100 Things I Will Do In 2010 – September Update
by A Man Reborn on Sep.02, 2010, under Journal, Motivation & Goals
I had a pretty intensely busy August with my big work project and I didn’t have too much free time, so I only got a couple of things done. I did make progress on a bunch of the others so it’s all good and I now that I have some more free time I’ll be making good use of it in September!
Finished since last update:
- 68 – Become a triathlete – done on August 8th at the Niagara tri
- 73 – Give a speech - did a best man speech at Anthony and Ashley’s wedding
2010 List – as of July 15th, 2010
- DONE - Create a new set of 1 year and 5 year goals - done in March after an eye-opening February
- Get a new tattoo - gonna do this soon!
- Get my advanced-green ranking in Muay Thai - working on it!
- Go skydiving
- DONE – Explore an abandoned building – explored Michigan Central Station and a ton of others in Detroit with Myla and Nix
- Climb the CN Tower in under 30 minutes - will do this at the United Way climb in October
- DONE - Snowboard at Whistler - went during the Olympics in Feb!
- DONE - Stomp a FS 180 off a kicker - did it at Beaver Valley in March
- Do a proper FS/BS boardslide - never got the hang of BS boardslides… sometime this month!
- DONE – Spend a weekend camping with my dog - going June 11-13 @ Rockwood
- Beat last years record of 30 snow days - tied currently at 30 days… gonna break it with a day at snow park in the summer
- Get down under 200 pounds - aiming for a 5 pounds a month pace which is somewhat conservative
- Take my Mom to the Art Gallery – sometime this month!
- Get rid of clutter from my room - have donated/given away/thrown away 7 large boxes and 9 garbage bags of clutter… feels awesome, more to go!
- DONE – Ride 50 km on my bike in one go - June 6, 2010 – signed up for the 2010 Ride for Heart 50km ride
- Build 5 Halloween props - got all my materials gathered and starting this month!
- Build a fake disemboweled torso out of latex/foam – got some ideas from a bud who does excellent fx work
- Take my Dad to a football game
- Learn to rollerblade - I think I’m going to replace this… not very psyched about it
- Make 95% of the food I eat from scratch - this is an easy one for me as I shy away from processed foods
- Get 5 new freelance clients - 3 down and 1 more potential being worked on
- Do a 48 hour weekend fast – will do this in the fall sometime
- Learn 5 magic tricks - got a wicked teacher for this! Thanks Anastasia!
- Go to the Science Centre
- Go to the ROM – going this Sunday!
- Deadlift 315 pounds - progress is underway
- Squat 225 pounds - progress is underway
- Read 25 books - 17 down
- DONE - Spend a weekend snowboarding with my little brothers - went for 3 different weekends
- DONE – Grow a herb garden
- DONE – Climb a tree
- Ride the entire single-track trail at Albion Hills - started biking again in March
- Ride the entire single-track trail at Glen Eden - started biking again in March
- DONE - Walk in the rain - a Squamish necessity!
- Become proficient at AJAX – starting to get the hang of it
- Do a 22 km run - Sunday October 17, 2010 – Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon
- Launch the zombiepedia website
- Go to the carnival – going this Saturday!
- DONE – Bake a cake
- DONE – Volunteer my time for a good cause – worked at the milton charity haunt
- DONE - Try being vegetarian again for 21 days - was much easier than I thought and I’ll be reducing the amount of meat in my regular diet
- Try being vegan for 21 days – tried doing a raw diet for a month… made it 2 weeks – not for me! will try this again in the fall
- DONE - Get a raise
- Revise and stick to a new budget - budget done and have been sticking to it
- Have a 100% TV-free month - I tried this in March… didn’t watch any TV at home… but still had a few hours at other people’s houses / bars… tough to avoid!
- Build a Facebook application - working on an idea for a small app this month
- Take a night class
- Paint a giant painting – sketching ideas now
- Go to the shooting range - after boarding at snow park!
