I want to mention a few other random things that I have crossed off the list, although not all were recent.
Last summer I met with a financial advisor (#27) which turned out really, really well. For one thing, it forced me to get all my info together in one place. And it turns out I have more money than I thought I did (although the vast majority of it is scattered over several retirement funds)! I was pleased to find out that I'm not so far off track as I thought I might be, and the advisor was able to give me a lot of very good concrete advise (guess that's why he's called an advisor, ha-ha). We were also able to set some goals and decide where I need to focus my efforts over the next few years. He recommended that I come back every four or five years as sort of a check-up to make sure things were still moving in the right direction and to make any needed changes. I liked that idea and, most of all, was glad that I didn't feel pressured in any way whatsoever to sign up for any services or products. It turned out to be a great experience and one that made me feel like a real grown-up!
I did build a snowman this winter (#99). He was a pretty sad specimen, but I realized during the building process that I actually had no idea how to build a snowman! This is what happens when you grow up in a place that rarely gets more than two inches of snow on the ground at one time! Guess I should have Googled that before I got started, but in all fairness, when I put it on the list, I hadn't expected to be doing it by myself. Oh well.
I also left some notes in books for people to find (#2). I'm smiling even as I remember doing it, because it turned out to be pretty amusing! During my last Mondo Beyondo class, one of the projects we were supposed to do was cut out these little notes we had been given and leave them in random places for people to find. What a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone, right? Except that I kept forgetting to leave the notes, so I carried them around in my wallet for about three or four months! I had even colored on them to make them extra pretty and everything! But I finally thought about it one day when I was at Target, so I scattered them through lots of books... I think there were about twenty of those little notes! The funny part was because the book aisle is the same aisle the employees use to go to the storeroom, so there was a lot of foot traffic in addition to all the regular customers who were wandering through the area to look at magazines and get to the DVDs. I was trying to do it without being seen (because how do you explain leaving a bunch of notes in random books?), so it turned into this stealth thing where I would look around then open the chosen book and stuff the note in really fast before walking away a few steps and trying to look nonchalent. I'm sure there was some security guard watching a TV monitor somewhere in the store and wondering what in the world I was doing! But it was fun. And I had been in a bad mood that day, so this definitely managed to bring me out of my funk.
My cell phone has finally been set up so that I can use it at work (#70). I have a different phone from when I originally wrote this list, and having the android platform made this a cinch! I already get free access to an awesome drug library program that is otherwise quite expensive, so I downloaded that and got it working. Then I started searching for useful apps and found quite a few. I also downloaded some documents specific to my hospital, so if I'm out of my department, I can still pull up the information I need. They have our wi-fi working much much better here than it used to be, so I can also access a lot of other information if I need to. It's all very cool, and I feel very up to date now!
I saw not one, but two meteor showers last year (#20). The first was the Orionid shower in October. I got up in the wee hours of the morning and drove out in the country for this one, and let me tell you it was cold!! Plus I was on a random country road in the middle of the country surrounded by corn fields, so I admit that I was perhaps not quite in the right frame of mind for being patient and watching for random meteors. I was at least prepared for the fact that they weren't going to happen very quickly, and I did only see about five or six over the course of about 45 minutes. By then I was way freaked out by all the suspicious sounds I kept hearing and totally frozen besides, so I headed home. The second experience was much better. I happened to be visiting my family in Mississippi before Christmas when the Geminids were scheduled to appear. They were supposed to start showing up shortly after sunset, so we drove a little ways into the country after dinner, and settled in to watch. Wow! There were shooting stars all over the place!! Some of them were small and left short trails, but some were large and trailed across the whole sky. It was amazing! And they were coming almost one right after the other, so sometimes they were only a minute or so apart, and I think the longest we waited was maybe five minutes. We were out there for about an hour before we got too cold and headed home. I had been a little disappointed by the first experience, but after that second time, I can feel very confident about crossing this off the list!
