Tune Piano

Today I finally got my grandmother's piano tuned.  I've had it for about 8 years now, and I've only gotten it tuned a couple of times.  That's pretty horrible, especially considering that I've moved it 3 times since the last time it was tuned.  In all honesty, I wasn't even sure it was going to be tunable this time.  So, I guess I'm a pretty terrible piano owner.

But, I've got a great piano tuner now who I really like and does a great job.  He seems to be very thorough, and extremely knowledgeable too.  He told me exactly what we need to do today and how to maintain the piano over the coming years.  I plan on following his advice.  It would be great to play it again and maybe even take some lessons.  Can't do that with an out of tune piano.

PS - That's not my piano, but it's almost the same model.  If I could just find my camera battery charger...

Finished Goals: 61/101
Days Left: 415

Drink 10 Glasses of Clear Fluids Daily for 2 Weeks

This one was tougher than I thought it would be. At first, I had a difficult time even remembering to track how much I had drunk. Luckily, I found a handy dandy iPhone app to take care of that issue. But then I quickly realized that 10 glasses is actually a lot more than I had bargained for. I often found myself chugging one or two glasses at the end of the night before bed, which meant I was usually painfully awoken anywhere from 2-4:30 AM for a potty break.

On top of that, because I was drinking mostly water and not supplementing much with other clear fluids, there were a couple of days during which I didn't feel so good. Believe it or not, there actually is such a thing as too much hydration. And so it seemed I had flushed my system of essential electrolytes. Luckily again, I was able to identify what was happening and rectify it by drinking some Gatorade. That made me good as new, and still counted as a clear fluid. Killed two birds with one stone.

In the end, I'm glad I did this, but I think I'll dial it back a little. Ten glasses per day is perhaps one or two too many for me when I'm not engaging in regular physical activity.

Finished Goals: 57/101
Days Left: 494

Organize Postcrossing Cards

I collected so many postcards from participating in Postcrossing, that I didn't know what to do with them. I started out with them in a shoebox, but quickly outgrew it. I ended up with piles of cards everywhere. So one day I decided it would be a great idea to put them in an album. But I couldn't find an album that would accommodate all the different sizes of cards I've received, and I am just not a scrapbooker.

And then it came to me. I bought a three ring binder, some thick decorative paper, clear picture corner holders, and sheet protectors. And then I set to work. I'm pretty pleased with the results. All of my postcards are now organized by date of arrival on the paper, held down by the corner holders (allowing me to remove them if I want to see the writing on the back), inside the sheet protectors, in my three ring binder. To top it all off, I labeled them all with a sharpie. Now as I get more cards, I can just add them to the binder.

I suppose eventually I'll fill this binder and have to start over with a new one, but for now I'm just going to bask in the glow of having completed this one.

Finished Goals: 55/101
Days Left: 519

Go Geocaching

Today was a horribly frustrating day. I thought I was going to have this really great day off, which is what I really needed it to be. I feel like I've been working so much -- and that I've been so exhausted from working so much -- that I don't really get to do anything fun anymore. I also kind of feel like I've been neglecting my list. Suddenly, I felt this terrible looming pressure to cross goals off. I don't like that feeling. I also don't like the thought that this list has become more stress in my life rather than the challenge and entertainment it was supposed to be.

So today, amongst all of these gross feelings, I decided to step back for a moment, and try to have some fun. As I was perusing the iTunes App Store on my iPhone, I came across a free Geocaching app. This was perfect! I could use this app to search for a geocache, and cross off an item on my list while getting outside in the beautiful weather. I harnessed up Bo to take with me on my search, loaded a geocache to search for on my app, and set off.

It all went downhill from there. I think I was out searching for almost two hours. I tried so hard to find the one that is supposedly in Wicker Park, but to no avail. I didn't want to give up, but I just couldn't find the damn thing, and every time I thought I was close, the app would tell me I was 30 feet away (right after telling me I was only 9 feet away!!!). So I abandoned Wicker Park, and started walking toward another one just north of the Damen/North Ave/Milwaukee six corner intersection. I found my way into an alley where I ended up being only one foot away from the damn thing, but I just COULD NOT find it. And the hint was awful!

Because I really didn't want to give up, I opted to try the last option that was in the vicinity. My phone was almost dead, Bo was definitely tired, and Dov and Ari were ready to be picked up at the groomer, but I just had to give this last one a shot. And then, SUCCESS! I guess the third time was the charm today. I forgot a pen to write in the log, but I pass by it every day on my way to and from work, so I figure I can just stop tomorrow.

Finished Goals: 54/101
Days Left: 542

Clean Out iTunes

I started this a long time ago thinking it wouldn't take me very long because I don't have a ton of music. Then I got busy and abandoned it, and I acquired more music along the way. Today I finally sat down and went through it all from start to finish. I filled out the information I didn't have for songs I got from other people, including album artwork, and I deleted a lot of stuff that I don't even know from where or how I got it. I think the hardest part, though, was trying to decide if I wanted to just uncheck some songs, or completely delete them. I'm guessing that I'll end up going through again sometime and deleting songs I unchecked. Only time will tell.


Finished Goals: 53/101
Days Left: 549

No Soda For a Month

I didn't think I'd be able to do it. I love me some Coke. I also love Diet Coke, and have actually switched to it in the past couple of years in order to save on the calories. You can often catch me sipping on ginger ale as well. And even more so, I like to use these tasty libations as mixers in my adult beverages. Alas, I had to even abstain from that, which was especially difficult. Luckily I have an amazing bartender at home who knows his way around tonic water and mango nectar.

Surprisingly enough, I didn't actually miss it too much. The month seemed to fly by. Perhaps it is because I was so distracted by my career and its seeming inability to get off the ground in my new city. I don't know; however, I'm thinking it's very possible that I may celebrate this accomplishment with a Coke and a smile.

Finished Goals: 52/101
Days Left: 562

Watch AFI's Top 100

Finished! 11/27/09

The other day I went through AFI's Top 100 list and added all the films I haven't seen to my Netflix list. I can't believe how many of these I actually haven't seen. I guess I better get started; this is going to take a long while. The movies I've viewed so far are in bold. Continue to follow my progress over here.

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin' in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler's List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On the Waterfront
20. It's a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like it Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
25. To Kill a Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
27. High Noon
28. All About Eve
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. The Godfather: Part II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
35. Annie Hall
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde
43. Midnight Cowboy
44. The Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story
52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunter
54. MASH
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws
57. Rocky
58. The Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan's Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. The African Queen
66. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange
71. Saving Private Ryan
72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Heat of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President's Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise
83. Titanic
84. Easy Rider
85. Blade Runner
86. A Night at the Opera
87. Platoon
88. 12 Angry Men
89. Bringing Up Baby
90. The Sixth Sense
91. Swing Time
92. Sophie's Choice
93. GoodFellas
94. The French Connection
95. Pulp Fiction
96. The Last Picture Show
97. Do the Right Thing
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Ben-Hur
100. Toy Story

Finished Goals: 48/101
Days Left: 687