As October rolls into November

I have quite a bit of work to do on my little list. I have been working on the Odie park project. Last weekend I took her to the North Triangle neighborhood. We walked around gazing at old homes, smelling leaf piles, and visiting two parks: Nokomis and Parkovas. We also recently visited Coquillard Park. A good blogger would have taken some fabulous pictures of said parks. I however am simply a record keeper of my own list, and not a blogger. Since the following list is merely South Bend parks, it is clear I have a long way to go.

() Belleville Park Evergreen Ln. at Meadow Ln. 43.65
() Belleville Softball Complex In Belleville Park 0.00
(check) Boehm Park Edison Rd. at Rose St. 30.00
() Boland Park Corpus Christi Dr. at Tomahawk Trail. 21.03
() Brownfield Park Riverside Dr. at Angela Blvd. 2.70
(check) Coquillard Park Campeau St. at Arthur St. 7.16
() East Bank Trail Angela to Niles along Railway 1.10
(check) East Race Waterway Niles Ave. at Washington St. 5.10
() Elbel Park Auten Rd. at Quince Rd. 313.25
() Erskine Park Miami Rd. at Ireland Rd. 120.00
() Forestry 0.00
() Fredrickson Park South Bend Ave. at N. Jacob St. 14.24
() Fremont Park Fremont St. at W. Hamilton St. 2.00
() Gwen Stiver Park St. Joseph St. at Lasalle St. 0.38
(check) Howard Park Jefferson Blvd. at St. Louis Blvd. 11.49
() Keller Park Riverside Dr. near Sherman Ave. 16.91
() Kelly Park Howard St. at St. Peter St. 1.10
() Kennedy Park Olive St. at Westmoor St. 38.56
() LaSalle Memorial Park Portage Ave. near Ribourde Dr. 1.56
() LaSalle Park Washington St. at Camden St. 39.80
(check) Leeper Park Michigan St. at Park Ln. 25.72
() Lincoln Plaza Park N. Kenmore St. at W. Bulla St. 1.10
() Marshall Park Byron Dr. at Springbrook Dr. 9.00
() Martin Luther King, Jr. Park Linden Ave. at College St. 6.00
() McKinley Park Helmen Dr. near Manchester Dr. 1.10
() Morris Green Park St. Joseph St. at Colfax Ave. 0.70
() Muessel Grove Park Wilbur St. at Vassar Ave. 17.26
(check) Nokomis Park Lafayette Blvd. at Marquette Ave. 1.94
(check) Northside Blvd. Walkway Riverbank Sample to Greenlawn 32.50
() O'Brien Park Michigan St. at Walter St. 22.60
(check) Parkovash Park N. Lafayette Blvd. at Parkovash Ave. 1.65
() Pier Park Lafayette Blvd. at Parkovash Ave. 0.50
() Pinhook Park Boland Dr. at Riverside Dr. 42.69
() Plaza Park Jefferson Blvd. at Monroe St. 5.50
(check) Ponader Park Maple Lane Rd. at Douglas Rd. 10.38
(check) Potawatomi Park Mishawaka Ave. at Greenlawn Ave. 62.18
() Pulaski Park W. Western Ave. at S. Walnut St. 6.32
() Randolph Street Park Randolph St. at Sampson St. 2.00
() Ravina Park Indiana Ave. at Lebanon St. 0.40
() Riverside Manor Park Glenview Dr. near Viking Dr. 5.48
() Riverside Park Riverside Dr. near Darden Rd. 2.58
(check) Rum Village Park Ewing Ave. at Gertrude St. 160.00
(check) Seitz Park St. Joseph River at Washington St. 0.30
() Shetterley Park Riverside Dr. at Leland St. 2.66
() Sorin Park Sorin St. at Patterson Dr. 0.55
(check) South Bend River Walk 0.00
() Southeast Neighborhood Park Fellows St. at Keasey St. 9.50
() Studebaker Park Calvert St. at High St. 23.94
() Tarkington Park Hickory Rd. at Hepler St 10.96
(check) Veterans' Memorial Park Twyckenham at Northside Blvd. 16.11
(check) Viewing Park Northside Blvd. at Notre Dame Ave. 4.00
() Voorde Park Keller St. at Kenmore St. 14.00
() Westhaven Park Sussex Dr. at Grove St. 5.68
() Wheelock Park Between Laurel Rd. and Harvest Dr. on Darden Rd. 72.00
() Woodlawn Park Riverside Blvd. at Woodlawn Blvd. 16.56

Last night I began to read Mayflower which is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Nonfiction - but I've discovered to read what I'd like, I need a little more flexibility than I gave myself.

check

I made Randy and Peggy dinner last night. With busy schedules, it really has taken two years to make the dinner happen.

