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April 06, 2006

101 in 1001 - April '06 Update

I've crossed off numbers 49 (start a savings account) and 52 (go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa). Also, numbers 40 and 89 are revisions.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 08:44 AM | Comments (7)

January 04, 2006

101 In 1001 - 2006 Revision

Things change, you know? People change ... our priorities change, our expectations change. So in the spirit of augmentation, I am revising my original 101 in 1001 list.

The main reason for this revision is that when I looked at the list objectively, I realized that I had WAY too much travel predicted. In the space of 1,001 days I would have had to travel to Ireland, New Zealand, Wales, New York, Iowa, North Carolina, the Everglades, the Southwest, someplace on the West Coast, and someplace on the East Coast. And that was just the places I was supposed to go; it doesn't even include random trips that I might want to make (to see friends and enemies, or whatnot).

That just isn't very realistic, so changes are needed. I'm only going to keep the travel items that have real personal significance to me. To that end, I'm dropping New Zealand (#8), North Carolina (#47), the Everglades (#76), and both coasts (#38 and #39). My mom and I are already talking about taking a long weekend and going to Iowa (#101), and I'll be visiting my relatives in New York this summer (#43). I've already crossed off the Southwest (#64), so now I just need to schedule a trip to Ireland and Wales. Hopefully I can get to both on the same trip.

I'm also dropping #12 (Smoke a clove cigarette to remind myself what a very nasty habit that was when I was 16) because it's just dumb, and #18 (Paint my bathroom), because I'll be moving soon.

I have crossed off task #82 (clean out my utility closet) and have scheduled to take care of numbers 3, 27, 36, and 52 in the next two weeks.

So here's the revised list, with new tasks substituted for the ones that I've dropped:

I've stolen this idea from Jessica, but I think that's okay because she stole it from someone else as well.

Here's the idea – make a list of 101 things you want to accomplish in 1001 days. That's almost three years, so, hey - no pressure to get things done immediately.

As Jessica's friend put it:

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

I must say, it was much harder to come up with a list of 101 things I want to do than I expected it to be. Which really says something. I'm just not sure what.

But here goes!

(Once a task is accomplished, it will be made bold.)

1) Go to Ireland

2) Bake a two-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting

3) Archive all of KR's papers/photos

4) Teach Nibbles to talk [On 1/10/05 I heard her say "Nee-Nee," which is my nickname for her.]

5) Track down R. and see what he's doing [He's still in Edmonton; found photos of him but can't find a phone number]

6) Dance with a cute boy who doesn't speak English

7) Run down a street barefoot, in the rain, with at least one witness

8) Finish a mini triathlon.

9) Burn something in effigy

10) Buy a Coach bag

11) Have Alex for a sleepover [May, 2005]

12) Run a 10-minute mile.

13) Go down two more sizes

14) Try cremé brulee (might not be compatible with #13)

15) Go snorkling

16) Send a letter to Dr. Drapkin about the Patient Navigator program, and to let him know how I'm doing

17) Visit with Trina [Trina came to town on 1/28/05 for a sleepover/Gin Blossoms concert]

18) Master the art of infrared photography

19) Create the website I've been thinking of creating but can't really talk about for fear that some lurker will abscond with my idea (which is really good)

20) Buy a new pair of eyeglasses

21) Visit my ancestral castle in Wales

22) Get a facial

23) Refrain from swearing under my breath at fellow motorists for one week [Accomplished from 2/1-2/8/05, on account of being too sick to get angry.]

24) Find a volunteer opportunity in the community [in the works]

25) Try guacamole [1/15/05 with Ian at Casa Tia and ... no.]

