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101 things in 1001 days

I often make the perfect the enemy of the good; I'll procrastinate on something because I worry about not getting it just so, and I put a lot of effort into my activities rather than just letting something be "good enough." Case in point: I've been working on this list since January 1st. I had a completed list that would have had an end date as October 13, 2010 (my birthday!). Instead, I'll complete my list on Jesus' birthday. I've decided to post this list with 10 items still outstanding to give me flexibility and reduce the perfection urges.

I first saw the "101 things in 1001 days" on Zandria's blog, and I've wanted to start my own ever since. Between the stress of school and teaching, I didn't get around to this for a long time. And, obviously, it's been a long time in coming. But now it's up, and I can start working on it. If you have suggestions for the other 10 things, feel free to let me know; I intend for them to reflect "local flavor" wherever I move, but I'm totally open to other possibilities.

Start date: Saturday, March 29, 2008
End date: Saturday, December 25, 2010 (okay, more like 1366 days, but who is counting?)

Fitness (9)
1. Run a 5k race (Dexter-Ann Arbor 5k on 1 June 2008 at 35:05)
2. Beat my time on a 5k
3. Visit gym five times a week for a month March/April 2009
4. Lift weights three times a week for 3 months
5. Do the “daily 10 minute exercise routine” for two weeks
6. Buy a bike (29 May 2008)
7. Join a dance class for at least a month January 2010
8. Join a yoga class for at least a month (June 2008)
9. Do at least 10 standard pushups

Travel (5)
10. Leave the country twice Canada and
11. Begin plans for visiting Antarctica
12. Go camping (October 4-5 2008)
13. Revisit the Netherlands (once the Rijksmuseum reopens)
14. Visit 5 of my unvisited lower 48 states 4/5 completed: Kentucky, New York, West Virginia, Indiana

Michigan Local (4)
15. Visit the Detroit Zoo (28 May 2008)
16. Visit the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) (16 May 2008)
17. Visit three museums in Ann Arbor (sort of: August 2008)
18. Visit three new cities in Michigan 3/3 completed: Ypsilanti, Hartland, and Brighton

Arts & Culture (5)
19. Attend three concerts/dance shows (3/3 completed: #1, #2, #3)
20. Attend a play (June 2008)
21. See an author read from his/her work 1/09
22. Print and frame at least one of my own photographs (June 2008)
23. Send art to three different friends 2/3 completed: heart, Dutch photo

Learning (5)
24. Read a novel or novella in Spanish
25. Take an art class fabric dying with plant dyes
26. Take a class or read a book about ASL
27. Memorize 5 new poems #1: This be the Verse
28. Learn how to identify at least 5 constellations

Technology (5)
29. Get my itunes to 13 gigs of music (currently a bit over 15.5) 25 April 2009
30. Organize photo files on laptop
31. Organize “my documents” folder in order to easily find all documents January 2010
32. Get gmail inbox under 50 messages: July 2008
33. Do 5 video posts on my blog 5/5 completed: #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5

Food (8)
34. Eat vegetarian only for two weeks
35. Eat only food cooked by people I know for one month
36. Join a CSA OR go to the farmer’s market once a week for a month (July 2008)
37. Make my own cookbook of my favorite recipes
38. Take a cooking class
39. Grow something edible and make a meal with it June 2009 (and many more now)
40. Have a culturally-themed dinner party
41. Have a picnic lunch

Benefit myself and others (8)
42. Rejoin the Nature Conservancy
43. Do a “Donors Choose” challenge here
44. Donate (or attempt to donate) blood three times #1, #2, #3
45. Send a “just because” care package to a friend to my friend April in January 2009
46. While living by myself (or if I have amenable roommates), switch to purchasing renewable power for at least three months (finished in Aug 2008)
47. One month of compacting
48. Read five books that have been sitting on my shelf unread (and then get rid of them!)
49. Implement three household changes to be more eco-friendly #1, #2

Financial and future (6)
50. Write down all my spending for one month (October 2008)
51. Develop a budget and stick to it for two months
52. Read a book about investments
53. Start a Roth IRA (or other investment fund) September 2009
54. Pay off my car/be debt free (in July 2008, three years after taking out the loan)
55. Read a book about life path and/or career goal prioritizing