I drove down to Louisville to see Million Dollar Quartet after I missed it here last season (#95). The music was great, although that was a pretty safe bet since I like that era of music anyway. It was sort of a fictionalized account of a true event when Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis were all at Sun Studio in Memphis on the same night. They played some great songs, but one of the best parts was when the showed an actual photo and played an actual recording from that session. The performers were amazing, and I was impressed that they all played their own instruments in addition to singing. It was a fun time, and the audience really got into it as well just added to the excitement. I would definitely see it again.
Wow, so I'm pretty close to being caught up on everything with the exception of a few posts that will have lots of pictures to go with them. I have misplaced one of the SD cards from my camera, and with all the computer issues I've had, I'm only just now getting pictures sorted out. So I'm hoping to get those last couple of things posted over the next few weeks. Can you believe that this whole project will be over in about four months???
Monday, May 27, 2013
Good Eats
I think I'm still a little behind in my monthly new recipe venture (#73), but I have still been doing some regular cooking over the past several months. My first attempt was barbecued pulled pork in the crockpot for a carry-in at work. I cooked the pork butt in the crock pot, then shredded the meat and put it back in with some barbecue sauce which I warmed up at work. I'm surprised I've never tried this before, because it was very easy and quite tasty. We had a pretty big turn-out at that particular lunch, and it was all gone before everyone even got to try it!
My next project came out of buying a jar of Onion Garlic jam from The Fresh Market. I saw it advertised in their monthly flyer, and it really caught my eye. (guess that means their advertising works!) At any rate, I made a sandwich layering sliced French bread, ham, spinach, gruyere cheese, and the jam. Then I used my grill press on the stove to warm it up and kind of smash it all together. This was also the first time I'd used the whole grill press... previously I had just used the grill plate to cook meat but had never used the press on top of it. The general concept was quite tasty, although the jam was too sweet for my taste. I think I'm going to look for some fig jam or some other thing along the same line, but I definitely want to make the sandwich again. It tasted (and looked!) like a gourmet sandwich you would order in a nice restaurant! As for the onion jam, I also tried it with some goat cheese on a baguette and still felt it was too sweet. I like the flavor though, so I'm thinking maybe a glaze for some sort of meat? A pork loin maybe?
And then finally, last weekend, I made buffalo chicken tenders. I recently subscribed to and started receiving boxes from Food for Love. For $11 per month, you get a box filled with lots of small packages of foods to try. They also donate a meal through food pantries and kitchens all over the country for every box they send out, so in addition to trying out some new products, you're also doing something good! Anyway, in the April box I received a small jar of buffalo dip. Around the same time I found a recipe in the newspaper for the buffalo chicken tenders, which had you mixing up a buffalo sauce which you used to drench chicken tenders and then coat them in panko crumbs and bake. I decided to use the buffalo dip in place making their buffalo sauce. It sounded good in theory, but it just didn't have enough flavor. I tasted the dip before putting it on the chicken, and it had a nice spice to it, but it must have evaporated in the oven, because there was none of it when we at the cooked chicken! The panko coating and baking the chicken was good, though, so I'll definitely use the recipe again but make it with their sauce instead.
Just to finish things off, I did go to my last new restaurant back in September (yes, yes, I know that was like eight months ago!) (#98). Naked Tchopstix is a local chain with a location over in Broad Ripple. Now I'm not always a huge sushi eater, but it turns out they have tons of other options, too, so I was eager to try it out. We ended up ordering several different rolls for the table in addition to some sides and tempura-fried shrimp and veggies. First, I realized I need to read the ingredients for the rolls very carefully. I don't like cucumber, but since it seemed to be in nearly every roll they make, I learned to watch for where it fell in the roll. Some had much more than others, so I obviously tended to prefer the ones with less. Cucumber is such a distinct flavor, and for me it can totally overwhelm many of the other flavors of an otherwish good roll. I love, love, loved their seaweed salad! It had a great flavor, very fresh seaweed, and it wasn't drowning in the sauce. I first discovered seaweed salad when I got it as a snack at a museum in San Francisco and have since found that not all are created equal. The tempura was good, but tasted like most others I have had. I am intrigued by some of the lunch and dinner combinations which come as bento boxes, and I was excited to find out they do carry-out, so I expect I'll be going back there again. I hope they stick around!