26) Get a job working with cancer patients in some way

27) Send a letter to Grandpa in January

28) Make pillows out of that suede skirt I have but don't like and refuse to wear

29) Finish writing my book

30) Climb a tree

31) Pedal for 60 continuous minutes at level 7 on the recumbent bicycle

32) Use my blender, which has been sitting in the box, unopened, for two years

33) Make salsa and/or gazpacho from scratch

34) Reorganize my filing system at home

35) Buy just feminine hygiene products (if I need them) without feeling compelled to also buy gum, magazines, or bottled water in an effort to distract the clerk from the fact that I'm really there to buy tampons [I'm not putting the date, because that would just be TMI]

36) Teach myself how to knit

37) Read through the entire Tivo owner's manual and perform all of the functions

38) Sit in on a Sunday service at some random church

39) Buy a piece of furniture from IKEA and assemble it myself

40) Go snowmobiling

41) Buy a piano and relearn everything I used to know

42) Mark my 10th year in remission from Hodgkin's disease

43) Visit relatives in New York

44) See the Kingston Trio in concert [March 31, 2005 at Ruth Eckerd Hall]

45) Go to a cat show

46) Try Yorkshire pudding

47) Go bowling

48) Stay awake for 48 consecutive hours

49) Start a savings account [March, 2006 to take advantage of Bank of America's Keep the Change promotion]

50) Watch the Colin Firth edition of Pride and Prejudice

51) Learn how to play pool. Really well. Well enough to brag about it.

52) Go to the Museum of Science and Industry over in Tampa [April, 2006 with Alex to see the BODIES exhibit]

53) Take my mom and my grandmother to lunch for Mother's Day [Took both to The Cheesecake Factory in May, 2005, along with my Aunt Lisa, her daughter Meagan, and my sister-in-law, Terri]

54) Travel by train

55) Learn to drive stick

56) Take a digital photography class of some sort

57) Go wireless on my home computer system so I can hook it up to my Tivo

58) Make a headboard for my bed [Purchased a headboard in July, 2005]

59) Read magazines as I receive them, or within 3 days, for one month

60) Avoid buying makeup or anything makeup-related for a month (hahahahaha) [accomplished between February 8-March 8, 2005, due to broken left elbow]

61) Same with clothes

62) Convert my site over to MySQL [June, 2005]

63) Convert the pages over to PHP

64) Drive on Route 66, in a convertible, with at least one friend [Accomplished several times during my roadtrip through Arizona with Trina in October, 2005]

65) And then stop for dinner at a roadside diner [On October 6th we had dinner at the Route 66 diner in Albuquerque, just like I said I would]

66) Visit a desert [Visited several during my roadtrip, including the Painted Desert national park near Holbrook, AZ]

67) Buy something from Tiffany's

68) Go the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary [With Alex in May, 2005]

69) Drink espresso [With Marcel at Macaroni Grill on April 24, 2006]

70) Read Catch-22

71) Learn to drink Diet Coke without making the squinched-up face [first accomplished at 11:32 a.m. on 12/10/04 while at work]

72) Go roller skating

73) Meet three more people that I talk to online

74) Figure out what color wine goes with what foods [12/01/04, with assistance from mheh; the basic answer is "Red wine with red meats, white wine with white meats," but in the end, drink what you like. Can do.]

75) Go through my Photoshop CS2 book and learn cool tricks

76) Go to the movies once a month for six months.

77) Throw a penny into a wishing well or fountain

78) Write my congressperson

79) First, find out who my congressperson is ["You are in Florida's 9th district and are represented by The Honorable Michael Bilirakis." – courtesy of the Write Your Representatives page]

80) Make a loaf of whole wheat bread from scratch without using a bread machine

81) Drive a speedboat

82) Clean out the utility closet and throw out all of the stuff that's been sitting in there for almost three years, which I clearly don't need [Accomplished on January 1, 2006]

83) Pay off the First USA credit card

84) Replace the ugly buttons on my brown jacket with prettier ones

85) Purchase combat boots

86) Swim 250 laps in my mom's pool without stopping

87) Come up with a kick-ass idea for a home-based business that I can start with friends, so none of us have to work for other people ever again

88) Spend an entire day in bed, just because

89) Meet someone's parents

90) Pick wildflowers [In Sedona on 10/02/05]

91) Discard every piece of clothing in my closet that I haven't worn in the last 12 months

92) Go through a fast-food drive through and pay for the order of the person in the car behind me

93) View Jonathan Rhys Meyers' entire body of work [Seen so far – Bend It Like Beckham, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, The Governess, Ride With the Devil, Velvet Goldmine, Titus, Alexander, The Magnificent Ambersons, Pulse, The Tesseract, Gormenghast, Tangled, The Lion In Winter, B. Monkey, Vanity Fair, Alexander]

