San Fran was a success

I just returned from San Francisco after a 5-day business trip and I'm happy to say that the trip was successful. Other than a few raindrops to spoil the mood, it was good fun and quite productive. What a great city to visit. I've been so many times and I never tire of the vibrant ambiance. People watching, shopping and energy abound. It's almost electric.

Ah, my Day Zero list.. Finally, 101

I finished picking my items.. I finally finished. It's been difficult. I was segregating and of course, while most of them are travel.. I felt I had to do some that weren't all about me. I felt very selfish, so some had to be changed.. Here's the latest and greatest:

Adventure	Dive at least 10 times 0/10
Adventure	Ride a horse along the beach
Adventure	Ride a mechanical bull
Adventure	Ride in a hot air balloon
Adventure	Sing karaoke at a bar
Adventure	Swim with dolphins
Adventure	Parasail
Adventure	Learn to ride (drive) a motorcycle
Adventure	Catch a lobster in the ocean
Adventure	Watch a space shuttle launch - close to Kennedy Space
Creative	Create a photographic journal for 7 days 0/7
Creative	Find an inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor
Creative	Mail a letter or card at least once a month 0/30
Creative	Make a photo album for a loved one
Creative	Write a poem for someone that means something
Creative	Write a book-screenplay-story
Creative	Catalog and Research my stored wines
Creative	Start painting figurines again
Creative	Start and Finish a Scrapbook
Creative	Sell Things on Ebay for travel cash
Creative	Bake Cookies and put them in pretty containers to give to friends
Education	Read a non-fiction book written by someone I disagree with
Education	Learn the full use of Photoshop
Education	Learn how to use my Dad's Camera Equipment
Education	Learn to Design a website
Education	Learn to Play Piano (again)
Education	Learn to Ballroom Dance
Education	Learn to Canoe/Kayak properly
Education	Take a Cooking Course
Education	Take a Wine Tasting Course
Education	Renew my First Responder Certification
Entertainment	Host a board game night
Entertainment	Host a Girls' Night In.. Mani-Pedi-Wine-Stories
Entertainment	Host a Wine & Cheese event with actual variety of items
Entertainment	Host Dinner & Movie night for friends
Entertainment	Read Every Harry Potter book
Entertainment	Read the original versions of fairy tales
Entertainment	See a Rodeo or Bullfight
Entertainment	Watch 10 movie "classics" I haven't seen before
Entertainment	See a Cirque De Soleil Show
Entertainment	Hit a bucket of balls on a Driving Range
Entertainment	Organize & throw a surprise party for someone
Food	Try to be a Vegetarian for 3 months 0/3
Food	Make Bread from scratch
Food	Make a Cake from Scratch
Food	Help Nelson overcome 2 New foods
For Myself	Save $50 weekly for extras
For Myself	Live within my means
For Myself	Eliminate non-fitting clothing from my wardrobe
For Myself	Lose 75 pounds
For Myself	Feel comfortable in a bathing suit
For Myself	Buy a Gun and become licensed for a Concealed Weapon
For Myself	Start an exercise regiment
For Myself	Run a mile
For Myself	Train for a bike run
For Myself	Take Vitamins
For Myself	Stay Healthy for 60 days 0/60
For Myself	Treat myself to a Spa Day
For Myself	Have a mother/daughter day just because
For Myself	Take a Spinning Class
For Myself	Have studio photographs taken
Giving Back	Adopt an animal
Giving Back	Donate Money to 5 charities 0/5
Giving Back	Send a care package to a soldier
Giving Back	Donate $2 for every goal not completed and $1 for completed ones
Giving Back	Plant a tree
House	Paint the living room
House	Fix the Floors
House	Change the Water Heater
House	Buy a Wine Refrigerator
House	Deep Clean all closets and get rid of stuff
Inspiration	Influence a person to make a day zero/bucket list
Inspiration	Read the Bible from cover to cover
Travel AK	See the Northern Lights
Travel CA	Go to Disneyland
Travel DC	Go to Washington DC (again)
Travel DC	Go to World War II Memorial
Travel DC	Go to Lincoln Memorial
Travel DC	See the National Archives
Travel Dive	Go on a Dive Vacation
Travel ENG	Go to England (again)
Travel ENG	See a Shakespeare play in a London Theatre
Travel FRA	Go to France
Travel FRA	Go to Normandy Beach
Travel FRA	Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
Travel FRA	Go to Notre Dame
Travel FRA	Go to the Louvre
Travel FRA	Go to Euro Disney
Travel General	Fly first class anywhere
Travel General	Build a snowman
Travel General	Go to 5 different museums
Travel General	Treat my Mom to a vacation
Travel General	Use last minute deals to take a weekend/short vacation
Travel General	Go to 20 US Capitals 0/20
Travel General	Go on a Cruise
Travel ITAL	Go to Italy
Travel ITAL	Go on a Gondola ride in Venice
Travel ITAL	Go to St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, Rome
Travel ITAL	Go to the Colisseum, Rome
Travel NY	Go to the top of the Empire State Building

Not really sure how often I'll check things off, but I plan to start right away. We booked a trip to Washington DC where I plan to take care of a few, then, in March, taking Mom on a vacation. Check! I inspired Alex to start a dayzero list, so that is another one, check.

