101 in 1001 for my 1000th post

So, for my 1000th blog posting I wanted to do something special. And I decided that the something special would be a “101 things to do in 1001 days” list.  The first time I saw one of these was on Dave’s blog and I may or may not have soon after written a parody version called “102 things to do in 1,000,001 days” on a satire blog that may or may not have been removed from the Internet for possible libel issues. Anyway.

The idea behind this list is to come up with 101 things you want to do – things you’ve always meant to do but haven’t gotten around to,  things you want to challenge yourself to accomplish and, let’s be honest, a few things that sound good but you are pretty sure you’ll do so that you can gain the satisfaction of checking at least a few things off your list.  As well, it’s important that the goals are clearly defined/measurable (or, as we say in the Research Methods world – you need an “operational definition” of each) so that you know whether or not you’ve done it.  Props for this idea go to triplux, who appears to be the creator of this idea (or, at least, is the first Google hit for “101 in 1001”).

So, after much thinking and pondering and reflecting and considering and deliberating and contemplating and ruminating and reading the thesaurus, I have come up with the following 101 items that I intend to do in the next 1001 days:

  1. go to New York City
  2. leave the continent
  3. live above ground
  4. run another half marathon1 [accomplished: 3 May 2009]
  5. run the full marathon in Sacramento (i.e., the net downhill one!)
  6. assemble my last 7 years worth of photos into scrapbooks2
  7. give something a cool name (i.e., not just adding the letter “y” to the end of what the thing is a la “froggy” or “puppy”)[accomplished: by naming my car Zaphod Beeblebrox the Car. Also: named my new MacBookPro Chloe. I think I’m on a roll with this one. The secret – steal names from books & TV.
  8. get my blog onto WordPress.org [accomplished: 25 Jan2009]
  9. participate in a political campaign
  10. attend Women’s Campaign School
  11. conduct some kind of education research project
  12. conduct another systematic review for the Cochrane Collaboration
  13. publish a paper in a scholarly journal on the training program that I [used to] run [Completed. Sometime in 2011 – don’t actually know what the exact date was!] 
  14. write something creative (e.g., a story, a script or a poem)[Accomplished October 5, 2011]
  15. change a life [accomplished: Jan-Apr 2009, I taught a Research Methods course in which I required students to write a research proposal. One student did her proposal on a topic related to the place she volunteered at and after the final exam she told me that because she learned so much doing that project, she had become the expert at the place she volunteered at on that topic and they hired her for a summer job!]
  16. write a book [Actually, this is in progress! I can’t say more than that, though]
  17. teach a course at a college [Completed. Taught Stats 100 at the Justice Institute of BC; January to April 2011]
  18. ski at Whistler 3
  19. ski at Big White
  20. ski on Grouse Mountain
  21. learn to snowboard (or at least try it)
  22. go surfing & actually stay up on the board
  23. skate at GM Place[Accomplished: 8 February 2009 – Thanks for raising more than $150 for the Skate for A Cureskate at GM Place! fundraiser, I got to skate at GM Place!]
  24. coach a hockey team
  25. hike Black Task
  26. hike the West Coast Trail
  27. write a computer program[Accomplished: October 5, 2011
  28. start a business
  29. learn French (at least a little bit. Like more than just what’s on the cereal box)
  30. write a blog entry entitled Word to Your Moms, I Came to Drop Bombs4[Accomplished: 26 July 2009 – Done]
  31. read something by Salman Rushdie5[Note: I have acquired The Satanic Verses. One step closer to actualizing this item! w00t!] [Note 2: Read the first few pages of this book in December 2010. Wasn’t super excited by it, but I’ll push through][Note 3: It’s now July 2011 and I so have not pushed through]
  32. visit Macchu Picchu6
  33. for one week, go to bed at 9 and read non-work related books7
  34. read The Last Spike by Pierre Berton8 [Note: I own this book, courtesy of Sarah, so I’m one step closer to this one!] [Note 2: Started reading it on my flights to Toronto/back to Vancouver in December 2010 and so far I’m liking it!][Note 3: I have so dropped the ball on this one!]
  35. take pole dancing lessons. Like, a whole set of them, not just the intro class.
  36. beat my current record of 10 points in a hockey season (which I achieved on the Blazing Blades team in both the Winter 2007/08 and the Spring 2008 seasons)[Note: I ended the 2009/2010 season with a meager 6 points. But I have high hopes for the 2010/11 season and am even currently being courted to join a second team!)][Accomplished March 2011].
  37. teach the same course at UBC twice9 [Accomplished Sept-Dec 2009: taught the same course in the Winter ’09 term as I did in the Winter ’08 term. Then I taught it *again* in Winter 2010!]
