101 Goals

I just finished scanning all of our old-timey printed photos. I recommend the site adrive.com if you want to backup your photos or documents. They give 50 gb of free online storage.

( Here are some photos I scanned. )

I didn't eat any meat in September. It really wasn't that hard, considering Jamie is vegetarian and she does all the cooking. Although, there was one close call:
It was the first day of the month, and Publix had free samples. I totally forgot about this goal and popped a turkey cube in my mouth. Luckily, I remembered I couldn't eat meat before I chewed anything and I spit it out. I'm not counting that, even if I did accidentally swallow some cube juice.
Also, I never would have tried the Farmer's Market Quesadilla at Chevy's if I had the choice of meat, but it was really good.

I flossed every day in September. Jamie initialed my verification form each day.

Well, for some reason I thought this one would be a good idea. I thought I would be able to just cut my own hair and save $13 every few months. It turns out that Jamie is right: boys don't have brains.

( See the before/during/after shots )

a conversation with a captioner today:

HER: what a mess our economy is in.
ME: tell me about it.
HER: I think our economy is about to collapse. I went to Sam's Club the other night and stocked up on food for a while. I've studied eschatology for years, and the time has come, I think
ME: now i'm scared
HER: well, unfortunately, you have every reason to be. but we can't do anything about it except prepare. buy canned goods, Dan. enough to sustain you through a crisis.
ME: i will. if you need me, i'll be in a fetal position in the corner.

the only other thing this captioner has ever talked to me about was how she built a deck with her bare hands. should i be scared of the world ending or scared of talking to this captioner again?

I am now 50 days into my 1,001 days.
Here is an update:

I am 50 days in or 5.0%.
I have accomplished 14 goals or 13.9%.

In order to accomplish all of my goals in 1,001 days, I have to complete one every 9.9 days.
I am currently completing one every 3.6 days.

I have read 7 books, or one every 7.2 days.
I am on pace to finish my 50 books by August of next year.

When we were at Ikea a couple weeks ago (before the window incident), we got a couple new bookshelves. All of our books are now in the same room, and they are in some semblance of order.



If you want to peruse our collection, go to our LibraryThing.

"Insurmountable Simplicities: 39 Philosophical Conundrums"
By: Roberto Casati and Achille Varzi

I thought this book was pretty weak. I was ready to be mindfreaked, but sadly I am finished with this book and my mind is far from freaked.

It started out pretty good, with a story about a man who is requesting funds to build a time machine. He says he wants to go back in time to prevent all sorts of unpleasant events, such as the JFK assassination, the sinking of the Titanic, etc. The committee rejects his project though:
"Suppose you do manage to build a time machine. Then why didn't you do any of those things? Why is it that our past is still full of such disastrous events? Either this means that your project is doomed to fail and you will never manage to build a time machine, or else it means that the project will succeed but that you are not going to use your time machine for those beneficial purposes...Either way...the reasons against your project are overwhelming."

The other things weren't really conundrums, just people being dumb.

( jamie put makeup on me last night )

I've always had a problem with facial hair; i.e., I can't grow it. My dad, on the other hand, has had a full mustache since he was 17. Despite Jamie's protests, I didn't shave my upper lip for about a month and a half; and the result is only slightly more impressive than the efforts of 14-year-old Mexican boy:



I still have my fingers crossed for another puberty spurt at age 25.

"Everything and a Kite"
By: Ray Romano

Don't be fooled by the button-up denim shirt he's wearing on the cover. This book is hilarious. We picked it up for 59 cents from a thrift store, and it was the best 59 cents I've ever spent. Jamie kicked me out of her office and the living room because I was laughing too hard; but then she started reading it, and even she is laughing out loud!

Jamie showed me this commercial, paid for by the Corn Refiners Association, saying that if you just use High Fructose Corn Syrup in moderation, you will be okay.
The only problem is, it's kind of hard to moderate your intake, when the ingredient is in so many different kinds of food.

( Here are some common items that contain HFCS. )

This has nothing to do with my 101 goals.

Last Thursday, a captioner was having a problem with her AIM. She said she was logged on, but none of us could see her. There is an eyeball that you can click to make you invisible to all of your buddies, even though you are signed in.



I told her about how this function works: eyeball open = good; eyeball closed = bad.


Well, this morning, she was invisible again. I told her she was invisible.

Jamie was eating one of her smelly frozen dinners for lunch, and she wasn't that pleased with it, so naturally she offered it to me. It looked like monkey diarrhea, but she said it could count as my #17, so I dove in.
It really wasn't that bad. I wouldn't ever eat it again, but I survived. It just tasted strongly of spices.

In case you want to try it for yourself, it's Amy's Mattar Tofu:

"Shopgirl"
By: Steve Martin

I initially started reading I'm Only One Man by Regis Philbin, but I couldn't get through it. It wasn't just that it was a bunch of name dropping, but it was name dropping of celebrities I've either never heard of or don't care about. I was bored, so I moved onto this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a really fast read (only 130 pages), and it was a thoroughly enjoyable story. I am excited to see the movie now.

Jamie and I got this puzzle from Target for $5. It took us about 4 1/2 hours to complete. We were pretty much over it by the end, but we were so far in that we couldn't stop. I think we'll stick to the 500-piecers from now on.

"Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood"
By: Koren Zailckas

I really liked this book. I actually didn't get bored at any point, except for a 5-page section toward the end when it gets a little too feministic for me. Otherwise, a recommended read.

We were originally going to use Lovin' Pet Home Finders, but after a week and a half of them trying to find a place, Jamie's mom offered to take Smutzee. So he's over there now, out on the porch trying to make friends with her cats.

I used Monster.com to build my resume. I'm not actually looking for a job, so the resume is private, but I feel better knowing I have this completed just in case anything unexpected comes up.

"In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto"
by Michael Pollan

I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to eating "edible foodlike substances" instead of actual, real food, and this book was a wake-up call for me. I will try, as best I can, to follow the guidelines set forth in this book. Here are some of them:

• Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food (such as Gogurt)
• Don't eat anything incapable of rotting
• Avoid food products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than 5 in number, or anything that includes high-fructose corn syrup
• Avoid products that make health claims
• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
• Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
• Pay more, eat less
• Eat until you are 80% full
• Cook and, if you can, plant a garden
• Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
  

You can watch Michael Pollan on C-SPAN 2's Book TV here.