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.