  38. participate in the “365 Day Challenge”. This involves taking a self-portrait every day for 365 days and posting it to the 365 Day Flickr group. [Completed 21 June 2011: See here]
  39. make a list of 100 things that make me happy[Note: I’ve started this one, but I want to make a really genuine list, so I’m taking my time to come up with things that really, truly make me happy. So far I have 25 63 items on the list.][Accomplished 10 October 2011]
  40. buy a Smart Car[accomplished:15 May 2009. I honestly thought this one was going to be a long shot!]
  41. buy an iPhone[Accomplished: 6 November 2009!]
  42. skate on the Rideau Canal
  43. take Tod to a Vancouver Canucks game [Accomplished: 13 January 2009, Canucks vs. NJ Devils. Next time I should try to take him to a game when the Canucks win!]
  44. take Tod to a Vancouver Giants game
  45. go to a BC Lions game. [Accomplished: 3 October 2010]
  46. go to a Vancouver Canadians game
  47. see a Vancouver White Caps game[Accomplished 15 August 2009 – Alicia & Paul took Tod and I to a game! Then Alicia & Paul took me to another game in spring 2011!]
  48. start composting
  49. keep a plant alive for a whole month[Accomplished: June 2009 – note: it’s still alive a whole YEAR later, as of May 2010 Note 2: Sadly, the plant is no longer with us.]
  50. write in my journal every day for a month
  51. go kayaking
  52. camp at Joffre Lake
  53. visit Galiano Island
  54. visit Salt Spring Island
  55. visit Bowen Island
  56. save $500 in coins10 [In Progress: I have a lot of change in a jar. Not sure how much, but it’s got to be on its way to $500! Note: rolled it up and I have about $60. That’s not $500, but it’s also not nothing.]
  57. deposit that $500 worth of coins into my 40th birthday savings account [Note: this will be more difficult now that I will needs coins for the laundromat]
  58. write 10 friends real letters, on paper, with a pen and snail mail them[Accomplished October 8, 2011: #1 – letter to Kalev for his (belated) birthday, May 2010. #2 – Wrote a letter to Madeline, Jan 2011]. #3 – Wrote a letter to Dan, May 15, 2011. #4 – Wrote a letter to Sarah that I sent with her soy creamer voucher, July 25, 2011. #5 – Wrote a letter to Dan that I sent with his soy creamer voucher, July 25, 2011. (OK, I know these last two are lame, but they still count) #6-10+ – I mailed out 60 thank you cards for the Longest Game for CF and far more than 4 of them had very long notes in them, because there were so many people who provided me with so much support that I needed to thank them for. So that totally counts, as they were long enough to be letters and were written on paper with a pen and snail mailed!
  59. follow Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating every day for 1 month11
  60. go to a Bikram yoga class [note: I went to a “hot yoga” class on 22 May 2009, but I don’t think it was officially “Bikram.” Plus, the place wasn’t really hot enough, imho. So, yeah, I haven’t done this one yet, but I’ve come close!] Went to TWO Moksha Yoga classes (or “practices” as they call them) in January 2010 (it was the place that wasn’t hot enough the first time I went, but was plenty hot enough these times! Then I did a month of hot yoga at West Coast Hot Yoga. So, yeah, I think I’ve got this one covered. Accomplished]
  61. go to a spa for a facial [Accomplished: 14 April 2009 at Heavenly Soul in Kerrisdale. I give it a resounding “meh.” Didn’t help that the stuff they used smelled very perfumey. I hate perfumey.]
  62. visit 5 new American states12[I went to Oregon in July/August 2011. So I 1/5th completed this one!]
  63. visit Newfoundland
  64. visit Nova Scotia
  65. visit New Brunswick [Accomplished:17 June 2009]
  66. visit the Yukon
  67. visit Nunavit
  68. do a 24 hr blogathon[Accomplished on: 26 July 2009]
  69. do 15 minutes of yoga every morning for a month
  70. sort through my many boxes of papers (most of which contain papers from my thesis), recycling the papers I don’t need and filing the ones I do need [Update: went through a lot of them when I moved in February 2010, but still have more to go through!]
  71. find out my credit rating [obtained a copy of my credit report – wondering if I really need get the credit rating, which costs money!]
  72. determine my net worth[In Progress: Sarah has given me a handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet to calculate this, but I need to figure out how I determine how much my car is “worth,” as well as how much money is in my pension in order to get a “net worth” value].[Accomplished – 2 January 2010.  I actually accomplished this a little while ago, but forgot to write it down here and don’t recall the actual date. I’ve been tracking it monthly and this is the month where I went from a negative net worth to a positive one. w00t!]
  73. buy a bike. Completed 16 July 2011.
  74. bike to work every day for two months [Note: now that I work in Surrey, this is very, very unlikely to happen!] [Note 2: now that I’m moving to Surrey, this is again a possibility!]
  75. record a cooking show (at least 5 episodes)
  76. publish said cooking show online
