Day 584 progress

It's been nearly a month since my last post, but I have made some progress on a few large items during that time.

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: So far I have listened to 7345 of 7593 total tracks.  I am 96.73% of the way through my collection.

It's very likely that I will listen to my entire current collection before the end of the year.  If that is the case, it would not cause this item to be truly complete, as I might acquire more music for my collection between then and the end date of the entire project.

So, even though I may listen to my current collection, my official complete date will be closer to November 24th, 2009, the end of this 101 project.

 

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: I've reached day 52 of 90.  There have been more than a few times that I could have enjoyed a cup of coffee, and a few mornings where I nearly broke down to have one, but I've stuck to my goal of finishing off this item and I've made it this far.  There's no sense in having to stat over now.

 

42. Read 50 books that I have not read before: At the suggestion of a co-worker, I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy on September 30, 2008.

 

46. Read the Koran: I finished book one of The Koran Interpreted on September 28th, 2008.  It's slow reading, and I am taking a small break while I read other material.

 

50. Pay off credit cards: I'm happy to report that I have completely paid off my Visa card, and I only have a little bit left on my Discover card.  I do have a balance on my Musician's Friend card, but I have a plan in place, and intend on paying it off sooner than later.

 

54. Build a deck or patio on the back of the house: I have a design planned.  I had hoped to have it in place by early November, but it looks like January or February are more likely.

I will need to talk to the city permit office to clear my design and get approval for the construction.

 

63. Complete 2 college courses: I've been involved in the application process for my chosen graduate program at UNT.  In the past month, I have created an organizational plan for the application process, found that I need to retake the GRE since my previous scores expired, studied for said GRE, began the application process, acquired transcripts, and worked on my financial aid package.

I still need to take the GRE, distribute my letter of recommendation packets to my letter writers, complete my application pending receipt of one more transcript, write a few essays, write my cover letter, and finish my FASFA application.

 

100. Smoke 5 high end cigars: On September 17th, I took the time (around 90 minutes) to enjoy an Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Natural in the back yard while listening to my favorite AM radio show.  Of the cigars that I have tried over the years, this one was mild, with very little aftertaste.  Nice coffee flavors, without being too spicy.  It burned evenly, and produced a nice volume of smoke on the draw with the ash holding up well throughout the smoke.

This is my first of five cigars.

Day 557 progress

I made some decent progress since the last post, with 3 completions in the bag.

16. Go rock climbing (COMPLETED): On August 31, Claudia and I traveled to Fredericksburg, Texas, where we visited Enchanted Rock, a massive granite pluton located in the Texas hill country.

While there we hiked to the top of the rock, and then descended on the western side where we did some bouldering away from the main path.

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: So far I have listened to 6921 of 7591 tracks. I am 91.17% of the way through my collection.

31. Take guitar lessons for at least 3 months: This is another changing goal. I've found it difficult to schedule lessons with my current work and band schedule, and when I begin my graduate program, such scheduling will become more difficult.

So, I am going to change my goal, while trying to retain the purpose of the originally stated goal, namely to improve my guitar skills.

My new goal will read as follows: Practice bass or guitar for 3 hours per week for 3 months.

This does not include time spent at band practice. This is intended to be an improvement of my skills above and beyond what I put in during a normal week.

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: I've made it to day 25 of 90. I have two cases of Dublin Dr. Pepper that are tempting me, but I've decided to look forward to them as a reward, rather than a temptation. So far, so good.

53. Sell off the firearms that I don't use anymore: I took the first of the rifles on my list on September 5th. I'm selling it on consignment at a popular local gun store. While this is a passive way to sell the gun, it eliminates a lot of the legal hassles involved in selling a firearm.

Hopefully I can declare it sold within the month. If not, I can look into more active methods of selling it, and the other items on my list.

58. Clean out my drawers and closet (COMPLETED): On September 6th, I spent a few hours sorting, and eliminating clothing from my wardrobe. I mainly eliminated older clothes that were worn, clothes that no longer fit, or those that I do not wear enough to justify keeping.

