The Mission: To complete 101 pre-defined tasks in the span of 1001 days, approx 2.75 years.
The Players: Matt and Jess of Jesser.org
The Countdown: -147 days to go
The Score: Matt 28 Jess 47
The Prize: A huge sense of accomplishment and some great stories.
Jesser
1. complete this list2. get my wedding ring fixed
3. [personal]
4. teach Loki a really cool trick, like jumping thru a hoop
5. [personal]
6. [personal]
7. buy myself a nice piece of jewelry
8. get our own cell-phone plan
9. buy prescription sun-glasses
10. dye my hair a reddish shade to see if I like it
11. have my car detailed
12. get the ding in my car fixed
13. style and program a section on Jesser to house/track this list
14. backup all data and reformat my laptop
15. learn the object-oriented and GUI features of PHP
16. build a computer with Matt
17. move Jesser to a better server
18. blog every day for an entire month
19. skin jesser.org
20. add all back pictures to Jesser
21. come up with a list of 10 things that need fixed/updated on Jesser and do all of them
22. organize my house and donate or throw out superfluous junk
23. have Grandma K teach Matt and I how to fry chicken
24. finish-off the basement
25. successfully grow an herb garden
26. paint our kitchen
27. paint our bedroom
28. re-do our bathroom
29. frame and hang posters
30. learn to make a soufflé
31. learn to make French Bread
32. buy two nice pieces of furniture for our bedroom
33. install shelves in our bathroom closet to hold towels, etc.
34. make a household inventory with pictures for insurance purposes
35. buy/procure a new king-sized comforter for our bed
36. frame and hang new pictures
37. take a cooking class with Matt
38. hire someone to clean our house
39. keep up with Monday Meal for 3 months straight
40. rid the closet of clothes/shoes I don’t wear anymore/fit anymore
41. catch up with scrapbooking through our Bahamas trip
42. sew a tote-bag for myself
43. [personal]
44. learn how to silk-screen, using my print gocco
45. take my pottery skills to a reasonably proficient level
46. create a life poster
47. go on 8 photo-taking excursions
48. make my t’shirt quilt
49. buy a keyboard piano
50. learn two new piano pieces and re-learn most of my old ones
51. crochet or knit something useful/decent looking
52. go on a trip to the mountains specifically to take pictures
53. [personal]
54. salvage and make-over a piece of furniture
55. create a piece of art good enough to hang on a wall
56. [personal]
57. [personal]
58. eat only home-made food for an entire week (i.e. nothing purchased at a restaurant and no frozen entrees/box dinners)
59. mountain bike to the top of green mountain w/o stopping
60. run 3 miles, non-stop
61. bench 100 lbs 3 sets x 10 reps
62. learn how to dance at the next level on DDR Max
63. go skiing with Matt 4x in one winter
64. exercise every single day for 101 days
65. do 50 push-ups in a row (real ones, not girlie ones)
66. [personal]
67. travel to Australia
68. travel to a beach
69. travel to visit Matt in San Francisco
70. go camping/backpacking with Dad
71. go on a picnic, ride our bicycles to get there
72. [personal]
73. go back to Summer Fest
74. see the art fair in the square again
75. travel to Las Vegas to go to the E3 convention and see Avenue Q and the Star Trek Hotel
76. participate in Bay to Breakers
77. travel to Winterlude in Ottawa
78. take Matt to a comedy club
79. visit the place where they have the pianos and you sing along
80. go on a float trip or at least go rafting
81. visit a farmer’s market in CO
82. have all of my cousins over again
83. go to a flea-market or bazaar
84. ride the light rail
85. get our savings plans in order, setting up retirement, long term and short term savings
86. get $10K saved up in my IRA, 401(k) and savings account combined
87. read 11 books I’ve never read before, all at least 200 pages long (can include audio books)
88. non-consumerism for 2 wks straight, twice
89. make a list of 101 words/phrases I want to learn in German and learn them all
90. make a list of 101 words/phrases I want to learn in French and learn them all
91. read 3 non-fiction books
92. watch no TV or movies for a whole week
93. save up errands from Wednesday to Wednesday (or xday to xday) and run them all one one day, inc. grocery shopping ... do 5 weeks in a row
94. participate in one of Pinkard’s community-service projects, like rebuilding together
95. donate at least $50 to VSVS