94) See U2 in concert

95) Try edamame

96) Do 50 situps every day for one week

97) Wear something pink [I wore a pink shirt under a denim jacket on 1/31/05]

98) Sleep outside

99) Cook every meal at home for one month (this might be impossible)

100) Go blonde (or very dark brown) [Chose dark brown - August 1, 2005]

101) Visit my grandfather's gravesite in Spencer, Iowa

Posted by Highwaygirl at 09:25 AM | Comments (1)

October 11, 2005

101 in 1001 Update - October '05

Doom reminded me to do this.

I've completed the following items on my 101 in 1001 list (details on the list itself):

5) Track down R. and see what he's doing
64) Drive on Route 66, in a convertible, with at least one friend
65) And then stop for dinner at a roadside diner
66) Visit a desert
90) Pick wildflowers (EDIT)
93) View Jonathan Rhys Meyers' entire body of work

I'm counting 93 as completed because at the time I made the list the last film JRM was in was Alexander - I Netflixed that and fast-forwarded through any scene he wasn't in.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 05:52 PM | Comments (2)

August 05, 2005

101 in 1001 - August Update

Jeez, man. Where have I been lately?

101 in 1,001 update - I completed numbers 11 (have Alex for a sleepover), 53 (take my mom and grandmother to lunch for Mother's Day), 58 (make a headboard for my bed - I counted buying one), 62 (convert this site over to MySQL), 68 (go to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary), and 100 (go blonde or very dark brown - I choose the latter).

Posted by Highwaygirl at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2005

Get Your Kicks

So I have this friend, Eric. He's a good friend and he's always trying to help me out in new and exciting ways. Knowing about my 101 in 1001 list, Eric sent me a link that featured a place called the 66 Diner in Albuquerque, pictured below:

66diner2.jpg

Looks fancy, doesn't it? I MUST GO.

This place, and the drive through New Mexico, could actually knock several items off the list, including:

48) Stay awake for 48 consecutive hours
55) Learn to drive stick
64) Drive on Route 66, in a convertible, with at least one friend
65) And then stop for dinner at a roadside diner
66) Visit a desert
90) Pick wildflowers

Of course, accomplishing #55 requires Eric to teach me to drive stick, but I'm not sure he's quite up to that challenge.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 11:02 AM | Comments (7)

March 26, 2005

101 in 1001 Update

I've got more stuff to cross off of Ze List!

#35
#60 (thank you, broken elbow)
#93 (added Vanity Fair, and I am now regretting making this a part of my list)

Hey Ben, I can help with a part of #9 on your list. Number 64 on mine is "Drive on Route 66, in a convertible, with at least one friend." So I can take you through, say, New Mexico, if that state is part of your cross-country excursion.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 04:19 PM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2005

101 In 1001 Update

I have crossed off numbers 17 (visit with Trina), 23 (stop swearing at fellow motorists for one week) and 97 (wear something pink), and added another movie to number 93 (B. Monkey, which was asstastic). Details on the main 101 in 1001 page.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 11:26 AM | Comments (4)

December 22, 2004

101 in 1001 Update

Lots of updates, and one more thing completed.

I have accomplished #79. Huzzah! Numbers 24, 50, and 89 have been started, and #44 has been scheduled (we have tickets).

Two more movies were added to #93 – Gormenghast, which was excellent all the way around, and Tangled, which created a hatred for the chick who was in She's All That (whose name I have apparently wiped from my brain forever). JRM was playing his standard "charismatic psycho" role, with the additional bonus of being fully frontally naked in two scenes.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 12:42 PM | Comments (1)

December 11, 2004

101 In 1001 Update

I have accomplished item #71 on my list and gotten two movies closer to finishing off #93. Thanks to Netflix - which is speedy fast and has already earned my love and devotion - I've now seen Pulse (very boring and JRM is only in it for about the last 15 minutes, but he does look deliciously evil so that was a plus; no nudity, though, and Mischa Barton can't act her way out of a wet paper bag) and The Tesseract (nonsensical, pointless, and JRM looks the bad kind of scruffy).