I'm still working on my "great meal" (#96), although I think I'm pretty close, so stay tuned!
My next project came out of buying a jar of Onion Garlic jam from The Fresh Market. I saw it advertised in their monthly flyer, and it really caught my eye. (guess that means their advertising works!) At any rate, I made a sandwich layering sliced French bread, ham, spinach, gruyere cheese, and the jam. Then I used my grill press on the stove to warm it up and kind of smash it all together. This was also the first time I'd used the whole grill press... previously I had just used the grill plate to cook meat but had never used the press on top of it. The general concept was quite tasty, although the jam was too sweet for my taste. I think I'm going to look for some fig jam or some other thing along the same line, but I definitely want to make the sandwich again. It tasted (and looked!) like a gourmet sandwich you would order in a nice restaurant! As for the onion jam, I also tried it with some goat cheese on a baguette and still felt it was too sweet. I like the flavor though, so I'm thinking maybe a glaze for some sort of meat? A pork loin maybe?
And then finally, last weekend, I made buffalo chicken tenders. I recently subscribed to and started receiving boxes from Food for Love. For $11 per month, you get a box filled with lots of small packages of foods to try. They also donate a meal through food pantries and kitchens all over the country for every box they send out, so in addition to trying out some new products, you're also doing something good! Anyway, in the April box I received a small jar of buffalo dip. Around the same time I found a recipe in the newspaper for the buffalo chicken tenders, which had you mixing up a buffalo sauce which you used to drench chicken tenders and then coat them in panko crumbs and bake. I decided to use the buffalo dip in place making their buffalo sauce. It sounded good in theory, but it just didn't have enough flavor. I tasted the dip before putting it on the chicken, and it had a nice spice to it, but it must have evaporated in the oven, because there was none of it when we at the cooked chicken! The panko coating and baking the chicken was good, though, so I'll definitely use the recipe again but make it with their sauce instead.
Just to finish things off, I did go to my last new restaurant back in September (yes, yes, I know that was like eight months ago!) (#98). Naked Tchopstix is a local chain with a location over in Broad Ripple. Now I'm not always a huge sushi eater, but it turns out they have tons of other options, too, so I was eager to try it out. We ended up ordering several different rolls for the table in addition to some sides and tempura-fried shrimp and veggies. First, I realized I need to read the ingredients for the rolls very carefully. I don't like cucumber, but since it seemed to be in nearly every roll they make, I learned to watch for where it fell in the roll. Some had much more than others, so I obviously tended to prefer the ones with less. Cucumber is such a distinct flavor, and for me it can totally overwhelm many of the other flavors of an otherwish good roll. I love, love, loved their seaweed salad! It had a great flavor, very fresh seaweed, and it wasn't drowning in the sauce. I first discovered seaweed salad when I got it as a snack at a museum in San Francisco and have since found that not all are created equal. The tempura was good, but tasted like most others I have had. I am intrigued by some of the lunch and dinner combinations which come as bento boxes, and I was excited to find out they do carry-out, so I expect I'll be going back there again. I hope they stick around!
I'm still working on my "great meal" (#96), although I think I'm pretty close, so stay tuned!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Changes
In looking over my list a while back, I realized that there were a few items that I either would not be able to do at all or that would be very difficult to do. So I decided to make a few changes.
First up, I have tried three times to donate blood (#1), and all three times they were unable to get a good stick meaning no donation. It finally came to a point that I would be unable to donate six times even if they could get a good stick, just because you have to wait a certain amount of time between donations. So after a talk with Mashelda, I have decided to mark this off. I made a good effort, but it just didn't happen. Now I do want to say that I had some blood drawn at work one day (they needed volunteer blood to calibrate some new lab machines, and I just happened to walk into the ICU at the wrong time!), and the phlebotomist had no trouble getting a good stick. She said she I had good veins, but that she used a vein that they don't commonly use. So I'm not going to give up on donating blood for good, but I am going to try to find some different locations where they might have a better group of nurses/phlebotomists.