96. go two weeks without darkening a Target’s doorstep
97. get 9 hours of sleep/night for a whole week
98. spend an entire weekend all alone with Matt ... away from home
99. go a whole week without using a personal computer
100. go without playing Sims for an entire month
101. start a new list and get this thing going again on 29 Feb 2008
MattNick
1. Make list of 101 things2. Put my list on the web
3. Hang ceiling fan in the office
4. Hang ceiling fan in guest bedroom
5. Finish basement
6. Put in landscaping lights out front
7. Make two nightstands for master bedroom
8. Make coat rack
9. Make cabinet for the dining room
10. Climb the easy side of Green Mountain on my bike w/o stopping or putting a foot down
11. Climb the other side of Green Mountain on my bike w/o stopping or putting a foot down
12. Transition to clipless petals on mountain bike
13. Reward for climbing green mountain with the bike I've been planning to buy
14. Save money for the new bike
15. Fix my joiner
16. Fix Holly's white board
17. Teach Loki double paw
18. Teach Loki to roll over
19. Paint dining room
20. Paint family room
21. Paint master bedroom
22. Paint master bathroom
23. Put tile in downstairs power room instead of carpet
24. Put tile in master bath instead of carpet
25. Figure out what my tax with holdings should really be
26. Get new bike cloths
27. Learn to fly fish
28. Put up shelves in garage
29. Go to Australia
30. Finish all the books in the Hitchhikers series
31. See the final Star Wars movie
32. Find my copy of the Fountain Head or buy a new/used one
33. Finish reading the Fountain Head
34. Read the next Harry Potter Book
35. Ski a double black at Vail
36. Bike a century (100 miles in one day)
37. Learn to make Crème Brule
38. Learn to make banana's foster
39. Go white water rafting
40. Go to a water park
41. Go to the amusement park
42. Get a CO cell phone number
43. Frame the posters that Jess wants framed
44. Find the artist that Jess and I like so much at Madison's Art Fair on the Square
45. Properly align my table saw
46. Go to the Caribbean
47. Rewatch Lord of the Rings series
48. Travel to Las Vegas
49. See Avenue Q
50. Visit Star Trek Hotel
51. Visit the E3 convention
52. Organize my computer desk
53. Put up shelves in the bathroom
54. Learn to make dovetails
55. Organize my wood shop, power tools, etc…
56. Organize wood and wood scraps
57. Organize my work files
58. Get a C or better score on any DDR Max 2 song, standard level
59. Build a better work bench
60. Learn how to fry chicken
61. Go on a long weekend with just Jess
62. Work out every morning before work for one week
63. Work out every morning before work for two weeks in a row
64. Get at digital SLR
65. Take 100 photos with new Camera
66. Post 10 photos on the website
67. Get certified to scuba dive
68. Go to a concert at Red Rocks
69. See a movie at Red Rocks
70. Figure out what my tax with holdings should really be
71. Get my IRA out of money markets and into better yield securities
72. Get a new suit
73. Meet my sister's boyfriend
74. Finally donate some money to VSVS like you said you would
75. Donate time or money to some other charity
76. Start posting my wood work projects on the web site
77. Watch session 4 and 5 of Babylon 5
78. Go back to IKEA
79. Drag Jess with me once to California
80. Get a new cell phone
81. Read a book on wood working
82. Visit Mesa Verde NP
83. Don't eat out for five days strait
84. Go out on a canoe with Jess
85. Take a road trip, it can be short
86. Visit a museum I haven't been to before
87. Try to make sushi
88. Put 3 more speakers into Family room
89. Go camping with Jess
90. Go Bass fishing
91. Visits Rocky Mountain National Park
92. Rewatch all of Stargate SG 1
93. Buy of all Stargate SG 1 on DVD that is available
94. Ski somewhere I have not skied before
95. Buy a new camel pack
96. Make Candy
97. Buy something fun at a thrift store
98. Go Rafting
99. Have a picnic on the Stanly lake Island with Jess
100. Go out on a power boat
101. Get my Car fixed
Date Night and other Blather
A couple of weekends ago I tried out one of the recipes in my new cookbook, Apples for Jam which my sister got for me after seeing me oogle it while we were in Anthropologie, I suspect. We made the ricotta gnocchi which were really easy to make and ... well ... amazing. I was planning to make the tomato pesto to go with them, but Target was out of basil, so I bought pre-made sun dried tomato pesto which was excellent.