General goals (16)
56. Write 5 satisfaction letters to companies/organizations I appreciate or admire
57. Live by myself for at least three months
58. Watch a sunrise on several occasions in fall 2009
59. Scrapbook New Zealand trip
60. Scrapbook semester abroad
61. Get a dog or cat summer kitty and Lucy
62. Teach someone how to kayak (June 2008)
63. Sleep under the stars
64. Bowl over 100 January 2010
65. Buy something from etsy
66. Find a geocache (September 2008)
67. Do something to pamper myself physically (facial/manicure/pedicure)
68. Learn how to polish leather shoes (I'll post about this eventually, but I did learn so that I could dress up to go to the symphony)
69. Update my address book 11/08
70. Throw a theme party Halloween 2009
71. Get a job (jobs! 5/21/08)

Staying in touch (5)
72. send out Christmas cards one year to at least 15 people 12/08
73. send out Valentines one year to at least 15 people 2/09
74. write 4 real letters to friends #1
75. Make three mix CDs and mail each one to at least three friends (#1 and #2 completed on 29 May 2008, #3 in February 2009)
76. Visit a friend (that I haven’t visited in that state) who lives in a different state than I do visited friends in KY and TN

Blog (9)
77. post an entry about how I afford to travel 29 Sept 2008
78. post an entry (complete with pictures) of a trip I took pre-digital cameras
79. Write “how to do a video post on a mac” post (done!)
80. Write “how to do an audio post on a mac” post
81. write on my blog every day for a month (April 2008)
82. write 4 posts reviewing peer-reviewed biological literature #1: Coffee
83. Do a month long “daily photo” challenge
84. Do a “every year” photo retrospective for my entire life
85. Do a month of simple abundance daily reflection and writing, and post at least one reflection per week

Stretching myself (6)
86. go to a speed dating event
87. go on a date with someone I met in real life (not on the internet) (June 2008)
88. Send something to Post Secret
89. go to three movies by myself 3/3: Wall-E and Coraline 3D, and Harry Potter 6
90. eat a sit-down, order from a waiter dinner by myself (done several times in May 2008)
91. buy a bikini and wear it in public

TBA (10)
added on October 18, 2008
92. Go cross country skiing see! and more proof! 12/08
93. Get business cards (or moo cards)
94. Visit the Minneapolis zoo August 2009
95. Visit dinkytown June 2009
96. Visit the Mall of America (2 November 2008 for "Nick and Norah's Ultimate Playlist" and general wandering with a friend)
97. Go ice skating and it was fun!
98. visit a Minnesota tourist attraction The Ball O'Twine in Darwin in June 2009
99. buy some new underthings for myself 11/08
100. post some macrophotography photos photos!
101. learn three songs on guitar (okay, baritone ukulele -- close enough!) #1, #2 and #3

Friday!

Despite the fact that my weekend plans consist of grading and studying, I am super excited it's Friday. I think it's one of those socially conditioned things: TGIF and all. It snowed last night, so there's a fresh layer on the ground. I'm not sure if anyone has shoveled yet, so that means it is hiking boot time.

I start frisbee league this Sunday. This year, I'm playing on both Sunday and Thursday. I think it'll keep my workouts fresh without overexerting myself. I really love playing a recreational league sport, as it has helped me meet new people in town, taught me a new skill, and given me confidence that I am not a complete klutz. Especially when I was a teenager, I was not really star athlete material (okay, I'm still not star material in the athletic world). One time, my dad decided to show my brothers and I a thing or two about tennis. That was probably the klutziest, most disastrous game of tennis ever played. We spent more time retrieving balls that went over the fence than we did on actually playing. And, when we were on the court, I don't think we ever got more than a few volleys strung together. In retrospect, maybe tennis is a bit too much coordination for me.

I'm off to get some work done (I do have school on Friday). Hope everyone is enjoying a fabulous Friday!

