Ten Outdoor Destinations With Everything!

Your brain enjoys going outside to have fun in the great outdoors.  We recently moved to Buena Vista, CO where it is so easy to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors year around.  It came as no surprise to read the following blog from www.Galding.com, the world’s top travel blog, written and edited by passionate travelers and writers, mentioning Buena Vista, CO as one of the top ten destinations with everything!  The blog states Buena Vista, Colorado just might be the hidden adventure gem of the Rockies.  The Arkansas River runs thru this small town offering world class fly fishing, rafting, kayaking, and the mountains also provide opportunities to bike,  hike, camp, rock climb, cross country ski, and snowmobile.  Below is the entire blog on the Ten Outdoor Destinations with Everything, http://www.gadling.com/2010/03/19/ten-outdoor-destinations-with-everything/  and it was so cool to see my new home town as the #1 outdoor town with everything on the list.

If you enjoy the outdoors then Buena Vista, Colorado is a place to put on your bucket list of top ten destinations to visit to play in the mountains. 

By Jason Heflin (RSS feed) on Mar 19th 2010 at 2:00PM

Who says you can’t have it all? For many travelers vacation time is limited. Those in search of adventure want to maximize that short window of travel time. Here are ten cities where adventure-seekers can expand their options with a range of heart-pounding choices.

Buena Vista, Colorado
Buena Vista translates to “beautiful view.” It’s easy to understand why the name stuck. Nestled into the central Colorado highlands, this Colorado town just might be the hidden adventure gem of the Rockies. Peak-baggers have twenty 14ers within roughly an hour-and-a-half drive from Buena Vista, making it a perfect base camp for high-altitude hiking. Ski Cooper, Monarch and Aspen are all close by for a winter sports fix and the class III-V Arkansas River provides thrilling whitewater rafting all summer long.

Cape Town, South Africa
South Africa is considered by many to be the adrenaline capital of the world. Cape Town has no shortage of blood-pumping options. Traditional sports like sea kayaking and mountain biking are epic here, but there’s also more unique endeavors like sand boarding. If that’s still not enough to get adrenaline junkies excited, there’s always the shark cage diving experience.

Vancouver, Canada
Adventure pursuits like sailing and kayaking are synonymous with this famous Canadian coastal city. Of course, skiing is the main draw in Vancouver, a fact reinforced by the city’s selection as host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. One visit to Whistler Blackcomb, among the top ranked snow resorts in North America, and the powder crazed will fall in love.

Quito, Ecuador
I was on the summit of a 15,763 foot active volcano within four hours of leaving my hotel in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. This short trek with dizzying altitude is but one of the quick fixes found in this city of less than two million. Rural Ecuador is still developing its adventure sports attitude, but when using Quito as a starting point guides can be found easily. Cotopaxi, one of the world’s most perfectly shaped volcanoes, is only a two hour drive from town. Cycling and mountain biking have seen a huge boom in recent years and bike rental companies are eager to take visitors on epic rides through the Andes for up to two weeks in length.

Bar Harbor, Maine
In Summer, the population of this quaint Maine fishing village swells from around 5,000 inhabitants to 18,000, and for good reason. Surrounded by paddling and sailing opportunities, those making their way into the area’s bays can not only watch whales and seals but can spot a variety of stunning bird species such as Bald Eagles and Puffins. During my stay I found that land based options are equally as spectacular with Acadia National Park sitting just out the back door. Hiking provides views of the channels and bays while the park’s abundant exposed rock opens up endless climbing opportunities. There is even a climbing school in the city for those uninitiated to the sport.

Castries, St. Lucia
Once travelers work their way past the cruise ships and trinket shops, a world of adventure awaits in Castries, the capital city of St. Lucia. Professional mountain biker Tinker Juarez designed a trail system specifically for the Anse Chastanet Resort. Beginner, intermediate, and expert single track trails wind their way through former plantations and lush jungle vegetation. Diving and snorkeling opportunities abound along St. Lucia’s shore. More experienced divers will find wreck diving just off the coast. This Caribbean island is even home to a diving shop named Scuba Steves. What more could a beach bum want?

La Paz, Bolivia
Trek along ancient Inca trails, raft the class II-IV rapids or the Rio Tuichi, or take on the world’s highest ski resort Chacaltaya. If that’s not enough adrenaline, mountain bike the Death Road, reported to be the most dangerous mountain bike ride in the world.

Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland boasts average highs between 59 and 75 degrees year round. The mild temperatures make for an ideal adventure sports hub. Rappel into massive caverns with Waitomo Cave Adventures to explore the underworld of New Zealand. You will need at least two weeks to take in all the adventure Auckland has to offer. Surfing, horse trekking, sailing, and magnificent hiking can all be found near this city in the “Land of the Hobbits.”

Bend, Oregon
With a beautiful trout stream rippling through town and ski slopes just up the road at Mount Bachelor, Bend accommodates Winter and Summer visitors alike. I found a trail run around Todd Lake that was the perfect way to take in a pristine alpine setting. Backpack the 40-mile Three Sisters Loop and enjoy jaw-dropping views of these triplet peaks.

Chamonix, France
France’s Chamonix has long been known as the site of world-renowned ski resorts and awe-inspiring vistas of the Alps. But these days, the French city is also home to an “air park” where brave visitors can paraglide from just below snowy summits and soar above green pasture. For those who prefer their adventures a bit closer to the ground, there’s the Via Ferrata course. Via Ferrata takes rock climbing to the masses with metal steps and small ledges for climbers to use, all while clipped in to a secure cable system.

Having your cake and eating it too was never so easy. Any of these world-class destinations should be a crowd-pleaser for even the most ambitious adventure travelers.

Filed under: Biking, Hiking, Paddling, Scuba Diving, Skiing, Surfing, South Africa, France, Canada, St. Lucia, United States, New Zealand, Bolivia, Ecuador

Look Into Your Characters’ Brains

Here is a fun article about using Emergenetics in character writing titled, Look Into Your Characters’ Brains, by award winning romance and mystery author Colleen Collins —  

At a former job, my boss asked each of us to take a test, called Emergenetics, which, in simple terms, is a tool to help a person not only better understand his or her own thinking patterns and behaviors, but also how those patterns and behaviors mesh with others’ patterns and behaviors.

In short, it was a “team-building activity.”  Yes, the dreaded team activity where employees moan and groan and grudgingly agree to do it because the boss said so.  In my team of ten employees, we each took the Emergenetics test.  Basically, we answered a slew of questions and were told we’d all reconvene in a month to review the results together.

A month later, the results came in.  The meeting was mandatory, so we dutifully trudged into the meeting room, wondering what hocus-pocus we were going to have to endure.

We were each handed an individualized pie chart that represented our brains.  Each brain chart was divided into four areas: analytical, structural, conceptual, and social. And we were told how each chart, based on the test results, reflected how we currently think.

I looked at my chart, or uh, I mean brain.  I’m 34% analytical (I am? Wait, let me evaluate that for a moment…), 23% structural (Hmm, these test procedures are rather interesting.), 24% conceptual (Wow, look at the colors on this chart!) and 19% social (Hey, anybody want to grab a latte after this?).

We were asked to share our charts with our co-workers sitting at the table—after all, this was a way to get to know how each other thinks, a means to better understand “where we’re coming from” essentially.  My best buddy was almost 40% structural and we laughed out loud, recalling the times he insisted I needed to follow guidelines!  A theatre major in the group was an amazing 60% conceptual—well of course!  This guy loved the world of imagination.

And so we began to understand how each of us thinks, enabling us to better understand each other and to better work together.

As writers, we can also use these same thinking attributes to help develop and build our characters.  Remember, this is a tool only, not the sole means to character development.  But I’ve found it’s helped me further develop my characters by thinking about how they might think and behave, per the Emergenetics model.

The following provides more in-depth definitions of each of the Emergenetics four thinking attributes.  Emergenetics, by the way, identified these attributes by factor-analyzing data from thousands of individuals.

Thinking Attributes

Analytical: This attribute includes a preference for reasoning, analysis, financial calculation, higher mathematics, and problem solving.  People who have a strong analytical bent might enjoy technology, mental analysis, and theoretical concepts.  Words they might use to describe themselves include factual, rational, clear thinker, critical thinker, and objective.

Structural: This attribute tends to be cautious of new or untried ideas.  People with strong structural thought processes often like guidelines, methodical progress, organization, and planned agendas.  They describe themselves as orderly, dependable, implementers, practical, certain, and predictable.

Social: This attribute reflects a need to get along with people, reliance on others’ opinions, sensitivity to others, and visceral intuition.  Those ranking high in this social style describe themselves as empathic, sympathetic, and intuitive about people.  They like learning a new task by having someone show them and often use personal examples in conversation.

Conceptual: This attribute often searches for new ways to solve old problems, gets excited when something is new and different, and enjoys producing ideas more than drawing conclusions.  These people have a tendency to be intuitive about concepts and ideas.  They jump from one task to another, like metaphoric problem-solving, and take risks.  They describe themselves as global, imaginative, unconventional, and aesthetic.

