I'm no stranger to the field of voice-to-text translation. Over the past decade, I've used several product iterations from a company by the name of DragonSpeak. Despite the claims of accuracy for anyone that takes the time to use the system long enough, I must be one of the outliers. Perhaps I speak too quickly or maybe I don't enunciate my words, because I found the error rates to be somewhere between five and ten percent no matter how much training I put in. As a result, the amount of time I spent correcting the many mistakes.

Golden Rule: Treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.

Platinum Rule: Treat others the way THEY want to be treated.

At face value, these two codes of conduct appear to be quite similar. Both emphasize the importance of how we treat others. The biggest difference is the filter by which we determine how we interact with another person.

When a doctor misdisagnosis a patient, a tremendous amount of effort can be spent trying to fix the wrong thing. Example: trying to apply an antiobitic treatment for a bacterial infection when the underlying issue is caused by a viral infection, thereby rendering the antibiotics useless. It's important to note this isn't a fictitious or uncommon example. Evidence points to "wrong diagnosis" being a leading cause of death in the US.

It was the most important Christmas present I ever received because it changed the course of my life forever. I remember the confusion that came over me as I opened the box and Uncle Warren had to explain to me that it was a Packard Bell Pentium 60, which consisted of top-of-the-line hardware for a consumer computer. I didn't know at the time that this would serve as the spark of my interest in technology, computer programming, and in open source software. And it would have never happened if it were not for the generosity and thoughtfulness of my uncle.

In getting from where we are to where we want to be (i.e. achieving our goals and dreams), it can sometimes feel like there is mountain between us. And usually these perceived barriers are enough to stop us from taking the first step.

An alternative approach is to assess the situation in more detail to find other routes. These alternatives may seem like a small hill, or even a straight shot downhill, by comparison.

In the summer of 1995, I landed my first job working at a vegetable farm. It was the only work I could get at age 14 because of child labor laws, which is a bit ironic because I labored a lot to make a below minimum wage salary of $3.50/hour!

Like running a marathon for the first time, completing one's first century is a big milestone for just about any cyclist. However, for me, it went well beyond the mere fact that I hit triple digits on the odometer. Taking on and completing the Red Rocks Century was vindication that I could take on the impossible even after suffering a major setback years earlier.

Before I sustained an injury that required 6 screws in my left foot, I viewed biking merely as a convenient mode of transportation, particularly during the 10 years I lived in Boston because it was far more efficient and affordable than a car. However, the injury severely limited the number of physical activities I could participate in, namely swimming and biking.

Thirty-one million five hundred and thirty six thousand seconds. As of April 7th, 2015 at 2:16am, that is the exact amount of time my daughter Evelyn has been alive on planet earth. Of course most people would use different units of measure (31,536,000 seconds = 365 days = 1 year), but I chose seconds to emphasize just how massive that amount of time should feel. And yet the time has figuratively flown by so quickly that I sit here in shock that her first birthday party has come and gone.

A properly trained adult elephant, despite weighing several tons, can be restrained with nothing more than a single rope. Why? The reality is they have more than enough strength to break free. However, they learned at an early age (when they were smaller and weaker) that they couldn't break free. And as an adult, they still hold onto this restrictive behavioral pattern versus embrace a new, more useful one. In short, these powerful creatures are now exhibiting learned helplessness.