In all I eliminated 2 medium sized garbage bags of clothes, all of which will be donated to a local charity.

68. Complete a training course related to my profession: On September 6th, I completed 2 more modules of my training course. The company providing the training has added another module, bringing the total to 19 modules. So far I have completed 6 modules.

75. Take a weekend trip to Austin (COMPLETED): Claudia and I traveled to Austin for the 2008 Memorial Day weekend. We arrived on Saturday night, and left on Monday morning.

While there were ate at local restaurants (North by Northwest, Maria's Taco Xpress, The Salt Lick), took a day trip to Fredericksburg, did some shopping, visited the Lamar Street Whole Foods and the Gateway Whole Foods, took the tour at the Longhorn Caverns state park in Burnet, TX, and had a good time relaxing.

84. Visit the Shiloh battlefield: I have some negative developments on this item.

With Claudia's new job, she will not be eligible to attend her work event in Tennessee as planned. So, we will have to shuffle our travel plans a bit to fit this item into the mix.

We've discussed our options a bit, and it looks like the trip can still work out, but nothing is certain yet.

Day 544 progress

14. Cycle a total of 5000 miles: Better late than never, right?  I really should have started this item a year ago, if not earlier.  Well, I'm here now, and now I have to put together a decent pace.

So far I have put in 7.69 miles at the gym on the stationary bike.  I count these miles because I have the ability to set resistance on the bike that mimics road conditions like hills.

So far I am 0.15% of the way to my goal of 5000 miles.  As the weather outside cools, I'll be doing more road riding, and as the winter sets in, I'll have the option of using the gym.

 

19. Train with weights twice a week for 6 months: On 8/18.08, Claudia and I worked arms and chest, and on 8/22/08 we worked legs and abdomen.

 

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes:  I have now listened to 6637 of 7465 total tracks.  I am 88.91% of the way through my collection.

 

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: Today is day 12 of 90.  So far so good.  I've become more cognizant of my goal, and much less likely to err since I keep my prohibition front of mind when purchasing food and drink.

 

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: I set aside $7 since my last update.  My new total is $730.

 

If things go as planned over the next couple of weeks, I should have at least a couple of completions.

Day 534 progress

9. Paint an original work of art: I spoke with a coworker who is a very good artist, and who specializes in acrylics and collage.  She gave me some ideas regarding techniques I could use in my piece of art.

I'm still in favor of my selected subject matter.  I will probably begin work in the fall when it cools off a bit, that way I can work in the garage and avoid making a mess in the house.

 

19. Train with weights twice a week for 6 months: Claudia and I enrolled in a one month family membership at the Frisco Athletic Center.  This is obviously the first necessary step to completing this item.  We're going to try the facility for a month, and then enroll for a year if we like the services offered.

I'll be able to drop by either before or after work, and since Claudia is a city employee, she will get reimbursed for her part of the fees if she uses the facility at least 10 times a month.

 

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: So far I have listened to 6567 of 7381 tracks.  I am 88.97% of the way through my collection.

 

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: I managed to make it to day 23 before I screwed up.  Claudia and I had dinner with her mother, sister, and sister's fiancee on 8/12/2008, and having had a long day at work, I didn't stop to think when I ordered a Jack Daniel's and coke with my dinner. 

And thus, I restarted this item on 8/13/08.  My new completion date will be 11/10/2008

 

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: Since my last update I set aside $9.  My new total is $723 of $1001.

Day 516 progress

8. Go one day without speaking (COMPLETED): I completed this item on July 23rd, 2008.  This was intended more as a test of will, albeit a simple one, but at the conclusion it became a nice way to approach the day more reflective manner.

I tend to think that the ability to remain silent is a dying virtue, as so many of our days are occupied by trying to be noticed by others, usually through verbal communication.  I've always been intrigued by members of monastic societies that take vows of silence.  I can say that from my simple, and brief experience, that a good period of silence is also a good way to cam the chatter of the mind, especially for someone like myself who is constantly processing information and creating plans in my mind.

