CURRENT MISSION

Keep on learning, living, and loving. (That sounds a little lame -- I'll revisit this mission description.)

ABOUT ME

We love to travel, and love to meet travelers to Chicago. Some of our favorite trips have been to places that many Americans don't think of visiting, like Syria & Lebanon. We try to include adventure in our travels: I've climbed the Grand Teton, Jebel Toubkal, and Mount Kinabalu, hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, bungee jumped at Victoria Falls, rafted the Zambezi, gone skydiving, and have scuba dived various sites, including Cozumel, the Philippines, the Red Sea, Thailand, and Tobago. In Belize we went caving in Actun Tunichil Muknal; in Costa Rica we enjoyed ziplining; and in Argentina we went rafting and paragliding near the Andes.

Cathy was an actress before beginning her legal career. Lately she's renewed her theatrical connection as the costume designer and seamstress for local performances of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Guys & Dolls, and The Music Man -- in all of which our son won parts.

I recently organized a Dads' basketball group at our son's school and I and my fellow players have not only played a lot of basketball but also funded school improvements, including replacing antiquated backboards with good glass backboards and rims.

PHILOSOPHY

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We will participate both as guests and hosts.

Interests

history, travel, regional food & drink, basketball, tennis

• design
• dining
• drinking
• traveling
• music
• spelunking
• scuba diving
• bungee jumping
• skydiving
• basketball
• tennis
• paragliding
• history
• law

Music, Movies, and Books

As part of preparation for taking our 3rd grader on road trip, I recently read Lies Across America, in which historian James Lowen discusses the stories that are told -- and not told -- at historic sites across the U.S. My favorite flick in the last year or so was The Invention of Lying. The lying theme is coincidence. My son and I are currently enjoying reading the Harry Potter books together. My wife likes David Bowie, The Ramones, and Liz Phair (older Liz Phair), but she's more likely to listen to NPR than to music. Our son likes to listen to hard rock and rap, and he enjoys watching anime (Bleach, Detective Conan, One Piece, Inuyasha, and more). My long-time musical favs are Led Zep and Bob Marley; currently I'm digging Bettye LaVette.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Grenada, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, United States

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