Posted by Highwaygirl at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2004

Erin Go Braugh

It is done.

Well, sort of.

I am absolutely, positively, there-are-no-excuses-this-time, going to go to Ireland in 2005. I've decided. I've been talking about going for years, and it's time to stop talking. Because in the immortal words of Andy Dufresne:

Get busy living, or get busy dying

That's goddamn right. So who's in? I'm looking at going sometime in October; that's the offseason, so flights/lodging will be cheaper, and there's both a film festival and a gourmet festival in Cork in the middle of the month. I don't plan on spending much time in Dublin other than flying in/out of the city. I'd rather spend the week in the south and southwest parts of the country, enjoying the view.

So I'm going. Now that I've said it, I can't take it back. The only thing that will keep me from going is death. Even then, I still might go. And I mean DEAD death, not near death. Even if I'm barely breathing and have to strap an oxygen tank to my back and haul it around everywhere, I'm still going. I should practice that today...

Now I just need someone to give me a satellite picture phone so I can update my site with photos every day while I'm there.

Posted by Highwaygirl at 08:42 AM | Comments (5)

December 01, 2004

101 in 1001

I've stolen this idea from Jessica, but I think that's okay because she stole it from someone else as well.

Here's the idea – make a list of 101 things you want to accomplish in 1001 days. That's almost three years, so, hey - no pressure to get things done immediately.

As Jessica's friend put it:

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

I must say, it was much harder to come up with a list of 101 things I want to do than I expected it to be. Which really says something. I'm just not sure what.

But here goes!

(Once a task is accomplished, it will be made bold.)

1) Go to Ireland

2) Bake a two-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting

3) Archive all of KR's papers/photos

4) Teach Nibbles to talk [On 1/10/05 I heard her say "Nee-Nee," which is my nickname for her.]

5) Track down R. and see what he's doing [He's still in Edmonton; found photos of him but can't find a phone number]

6) Dance with a cute boy who doesn't speak English

7) Run down a street barefoot, in the rain, with at least one witness

8) Go to New Zealand

9) Burn something in effigy

10) Buy a Coach bag

11) Have Alex for a sleepover [May, 2005]

12) Smoke a clove cigarette to remind myself what a very nasty habit that was when I was 16

13) Go down two more sizes

14) Try cremé brulee (might not be compatible with #13)

15) Go snorkling

16) Send a letter to Dr. Drapkin about the Patient Navigator program, and to let him know how I'm doing

17) Visit with Trina [Trina came to town on 1/28/05 for a sleepover/Gin Blossoms concert]

18) Paint my bathroom

19) Create the website I've been thinking of creating but can't really talk about for fear that some lurker will abscond with my idea (which is really good)

20) Buy a new pair of eyeglasses

21) Visit my ancestral castle in Wales

22) Get a facial

23) Refrain from swearing under my breath at fellow motorists for one week [Accomplished from 2/1-2/8/05, on account of being too sick to get angry.]

24) Find a volunteer opportunity in the community [in the works]

25) Try guacamole [1/15/05 with Ian at Casa Tia and ... no.]

26) Get a job working with cancer patients in some way

27) Send a letter to Grandpa in January

28) Make pillows out of that suede skirt I have but don't like and refuse to wear

29) Finish writing my book

30) Climb a tree

31) Pedal for 60 continuous minutes at level 7 on the recumbent bicycle

32) Use my blender, which has been sitting in the box, unopened, for two years

33) Make salsa and/or gazpacho from scratch

34) Reorganize my filing system at home

35) Buy just feminine hygiene products (if I need them) without feeling compelled to also buy gum, magazines, or bottled water in an effort to distract the clerk from the fact that I'm really there to buy tampons [I'm not putting the date, because that would just be TMI]

36) Teach myself how to knit

37) Read through the entire Tivo owner's manual and perform all of the functions

38) Watch a sunrise on the East Coast

39) Watch a sunset on the West Coast

40) Play a round of golf (not miniature)

41) Buy a piano and relearn everything I used to know

42) Mark my 10th year in remission from Hodgkin's disease

43) Visit relatives in New York

44) See the Kingston Trio in concert [March 31, 2005 at Ruth Eckerd Hall]

45) Go to a cat show

46) Try Yorkshire pudding

47) Climb to the top of Jockey's Ridge (again)

48) Stay awake for 48 consecutive hours

49) Start a savings account

50) Watch the Colin Firth edition of Pride and Prejudice

51) Learn how to play pool. Really well. Well enough to brag about it.