Bits and pieces of my life

I walk to school/work every day. It's 0.7 miles, so it's enough to get me some mild exercise but not enough to be onerous. On my walk, I always think of fabulous blog topics, but these ideas somehow dissipates before I manage to sit down at my laptop and share them with all of you. My walk is actually really nice. I live right on the river, so the walk is uphill to school. I go through a residential area, past two churches, and through the shopping and restaurant area right on the edge of campus. Quite pretty. Maybe I'll take my camera to school one of these days.

Life is going well here. I'm graduating in less than a month! I don't yet have a job for the summer, but I'm working on some leads. I'd really love to work at Leslie Science and Nature Center; they have an awesome summer camp series for K-12 kids. They're reviewing their needs and doing interviews over the next two weeks, so I hope to hear back from them soon. I'm also looking at some local non-profits, like the Huron River Watershed Council. The key, for me, is staying here through mid-August. I've got a lease until August 20th, and I'm not keen on the idea of paying double rent if I move somewhere else. Plus, summer is so lovely in Ann Arbor, and I'd like to experience that one more time.

I've also been looking for jobs for the fall, but I think it's a bit too early to apply. I've never actually had a job that was full-time and not just a short, contract position. So I'm applying for stuff mostly to practice applying (federal jobs are kind of a pain).

I am trying to cook more, but it's hard to cook a lot when I'm at school late a few nights a week. I have been making my lunch every day, so that's exciting for me. I recently rediscovered the joy of ham and cheese sandwiches. I've been making a ham, pepper jack, and spicy mustard sandwich for lunch every day this week. Any suggestions on combos I should try for next week? Maybe I'll have to reach out into the veggie world for something . . . maybe wilted spinach and roast beef?

In other news, I'm making some light travel plans. Hoping to visit Pittsburgh, Chicago, and the Upper Peninsula sometime in the next two months. Once I figure out what job I have (and what the schedule is), I'll figure out when I can go home for a visit during the summer.

That's about it. Nothing earth-shaking. Maybe I need to take a notebook with me to record my ideas on those walks.

High Expectations

I struggle with keeping reasonable, reachable goals without expecting too much from myself. I’d really like to be the perfect homemaker, student, teacher, and athlete all at once. Sometimes, the balance works out alright; no one role is too demanding on my time, so I am able to keep up with everything for a few moments. And then one role or another takes center stage, and my attempt to keep it all balanced ultimately brings everything crashing down on me.

I’ve thought about this a lot over the past week. It’s hard not to feel like there’s some divine providence or that my body is talking to me when I suddenly have major pain after a few weeks of pushing myself hard. The week before my ER trip, I was working overtime as teacher and as athlete; I had doubled my gym time for the previous week (I’m training for a 5k race, but it’s not until June. I just wanted to be ready early), and I also had a lot of student papers to grade on top of my normal teaching duties. At times, I think my body may have been telling me to slow down and ease up. Regardless of whether or not my body truly was signaling me, I have eased up. I had a relaxing weekend watching movies/TV, cleaning up around my apartment, and running some much-needed errands. I’m almost done with those student papers (and much later than I had intended, but I thankfully have really understanding students). And I’ve revised my gym expectations. I’ll be heading to the gym in a minute for my first workout since last Tuesday, but I’ll be listening to my body and not trying to push myself hard in every single workout.

But, sometimes, when I try to let myself relax, I find that I’m unable to do so. I’ll think “well, yeah, I’m pushing myself hard . . . but why shouldn’t I be?” I wonder if my wish to relax is because I push hard or because I’m being lazy. I suspect that it’s a little of column a and a little of column b. And perhaps it’s okay to admit it and be lazy every once in awhile as long as I make sure that I am honoring myself by my moments of laziness rather than using it as an excuse to hide from life.

The daily reflection book I read (Simply Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach) had a wonderful piece yesterday. The title is “always be a first-rate version of yourself,” but it is not an exhortation to push harder. Instead, it’s a reminder to cut yourself a little slack. You can be you in a wonderful manner, but you cannot be Cindy Crawford, Martha Stewart, and Alexandra Stoddard all at once. Instead, be the best person you can be. She closes with this, as will I:

“Did you know that Amish quilters will deliberately add a mismatched patch to each quilt to remind themselves that only the Spirit can create perfectly? We need to remember that. We should only strive to be first-rate versions of ourselves. And our best is always good enough.”

