Thursday, April 24, 2008

Ah, so my memory IS playing tricks with me!

I just recently read this article here. In case you don't want to read it, it's about why people make the same mistake 2, 3, 4, multiple times. Basically if something is at the tip of your tongue, and your brain is struggling to remember what it is, then your brain learns the "wrong pathways" to the answer, rather than learning it the right way so you'll remember things the next time. (even the next day).

This is something I struggle with occasionally, like trying to remember a person's name, I wind up having to go through a bunch of names... "Harry? no, Tom? no, Bill? no.... Ummm... Oh yeah, hi Chuck!" Something along those lines. And it happens the same way the next time I see him. Or try to remember a book, or the definition of a Hebrew word, etc.

They offer a possible solution, once you know the right answer, say it (either out loud or mentally) over and over to beat the new pathways in your brain. I'll report back and let you know if it works... If I can remember the password to post to the blog that is...

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

So long...

I accomplished part A of my plans to get a new bike, selling my old one. I put an ad in the Concours Owners Group forum, and got a few hits. The first person tried to negotiate the price of the bike down from my asking price (and I had already knocked about 1/3 of the price off the Blue Book value because I knew of, and was honest about the damage). I told him thanks, but I'll see if others are interested. The next day I received a very excited email from a person in Tennessee. We conversed by email a few times, then he left TN Saturday night, drove up all the way here and got here Sunday morning. He checked the bike out, rode it for about a minute, came back and told me I had a deal. I signed the title over to him, he paid me in cash, and we loaded the bike up in his truck. Oy, I've only loaded my bike onto my (pretty low) trailer (see here for an example). Getting it all the way up the ramp onto the truck was hard work! But we got it done. Whew! I took one last picture just before he left.


I tried to keep away any anthropomorphic feelings. The bike worked well for 10 years, but after the drop I had last year, I realized I wanted to get a bike that was lower to the ground. Now I get to do some serious shopping! :-)

However, I will probably not be riding to the Ride to Remember this year. When I do get a new (or new to me) bike, I want to take the time to get the know and get comfortable with the bike. Starting off with a 2,500 round trip journey seems like a rush. I will be there though, just via airplane.