51 in 1001

Long ago in a far off land (Friday, October 16, 2009, when I was taking a mental break at work), I started a list of 101 things I wanted to do in 1001 days.  A couple of the bloggers I was following at the time had made lists like this, and I thought it seemed like a neat idea.  I've actually done a fair number of things on my list.  You can click on the 101 in 1001 tag in the right sidebar near the bottom to see some posts about them, but truthfully, I'd had a hard time coming up with 101 things that I wanted to accomplish without adding a lot of filler that didn't really matter to me.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I've been cutting the list down to 51 things.  The goal data is still the same: July 14, 2012, which roughly corresponds to the end of our time in Madison- if we aren't getting ready to move we will certainly be thinking about our next step in a concrete way- so I wanted to focus on things that were Madison-related.

So here's the new and improved 51 in 1001 list.

Do you have any big goals you want to accomplish in the next few years?  

Walking on water

Yup. I did it. I walked out on the lake. Actually, I did it a couple weeks ago with a coworker, but now I have photographic evidence.



I have to admit, even though it feels solid, it was still a bit disconcerting- especially because it was 45 degrees out. But hey, people were driving ATVs out there, so I figured it had to be fairly safe. However I fear(hope) that it will be thawed out before we have another photo op so I made D stop on the way home from the gym so we could take advantage of this one. Plus, it lets me check off another of my 101 in 1001 goals.

Now that the snow is melting, we are entering the nasty part of winter.



The part where you start to find things that have been buried under the snow for months.



Like old Halloween decorations. Ewwwwwww.

But winter won't be officially over until this bad boy has melted.



Yes, that is a mountain of snow. Yes, a dump truck can drive up the side of it. No, it won't be melted until June.

On a completely different note, I'm am pretty darn sore from lifting weights yesterday (detailed post about what I'm doing to come tomorrow). The heaviest thing I've curled in the past few months is a double scoop waffle cone, so I'm feeling the burn. But it's a good burn. And I know things can only improve from here.

The workout plan is 6mi with pick-ups and some yoga after work. I'm planning to run inside because I'm doing some speed stuff, and it's really foggy outside right now. I'm definitely going to get out again at least one day before the the race.

Alrighty. I'm channeling EE, and I'm ready to get pumped up for Monday! Have a good one, all.

Minneapolis

... was a very cool place. I hope we get back sometime soon.

We arrived in town on Friday afternoon and visited The Art Institute. It was a huge museum and they had a ton of paintings. Not as cool as the Art Institute in Chicago (my favorite art museum to date) but pretty cool nonetheless. The best part about our visit is that we found out about tours of a cool prairie-style house owned by the museum that gives holiday tours on weekends during the season.

So Saturday morning we got up early and toured the Purcell Cutts House. This was one of the only historic homes (maybe the only) I've ever wanted to live in (they had a modern bathroom). It was beautiful and open and sunny and they had a window by the front door that had Peek A Boo set in the glass.



When I get rich and famous I totally want one of those.

Here's a view from inside:


The outside:


And one of the art glass windows:


After touring the house, we had lunch at a Malaysian restaurant down the street from the art museum. They had a durian smoothie on the menu. Fortunately for all the smoothie machine was broken. Our waiter said it smells like a combination of baby diaper and gasoline. Ew.

Afterward we drove/walked around the UM campus and got milkshakes at Annie's Parlour- a local burger and milkshake place that was recommended to me by a friend from youth group who went there for undergrad.

After UM we went down to the riverfront to the Mill City Museum where we learned about the history of Minneapolis and the milling industry that was thriving there around the turn of the 20th century. Here's a view of the Mississippi River from the museum observation deck.



That evening we saw A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater. You wouldn't think it, but Minneapolis is actually a big theater city.

Sunday morning is always hard to plan because few things are open. We went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and walked around until I froze and it was time to go home. A couple cool pictures from there (Click to see the whole thing. I don't know why Blogger is chopping the side off):





And there were so many things we didn't get to see! If you're in the Midwest and want a good long weekend trip, I'd definitely recommend Minneapolis. This also helps me to check off one of my 101 in 1001 items.

Fun Friday

I don't know about fun so far, but it is Friday. I did an easy 4mi + a mad dash for the bus this morning. It's starting to get chilly out there- I broke out my tights and heavier gloves for the first time today- but the weather is kind of freakishly mild. We're lows in the 30s, highs in the 40s and 50s through the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I'm not complaining, but my understanding is that is HIGHLY unusual. We definitely had some serious snow before last Thanksgiving.

Dinner last night was my fourth dish for my "Cook 4 things from each Cooking Light before I get the next issue" goal.

We made stewed pork and squash:



The only difference is that we cooked it in the crock pot rather than on the stove. It turned out pretty good and we have enough left over for another meal. Plus, I didn't use the entire squash for this dish so I'm going to try roasting the rest for dinner on Saturday.

YAY Friday

I had a warmer but windier easy 4mi run this morning. My legs are a little dead from intervals + strength training yesterday so this short, easy workout "hit the spot".

In other news, I've been doing some cooking this week. In keeping with my goal to make 4 recipes from each of my Cooking Light issues, I made orange-soy glazed salmon and roasted Brussels sprouts with apples on Tuesday evening.