- DONE – Learn 5 new effects in After Effects - learned 2 so far
- Teach the dog to not be scared of the nail clipper - making progress
- DONE – Make a new snowboarding video - editing is underway
- Create 10 website layouts - 5 down, working on 3 more
- Build my portfolio website
- Try indoor rock-climbing
- Learn to Salsa
- DONE – Donate blood
- DONE – Make a gift for someone by hand
- DONE – Visit a Renaissance fair- went to the pirate festival
- Snowboard in the summer - http://www.snowparkniagara.com/ – aww yeah!
- DONE - Be part of a zombie movie - I got to shoot with George A. Romero… one of my favourite directors and the king of Zombies!
- DONE – Start a new business venture – initial planning is well underway
- DONE - Start a conversation with 50 strangers - probably did close to double this # during Feb alone :D
- Learn to make a Paella
- DONE – Decorate a Munny! - got it in the mail and did it today!
- Go on a random and pointless roadtrip
- Write a children’s book - started to write
- DONE – Become a triathlete - changed to August 8, 2010 – Niagara Try-a-tri Triathlon – 375m swim / 10km bike / 2.5km run – started swim training
- Try wakeboarding
- Train with a champion – October 30th, seminar with Andy Souwer
- DONE - Zombie around with my ghouly friends! - done at the Romero shoot!
- DONE – Sculpt something out of clay
- DONE – Give a speech - got asked to be my buddy’s best man at his wedding!
- DONE - Re-pierce my labret - it didn’t close up as much as I thought
- Eat chicken wings in Buffalo - gonna go with MicHELLe!
- Spend an entire day at the beach
- Go on a brewery tour - gonna go with MicHELLe!
- DONE - Ride through the glades - rode the glades at Blue Mountain and then at Whistler and loved it!
- DONE - Surprise someone
- DONE – Work at a haunt – worked at the Milton haunted house in August
- Do 10 pull ups - currently training – at 2 consecutive right now, but will get much easier as the weight comes off
- Do 100 push ups - currently training – at 25 consecutive right now
- DONE – Go to a big music festival - Went to Heavy MTL 2010 with Greg, Derek and Jenn!
- Learn Yoga
- DONE - Watch the clouds drift by - sat and watched the clouds drift through the mountains every chance I got out west
- DONE - Watch a sunrise - watched it come up behind the mountains in Squamish
- Go kayaking – missed a good chance to do this, but will still for sure!
- DONE - Watch a sunset - watched it on the bus ride back from Whistler
- Hike part of the Bruce trail - going to do this on a weekend in October
- Do a handstand pushup
- Eat a tasting menu
- DONE - Eat 5 things I’ve never tried before - way over 5 now… should have set a bigger number, I love trying new foods
- DONE - Ride on a powder day - got to do this twice at Whistler… best 2 days of riding in my entire life
- Build a haunted gingerbread house - found a sweet blueprint
- DONE – Explore a cave - will do at Blue Mountain or at Sauble
- Make a Turducken!
- DONE – Finish 3 major projects at work - 4 down!
- DONE - Reformat my laptop - nice and clean
- DONE - Backup all my important files - bought a spindle of DVDs and finally did this.. have them on a hard drive too – took forever
- DONE – Eat at a White Castle – did this while on a trip to Detroit with Myla and Nix – it was gross!
21 days are almost up / work video followup
by A Man Reborn on Aug.31, 2010, under Journal
Twenty days ago I made a list of a few behaviour changes that I wanted to try and I’ve focused on those changes since then. It’s gone very well and the changes have become habits. I’m doing one of the changes with my friend Candy – the 21 day no complaint experiment. Now that 21 days are almost up, she asked how we would up the ante and keep it going forward. Truthfully, I’m not sure – so I’m going to do some reading and see if I can find any previous feedback from past experimenters to see where they have gone from here.
I’m also starting to think about the next set of habits I want to change. Like I’ve said before, 21 days isn’t very long, but it’s long enough to make your mind believe you’ve been doing something forever. It doesn’t even have to be an absolute belief – just enough that it would take more energy and effort on your part to go against the habit as opposed to going with it.