 

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: I have currently listened to 6051 of 7168 total tracks.  I am 84.42% of the way through my collection.

 

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: I restarted this item on July 21, 2008.  I've been drinking herbal teas in place of the green and black tea that I would normally consume.  Skipping coffee is easy, as I typically don't drink coffee during the summer months.  I am also avoiding chocolate and caffeine found in dietary supplements.

At this point I have reached day 7 of 90, and have had no issues, not even a single headache.  My biggest pitfall will be forgetting to avoid caffeine, but with a little attention to my choices, this item should be an easy completion.

The final day of this item will be October 18, 2008.

 

85. Attend 3 plays (COMPLETED): On July 20th, 2008, I attended the Shakespeare Dallas production of Othello at Samuel Grand Park.

We made an evening of it, and Claudia, my parents, and my sister and her boyfriend all attended.  Everyone brought some element of the picnic.  We had sandwiches, melon wrapped in prosciutto, couscous, naan bread, wine, sangria, almond horns, and homemade hummus.

The evening was reasonable mild, and the production was very well presented.

This completes this item, along with my attendance of Edmond and Glengarry Glen Ross.

Day 508 progress

I've crossed the halfway point in my project.  As of this post my progress is such:

- 33 completed items.

- 20 items in progress.

- 48 items not started.

Overall my progress is pretty good, considering that many of the items in progress are long term goals, and a large number of the items not started are single instance or short term goals.

Here is my recent progress:

 

2. Do a 10 day Master Cleanse (COMPLETED): With a lot of willpower, I completed my first and likely last Master Cleanse ever.  I did lose 14 pounds over the 10 days, but more importantly I had time to reflect on all the things I was craving, but did not actually need.

Now, with my digestion sorted out, I can realign my dietary goals and make better decisions than I had in the past.

 

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: I've been listening to a lot of music lately, and I've made significant progress since my last post.

So far I have listened to 5833 tracks out of 7155 total tracks.  I am 81.52% of the way through my collection.

 

29. Record 3 original songs (COMPLETED): On July 14th, 2008, Dylan and I cut the final part to "Nice Boots", a clean bass part intended to match with the effected bass part.

At this point, I've been party to three completed recordings, "Love's a Sigh", "Grin and Bear", and "Nice Boots", all of which are original compositions by the band of which I am a member.  Mixing still needs to occur, but the recording is complete, fulfilling the intent and requirements of this item.

 

37. Eat at home for one month: In my excitement over ending the Master Cleanse I partook of a pizza, which I had delivered.  A lack of patience on my part is forcing me to restart this item.

 

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: As with item 37, I failed to stick with this item.  The offer of a free bottle of Coke with my pizza was too much to resist.  I know this is in stark contrast to my desire to make better choices, but we learn as much if not more from our failures as we do our successes.

 

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: I received a dividend check from one of my investments, and I decided to put that money toward this goal.  I set aside $49, bringing my total to $714 of $1001.

Day 497 progress

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: I've listened to 5514 of 7089 tracks. I am now 77.77% of the way through my collection.

37. Eat at home for 1 month: I started this item on 7/7/2008. My goal is to eat meals at home, or prepared at home, rather than going out to eat or ordering take-out. I will complete this item on 8/5/2008.

41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days: I started this item on 7/7/2008. My goal is to refrain from knowingly ingesting caffeine, in food, beverages, or dietary supplements. Ideally, I would like to totally avoid it for the 90 day duration, but in the event that I ingest something that contains caffeine outside of my knowledge, that would not disqualify me from this item. I will complete this item on 10/4/2008.

42. Read 50 books that I have not read before: I completed Jennifer Government on 7/7/2008, bringing my total of completed books to 14 of 50.

This book was recommended to me by a friend who shares an appreciation for dystopian literature. I found the novel to be entertaining and containing many valid ideas on the pitfalls of corporate marketing schemes. There were some flaws to the novel, mainly in the plausibility of some of the events and how the overall plot played out, but in all it was enjoyable.

I will start reading The Koran Interpreted by A.J. Arberry later this evening.

