Updated Master List

Completed tasks are in blue (because I like blue). Tasks in progress are in red.

The List:

1. Take a daily multivitamin for 1 month
2. Take a daily calcium supplement for 1 month
3. Get my weight down to 140lbs
4. Run 3 times a week for 1 month
5. Lift weights 3 times a week for 1 month
6. Go 1 month without fast food
7. Run a 5K in under 29.00min (Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 28.39 on 9/26/08)
8. Run a 10K
9. Be able to run 6 miles without stopping
10. Run the Run Like Hell 5K in Cincinnati
11. Finish a Half Marathon--Flying Pig, Cincy, May 2009
12. Go hiking (10/4/08 Mammoth Cave)
13. Swim in the Bluegrass State Games
14. Visit Europe
15. Visit the Newport Aquarium
16. Visit a Haunted House
17. Visit Waverly Sanatorium
18. Visit a State I’ve never been to before
19. Take Ballroom Dance Lessons
20. Go to the Drive in Movies
21. Go to King’s Island for Fearfest
22. Go to Needles and Angles
23. Go ice skating
24. Go to a midnight Hockey game
25. Take a cooking class
26. Try 5 restaurants I’ve never been to before (5/5) (Bonefish Grill 9/16/08) (Bar Louie's 12/5/08) (Saul Good's 3/7/09) (Old Chicago Pizza 2/28/09) (Tin Roof 3/12/09)
27. Learn to Quilt
28. Learn to make Grandmother Russell’s Special Occasion Rolls
29. Take a Personal/Family Finance Class
30. Read The Greatest Generation
31. Read Jane Eyre
32. Buy the 7th Harry Potter Book
33. Reread the entire Harry Potter series start to finish (0/7)
34. Read 5 books from the Booker Prize Winners List (1/5) (The Life of Pi)
35. Read 5 books from the 50 Essential Reads List (0/5) (Girl with a Perl Earring)
36. Read 4 nonfiction books (3/4) (Reading Lolita in Tehran) (In the Land of Invisible Women) (Dreams From my Father)
37. Read the entire New Testament
38. Read 1984
39. Watch Casablanca
40. Watch Gone with the Wind
41. Watch 10 Best Picture Oscar Winners (0/10)
42. Watch the Godfather Trilogy
43. Watch Schindler’s List
44. Watch all 3 Lord of the Rings Movies (extended editions) in one weekend
45. Put together a family tree (as far back as I can go)
46. Take Dad to see the Eagles in Concert
47. Go deer hunting with Dad (11/8/08 9 point buck)
48. Visit Granddad Russell in Oak Ridge 3 times (0/3)
49. Go sailing with Granddad Russell
50. Do something special with just my sister
51. Go on 3 dates (0/3)
52. See Kenney Chesney in Concert (again)
53. See a play
54. See a musical (Wicked, Louisville, KY 1/31/09)
55. Knit a sweater for me
56. Get a pedicure 4 times (1/4) (12/1/08)
57. Write in my journal at least once a week for 3 months
58. Blog at least once a week for the 1001 days
59. Sew something for myself
60. Go camping
61. Get into UK’s Ovarian Cancer Screening Program
62. Get a massage
63. Go to a UK swim meet (1/17/09)
64. Write a short story
65. Be 1st Author on a Manuscript
66. Take the GRE
67. Make a decision about going back to school
68. Learn to do Western Blot
69. Learn to do Slot Blots
70. Create a budget
71. Stick to my budget for 6 months (2/6)
72. Put $250 a month in savings for 1 year
73. Give blood as often as I can (every 56 days)
74. Clean out my old clothes and donate them to Goodwill
75. Volunteer for the Thursday night meal at church (2/19/09)
76. Become an organ donor
77. Bake Cookies for someone just because
78. Knit something for charity
79. Renew my CPR certification
80. Get on the Bone Marrow Donor Registry
81. Knit a sweater for someone else
82. Cook a special dinner for some of my friends
83. Organize and Sort my Photos
84. Organize/Update/Sort the Music Collection on my Computer
85. Clean out my craft supplies
86. Clean out the closet on my balcony
87. Sort and Catalog my book collection
88. Clean Dean’s tank at once a month for 6 months (0/6)
89. Buy a new couch (9/18/08)
90. Buy reusable grocery bags
91. Use reusable grocery bags
92. Kiss Under the Mistletoe
93. Get a new coffee table
94. Join a Gym (Johnson Center 2/2009)
95. Bake a cake from scratch
96. Finish my Dragon Cross Stitch
97. Eat out for lunch only once a week for 1 month
98. Send a secret to Post Secret
99. Reconnect with 1 person I’ve lost touch with
100.Make 1 new friend
101. Update my blog with the list and progress

