tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25877212973444226962024-02-08T08:32:28.180-05:00The 89 ProjectThe Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-33255507551040674442010-11-12T14:35:00.003-05:002010-11-12T14:37:05.113-05:00#39. keep dress shoes properly polishedNot perfect, but at the start of this I'd never polished shoes in my life. I'm still not sure how often I'm "supposed" to do it, but some is better than none, right?<br /><br />I used to think of polished shoes as one of those goofy things that I didn't care about, but I guess I'm getting to an age where I appreciate far more than even I think I should. I guess this is what else happens as you enter your thirties "in earnest."The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-38452182435323813902010-11-12T14:31:00.001-05:002010-11-12T14:33:05.098-05:00#69. [personal]It's worth noting that this item was to "investigate" something, rather than "do" something. But that's all that's going up here.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-36705388309509769752010-11-12T13:57:00.002-05:002010-11-12T14:01:58.391-05:00#21. research and donate to worthy causeThis is simultaneously harder and easier than I thought it would be. A one-time donation was easy. Someone I knew was part of a really worthy project and - bam - there's your worthy cause. But I find it really difficult to find something I believe in enough to set up a recurring donation. I find a lot of idealogically unsound things in most organizations and I think one of my defining characteristics (even if it's not one that I particularly like, objectively) is the unwillingness to associate with people with whom I disagree.<br /><br />When I step back on things it often looks like I'm throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but I see donating to idealogically flawed groups some sort of approval and even encouragement to perpetuate that. Maybe I'm taking myself and my fifty dollar donation too seriously. That's probably it.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-22274738093872669262010-11-12T13:38:00.003-05:002010-11-12T13:39:24.577-05:00#65. "encourage" the girl to get citizenshipThis is happening. Like, really happening. When I set this goal I had miscalculated the amount of time required for the process so it can't be finished yet, but she's well on her way now, and by next summer (provided the paperwork doesn't get delayed) we should be celebrating. And then we will always have an inalienable right to be together. Permanently. Awesome.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-57980584142530366732010-11-12T13:34:00.000-05:002010-11-12T13:36:20.786-05:00#79. organize files on laptopGiven that the laptop was crashing pretty spectacularly and regularly (Flash seems to be particularly toxic for it), it needed doing. It also reminded me that not every item can always be categorized, unless you're willing to have as many folders as files. That's almost philosophical. But it's not.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-13059971197318605952010-11-01T14:05:00.002-04:002010-11-01T14:09:54.051-04:00#63. fire a gunDone and done and done. Fired three different guns, actually, almost a year ago now. A .22, a 9 mm and a rifle of some sort.<br /><br />The experience was far less dramatic than I thought it would be. The .22 was a joke to handle. It felt like an air gun. The 9 mm had a short barrel and I couldn't hit anything with it. The rifle took some getting used to, but I was hitting targets 40 yards away pretty quickly.<br /><br />In fact, the biggest takeaway from all of it was that its disturbingly easy to use a firearm (yes, in controlled circumstances). I'm also not at all disturbed to say that I enjoyed the experience, even though I won't go out of my way to do it again.<br /><br />I don't know if it counts, but I shot a potato gun on the same trip as the other guns. It was interesting, too.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-10857379957255930322010-11-01T13:58:00.004-04:002010-11-01T14:02:41.944-04:00#22. avoid going into debt for any purchase under $5kThat was easy. I'm very fortunate that I don't have any debt of my own, or even shared debt elsewhere. It probably won't help my credit rating as a whole, but things are a bit easier on my mind this way.<br /><br />I guess this point was my way of saying to myself, "Don't get poor over the next few years." Well, I've done that much. This doesn't make me a hero or particularly smart or savvy. It makes me lucky, that I don't have to scrounge and scrape for the basic necessities in life (which is what the $5k limit was meant to imply). I am lucky and have been lucky and hope that that continues.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-16195996731621341372009-09-09T15:36:00.002-04:002009-09-09T15:41:54.855-04:00#35. go to doctorDon't know how this got put aside until now. Yes, I went to a doctor and, as expected, it was uneventful. It happened about 4 or 5 months ago, so what few details there were are gone. It was mostly about getting family history and things like that. I believe that I even got to keep my pants on(!)<br /><br />Joking aside, I'm relatively young. I am old enough that I'm beginning to appreciate my health, both currently and up until now. And prevention is the best treatment. Or something. I'm sure the medical types and insurance companies have some cutesy way to say it.