On Monday morning I talked to my boss – he did the presentation of the video I had worked on over the weekend to our main client. They absolutely loved it! It had the exact effect on them that we were trying to achieve. As a result, we are getting business from them that was previously slated to go to another company and we’ll be working on some training videos for them. More to learn for me and more creative work which I always welcome – and now that I have a better understanding of the process, the hours won’t be nearly as long.
Last night I met some friends for a Paul Verhoeven double bill: Robocop / Starship Troopers. Saw them both at the Bloor Cinema – we almost always sit in the balcony towards the back because it’s deserted and we enjoy heckling the film and having conversations with ridiculous tangents in the middle of it. Got my action flick fix and hung out with good people, including one I hadn’t seen in over a year – so good times!
Weekend: cleaning/workouts/luchadors
by A Man Reborn on Aug.29, 2010, under Journal, Workouts
Decided to start writing a bit more about other things than just working out. I like writing, so the more practice I get the better I’ll get at it.
Took it easy this weekend – just what I needed after the 5 weeks of craziness at work. Friday I vegged out for a few hours and finished off Final Fantasy XIII which I hadn’t played since I started the project. Pretty good ending although the whole tesseracts area of the last level really made no sense and was a bit dull. Got a txt from Tosha who I met at the fiendraiser a couple of weeks ago seeing if I wanted to check out a mexican wrestling show – sweet!
Saturday I took Ozzy for a bike ride and then headed over to Kombat for a weight workout. Did squats, military presses and bent over rows. Low reps, heavy weight. No messing around with a million machines – just the way I like it. I just got an iphone so I did some searching for fitness apps and got one called GymBuddy. I’m using it to track my sets and reps and to make sure that I progress properly. So far I like it and I’ll give it a proper review after I use it for a little while.
I’m bad at keeping up with cleaning when I get super busy at work, so 5 weeks resulted in my bedroom and office both looking pretty disastrous. After my workout I spent a good chunk of time getting them both cleaned up and it feels good to get it out of the way. It’s a lot easier to maintain it once it’s super clean. I even found all the old blood stains (fake :P) that had found their way to my door frames and out of the way areas in my bathroom while doing zombie makeup.
Left to meetup with Tosha and got stuck in CNE / TFC traffic on Lakeshore (note to self: avoid driving through this area until the CNE is over). Met up and Shanghai Cowgirl and had a tasty havarti/jalapeno/avocado grilled cheese and a pint of big wheel, which I’d tried at the conscious food festival a few weeks ago and really liked. After that we were off to Santo Sangre for some luchador action!
The show was awesome – so much fun! When we got there we saw a couple of couches right at ringside with no one sitting in them. I think everyone just assumed they were reserved and didn’t bother sitting in them – so we sat there, got the best ringside seats and no one said a word. Ended up sitting next to a couple of little kids who totally made the experience all the more amazing. Seeing how excited they got and how into the show they were made me smile and made me happy to be a big kid. I can’t live my life without play and fun and I do lots of things that I’m sure could be looked down on as childish, but whatever – it makes me happy and that’s all that matters. Anyway – few pics below.
After the show we got to meet all the wrestlers and get pictures / autographs. Got pics with the legendary El Santo del Hijo as well as with Trish Stratus and Lita who used to be in the WWE – bonus! Was going to meet up with some friends after the show but that got derailed so I popped over to another friends place for a bit before heading home.
Sunday I took the dog for a bike ride and then dropped him off after a few K before heading out on a longer ride myself. I got an app called runkeeper pro to track my running/biking – so far I’m liking it – it tracks via GPS and tracks the route and all the timing stats so I’ll be able to tell how I’m coming along. I’ve got a lot of riding to do to get ready for the Ride to Conquer Cancer next June.
Got back and headed over to the farmer’s market – picked up some summer squash, potatoes and peppers for dinner. Made the potatoes into hasselback potatoes and grilled the veg and had it with some chicken breast I had grilled earlier.