  77. participate in five research projects (as a subject/participant, not as a researcher)[Accomplished. 1 – Jan 23, 2009 – completed a study on sex & cognition that had something to do with dopamine (I think). I had to spit in a tube and play computer games; 2 – enrolled in a Pap smear study. TMI? 3 – May 19, 2010 – completed an online survey for a dissertation for a PhD candidate at ]; 4 – completed two surveys for research being conducted by a PhD candidate at http://sexresearchandthecity.com/ 5+ – I’ve participated in a bunch of surveys conducted to learn more about evaluators as well as one that was a needs assessment for evaluation workshops for Public Health leadership.
  78. sell counter top dishwasher on Craig’s List13[Accomplished: February 2010]
  79. see at least one Bard on the Beach performance14
  80. put up a Christmas tree and decorate it with chili peppers15[Note: I did put up a Christmas tree for 2009, but totally forgot about the chili peppers!] [Accomplished 27 November 2010]
  81. live blog something [Accomplished  22 September 2011].
  82. go to bed every night for a week with all the dishes cleaned [Note: I’ve managed to string 3 or 4 nights of this in a row, but still haven’t managed 7! Note 2- now that I have a dishwasher, this seems a lot less meaningful][Accomplished on Jan 5, 2011!]
  83. achieve inbox zero and maintain for one full week (where “maintain” = by the time I go to bed each night) [I haven’t actually done this yet, but I have a plan for it.  This plan, in fact] [Another update: I’m following the plan and go to bed most nights with my inbox at zero, but I haven’t actually counted them, so I’m not going to check this one of the list until I count them to make sure].[Accomplished on Jan 8, 2011!  w00t!]
  84. up my blog readership to an average of 200 readers a day16 [In Progress: I’m up to an average of 116 readers a day for 2009 (as of 24 June). I haven’t actually done anything to try to get more readers.  They just kinda showed up. Note 2: Now up to an average of 158 so far (as of July 13, 2011) in 2011!]. [Note on 10 October 2011. Fell short on this one. 2009 Average = 126 readers per day; 2010 Average = 122 readers per day; 2011 Average So Far = 161 readers]
  85. break my current record of 460 blog views in a day17 [Accomplished: 678 blog views on 26 Feb 2009. Then blew that out of the water with my July 2009 Blogathon – 1,181 views]
  86. write a blog posting about the Car Co-op18[Accomplished: 4 October 2011]
  87. go sky diving
  88. resurrect my teaching blog
  89. see the Dresdan Dolls in concert
  90. see Groove Coverage in concert
  91. see a show at Richard’s on Richards before it closes down – Update: FAIL! Dick’s on Dicks closed. I attended nothing there. I suck.
  92. devise some sort of proper back up system for my computer files[Accomplished: Signed up for Back Blaze on 15 July 2009. So not so much “accomplished” as “agreed to pay $5 per month for”]
  93. get my ring from my great Auntie Bernice re-sized to actually fit my finger
  94. buy a pair of brown dress pants19 [Accomplished:11 Feb 2009. Bought a pair from my friend, Jen, who had a pair she didn’t want anymore. Of course, I wanted to buy a pair to wear with my brown heels, which I now seem to have lost!]
  95. bake at least one thing per month for 12 months in a row, without baking the same thing two months in a row20[Dec 2009 – tonnes o’ Christmas baking; Jan 2010 – baked some Lava cakes (sure it was from a box, but it still counts!; Feb 2010 – Grandma’s potato cakes (never made those before!) (also made cornmeal muffins and banana chocolate chips muffins, but those are old standby recipes) Bollocks! I seem to have missed baking something in April!  And so it’s back to the drawing board.  May 2010 – peanut butter & chocolate squares from the Rebar cookbook], Gah! Missed June 2010! Do over! July 2010 – homemade granola, also bread (though I didn’t blog it ‘cuz it was a bit too dry. I baked better bread in August); Aug 2010 – bread pudding; Sept 2010 – Sin-Amen Buns; Oct 2010 – Cheese & Herb Bread & Spooky Halloween Eyeballs; Nov 2010 – chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies & brown sugar cookies; Dec 2010 – chocolate amaretto cheesecake and a tonne of Christmas baking; Jan 2011 – mocha cupcakes with mocha ganache and mascarpone cream; Feb 2011 – pineapple & bran muffins; April 2011 – ?, March 2011 – ?, May 2011 – apple bread, June 2011 – brownies (for my Hanky Panky party), July 2011 –
  96. go zip cording
  97. make homemade vegetarian marshmallows
  98. go on a polar bear swim[Accomplished: January 1, 2011!]
  99. recycle my old Sony Vaio desktop and my old Palm Pilot that are now just taking up space in my apartment! [Accomplished – Feb 2010, I brought them to Free Geek. Nothing like moving to motivate one to get rid of stuff!]
  100. scan all the photos from my pre-digital camera days
  101. publish a blog posting for each of the next 1001 days! [Note: this one is now impossible, given that I have missed some days of blogging, but I’m going to try to see if I can at least get 1001 blog postings in during this 1001 period, as some days I post more than one posting.][Note on 10 October 2011: I didn’t even managed to do 1001 postings – only 983, so I’m short by 18. And I’m too damn tired to write 18 postings today!}