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-25466497982118388602009-06-22T11:30:00.002-04:002009-06-22T11:42:28.426-04:00#62. upload (w/ descriptions) photos from EuropePretty much done. Only took...four years? It's amazing how long ago that <span style="font-style: italic;">doesn't</span> seem. I try not to talk about it too much because it makes me sound like a pompus ass, but living in Europe for a year has left a mark on me. It seems much more vivid and familiar than things that have happened since then. I can sort of understand why people make a point of doing some traveling before embarking on "real life", but only to a point.<br /><br />It's vivid, but it wasn't life changing. I'm not a different person, and I don't believe in "finding" oneself. I didn't have my mind opened up to possibilities or cultural landmarks, unless you count Eurovision. Part of this, I think, is the fact that I did this after grad school, in my mid-20s and not fresh out of high school or even undergrad. I was reasonably well informed about the world and felt comfortable in my own skin at the time.<br /><br />That said, I try to encourage anyone with a passing interest in other places to travel. I'll be honest about it, though. It's more for me to live vicariously through them rather than out of some altruistic attempt on my part to have their doors of perception blown open by traveling.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-46249475702353856362009-06-22T11:02:00.002-04:002009-06-22T11:12:55.583-04:00#84. buy new mp3 playerOk, let's mix it up a bit and go tech. When I put this item on the to-do list, I had a 512k(!) mp3 player. It was a pretty crummy thing, but I don't listen to it for a audial experience. I was killing time or walking to the store or something, so it did just fine. It played music, and I listened to music.<br /><br />But I put a new mp3 player on the ol' Christmas list and I got one. A Zune. Two weeks later, of course, Microsoft finally ceded defeat and discontinued the thing. It's supposedly great for everything, and maybe it is. But I don't want to look at my pictures on a 1.5"x 1.5" screen. Or watch videos. Or do any of that stuff. I don't download music these days so this whole "synching" thing is also wasted on me. I'm not a mac fanboy so I wasn't angling for an iWhatever, but an mp3 player would've been good. Dump your music on it and good to go.<br /><br />So I use it and it's not bad. Tons of features that I don't want or need, but it <span style="font-style:italic;">does </span>play music while I walk to the store. And it <span style="font-style:italic;">does</span> hold all of my music so I should not be complaining, ultimately.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-55386207671526349482009-06-22T10:41:00.003-04:002009-06-22T10:47:52.541-04:00#26. meet with financial plannerThe last few entries I've been able to cross off have all been financial ones, and this is another one. It's all part of the idea that I really am an adult at this point and need to be doing responsible things with my future in mind.<br /><br />I don't know if we're getting into this at the best time or the worst time. That is, has the economy bottomed out or is this just the eye of the storm? We'll need to wait another year at least to see if we were smart or foolish.<br /><br />Even if the markets tank further, I guess it's smarter to have a long term plan rather than having all of your worldly assets stuffed in a proverbial mattress.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-44955623411606647342009-06-22T10:30:00.002-04:002009-06-22T10:35:16.194-04:00#20. contribute to RRSPDid I ever. I've had friends who started contributing to their RRSP back when they were still teenagers, and it always made me a bit anxious as to what direction my financial life was taking. Given that I was hovering at the poverty line for a long time meant that I didn't have much of a contribution to make, even if I did have the money laying about.<br /><br />Well, times change and I've been able to designate cash for the "to be put away" pile, and I've maxed out all of the carry-forward contribution space I've accumulated my whole life. Again, it's relieving more than feeling positive, but getting one's financial self set up is more important than how it makes you feel.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-69647452851550264022009-02-03T07:40:00.003-05:002009-02-03T07:54:37.864-05:00#25. keep track of household spending for consecutive months"Consecutive months"? Talk about setting the bar low. This is one of those things that grown-ups just do. Needless to say, the fact that I don't do this eats away at me, even though I know I'm not in debt and not going in that direction.<br /><br />Like most things in my life, including The 89 Project, 90% of getting me to do something is the set up. I've tried doing a budget a couple of times before but got distracted and frustrated and walked away.<br /><br />Obviously, all I had to do was download a free spreadsheet template and I was good to go. Bam. Easy. I did all of 2008 and the first month of 2009 in less than 72 hours. It's absurd how relieving this all is to me. I have a set of symptoms, and I can worry about diagnosis and prognosis now. Some of those are other elements of The 89 Project, even. (Worry is not even the word, due to our frugal style and decent jobs). <br /><br />In any case, the financial aspect of my life should finally be in order in the next few months. The picture, for now, is positive.<br /><br />Knock on wood.