What else… found out that Kombat is doing a seminar at the end of October with Andy the Destroyer Souwer, one of my favourite K1 fighters. I’ve got it on my list to train with a champion, so I’m definitely signing up for this. I’m expecting it will be a pretty intense seminar, so I’ll be sure to step up my training quite a bit over the next 9 weeks to make sure I can get the best out of the seminar.
… and I guess I’m a glutton for sleepless punishment, because I somehow ended up with plans for every night this coming week. The good thing is that I’ll be out with friends and not working. I’ll need to be creative with my workout timings and making sure I get some sleep too!
It sucks that I missed fan expo – not because of the show itself, but because of the people there that I didn’t get to hang out with. I’ll have to make sure I make opportunities to see them all soon!
Finally some time to breathe – catch-up blog!
by A Man Reborn on Aug.27, 2010, under Journal
I’m finally done my big project at work! After over 5 weeks of ridiculous hours and stress I did the final render last night and put the project to bed.
I haven’t had much time to write because of the work project and because of Anthony and Ashley’s wedding last week. But now I’m in the clear! I left work in the morning to come home and catch up on some sleep and other things. By the time I got home I decided to skip the nap – did some laundry, dropped some stuff off at the dump (more clutter gone!) and did some reading / played some games. In general, I did nothing and I absolutely loved every second of it.
So now I’ve got some time and I’m doing some catch up writing here. I’ll start with the wedding. It was amazing! The weather was looking a little sketchy with some torrential downpours the night and morning of the wedding, but that cleared up just in time for the ceremony and the pictures. It was a nice, small wedding at Ashley’s grandparents beautiful cottage on Lake Joseph in Muskoka. Very low key and perfect for the two of them. My speech went good and I kept a hold of the rings – so no best man horror stories from me!
It was a cool experience to be Ant’s best man and I was honoured that he chose me. I had no idea how much was involved so onto the internet I went to find out what I was in for. Lucky for me, one of my favourite sites: artofmanliness.com had a pretty extensive section on it, covering all the duties, the bachelor party and the speech writing. Go internet!
Having known the two of them for as long as I have and having them as two of my closest friends made the wedding extra special for me. It was truly a great day and I’m glad I was able to be there and be involved. The wedding was awesome, the pictures will be great, the food was delicious and the party afterwards was a ton of fun. Good times!
Below are a few pics from the wedding weekend – some are mine and some were taken by Hasty.
As I mentioned before, I finally finished my big work project. It took over 5 weeks of crazy hours and over that time I developed an entirely new skill set that will come in handy in the future, if not just for making my own videos better. The theme of the video was the progression of technology at one of our clients over the past, present and future and I ended up putting together a 9 minute video that showed this through motion graphics and videos. I threw in a few screen shots below and if I can get cleared, I’ll post the full video in the future.
Other things – I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight. I haven’t had anything even close to resembling a full night’s sleep in over a week and the last couple of days I’ve had that weird body buzz that I know comes from being mentally and physically exhausted. I was going to nap, but decided to skip it so I could get some good sleep tonight.
This weekend is Fan Expo – a big scifi/horror/comic/gaming convention that runs annually at the Metro Convention Centre. Basically it’s geek-heaven. I’ve gone for the last 3 years but this year I think I’m going to pass it up. The lineup of guests this year isn’t that great and I wouldn’t be buying anything as I’m trying to de-clutter. The only thing I’ll miss really is the people – I know quite a few people that will be running booths / tables and it’d be nice to see them, but I know I’ll run into them in the future at other events. I just want to take it easy this weekend – maybe go for a nice long bike ride, get to the gym and take the dog to the lake or park.
Finally – my habit changes are still going strong. I’ve yet to complain about something without coming up with a solution and the increase in positive thinking has really manifested in a few ways that I’ll write about later. Despite the crazy work hours I’ve been doing my workouts too – even if it meant doing sets of push ups / squats / crunches in between renders at my desk.
I think I hear my bed calling. Sleep. Now.
Fighting work stress
by A Man Reborn on Aug.18, 2010, under Journal
I’ve been working on a new project at work over the last month. It’s mostly involving motion graphics and video editing – two skill sets that I’ve played with on my own time for fun projects, but had never had a chance to do professionally. So when this chance came up I jumped at it – because getting paid to do something I like is always a bonus and so is getting paid to learn some new stuff.