So when Matt and I were planning a little date night for us, Matt requested that we have the ricotta gnocchi again. Typical to me, I wanted to try out some new recipes (from Apples and Jam, to be precise), but I yielded because we still have an unopened package of the pesto and well ... they were really really good. As with last go around, I will also make a simple salad of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and romaine with balsalmic vinegar dressing on top ... and there might be wine.
Tabby is going to visit her grandparents and Aunt Gaga. As for Matt and I and the rest of the evening, I have no idea what we'll get up to. Probably something TV related would be my guess. We're kinda boring these days.
Fri 29 Sep 2006
That's My Bag, Baby
Well kids, I finally used my sewing machine for something that wasn't made of felt ... and required construction and turning inside out and all that sewwy jazz. And that's it ... that bag thing up there. And it ain't gonna win awards on design or quality or anything, I don't think it turned out half bad. Probably the hardest part was the straps ... which I did by sewing tubes and turning them inside out. The sewing part was easy, but the turning out part was NUTS! On the first one I did it all by hand ... well I think I shoved my scissors up in there to push fabric thru. But on the second one, I got a brain storm and put a safety pin thru one side of one end and put it in the tube and pulled it out the other end. Much less painful. I'd write y'all a nice tutorial, but I used this one and I really don't have anything new or of value to add to it. I definitely know some things I'd like to do differently next time, but, as was the point, I've got more confidence with the whole sewing process. Now if I just do it once in a while, maybe I'll even develop skill with it. Haha.
Mon 21 Aug 2006
Jellystone Park
Well, we're back from Yellowstone. We had a very nice time, despite some of the foibles (described later on). We got within feet of bison and saw tons of other animals (wolf, elk, pronghorn antelope, moose). Matt was suitably impressed by the natural wonders the park has to offer and we took about a billion photos (OK, 475). Not everything was exactly as I remembered it ... apparently, the hot springs look different from year to year based on a variety of factors, but it was still really cool to share the experience of Yellowstone with Matt. It's truly an incredible place.
Tue 25 Jul 2006
New Camera at Play
We took a little trip to Georgetown on Sunday to play around with the new camera. It's a cute little old-fashioned town with naturey things nearby, so it offered a pretty good selection of things to photograph. Above are a few of the best ... here's the rest. We're getting better, honest.
Thu 20 Jul 2006
Snaps
Ever since we got out of college (over 4 years ago), Matt and I have been wanting to get a digital SLR... but it was never quite the right time, money wise. In high school, and some into college, Matt used his film SLR, but by the time you pay for film and processing, film photography is a pricey hobby, so his film SLR has been sitting on our shelves, collecting dust. Digital with its instant and free development is such a nice way to go. We've been doing fine with our smaller, cheaper digitals. But sometimes, there's a shot that requires a really fast camera (think Loki), or a macro lens and you just can't get the shot you want. That's kinda disappointing. So after saving for a good while, we bit the bullet and purchased the Nikon D200. Matt's camera was a Nikon and so his flash and lenses all fit the new camera, so it's not as expensive a proposition as it could be. We were going to wait a bit longer and save s'more dough, but we're going on our Yellowstone trip next month and we want some time to play around with the camera and get used to it before we leave. I can hardly think of a better place to take a ton of photos than Yellowstone ... woohoo! 
Thu 8 Jun 2006
Ode to the Little Green
Dear Little Green,
Perhaps when I first spotted you on that shelf in Target, I was drawn to you by your nice green color ... or perhaps it was that lovely on-sale pricetag that you were sporting. $20 off is nothing to scoff at, after all. But what I really think drove me to bring you home was the idea that you would make the times when I must shell out on the order of $500 to the carpet cleaning company fewer and farther between. I'll admit, from the first I was impressed. You handled the little spots with ease. But my adore has escalated to full on love, for on Tuesday night, you returned my precious CR-V to its former sheen. The remanents of spilled sodas and dribbled doggy slobber gone, my car is as beautiful as the day it was brought home and I am very grateful indeed.
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Fri 26 May 2006
Six Flags!
Matt earned some comp time last week when he stayed over the weekend in California, so we're kicking off memorial day weekend by taking half days and going with our siblings (the ones who live in tow, that is) to Six Flags Elitch Gardens. Elitch Gardens have been a CO institution since ... like forever. They used to be real deal huge tree gardens with great picnic shelters and a visible lack of comercialization. But times have changed and they were bought up by Six Flags a long while back and then moved down town where there were noticably fewer trees and noticably more Warner Bros. characters and swag. Oh well.
