So far this year, I haven’t been working from a list, but it has still been very productive for me. I stayed in Paris for a month; expanded my food horizons (I even had escargot!); started learning how to use an SLR camera; got rid of lots of things that I didn’t use or want anymore; and probably some other things too.

But I still don’t think it’s quite enough. So today, I’m going to start the 1001 days project too.

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).

The Tasks:

Health & Fitness

1. Floss for 30 days
2. Finish swimming lessons (level 4)
3. Finish 30/30 running routine.
4. Run a 5K
5. Run a 10K
6. Go to 10 yoga classes
7. Go skiing
8. Go three months without caffeine

Mission District

9. Take photos of 10 murals
10. Order the same burrito at 10 taquerias and compare
11. Track price of limes in the Mission for one month

SF Bay Area

12. Complete all of the City Walks San Francisco
13. Drive the entirety of San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive
14. Visit Alcatraz
15. Visit all of the museums of the YBCA
16. Visit the Exploratorium
17. Visit the Winchester Mystery House
18. Visit the Computer History Museum
19. Visit three new Farmer’s Markets

New England

20. Walk the Freedom Trail
21. Go whale watching
22. Eat lobster
23. Go to a Red Sox game
24. Go fishing

Socialize

25. Get back in touch with five friends
26. Design and send holiday cards three times
27. Join a book club for at three months
28. Volunteer three times
29. Have friends over for drinks three times

Culture

30. Go to the Opera three times
31. Go to five concerts
32. Go to three plays
33. Go to three musicals
34. Go to three works by Shakespeare

Eat Something

35. Try something new at 10 new restaurants
36. Make 10 slow food recipes
37. Make 10 rice cooker recipes
38. Go to a chili cook off

Read Something

39. Finish reading all the books I own
40. Read 10 graphic novels
41. Re-read five books I really liked
42. Read A Series of Unfortunate Events

Watch Something

43. Watch all of Battlestar Galactica
44. Watch all of The Wire
45. Watch the AFI Top 100
46. Watch 10 documentaries

Make Something

47. Make a music video
48. Redesign my blog and web site
49. Learn to play three new songs on my violin
50. Design and screen my own t-shirt
51. Buy a macro lens for my camera, and use it for 4 photo sessions
52. Take an art class
53. Take a photography class
54. Write thirty long format blog entries
55. Make a mobile
56. Paint something on the four canvases I have
57. Complete five assignments from Learning to Love You More
58. Make 12 mood playlists, each with 30 tracks

See the Country

59. Visit Seattle, Washington
60. Visit Portland, Oregon
61. Visit Los Angeles, California
62. Visit three National Parks
63. Go Camping

See the World

64. Visit Buenos Aires
65. Visit a country in Asia
66. Visit a country in Eastern Europe
67. Visit a country in Europe
68. Visit a city in Canada
69. Go on a relaxing, non-urban vacation

Coordinate

70. Be able to write this list legibly with my left hand.
71. Learn to juggle.
72. Read GTD and start doing it.

Digitize

73. Digitize my movie collection.
74. Scan my photo collection.
75. Rate every photo in my photo collection.
76. Build a genealogy web site

Geek Out

77. Update twitter three times a day for 30 days
78. Write a new WordPress plugin
79. Write a new widget
80. Write an iPhone app
81. Add a new feature to knitPro
82. Post three interesting links a day for three months
83. Update and release the software I worked on in school
84. Go Hi-Def (HDTV, PS3, 3 favorite movies, and get rid of old stuff)
85. Build something from Make magazine
86. Finish Mega Man 1 - 8

Pop Culture Can’t Be That Bad

87. Go to a football game
88. See the #1 movie for three months
89. Watch four episodes each of the top 10 TV shows

Try Something New

90. Sing karaoke in public
91. Visit a city that I think is boring
92. Take a trip spontaneously (book less than 3 days in advance)
93. Go to a rodeo
94. Grow and keep a beard for a month
95. Go surfing
96. Watch the sunrise
97. Watch the sunset
98. Stay up all night (and enjoy it)
99. Get a certification in something

Classified

100. Sekrit #1
101. Sekrit #2

Backup possibilities include: Omnivore’s 100, 100 Thing Challenge, Collection with 10 things.

