Dr Derek Diedricksen - Humble homes, simple shacks, cozy cottages, ramshackle retreats, funky forts: and whatever the heck else we could squeeze in here (say that ten times fast!)

Derek Alexander Diedricksen, age thirty-four, was born and raised in the seaside town of Madison, Connecticut After graduating from Bostons Northeastern University (Class of 99, Summa Cum Laude), he worked in commercial radio as the evening DJ on the CBS station 104 1 WBCN While simultaneously at WBCN and Northeastern, Dereks comic strip The Warped Zone ran for just under three years in the weekly NU News, and his subsequent strip Slugs, Not Hugs was featured in the well-distributed Boston papers The Weekly Dig and Soundcheck Magazine (RIP) In radio, he has also worked for WJIB, NUs WRBB, the legendary, corporate-free WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts, and the pioneering BostonRadio.com

His work (both art and carpentry/tiny house building) has also been featured in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Bund Pictoral (China), NPR Radio, ReadyMade, Make magazine, Treehugger com, CBS news, Chronicle HD TV (ABC), and on the concert flyers of many bands

(photo by Liz Diedricksen)

Having toured the US a few times in the past, both in bands (Rochester, New Yorks Rail) and as a manager (Bostons Superkollider), he now plays drums in the tribute act Age Against the Machine (www.bostonrage.com), which doubles as the original act Any Given Enemy Theyve recorded and been involved with the WWE, ECW, the Cartoon Networks G.I. Joe, video games, indie movies, and have also contributed music for the Boston Bruins NHL flagship-station broadcasts.

In January of 2009, their recording of WWE wrestler Jack Swaggers arena and television entrance theme Get On Your Knees was selecte by Columbia Records to be part of the CD WWE: The Voices. Volume 9. The CD debuted at number eleven on the worldwide Billboard Top 200 charts. It also debuted as the number one selling CD soundtrack on the globe, and stayed in the charts for close to a month.

More recently in 2010, Derek, alongside songwriting partner Bill Bracken, wrote the lyrics and music to the arena theme Comin To Get You, which features the vocals of Gary Cherone, singer for Extreme and one-time Van Halen frontman.

Derek is now building new mini-structures for episodes of his TV/YouTube show Tiny Yellow House and working on new drawings for another microarchitecture design book.

He very seldom sleeps.

Derek is also an Eagle Scout (Madison, Connecticuts Troop 491) and credits the Scouts with helping along his love of the outdoors, camping, conservation, and carpentry. He comes from a large family of Scouts, as his cousins Neil and Kurt Malek also attained the Eagle rank, and his Brother Dustin achieved the rank of Life.

Derek currently lives about ten miles outside of downtown Boston in the small Massachusetts town of Stoughton with his wife, Elizabeth, and two children (plus one huge dog). He longs to move full-time to the woods of Vermont or Montana, where he would focus on growing his beard and losing his teeth.

For more information about Deeks basement DIY books, appearances, interviews, arm-wrestling challenges, custom work, or just to contact the author/illustrator:

Check out the site www.Relaxshacks.com.

Ideas and photos for future revised editions of this book (or other books) are also welcomed, as are cash, wampum, automobiles, and gifts of the inebriating sort.

Holy crap, that was long!

Take that Woody Harrelson! White, micro-cabin-addicted men can jump! (photo by Bruce Bettis)

Me in the GottaGiddaWaya $100 disaster relief shelter I designed (photo by Bruce Bettis)

The Hickshaw from Tiny Yellow House Episode #1 (photo by Bruce Bettis)

The GottaGiddaWay en route to a Cape Cod Eco Fest (photo by author)

My Backyard Scrap Wood Laboratory/Workshop Site (photo by Bruce Bettis)

My brother Dustin and me in our Vermont cabins loft (photo by Bruce Bettis)

The interior of our Vermont cabin (photo by Bruce Bettis)

The Eco-hab Domehouse (courtesy of Gemma Roe and Aidan Quinn)

The E-den in the U.K. (created by John Tucker, Glastonbury, U.K., www.timbertradesmen.co.uk)

David and Jeanie Stiless vacation hideaway (cabin photo from Cabins: A Guide to Building Your Own Nature Retreat by David and Jeanie Stiles)

The U. B. 30 Treehouse that I built for my brother Dustins thirtieth birthday as a sleep space in the Vermont woods (photo by author)

The Man Town mobile storefront on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border (photo by author)

The Man Town autoparts store in closed mode (photo by author)

A micro-house on wheels: George Crawford's Vardo (photo by George Crawford)

A Hornby Island Caravan (photo by Michelle Wilson)

Bill Youngs Gypsy Coach (photo by Bill Young, Lafayette, CO, GypsyCoach.com)