CURRENT MISSION

To find my next interesting life path (and: To live a life worth living)

ABOUT ME

I like to start by telling people what it is I enjoy doing, and then tell them what it is I do to actually support what it is I enjoy doing. We most often define ourselves by our work, but I'd prefer to define myself by other things.

I'm a volunteer EMT in a local community, helping me to advance in the world of usefulness from fixing lawnmowers, cars, houses, and anything else I can get my hands on, to making a pass at patching people together in a brief period in their life which is potentially the most traumatic they'll ever experience. It allows me to practice compassion as well as the practical skills of keeping someone alive long enough to get them somewhere with true help.

I'm a photographer, when I have the ambition and spark of creativity. I'm also a writer, and have begun the adventure of recording more and more of my life. I don't blog, and most of my writing is on paper.

I spend a lot of time doing yoga as well, and am currently working through a teach training program. I spend a lot of time on the mat, to find clarity and balance in my life. Don't be surprised if I invite you to a yoga class, or even an AcroYoga jam if you're around on the weekends.

To support myself I work as a Systems Engineer on Unix/Linux/AIX/Solaris systems, and do some software development on the side. I enjoy this as it keeps me sharp and educated, and tests my skills of troubleshooting and problem solving if I allow it to. I try not to do anything I don't enjoy, so I wouldn't be doing it were I miserable. Some days that's a story I tell myself, but most days it's actually true.

I live in a house as an ongoing experiment in self-sufficiency. I'm building a rain-water collection system into the very large and original to the house, cistern in the basement. The water is for the garden in the summer and eventually to feed the outdoor solar shower (which is built and operating). I have a garden which is quite large and I get comments on the size and variety as I work on it in the warm months. I believe it's only half the size it needs to be. I hate lawns..., so it's clover all over!

I have a wood stove for heat, heating the house with the warmth of a sustainable heat source, and my heart and mind with the warm glow and flicker of the firelight in the mornings and nights. I curl up on the couch with a candle for light, and the fire in front of me to read, nap, write, or just stare at the fire. I've been told sleeping in front of the wood stove is the coziest place in the house, and that's where you'll sleep too.

I was born in California, and if you talk with me enough you can catch glimpses of an accent I picked up as a kid before moving to Wisconsin. I went to college, starting in the theatre department as a lighting and sound engineer, moving to the communications department because of my love of photography and becoming a photojournalist, but eventually taking on Philosophy (specifically Environmental Ethics) and Sociology majors, as well as a minor in Peace Studies. All with a focus on sustainability and world conflicts.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm making an attempt to, in a flawed but ever improving manner, to live a live that was worth living, in an ethical and sound manner. Something people can look at and wish they could have done the same. I want to be able to look at my life and say I enjoyed what I'd done, that were I to do it over again, the choices presented would not lead me down the same path twice, but they would create something as interesting as possible.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I love to host. I love community, and having people in my house. Telling stories and looking around at what I have in the house. Sitting by the fire, or staring out at the garden.

Interests

Philosophy (mostly Environmental Ethics), backpacking/canoeing/hiking, wood stoves, environmentalism, useful people, Serenity, writing, listening, talking, tinkering, fixing, stars, lists, EMS/EMT/ambulances, fire trucks, selflessness, veganism, vegetables, gardening, solar power, rain collection, rain showers, the wind, Yoga, AcroYoga

• writing
• books
• photography
• ethics
• cooking
• yoga
• gardening
• clothing
• cars
• blogging
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• backpacking
• canoeing
• communications
• engineering
• sociology
• software
• tourism
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Dark City, Aldo Leopold, Michael Nelson, Kathleen Dean Moore, Crooked Still, Dispatch, Storyhill

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Spent 2 summers in the Boundary Waters as a canoe/backpacking guide, waking up in a sleeping bag each morning and watching the sun set each night. Living from a bag, with only a few pieces of clothing the entire summer, a few books and a journal. Learning to cook on trail over a small stove or open fire, and learning from the kids I was taking on trail. Discovering their flaws as children growing up in a world saturated by media and entertainment, now, for a short time, in a world devoid of almost anything human made, requiring them to entertain themselves with the natural. Knowing this world is covered in the cities from which they would soon return to.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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