The project is really coming together now. There’s going to be at least a couple more super late nights, but the end is in sight. It’s been a month of 80+ hour work weeks and not enough sleep. I was really starting to feel it last night so I called it early and got a full night of sleep which helped a lot. I needed a release after work today so I put the gloves on and did ten rounds on the heavy bag. All of that stress and work anger channeled out through my fists and at the end I was soaked in sweat and feeling a lot better. With that out of the way, I got cleaned up and ran out for one of my favourite meals, a bowl of chirashi sushi. Now I feel all set to get back at it, which is good because I have at least 4 more hours to put in tonight.
On a related note – I was catching up on some reading at LifeRemix (check it out, lots of good reading) and came across an article about how exercise moderates anger. Check it out:
Phys Ed: Can Exercise Moderate Anger?
Before I go – random music recommendation – thanks to Kris for this one. I can’t get enough of this song!
5 Habit Changes – a week later
by A Man Reborn on Aug.17, 2010, under Journal
It’s been a week now since I decided to change some habits so I thought I’d take a sec and see how it’s been going for me.
1. Stop complaining without doing anything to remedy the situation
This has been going well. I don’t think I’m much of a complainer to begin with but I think the main benefit I’ve seen from this is the increase in awareness I have about my thoughts. I’ve had a lot of work-related stress this week but have kept surprisingly upbeat about it.
2. Cut back my meat consumption by 25%
This has been pretty easy so far. Planning a big tofu stir fry which should cover a couple of days.
3. Keep a food journal
I’ve been about 75% on this and will be 100% this week.
4. Follow a morning ritual
Got a good suggestion from John to move my alarm to the other side of the room. I’ve been liking this habit – gets me started on a positive note.
5. Intense exercise at least 4 times a week
Biggest difference maker so far I think. Went to Muay Thai, did weights a couple of times and did some biking. Right now my legs are really sore in that amazingly good way that only comes from heavy squats.
It’s going good. It’s amazing what a difference a week can make. I don’t know if it’s just the exercise or a combination of everything, but I’ve felt amazing all week and full of energy, despite working 80+ hours over the last week and hardly getting any sleep.
Also came across this quote – not sure what the origin is but it really struck a chord with me considering my experience over the last week of change.
Watch your thoughts: They become your words.
Watch your words: They become your actions.
Watch your actions: They become your habits.
Watch your habits: They become your character.
Watch your character: It becomes your destiny.
Love it!
Random Thoughts This Evening
by A Man Reborn on Aug.12, 2010, under Journal
I really need to figure out what causes me to lose motivation, because I feel bloody fantastic tonight after doing a heavy weight workout. Why the hell do I ever stop doing these things? It is a mystery.
I’m looking at some of the items on my 100 things list and realizing there’s no chance I’ll finish them this year. At the same time I’ve already started a list of things I want to do next year. So far I’ve really enjoyed having the list, but I don’t actively run my life by it – know what I mean? It’s just sort of there in the background reminding me of things I thought would be fun to do this year.
I’m currently on the fence and about to fall onto the side of signing up for the 2011 Ride to Conquer Cancer. It’s 200+ km over 2 days. I know I can get to that point by next year but I’m a little intimidated by the thought of raising $2500 minimum.
I’m looking forward to a busy weekend: Zombie Walk Fiendraiser, Conscious Food Festival, Zombie night @ Toronto After Dark and a BBQ. It’s going to be busy and I’m already swamped with work which I’ll be fitting in wherever I can. I will still fit in my weight workout on Saturday and a long bike ride on Sunday.
I love lentils. I made a big pot of spicy tofu dal earlier this week and have been loving it. I’ll have to restock this weekend and look up some new recipes for them.
Being happy and content doesn’t exclude self improvement and exploration.
I’m working on a special project at work – doing a full out video presentation for a client. I am really enjoying this type of work and all the creativity I get to pour into it.
