Happy New Year's Resolutions!

Belated Happy New Year!  But then, I did wish everyone an early Happy New Year in my previous post, so I'm not going to stress about being late in this case.

I have not, in fact, made any New Year's Resolutions, New Year's Resolutions being only so much crap.  I don't know that I've ever kept for one more than about a day or two.

This year, Nick, sometime around New Year's Day, was reading his list of "101 things to do in 1001 Days", being promoted by a web site, Day Zero Project.  I decided I like the concept much better than resolutions.  This is much simpler; making a list of all the things that you're always saying you want to do some day and giving yourself a time frame to get them done.

Now I assume the list is supposed to be things you WANT to do, but I have include things that I HAVE to do; otherwise, I'll never get 101 things done.

So, anyway here is my first pass at the 101 things I'm going to do in the next 1001 days (actually, next 995, because 6 days have already elapsed since I completed the list.)  The list needs some reflection and probable adjustment, because I'm not sure this is all humanly possible, especially for someone in my condition (and by that I mean married.)

101 Thing to do Before September 28, 2013

1. Don't die (this would make the rest rather difficult)
2. Finish the master bed/bathroom remodel
3. Visit the Smithsonian
4. Go somewhere where I need my passport (my passport has nary a stamp on it)
5. Finish reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series
6. Learn to make really good sourdough bread
7. Eat Chicago-style pizza in Chicago
8. Weigh what is says on my driver's license
9. Bench-press my body weight (i.e. lose 150 lbs)
10. Double my gas mileage
11. Learn a language
12. Hike in Yosemite
13. Visit Yellowstone
14. Hike to the summit of San Jacinto Peak
15. Cure some olives (no matter what ails them)
16. Read "Lost Moon" by Jim Lovell
17. Use the public library
18. Take a photography class
19. Make cheese
20. Attend a brewing class (Nicholas has kindly provided me with tickets to "Strong Ales" at Stone Brewing Company for January 24, so if I can avoid #1 for that long, #29 should be in the bag.)
21. Run a 5K (I also had run a 10K, but since that's just doing a 5K two more times I decided it didn't count)
22. Visit Death Valley
23. Attend Shakespeare festival in Ashland, OR
24. Make tortillas from scratch
25. Grow rhubarb
26. See a play
27. Stalk a celebrity
28. Learn a new card game
29. Tour a civil war battlefield
30. Sample bourbon at a distillery
31. Take a cooking class
32. Learn to grow olives
33. Plan our house remodel
34. Design an outdoor kitchen
35. Volunteer at Habitat for Humanity
36. Develop an excellent black-bean burger recipe
37. Blow glass
38. Learn to make neon signs
39. Have dinner in Idyllwild
40. Swim in the ocean
41. Grow my own barley
42. Brew a beer from scratch (see #41)
43. Make pastrami (from scratch)
44. Digitize my LPs
45. Build a media server
46. Digitize our videos
47. Digitize our photos
48. Manage our investments
49. Rent a storage locker and clean out the house
50. Build a storage shed
51. Build paver walkways
52. Build retaining walls
53. Build a brewing station for storing all my stuff
54. Build a proofing/fermenting box
55. Reprogram my universal remote
56. Install an IR remote repeater
57. Get a remote controlled AV power supply
58. Investigate solar power for our house
59. Investigate a solar tube for the hallway in our house
60. Hike in the Grand Canyon, maybe stay at Phantom Ranch
61. Have dinner at Cold Springs Tavern
62. Host a Feast of the Seven (or more) International Fish Dishes
63. Let someone else cook my birthday dinner
64. Avoid the urge to dye my hair/get a tattoo/buy a corvette/dump my wife for a younger woman
65. Encourage Denise to dye her hair/get a tattoo/buy a corvette/dump her husband for a younger man
66. Decorate with a home-grown Christmas tree
67. Improve the lighting in this house
68. Mow the grass with a push mower (don't tell anyone at Toro)
69. Probably not again in this lifetime
70. Learn massage
71. Get a massage (71-a; get back waxed first)
72. Ski
73. Waterski
74. Ride a bike (get a bike)
75. Dress up and go out
76. Play tennis
77. Shoot hoops
78. Use or lose the boat
79. Listen to podcasts/audiobooks on the commute
80. Carpool
81. Ride bike to the market(s)
82. Walk to the mall for lunch
83. Use or lose the golf clubs
84. Visit Anchor Brewing
85. Visit Alpine Brewing
86. Build music boxes with the movements I've had forever
87. Find a nice spot for Dannie's cremains
88. Organize my recipes
89. Create a reading nook
90. Figure out how to keep Leo from getting so muddy when it rains
91. Organize the garage so we can get a car in it and still use it as a workshop
92. Install a dust collection system
93. Get a new bed
94. Have my knives professionally sharpened
95. Plant ground cover on the hill
96. Design/plant a kitchen herb garden
97. Build a greenhouse
98. Convert Nick's old room into my office/exercise/reading/media room
99. Use Wii Fit more often
100. Join a CSA
101. Buy locally, sustainably raised, meat

Contigencies (since I will almost certainly have to drop some of the above)

1. Eat a Twinkie with a straw
2. Stalk of celery (in case stalking a celebrity doesn't work out)
3. More to come...

As of this evening, I can strike #17.  I now have a card at the Temecula Public Library and checked out my first book since leaving Flagstaff in 1995.  The book in question?  "Bonk" by Mary Roach.  I just finished "Stiff" and enjoyed it so much I plan to have myself composted, assuming that Promessa has a licensee somewhere in the United States by the time that I shuffle off this mortal coil.  Who knows, I could, quite literally, be pushing up daisies.

But enough for now.  I'll go into this all more later.

Next post - update on all the food news from the past several weeks, including the Pumpkin-Seitan Enchiladas.

Oh, and BTW, I posted a short update on Jake's Rehab with his latest facial x-ray.  In case anyone is interested.

Bye for now.