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-26585775543269340992009-02-03T07:29:00.001-05:002009-02-03T07:30:23.260-05:00#77. get photos printed and framedSo, uh, yeah. I guess I double dipped on this one. It only took me a few months to figure it out. Does this nullify the whole exercise?The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-23809522486723672202008-11-21T16:54:00.002-05:002008-11-21T16:58:55.788-05:00#51. print & hang photos for houseWhen I made this list up, I guess I should've been more specific. We have printed several dozens of our travel photos at this point, and hung several of them up, too. No, not all of the photos are printed, and not all are hanging up, but seeing as how we have limited wall space and storage room for photos, so what?<br /><br />I think what I really wanted was to get serious about the photos we took almost three years ago now; we've done that well, I think. Most are loaded up on a flickr account, some of the best were printed, framed and hung. So there.<br /><br />That said, I'm really proud of our pictures. They look great and I think are a good cross section of where we've been and what we've done: thus, who we are. We gave pictures away at our wedding, and it was no coincidence.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-58700074046633848372008-10-21T17:00:00.001-04:002008-10-21T17:01:46.188-04:00#73. say "hi" to people instead of noddingThis was was a bit of a letdown. Not much is different. Maybe I'm coming off differently to people now. Parentheses/question mark.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-15474379395688242982008-10-21T16:49:00.002-04:002008-10-21T16:55:15.059-04:00#85. go to Montreal (if only for a weekend)I went to Montreal twice, but only once for fun. The now-wife was there and it was absolutely great. It's weird going back to a place you lived in. It wasn't quite like walking through the neighbourhood you grew up in; the city is still the same size and the sites are similar, but it was a strange mix of feeling at home and a guest at the same time.<br /><br />To heighten that weirdness I even went back to our old neighbourhood; even the grocery store we used to scrounge by on $40-$60/week at. We also went and checked out the new condos at the end of our old street and some of the new stores around.<br /><br />I would love to move back there. I would love to regain the feeling totally at home there. I would love to live in that city on more than $16k a year. There are so many things at your disposal. Alas, practicality has to rule the day.<br /><br />Of course, mastering French is somewhere on this list...The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-42436300655148932062008-10-21T16:43:00.003-04:002008-10-21T16:47:21.307-04:00#34. go to dentistThis one isn't easy to write. For a long time, I prided myself on perfect teeth. I suffered (5 years of orthodontics and permanent retainers) for them and I was proud of them. Smug, even.<br /><br />But then the crushing poverty of young adulthood meant that I didn't keep up with my dental hygiene as well as I should have. I can't remember the last time I'd gone to the dentist. Years. Several.<br /><br />I have a job with benefits now and so I went to capitalize on it. I've now been to the dentist <i>four</i> times. I had five cavities, much to my shame. I still won't tell my parents. There's something to chew on, Dr. Freud.<br /><br />But I'm glad I'm getting this done. I feel a great weight is being lifted and that I'm repairing the damage my neglect has done, or at least as best as could be approximated. Still, I can't help but feel shame for there being active decay in my head while I've been walking around.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-53505871554398225732008-10-21T16:36:00.004-04:002008-10-21T16:42:02.172-04:00#50. hang blinds in kitchenDone. As done as it's going to get, at least. The problem with renting, of course, is that you can't actually do much about your dwelling. So the fact that we don't have an actual window frame <i>per se</i> means that most hangings won't work. However, we do have <i>something</i> (at least partially) obscuring the view into our home, and so that's mission accomplished.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-82213107588608066642008-10-21T16:30:00.004-04:002008-10-21T16:41:35.040-04:00#72. increase Facebook friends by 20%Much easier than I thought. The wedding thing helped push me over the top, but the initial worry of contacting someone on Facebook is always unfounded. It's an almost meaningless exercise.<br /><br />I suppose this goes against my Web 1.0-style-carefully-constructed-ICQ-contact-list. It's fine, though. It's good to catch up with people, and Facebook lets you act more as a voyeur than actual participant in people's lives which is probably the attraction.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-55674626108118770102008-10-21T16:21:00.002-04:002008-10-21T16:27:28.794-04:00#58. get marriedI've been doing more on my list than I've been updating on, and I'll try to keep up with this here. But this one just happened on the weekend, and it was a great time.<br /><br />There was a long time in my life that I just didn't ever see myself getting married. Didn't see the point, didn't understand why people would throw so much time and money into something so trivial that could be done at city hall, if even that. But family considerations made me realize that, for us at least, this wasn't about us at all, but about our families.