Mindy's 101 list

December 7: A date which will live in infamy

2009-12-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

Reprint of FDR's speech is below. We often forget that it wasn't just America who was attacked on that day. We also now know that Japan's intention was to declare war on us before the attack, but things literally got lost in translation and we didn't get the message in time. Granted, I doubt it would have helped us because it was vague. At least the carriers were out at sea.

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Last of my cross-offs on the old list.

2009-11-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

So I was able to cross off a few more things before I create a new list starting 1/1/10.

7. Get a facial
I went to a spa with my sister about a year ago and got a great facial and it was wonderful. Not something I want to do all the time, but it was fun.

28. Buy new mattress
Actually, Tim paid for that back in April.

32. Read a book that is out of my normal realm
I read 1491, which is history but not my usual history. I tend to gravitate toward American, European and Russian/Soviet history, and much of this was about pre-Columbian South America with some pre-Columbian North America thrown in. There was a lot of information to take in, but it was pretty good.

35. Buy new glasses
Yep, did this about a year ago, maybe two years ago in November. Love my pink glasses!

38. Buy better DVD storage
Just bought this and am still getting more. I bought nice folders that hold DVDs, and they take up a lot less space. Will get some for my CDs, too.

61. Visit Eastern State Penitentiary
I visited Eastern State with our interns back in July. I really enjoyed it, and plan to go again soon. Our tour focused on the synagogue that has been restored.

66. Watch all the Buffy DVDs
Fun goal! I've probably done this a few times since I set this goal. :)

Haven't tracked this in a while!

2009-11-19T15:38:00.001-08:00

Heh, been a while since I've been on my 101 List blog -- last post was 2007. So, for 2010, I'm going create a new list. I figure this gives me time to think about it. I'll take a last look to see if I can cross anything off and some of what I have here may carry over onto the next list.

Update -- a few more crossed off

2007-11-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Haven't been here for a while, but I after a visit I realized that I could cross a few things off the list. There are a few others I need to change -- like taking a stitching class at CATS. Since there is no more CATS, that won't be happening. I may still take a class at the Celebration of Needlework if I go, so I won't completely get rid of it.

Anyway:

17. Read Harry Potter 7
Read this the weekend it came out. I loved and hated it, if you know what I mean. I knew some people would die, but there was one death in particular that really upset me. I hated the epilogue, but the general story I really enjoyed and got through it pretty quickly.

48. Get a cell phone
This was probably a weird one for most people, but I only got a cell phone a few months ago. Honestly? I was going to get one when I started working in the city but Tim wanted me to wait so that he, his mom and I could get on a family plan. Well, a year later he got sick enough of T-Mobile that we went to the closest Verizon store and took care of it. I'm really glad I have it.

72. Wear colored and/or patterned tights
I love tights, and now that it's November and fall has finally arrived, I can wear them! I've worn some pretty black ones with a floral pattern and some lacy capri leggings. I'm going to buy some more of the lace tights because I love the look of them and they would also look pretty over tights of another color, which would also keep me a little warmer.

100. Replace all my pillows -- couch and bed
Did this a while back. Kohls was having a big sale on pillows and I bought some beautiful new chocolate brown and turqoise pillows for the living room -- four of them cost me around $45. I also bought standard bed pillows.

Two more are done

2007-07-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

2. Finish Liberty Sampler
I finished this by working on it like crazy on July 4th and finishing it on July 5th. I'm really happy with it and will probably end up giving it to my parents.

27. Read Mary Hunt's Debt-Proof Living
I read this last week and got through it pretty quickly. I don't agree with everything she said but for the most part liked what I read. She and Dave Ramsey seem to pretty much be on the same page, but Mary tends to do a lot of little things at once whereas Dave tends to focus on one thing then the next. It really depends on what makes you more comfortable. I also like her Freedom Account idea. Dave talks about that idea briefly, but I think Mary does a good job of explaining how it works and going into details about some ways to make it work.

OK, here are my changes

2007-06-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

I didn't make a huge amount of changes, but I deleted some and replaced them with others that seemed more important over the next couple of years.

18. I changed this from mentoring a child to teaching a child or an adult how to read.

22. This one is actually done -- re-read Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace." His books have really been helping me focus on getting rid of my debt.

23. This was about catching up on my framing, but now focuses on teaching myself how to do it in order to save money.

26. This one is also done - read Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover." I was hesitant at first, thinking it would be the same as the other. However, both books are very good and useful for different reasons, and I'm glad I have read and own both so that I can go back when I need inspiration.