That’s it, that’s all. <- also a beautifully shot snowboarding movie, look it up!
Back to Muay Thai / 5 habit changes over the next 3 weeks
by A Man Reborn on Aug.11, 2010, under Journal, Motivation & Goals
So, first off – I went to Muay Thai class for the first time in a long while. Today was nice and humid and the warm up nearly killed me (sprints!), but hey – this is my punishment for having neglected my cardio for so long. I will suck it up and deal, because I know it will get better shortly.
It’s kind of strange to see what knowledge / technique I retained from when I used to go often. Keeping my hands high at all times is no problem for me even when my shoulders burn with fiery pain. Getting tagged more than enough times because my hands were low will do that. But, it was good to come back and it felt great to do a really intense workout.
Moving on… I’ve always had issues with motivation. Sometimes it seems like my motivation comes and goes like the wind. I am going to spend some time trying to figure out exactly what triggers these motivation state changes for me so I can use them to my advantage instead of the other way around. What I do know is that when I am in a good state, there is little to nothing that can stop me. So I’m going to ride this wave and make some changes. Gonna pick up some new habits and reclaim some others that I’ve let slip. My immediate focus is to be super-strict on these for the rest of the month – I started yesterday, so that’s 21 days – in my own experience 3 solid weeks is enough time to make a lasting change.
So, here goes:
1. Stop complaining without doing anything to remedy the situation
This came from an article on Tim Ferriss’s blog. I’m a big fan of his book, The Four Hour Workweek and I’ve implemented some of his basic ideas with positive effects. I’m also working on an even bigger change, but that’s a whole other post for later. Anyway, the idea is to not describe a person or event negatively without indicating some steps to fix the problem that prompted the reaction in the first place. To remind me, I’ve got a blue rubber band on my left wrist. If I slip up, it goes to the other wrist. I’m big on the idea that thoughts become actions, so this makes sense to me.
2. Cut back my meat consumption by 25%
For a number of reasons I am going to cut back on the amount of meat I consume. I’m going to start by cutting it down by 25%. I’m not going to do any set plan ala Meatless Mondays – just going to make sure that at least 25% of my weekly meals don’t contain meat. Which leads right into my next change.
3. Keep a food journal
In the past my best results at getting in shape have been when I kept a detailed food journal. I’ve got an iPhone coming in the mail soon which will make this a cinch.
4. Follow a morning ritual
Another belief I’m big on is that your mental state controls your outcome. Starting the day off in a negative state can quickly spiral into a bad day overall. The morning ritual is designed to put me in a positive state of mind where I’m ready to take on the day properly.
- Wake up – don’t snooze, don’t toss – when the alarm goes I’ll pop out of bed like a bat out of hell and open my blackout curtains to get some sunshine in the room.
- Drink a big glass of water – morning = dehydration.
- Move and get the blood flowing – anything really, just 5-15 minutes of quick exercise.
- Listen to a motivating song.
- Read my goal list and feel and envision how I will feel when I achieve them.
- Think about things in my life I am grateful for.
- Clean myself up – groom, dress, etc. – self explanatory – but with a little more attention to detail.
- Cook breakfast and prepare my lunch.
5. Intense exercise at least 4 times a week
Another habit that I’ve fallen out of with a negative result on my body and my mind. Intense exercise does amazing things for me. I think clearer, feel better and just plain feel great. I’m writing this hours after a hard Muay Thai class today and I’m completely awake, full of energy and super focused. The next 3 weeks are also going to be ridiculously busy at work. One of my problems has been that I allow myself to make work an excuse to not workout. This is just bullshit – there’s always time and the net result is that I have more energy and am more focused so if I am super busy it’s to my benefit to fit in a workout.
21 days (20 now, as I started yesterday technically) to go. It might look like a lot, but each is a small change when broken down. I know myself and I know that right now I’m in a hyper-motivated state so it’s a good time to tackle these. When I make these into established habits then it will be easier to keep my momentum going when this state of motivation wears off – and it will.
