 3 weeks
6. Saw Halley's comet in 1986

Teach, Learn, Share

Formally, I've taught undergraduate and graduate engineering subjects.

Informally: decision-making, creative thinking, learning to see like an artist in right-brained ways, social psychology.

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