Feeling grateful

In the past 24 hours, I spent 16 hours in the University of Michigan Medical Center Emergency Room. Last night, I developed horrible abdominal pain that came on quickly and left me crying. Pretty crappy, honestly. I'm doing worlds better now although I still have a little bit of minor pain.

This brings me to the first instance of feeling grateful. I'm supremely grateful that I have a thoughtful roommate that drove me to the ER despite the fact that she was studying for a test.

I'm also grateful that I have wonderful insurance. As far as I can tell, I'll eventually need to pay a $50 copay (unless I was considered admitted last night. I'm a little unclear on that right now). Otherwise, I am covered. We truly do have really amazing insurance for being grad students.

The doctors, nurses, and techs that examined me were all calm and thorough, despite the fact that I was there all through the middle of the night and the morning.

I also had wonderful people that called my mom for me and arranged substitute teaching for me today in case I needed surgery (which, thankfully, I didn't need, so I ended up teaching my own class anyway).

I still don't know what was wrong with me. I had a tender abdomen and lots of pain, but the tests came back negative for gall bladder and appendix problems. When they let me out this morning, they said "well, we're glad you feel better. Let us know if the pain comes back."

In any case, I'm resting at home now after leaving the ER and going to teach. I'm looking forward to getting a good night's sleep soon so that I can wake up tomorrow and work on finishing all the stuff I was supposed to get done today.

Time V: the wrap up

aka I'll start blogging about other stuff soon :-)

It certainly has taken me longer to write this series than I first intended. That’s really due to the nature of time; you only have so much, and if you don’t set it out specifically for a purpose, time tends to slide on past. For the first, second, and fourth posts, I wrote them up right at the beginning. I figured I’d be fine for writing the third and fifth posts in my free time before they had to be posted. But I never specifically carved out a time (other than the vague “sometime Thursday night”), so I never made the time.

We can accomplish a lot of things over time. I once had a professor relate a story about a student of his. His student had always wanted to play piano, but she felt that she was too old to start at 21. The prof said, “Think of it this way. If you start now, you’ll have been playing piano for 5 years by the time you’re 26. Five years of piano is pretty good, isn’t it?” She went out, made the time, and started playing piano. The key part is finding time to start something. Once I’ve got the ball rolling, I typically finish my task as long as I don’t get interrupted. Studying, working out, grading, cleaning up the apartment, and applying for jobs all seem to go much easier once I clear that initial burden of “finding time.”

As far as using our time, we do have to be careful. We’ve got a lot of time in life, but it’s too easy to make every second an agonizing decision of what you should be doing then. I often say “well, I’d like to dance . . . and play Frisbee . . . and be a scientist . . . and teach . . . and make beautiful scrapbooks . . . and maybe open a business . . . and be a mom . . . and and and.” What’s difficult to realize is that you can be all those things. You just can’t be all those things at once. I’ve got this terrific book, Simple Abundance, that is a daily reflection and meditation book for the modern woman. In the book, the author talks a lot about time, how we use it, and where it goes. My favorite article of hers is the one in which she makes my previous point; you can be all things, but you need to space those things out over your life. Perhaps now is my time to be a student. In a little over a month, I will be done, and then it will (hopefully) be my time to teach for the summer (I applied to work at a summer day camp for K-12). After that, I can have time to be a scientist, or open a business, or be a mom. In between, I sometimes make time to play Frisbee or go dancing, but it doesn’t have to be a constant and all-consuming passion.

I also love to think of the email story that went around several years ago. A speaker stands in front of his audience. On the table are 4 canisters. One has big rocks, one has pebbles, one is filled with water, and one is empty. He tells the audience that he will put all three canisters of rocks and water into the one empty canister, and people are skeptical. But by putting in the big rocks (“the priorities”) first, he has room for the pebbles (“the little things”) and then the water (“the extras”) in the gaps. But, again, it’s all about making time for big stuff and then putting in what you can without overflowing. And it is also important to remember that the big rocks don’t have to be the same big rocks all the time. You can change out big rocks as you change and grow as a person. You just have to consider the big rocks first.