Triathlon / workout plan for this week
by A Man Reborn on Aug.09, 2010, under Motivation & Goals, Workouts
I did a Try-a-Tri triathlon with some friends over the weekend. It went pretty well – I survived the swim, did well on the biking and got slaughtered on the run. It definitely showed me that I need to go back to a properly structured routine to get the results that I’ve got in the past and will get again. With that said, I’ve planned out my routine for the upcoming week
- Monday – rest / endless amount of errands / work to do
- Tuesday – Biking / Pull ups / Push ups
- Wednesday – Muay Thai
- Thursday – Weights
- Friday – Muay Thai
- Saturday – Weights
- Sunday – Biking
For weights I’ll be going back to the Starting Strength program – heavy weights, low reps and simple compound movements.
100 Things I Will Do In 2010 – August Update
by A Man Reborn on Aug.05, 2010, under Motivation & Goals
Another month and more stuff crossed off the list… doing the Triathlon in a few days and I’m nowhere close to ready for it. Workouts have been pretty shlack lately because I’ve chosen to use my time for other things, but now I’m choosing to re-balance that.
I’ve also been giving some thought to things I want to do next year – lots to tackle!
Finished since last update:
- 40 – Volunteer my time for a good cause – worked at the milton charity haunt
- 59 – Go to a renaissance fair – went to the Pirate Festival
- 80 – Work at a haunt – worked at the Milton haunted house in August
- 83 – Go to a big music festival – Went to Heavy MTL 2010 with Greg, Derek and Jenn
2010 List – as of July 15th, 2010
- DONE - Create a new set of 1 year and 5 year goals - done in March after an eye-opening February
- Get a new tattoo - my planned reward for when I get down to 200 pounds
- Get my advanced-green ranking in Muay Thai - working on it!
- Go skydiving – might go in August… gah… scheduling issues
- DONE – Explore an abandoned building – explored Michigan Central Station and a ton of others in Detroit with Myla and Nix
- Climb the CN Tower in under 30 minutes - will do this at the United Way climb in October
- DONE - Snowboard at Whistler - went during the Olympics in Feb!
- DONE - Stomp a FS 180 off a kicker - did it at Beaver Valley in March
- Do a proper FS/BS boardslide - never got the hang of BS boardslides… gonna try this summer at snow park though!
- DONE – Spend a weekend camping with my dog - going June 11-13 @ Rockwood
- Beat last years record of 30 snow days - tied currently at 30 days… gonna break it with a day at snow park in the summer
- Get down under 200 pounds - aiming for a 5 pounds a month pace which is somewhat conservative
- Take my Mom to the Art Gallery
- Get rid of clutter from my room - have donated/given away/thrown away 7 large boxes and 9 garbage bags of clutter… feels awesome, more to go!
- DONE – Ride 50 km on my bike in one go - June 6, 2010 – signed up for the 2010 Ride for Heart 50km ride
- Build 5 Halloween props - got all my materials gathered
- Build a fake disemboweled torso out of latex/foam – got some ideas from a bud who does excellent fx work
- Take my Dad to a football game
- Learn to rollerblade - I think I’m going to replace this… not very psyched about it
- Make 95% of the food I eat from scratch - this is an easy one for me as I shy away from processed foods
- Get 5 new freelance clients - 1 down and 2 more potentials being worked on
- Do a 48 hour weekend fast – will do this in the fall sometime
- Learn 5 magic tricks - got a wicked teacher for this! Thanks Anastasia!
- Go to the Science Centre
- Go to the ROM
- Deadlift 315 pounds - progress is underway
- Squat 225 pounds - progress is underway
- Read 25 books - 12 down
- DONE - Spend a weekend snowboarding with my little brothers - went for 3 different weekends
- DONE – Grow a herb garden
- DONE – Climb a tree
- Ride the entire single-track trail at Albion Hills - started biking again in March
- Ride the entire single-track trail at Glen Eden - started biking again in March
- DONE - Walk in the rain - a Squamish necessity!
