CURRENT MISSION

Make sure people keep their bicycle tires properly inflated

ABOUT ME

A drunk Argentine once told me I had tango in my soul.

Hi folks, I'm a graduate student at Caltech (well, now ETH-Zuerich) exploring the wild and wonderful world of that popular desk-toy, Newton's Cradle. Seriously. When not deep in my subbasement lab, you can find me at one bike co-op or another (ran one, helped advise the creation of another, aperiodically wander by a third for good measure), playing music, watching strange movies, making dinner, or doting over my cats.

PHILOSOPHY

Moderately existentialist, moderately scientific rationalist.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Mostly to meet fellow compatriots in a new area. (This site was a lifeline in Hampton, VA).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My friends have had considerable success with this thing, and so I've finally sat down and created my own profile.

I've generally tended to go for friends or friends-of-friends when out travelling, but I'm more than happy to meet new people.

Interests

Eating strange foods from Hong Kong Market, playing Jazz piano and accordion, fixing bicycles and occasionally riding them, solitons in all their marvelous formulations.

• cats
• tango
• dining
• cooking
• movies
• traveling
• music
• jazz
• piano
• cycling

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Hiromi, Hazmat Modine, Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, Frank Zappa, Osvaldo Golijov, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Royal Crown Revue, Philip Glass, Gershwin, Django Reinhardt, Threepenny Opera, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, radio shows by Firesign Theatre

Books:
Discworld, Cat's Cradle, The Master and Margarita, Candide, The Plague, most anything by Umberto Eco and Mark Twain, Godel Escher Bach, Guns Germs and Steel, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Teach, Learn, Share

Knowledge I offer:
How to play the accordion, cooking middle eastern food, quantum mechanics and topology.