Start Date: August 26, 2008

End Date: May 24, 2011

Here I go…

Cross, rope, and arrow: ancient implements on mankind, today reduced, or elevated, to symbols. I do not know why I marvel at them so, when there is nothing on earth that forgetfulness does not fade, memory alter, and when no one knows what sort of image the future may translate it into.

Vosges Haut Chocolat: Mo’s Bacon Bar.

My personal favorite part was a chart of exciting products.

Who knew Fortran was so exciting? Certainly not I, but it says so in a book, so it must be true.

MEME Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 125 pages or more.
   Eh. Bad timing. This one’s a bit… difficult.
2. State the title and author of the book.
   Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
3. Find page 25.
   Okay.
4. Type in the first 5 sentences.
   

   The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another. On the one side is the palace, on the other are the almshouse and “silent poor.” The myriads who built the pyramids to be the tombs of the of Pharaohs were fed on garlic, and it may be were not decently buried themselves. The mason who finishes the cornice of the palace returns at night perchance to a hut not so good as a wigwam. It is a mistake to suppose that, in a country where the usual evidences of civilization exist, the condition of a very large body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages.

   This guy has quite a chip on his shoulder. g-r-u-m-p-y.

5. Find page 100 and type in the first, second and fifth word on the page.
   some, and, in.
6. Tag 5 people
   There are probably about five people who look at this site except for Rosie. Soooo, have at it. You know who you are.

I’m back in SF, by the way.

Two nights ago, I had trouble getting to sleep because of my first case of real and actual jet lag. I was laying in bed, listening to the neighbors play Madonna through the walls, and suddenly I felt a little bit feverish. I had been tired only 10 minutes earlier, and now I couldn’t even quietly lie down. My stomach felt heavy, like my dinner was just sitting in my stomach. Crazy thoughts started to go through my head, and somehow I kept coming back to the idea of how much fun it would be to work as a barback. I thought that I was delirious with food poisoning.

Perhaps it was the four cups of coffee that morning. Maybe all the wine, bread, and cheese. Hard to say.

The next morning, I decided that I would try to shift my schedule to be more in line with California. I doubt it really helped, but I took advantage of the expected late day to head to Musee d’Orsay in the morning.

The museum opened at 9:30. I got to work around that time, then walked to the museum, starting down the street from the big church past the other big church, where Napoleon had himself painted into the fresco behind the cross, down to the obelisk that was a “gift” from Egypt, and over the bridge to the Left Bank towards the Museum of the Legion of Honor, and then next door.

At 9:50 or so, I got into line, and it was already 7 or 8 lines deep.

The woman in front of me said, in English, “It says in the guide book they stop selling tickets at 17:45. I hope they don’t run out soon!”

Idiot.

Her son, a 14 or 15 year old boy, continually held up the line as tries to finish up a game on his gold Dolce & Gabbana cell phone. It seemed excessive to me, but then I noticed the Diesel shoes. I suppose that brand has really gone down in quality and exclusivity lately, so I’m still unimpressed. The jeans, though. G-Star Raw. I thought that was mostly a gay/hipster SF thing, but maybe I was wrong. That’s when I noticed the gold tinted Versace glasses. His mother may have been an idiot — can’t subtract 12 from 17!! — but she at least seemed like she could be nice. This kid though.

I did not like this kid. I considered heading back to work.

But, I was on vacation. For the moment. I took a deep breath and waited my turn in line, carefully staying behind, but not too close to, the spoiled Americans. Eventually I made it into the museum.

And, it was pretty great. The museum is a converted train station, so it’s kept some of the architectural elements that identify it as one. The ceiling is arched, and the central entryway is filled with classical sculptures, some of classical Gods and figures, Napoleon, and nudes. Musee d’Orsay picks up where the Louvre ends, in the early 1800s to the early 1900s, and it has some of the most famous impressionist pieces in the world. Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Sisly, Pissarro, Cezanne, Toulouse-Latrec, Degas, Boudin, Rodin, and many others. It’s shocking to turn a corner in a gallery and see Van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone ahead. Head downstairs and see Manet’s Olympia. They look better in person, where the texture of the paint and scale of the painting add something that you can’t capture in a print. Dare I say, aura?

After that, it’s back to work. I stop outside and order a “Caesar Tortilla,” then head across the bridge to the Right Bank and through the park next to the palace by the fountain up past the church towards the other church.

I slept well the next night.