46. Read the Koran: Of the religious traditions that I have studied, my understanding of Islam is the least developed. As with all the other religions associated with the texts on my list, my preference is to read and understand the messages offered for myself, rather than rely on what is sometimes inaccurate or misleading information available from interpretations of interpretations.

I expect that the Koran will be an easier read than some of the other texts, as it is closely connected to other Western religious traditions, and so the concepts should be more familiar.

68. Complete a training course related to my profession: I completed 2 more training modules on 7/7/2008. In addition to the 14 original modules, 4 more have been added. So far I have completed 4 of 18 modules.

Day 495 progress

My pace has picked back up, and I'm doing well in recent completions, progress on current items, and new item starts.

2. Do a 10 day Master Cleanse: I officially start today, even though my first real day is clocked tomorrow. Thankfully I have a few things on my side for this item.

First, Claudia has already completed one 10 day session, and will be doing the cleanse at the same time as me, so I'll have someone knowledgeable, and some moral support.

Second, I have two and a half more days of vacation ahead of me, so I'll have a little time to make it past the worst part of the cleanse, namely the first three days.

Tomorrow morning, I'll take my starting weight so I can see how much I lose over the course of the cleanse. Of course, this program isn't primarily for weight loss, but has weight loss as a side effect. I should lose about 20 pounds based on what I have read, which will be a nice outcome.

The most important part of the cleanse is that it will give me a "clean slate" to rethink my overall diet. Fast food and carbonated drinks have crept back into my daily meals, and it isn't helping me have a healthy lifestyle on the whole. When I complete this cleanse, I plan on making the suffering worth something by focusing on eating more fresh foods prepared at home.

The official end of my cleanse will be at midnight on July 16th.

5. Get a tattoo (COMPLETED): While in the Los Angeles area I got a tattoo as planned. While I had to adjust my overall plans a bit, I'm happy with the results, and the tattoo is healing very well.

I had my tattoo done by Andrew at Donovan's Autumn Moon in Anaheim, CA on June 29th, 2008. I decided to get the "P" in the Pixies logo, since they are easily my favorite band, and heavily influence my playing style and how I approach the music writing process.

Here's a picture taken about 3 hours after the tattoo was done:

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: My total is now 5453 tracks out of a total of 7089. I am 76.92% of the way through my collection.

42. Read 50 books that I have not read before: I finished reading The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha on July 1st, 2008.

I will begin reading Jennifer Government tonight (July 6th, 2008).

So far I have read 13 of 50 books.

47. Read The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha (COMPLETED): I finished reading this book on July 1st, 2008. It took me far longer to finish this rather slim volume than I had previously thought.

I found a lot of the writing to be more difficult to move through, and the concepts far more murky than those in The Upanishads or The Bhagavad Gita. I also found it to be less engaging and frankly, boring at times.

I do think that I took away some valuable concepts from the work, mainly that we tend to be our greatest enemies and the largest impediments to our intellectual and spiritual development.

74. Take a road trip along Route 66 (COMPLETED): I started the Route 66 segment of my road trip on June 26th, 2008, and ended it on June 27th, 2008.

We connected with Route 66 on the morning of June 26 just up the road from our hotel in Amarillo, TX. While we traveled intermittently along Interstate 40 and what is left of Route 66, I did make an effort to see a decent portion of the old road.

We stopped for the night in Flagstaff, AZ, and then continued the next day through Barstow, CA, where we then headed south to Los Angeles.

Sadly, it seems that a lot of the elements that made the route a storied and semi-legendary path across the west have either died away completely or have fallen into a state of disrepair. Many of the towns along Route 66 are now bypassed by Interstate 40, and the commercial centers, the hotels and restaurants, have turned into national chains that gravitate toward the Interstate, rather than the smaller, kitschy, local establishments of the 1950's.

I enjoyed my trip, and would like to conduct a longer, and more thorough exploration of the road, but any such plans are far in the future.

Items in the works

Here's a list of items that I've begun but have not yet completed. It will give you an idea of what's currently in the works and what is close to completion.

