CURRENT MISSION

I want to open my house to fellow travelers, to meet new people from other places and other countries. I have been a guest of many people in my travels in Europe and Asia and would like the fun to continue here at home.

ABOUT ME

I'm an artist, craftsman, musician, and sometimes writer. Much of what I have to say about myself is included in the rest of my profile. I'm a single middle aged dude who still has a keen interest in life, and loves to mix with people of all ages. My closest friends are people in their 20's and 30's, which I tend to think, keeps me thinking and acting young. I love to be in the company of compelling young people.

I'm fit and trim, and like to stay pretty active. I'm big on culture, and knowledgeable on many subjects. My education is a never ending process. I read constantly, and enjoy both good literature and non-fiction alike. I love conversation and can find interesting topics for discussion with almost anyone I meet.

I'm GLBT friendly, and love to be around people who are uninhibited about who they are.

I have a house in the City, but it's located on a hillside at the end of a dead end road and is surrounded by woods. The state college is at the top of the hill above my house. It's a beautiful private spot. I have two spare bedrooms, so the question of a "couch" would probably never need arise.

PHILOSOPHY

I love people, though I definitely have a bias towards people who are cool, open-minded, caring of others, and who have a live and let live philosophy.

Politically I'm on the far left and think that the USA is currently on the wrong track. Need I say more? Let's bring the jobs back home, and give working people a fighting chance.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Mmm, not sure what this means, but let's just say I like visitors and enjoy showing them around this beautiful place- especially in the "nice" months, but not exclusively. Winter can be fun too.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Let's face it, I've been couch-surfing halfway around the world, But I'm new to the "Couch-Surfing" organization. I have always wanted to open my house to travelers, but until I found this site, I had only been able to do it by giving my address and phone numbers to foreign friends such as the exchange students at the local colleges. This way they could pass it on to their friends and colleagues who might be wanting to visit here. I've had several people from France and the UK come to visit in this way.

I recently hosted 16 Bicyclists traveling cross country on their way from San Francisco to Amherst, and had the time of my life. I made so many wonderful friends in that group.

Interests

I love music and have been involved in the Oneonta music scene, on and off, for many years My former band even had a couple of "college radio" hits. So concerts and other musical events (even opera and ballet) are often on my list of things to do.

Aside from that, I like hiking, camping, and still do a little biking. I enjoy skiing and boating too, but rarely get to do that much these days.

I travel as often as possible, and love the mountains and the ocean; couldn't live without one or the other. Since the turn of the last century, I've been to London, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice (and the Maritime Alps), Dublin, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Lisbon and Porto, Florence Rome, Napoli, Sicily and the nearby volcanic islands, Seville, Cadiz, and Cordoba in Spain, and spent several weeks touring Morocco as far as the Sahara Desert., I should add that I don't just visit cities, but often use them as a base for touring the places in between. Previously I spent a year in India and Nepal, many months in Greece, a Month in Turkey and even got to see Afghanistan and Iran before all the wars and hostilities. Oh and I shouldn't forget my favorite nearby foreign city. Montreal! I haven't been there in a while, but I LOVE it, and have had some dear friends there.

I can communicate reasonably well in French, speak halfway decent German, and am almost fluent in Swiss dialect. I lived in Basel Switzerland for several years, which is where I trained in stained glass with a third generation master.

I have a sports car (Miata) for summer use, and I have to admit that it's been an all-consuming hobby for the last 11 years. I'm very active on the Miata forums, and have become an expert of sorts on these cars.

I'm definitely a foodie, I have a small (shady :() garden where I grow organic garlic and summer vegetables. My closest friend is an organic farmer with a very successful farm/business, and I love to go there and help out whenever time permits. I'm an on again off again vegetarian, and have been an advocate of pure healthy diet since I was working my first job in NYC, as the art director of a popular rock-music publication. I have a tendency to gravitate toward other foodies, but if I like someone, I keep my food prejudices in reign, lol.