 


 

 

 

 

End Date: Monday, October 10, 2011 (thank you dateandtime.com!)

Ya, this one is totally cheating, since I’m already training for another half. But it’s hard to think of 101 things!

Um, ya.  I have seven years worth of photos in boxes, waiting for scrapbooking.

Can you believe that, having lived in Vancouver for more than eight years, I’ve not yet skied Whistler?

This one is stolen from an homage to Dave’s 101 things in 1001 days list. He didn’t actually manage to do it, but I think I can. I think I can.

Also stolen from Dave’s list. I’ve been wanting to read something by Rushdie, so here’s an extra push.

This is the last one I’m stealing from Dave’s list. Promise.  Also, Dan said I should go there.

Stolen from Triplux.

Which Sarah’s been telling me to read since forever. And which she just gave me for Christmas, so if I fail to accomplish this one, well, that would just be sad.

I always seem to get a course for one term only.  I taught Nutritional Assessment last year as a sessional, but the department hired a new prof and he chose that as one of his courses to teach, so I don’t get to teach it this year. And then, this past term I taught another course as a sessional because the usual sessional needed a break from it for one term only, so I probably won’t get to teach it next year. Now I want some consistency!

Just because it would be difficult.

i.e., meet the recommended number of servings for each food group every day and consume no more than one unhealthy “other” food per week.

i.e., ones that I haven’t been to before. Or ones where I’ve only been to their airport/airport hotel (I’m looking at you Texas, Oregon and Arizona), if I actually go to somewhere other than the airport/airport hotel.

since it doesn’t fit in my kitchen. =(

I can’t believe I’ve lived in Vancouver for 8+ years and not once have I been to see Bard on the Beach. I like Shakespeare (I even have a minor in Drama that included a whole course in “Acting Shakespeare”). And I like beaches!

Inspired by the tree at the Mexican resort I stayed at this Christmas.

My 2008 average was 93 readers per day.

Which occurred on Friday, September 26, 2008 as a direct result of my list of the hottest players in the NHL

Which I have partly written and can’t seem to get around to finishing.

