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Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 - 5:27 p.m.

The List: 101 in 1001

Posted on 11/10. As entry 1001. It's like binary code or something.

Man, this was harder than I thought. Trying to come up with 101 things I�d like to do in my life between now and Thursday, August 9, 2007 -- that would be 1001 days from tomorrow -- proved a daunting task. For one, I realized that a lot of what I�d like to do for the next almost-three-years involves a lot of travel. I�d better become independently wealthy pretty soon.

As I was compiling this list, I wondered early on if I�d have to cut it down any. When I took my first count, I was at about 35. It took me a couple of days to finally sit down and finish off the last two dozen, which I did last night and this morning.

So I�ve come up with this list. I�ve tried to omit things for which tentative plans have already been made, such as attending Jazz Fest in New Orleans, or revisiting Hearst Castle, which will probably be incorporated into the Northern California honeymoon. Also at first, I didn�t number these, in case I wanted to reorder them, just to break up some themes I might�ve harped on a bit long. But I�m tired of massaging this list for now � though I do reserve the right to amend or flat out replace a few in the next 1001 days, if I decide that there�s something else I�d rather do than what I�ve listed so far.

I�m also not ashamed to admit that I drew inspiration from Jessica and Lauren, first by reading theirs, then by maybe agreeing with them that I�d like to do some of the same things. It�s not stealing; it�s a common goal. I also stumbled upon The Wish List and found that some of my wishes are already listed -- # 18 -- or that flipping through the pages inspired me, which may be the case in one or two of the final choices. Whatever, it�s my list and I can create it any way I want. As I said, I had to leave out some of the travel-related ones because, ultimately, I want to cross off each and every one of these by 8/9/07 and I had to be realistic.

I�ll soon create a permanent link to this posting and I will be sure to update it as time goes by.

So here goes: the 101 things I�d like to do in the next 1001 days.

1. Visit at least three of the nine states I�ve yet to visit: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Idaho, Alaska.

2. Tour Monticello.

3. Pay off my student loans.

4. Buy a home?

5. Visit Europe for the first time.

6. Gaze upon the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

7. Lose 15-20 pounds.

8. Complete a 5 or 10K road race.

9. Write the memoir idea I have, if only for myself.

10. Take a time-lapse photograph of the night sky (star trails).

11. Attend a Space Shuttle launch.

12. Go to a summer baseball game in Wrigley Field when the ivy�s grown in.

13. Enjoy the sunrise (preferably after an enjoyable night staying up with friends, perhaps partying).

14. Attend the UCLA-Notre Dame game in South Bend in 2006 with the California girls (as well as the games at UCLA and Penn State in 2007, but those fall outside the 1001 days).

15. Lower my cholesterol. (I have a number, but I�d rather keep that to myself.)

16. Watch every DVD -- movies, TV season sets, all of them -- we own at least once. It�s starting to get embarrassing.

17. Attend a high-profile annual sporting event such as the Kentucky Derby (or the Preakness or Belmont Stakes, I suppose), the Indy 500, the Rose Bowl, the U.S. (Tennis) Open or the World Series.

18. Hit the trifecta.

19. Check off three more major league ballparks from my list (eligible: Toronto, Tampa Bay (ugh), Miami, Minnesota, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, Anaheim, Oakland, Texas, Milwaukee, San Francisco, San Diego, Colorado and both Washington stadiums (one down, April 14, 2005), if the new one is open by August 5, 2007).

20. Take Casey out on the town in New York and spend the night in a nice hotel.

21. Start a photo blog. Done 2/24/05

22. Get a new job.

23. Continue our tradition -- two years of each now -- of hosting Super Bowl parties at our apartment and summer barbecue parties at my parents� house near the Shore.

24. See local Jersey Shore bar band Brian Kirk and the Jirks perform live again.

25. Read 33 unread books I currently own (November 2004 to July 2007 is 33 months), particularly the biographies of Joe DiMaggio and Theodore Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant�s memoirs. (1. Friday Night Lights finished Dec. 29, 2004. 2. Holidays On Ice finished Jan. 2, 2005. 3. The Best American Travel Writing 2003 finished Feb. 8, 2005. 4. Sweet Land Stories finished sometime in May 2005, but I forgot to mark it down. 5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince finished in personal-record time on July 18, 2005.)

26. Establish a workout routine and stick with it for one month (with the idea that reaching one month will put me in enough of a routine to continue it beyond that point). I've been going to the gym at our apartment complex four or five days a week since the end of January, and I'm still going. Should tackle No. 7 by summer.