52) Go to the Museum of Science and Industry over in Tampa

53) Take my mom and my grandmother to lunch for Mother's Day [Took both to The Cheesecake Factory in May, 2005, along with my Aunt Lisa, her daughter Meagan, and my sister-in-law, Terri]

54) Travel by train

55) Learn to drive stick

56) Take a digital photography class of some sort

57) Go wireless on my home computer system so I can hook it up to my Tivo

58) Make a headboard for my bed [Purchased a headboard in July, 2005]

59) Read magazines as I receive them, or within 3 days, for one month

60) Avoid buying makeup or anything makeup-related for a month (hahahahaha) [accomplished between February 8-March 8, 2005, due to broken left elbow]

61) Same with clothes

62) Convert my site over to MySQL [June, 2005]

63) Convert the pages over to PHP

64) Drive on Route 66, in a convertible, with at least one friend [Accomplished several times during my roadtrip through Arizona with Trina in October, 2005]

65) And then stop for dinner at a roadside diner [On October 6th we had dinner at the Route 66 diner in Albuquerque, just like I said I would]

66) Visit a desert [Visited several during my roadtrip, including the Painted Desert national park near Holbrook, AZ]

67) Buy something from Tiffany's

68) Go the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary [With Alex in May, 2005]

69) Drink espresso

70) Read Catch-22

71) Learn to drink Diet Coke without making the squinched-up face [first accomplished at 11:32 a.m. on 12/10/04 while at work]

72) Go roller skating

73) Meet three more people that I talk to online

74) Figure out what color wine goes with what foods [12/01/04, with assistance from mheh; the basic answer is "Red wine with red meats, white wine with white meats," but in the end, drink what you like. Can do.]

75) Go through my Photoshop Elements manual and learn cool tricks

76) See the Everglades

77) Throw a penny into a wishing well or fountain

78) Write my congressperson

79) First, find out who my congressperson is ["You are in Florida's 9th district and are represented by The Honorable Michael Bilirakis." – courtesy of the Write Your Representatives page]

80) Make a loaf of whole wheat bread from scratch without using a bread machine

81) Drive a speedboat

82) Clean out the utility closet and throw out all of the stuff that's been sitting in there for almost three years, which I clearly don't need

83) Pay off the First USA credit card

84) Replace the ugly buttons on my brown jacket with prettier ones

85) Purchase combat boots

86) Swim 250 laps in my mom's pool without stopping

87) Come up with a kick-ass idea for a home-based business that I can start with friends, so none of us have to work for other people ever again

88) Spend an entire day in bed, just because

89) Go through every room in my apartment and find at least five things that I like (but don't love) and then donate them to a charity [Living room completed on 12/17/05 with selection of six DVDs for AnySoldier.com]

90) Pick wildflowers [In Sedona on 10/02/05]

91) Discard every piece of clothing in my closet that I haven't worn in the last 12 months

92) Go through a fast-food drive through and pay for the order of the person in the car behind me

93) View Jonathan Rhys Meyers' entire body of work [Seen so far – Bend It Like Beckham, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, The Governess, Ride With the Devil, Velvet Goldmine, Titus, Alexander, The Magnificent Ambersons, Pulse, The Tesseract, Gormenghast, Tangled, The Lion In Winter, B. Monkey, Vanity Fair, Alexander]

94) See U2 in concert

95) Try edamame

96) Do 50 situps every day for one week

97) Wear something pink [I wore a pink shirt under a denim jacket on 1/31/05]

98) Sleep outside

99) Cook every meal at home for one month (this might be impossible)

100) Go blonde (or very dark brown) [Chose dark brown - August 1, 2005]

101) Visit my grandfather's gravesite in Spencer, Iowa

Posted by Highwaygirl at 02:34 PM | Comments (879)