5. Get a tattoo: 50%

7. Grow my hair out: 50%

9. Paint an original work of art: 5%

17. Hike all 8 trails at the Cedar Ridge Preserve: 50%

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: 73.71%

29. Record 3 original songs: 90%

30. Refurbish an old guitar: 10%

42. Read 50 books that I have not read before: 24%

47. Read the Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha: 60%

50. Pay off credit cards: 23%

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: 66.43%

59. Have a garage sale: 10%

60. Install and maintain landscaping in the front and back yards: 50%

61. Organize the garage with shelving and storage: 10%

68. Complete a training course related to my profession: 14.29%

74. Take a road trip along Route 66: 50%

77. Travel to Chicago: 2%

79. Travel to New York: 2%

84. Visit the Shiloh battlefield: 1%

85. Attend 3 plays: 66.67%

Day 480 progress

5. Get a tattoo: I put together a backup plan just in case my L.A. plan doesn't work out. One of my product reps, who oddly enough went to the same high school as me, told me about the shop where he get's his work done. So now I have a direct reference, have seen the work of this person in the flesh, and fell that the style of the artist in question would probably fit well with my planned artwork.

Like I said, this is a backup plan, but it's looking like it may be more of a reality after consideration.

25. Listen to every one of my track on iTunes: I have listened to 5227 of 7091 total tracks. I am 73.71% of the way through my collection.

29. Record 3 original songs: On June 10th, we managed to cut the bass, drums, guitars, and background sounds for our third song, "Nice Boots". We had only planned on cutting the bass to the click track, and the guys were going to work on their parts while I was out of town. Instead, we were on a roll, and so we finished up almost all of the instrumentation. There is some debate about adding a slide guitar for a little extra depth, but we're not sure yet.

A few days later, the vocals for "Nice Boots" were cut, and the vocals for "Grin and Bear" were re-cut for quality reasons.

Steve delivered the re-cut vocals and the new material to Aaron for mixing on June 19th.

68. Take a course in Ayurvedic Medicine: I am going to change this item based on a couple of reasons. First, the only courses I could find that looked to be of good quality were bundled with two or four year programs. Second, to truly get quality instruction, I would have to attend instructor led classes, which are not offered in my geographical area.

So, I am going to change this item to something along similar lines that will be achievable. The new goal will be: Complete a training course related to my profession.

I have found such a course, and have already begun my training. The course covers a number of topics related to the digestive system, detoxification, and dietary supplementation. The course is 14 modules in duration, and can be completed at my own pace.

So far I have completed 2 of 14 modules. The average module takes between 45 and 60 minutes to complete, and requires an evaluation at the conclusion. I like the subject matter, and I can use the information that I learn in my job.

I plan on working on a few of the modules while I am in L.A., and hope to have the entire program completed by September 2008.

Day 467 progress

5. Get a tattoo: I alluded to this in my last post, but this is only a small update, with no images. I finally settled on my artwork, and although I didn't hear back from the artist I wanted (she is a celebrity figure after all...), I still plan on going to the same studio while I'm in Los Angeles.

I've peeked at some of the online portfolios, but I'll look around when I actually arrive. If I don't feel that I'm going to get exactly what I want, then I'll bail out and find a different studio. I do have a couple of alternates that look good from what I have seen online, but again, the final decision will be made when I get there.

7. Grow my hair out: I started on the long hair thing back in March of 2007, and I've only had it trimmed a few times in the past year. Right now it reaches the highest part of my jawbone. I've been cutting the under part along the sides and back of my head, like the skater cuts of the 1990's. I can almost pull it back, but I still need a little help from hairpins.

Here's blurry picture of me looking overly serious:

I think I am about 50% of the way to the length I want. Ultimately I'll be happy when I can pull it all back, but I would like it to be at least shoulder length by the time this project is over.

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: I did some more listening yesterday and today, and brought my total to 5086 of 7082. I cleaned out a few "dead air" tracks from my catalog, so that explains the decrease from yesterday's total tracks. I am 71.82% of the way through this item.