27. Attend a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

28. Attend a performance of A Prairie Home Companion when it comes to New York.

29. Go on one of those really cheap time-share pitch trips for the really cheap vacation.

30. Throw or attend a Halloween party -- costumes required.

31. Go gambling in Atlantic City �

32. � then take the winnings to Vegas.

33. Throw or attend a Christmas party.

34. Attend a movie�s world premiere in New York.

35. Go see a movie I really want to see on its national opening (we used to do this all the time, but now I can�t remember the last one I saw the day it opened. Maybe Dogma.) Done 12/9/04, Ocean's Twelve

36. Make the perfect homemade Chipwich -- homemade cookies, homemade ice cream, though I�ll concede store bought chocolate chips.

37. Have a photo shown in an exhibition.

38. Have a story I pitched accepted and run in a magazine (even New Jersey Monthly will do) or The New York Times.

39. See a game at all of New Jersey�s eight minor-league ballparks in a span of eight days.

40. Change the oil in my car myself. Even if it�s with Dave�s help.

41. Have my car detailed, at least by Dave.

42. Have the scratches on the rear bumper eliminated. Done 1/12/05

43. Buy a new car.

44. Sell stuff on eBay. That would be something. Anything. I�ve bought, I�ve sold on Half.com, but I haven�t used eBay as I�ve envisioned myself doing. Done 2/21/05. I sold the extra zoom lens for my SLR camera and I even got two people to buy old plastic souvenir cups I had that featured NBA Olympic players (from McDonald's) and the Mets (one McDonald's, one from Shea Stadium).

45. Eat at Serendipity 3.

46. Watch the New York City Marathon live, preferably from Central Park.

47. Rent a convertible for a week, even if it�s just at home.

48. Get myself a real tan (I haven�t gotten out enough in recent summers).

49. Continue the tradition: attend baseball�s opening day, either at Shea Stadium or (the possibility next year) Washington.

50. Get the Stuckey Bowl neon �K� lighted.

51. Frame the rolled up prints that remain to be framed.

52. Explore the cemetery next to our building and research the history of some of the names.

53. Spot a celebrity in New York City. (Why does everyone see them but me?)

54. Take down Paul in the fantasy baseball and football leagues.

55. Cover a professional sporting event again.

56. Go camping.

57. Hike more of New Jersey�s 74 miles of the Appalachian Trail. (I�ve done about seven miles so far.)

58. Make headway on the Kerouac research I�ve dabbled with.

59. Visit every museum on Washington�s National Mall.

60. Establish some sort of recycling program at the office. (The paper we throw away is horrifying.)

61. Gaze through a telescope at the moon and other planets.

62. Take the train somewhere.

63. Fly first class. Again.

64. Others have mentioned it, but it�s a good idea: pay the yearly maximum into my IRA.

65. Spend time in the wilderness with Walker.

66. Set up a train set around the Christmas tree.

67. Finish -- correctly -- The New York Times crossword puzzle. Any day of the week.

68. Draw again.

69. Paint again.

70. Go sledding.

71. Toast Jack Kerouac on his birthday with a drink at the White Horse.

72. Meet Bruce Springsteen.

73. Spend a summer day at Coney Island.

74. Attend every game of the Big East men�s basketball tournament. Done 3/12/05. I did this back in March, but I never got around to posting this update. I did blog about it though.

75. Go skiing.

76. Re-learn to drive stick.

77. Go roller-blading.

78. Visit Alcatraz.

79. Find someone who will play a game of Monopoly with me.

80. Win a game of Trivial Pursuit solo.

81. Hike the trails of the Palisades in New Jersey.

82. Sleep past noon.

83. Drive 100 mph (safely).

84. Watch a basketball game from courtside seats.

85. Go a week without drinking a Coke.

86. Devise a great April Fool�s prank.

87. Go on a tour of ESPN�s studios in Connecticut.

88. Watch a game from the recliners at the ESPNZone.

89. Take the NBC Studios tour at Rockefeller Center.

90. Go a day without turning on the television. (Baby steps here.)

91. Go a day without turning on the computer.

92. Go a week without turning on the Xbox. Done in December 2004 when I went from a Wednesday to the following Wednesday without turning it on.

93. Take advantage of Ben & Jerry�s Free Cone Day every April 27th.

94. Last one full week without buying any meals. Completed 1/9/05; no meals bought since dinner on 1/1/05.

95. Visit Ellis Island.

96. Go bodysurfing.

97. Send all my Christmas cards by December 10th.

98. Reread some American classics, such as The Catcher In The Rye.

99. Photograph Times Square at night.

100. Learn the official nicknames of all the states.

101. Start a second list on August 10, 2007.

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