Next is having the kids over to spend the night (#32). I'm not going to get into why that will never happen, but suffice it to say that it won't. So I decided to replace it with going to the roller derby! It's something I was considering putting on my next 101 list, so I used it as a replacement item here. And I ended up going back in February when a friend mentioned it completely out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go! Talk about fortuitous timing! We had a blast! I was really surprised at how many people attended (we ended up having to sit on the floor) and at the variety of people. There were all age groups, kids to grandparents, and everything from tattooed rockers to the couple in front of us in semi-dressy date-type clothes. They had a Star Wars theme going that night, so there were lots of people in costumes which made for some interesting people-watching. Even though we didn't fully understand the rules in the beginning, it was fun getting swept up by the cheering crowds, and it didn't hurt that the home team won! I definitely want to go back.
I was supposed to stop drinking pop for a month three times (#46), which I did actually accomplish once. I had no idea how difficult this would be. And I feel like a bit of a wuss for deciding to change this, but the idea was to help break an unhealthy habit. Unfortunately, every time I stop drinking pop, I start drinking a lot of other sugary drinks (lemonade, fruit juice, etc.) or start eating a bunch of candy! This was definitely not the goal. So, after starting and failing several times, I have decided to change this to limiting myself to two pops per week for a month. I will still need to do it two more months to make it to my original goal, but I think this will make it manageable without creating more problems than I was trying to solve.
I was also supposed to flossing my teeth every day for a total of three months (#57) (again, what was I thinking when I said I would do all these things so many times?!?). I actually did start on this several times, but I always stopped after no more than a week because it was just so painful. So I finally decided that this was ridiculous and I needed to stop. I wanted to change this to something else along the same lines, and after some thought I realized that I have gotten out of the habit of always brushing my teeth before I go to bed. I always brush in the morning, but not always (in fact lately it's pretty much never... I admit it) at night. So I have already started this one, but it will be to brush my teeth both morning and night every day for a month x3 (I am keeping the x3 since it was part of the original task.
Okay, the last task I am changing is riding a roller coaster (#85). I hadn't intentionally been putting this off, but I would have to travel to get to a roller coaster so it wasn't something I had gotten to yet. So this winter I started researching some of the theme parks that are within a decent driving distance, and I discovered that the weight restrictions for these roller coasters are much lower than I ever expected. I didn't look into it before I put it on my original list, but I had expected that it might mean a little weight loss or at least having a slightly limited choice in which coasters I could ride. Now I have lost some weight since I decided to change this item, but being able to ride any of the coasters anywhere near here would still require about a 50 pound weight loss, and I am just not in the right mental place to try to lose that much weight before the September deadline. I will probably put this on a future 101 list, but in the meantime I am replacing this task with having my hair professionally colored. It's another one that I had in mind to put on my next 101 list, so I just moved it up to this one. And I have now already completed this! It felt like a splurge, especially since I have been getting my hair done at an Aveda salon and having my hair colored also included an aromatherapy hand massage. The color was great, I have to admit, but really and truly, I don't think it looked that much better than when I do it myself, and it cost about $80 more! It was lovely to not have to worry about the color dripping all over the place and whether or not I had applied it evenly, but I've gotten pretty good at it over the years and I really don't think I can justify the extra expense. So it's back to the box for me!
I want to say that while I am still not caught up on my blog posts, I have kept all of the lists current. So you can check my progress on the 101 list, movies, and books by going to those pages. I will keep plowing ahead with the blog posts, and hopefully will get caught up on those before too long.