Day 466 progress

I'm still not being as productive on my list as I would like, but I do have some irons in the fire, and two recent completions. If all goes as planned, I should have between 3 and 5 more completions before the end of July.

6. Earn a promotion (COMPLETED): I am now the Supplement Specialist for my team. It's a position that I've always been interested in, and I think it will be a great fit for my skills and interests.

22. Build a home studio (COMPLETED): I'm going to call this one complete, even though I don't have all the art on the walls. I consider it complete because my office is now a functional recording space, which was the original intention of the item.

Even though I have been recording on and off over the past few months, I didn't have all of my equipment set up the way I wanted it. I acquired the right equipment to allow my computer to interface with my MicroKorg earlier this week, and now I can edit synthesizer patches and record on the fly.

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: My current total is now 5054 of 7085. I am 71.33% of the way through my collection.

29. Record 3 original songs: Steve delivered the audio for "Grin and Bear" to Aaron on 6/1/2008. Since Aaron's band is on hiatus, he's going to be assisting us with the mixing and mastering. He's an audio engineer for a major sports network, and has a background in recording music, so he's perfect for the task.

We've already picked a number of songs to record next, and the guys in the band are going to work on recording their parts while I'm in Costa Rica and Los Angeles. When I get back, I'll cut my parts and we'll start the mixing process.

74: Take a road trip along Route 66: We did a little more planning for the trip.

On the way there, we plan on seeing Cadillac Ranch, and eating at the Church Street Cafe before seeing the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. After that, we'll see the Petrified Forest, before stopping for the night in Flagstaff. The second day, we'll drive from Flagstaff to Long Beach, where we'll stay at the Queen Mary.

For entertainment while we're in Los Angeles, we have a number of things planned. We have tickets to see the Anaheim Angels play the Oakland Athletics on July 1st. On July 2nd, we're touring the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank. And on July 3rd, we're having dinner at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at The London West Hollywood.

While Claudia is attending her ALA events, I'll look at some of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the area, take in some Art Deco architecture, get a tattoo (more on that when it happens), check out the local music stores, and look around some of the museums in the area. We're staying in West Hollywood at the Le Montrose, which is right off the Sunset Strip.

On the way back, we may stop at the Hauser Geode Beds and do a little rockhounding. We may also stop at the Monahans Sandhills park in Odessa.

Day 450 progress

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: My music collection has expanded a bit of late, but I'm still making progress in the listening department.  So far I have listened to 4867 tracks of 6931 total tracks.  I am 70.22% through my collection.

 

29. Record 3 original songs: Over the past month we've recorded the bass and rhythm guitars for our second song.  We also turned over the tracks for the first song to a friend of the band for mixing and mastering.

Our guitarist/vocalist cut his hand yesterday, so he going to be unable to play for a couple of weeks.  In the meantime we're going to focus on recording vocals and recording what we can of our third song.

 

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: Over the past month I set aside a good amount of cash bringing me almost two-thirds of the way to my goal.  I set aside a portion of my tax refund, and combined with a couple of other smaller amounts, the total comes to $269.00.

My overall total is now $665 of $1001.

 

60. Install and maintain landscaping in the front and back yards: Claudia and I planted some bush and pole beans in the vegetable garden.  They have already sprouted and are doing well.

We've mostly been working on keeping the yard trimmed and neat.  So far it looks very good, and we haven't found it necessary to run the sprinkler system at all.

 

70. Get a passport (COMPLETED): Having won a trip to Costa Rica in June, my need for a passport became critical.  I submitted my paperwork on May 2nd, and received my passport on May 10th!  Of course, my picture looks terrible, but now I can travel internationally.

 

74. Take a road trip along Route 66: We reserved the rental car for our trip, which is only 5 weeks away.  We have all the hotels reserved, and I am going to create a list of sites to see along the way.

Day 413 progress

Sorry for being so behind. I haven't posted in over 11 weeks, and while I have made progress on a number of items, I haven't been nearly as productive as I could have been over that period of time.