But keep in mind, although we as writers know why our characters think the way they do, other characters don’t.  They can’t “see” how another character is thinking.  But they do see other characters’ behavior through expressiveness, assertiveness, and flexibility.

Descriptions of these behavioral attributes are below.

Expressiveness: This indicates the amount of social interest people show for others and the world around them.  At one end of the spectrum, a person can effusively express affection for others or easily start conversations with strangers while at the other end of the spectrum, a person can seem painfully shy or meticulously shun the limelight.

Assertiveness: This reflects the degree of energy invested in expressing thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.  People can range from a driving need to convince others of their point of view to shying away from competitive situations.

Flexibility: This measures a willingness to accommodate to the thoughts and actions of others.  Flexible people can often handle stressful situations while maintaining an even temper and may find it easy to be patient with difficult people.  At the other end of the spectrum, they may have trouble meeting another person halfway and may abhor change.

Currently, I’m writing a book with a hero who is a “computer guru” and a loner (he has other characteristics, but I’m simplifying for the sake of this article).  If I were to analyze his thinking percentages, I’d give him 40% analytical, 25% structural, 10% social, and 25% conceptual.  This higher conceptual tendency provides a fun twist in his personality. Typically, he appears rational and logical, but he surprises people, especially the heroine, with his imaginative streak and his intuitive insights.

Regarding his behavioral attributes, this character struggles with expressing his emotions, although he takes the leap from assertiveness to downright aggressiveness when provoked.  And he’s been on his own so long, the man is rarely flexible.

To return to my work situation, all of our thinking and behavioral attributes were compiled into one chart so, at a glance, we could get a sense of how we interacted as a group.  I’ve made the names up to protect people’s identities, but here’s a glimpse at what the group chart told us (and we all had them tacked on our walls as a gentle reminder that each of our thought processes and behaviors were different, not right or wrong, just different).

Doreen was the most expressive and social in the group, but also the least analytical.  She typically got very exuberant over other people’s ideas and we could count on her to get everyone “on the same plate.” She often asked people what they thought or how they felt…she was keenly interested in how others were feeling socially.

Brad abhorred structure, but was extremely conceptual and assertive. We could count on him to speak up with new, imaginative ideas. We could also count on him to be late to most meetings.

Cindy was first-third expressive with conceptual and structural preferences.  This woman was always unnervingly calm, kept everyone on track, and loved to brainstorm new ideas.

Get the picture?  You can use these guidelines to not only flesh out individual characters, but also how all the characters interact with each other in a given situation.

But, as I mentioned previously, as with any character-development tool, keep in mind that these are guidelines only. People are unique, flexible, and adjust and change according to whatever environments they’re in.  Also, people’s thinking and behavior adjusts and changes in response to dramatic episodes, such as significant life events, alcohol, etc.

Have fun playing with this tool as you create and fine-tune your characters using Emergenetics.

— I hope you enjoyed reading Colleen Collins story about how she uses Emergenetics in her character writing.   To learn more about Emergenetics for your work just click here www.YourBrainPro.com.  Collins also teaches a writing class called ”Writing PIs in Novels”.  To learn more about character writing I invite you to visit Colleen’s website at www.colleencollins.net

Your Brain On Music

If you have an interest in music you might enjoy reading the below article, Your Brain on Music, by the Science News Staff, August, 14, 2010 magazine issue, page 27. 

Music lights up almost every area of the brain, which shouldn’t be a surprise since it makes people tap their feet, encourages the recollection of vivid memories and has the potential to lighten the mood.

Around the outside1. Prefrontal cortex: This brain region plays a role in the creation, satisfaction and violation of expectations. It may react, for instance, when a beat goes missing. Recent work has shown that during improvisation a part of the prefrontal cortex involved in monitoring performance shuts down, while parts involved in self-initiated thoughts ramp up. 2. Motor cortex: Music is not independent of motion. Foot-tapping and dancing often accompany a good beat, meaning the motor cortex gets involved. And playing an instrument requires carefully timed physical movements. In some cases, this area of the brain is engaged when a person simply hears notes, suggesting a strong link to the auditory cortex. 3. Sensory cortex: Playing an instrument sends tactile messages to the sensory cortex, as keys are hit, for example. 4. Auditory cortex: Hearing any sound, including music, involves this region, which contains a map of pitches for the perception and analysis of tones. 5. Visual cortex: Reading music or watching a performer’s movements activates the visual cortex.