Film is one of my top interests, and I'm kind of like a walking encyclopedia on the history of film back to the silents. Movies are my guilty pleasure and I try to watch one a day.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• literature
• acting
• concerts
• ballet dancing
• education
• dining
• vegetarian
• dieting
• walking
• gardening
• boating
• movies
• traveling
• cars
• drawing
• music
• opera
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• skiing
• sports
• track and field
• business
• teaching
• history
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I was not just a Gore Vidal fan, I was a devotee. Burr and Julian were among my favorite books of all time. Myra Breckenridge was ironically my intro to Vidal. After reading Burr, I became interested in American history, and read every book I can about Aaron Burr, a great American founding father, whose name has been sullied for two centuries.

Likewise I have always loved the work of Kurt Vonnegut, with Slaughterhouse 5 and Cat's Cradle being standouts for me. He's what drew me to visit Dresden.

I'm currently reading "My Name Is Red" a book about Renaissance=period Istanbul, and just finished a Biography of Catherine the Great, as well as one about the last days of the Romanov's. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy initially got me interested in Russian History, and it seems I know more about it than my Russian buddy, haha.

I have a definite weakness for fantasy and sci-fi as well, and as you may have guessed from my love of Gore Vidal,, historical fiction is probably my favorite subject, especially the well researched stuff based on real people and actual events. Stories about ancient Greece and Rome are among my favorites.

I love books on history in general, but am especially captivated if there are characters and a plot set into it. "The Name of the Rose," is a great example. Gore Vidal's chronicles of American history such as "Burr", "Washington DC," and "Lincoln" are other good examples.

In any event, I try to read every book that comes highly recommended to me, and even read book reviews sometimes to make sure I don't miss out on anything "great" while still making sure to fit in stuff like some Dickens, Shakespeare, or Austen that I might have missed along the way.,

Movies... I'll try to be brief.I think Brazil might be a better movie than Citizen Kane, which always bothered me for it's cruel depiction of Marion Davies, who was by all accounts a very sweet lady.

I love the personalities of the silver screen, Louise Brooks, Joan Crawford, Gretta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Ginger Rogers, etc, and still occasionally watch Busby Berkley musicals.

I enjoy a lot of the Hollywood fare of late and I find great CGI such as in Avatar and Titanic to be thrilling.

Recent favorites include "Love Songs" (Chansons D' Amour) a beautiful musical with great all-star French Cast, and "Were the World Mine," ironically also a musical, based on "A Midsummer's Night Dream." I try to catch all the good French, Italian and other European releases that don't come around here, and for that Netflix is my best friend. It has allowed me to catch up on almost every great film that was ever on my bucket list... and yes, I love Truffaut. My current idol is Xavier Dolan a 24 year-old writer, producer, director, and actor - of extraordinary good looks, I might ad.. He is at the forefront of the French Canadian new wave, and his movies are OUTSTANDING

Music... I was recently introduced to Streetlight .Manifesto, and they are my current favorite band. I recently saw Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, and Cake and they were three of the best concerts I've ever seen. Just saw Cohede and Cambria, a progressive Metal band (not really my style, but I loved them anyway).

Other current favorites on my Pandora channels include Brian Eno, The Shins, They Might Be Giants, Modest Mouse, the Pogues, David Bowie (old stuff), Talking heads, Elliot Smith, Radio Head, Green Day, Donovan, Pentangle, Magnetic Fields, Mumford and Sons, The Specials, the Toasters,Butthole Surfers, XTC, White Stripes, Bayside, the Postal Service, Deer Tick, and so on.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The most amazing thing I did was to trek the Himalayas alone from near Kathmandu almost to the base camp of Mount Everest. The experience would have taken a book to fully recount, and the plane ride back to Kathmandu was almost as exciting.

In total I spent a year in India and Nepal, and about four months in Afghanistan before the wars. I've probably spent about six months in Greece, and lived in Switzerland for about four years.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd love to learn Photoshop a bit better, and I would like to learn more about computer drawing programs. I've seen some for Stained Glass that do an amazing job of simplifying intricate geometric patterns and designs.

I might be willing to help out aspiring young stained glass enthusiasts with some projects, tips, etc. That would be open to discussion.