CURRENT MISSION

Studying chemistry, biology, and other awesome things

ABOUT ME

I'm a rather tall, thin (skinny?), athletic sort who is by nature rather prone to coffee drinking and thinking. However, as the realities of post-university life closed in (I was planning on law school throughout my formative liberal arts education, which left me rather un-employable after I decided that living was more interesting than torts, paper-work, and 70 hr work-weeks), I decided that my best bet was the profession I had inherited from my father...carpentry. I went up to Alaska for a couple of years to make some good money for investment back in Coeur d' Alene (one of the nicest places to live in the States). I have a very international family (rather by accident)...my sister (26) is a nurse in China, my other brother (23) is in the Coast Guard, and my youngest brother (17) just got back from hanging out in Brazil for 6 months. We have 6 languages so far in our family, so if you swing by when all of us are home, we'll probably have a good shot at communicating with you in your native language! My mom and dad met on a chairlift 30 years ago, and despite having such wild children, have remained happily together. I dream about opening a hostel in South America somewhere (Uruguay or Argentina) with my best friend Jesse (or maybe we'll start a travel business there). He has amazing business acumen, strong personal integrity, and a great sense of sarcastic humor (he's a Brit born with the wrong passport).

PHILOSOPHY

Do something everyday that makes you uncomfortable (talk to girls if you feel shy, jump off the highest diving board if you don't like heights, eat that rubbery-looking thing on your plate when you're in Bangkok, etc). Take responsibility for your actions, keep your death in mind when you're tempted to make a stupid decision. Smoking only kills you if you live a long time--cars are much more dangerous and harmful to the environment. It's OK to watch Friends if none of your friends catch you.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've had four couch-surfers, and it was so much fun I'd like to start hosting and surfing more!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosting some cool people, and meeting up with some other surfers!

Interests

Languages! Traveling! Meeting New People! Reading(college kind of curbed my reading habits, but I'm getting back into it for fun), Religion, Skiing, Hiking, SCUBA diving, Currency Trading, The Office (TV show), Fluffy Pancakes (impossible to find outside North America), Coffee, Mate (a beverage I discovered in Argentina), Wine, Beer, Good Cigars, Long walks on the beach (ahem, is this getting too long?)

• fish
• arts
• education
• environment
• wine
• beer
• coffee
• drinking
• flying
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• cars
• fishing
• hiking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• skiing
• biology
• business
• chemistry
• teaching
• languages
• law
• nursing
• religion
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies...I'm a movie geek...I really like almost anything original...My recent most favorite is Lost in Translation (I'll watch anything with Bill Murray), and all of the Wes Anderson movies (the last was Life Aquatic)
Books...anything by: Milan Kundera, C.S. Lewis, Ben Elton, Herman Hesse (cliché, yes, but still great).
Music: Johnny Cash, Old-School Rock, Christian Praise Music, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Tom Petty (for road music)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've crossed the Pacific on a Russian cargo ship on my way to Australia in 2001...we passed through a rough storm off the coast of New Zealand, went through a school of flying fish, and had the ones that landed aboard for dinner the next day.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: I am a journeyman carpenter with a lot of experience, I like building and creating new things...I'd love to help build or teach you how.
Learn: I'm very interested in new languages, and any that you know would be a pleasure to learn!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Switzerland, United States

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