He learned to live like the homeless: tucked away in his van, quietly hoping campus security didn't notice (they probably were generously keeping an eye on him and his van for his own sake). Seems a stretch to romanticize his lifestyle vis-a-vis Thoreau, who lived in the wilds rather than a parking lot. And he's a long way from Thoreau as a writer:

"During rainstorms, I listened to millions of raindrops drum against the roof and watched them wiggle like sperm down my windows."

Caught between the security guards and the sperm, it seems a bit isolating, nearly paranoid.