who is loren bell?

Damn good question. First let's get one thing out of the way: despite the ambiguity of my name, I am reasonably certain I am guy. Beyond that, labels are hard to stick. I travel, I write, I take pictures, I lead groups of strangers on fool's errands into the wilderness, I brew, I bake, I ride, I climb... but I hesitate to put an -er at the end of any of those (especially 'take pictureser,' sounds funny).

I follow my passions whenever feasible, live in the moment as much as possible, and laugh a lot - even when not appropriate.

Currently I am living at a remote research station in the tropical rainforest of Borneo, Indonesia where I am pursuing a graduate degree in ecology, free-lance writing, and chasing gibbons.

and what's with the 270?

Aside being a string of unique numbers (since lbell.com, movingisliving.com and lorenbell.com are all taken (and NOT being used I might add...)) it stands for 270 degrees. West. My entire life has been focused on moving westward - the Rocky Mountains and beyond. Open spaces, rugged peaks, crystal rivers -- high alpine bliss...

Ironically, in my zeal to move westward, I have recently found myself in the Far East where I have been living at a botanical garden in southern China. There, I relentlessly pursued my writing, a possible master's degree, occasional odd jobs, and really bad Mao puns.

Also, 270 degrees means you get almost a full look at my life... but not all. I'm keeping at least 90 to myself.