It's supposed to be a gorgeous day, so I'm really looking forward to some water rides and sun. And heck, even if it rains, we all have season passes, so we can come and go as we please. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!
Tue 28 Mar 2006
Still on the 101 Track
Didn't want y'all to think I'd abandoned the 101. We're both still working on it, and I'm going to nag Matt to do a progress report. Here's what's been going on:
9. Buy Perscription Sunglasses - I did this in January when I got my new regular sunglasses. They're vair cute and vair useful!
16. Build a Computer With Matt - We completed this little project sometime in Nov. or Dec. I hadn't written about it, because it was much more Matt's project than mine. Once again, *nag*
Tue 29 Nov 2005
The 101 Continues
It's been a while since I blogged about anything on my 101 even being in progress, let alone done ... but things have been happening!!
* Loki, through not just my efforts, but Matt and Mike's as well, has learned to sit on his haunches with his paws in the air, to "beg" for food. I think this counts as a really cool trick. I still want to teach him to close the door after he lets himself in, but all in good time.
* All photos in the queue have been added to Jesser and I have kept on top of new ones I've taken. I need to take some more though!
Wed 26 Oct 2005
Books Galore
As part of my 101, I made the commitment to read 11 books I've never read before. It seems kinda silly, but this is a pretty big thing for me since when I fall in love with a book, I read it over and over ... in fact, I have a select set of books that I read at least once a year (helps that I read pretty fast). I'm sort of chicken when it comes to trying new books. But I did it!! And I did more than 11. Wed 21 Sep 2005
Pottery Products
Even though I've been taking pottery classes off and on for almost 8 months, these are the first pieces to really come out. I had some snafus with timing, when I'd let a piece dry too long and crack because I didn't come back to class for too long and I had some snafus with clay when we accidentally bought the wrong type. Plus, I just don't work that fast. Anyhoo, the piece on the left is my fave. It's likely to be a candle holder and I really like the glaze I used. What it was though, I don't know. I'll have to ask my teacher. The one on the right I like as well and technically, it's the better piece all symmetrical and whatnot, but I don't like the glaze as well.
But last night, I felt like I sort of turned a corner. I made two pieces in one evening that I was really happy with... and I did it deliberately (instead of just letting they clay take whatever shape it liked). The first is a smallish bowl with a nice shape and the second is a small vase, sort of milk-juggy in shape. I can't wait to see them glazed and finished in a few weeks!!
Mon 19 Sep 2005
Jam-Packed Weekend
We had an absolutely jam-packed weekend. Friday, I went birthday shopping with my mom and sis and then we picked Matty up at the airport and went to dinner at our favorite chinese restaurant.
Saturday started bright and early with a Puppy Triathalon and a trip to A Paris Street Market. Next, we went to a 50th birthday party for a family friend, which was very fun. Then we made a brief stop off at my parents' house to get some food together, wrap some gifts, and pick up Loki for Birthday part Deux. My cousin was turning 15 and his b'day party was the second of the day.
Tue 6 Sep 2005
Labor Day Weekend
Yesterday, Loki was lucky enough to get a play date with the admirable FeBe. FeBe is a chocolate lab. Our friends, Mike and Holly belong to her. Holly brought her over to our house and then she and Matt and I rode our bikes around Standley Lake while the doggies chased us. Loki always wants to be with the leader. FeBe always goes back to check on the straggler. When we took breaks, they got to swim in the water.
This is the Northern edition of what Mike and Holly refer to as the Puppy Triathalon (you bike, your dog runs and swims). By the time we got back to our house, Loki and FeBe were a couple of very tired dogs. And I can't speak for FeBe, but Loki was content to nap the rest of the day.
Mon 15 Aug 2005
Surprise
On Friday when I was coming home from work, I stopped by Target and picked up Stronghold 2 for Matt. I got home and he had gone out to get us some lunch and so I went up to his office and put it on his desk. I kinda forgot about it after that. He came home and we had our lunch and then he went back upstairs while I cleaned up.
I was loading the dishwasher when he came down and gave me a big happy hug and kiss. I just love to surprise him. He's an excellent candidate for a surprise.
PS. Anyone else think that dude looks like Keanu Reeves?
Tue 26 Jul 2005
Vacation Holiday
As you may or may not have guessed, I've been away the past week (yes, those were pre-recorded posts you saw). Anyhoo, Matt and his siblings (Andrew and Theresa) and I went on vacation to Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. We definitely did our fair share of rest and relaxation and hand a very nice time sampling the various water activities.
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