Scratched one of the list!

I finished Pete Hamill's Downtown: My Manhattan last night. I really enjoyed it and definitely plan on reading more of his books, both nonfiction and fiction. I'm curious to read his fiction, as he seems like such a good storyteller. Between seeing him on that documentary and reading some of his work, I think he'd be great at telling stories around a campfire or anywhere else to a bunch of people. He just has one of those voices, and a way of speaking plainly yet intelligently.

I just ordered Beowulf from Amazon, so we'll see how that goes when I start it. I have no idea if I'm going to like it, but I figure I'll check it out and see and if I don't like it I don't HAVE to read it. That's the beauty of reading the classics for pleasure -- if it's not pleasurable, I don't have a professor telling me I must read it anyway. :) After all, I don't know if anything is worse than Ulysses.

Getting there...

Well, I bought the new Pete Hamill book, Downtown: My Manhattan today at Barnes & Noble using my 25%-off coupon they sent B&N members. I've been wanting to read something of his for a while, and I think this is his latest and only recently came out on paperback. I became interested in him after the first time I watched Ric Burns' documentary on New York City. He was interviewed quite a few times and he seemed so down-to-earth and interesting. He's the son of Irish immigrants and I particularly remember him talking about how he used to hear his dad weeping after working long summer days in NYC, weeping because of the pain from his wooden leg. He goes on to say that all children of immigrants must honor that pain and do whatever they can to honor it and remember what their parents gave up for them. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. I'm almost done with The Guns of August, and may start this one next.

I'm also working on planning a Gettysburg vacation for myself in October of November. I'm looking through prices of B&Bs and hotels out there. I'll be going by myself, so I can take a small room at a B&B.

I think I can scratch "get rid of old perfumes" after tonight. This is something I've been putting off for years. Many of them are old and probably the smell is off, but I'm a big scent person and it's hard for me to get rid of this stuff. I'm going to be brutal, though, and get rid of anything I haven't worn since this time last year. I'll still have my fall/winter and spring/summer scents, but none of this stuff hanging around forever.

I'm also looking up what I can take for a Philadephia history class. I'm hoping to find something at the community college or at Main Light School Night because I'm not going to pay a fortune for what should be a fun class.

Still figuring out this template

I'm eventually going to make the text smaller in the main body and on the sidebar, and make the sidebar a bit larger like I did on my main blog. This is a different type of template and deals with gifs, so I may end up changing the template all-together so that I can more easily control the titles and such. We'll see, but at least I have this list somewhere :)

List has been made!

This list may change over time as my ideas change, but I think for the most part it will stay as it is. I'm going to post this to my sidebar so I can easily see what is crossed off, but I don't officially start the "doing" until Monday. I wasn't sure how much time I'd need to come up with the list. A lot of what I have costs money, so that worries me a little. I may need to think of more things I can do for free.

So, in no particular order:

1. Finish Angel of Love
2. Finish Sleeping Beauty
3. Finish Misty Morning Vineyard
4. Start Egyptian Garden
5. Get to goal weight or measurements/size
6. Move into new apartment
7. Get a facial
8. Take a hiking vacation
9. Take a Gettysburg vacation
10. Visit Canada
11. Make definite plans to visit St. Petersburg, Russia -- make a definite date
12. Get rid of stuff I know I'll never stitch
13. Make a living will
14. Make a regular will
15. Join swim team
16. Take part in a biathlon
17. Read Harry Potter 7
18. Mentor a child
19. Volunteer at Civil War museum
20. Get rid of old perfumes
21. Go parasailing
22. Buy Tim something expensive he wants
23. Catch up on framing
24. Visit NYC
25. Frame Tim's dragons with pictures he took of castle in Germany
26. Buy new bedside table
27. Buy new bed frame
28. Buy new mattresses
29. Get more renter's coverage for stitching
30. Watch all movies on Greatest 100 list
31. Take a class on Philly history
32. Read a book that is out of my normal realm
33. LEarn how to stitch Hardanger
34. Relearn how to sew/use my machine
35. Buy new glasses
36. Host a holiday party/open house
37. Replace living room furniture
38. Buy better DVD storage
39. Read Beowulf
40. Read U.S. Grant's memoirs
41. Read The History of Marriage
42. Create map scrapbook for Sean
43. Find big Philly snowglobe for Sean
44. Read The Discovery of the Titanic
45. Send a care package to Adam
46. Send care package/donate money to soldier
47. Buy something for Mo she wouldn't buy herself
48. Get a cell phone
49. Buy a laptop
50. Buy Pagemaker and Photoshop
51. Visit Constitution Center
52. Attend a Quaker/Friends meeting
53. Attend a lecture at Barnes & Noble or Borders
54. Walk in the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer
55. Buy a piece of original art
56. Take a stitching class at CATS
57. Take a class on writing or PR
58. Get a professional picture of Tim and me
59. Get WIPS to 10 or under
60. Take a ghost tour of Philly
61. Visit Eastern State Penitentiary
62. Attend a stitch-in at Haverford library
63. Become a local library member, of a member of the Philly library
64. Read a book by Pete Hamill
65. Collect all of Ralph Seager's poetry books
66. Rent all the Buffy series, and watch (of course)
67. Rent Band of Brothers
68. Try a new food
69. Play "Scene It!"
70. Host a dinner party
71. Host a Halloween party
72. Wear colord and/or patterned tights
73. Buy high boots
74. Go to Tangerine's in Philly
75. Spend a day at Hershey Park
76. Spend a day at Six Flags/Great Adventure
77. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
78. Buy a new tree skirt
79. Have 4 Christmas trees - normal large one, small: Victorian, blue & white, sci-fi
80. Hang curtains Karri gave me
81. Learn how to make good lasagna
82. Buy electric violin
83. Complete my Rush collection
84. Become a member of the art museum (Philly)
85. Read Gods and Generals
86. Read The Last Full Measure
87. Visit the Rosenbach Library
88. Donate to my alma mater
89. Go to the theater in Philly
90. Take a long Amtrak ride to a city and stay for a while, and return on train
91. Visit Independence Seaport Museum at Penn's Landing
92. Sea a concert at the Kimmel Center
93. Visit Atlantic City
94. Visit the Poconos
95. Join a local hiking group
96. Visit local aboretum
97. Visit Longwood Gardens during the holidays
98. Spend a day doing nothing but stitching and watching movies
99. Replace all my towels
100. Replace all my pillows -- couch and bed
101. Read The Portrait of a Lady

The Mission

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:

1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.

2. Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.

3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.

4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.

5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

Start Date: July 17, 2006
Ending Date: April 13, 2009

My 101 things to do in 1001 days blog

I've been debating doing this for a while, but I think this could be good for me. I used to set yearly and monthly goals but got out of the habit -- and it shows. By creating this list I think it will help me keep focused on some goals a bit better. I haven't made my list yet, but will be making it over the next few days and posting it here, thinking it's easier for me to make this blog separate from my main blog. I'm going to make it a list of small and big goals broken into smaller steps, and I'll include fun items as well as important ones.

Let's see what I can get done in 2.5 y ears!