CURRENT MISSION

My Aunt is in Melbourne, Florida, USA. Done right, I can take a four day weekend visit and only use one vacation day, but I also want to see Miami Beach and hook up with a friend in Daytona, but 200+ miles of driving and 3 destinations is toough in 4 days

ABOUT ME

So I've been taking this salsa dancing class in Long Beach once a week. Only thing is, this sh!t is hard! The structure of the class is very blasé and non-chalant, which is conducive to someone who wants an informal - but effective - intro into the dance. The problem is that if you keep going, you'll quickly reach a plateu after which progression is very minimal. I need a class that builds on the previous week's lesson; I don't want to relearn 80% of what I learned the session prior. I need to find another class and make this one the supplement.

PHILOSOPHY

Push it to the limit. When the limit pushes back, push some more. Everything is relative, humans are relative. If you live in a noisy inner city you grow accumtomed to the loud, clamorous sounds. If you live in the wilderness a single chirping cricket may be enough to disturb your sleep. Take a step back and look at the big picture. If you're in front of a computer, perusing this site and having millions of others accessible to you, you're luckier than thousands of people on this earth. You don't really have problems until you have health problems. Not having a shiny car is no big deal (yes, I own a BMW but I bought it used for a very good price). Superficiality will only get you so far, and it only makes you pretentios.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I don't think I know enough about this option yet. I'm thinking something like sentences, though. Creative expressions ... yeah I can do that.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'd say the closest that I've come to couchsurfing in the past few years is sleeping in a car that I rented when I went to Vegas a few months back. I mean, I drove there with my friend for the night and partied late only to drive back the next day. Why should I have bothered with a hotel? I have a friend out there, but he was leaving for Hawaii the next day so we didn't want to impose. It was fine sleeing in a compact economy automobile, but my friend was puking his guts out. I think it was harder for him.

Interests

Cars. I know that's pretty general and it may initially seem like a blanket excuse for what is supposed to be an honest expression. However, I bought a BMW about 8 months ago and, being someone that likes to tinker, it's always on my mind. What should I mod next? Should I get the Euro dashboard? Aftermarket brakes or OEM? How dark should my tint be? Now that I think about it, I guess I'm pretty humanitarian (albeit this is not realated to or stemming from the previous diatribe about my car). I'm a vegetarian and I'm interested in Linguistics, but that's not to say I'm at all knowledgable on the subject. I play tennis and I like to think I'm a hiker.

• design
• dancing
• salsa dancing
• vegetarian
• cars
• hiking
• cricket
• tennis
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

"Goonies," "Super Troopers," and for some reason I'll watch "La Bamba" like 5 times a year, which if you think about - really think about it - is a lot.

Wu Tang Clan, Mos Def, Binary Star, Jay-Z, Nas, Canibus, Arilio Diaz, Paul Hardcastle. Pretty much if it's underground Hip-Hop, cheesy smooth Jazz, or classical guitar, I'm in!

"Stupid White Men," "Dude, Where's My Country," "The Pig Who Sang To The Moon," "Hydrology, 3rd Ed."

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've been to the Philippines. I want to go back. Back "home," as my mother would put it.

Teach, Learn, Share

San Bernardino County in southern California is the biggest county in the lower 48. It's bigger than a handful of states. That's right - states. It's developing very rapidly and due to my profession I'm very much involved. I don't just do Hydrology studies. I don't just design flood control basins and storm drains. I can see part of a bigger picture that involves, urbanization, societal changes, and the limiting factors in California's recent phenomenal growth.