CURRENT MISSION

Never take the easy way down the mountain.

ABOUT ME

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
I'm a wandering soul, I left home after high school and since then I have lived in Portland, OR; Maine; Missoula, MT; Christchurch, NZ; Honolulu, HI. Now I am back in Montana settling up some family business before my next adventure. Montana will always be in my heart, but from a young age my parents took me traveling and the wandering bug got me bad. I can't really see myself stopping in one place for more than a few years, but who knows what will happen.

UPDATE
True to form in the last 6 years I have lived in both Hawaii and Montana. I have gotten engaged to Jammie Taylor and we are planning to be married in 2009.
Continuing the central theme we have both quit our jobs and begun traveling in earnest.
We are currently headed to South America for a full continental exposure. Chile, Argentina, Uraguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecaudor and Brazil are on our list so far.
Who knows maybe we will be visiting you soon...

RECENT UPDATE
After traveling the southern continent, specifically Chile, Argentina and Peru (amazing, see www.the-deep-end.com/jmeandm for details) Jammie and I returned to MT in time to get married, pack our stuff and move to Portland, OR. I have started Law School, we have bought a house and so my days of wandering the globe are over (in the short term, obviously I will never give up traveling). We are digging the northwest, loving Portland and living the dream!

RECENT UPDATE
I now find myself in a new country on a new (sub)continent. India! Here for two months in the summer of 2011 for travel, experience, volunteer legal work and everything else this amazing country has to offer.

CURRENT UPDATE
Working as a lawyer for the man is tough! That's why I work in a small firm. My dog comes to work, I commute on my bike, and I have as much fun as I can while still earning a living.
My friends, my wife and I love living in Portland. This town has it all, beer, bikes, babes (in glasses), da beach (altho not a tropical one), mount hood, the forest, and the trees!

PHILOSOPHY

It is tricky to ask a Philosopher about their personal philosophy. Having studied some of the greatest thinkers of history I find it presumptive that I could be put on the same stage as them by calling my outlook "philosophy." I love the writings of Immanuel Kant and Gottfried Leibniz also Nietzsche has written some powerful if misunderstood material. John Searle in the area of cognitive science along with Daniel Dennet has developed some interesting theories on the mind brain relationship.
Personally I love the existential way of thinking of man's place in the universe. I see great positivity and beauty rather than the often portrayed coldness.
For political philosophy I look to the great pillar John Locke whose writings inspired the philosophical underpinnings of the United States of America's constitution, one of the greatest political documents created.
I believe in the light of human reason and the force of conscious intention in a largely mechanistic universe. I have studied astronomy and physics in addition to philosophy and love love using reason and logic to explore the mysteries of the universe.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I like to think that I work to foster goodwill between people. In reality the global issues are too big for just one person. That is why projects like Couchsurfing are so vital. Every person who opens his or her culture to another, or the person receiving that knowledge is one less person who will hurt or kill another for no reason. Myself, I am helping put together a community too, one based on the spread of knowledge. My project, informedPress.info, seeks to empower real people to stand up for the truth. I want to turn each user into a reporter, or a photojournalist or even a film maker to share stories and wisdom with everyone else. There are things going on every day that most people don't hear about, or only hear about once and then the stories go away. These kinds of things can be spoken out for by people right there who can tell everyone else the truth about what is happening.
For my current adventure Jammie and I have started a travel journal site Off The Deep End [http://www.the-deep-end.com]
Other travelers are welcome to document their journeys by visiting the site and signing up for an account.
On a less serious note I am also encouraging awarneness and appreciation of one of the finer things in life: beer and wine. Visit http://www.theliquidiconnoisseur.com for an interactive approach to a world wide wine and beer guide. Use it for reference material or add your own beverage of choice.

I love surfing and hosting travelers. Direct participation in the project is fun and beneficial.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have hosted several CS'ers in Honolulu and had a great experience with each one. I also spent a week traveling on the Big Island and Maui with Casey, Seb, Leo and Dan last year and got to know the forces behind couchsurfing. I also got a chance to meet Jim Stone, he is the ultimate CS'er and spent over a year traveling on CS alone. I have been a frequent host and a part time visitor; that ratio is about to change.
We are preparing to travel for at least four months in South America and couch surf the entire time. Can we do it? Follow along at www.the-deep-end.com.