My last run was about 4 miles and it took me 38 minutes. 10K, I've got my mind set on you.

101 update

I've been quite and busy. I'm having so much fun though!

101 Things in 1001 Days - Completions

Academic/Knowledge
3) Write and maintain a website
4) Learn to implement code using a header file
5) Compile code w/ a make file
6) Use multiple source code files compiled through a make file
7) Use a header to input source code from one file to another
8) Read and understand a complete work (of any length) by Faulkner
12) Have a conversation in Portuguese
15) T.A. a graduate level class
16) Take a language class
17) Present at an academic conference

Diet/Food
19) Make Fried Green Tomatoes - TONIGHT!
23) Make baking bread a habit - I don't eat a lot of bread, but I regularly make pizza dough!

Exercise
26) Take a yoga class
27) Take an advanced pilates class
28) Run a 5K
29) Run a faster 5K! Today!!!! Go me! I don't have my official time yet though.
32) Master a tri-cep push-up -not mastered, but close - Thank You YOGA!
33) Go hiking in the North Cascades
35) Return from a vacation thinner than you left - I came back from my last roadtrip about right.

Travel
38) Visit the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming - went with my mom!
42) Visit the Field Museum
47) Sleep in a tent - boy, did my mom complain about this!
48) Visit a country whose primary language is not English - Costa Rica
49) Attend a baseball game at Wrigley Field - SO much fun!

Community
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan
55) Visit the Snite Museum
56) Canoe the St. Joseph River (starting from St. Patrick’s Park) - maybe tomorrow if it warms up
58) Take a local cooking class
60) Volunteer for a South Bend community program - want to help out the Dhan community service
61) Volunteer for the ND Physics Department - definitely on the small scale, working on the big scale
62) Visit a local winery
66) Visit Amish Country - Mom again
67) Visit Fernwood Botanical Garden - twice! once with Ma

Household
68) Paint the bathroom - a lovely blue!
69) Develop a successful composting system
70) Clean the oven twice (1/3)
71) Grow a crop of corn
73) Clean and organize the contents of both desks
74) Maintain organization of the desks - working to
75) Develop and maintain organization systems for all messy zones - getting better
76) Replace expensive cleaning products with homemade versions

Financial
80) Pay off student loans - really ready to do this
81) Pay off my car loan - DONE
82) Organize and fully document my financial information - kinda, sorta...

Odie
85) Train Odie to come when called - when she wants to...
86) Train Odie to look - maybe not in those words...
87) Train Odie to stay at doorways - DEFINITELY
88) Take Odie to 90% of the pet-friendly parks in the county - added a new one today
90) Take Odie on a vacation - weekend away + x-mas last year

Personal Challenges
92) Watch no television for one month
93) Drive in downtown Chicago - a bit, but could really solidify this

Miscellaneous
96) Cook dinner for Randy and Peggy - coming soon!
97) Have pants tailored
98) Reconnect w/ an old friend - Katy! Leah!
100) Give a thoughtful and random gift to a friend (5 times) Pokie - secret purple sparkly + chocolate, Cathy - madeline cookie pan, Mallory - gluten free goodies
101) Do not allow yourself to complain of boredom - boy NEVER!

Parks

A goal on my 101 list: to take my mutt Odie (affectionately known as Odoriferous) to as many parks as I can get her to. I believe I set the requirement at 70% of St. Joe County. While the county maintains a good website, I have never managed to find a good list of South Bend CITY parks. Finally today I found it.

http://sbpark.org/parks/parks.htm

From this list, I have visited the following parks:

Boehm, East Race Waterway, Howard, Leeper Park, Northside Blvd. Walkway, Ponader (on our own Maple Lane), Potawatomi, Rum Village, and Seitz.

This is a list item that must be worked on. Odie deserves as many new smells as I can give her.

A Flurry of Progress

I am proud to say I am the owner of a lovely blue bathroom!

Gilead wound its way to a fascinating and surprising ending. While the book was slow in spots, I am lucky to have read it.

