#17 - Donate to KDHX radio - Completed

First day (2/13/2009). 1 complete. Good start. After the McDonald's debacle, I went back to work and did an easy one. #17- Donate to KDHX radio. KDHX is the local community listener-supported radio station here in St. Louis. I discovered it about a year ago. I mean I knew it existed but I finally gave it an extended listen. It worked in nicely with my then burgeoning interest in the blues. Or maybe it was the cause and the blues love was the effect.

Either way it is nice to be able to listen to a radio station and not be familiar with every song they play. And to have some variety. Another local station went to a no repeat per week format which promised more variety and "deeper cuts" but very rarely am I surprised by what comes up.

Not so with KDHX. Driving to work, hearing some great new song, it really shifts my whole day. Like a rat with a feeder bar, I just want to keep hitting it. Not get out of my car in case something good comes up. Depending on the day of the week, and when I am leaving the house, I could get blues or soul or classic country - i.e. Hank Williams style country, not Taylor Swift pseudo country pop. Not that Ms. Swift doesn't have her moments. There are also shows dedicated to bluegrass, R&B, 50s & 60s pop, new U.S. and international pop, plus all the artists who get zero airplay on Top 40.

So after listening for awhile, and going through the fall pledge drive, I thought about donating. This list provides the trigger. Starting March 1, they will be sucking $20 out of my account each month. Count me a proud member of the Radio Frequency club. Hopefully that will increase as time goes on. But #71 (Get out of debt) limits what I can do right now. But I'm happy to give what I can. Please check them out and give your support if you like what you hear. You can get it streaming or download podcasts if you aren't in the STL area.

Update on 2/22/2009: I got my sticker and a nice letter from them promising the rest of my swag once my debit clears. Viva Variety!

Update on 3/08/2009: Proud owner one Live at KDHX Volume Six. Got to love swag.

#22 - REJECTED!

Today 2/13/2009 marks my official start of my 101 things in 1001 days project. So, in a good mood, and damn near brimming with inspiration, at lunch today I decided to start on the list.

An easy one - #22. Pay for someone at the drive-thru 10 times. So, I'm at Mickey D's and I pull up, gal says my total and I say "..and I'm paying for the car behind me". I.e. a totally random thing, I didn't even see the driver of the pick-up.

So, the gal asks "Was that the Happy Meal...[couple other items]...?". I'm like I have no idea. And she says, "Well I need to know the right order in order to clear it out."

At this point, I tucked my tail between my legs, took my change back and went on with my day.

So, an inauspicious beginning to this little project.

In fairness to the window girl, this was a McDonald's with two ordering lanes merging into a single pick-up lane. And so she couldn't 100% know what the next order was; as a frequent customer (see #38 and #58) I can attest that people get out of order.

Still it irked me a bit, and leaves me wondering how often we erect barriers to people finding it easy to do the right thing. I wonder too now, if I could have said well I'll pay for whoever does have the happy meal, or if that would have messed up the queuing system if they were out of order. In that case, I guess I could leave exact change.

Man, it is tough to be a good person :)

The List

Alright, here's my complete list. Stay tuned for updates.

Professional Development

1. Become a potential friend of Justice Gray.
2. Learn C using K&R book.
3. Contribute to an open source project.
4. Complete MIT Introduction to Algorithms lecture series.
5. Learn #F.
6. Learn Ruby.
7. Learn WPF.
8. Learn ASP.net MVC.
9. Create a 10,000 line application from scratch using TDD.
10. Present at C# users group.

Travel

11. Visit London.
12. Visit New York City.
13. Visit Austin.
14. Travel over 500 miles to go to a concert.
15. Visit Babbitt’s Books in Bloomington - Normal .

Contributions to others

16. Convert Parent’s slides to digital.
17. Donate to KDHX radio.
18. Join the Libertarian Party.
19. Join the ACLU.
20. Join the NRA.
21. Sign up AmerenUE Pure Power.
22. Pay for someone at drive-thru 10 times (0/10).
23. Volunteer 3 hours per week for at least 3 months .

Personal Tasks

24. Upgrade Computer to Windows 7.
25. Clean up Mp3 collection: No duplicate tracks. Every track has album, artist, track, and title tags populated.
26. Begin using an RSS feed reader.
27. Start Twittering.
28. Fix windshield and clean sap gunk off car.
29. Be a 3 monitor uber-geek (0/3).
30. Change sheets 143 times (17/143 - 10/04/09).
31. Do 143 weekly reviews (20/143 - 10/05/09).
32. Get rid of landline.
33. Use public transportation to work for 1 month.
34. Take picture of myself each month (1/34 - February 2009).
35. Buy 3 big posters/artwork for walls (0/3).
36. Celebrate October 4th (Rock and Roll Memorial Day) each year.
37. Meet with photo proof either a Beatle, a Rolling Stone, or a Spinal Tapper.
38. Only visit restaurants with one location for 6 non-consecutive weeks.
39. Do something with timkummer.com.