101 Things Updates....

I realized that I haven't updated my list in awhile, so I thought now was as good a time as any. First, a few lose ends to tie up:

#1 Take a multivitamin every day for a month: I started this the first of January and did pretty good for most of the month, but I don't think I managed to hit every day. I'll have to try again.

#57 Write in my journal once a week for 3 months: This one failed spectacularly. I did okay for a few weeks, but things have fallen off since. (Not surprising since I haven't had time to do much of anything lately).

#58 Blog once a week for the 1001 Days: Obviously I haven't done well with this one, but I'm trying to do better. Sometimes life just gets busy and blogging isn't high on the list.

#61 Get into UK's Ovarian Cancer Screening Program: I called, made my appointment, and kept my appointment so I'm calling this one Done! I even have my next exam set up.

Now, a few things that are In Progress or Completed:

#11 Finish a Half Marathon: I am planning on doing the Flying Pig Half Marathon up in Cincy in May with my cousins Gerrie Anne and Jean. I've been training and going to the gym more theses days (although this week hasn't been so good for the gym). And my goal isn't to run the whole thing, it's to just finish it, so I think this one is within reach.

#26 Try 5 Restaurants I've never been to before: This one is actually going quite well. I have already mentioned my trip to Bar Louie's (actually now it's been like 5 trips, but whatever). I've also eaten at Saul Good's a couple of times (most recently on Saturday with Jenny) and Jenny, Jenny, AJ, Brent, Ashely and I went to Old Chicago Pizza the the Saturday before which was good, but kind of disappointing since I didn't get my Chicago style crust like I wanted (they ran out apparently). So, now I've completed 3/5. Only 2 more to go.

#34 Read 5 books off the Booker Prize Winner's List: I finished The Life of Pi by Yann Martel just last week. I enjoyed it, but I also found the beginning to be very slow. Still, overall it was a good book and I'm glad I read it.

#35 Read 5 books off the 50 Essential Reads by Contemporary Authors List: I nearly forgot, but I did read Girl with a Perl Earring by Tracy Chevalier and enjoyed it very much. It reminded me a lot of another book I had read, the name of which escapes me now, but it was very good.

#36 Read 4 Non fiction books: This one is another place where I've made significant progress. In fact, I read 3 non fiction books in a row (although not by design).

The first was Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi which was a really interesting look at the life of an English Literature professor in Afghanistan during the revolution and how she, and her female students, felt about the new restrictions placed on them. If you want to know what dose on underneath all those veils you see on the news, I highly recommend this book.

The second was a very similar book called In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed. As you might guess, it is about a female doctor raised in the UK, trained in the US that takes a job at a hospital in Saudi Arabia. Her perspective is very unique in that she is a Muslim woman, but also very western. Hearing about her journey to find her faith and try to fit it among people that are both similar to her and very different, was fascinating. Another book I highly recommend if you want to try and understand a little bit more about the women in fundamentalist Muslim countries.

The third book was Dreams from my Father by Barak Obama. I picked this one up on inauguration day, mostly because I was curious about the man who was now our President. Parts of it I found interesting. Parts of it I found dull. Parts of it I wish everyone had to read because I think it would put to rest the idea that Obama is some kind of closet Muslim terrorist. I did find the honesty about certain things very refreshing, and thought that learning a little more about his childhood made certain things about him make more sense. Still, by this point I was a bit burnt out on non-fiction reads and wanted something with a little more plot. (My next book was Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich--it's not on any list, but boy was it fun!)

#54 See a Musical: Jenny, AJ, and I went to see Wicked in Louisville January 31st, and yes, it was just as good the second time around. I'm also excited to go see In the Heights on Broadway next week when I'm in NYC!!

