I have to move some stuff this weekend and will be renting a van to do so. Made me think about all the vehicles I’ve driven in the last year or so…

Saturn SL2 sedan – my everyday, 4 door car with roof rack and many miles on it. Tires are a little worn now so I got stuck in a snow bank the other day… Sips oil so I always have a few quarts in the trunk. She’s been with us for many good years – 177,000+ miles so far…

Saturn VUE – former family SUV. Great for loading up the snowboards and a few friends. Many family trips in this baby.

Mercury Marquis with all the bells & whistles – drove home from Columbus OH and now in our stable. A big soft cushion on wheels.

Honda Civic Si, five speed – fun little go cart! I could have gotten into trouble with this one! All weather tires on this made it a little squishy in the turns – now I see (feel) first hand why folks use the low profile tires. Stiff sidewalls.

Nissan Altima – this was a nice car. We rented it to drive to/from Columbus OH. Push button to start car (?), lots of power, nice ride and responsive.

Rusty ole Chevy Blazer – not driven too far because our 1976 Lightning sail boat and trailer were hitched to it, the trailer tires were shot (still are) and there’s no wiring for the lights. Oh, and it wasn’t registered….

Chevy Astro van OR GMC version of the same – drove my mom’s husband around north Jersey to help him out after he had broken his pelvis skiing (unfortunately, early in the season!).

As I think further back, the list (like many other folks, no doubt) grows even longer. Ford F350 dualie crew cab with 30ft goosneck trailer in tow while working with Team Jamis / NJ-Chicago & back a few times, LA to NYC. 4WD Pick Up with a snow plow. 1969 Chevy Nova (my first car!). Several different Toyota Tercels including my all time favorite car, my 1985 Tercel (245,000 miles – original clutch). Saab 95s and 96s (four speed on the column!). Volkswagen Beetle. Team Jamis box truck as well as several rentals for moving. Ford van as well as other rental vans for moving — which brings back to the start of this post.

What’s the point of listing all the different vehicles I’ve driven?

When I was a kid and my dad was teaching me how to drive he wanted me to learn stick shift. His reasoning was that if I was ever offered the opportunity to drive a Jeep or had to move someone’s car for some reason, that I’d be able to do it.

Simple logic. Like knowing how to focus your own camera and set the shutter speed before you grab a point and shoot = makes you a better photographer.

There are a million of people out there that have similar ideas – shifting your bicycle without indexing shifters comes to mind. Web project management people knowing basic code is another.  I’m sure there’s a musician’s version of this same reasoning.

Regardless, point is that knowing how things work fundamentally and how to work them makes you better at using them. You are able to extend that knowledge and apply it – here and elsewhere.

The simple way (automatic transmission, auto focus, etc.) may be easier and get you  similar results but I believe that you are a better driver, photographer, cyclist, musician, project manager IF you know more about how things are done and how to do them.

You don’t need to focus your own camera or code your own widgets but more understanding, more knowledge, more experience makes you more effective.

We had a few surf sessions but at our first, my mentee and I  had some difficulty arriving on time. We had to be at the beach by 9:30am which meant we had to meet around 8:00am and I had to leave home around 6:30am.

We met at a subway platform in Brooklyn. I waited a little bit before he showed up but not bad. I was early because I didn’t know how the bus / train schedule would work out.

Our train ride from Brooklyn to the beach had a bit of misunderstanding.  There was some construction somewhere on the line and it seemed to me that we needed to get off the train and onto a bus to cover this construction span.

Unfortunately, “seem” wasn’t correct.

We got off the subway and got on a bus. We rode for a while, maybe half an hour, then got to the end of the line. We tried to figure out what happened and the Transit Authority person told us to get back on the bus and go back to the train. We didn’t need to be on the bus in the first place!

So we took the bus back. We climbed the stairs to the platform and rushed to get on train – the doors were closing!

In the rush, we didn’t realize the train was headed in the wrong direction – back to Brooklyn – and since neither of us had been on the train in this area before we didn’t realize we were headed back to Brooklyn. We ended up almost back where we had met over an hour ago this morning.

He just laughed. At me? At the situation? I don’t know. Doesn’t really matter. We could have just gone back to Brooklyn and gotten pizza. We could have gone home and given up on the day. We could have thrown up our arms in frustration.

Instead, we persevered. We made the best of a unfavorable situation. We got on the right train and tried again. And, we made it to surf.

And what a GREAT day it was!!