Recently we traveled in Chile and surfed with a few awesome people in Santiago. Much love to the southern hemisphere.

Recently we traveled in India and met some great people through CS, although we did not manage to surf with anyone due to events beyond our control.

Now we are headed to Germany and looking for hosts...

I just put up this Flag Counter Map. Pretty sweet huh?

Interests

Philosophy, poetry, adventure, love, laughter, friendship, experience, in short LIFE!
As for specifics; i love skiing, especially since I started telemarking, I am super tempted to go for a trip in August to the southern hemisphere for some endless winter. I also try to get out and mountain bike, camp, hike and canoe. Of course life isn't all fun and games, but I do my best.
I am deeply concerned about the the state of the earth, environmentally, politically, socially and culturally. We are living in monumental times; our generation will see war, famine, disease and death. We will also have the opportunity to help, love, share and grow as individuals, communities and world wide like never before. It will be up to each of us to change the world.
I love discourse and debate often to the point that others consider argument. I was trained as a debater and have studied logical and reason so I derive great satisfaction from a more lively discussion that others might call arguments. I assure you I mean no offense.

• animals
• dogs
• fish
• culture
• literature
• poetry
• beauty
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• flying
• traveling
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• canoeing
• camping
• hunting
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• skiing
• astronomy
• business
• history
• journalism
• languages
• law
• logic
• philosophy
• physics
• science
• tourism
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Game of Thrones (and A Song of Ice and Fire), House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, the Lego Movie.
I really love science fiction both movies and books. I am also addicted to TV crime dramas like Law & Order, Bones, Dexter and such. I love cartoons too classic oldies and anime, Ghost in the Shell. I also love Kung Fu movies, but especially the latest crop like Crouching Tiger and Hero and House of Flying Daggers. I love to read and will read anything that can grab my attention; the first book I ever read was the Lord of the Rings. I love everything by Hesse, Hemmingway and Heinlein.
I have been getting into some graphic novels lately especially Alan Moore and Frank Miller's stuff. Obviously the recent movies have been good but the original text of Allan Moore's stuff is fantastic. V for Vendenta and The Watchmen were amazing examples of the graphic novel as an art form.
Most recently I have been working my way through the works of Neal Stephanson: Cryptanomicon and the Baroque Cycle are some of my new favorite books.
Music: The Dead, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Ani Difranco, Ozo Matli, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Sublime, Toots and the Maytals, Ben Harper, BB King, Eric Clapton, The Roots, Pharcyde, J5, De la Soul, anything classic rock, reggae, blues, funk, old school hip hop, classical, you name it. Gnarls Barkclay, Modest Mouse and The Gourds are excellent as well. Basically Rock, Reggae, Bluegrass, Jass, Blues, Hip Hop are all good with me. Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and anything by Pink is not good with me.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

On the Big Island of Hawaii I went night snorkeling in a spot well known for its Manta Rays. Perhaps fifty scuba divers were on the bottom, 25 feet down, and another 20 snorkelers were on the surface. Everyone had dive lights and in the surreal waters we illuminated there were thousands of silver fish, bubbles continuously rising from the scuba divers, and two fifteen foot manta rays flying through the water. It was the most amazing sight I have witnessed.

More recently I have had several occasions to see the new wolf packs living in Yellowstone National Park. These beautiful animals had been mostly wiped out by humans 100 years ago and only in the last decade have they returned because we human actively returned them to their native habitats. This has been one of the most successful rehabilitation efforts of a native species ever. Now that they are getting a foothold certain people want to be able to start killing them all over again. It is disgraceful. Some national recognition cropped up during the 2008 presidential campaign when it was revealed that Gov. Palin, the Republican nominee for Vice President, actively support hunting wolves and even tried to create a $100 bounty for shooting a wolf and bringing in the severed left fore-paw. Luckily even the Alaskan courts put the kibosh on that one. Anyways wolves are great!

Most recently I have seen some incredible things in Chile and Peru. Smoking volcanoes, natural hot springs, Machu Picchu. The world in an amazing place.

visited 25 states (11.1%)Create your own visited map of The World or Triposo world travel guide for Android

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach, Share & Discuss: philosophy, physics, literature, computer networking, cooking, beer and wine and more.

Learn: new cultures, languages, other people's stories that kind of thing

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, United States

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