#63 Go to a UK swim meet: Jenny, Jenny, and I went to watch UK swim against Alabama on January 17th. It was fun, although I had forgotten how long meets can be. Still, I'll try to go to another meet next year.

#70/71: Create and stick to the Budget: This I did back in January and so far so good this year (2 for 2) We'll see how it goes.

#75 Volunteer for the Thursday Night Meal at Church: Did this on February 19th. Technically, I had to since it was my month to serve the meal as an elder, but I did go and it was nice. I'll have to do it more often.

#93 Get a new coffee table: This is did back in January as well--we technically I had the coffee table before January, but it wasn't at my house. Now it is and I love it. I'll try to get a pic of it sometime. It is pretty.

#97 Join a gym: And this is now done. I joined the Johnson Center in February so I could get ready for the Flying Pig and it has been good. I've been going at least 2 times a week so far (although this week hasn't been good).

So, I think that's all for the update. It's a long list right now, I know, but I hadn't updated in over a month, so a lot of stuff had happened. I'll post an updated master list soon.

PS. So, before I could get this post finished, I finished up #26 by eating at the Tin Roof. I went there for lunch and to watch the CATS play today (Go CATS!) so I guess that means I'm done with that. :)

I Saw God Today...

Well, actually it was yesterday, but hey, who's counting.

It's been a long, rough couple of weeks and I'll be the first to admit that this week I've just been tried and pretty much given up on everything. And, yes, I've been feeling sorry for myself. But I've found that generally when things get to that point, something comes along that turns your head and makes you realize that things aren't always as bad as they seem.

Yesterday for lunch I walked down to the Penn Station that isn't too far from work. The weather was nice and I just needed to get out of the building for awhile. I went by myself because I haven't been in the most social mood lately (see previous comment about feeling sorry for myself). As I was going in, I noticed a homeless man standing on the sidewalk outside the strip of stores/restaurants.

Now, I've seen this guy around before, and I'll admit that he kind of creeps me out. He tends to stare. And in the past when I've been eating outside at Gumbo YaYa's, he'll come sit down at on of the other tables and just sit there and watch me eat. I know that he's probably okay, but still, it creeps me out.

Well, yesterday when I saw him, I made a point to avoid him. I'll admit to that. But later I noticed that he was outside Penn Station and I started thinking about how much it must suck to be a homeless person dependent on other people during a recession (not that it's ever a good thing to be homeless). I was pondering all this stuff when a nice normal looking college guy walks into the restaurant. I'm assuming he was in college anyway. He looked to be in his early 20s and was dressed all in UK gear, which at lunch time generally means you don't have a real job anywhere.

Anyway, so this kid comes in and gets in line to place his order, but he keeps looking back out the window at the homeless guy. Finally, he gets out of line, goes outside and starts talking to this guy. Now, as I was inside, I couldn't hear what they were saying, but after a few minutes, the college guy comes back in with the homeless man. They both get in line and when it comes time for them to order, college boy tells the homeless guy to "Order whatever you want."

By this point, I was done with my food and had to get back to work, but that stuck with me all day. Here was this kid, probably in school, probably doesn't have much money, and he takes the time to do something really nice for this person he doesn't even know. This person that I had seen and avoided because he made me uncomfortable.

I like to think that I'm a good person. That I don't judge others based on what they look like or dress like or whatever. But the truth is, I could have done the same thing for that guy, but I didn't. In fact, it never even occurred to me that he might be hungry. And yet, this kid took it upon himself to make sure that he had something to eat that day.

It really makes you think about what you could/should be doing every single day....

Some things Never change....

So this basketball season has been quite the disappointment, but nothing will ever touch "The Shot" and the heart break felt round the Bluegrass that day. Not that we can ever escape it since it get's replayed countless times every March (most notably at the beginning of every CBS broadcast of NCAA tournament games). Now, it's even been parodied into a commercial with Christian Lattner--who really is a total asshole (I saw an interview with him the other day on ESPN while I was at the gym where he said he wants to be an NBA head coach, but he doesn't want to have to fool with paying his dues as an assistant somewhere first) and Rick Pitino for Vitamin Water. While disturbing, it is actually kind of funny, especially Rick's line at the end.