deadline and targets

Goals Set: 3/14/2010 Completion Date: 12/9/2012 Here are the new accomplishments! Academic/Knowledge 9) Read 10 of the National Book Award winners in fiction (5/10) 10) Read 10 of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction/Biography/History (7/10) 11) Read 10 of the Modern Library’s 100 Best Nonfiction/Fiction (16/10) Not perfect, but I've got 28 out of 30. I'll read Slaughterhouse 5 and perhaps Heart of Darkness and call it good. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm going to have to cram to meet these two 13) Be able to name all of the U.S. Presidents in order ... TARGET! 14) Become an architecture geek - TARGET! Diet/Food 21) Make crackers (via a Mark Bittman recipe) -TARGET Exercise 30) Run a 10K -CHECK! TIME: 58:31 - incredibly fast for me 31) Run a faster 10K -hmmm... spring! 36) Climb the ND library stairs -CHECK! Travel I really fell short with Travel, but then money + time is tough. 37) Visit Glacier National Park 40) Visit the U.P. of Michigan 45) Visit the Smoky Mountains 46) Visit three East Coast States: Maryland this spring... 50) Travel to Ohio 51) Visit a Mound site 52) Visit 10 Presidential Historic Sites -Wilson, Ford, Hoover, Eisenhower, Truman SINCE the list started. Before the list: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, and Polk. Not perfect, but I'm working on it. 53) Go on vacation without a car - Does a work trip to Los Alamos for two weeks count? I think so! CHECK! Community 56) Canoe the St. Joseph River (starting from St. Patrick’s Park) -CHECK! 60) Volunteer for a South Bend community program -TARGET Household 70) Clean the oven twice (2/3) 75) Develop and maintain organization systems for all messy zones -check! I'm getting better! 76) Replace expensive cleaning products with homemade versions -nope... 77) Put in a path and stone patio -nope... 78) Buy a piece of art for the house -nope... 79) Decorate the living room -nope... Financial 84) Donate money to WWU -TARGET! Odie 88) Take Odie to 90% of the pet-friendly parks in the county -TARGET 90) Take Odie on a vacation -CHECK- FALL BREAK in Traverse City! Personal Challenges 91) Spend a week without the internet -TARGET! How about the week I have my wisdom tooth out. Miscellaneous 94) Celebrate 3 holidays I have never heard of... TARGET! 99) Have wisdom tooth removed -TARGET! If the insurance finally kicks in, this will be done by Christmas. 100) Give a thoughtful and random gift to a friend (5 times) -CHECK! FAILS: 2) Work through a first year Chemistry Text 25) Eat a meal made entirely of things grown in my own garden 34) Work down to 20% body fat (and maintain it for long enough to see if you like it) 57) Cross Country Ski the ND golf course 59) Bike to and around Saint Mary’s College -Too Cold! 65) Judge a science fair 86) Train Odie to look 89) Teach Odie to behave well at outdoor restaurants

deadline coming soon... and books, books, books

My deadline for 1001 days is in a few weeks, but I've decided to just keep plugging away at it. I went to a wonderful new park this morning with my dog and I'm making crackers soon, I swear! I assigned myself a reading list of 30 books from 3 lists and my definitions have gotten a tad loose with time. Here are books I have read that I count, even if the Pulitzer is in History instead of Fiction... I get a little extra credit for all of the great fiction I've read just since starting this list, even if it was a little off course. National Book Award Winners in Fiction: (5/10) 1973: Chimera by John Barth 1979: Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien 1980: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe 1980: The World According to Garp by John Irving 2004: The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck Pulitzer Winners in Fiction: (7/10) 2007 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 2006 March by Geraldine Brooks 2005 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 2000 Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri Pulitzer Winners in Biography: 2009 American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham 2002 John Adams by David McCullough Pulitzer Winners in History: 2001 Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis Modern Library's 100 Best Nonfiction: (16/10) -THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by F. A. Hayek -UNDAUNTED COURAGE: MERIWETHER LEWIS, THOMAS JEFFERSON, AND THE OPENING OF THE -AMERICAN WEST by Stephen E. Ambrose -THE GREAT BRIDGE by David McCullough -THE RIGHT STUFF by Tom Wolfe Modern Library's 100 Best Fiction: -THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien -SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence -STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein -THE STAND by Stephen King -ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac -THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood -STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein -THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving -ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig -ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey -MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather