CURRENT MISSION

Take a short leave (from my senses) from my usual daddy duties.

ABOUT ME

40+ (thinning) long-haired dude. My wife and I only first struck out into the world at 35, when we rented out our house, she took an unpaid leave from her job, and I just left mine, and we ran away to live and travel in Europe for a year. Spent the first 4 months in the flat of a friend of a friend in London, living, seeing the sights, working a little bit. Then 5 months backpacking through Southern and Eastern Europe.

When we got home in 2004 we decided that if we were going to have kids we probably better get cracking, and "BOOM!" pregnant right away. Since then it's been a whirlwind on diapers and scraped knees, as first one son was born in 2005, and another in 2008.

Although I'm glad that we did do a big trip before we had kids, unfortunately it just whetted my appetite and made me regret not having traveled more when I was younger (go! do it while you can!). And while I probably won't be able to get away for any big trips again any time soon, I'm hoping that maybe I can still manage some getaways via Couchsurfing.

PHILOSOPHY

"We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine"
-Men Without Hats (a great Canadian band)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Haven't yet been able to host because 2 small kids + too small house does not really equal room for visitors.

But I do like showing off my city to visitors, so maybe in the future, when the boys or the house are bigger.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed a few nights on my own in Germany in 2011. Then in Maine and Vermont that summer with my family on a road-trip.

Interests

Writing, photography, cycling, travel, social justice, promoting awareness of at-home dads.

• writing
• photography
• dancing
• traveling
• cycling
• backpacking

Music, Movies, and Books

Matrix, Monty Python, Monsters Inc. ...Broad-ranging tasted in movies. Generally I like smart, funny, or character-driven movies, but have a peculiar affinity for cheesy war movies and Dirty Harry when the mood takes me.

Never got on the MP3 bandwagon so I think my newest CD is 10 years old. I like old-school alternative/punk/hardcore, some 80's cheeze, nice vocalists like Sarah McLaughlin, etc.

As stay-at-home dad to 2 little boys, I have been plumbing the (shallow) depths of the the sub-sub-sub genre of memoirs written by stay-at-home dads. The last couple of books I actually made it through were: "Housebroken" by David Eddie, and "Alternadad" by Neal Pollack.
Otherwise, I'm more interested in non-fiction, or genre fiction than high-falutin' literary fiction.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My wife and I climbed partway up the side of the volcano on the Sicilian island of Stromboli, and as the winter sun quickly fell, watched as it spewed out glowing boulders of lava that rolled down the black slag slope of the volcano, into the Mediterranean below.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have successfully wired in a new light fixture, replaced a sink, and installed a kitchen faucet I rescued from the garbage. I'm not really "handy," but I'm learning.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, United Kingdom