I recently discovered the Modern Library's Fiction list, and WOW, I'm doing much better than I thought if I count those books. I know that I constantly loosen my standards with reading, but the idea is to push myself to read good books. This is grad school, so I can't spend the time and energy to read as I once did. Since starting this list, I have read:

Lord of the Rings, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig, THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood

Including the Thomas Sowell book, I am up to 5/10 on the Modern Library list (ignoring the non-fiction requirement). I have plans to read several non-fiction:

THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by F. A. Hayek

THE GREAT BRIDGE by David McCullough

THE RIGHT STUFF by Tom Wolfe

IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote

I'm excited to read those books, I just need to find the time.

a general disinterest

in blogging that is.

i am currently reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. this may be my favorite of the National book award winners that i have read. generally i'm not finding the award a great compliment, but this is a worthwhile novel. it takes a meandering wander through a life that is somehow simple and complex all in one breath.

odie goes to lots of parks these days.

my website has been maintained recently.

9) Read 10 of the National Book Award winners in fiction (2/10).

1980 The World According to Garp by John Irving
2004 The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck

10) Read 10 of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction (4/10).

Adams by McCullough (okay, not fiction, but I'm counting it)
2007 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2006 March by Geraldine Brooks
2005 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - currently reading

11) Read 10 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction (1/10).
Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell

I started this list a year ago, and I'm getting there. Here goes a count down of the dones and almost-dones:

3) Write and maintain a website - really ought to update it this week...
4) Learn to implement code using a header file - oh yeah, got it
5) Compile code w/ a make file - sorta, I understand them and when I have some spare time to dedicate, I'll do it..
6) Use multiple source code files compiled through a make file - 5 & 6 will happen at the same time
7) Use a header to input source code from one file to another - done
8) Read and understand a complete work (of any length) by Faulkner - read and understood!
9) Read 10 of the National Book Award winners in fiction (0/10) I'm not checking the tallies, but I'm doing okay on these
10) Read 10 of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction (0/10)
11) Read 10 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction (0/10)
12) Have a conversation in Portuguese - much convo in Portuguese happened - mostly in class last semester
15) T.A. a graduate level class
16) Take a language class
17) Present at an academic conference - done as of Monday - aack!
(13 items)

Diet/Food
18) Make a batch of freezer jam -done
23) Make baking bread a habit - when i have time, absolutely, but I'm trying to eat less grain
24) Stay on calorie budget during one of the BF's trips
(16 items)

Exercise
27) Take an advanced pilates class
28) Run a 5K
32) Master a tri-cep push-up - close on this one
34) Work down to 20% body fat (and maintain it for long enough to see if you like it) - coming to the sad conclusion that this may never happen - my body fat shot up when i started running :(
(19 items)

Travel
42) Visit the Field Museum
48) Visit a country whose primary language is not English - Costa Rica
52) Visit 10 Presidential Historic Sites - i'm at about three
53) Go on vacation without a car - Costa Rica
(23 items)

Community
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan
55) Visit the Snite Museum
58) Take a local cooking class
62) Visit a local winery
67) Visit Fernwood Botanical Garden
(28 items)

Household
69) Develop a successful composting system
70) Clean the oven twice (1/3)
71) Grow a crop of corn
72) Buy a cactus or other succulent to raise in the house - rosemary plant survived the winter! yeah!
73) Clean and organize the contents of both desks
74) Maintain organization of the desks - i'm doing reasonably well with this
75) Develop and maintain organization systems for all messy zones
(35 items)

Financial
80) Pay off student loans - almost done
81) Pay off my car loan -DONE!!!!
82) Organize and fully document my financial information - umm, sorta
83) Have an emergency fund of at least two months wages ($3000) - getting there!
(38 items)

Odie
85) Train Odie to come when called - mostly!
87) Train Odie to stay at doorways - she is SO good at this
90) Take Odie on a vacation - Christmas in Chicago!
(41 items)

Personal Challenges
91) Spend a week without the internet - I should do this in May. Can't work with no internet!
92) Watch no television for one month - did this!
93) Drive in downtown Chicago - did this, but Sunday morning near the museums, not difficult.
(45 items)

Miscellaneous
97) Have pants tailored
98) Reconnect w/ an old friend
100) Give a thoughtful and random gift to a friend (3/5) - i've been surprise gifting people chocolate like mad recently, but i should step it up
101) Do not allow yourself to complain of boredom
(49 items)

These aren't all complete, but clearly I should step it up and work on the hard ones. And the easy ones. I am going to take Odie to a new park on Saturday.

