Day 269 progress

I've worked on a few really minor things, and haven't completed anything since the last update.

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: I've listened to 3030 tracks of 6027.  I've over the 50% mark at this point.

 

50.  Pay off credit cards: Claudia and I made a bit of a dent in our collective debt.  It's a good start, but there's still work to be done.  Sorry, no gory details.

 

Since I made a little progress on these three items at the same time, I'll address them in the same manner:

77. Travel to Chicago:

79. Travel to New York:

80. Travel to Philadelphia:

I had a bit of a stroke of genius when it came to these items: Why not try to lump them all together?  So, with the assumption that we'd fly into Chicago, and then fly out of New York City, it is entirely possible to take the Amtrak between all of these cities. 

Not only can we experience rail travel, which has always fascinated me, but I can take care of seeing 3 cities on my list, and be in the right places to knock out 2 more travel items (72. See the Declaration of Independence and 73. See the Liberty Bell) and one of my leisure items (96. Eat at Les Halles Brasserie).

Day 261 progress

I didn't accomplish much over the past week, but I did manage to make a little progress.

30. Refurbish an old guitar: I've decided that I want to refurbish a Fender Precision bass. The P-bass was the first electric guitar I ever owned, and although I love the sound of my Jazz bass, I want to have the punchy tone of a P-bass at my disposal when necessary.

My plan is to find an older one at a pawn shop, Zoo Music, or another mom and pop guitar shop. I doesn't have to be in great condition, since I plan on stripping the body and completely refinishing it. I'll replace all the wiring, pickups, bridge, tuners (if necessary), pick guard, and overall finish.

I think I want to finish the body in a white pearl finish with a white-black-white pearloid pick guard. I plan on adding a black and clear water transfer decal of Nietzsche on the body, and a couple of black racing stripes going across the body.

All the hardware is going to be chrome. My preference is to get a bass with a rosewood fretboard, but in the event that I have to replace the neck, that might change. My goal is to get a bass that has a good neck from the start, as necks are really expensive to replace.

I plan on installing Seymour Duncan-Basslines Quarter Pound passive pickups. For strings I plan on using Ernie Ball Super Slinky medium gauge strings.

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: I set aside another $32, bringing my total to $332 of $1001.

98. Attend 5 concerts (COMPLETED): Claudia, Colleen, and I saw Coheed and Cambria at the House of Blues in Dallas on 11/15/07. Clutch was the only opener that we were able to see, and they were really good. I was only familiar with them because of Bam Margera's TV shows on MTV, but they put on a good set.

Coheed and Cambria were really good. Not only were the songs great, but their skill was amazing. They're all talented in a way that almost makes me pack up all my guitars and just give up trying. During the middle of the set they busted out a cover of "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden, which was a great surprise. They ended the show with what must have been a 15-20 minute version of "The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut" that was simply unbelievable.

This makes the 5th concert that I have attended since starting this project, and completes this item on my list.

Day 253 progress

6. Earn a promotion: I started work at my new location on 11/3/07. So far everything is going really well. The people in the store all seem to really enjoy being there, the overall vibe in the store is very upbeat and positive, and my fellow Team Members all seem really cool.

25. Listen to every one of my track on iTunes: So far I have listened to 2770 of 6003 tracks. I'm 46.14% of the way through this item, with the understanding that the total will fluctuate as the entire project progresses.

40. Refrain from ingesting alcohol for 90 days (COMPLETED): 11/5/07 was day 90 of 90. This item wasn't at all difficult, even though it was tempting to just start over a few times. There were days I really could have gone for a beer after work with some of the guys, and when we went to see "Glengarry Glen Ross" a few weeks ago, I could smell Claudia's wine and it was very tempting to get my own glass.

But I've made it 90 days, and I'm happy to have done so. I joked about getting unbelievably demolished to celebrate, but I really have no immediate inclination to drink anything. I may have a beer at the next band practice, and I do have to eventually finish item 101 (Try 10 wines I have not had before), but everything in due time.

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: I set aside $36 bringing my total to $300.

85. Attend 3 plays: Claudia, my parents, and I say the Dallas Theatre Center's production of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" on 10/26/07. I'm a huge fan of the movie (which you should see if you haven't done so already, if only for the cast), so I was very excited to see the stage production.

First, the negative aspects, of which there were only a few:

1. The actors played the parts as portrayed by the actors in the movie. While I wasn't totally annoyed by this, it would have been nice to see the interpretations of the characters as done by the actors on the stage.

2. The "Coffee for Closers" portion as seen in the movie was not part of the original stage script, and so it was not part of the performance. In the movie, it's a brilliant addition that helps to flesh out the conflict and the backstabbing between the characters.

3. The language was really salty, which wouldn't normally bug me, but when my mother is sitting 2 seats away from me and F-bombs and even a few C-bombs are exploding around us, it does get a bit tense.

Now the positive aspects:

1. Excellent acting that completely drew me into the action of the play. Even though I knew what was coming, the tension was palpable.

2. Moss was played by John Doman, who plays William Rawls on HBO's "The Wire", which is one of my favorite shows on TV.

3. There was absolutely no fluff or filler. It was a very short play which was perfectly paced.

All in all, it was a great way to start this item on my list. Claudia and I have our eyes on a couple more plays, this time at the Addison Theatre Center. They aren't until the start of next year, but they do look good.

As for upcoming items, 98 will be completed on 11/15/07 when Claudia, Colleen and I see Coheed and Cambria in concert at the House of Blues in Dallas. And it looks like I'll complete 83 when I travel to LaGrange, TX to visit family for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Items with less definite timetables include:

- 17 should see some action as the weather turns colder and bugs become less of an issue.

- 29 as the band gears up to record an album in the start of the new year.

- 99 should be completed as soon as Claudia and I find time, as we've found a nice little Mediterranean restaurant nearby that offers hookahs on their menu.

- 101 should be completed before the end of the year as holiday entertaining inevitably leads to the ingestion of wine.