27. Read Mary Hunt's "Debt-Proof Living." I'm reading this one this month. I've heard she has some ideas that work very well with the Ramsey plan and that's good. The more I read about this stuff, the more motivated I am.

49. Get $10k in savings. This will be my 3-6 months expenses so that if something happens I'm OK financially.

50. If I follow my plan, I'll have all my debts paid off except for the student loan by the time my 1001 days are up. I'm looking forward to it.

81. Replace livingroom tables -- this is in progress. I have a table I inherited from my grandmother, made by my grandfather. However, I'm not using it for much at the moment because it has a loose leg. Once I find someone who can help me fix it I'm going to replace one of the glas tables with it. The other glass table will also go. I don't think I'll replace that one, as I need to get steps for Smokey to get in the window (he's 13 and getting arthritic) and they will take up the space where that table currently sits.

84. Start funding my retirement with 15% of my income. I'm not sure if I'll be able to start this within the 1001 days or not, but I put it here to help remind me.

More changes

2007-06-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

OK, I will be making more changes to my list shortly. I'm working very hard on getting rid of my debt and saving up 3-6 months of expenses for an emergency fund. When I originally made this list I felt that there was too much buying listed, and now I'm convinced I was right. I knew from the beginning this list would change, as things come up that become more important than when you start these kinds of lists.

So, I'll be taking some away and adding some that are more important to me at this time.

Update

2007-05-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

I'm making another change to my list. One of my stitching goals was to finish Sleeping Beauty. After much soul searching and discussion, I've decided to give her away to someone who wants to finish her. :( The design is beautiful and I love the color of the fabric, but it's Wichelt and it's driving me crazy. She's been a WIP for 5-6 years and I don't see every finishing her when I have so many other pieces using Zweigart, fabric I find I prefer.

So, I'm going to gather the WIP, the chart and all the floss and see if I can find a home for her. I'm sure I'll find a good home over at the Mirabilia BB. Eventually, I'll buy and start her again on fabric I like. I bought that fabric before I knew the difference between fabrics. Lesson learned.

Instead, I'm going to replace that goal with finishing Liberty Sampler. That is a huge goal of mine for the year, so I think this is a good place for it, too.

Two more items scratched off

2007-02-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

1. I have completed my Rush CD collection! Yay!

2. I got all my stitching stuff in one place, finally. Technically, it's in two drawer systems, but all in the same area. I found the largest 4-drwaer system Target had, and it's almost as tall as me, but it's still not enough for everything. So, I have an additional smaller 3-drawer system where I keep my specialty floss, beads and other stuff. I feel so much better now that I know where everything is. My charts are all in binders sitting on top of my piano. Once I get decent bookshelves I can put them there, but at least they are all together, that's the main thing.

I also changed a few of mine, as some of my goals have changed. I'm working on organization in my livingroom area right now, hence the stitching organization mentioned above. Tim has decided he likes how open the livingroom is now that the tree is down and I haven't put back the honkin' huge and impractical glass-top round coffee table. So, he's OK with me not putting it back, which concerned me because he likes the look of it.

I'm getting a small side table with a drawer from my grandmother's house, so that will replace one of the matching square glass-top side tables, and I plan on getting another sidetable in a cherry-type wood (will match the other table) to replace the second glass-top side table. I may still end up getting a coffee table, but it will be small and will have a drawer or shelf or something. This place is too small to have furniture that does nothing except collect dust and not store anything

Finished a few more on my list

2006-12-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

I knew I had finished a few books on here, but there are some other items that I finished that I forgot I had listed here. Cool!

39. Read Beowulf: Finished it pretty quickly. I actually enjoyed it. I'm planning on getting Cliff's Notes so that I can study it a bit more like I would in class. I'm interested in learning more about Old English and think I might be able to do it that way. I'm also going to read the essay Tolkien wrote about it. The only thing that got to me was how many times some of the stories were repeated -- instead of just saying "Beowulf told the king how he bested Grendel and his mother" they go through the whole story again. I guess it's more poetic to do it that way. :)

47. Buy something for Mo she wouldn't buy for herself: Mo is my sister. She buys fantastic work clothes as she's a corporate attorney and has to look the part. However, last time we were together she commented on my "leisure wear" and that all of hers is stuff that is leftover, nothing she actually buys as comfy clothes. So, for her birthday a few days ago I sent her some nice blue cotton pjs from Macys. It's something she just wouldn't buy for herself.