5. Get a tattoo: I submitted the artwork for my tattoo on 4/11/08 and expect to hear back within the next couple of weeks. Once I hear from the artist, I'll schedule the actual session which will take place in July of this year.

29. Record 3 original songs: Work on the first song is completed, with only the mixing process left to go. The band started on the second song, and so far we've cut the drums and rhythm guitars. This song is much simpler than the first one we worked on, so completing it should be much easier.

35. Drink 1 gallon of water everyday for 1 month (COMPLETE): I completed this item starting on 2/22/08 and ending on 3/22/08.

At first it was a bit more of a challenge than I had expected it to be, but after the first week I had a better idea of how to pace my water intake.

51. Save $1 cash each day for 1001 days: I saved $58 bringing my new total to $396. I plan on saving a portion of my 2007 tax return when I receive it.

56. Clean each room in the house from top to bottom: I made a tracking sheet to keep tabs on what has been completed during the cleaning process. From what I have heard, things slow down at work during the summer, so I may get an additional day off each week. I plan on using those days to work on this item. My goal is to complete this item within 4 weeks of starting it.

The goal is to thoroughly clean each room from top to bottom, getting those smaller items that usually are ignored during regular cleaning.

60. Install and maintain landscaping in the from and back yards: Of all the things I worked on over the past 11 weeks, this is the one that got the most attention.

Since the last update I installed two additional vegetable beds. I've planted a number of things in the vegetable garden including onions, garlic, okra, tomatoes, bell peppers, and a variety of herbs.

In a bed that runs along the house, I planted wildflower seeds that I purchased while in Seattle. Those are starting to sprout and will fill the bed under the kitchen window.

One Saturday morning, Claudia and I trimmed our crepe myrtles, and planted flowers in the beds around our larger trees in the front yard.

A few days later we received two large hostas from Claudia's mother. We split the root balls and filled 7 planting locations along our entry walkway. In the weeks since the hostas have grown even more, filling their spaces quite well.

85. Attend 3 plays: On 2/1/08, Claudia, my sister, and I attended a production of David Mamet's "Edmond" at the Addison Theatre Center.

"Edmond" was very well performed, and kept me interested through the entire production. In comparison with "Glengarry Glen Ross", "Edmond" is much grittier, and is much more effective in plumbing the darker side of humanity.

While "Glengarry Glen Ross" focused on greed and pride as motivators for human behavior, "Edmond" explored one man's journey through self destruction and his resulting arrival at a place, that while difficult and not the desired destination of the most, did place him a more peace than his previous life.

I need to attend one more play to complete this item.

Day 333 progress

I've made it one-third of the way through my time limit, and have completed 24 items up to this point (which includes 4 completions in this update). I have 24 more items in progress at this point.

Over the past couple of weeks I completed 4 items on my list, and made progress in 6 more items. This is going to be a rather large update.

42. Read 50 books that I have not read before: I finished Never Enough: The Story of the Cure. I took way too much time reading this book, not because it wasn't enjoyable, but because I did make time every day to read.

As far as the book goes, I really enjoyed it, and it gave me more insight into the creative process that artists use when creating music. I also picked up some ideas to use for the band in our current recording process.

After that I started reading the Bhagavad-Gita, one of the holy books of Hinduism. In the story, Krishna lays out and explains the concepts of yoga to Arjuna. As an entrance into the ideas of Hinduism it's a very easy read, and very easy to comprehend. While I vacation I finished reading the Bhagavad-Gita.

For my next book I am reading The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha.

44. Read the Bhagavad-Gita (COMPLETED): I read this book while on vacation. See above for comments.

47. Read the Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha: I started reading this book while on vacation. Right now I am about one-third of the way through the book.

50. Pay off credit cards: Claudia and I made another significant payment to our debt.

59. Have a garage sale: I started setting aside items for a garage sale. Claudia and I plan to have our garage sale in March of 2008.

60. Install and maintain landscaping in front and backyard: My dad helped out a bit by cleaning out the vegetable garden beds in the backyard while we were on vacation.