<br /><br />We're not from the same place and our families have never met. These days, our families rarely get to see us. This doesn't even begin to account for friends. So we agreed to basically throw a huge dinner party for loved ones. We invited lots of people and the vast majority actually showed up, which was really a powerful statement to us. Most came from far away and had to make serious investments of time and money to do so. <br /><br />So we felt loved, we brought people together, saw old friends, facilitated people making new friends, and had a great time. It was a lot of work, and I never want to do it again, but it was spectacular.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-76861465846251737722008-03-31T17:07:00.003-04:002008-03-31T17:18:34.927-04:00#75. grow hair for 6 weeksWhat an absolute travesty. I only made it to five weeks, but I wasn't going to go any further with this one.<br /><br />I started to noticeably bald when I was about 21 or so. That was premature, but I went with it for a while. I kept my hair short at that point anyhow and that masked it for some time. Eventually even that didn't do enough and I figured I might as well take it all the way down and shave it off.<br /><br />Two points of note, here. First, I never had good hair. I never knew how to do cool things with it. Or even uncool things, really. Second, I started shaving it when I moved to a new city where I didn't speak the common language and didn't want to find a new cheap place that also spoke English. That new city also meant I couldn't afford anything anyhow, other than a pair of clippers.<br /><br />So I shaved it off. I would've been a few months short of 23. It was great. For the first time in my life I had a semi-consistent "look". I did it with the expectation that by the time I was in my late 20s I would be old enough and bald enough to keep it short and just be a balding guy. No big deal, no shame in that.<br /><br />Now here I am in my late 20s and want to give the late 20s/early 30s comfortable-enough-with-himself to be obviously balding a shot. Well, I'm old enough but not bald enough. It was patchy. It was uneven. It felt unclean. I looked like I had mange.<br /><br />So I shaved it off (again). Maybe when I'm looking at 35.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-53159710031724128702008-03-28T15:22:00.002-04:002008-03-28T15:27:30.618-04:00#66. become organ donorHuh. That was easy. One quick download, print it out, trim it to size and that's all there is to it in my jurisdiction, apparently. I'm supposed to tell people about this, which I think I have, but I'll re-tell them, I suppose.<br /><br />Organ donation. Why not? Assuming they don't take them from you while you're still using them, what's the difference? One of my other items on the list is to make a will, and the hardest thing to do for that, if I have to spell it out, will be to outline what should be done with me.<br /><br />But that's another story. Organ donation is a big yes, and I think it should be the default option, and have people opt out of it rather than opt in. Or maybe donors could get a tax break or something. That's a bit macabre and could be interpreted as being paid for organs, but I don't see it like that. I think by doing this I'm merely being a good citizen, and human.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-31559537164782694192008-02-16T14:56:00.003-05:002008-02-16T15:19:20.371-05:00#27. get weight down to 170 & maintain for monthI've cheated a bit with this one. I originally started my list back in the summer of 2007, and that was one of my goals. By the end of fall 2007 I'd done it. From late October until the end of the year I was within 1% of 170.<br /><br />I remember when I started losing weight. It was late January 2007; I was probably 225-230. The change was involuntary on my part, but I wanted to keep with the team attitude, so I went with it. And I stuck with it, even when I didn't have to. In conjunction with my necessarily moving around more often, I started losing weight. Steadily and not too much at a time. I feel better now that I generally eat fresh and higher quality food. Fortunately, we can afford to eat this way these days, too.<br /><br />Since the holidays I've started some new bad habits and I've put a bit back on (I'm probably still within 2-3%), but that's another story. I know that there is a school of thought that will say that it's impossible for me to stay away from 225-230 over the long haul and I'm not too worried about it. As long as I still get to eat higher quality food and feel better for it, then that's ok.<br /><br />So I ate better, and had to move around more often and I lost weight. On the short term.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2587721297344422696.post-86146840970913548012008-02-16T14:54:00.001-05:002008-02-16T14:55:35.534-05:00First!I could do profound explanations for items found on this list, and why I'm doing something like this at all, but that's not the point of this project and blog.<br /><br />In fact, the counterintuitive truth is that the point of this project is to stop myself from being so inward looking, at least in the ways I've been doing so up until now.<br /><br />And as it says up top, my timing is coincidentally tidy, since my time will be up on my 31st birthday. To think that that's only 1001 days away should be, in and of itself, enough motivation to start thinking differently and shifting my focus elsewhere.<br /><br />From here on out, posts will be made upon completion of items.<br /><br />And so it begins: there are 101 posts left on this blog.The 89erhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14255927240708289424noreply@blogger.com0