62. Read Last of the Mohicans: I enjoyed this book, but probably won't reread it. It took a while to get going and the archaic way of speaking got on my nerves a bit. I liked the actual story, though, and am glad I read it. I've always loved the Daniel Day-Lewis movie, and still do, but there are a lot of differences. I won't go into details, but if anyone watches the movie instead of reading the book for a test or book report, they'll be in big trouble!

68. Try a new food: Did that today at my department's holiday party at Lucky Strike Lanes. We ordered a bunch of appetizers and they had fried mac & cheese. I was good and only had one, but it was YUMMY! I'm sure that one piece had enough calories for the day.

Finished Angel of Love!

2006-11-14T09:27:00.000-08:00

There's one more scratched off my list! I've been working on her a little here and there for over 5 years. I finally decided enough was enough and finished her on Sunday. The funny thing is that it's not the patchwork, beading or metallics that bothered me, but the huge "boring" parts with all the blue and white. Of course, with that busy skirt the other parts need to be very subtle, but it took me a long time to stitch all that when I had other more colorful things to stitch.

Update

2006-11-10T14:46:00.000-08:00

I wanted to come by and see where I am with my list. I know some of these are in progress, but I need to see it in "writing."

1. Finish Angel of Love -- Almost! I finally finished the stitching and am well into the beading. I'm going to be thrilled to be done! I think she's pretty, but the fabric has been driving me nuts for years and I didn't want to start over. No more Wichelt for me. :)

2. Get to Goal Weight -- Well, I started the Six Week Body Makeover last week and I'm doing pretty well. I'll know for sure on Monday when I weigh and measure myself. Even if I don't lose much, I know I'm doing something good for myself: cutting out most sugar, salt and soft drinks, drinking even more water than before, cooking my own food and ordering in less.

3. Read "The Discovery of the Titanic" -- Hey! I finished this about a month ago and forgot it was on the list! Yay - something I can cross off today!

4. Take a class on writing or PR -- Hey! Another one I finished! It helps that it's part of my development goal for work and they paid for me to attend a few classes at La Salle's Nonprofit Center.

5. Attend a Stitch-In at Haverford Library -- Well, I checked their schedule and they no longer have the Monday evening get-togethers. I'm replacing it with "Read 'Last of the Mohicans,'" which I recently started and is on my book list.

6. Rent all the Buffy DVDs and watch -- I'm almost done with season 2.

Bought a car -- an oldie but a goodie

2006-09-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I replaced one of the items on my list. I finally replaced my old Buick with another car and figured I paid enough money that I should be able to add it to my list. Funny, I replaced a 1995 Buick with about 60k miles on it with a 1991 Toyota Corolla with 126k miles on it, but the Corolla is in great shape and I know those things can go well over 200k. I'm pretty happy with it. :)

Finished a few more list items

2006-08-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Let's see, I now have two more items finished. Yay! I did a bit of cleaning over the weekend and got rid of the perfumes I no longer wear. I hesitated on a few of them because the bottles were pretty and looked nice on my dresser. Then I realized that my dress looks like crap because there's too much stuff on there, so nobody sees the bottles anyway lol. They were from Avon so it's not like they were expensive. If I'm not going to wear the scent, I'm not going to keep it just for the bottle. And people wonder why I have so much clutter -- that kind of thinking is why. :)

I also finished "The Last Full Measure." Once again, I'm on the trainride home, reading about the surrender, how Chamberlain and Gordon respected each other, how the guys lived and died after the war, etc. It just makes me weepy and I need to be careful not to look like a complete dufus on the train.

Another one scratched off the list

2006-08-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

I finished "Gods and Generals" this morning and immediately started "The Last Full Measure." I really enjoy these books. I noticed that B&N has the hard cover versions of Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy on sale for $15 each -- that's less than the price of the paperbacks! I figure they have a lot of extras and they are big honkin' books, and that's probably why they are on sale. I think I will take advantage. :)

Some items on my list are going to change, though. As I mentioned when I first started the list, many of them involve buying something and that bothered me. I've come up with some replacement items for some of these. I was going to replace one with "Buy a car" as I have to do that anyway, but I decided against it. These are goals I want to reach, not a laundry list of things I have to do either way. I want to reach my goals despite some of the obstacles placed in my way, such as having to make car payments again.

Scratched one of the list!

2006-07-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-07-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-07-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

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!