First up, I have tried three times to donate blood (#1), and all three times they were unable to get a good stick meaning no donation. It finally came to a point that I would be unable to donate six times even if they could get a good stick, just because you have to wait a certain amount of time between donations. So after a talk with Mashelda, I have decided to mark this off. I made a good effort, but it just didn't happen. Now I do want to say that I had some blood drawn at work one day (they needed volunteer blood to calibrate some new lab machines, and I just happened to walk into the ICU at the wrong time!), and the phlebotomist had no trouble getting a good stick. She said she I had good veins, but that she used a vein that they don't commonly use. So I'm not going to give up on donating blood for good, but I am going to try to find some different locations where they might have a better group of nurses/phlebotomists.
Next is having the kids over to spend the night (#32). I'm not going to get into why that will never happen, but suffice it to say that it won't. So I decided to replace it with going to the roller derby! It's something I was considering putting on my next 101 list, so I used it as a replacement item here. And I ended up going back in February when a friend mentioned it completely out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go! Talk about fortuitous timing! We had a blast! I was really surprised at how many people attended (we ended up having to sit on the floor) and at the variety of people. There were all age groups, kids to grandparents, and everything from tattooed rockers to the couple in front of us in semi-dressy date-type clothes. They had a Star Wars theme going that night, so there were lots of people in costumes which made for some interesting people-watching. Even though we didn't fully understand the rules in the beginning, it was fun getting swept up by the cheering crowds, and it didn't hurt that the home team won! I definitely want to go back.
I was supposed to stop drinking pop for a month three times (#46), which I did actually accomplish once. I had no idea how difficult this would be. And I feel like a bit of a wuss for deciding to change this, but the idea was to help break an unhealthy habit. Unfortunately, every time I stop drinking pop, I start drinking a lot of other sugary drinks (lemonade, fruit juice, etc.) or start eating a bunch of candy! This was definitely not the goal. So, after starting and failing several times, I have decided to change this to limiting myself to two pops per week for a month. I will still need to do it two more months to make it to my original goal, but I think this will make it manageable without creating more problems than I was trying to solve.
I was also supposed to flossing my teeth every day for a total of three months (#57) (again, what was I thinking when I said I would do all these things so many times?!?). I actually did start on this several times, but I always stopped after no more than a week because it was just so painful. So I finally decided that this was ridiculous and I needed to stop. I wanted to change this to something else along the same lines, and after some thought I realized that I have gotten out of the habit of always brushing my teeth before I go to bed. I always brush in the morning, but not always (in fact lately it's pretty much never... I admit it) at night. So I have already started this one, but it will be to brush my teeth both morning and night every day for a month x3 (I am keeping the x3 since it was part of the original task.
Okay, the last task I am changing is riding a roller coaster (#85). I hadn't intentionally been putting this off, but I would have to travel to get to a roller coaster so it wasn't something I had gotten to yet. So this winter I started researching some of the theme parks that are within a decent driving distance, and I discovered that the weight restrictions for these roller coasters are much lower than I ever expected. I didn't look into it before I put it on my original list, but I had expected that it might mean a little weight loss or at least having a slightly limited choice in which coasters I could ride. Now I have lost some weight since I decided to change this item, but being able to ride any of the coasters anywhere near here would still require about a 50 pound weight loss, and I am just not in the right mental place to try to lose that much weight before the September deadline. I will probably put this on a future 101 list, but in the meantime I am replacing this task with having my hair professionally colored. It's another one that I had in mind to put on my next 101 list, so I just moved it up to this one. And I have now already completed this! It felt like a splurge, especially since I have been getting my hair done at an Aveda salon and having my hair colored also included an aromatherapy hand massage. The color was great, I have to admit, but really and truly, I don't think it looked that much better than when I do it myself, and it cost about $80 more! It was lovely to not have to worry about the color dripping all over the place and whether or not I had applied it evenly, but I've gotten pretty good at it over the years and I really don't think I can justify the extra expense. So it's back to the box for me!
I want to say that while I am still not caught up on my blog posts, I have kept all of the lists current. So you can check my progress on the 101 list, movies, and books by going to those pages. I will keep plowing ahead with the blog posts, and hopefully will get caught up on those before too long.
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