The fish was good, but I'm not sure I'll ever like Brussels sprouts. Nearly everything tastes good roasted with oil and honey, but not those guys. Palatable, but not good.

I also made spaghetti squash for the first time last night. No pictures, but it was so easy (20 min in the microwave- don't forget to poke holes), and we both liked it. Spaghetti squash FTW.

TIART

It's Take it and Run Thursday, and guess what?!? It's my week. Here's my question:

You’re on the selection Committee for the Nobel Prize for Running. Who would you nominate for the winner and why?

It could be an elite or a beginning runner....a courageous ordinary runner in your community who inspires you.... or the local running club leader, race director, or running store owner who gives tirelessly back to running. It could be the senior runner in your community who knows no age limitations.

You decide. Who do you think deserves to be recognized for enriching and advancing the experience of running for others?

Without a doubt, I'd nominate Usain Bolt. I watched him run the 200m world record race in Berlin (on TV of course- I missed the 100m but saw it on YouTube). So. incredibly. amazing. I don't have much more to say that that; although I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else writes.

As for running, I did 5.5 miles with 3x1 mile at 5k pace. The first mile was slow: 8:13, but the second two were dead on at 7:50. I'd love to run a sub-24 5k at the Berbee Derby this year. If I'm running that fast at 6am, maybe it's a possibility... I have to run 7:43 min/mile to run a 23:58. It would be tough, but it's a maybe.

New York, New York

I'm back, my e-mail's been cleared out, stuff is mostly put away, my pictures have been loaded, and I'm ready to give a New York re-cap.

We left Madison on Wednesday evening at about 6pm, drove through the night, and arrived in the city in the early afternoon. After unpacking, we were let loose on the city. My group consisted of me, another leader, and about 10 kids (this fluctuated a little bit day to day). The first evening we went down to Times Square and Rockefeller Center and then took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

Unfortunately none of my Statue of Liberty pictures turned out, so you'll have to settle for this one from above the ice skating rink in Rockefeller Plaza.



The next day we hit China Town for knock-off purses and had lunch in Little Italy. Then we went back uptown to Central Park and walked down 5th Ave to see FAO Schwartz and the Apple Store.

Here's a picture of our group in Central Park



And me with some toys.




That night most of the kiddos went to Phantom of the Opera. I hung out with another group that wasn't going, and we went back to Times Square.

Our last day we went to The Natural History Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and finally to Waverly Place (from a Disney Channel show?) which was right off the NYU campus. We spent the remainder of the time before we had to catch the bus watching NYU students parade by in their Halloween costumes. My favorite was Tinkerbell riding a mountain bike.

We got back on the bus at 9pm and drove through the night, arriving in Madison at 12:30pm. I was gross and exhausted, but had a great time. Will I do it again next year? Not sure. But I definitely want to go back with D. Very fun trip.

Oh yeah... and that running thing... I did 6 chilly miles this morning. The Weather Channel said it was 29. Brrrr.

YAY for a beautiful day

I took these picture Saturday, but it gives a good impression of what the weather and scenery are like today. It's sunny, and all the leaves have changed or have fallen off the trees. There's one tree in particular near our apartment that is bright yellow, and none of the leaves have fallen yet. It's really beautiful.

I ran an easy 5mi this morning. It was a bit chilly, but not too bad. My major complaint is that it's soooo dark right now. Oh well- only one more run until daylight savings time is over. Then I'll get two more weeks of light in the morning before the sun starts rising at 9am. Which it will do until next May.

Otherwise I need to pack for NYC tonight and we are (hopefully) going to carve our pumpkin. I have NO idea what to do so any ideas you can send my way would be much appreciated.

I also wanted to give an update on how I'm doing with my 101 in 1001 so far.

Last weekend I tackled one of my "around the house" tasks and made a big donation of winter clothes that were either really old or didn't fit to our church's clothing bin. No pictures or anything. It wasn't super exciting. I plan to do the same with summer clothes, but they only accept donations that are in season.

I also made one recipe from this month's Cooking Light (I'm trying to make 4 recipes from each issue before the next issue comes). It was pork loin with cherry pomegranate sauce. It was very tasty and made lots of leftovers. Here was my plate pre-salad.



Not much else going on otherwise. I hope to have a good pumpkin picture for you tomorrow.

101 in 1001

After reading about this idea at The Simple Dollar and on Special K, I decided to make a 101 in 1001 list myself.

I used SAS to do something useful for the first time ever and figured out what 1001 days from now comes out to be:

data time;
set data;
later=today()+1001;
format later weekdate29.;
run;

proc print data=time;
var later;
run;

Obs later
1 Friday, July 13, 2012

(little glimpse into my daily life there)

To which I said, "Eeeek- I can't be done on Friday the 13th!" Because I only finished the last this afternoon, I'm giving myself one extra day, and my real due date will be Saturday, July 14, 2012.

Also, if you count the items, there's only 97. I decided to give myself some leeway to add on additional items as I think of them. I'm also allowing myself to change an item if I'm really not into it or it really doesn't apply and there's something else that's a much better fit down the road. But I can't replace something like "host a large dinner" with "tie shoelaces". It has to be an "in-kind" swap.

The last thing to note is that some of these things may seem a little scary to some people who may or may not read this blog anymore. The important thing to keep in mind is that on July 14, 2012 I will be ALMOST 30.

Without further ado, my 101 in 1001.