Plan B Forum

Stolen from a blog. Have you anything to add?
Natural Highs

1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake. (or vanilla or strawberry!)
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach.
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke.
24. Friends.
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38. Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.

Have you anything to add?

That's a nice list...

I would add:

Looking at the expression on your child's face when they see something they really wanted left by Santa for them on Christmas morning...

the smell of spring rain/ozone

fighting/sports

anytime a child smiles when they see you

A good bowel movement
Walking unaided
A shower (joy!)
Chardonnay

I experienced one of those yesterday evening. It has been a while and I had forgotten just how good it feels.

A national chain bicycle store ran an ad for half off on a general spring tune-up for your bike, ending Feb 27. So I took my bike in and they ran me to the back of the store where the shop area was. First problem, how to describe it on the work order. Let's see, it is a Trek, but what model? and what do you call that color? "Well, it is probably older than you are. I bought it as a bare racing frame in 1976. I think the color is grey." The young man poked around at it, trying to classify it in his own mind with its various components that seemed strange, like the down-tube Campy shifters and the side-pull brakes with a brand he had never seen on a bike--Speidel.

Meanwhile I looked around and saw somebody in the back of the shop at a computer terminal doing paperwork as the shop was closing down. It was 15 minutes before closing time. I looked at the back of his head and could not stop staring. Finally I asked the man looking over my bike "Who is that guy back there?" "Oh that's John." And John looked up, hearing his name and we both went crazy. It was John Wadell, the man who had put the bike together for me with all the best components I could afford. At that time he was the only full-time employee in a bike co-op shop in Newark DE. He laced the wheels after I hand-lapped the bearings in the wheel hubs, with the best spoke pattern we could agree on for my clumsy riding style, with DT SS 16-17-16 front and 14-15-14 rear. I had not seen him in at least 20 years. At that time he and his wife were training for their third ride in a long distance endurance competition for touring bikes in France (must have lights and fenders) on a tandem. His wife was having terrible health problems, possible related to manure on the water bottle while doing training rides in Amish country. Had not seen or heard anything about him since. He was a GREAT bike wrench, learned the traditional way. His father had been a pro bike racer back in the 1930's and won the Tour of Somerville NJ at least once.

We looked over my machine together. Marveling at the things I had changed since John last saw it, and also at the many things that were still the same. Both of us said over and over "It's great to see you." It was. It was truly a natural high to know a great person I knew once were still around, doing what they liked and are good at.

like

Aerobatics
Giving a kid (or adult for that matter) their first airplane ride.
Rounding a curve with a suggested retail of 30 MPH at about 50 in my MGA, and not squealing a tire.
Rounding a curve with a suggested retail of 30 MPH at about 60 on a BMW, and not hitting a patch of sand.
Making a customer really happy with their purchase, and still making a fair profit.

The joyful cacophony of a group of young children at play in a play ground...

Soloing a good route (free climbing to Americans.)
Soaring a paraglider in the same thermal as an eagle.
Bungy jumping or parachuting
Being on a promise for tonight

1. Making it through another day.
2. Waking up the next morning to start all over again.
3. Silver white winters that melt into springs.



I am a simple man with a simple plan.

Burning Petard wrote:I experienced one of those yesterday evening. It has been a while and I had forgotten just how good it feels.

A national chain bicycle store ran an ad for half off on a general spring tune-up for your bike, ending Feb 27. So I took my bike in and they ran me to the back of the store where the shop area was. First problem, how to describe it on the work order. Let's see, it is a Trek, but what model? and what do you call that color? "Well, it is probably older than you are. I bought it as a bare racing frame in 1976. I think the color is grey." The young man poked around at it, trying to classify it in his own mind with its various components that seemed strange, like the down-tube Campy shifters and the side-pull brakes with a brand he had never seen on a bike--Speidel.

Meanwhile I looked around and saw somebody in the back of the shop at a computer terminal doing paperwork as the shop was closing down. It was 15 minutes before closing time. I looked at the back of his head and could not stop staring. Finally I asked the man looking over my bike "Who is that guy back there?" "Oh that's John." And John looked up, hearing his name and we both went crazy. It was John Wadell, the man who had put the bike together for me with all the best components I could afford. At that time he was the only full-time employee in a bike co-op shop in Newark DE. He laced the wheels after I hand-lapped the bearings in the wheel hubs, with the best spoke pattern we could agree on for my clumsy riding style, with DT SS 16-17-16 front and 14-15-14 rear. I had not seen him in at least 20 years. At that time he and his wife were training for their third ride in a long distance endurance competition for touring bikes in France (must have lights and fenders) on a tandem. His wife was having terrible health problems, possible related to manure on the water bottle while doing training rides in Amish country. Had not seen or heard anything about him since. He was a GREAT bike wrench, learned the traditional way. His father had been a pro bike racer back in the 1930's and won the Tour of Somerville NJ at least once.

We looked over my machine together. Marveling at the things I had changed since John last saw it, and also at the many things that were still the same. Both of us said over and over "It's great to see you." It was. It was truly a natural high to know a great person I knew once were still around, doing what they liked and are good at.

Burning Petard, I've been riding on and working on bicycles since the early 1970s myself — in fact, I have a Trek frame from 1977 that is probably the twin sister of yours — but I can honestly say I have never seen a "Speidel" brakeset.  And that "long distance touring ride" where "you must have lights and fenders" sounds like an early edition of the Paris-Brest-Paris randonneur ride.

Regardless, I'm very glad that you and John were able to reconnect.  Coming across long-lost friends or acquaintances (or girlfriends, even if they *ARE* older and married to someone else) after years and years is indeed a natural high.

-"BB"-

Yes, BB that brake set is odd. The Wikipedia entry for the Speidel company says nothing about any bike business. The shop where I bought it said it was quality equal to Campy, but lower price because it was mostly unknown. I got the frame from the local racing team at the end of the season. It was unused because nobody wanted a frame that small--48. Side pulls back then came in two types: The few really expensive ones worked great. All the others just would not stay centered, no matter how you played with the adjustments. I have always gravitated toward the weird. It has a 3 sprocket crank, 48-44-24 because a 24t is the only one that will clear the frame.

here s a link to a discussion of Spidel components at Bikeforum.net...

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... wLlGQuYhCg

wesw wrote:here s a link to a discussion of Spidel components at Bikeforum.net...

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... wLlGQuYhCg

Yeah, after a little more research I also found a few other bits of info under the "SPIDEL" name.

-"BB"-

Get a room, you two. Wait - there is one = Hardware

Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.

Waking up and seeing my beautiful wife next to me.
Taking a snooze in my hammock.
Watching our kids working hard and getting ahead in life.
Going each day not needing/wanting/obsessing about a drink.
Hanging out with our dog.
Hard work (or even "not so hard" work).

Making a prediction and going into the lab and seeing it work.

Fulfilling an obligation.

Being out in nature.

Designing a new molecule and then synthesizing it.

Being with my sweetie all weekend. The love of my life. Key to my soul.

Being impressed with my sister's perception.

Working with my sister to take care of our dad.

Watching all my nephews and niece and friend's kids grow up to be really neat people.

Killing rodents. Mice and Gophers especially. DIE DIE DIE!

Seeing a Green Heron in a place I'd never seen one before.

Feeding carrots to draft horses.

the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F51uHpH3yQk

Puppies, especially retriever puppies.

The periodic table of the elements. Sublime beauty and elegance in nature. (hopelessly geeky but if you know the science you will agree.)

yrs,
rubato