- Become proficient at AJAX
- Do a 22 km run - Sunday October 17, 2010 – Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon
- Launch the zombiepedia website
- Go to the carnival
- DONE – Bake a cake
- DONE – Volunteer my time for a good cause – worked at the milton charity haunt
- DONE - Try being vegetarian again for 21 days - was much easier than I thought and I’ll be reducing the amount of meat in my regular diet
- Try being vegan for 21 days – tried doing a raw diet for a month… made it 2 weeks – not for me! will try this again in the fall
- DONE - Get a raise
- Revise and stick to a new budget - budget done and have been sticking to it
- Have a 100% TV-free month - I tried this in March… didn’t watch any TV at home… but still had a few hours at other people’s houses / bars… tough to avoid!
- Build a Facebook application - working on an idea for a small app this month
- Take a night class
- Paint a giant painting
- Go to the shooting range - sometime this summer
- DONE – Learn 5 new effects in After Effects - learned 2 so far
- Teach the dog to not be scared of the nail clipper - making progress
- DONE – Make a new snowboarding video - editing is underway
- Create 10 website layouts - 3 down, working on 2
- Build my portfolio website
- Try indoor rock-climbing
- Learn to Salsa
- DONE – Donate blood
- DONE – Make a gift for someone by hand
- DONE – Visit a Renaissance fair- went to the pirate festival
- Snowboard in the summer - http://www.snowparkniagara.com/ – aww yeah!
- DONE - Be part of a zombie movie - I got to shoot with George A. Romero… one of my favourite directors and the king of Zombies!
- DONE – Start a new business venture – initial planning is well underway
- DONE - Start a conversation with 50 strangers - probably did close to double this # during Feb alone :D
- Learn to make a Paella
- DONE – Decorate a Munny! - got it in the mail and did it today!
- Go on a random and pointless roadtrip
- Write a children’s book - started to write
- Become a triathlete - changed to August 8, 2010 – Niagara Try-a-tri Triathlon – 375m swim / 10km bike / 2.5km run – started swim training
- Try wakeboarding
- Train with a champion
- DONE - Zombie around with my ghouly friends! - done at the Romero shoot!
- DONE – Sculpt something out of clay
- Give a speech - got asked to be my buddy’s best man at his wedding!
- DONE - Re-pierce my labret - it didn’t close up as much as I thought
- Eat chicken wings in Buffalo - gonna go with MicHELLe!
- Spend an entire day at the beach - will do at Sauble in the summer
- Go on a brewery tour - gonna go with MicHELLe!
- DONE - Ride through the glades - rode the glades at Blue Mountain and then at Whistler and loved it!
- DONE - Surprise someone
- DONE – Work at a haunt – worked at the Milton haunted house in August
- Do 10 pull ups - currently training – at 2 consecutive right now, but will get much easier as the weight comes off
- Do 100 push ups - currently training – at 25 consecutive right now
- DONE – Go to a big music festival - Went to Heavy MTL 2010 with Greg, Derek and Jenn!
- Learn Yoga
- DONE - Watch the clouds drift by - sat and watched the clouds drift through the mountains every chance I got out west
- DONE - Watch a sunrise - watched it come up behind the mountains in Squamish
- Go kayaking – missed a good chance to do this, but will still for sure!
- DONE - Watch a sunset - watched it on the bus ride back from Whistler
- Hike part of the Bruce trail - will do at Sauble in the summer
- Do a handstand pushup
- Eat a tasting menu
- DONE - Eat 5 things I’ve never tried before - way over 5 now… should have set a bigger number, I love trying new foods
- DONE - Ride on a powder day - got to do this twice at Whistler… best 2 days of riding in my entire life
- Build a haunted gingerbread house - found a sweet blueprint
- DONE – Explore a cave - will do at Blue Mountain or at Sauble
- Make a Turducken!
- DONE – Finish 3 major projects at work - 4 down!
- DONE - Reformat my laptop - nice and clean
- DONE - Backup all my important files - bought a spindle of DVDs and finally did this.. have them on a hard drive too – took forever
- DONE – Eat at a White Castle – did this while on a trip to Detroit with Myla and Nix – it was gross!