The more I’ve come to recognize these truths, the happier I am. It does always reminds me of Star Wars; Yoda and ghost Obi-Wan talk about the young Skywalker and how is head is too much in the future. He doesn’t spend enough time in the present considering where he is and what is going on in that moment. But Luke learns, and I hope I am learning too. It’s important to be intentional and present with our time. Create the time for the things that are valuable to you in this moment, and recognize that the time for other important things will come too. You can’t fit every big rock into your life all at once, but you can always focus on one big rock now and save the other big rock for later.

Time IV: Little Things

People often complain about not having enough time to get everything done. Certainly, I've seen this through years of living with various roommates. In my mind, it's not always about not having enough time; getting things done is more about how you schedule your time. I like to get things done in big chunks, so I find that I will put off doing something because I don't have an hour or more to allot to the task. However, by splitting up small tasks, or by realizing the true time value something takes, I've found that I can often get a lot more done. My favorite thing is to split cleaning tasks up into 5 minutes or less allotments. Then, I do this little allotments during the commercials for a show I'd already planned to watch. By the end of a one hour show, I can get the entire kitchen or living room cleaned up.

Below, I've compiled a list of 25 things you can do in 5 minutes or less. A lot of them are cleaning oriented, but there are also other small tasks that can easily fill up a 5 minute gap when you might otherwise be saying "okay, I'm ready to leave the house early, but I don't really need to leave quite yet." And these items are definitely better than checking your email every 10 minutes because you're bored. I've intentionally tried to include items that can make a difference in either your surroundings, your attitude, or both.

25 things you can do in 5 minutes or less:
1. vacuum the floor
2. wipe down the bathroom mirrors
3. load the dishwasher
4. unload the dish drainer
5. a set of crunches or pushups
6. take a series of photographs of something lovely
7. take a walk around the block
8. water your plants
9. dust one room
10. frame and hang a photograph
11. write a postcard to a friend
12. write a haiku
13. pick a new recipe to cook this week
14. take a moment to breathe
15. write a list of positive things that have happened in the last day/week/month
16. pick up all the dirty laundry in your room
17. take out the trash
18. plant a seed
19. make a donation to charity
20. do a little fix-it task, like re-nailing a falling apart drawer
21. change a lightbulb (especially to a compact fluorescent)
22. put reusable bags in your for the next trip to the grocery store (even if they’re just reusing the paper or plastic bags you got last time)
23. a set of bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, or other light weight exercises
24. make your bed
25. wipe down the top of your stove, refrigerator, or some other appliance that doesn’t get a lot of love

Time III: Carpe Diem

(apologies for the late post in what is becoming a series. In what I think may actually be a case of irony, I ran out of time in the past day and a half due to the pressing concerns of schoolwork.)

In "Dead Poets Society," Robin Williams' character urges the boys to "CARPE DIEM!" An oft-used Latin phrase, it is heralded as a rallying cry to plunge in and soak up life. In arts and culture, movies are not the only place that invokes carpe diem, but they are likely the most transparent place.

There's an entire class of art that my art history teacher referred to as "carpe diem" paintings. I've been trying to find a photo for everyone, but one has not yet materialized. Still, I can see them clearly in my mind: a half-empty glass of wine, a lemon partially peeled. Perhaps a skull or some partially eaten portions of food. Invariably, a glass or carafe or wine jug is on its side, as if the meal participants fled in such a hurry that their movement blew over the finished portions of their celebration. Some paintings contain a candle that has just gone out (complete with curling plume of smoke) or an unfinished piece of writing. This is the carpe diem painting, and you can find at least one in any major art museum that covers historical Dutch art. It reminds us to embrace life while it's there, as life is much more fleeting than we all sometimes realize on a day to day basis.

Carpe diem themes are echoed in poetry as well, which is probably why the phrase was invoked strongly in "Dead Poets Society." My favorite poem, To His Coy Mistress, is one such poem. "Had we but world enough, and time," the author writes, I would spend epochs and centuries admiring each and every part of your body. But we don't have that much time, he argues, so perhaps we should enjoy the time we have (in particular, he highlights sexual enjoyment in his poem). My favorite part is the last few lines: "Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run." It reminds me of the Red Queen Hypothesis of evolutionary biology (you have to keep running just to stay in one place, said the Queen). [side note: for Darwin Day this year, I dressed up as the Red Queen Hypothesis. It was fabulous. Pictures someday, maybe, when I get them. I didn't take any.]