The inside track 6. Cerebellum: Movements such as foot-tapping and dancing activate this part of the brain. This could be because of the cerebellum’s role in timing and synchrony; it helps people track the beat. The cerebellum is also involved in the emotional side of music, lighting up with likable or familiar music, and appears to sense the difference between major and minor chords. 7. Hippocampus: Known to play a role in long-term memory, the hippocampus (part of which is shown) may help the brain retrieve memories that give a sound meaning or context. It also helps people link music they have heard before to an experience and to a given context, possibly explaining why it is activated during pleasant or emotionally charged music. 8. Amygdala: The amygdala seems to be involved in musical memories. It reacts differently to major and minor chords, and music that leads to chills tends to affect it. Studies suggest the skillful repetition heard in music is emotionally satisfying. 9. Nucleus accumbens: This brain structure is thought to be the center of the reward system. It reacts to emotional music, perhaps through the release of dopamine.

Source: D.J. Levitin and A.K. Tirovolas/Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2009; Image: Charles Floyd.

And, for individuals who love to learn all they can about music you might enjoy reading the book titled, This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin.

Brain Wrinkles

What’s the secret to our species’ smarts?  The answer may be wrinkles.  The surface of the human brain is convoluted by deep fissures, smaller grooves called sulci, and ridges called gyri.  This surface is called the cerebral cortex and is home to about 100 billion neurons, or nerve cells.  The folded, meandering surface allows the brain to pack in more surface area — and thus, more processing power — into the limited confines of the skull.

Interesting wrinkle news from a LiveScience Contributer Stephanie Pappas.

Most of Our Brain Cells Aren’t Neurons

Most of our brain cells aren’t neurons.  The old saw that we use just 10 percent of our brainpower isn’t true, but we now know that neurons make up just 10 percent of our brain cells. The other 90 percent, which account for about half the brain’s weight, are called glia, which means “glue” in Greek. Neuroscientists used to think glia were simply the sticky stuff that holds neurons together. But recent research has shown glia to be much more. A 2005 paper in the journal Current Opinions in Neurobiology laid out the roles of these unsung cells, which range from mopping up excess neurotransmitters to providing immune protection to actually promoting and modulating synapse growth and function. (Synapses are the connections between neurons.) It turns out the silent majority isn’t so silent after all.

—-I hope you enjoyed reading the above article from Stephanie Pappas a LiveScience Contributor.  I really enjoy reading and learning everything I can about the brain.  Plus, this information helps me in explaining the brain research to my clients as their personal Certified Emergenetics Associate.  I invite you to visit my website at www.YourBrainPro.com to learn more about my individual coaching opportunities.

How The Brain Chooses Sides

How The Brain Chooses Sides – Researchers probe the neural basis of deciding which hand to use.

By Tina Hesman Saey    Web edition: Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

The brain almost always has a plan B, even when deciding which hand to use to press a button, a new study finds.

A part of the brain called the left posterior parietal cortex plans button-pressing movements for both hands simultaneously, shows the study, published online September 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After a very brief neural tussle, one hand wins the competition and the other’s movement is suppressed, Flavio Oliveira, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues demonstrate.

Scientists actually know very little about how decisions such as which hand to use for a task are made in the brain, says Scott Frey, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Oregon in Eugene. While he may quibble with some of the details of the new study, “It helps to address a pretty blatant gap in the literature and it does it in an elegant way,” he says. “I think it’s one we’re going to be citing for a long time.”

Oliveira and his collaborators studied right-handed people, as most such studies do. The volunteers placed their hands on a table containing a motion-tracking system. When a target was illuminated, the participants were supposed to reach as quickly as possible to hit the target. At first the volunteers were instructed to use only the right hand or left hand for the task. Then the participants were given a choice of which hand to use. Having to decide slowed the volunteers’ reaction times by about 30 milliseconds, especially when the target was about equidistant from both hands. The participants reached for an equidistant target more often with their right hands.

In a separate experiment, participants performed the same task, but this time researchers used magnetic pulses to momentarily alter electrical activity in some parts of the brain.

When the researchers briefly disrupted activity in the posterior parietal cortex on the left side of the brain while participants were deciding which hand to use, the volunteers reached for the target with their left hands about 13.5 percent more often. Stimulating other parts of the brain, including the right posterior parietal cortex, did not produce a switch in hand preference. The result suggests that the left side of the brain is specialized for planning movements.

Researchers suspect that the left posterior parietal cortex will also decide hand choice in left-handers, but won’t know for certain until tests are repeated on a group of them.

 — I found this research study very interesting as I talk about how the left side of the brain enjoys the process of planning when working with my clients using their Emergenetics Profile results.   Karen Lang