Tuesday, August 26, 2008

On Getting Married

People often ask me if I feel any different since I got married. My answer is always, yes. Very different.

Before marriage I felt a tremendous love for Elise, but now it's a new kind of love. A much deeper caring, almost a longing-for-more kind of love that I have not experienced before. It's really great. We have now committed ourselves, in front of God and everybody, to each other for the rest of our days. That is something that just can't be done lightly. We can feel that commitment every day.

We've (Elise and I) discussed how there is now a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders regarding the whole thought of and dread, at least on our parts, of not finding "the one", and thankfully we don't have to date again, because dating sucks. You are either looking for someone to be with, or you are in that "in between relationships" gray area. But now that we don't have that worry we now have a whole new set of worries or stresses regarding the other person in our lives. How are they feeling today? How is their life, job, school, relations with others going? When you get married there is a lot of change, most of it good.


Things change right away. Directly after the ceremony it was all "Wow. We got married!" Which soon became, "I can't believe we got married." To now, a little over a month, "Yep, we're married alright." My friend Gil once said about newlyweds (really I think he meant anyone married for less time than he and his wife) "They haven't been married long enough to hate each other." Hm, okay... I'll take your word for it Gil. I, uh, can't wait? Maybe he is just tired of working at his marriage.

What I have been hearing a lot is how difficult a marriage is. Another friend, Victor, says that "You've got to treat it like a part time job. You have to work at it." That I can understand. Just think of all the big things in life that people in your life do for you and how that can effect your life. Then just think how all those small things that you do effect another person every single day of their lives. So you have to be cognizant of these things and try to minimize them. Communication (I hear it all the time) is the key. So, thank goodness Elise and I are very open and discuss all kinds of things in our lives and we try to let the other person know our feelings as best we can. It's better to say it and discuss it than to let it fester and become anger. The good thing about Elise and I is that we like to talk to each other. We have become very best friends.

I know that my wife (heh, it's still fun to say) are not the only ones who are having or have had, new feelings and emotions regarding marriage and the new bond between us. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Wearable Motorcycle

I am hopeful that we will start seeing many new innovations based on personal mobility. With the price of gas up over two dollars since 2007 we can only hope that all of those tinkerers and forward thinkers out there will bring to market new, interesting, and really cool products.

This product just blows my mind. A wearable motorcycle suit!


It's almost like an Anime motorcycle made real. The look of it reminds me of the Alien creature too.

Right now I'm thinking about all the different types of ways that we (I'm thinking U.S. citizens here) have available to get around: walk, bicycle, recumbent bikes, electric bikes, 3 & 4 wheeled electric bike and chairs, skateboard, motorcycle, 4 wheeled gasoline vehicle car/SUV/truck, electric car, electric "motorcycle" and scooters, etc. and so forth. But with all of these options we are still overwhelmingly attached to our beloved cars.

I recently (say, 4 months ago) looked into getting an electric car. Not a hybrid. A 100% electric vehicle. The major issue that I had/have is that these vehicles are meant for city driving. Not long distance. The maximum distance that I found, at the time, was slightly over 200 miles. Then it would need to charge for 6-10 hours. However since most of my driving is commuting to work, which is about 20 miles round trip, I can see getting an electric vehicle.

Now if only we could count on our electrical grid.