I’ve been trying to find a good pair of brown dress pants since forever! Hopefully I’ll find them in the next 1001 days.

Because I really enjoy baking and I never seem to do it anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments |12|

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  • Super fun list, these take forever to put together but are so fun to work with. I have a ‘before I’m 40 list’. My favourite is to to actually buy a grown up couch. I’ll be happy to help with the skiing/snowboarding/camping/hiking/travel related ones :). PS. skip the facial. They are more painful than fun and make you come out looking worse. Unless you’re in Thailand that is….

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  • Nice work, and full of huge challenges! I cannot wait to watch your progress.

    – We should meet up in NYC! (Yep – inserting myself in your plans. And if my parents will baby-sit for a weekend once the munchkin is older). However, if you travel with any combination of me, Dave and Tod, I don’t think you can avoid seeing a musical on Broadway.
    – We’d meet up with you in AZ, too. Or most other states.
    – If you come here in the winter months, we will ensure that you get to skate on the Rideau. Promise.
    – I am on the cusp of re-reading “The Last Spike”. I am actually reading “The National Dream” right now (since I discovered that we own it due to the Aunt Flo inheritence) and I have to say that TLS is better. More happens. And we have been to a lot of the places where the action takes place (like the Kicking Horse Pass), so it is easy to envision.
    – Net worth calculating is fun. I can send you a copy of my spreadsheet with formulas, if you would like. Also – you can request your credit report for free, though you do have to pay $20 for your credit rating. All available online. Me = $ nerd.
    – Good luck with the plant. I suggest Aloe. It is the only thing I have managed not to kill, though we have no plants now because Moe will eat them. He lost his shit over cilantro tonight. And now, he is trying to sleep in the crib.

    And…enough of the comment highjacking.

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  • I have plenty of Rushdie suggestions (although I haven’t read anything new by him in about 8 years, but I hear his old stuff is better anyway). And if you’ve never been to Virginia, you can stay here! Good luck with the list. I’d love to do one, but I think it might take 1001 days to find time to actually make the list, much less do it.

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  • Nope, I claim NYC with Beth!

    Write a computer program? Am I supposed to assist with that? What language?

    This is a cool, albeit massively ambitious, list. I’ll try to help you with 8, though. Soon.

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  • Geez, you’ve got a lot of hard goals on there. I think about twenty precent of mine were gimmies, and by my count only about five percent of yours are (7, 33, 71, 82, 86). Good luck!

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  • Sorry for the delay on responding to all of these. It’s been a crazy busy week.

    @Rachel – I was planning to recruit you for my skiing/snowboarding/camping/hiking/travel related ones. Especially camping (as you know, my camping skills leave something to be desired). Also, I need to recruit you to go to MEC to pick some hiking boots!

    @Sarah – I was counting on you to help out too! I’d love the spreadsheet for calculating net worth and suggestions for places to get my credit report, etc.

    @Stacia – What Rushdie would you suggest? I was thinking Satanic Verses (you know, to see what all the controversy is about), but if you have other suggestions, I’m all ears. And I might just take you up on that suggestion to visit you in Virginia!

    @Kalev – You do realize that I can go to NYC with more than one person, right? For writing a computer program, I wasn’t expecting you to help out. I was planning on getting “Writing Computer Programs for Dummies” from the library. Seriously. I’m not talking about writing anything major. Like something in BASIC. Then I can wear this shirt.

    @Dave – I think gimmie-ness is in the eye of the beholder. All the ones you list as gimmies are the ones I think are difficult! Especially #33 (I never can seem to get to bed before midnight, even when I know I have to get up by 5:30 to get ready and get to my 8 a.m. class) and 82 (for me, that’s damn near impossible. You just don’t know my lack of desire to ever clean dishes because whenever you stay at my place, you insist on doing the dishes).. I think the gimmies are: 23 (since I’d already secured a spot through Skate for A Cure by the time I’d post this list), 30, 44 (tickets are cheap and plentiful… much like fights in Giants games), 61 (I have a coupon), 78 (easy enough to do if I stop being lazy about it). 71, I’ll agree, is a gimmie.

    @Raul – The things on the list have to be actually possible. So unless you are footing the bill for two MacBook Pros…

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