The Best January of my life

Accomplished Goals:

4) Learn to implement code using a header file
7) Use a header to input source code from one file to another
8) Read and understand a complete work (of any length) by Faulkner (I've been reading excerpts/short stories... awesome!)
9) Read 10 of the National Book Award winners in fiction (0/10) I've read some of these, the counts are somewhere to be found
10) Read 10 of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction (0/10)
11) Read 10 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction (0/10)
12) Have a conversation in Portuguese
15) T.A. a graduate level class (I'm on my second)
16) Take a language class (Portuguese!)
17) Present at an academic conference (in March I can check this one off)
18) Make a batch of freezer jam
23) Make baking bread a habit
27) Take an advanced pilates class
28) Run a 5K
32) Master a tri-cep push-up (not quite, but i'm making considerable progress!)
42) Visit the Field Museum
48) Visit a country whose primary language is not English (Costa Rica!)
52) Visit 10 Presidential Historic Sites (since starting the list... Woodrow Wilson's house in D.C., Gerald Ford's Library) (2/10)
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan
55) Visit the Snite Museum
58) Take a local cooking class
61) Volunteer for the ND Physics Department
62) Visit a local winery
67) Visit Fernwood Botanical Garden
69) Develop a successful composting system
70) Clean the oven twice (1/3)
71) Grow a crop of corn
72) Buy a cactus or other succulent to raise in the house
73) Clean and organize the contents of both desks
74) Maintain organization of the desks
75) Develop and maintain organization systems for all messy zones
79) Decorate the living room
81) Pay off my car loan
85) Train Odie to come when called
87) Train Odie to stay at doorways
90) Take Odie on a vacation
92) Watch no television for one month
93) Drive in downtown Chicago
100) Give a thoughtful and random gift to a friend (5 times) (2/5)
101) Do not allow yourself to complain of boredom

some I'm roughly a 3rd of the way through the list and I made it less than a year ago. go me! it looks like i have a lot of travel to do!

slowly but surely...

So I've been busy and experiencing more stress than I consider necessary. I'm homesick and project sick and not focusing as well as I'd like. I finally finished the Andrew Jackson biography (Pulitzer winner, counting it) and am reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . I am fairly certain it isn't on any of my lists, but I am enjoying the hell out of it and that is what counts.

I submitted an abstract and I'll be presenting at a conference in March btw.

Partially Completed Goals:
9) Read 10 of the National Book Award winners in fiction (2/10).
10) Read 10 of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction (4/10).
11) Read 10 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction (1/10).
13) Be able to name all of the U.S. Presidents in order... Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Van Buren (MVB is a new one).
52) Visit 10 Presidential Historic Sites (2/10).

Completed Goals (22/101)
12) Have a conversation in Portuguese
15) T.A. a graduate level class
16) Take a language class
18) Make a batch of freezer jam
23) Make baking bread a habit
27) Take an advanced pilates class
28) Run a 5K (31:47)
42) Visit the Field Museum
48) Visit a country whose primary language is not English
53) Go on vacation without a car.
54) Visit the Pizza restaurant near Lake Michigan.
62) Visit a local winery.
67) Visit Fernwood Botanical Garden
69) Develop a successful composting system.
71) Grow a crop of corn.
72) Buy a cactus or other succulent to raise in the house
73) Clean and organize the contents of both desks.
85) Train Odie to come when called
87) Train Odie to stay at doorways.
90) Take Odie on a vacation (overnight trip to Fermilab!)
92) Watch no television for one month
93) Drive in downtown Chicago
101) Do not allow yourself to complain of boredom.

Happiness

I'm writing more, but not counting words and making quotas. I will try to catch up a little this weekend. I've made a resolution to write a short summary of papers that I read. I think that is a great idea because I read a lot and retain less than I should.

But this blog entry is really supposed to be a short, quick list of things that do make me happy:

1) How much my boyfriend loves me (even when I'm a terrible girlfriend)
2) When the dog runs around like a happy little monster and wiggles the whole time
3) That I am getting better and better at pilates
4) Every once and a while I cook something and it turns out amazing
5) That I have a wonderful family out there somewhere and someday I might get to see them again
6) That there are so many things I haven't done or seen, but will some day
7) Learning Portuguese

That is all for now. This list should be longer and I need to work on making it so.