I’ve been reading some books about neuroscience this past week. I’m truly amazed at the complexity of the human brain. When Ed and I were living together, I would sometimes help him study by reading his flash cards to him so he could repeat and elaborate on terms, diseases, or whatever he was studying. In some of his microbiology classes, he talked about a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. At the time I had no idea what this was, but he repeated the word in many of his definitions. The latest book I’m reading has almost three chapters dedicated to acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter. I’m not going to say learning this is easy. I have to look up about every fifth word in the glossary. It’s getting better as I’m starting to see the same words over and over.

It’s funny, all these years I’ve known about histamine blockers, glycine, and other inhibitory conditions, but I’ve never known how they work. I’m psyched to finally be learning this! It’s always amazed me in the back of my mind, in fact I once wanted to major in psychology, but I never really followed through. I’m an engineer at heart. I’m a problem solver.

Human thought has always intrigued me. I said it a lot, but I’ve never really elaborated on it. It amazes me that two people can go through the same thought process and come out to two different conclusions. Think of a calculator. You type in 132 + 104 and hit enter. Every time you do this, the calculator comes up with 236, no matter which calculator you use. No matter how you splice a computer, it always does the same thing. Humans are not like that. We come through different outcomes based on how our brain translates information, and everyone is different! You take two people and give them a problem, they will likely go about solving it in two different ways.

I guess the fact that we don’t know very little about neuroscience is what fascinates me most. It’s a field of discovery and intrigue!

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So I’ve been playing around with the idea of taking a minor in psychology for a while. I think I’ve decided in taking a minor in psychology with a focus in cognition. I think this will be a great little addition to my degree. I don’t want to start in biomedical engineering, but I would like to eventually pursue a degree in biomedical, whether it’s a masters or just another bachelors. I was looking at the course selection and it looks like it only adds an extra 60 or so credit hours to the work load. That shouldn’t be too bad.

I’m going to go ahead and buy a new bike next week. Nothing too fancy, just a cheap $100 bike to get me going on this new exercise regiment. I’m thinking about trying to roller-blade or biking one day, then a cardio work out the next. I know very little about cardio workouts, so I’m going to be doing a little research at what will be the easier-to-start workouts so I don’t feel too overwhelmed the first few weeks. I’m tired of being fat and out of shape. I hit a high at 250 about nine months ago. I’m back down to 220 now, but I want to be under 200 by July. I can already feel a a gap starting to unfold between my belt and my stomach. That’s a start, but damn it! That’s not good enough! Like I said, I was to be at a 34 waist before I go and see Matt.

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So I’m thinking about taking a small vacation to beautiful California here in June or so. Matt’s been bugging me to get out there for almost 4 years now, and I think I might just hit him up on that offer.

So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be trying to get somewhat in shape. Trying to drop down to a 34 pant size before I go. I think that is manageable. I’ve been trying to roller-blade, but I get wore out way too fast anymore. I’ve not really roller-bladed for longer than a few hours in a couple of years, so I just need to get used to the workout again. I’m thinking of buying a bike so I can start working on getting back in shape a little at a time. I also need to get some new wheels. The old ones are still good, but I need some harder wheels. The ones I have now are just too soft, so they make skating difficult. I’m going to try slow, about 5 miles every other day, and try to tack on an extra mile or two a week. I’m hoping to get back to 25 miles a session by July 1st. We’ll see how this goes.

As some may know, I am single once again. That might be one reason I’m starting to blog again. It seems after we split up, I was reinvigorated to blog again. We both left on good terms. The relationship was just not working, so we went our separate ways. I learned quite a bit during this relationship, but I would like to leave this behind me. I can’t say I am over the relationship, but this is what’s good for both of us.

Matt, I’m coming to finally see you. No more excuses! You need to show me all of California!

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Thinking is the one thing in this world that can never be taken from you. It’s always there to be your friend. It’s always there to laugh at you when you do something stupid. Thought is what makes us human.

I just feel like thinking today. That’s all. Just a day of thinking. Has anyone ever had one of those days? This is something one of my professors from Ohio State got me doing on a pretty regular basis. It’s amazing how much you can perceive by thinking about every day topics. How much things make sense and how much things don’t make sense. Understanding, this is what drives me. Well, here’s to thinking!

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