Writing

40. Finish writing up Ted Spellman short story.
41. Write 3 short stories other than for class (0/3).
42. Take a creative writing class.
43. Blog about each completed item/Blog significant progress on others.
44. Blog 3 times per week for 3 months.
45. Try 3 day novel thing or NaNoWriMo.

Be Prepared

46. Create a Sarah Connor bag.
47. Create large disaster kit for home.
48. Make a home first aid kit.
49. Make a backpacking first aid kit.
50. Renew CPR certification.
51. Take EMT/Wilderness First Responder training.
52. Implement computer backup strategy.

Love Life

53. Post ad to OKCupid.com. Refine until I get 10 first dates.
54. Redacted
55. Redacted
56. Redacted
57. Redacted

Physical Fitness

58. Be a vegetarian for 1 month.
59. Take bowling lessons or otherwise bowl a 200+ game 3 times.
60. Follow US gov. recommended fruit intake for 1 month (diff than vegetarian).
61. Eat breakfast every weekday for 1 month.
62. Visit doctor twice for check-up (0/2).
63. Visit dentist 4 times (0/4).
64. Get in shape enough to pass P90X test.
65. Do P90X.
66. If have 6 months left after P90X, consider a mini-triathalon.
67. Change contacts 70 times (12/70 - 10/03/09).
68. Give up caffeine for 1 month.
69. Get a professional massage.

Personal Finance

70. Get credit score above 800.
71. Be out of debt other than new installment loans (house, car).
72. Have one year of net salary saved (liquid – accessible over 1 year).
73. Get on Mint.com/PearBudget or other online budgeting. Update: Using You Need A Budget.
    
74. Incorporate myself.
75. Resume contributions to Sharebuilder.
76. Increase retirement savings to 15% of gross.

Outdoors

77. Go camping in all four seasons.
78. Camp in snow.
79. Have 25 bag nights (0/25).
80. Complete 60 hikes within 60 miles book (3/60).
81. Leave house everyday for one hour (except w/ doctor’s note).
82. Buy a bike and use it regularly (define weekly mileage goal).
83. Take rock climbing lessons.
84. Climb Mt. Rainier.

Improve Cooking Skills

85. Cook 25 Alton Brown recipes (0/25).
86. Learn to make Grandma’s potato salad well (2/3).
87. Learn to bake bread like the Bread Monk.
88. Take a knife skills class .

Movies, Art, Music, Literature & Culture

89. Watch 5 Shakespeare plays (3/5).
90. See 25 plays – all non Shakespeare, at least 15 non-musical, at least five modern/arty/freaky (26/25 total, 20/15 non-musical, 2/5 m.a.f.).
91. Go to 8 St. Louis Art Museum exhibitions or St. Louis Symphony concerts (2/8).
92. Read 10 novels not originally written in English (can repeat language only twice) (1/10).
93. Have seen every Best Picture/Director/Actor/Actress (125/225 - Tracking Document Here).
    
94. Read 101 new (to me) fiction books (9/101).
95. Read 101 new (to me) non fiction books (6/101).
96. Listen to all albums in book: 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (6/1001).
97. Watch 25 not from Hollywood films (2/25).
98. Have 10,000 songs in Mp3 collection. (6043 - 10/08/09)
99. Devise and implement a St. Louis Restaurant Eating Plan.
100. Watch 600 Netflix movies (61/600 - Election).
     

101 – Create new list and repeat

A single step

They say the longest journey begins with a single step. So putting my foot forward, I am embarking on the 101 Things in 1001 days project. For those who didn't get the meme :), check out the getting started page.

For those of you in a rush, let me sum up:

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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 (i.e. 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 organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

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TK Again: My complete list is in the sidebar. As of this initial writing I haven't decided what my first projects are and some of these projects will take the whole 1001 days to complete, so I should probably start soon.

One of my items is to blog about each item as completed, though I also intend to blog about some of the ongoing projects - either here or on my personal blog.

My start date is 02/13/2009 which should put my 1001th day at 11/11/2011. Which is pretty cool I think. Thanks to PurpleTX for that little idea.

This actually a tad scary to me - to have a plan and goals. I am committed to this little project. I feel in some respects I have squandered my twenties. But I'm 32 now (20 in hexadecimal), so this is my second chance. I asked myself: After 2.75 years do I still want to be the same person I am now? And the answer is no. So, I have to do something about it.

I turn to Kramer for a little inspiration:



What will they say about me on 11/11/11?