Bob

There are lots of hurdles to this goal, but it’s something that I want to do purely because it would be cool. Beyond the needed fitness level, logistics, and time, a significant problem is going to be that biking on the over seas highway (key bridge) is not allowed. I’m wondering if it will be possible to gain the required approvals to make this happen? Looks like I’ll need to write a few letters to various state and local officials.

While I try to plan out a route and target a timeframe for this adventure, I think I’ll start looking for some more local long distance trips I can bike to get prepared. The B&O canal looks pretty attractive…

I played as a kid for about a year. I never really learned to read sheet music, but could listen to something then play it back. I’m lazy, so I quit because I didn’t want to put in time practicing. If I remember correctly, my piano teacher cried when she finally realized she wasn’t going to be able to convince me to keep with it.

It’s one of those things that I’d like to get back to now that I’m older. It would we fun to try my hand at learning to read music now and seeing if I can even play the simplest of tunes. This will probably stay back burner for awhile as I have no space in my house for a piano.

I will always contend that nothing sounds better than a properly tuned concert grand piano…

I’m relatively mellow by nature, and it generally takes a lot to get me excited. But that doesn’t me there isn’t room for work here. I’m one of those personalities that is governed by logic and pretty much sees the world from the emotionless black and white point of view. Given that, logic is my weapon of choice. I can debate a topic just as passionately as anyone else, and absolutely annihilate their feelings along the way. (Hurt feelings, discredited emotions, etc. just don’t play into the equation for me)

When I have to deal with someone who is responding emotionally to whatever situation they are currently facing, that’s when I start to get fired up. Generally I want to tell these people to take their feelings and lay down in front of a train. So my goal is going to be to change my instinctual response such that I can stay mellow and relaxed even when dealing with these types of people.

Changing your base personality is almost impossible so I’m going to start small. For now I’m going to focus on my relationship with my wife. (She has a much more emotionally driven personality than I) There are times when we’ll get angry with each other over something stupid. Generally, it’s probably because I discredited her emotional response to something, she reacted defensively, and it escalated from there. So I’m going to try and knock that crap off. Even if I’m marginally successful, making a great relationship even better will be a tremendous win.