I've planned the late winter work for the backyard. I would like to put in more planting beds, perhaps for flowers and shrubs. The backyard is a bit plain, so a little color wouldn't hurt.

I also want to add onto the already existing beds, so I can plant more herbs this year.

61. Organize the garage with shelving and storage: After the garage sale, I plan on installing some fixed shelving for storage. Claudia and I have been looking at storage options at IKEA, and we found some heavy duty shelving that should work perfectly. I plan on working on this item in the spring of 2008.

63. Complete 2 college courses: I edited the phrasing of this item a bit. Originally, it read "Complete 2 college correspondence courses". I decided that I wanted to have the option to take an actual classroom course, especially since there are some many options available in the area. Additionally, if I opt to take some sort of lab-work course, it would probably require a physical location for the completion of the course.

That being said, I decided what i want to do for my first course. While I vacation I realized that I enjoy photography, but I would like to learn more of the technical aspects of photography in order to improve the quality of my work.

72. See the Declaration of Independence (COMPLETED): While on vacation, Claudia and I visited the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence.

Flash photography was not allowed inside, and the photos I did take were of poor quality, so here's a shot of the Archives building and a bad photo of the Declaration of Independence:

73. See the Liberty Bell (COMPLETED): After arriving in Philadelphia for our vacation, we drove to downtown to see the Liberty Bell. Since we went around lunch on a Thursday there wasn't a line, and we were able to take our time looking at the exhibits. Here's a photo of the Liberty Bell:

80. Travel to Philadelphia (COMPLETED): For our vacation we flew into Philadelphia. While there we saw the Liberty Bell (described above) and ate at Morimoto. I would have liked to spend a little more time there, but we had so much planned that we were only able to spend a few hours looking around. Here are some photos:

Day 318 progress

Lots of recent developments, and one completion that I wish had worked out differently.

7. Grow my hair out again: The last hair update was on 9/21/07. Since then I've only had it trimmed once, but I have cut the underside a few times to keep it from getting too shaggy.

For comparison, here's a picture from my trip to Seattle in June 2007:

Here's a picture from October:

And finally, here's a picture from New Years' Eve 2007:

25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: I had a bit of a scare with my computer over the past week. I managed to back up all my music, but I was afraid that I would lose all my listening progress.

I moved everything back over to my computer today, and all my progress transferred over just fine.

29. Record 3 original songs: On New Years' Day, Steve and I cut the bass track along with some vocals and guitar parts. The studio was completely dead, as we had hoped it would be. Some of the other bands did show up, but we were able to get several hours of work in.

The tone of the bass tracks that I had cut previously wasn't great (it sounded like a tuba), so we decided to try a few tricks and re-record the parts.

We added a compressor at the front of the chain, preamped the signal coming out of the signal chain, and used a bass with active EQ, rather than the passive bass I had used on the initial takes. The tone of the re-cut part was much better, and had a lot more sustain.

74. Take a road trip along Route 66: Claudia booked the hotel for her conference dates on 1/2/08, and we booked our travel day vacation dates (Amarillo, Flagstaff, Tucson) on 1/3/08. We still need to book for the days that we'll be in L.A., but most of the work is done at this point.

We've been looking at a hotel that is between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood for the two days that we'll be in L.A. on vacation. It looks pretty nice, and given the location, the price is pretty reasonable.

82. Visit maternal grandparents (COMPLETED): When I planned this item, my intention was to visit my grandmother and grandfather, introduce Claudia, and spend some time with them. Well, best laid plans don't always work out the way we want them too.

I attended the funeral of my grandmother on 1/7/08 in Silver Creek, Mississippi. I did get the chance to speak with my grandfather, but with all the stress of the day, our time together was limited and not in the best of circumstances.

I am going to consider this item completed, but I fully intend on going back to visit in the spring of 2008.

85. Attend 3 plays: Claudia and I have picked the next play that we're going to see. It is David Mamet's "Edmond", and it will be playing at the Addison Theatre Center from late January 2008 through the middle of February 2008.

Next week I'll be traveling to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Charlottesville. I will complete 3 items during my trip. I'll have much more when I return.