Well, it's been over 100 days since I last posted, and I have a lot to catch up.
Briefly, I have 7 newly completed items, and 20 items in a partial state.
3. Floss every night for 1 month (COMPLETED): I completed this item on 1/5/2009. The first few days were a bit gory, since my gums weren't used to the process, but the process got easier as I continued. I am still flossing regularly, which was the ultimate goal of this item.
14. Cycle a total of 5000 miles: I cycled an additional 6.41 miles for a total of 14.10. I'm going to have to seriously pick up the pace if I want to even make the half way point on this item.
25. Listen to every one of my tracks on iTunes: On 10/13/2008 I finished listening to all of the tracks that were imported into my iTunes at that point in time. While this might be technically completed, I know that I will be acquiring more music before the end of this project. Therefore, I can't consider this item truly completed until the final day of the project.
41. Refrain from ingesting caffeine for 90 days (COMPLETED): I completed this item on 11/10/08. I did feel a lot better by the end of the 90 days, but I did miss the occasional cup of coffee, Dr. Pepper, or Coca-Cola. I am ingesting caffeine now, but my preference leans toward green and black tea.
42. Read 50 books that I have not read before: I started and completed The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Venus in Furs by Sacher-Masoch, and I completed reading the Koran Interpreted by Arberry. I started The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain.
46. Read the Koran (COMPLETED): I finished the second book of the Koran Interpreted on 11/22/2008. On the whole, and of the religious texts I have read, it said the least to me in the final analysis. In my mind, too much of the text dealt with the divisions between the believer and the non-believer, and it seemed that every chapter spoke only of "painful chastisement" and the retribution of God. To me, there were too few direct lessons on how to live a good life, or ways in which to make the world a better place.
53. Sell off the firearms that I don't use anymore: Roughly two months after dropping off my K31, I received a call from the Bullet Trap notifying me that they had sold my gun. I had asked for a price of $89, partly because I wanted to sell it quickly, and partly because I wanted to keep my price competitive.
Not only did they sell the gun, which is a bit of an oddity in that it uses a very uncommon type of ammunition, they sold it for at least twice what I was asking for it.
I do have a few more items to sell, but I need to use up some remaining ammunition at the range and clean them up before dropping them off.
54. Build a deck/patio on the back of the house: I've discussed the idea with my Dad, and we're leaning toward having a slab poured with footings for the installation of pergola in the future.
55. Build an outdoor grill/firepit in the backyard (COMPLETED): I bought a nice, large charcoal grill at Lowes in preparation for a post wedding party for Claudia and me.
Not only is it much larger than our old grill, it had an adjustable coal tray, removable ceramic coated grill plates, and utility hooks and working surfaces. It was also on sale because it was the end of the summer and a discontinued model.
56. Clean each room of the house from top to bottom (COMPLETED): Since we had a party, Claudia and I cleaned every room in the house.
60. Install and maintain landscaping in the front and back yards: Claudia and I expanded one of the garden beds by adding another vertical tier. Claudia, my Dad and I also did some end of summer/fall maintenance by cleaning out the planting beds in the back yard.
In the front yard, I'd like to enlarge some of the flower beds, and add new edging and perhaps a path from the front patio to the mailbox.
63. Complete 2 college courses: I was accepted into my graduate program, and I have registered for 2 classes for a total of 5 credit hours. Classes start next week, and while most of the work is going to be Internet based, there will be some classroom sessions between now and the middle of May.
68. Complete a training course related to my profession: Over the past 100 days I have completed 3 more modules bringing my total to 10 of 20.
77. Travel to Chicago: Claudia and I purchased our airplane tickets for our trip in May 2009. We also booked our hotel, which is located in the heart of downtown Chicago.
79. Travel to New York: We also purchased our train tickets for the trip between Chicago and New York, and our plane tickets for the ride home. Our hotel reservations place us just south of Central Park, in the 5th and Madison area.
83. Visit paternal grandmother (COMPLETED): On 1/3/09 my family and I traveled to LaGrange, TX to visit my Dad's family. It was good to see my grandmother, who I haven't really seen in a couple of years. She's in her mid 80's, yet still looks healthy and well.
88. Attend a college football game (COMPLETED): I attended the SMU vs. University of Houston game at Ford Field at SMU on 10/18/2008. My Dad, being a Houston alum, suggested that we go to the game, which turned out the be one of the best football games I've ever seen. Not only was the game a shootout that went down to the final play, it was made even more exciting by the enthusiastic crowd and large group of away team fans present.
