When I was in high school, I liked to pretend that I was a Russian foreign exchange student. I would do things like go into a pizza restaurant and tell them Id never had pizza before, and theyd bring me into the kitchen and show me how to make an American pizza. Its really fun.

I am passionate about tea, running, the idea that we are bound only by the limits of our imaginations, and maple syrup.

Helping others pulls us out of our own problems. And so does dressing up like frogs and playing leap frog in a Starbucks. Who would've known.

I think participating in "Gishwhes" is a crash course in facing our fears: people go to crowded shopping malls wearing scuba gear, order from a fast food restaurant in Shakespearean verse or jump out of airplanes among many other tasks.

I want to live in a world where 'normal' is an insult.

I've been a river kayaker for a long time and I've done quite a few trips. I like kayaking and I like canoeing. I don't really like being on yachts or sailboats or cruise ships. I don't like anything that's large and not human-powered.

I paid my way through college as a carpenter and a woodworker. So I've built the house I live in and most of the furniture that's in it, and I do a lot of woodworking still.