Despite the cliche of it, I too invoke carpe diem in my own life. I like to take opportunities whenever they become available, and I often save for the vague "future." (The saved money comes in handy when someone calls up and says "hey, so, want to go on a trip to Korea?") I also routinely do things that scare me just for the sheer newness of it all. It's not that I'm not scared; I just want to make sure I'm embracing what life offers. So even though time slips through our fingers, it's important to make the most of it we can. Finally, we should also realize that it's virtually impossible to write about time without utilizing worn cliches.

Time II: Time for working out

Fitness seems to be the eternal bane of my existence, and it consumes quite a bit of my life (to such an extent, honestly, that I’m sometimes surprised when I meet people who don’t work out at all). I go to the gym more days than not in the week, but I’m still not a daily gym-goer. Somehow, I either run out of time or steam on several days, and the thought of dragging myself to the gym for an hour+ workout just doesn’t sound like fun. However, I have to continually remind myself that I can do something, even if I don’t get that run in at the gym.

Zandria wrote an excellent post the other day about finding time to work out. A lot of the people she quoted talked about priorities; if you make time for the gym, you will have the time. In many senses, I agree with this. But, some days, other things just get in the way. Students have to meet to talk about their grade in the class, or a really fun social event pops up. Sometimes, I schedule out the time in my planner, and then I realize that I forgot my ipod or my gym clothes or the seminar speaker that I really want to hear.

So, some days, instead of worrying about the long workout, it’s important to remember that every bit of exercise counts in the “calorie war.” If you don’t get to go for a run, you might not be working on your cardiovascular fitness, but you are increasing the number of calories out for the day. And with weight loss, calories out > calories in is an equation to remember.

There’s a few techniques I like for getting in the short workouts. Priority number one is keeping a clean floor spot (honestly, this stymied me all last week. I finally got my room all straightened up on Saturday). If you don’t have a place where you can do little exercises, you’re not going to get them done. Priority number two is having the right whatever – clothing, gym mat, shoes, equipment, etc. For example, I don’t work out without a sports bra, so I own several so that “oh, it’s in the wash,” or “oh, I left it in my locker at the gym” doesn’t become an issue. Priority number three is making a list of little exercises you can do at home. When you don’t know how you want to workout, working out becomes much more of a chore. For me, pilates, jump roping, and calisthenics top the list. For others who are lucky enough to own home weights, perhaps they do little spurts of weights every day.

I particularly like Workout Mommy’s 10 minute workout plans. She’s got one to prevent blogger’s butt, and I occasionally use a different one that is fairly similar but doesn’t have the squat kicks.

I also really like the concept of Tabata intervals. The idea is that you go 20 seconds all out then 10 seconds rest for 8 intervals (4 minutes total). Including a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down (my numbers, not the numbers they use in the link), it’s a 15 minute workout that you really will feel. They’re better suited to the in-fit who want to reduce the time they spend working out, but the concept is good to modify when gaining fitness. I use Tabata intervals to do killer series of crunches that I feel much stronger than going 60 straight.

Of course, I should practice what I preach. I am not always the best person for finding time to work out. But it is good to remember that working out does not have to be the huge chunks of time we sometimes envision.

Time I

I always forget about daylight savings stuff. Always.

I woke up this morning at 9.30, and I thought it was strange that I slept all the way until my alarm went off. Most mornings, I wake up at 8, so I typically wake up at 8 on the weekends even though I set my alarm for later. I should note that my cell phone is my alarm clock, so they did the time switch for me.

I still didn't realize it was daylight savings until I was catching up on one of my topic blogs, and they had a strange post about how they RIAA was going to steal an hour of sleep from anyone who had ever illegally downloaded music. Uh, what? Oh, right! Daylight savings time.

I guess now I have one less hour to grade student essays today. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, since I will probably end up grading student essays all week long anyway.