Hi John, WOW you have a history on Bike Commuting that is pretty cool cause you have seen allot of the changes through out the years in the bike industry. I wasn't even born when you start having fun riding a bike LOL...I start commuting like a week a go, but I have experience in the past riding road bikes. At a certain point I did had a Hybrid it was a Specialized and I love every minute of that bike. I no longer have it with me and I'm in the looks for a nice bike to feed my needs for commuting.
Hopefully you will get the chance to make changes to your bike little by little like you want, is expensive but at the end of the day is worth every penny. You know that...
Thanks for sharing your story, I enjoy reading this very much!