Excited now.. ready to start affecting change..

Later

Day Zero project list

I decided to start a Day Zero list. It's a project where you identify 101 goals to complete in 1001 days (2.75 years). You can learn more at www.dayzeroproject.com

I have identified 65 goals with 36 more to go. I'm trying to post them here instead of on the actual site because I rather blog about keeping them (or deleting them).. so I will post them as soon as I figure out how to colorize them.. I'm going to try on this post, but it may just come out as one big blank.. we'll see..

Adventure Dive at least 4-6 times this year

Adventure Ride a horse along the beach

Adventure Ride a mechanical bull

Adventure Ride in a hot air balloon

Adventure Sing karaoke at a bar

Creative Create a photographic journal for one week

Creative Find an inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor

Creative Mail a letter or card at least once a month

Creative Make a photo album for a loved one

Creative Write a poem for someone that means something

Creative Write a book-screenplay-story

Creative Catalog and Research my stored wines

Creative Start painting figurines again

Education Read a non-fiction book written by someone I disagree with

Education Learn the full use of Photoshop

Education Learn how to use my Dad's Camera Equipment

Education Learn to Design a website

Education Learn to Play Piano (again)

Education Learn to Ballroom Dance

Education Learn to Canoe/Kayak properly

Entertainment Host a board game night

Entertainment Host a Girls' Night In.. Mani-Pedi-Wine-Stories

Entertainment Host a Wine & Cheese event with actual variety of items

Entertainment Host Dinner & Movie night for friends

Entertainment Read Every Harry Potter book

Entertainment Read the original versions of fairy tales

Entertainment See a Rodeo or Bullfight

Entertainment Watch 10 movie "classics" I haven't seen before

Food Try to be a Vegetarian for 3 months

Food Make Bread from scratch

Food Help Nelson overcome 2 New foods this year

House Paint the living room

House Fix the Floors

House Change the Water Heater

House Buy a Wine Refrigerator

Inspiration Influence a person to make a day zero list

Self Help Save $25-50 weekly for extras

Self Help Live within my means

Self Help Eliminate non-fitting clothing from my wardrobe

Self Help Sell Things on Ebay for travel cash

Self Help Lose 50 pounds this year

Self Help Feel comfortable in a bathing suit

Self Help Buy a Gun and become licensed for a Concealed Weapon

Self Help Adopt or Buy an animal

Self Help Start an exercise regiment

Self Help Run a mile

Self Help Train for a bike run

Self Help Take Vitamins

Self Help Stay Healthy for 3 months

Travel Fly first class anywhere

Travel Build a snowman

Travel Go to 5 different museums

Travel Go to the top of the Empire State Building

Travel Visit Washington DC

Travel See the Northern Lights

Travel Treat my Mom to a vacation

Travel Use last minute deals to take a weekend/short vacation

Travel Visit 20 US Capitals

Travel Visit England

Travel Visit Italy

Travel Go to St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, Rome

Travel Visit Normandy Beach/Paris, France

Travel Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

Travel Go to Notre Dame

I think I can accomplish quite a few this first year, but I'm not going to try holding myself to very high expectations.. just realistic ones, so failure is not an option.

To close the year

The Holidays were a success, I guess. We had as good a time as we could without dwelling on the fact that Dad is no longer with us. Christmas Eve & Christmas Day found Nelson and I sick as dogs and wishing for it to be all over so we could sleep. After 5-7 days of flu and fever, all was better. NYE found us celebrating with family and friends and being happy the year was over with.

2010 will be better.. I will write more, I will accomplish more and I will be sad less.
My promises..

Holiday Parties all around!

Hi. I know I haven't written but I have been busy busy busy. I'm still quite overwhelmed with stuff, but I've made up my mind to go back to writing.

Seems like our social calendar is full these days. We are blessed to have reconnected with so many old friends this year. Several reunions and smaller events made that possible and it's refreshing to rekindle friendships with people that you dont have to be pretentious around.

Pretending your life is one of the worst traits in existence. I love being myself.
More soon.
Me

Thanksgiving.. Ah, to give thanks...

How thankful am I this Thanksgiving? Not so much. My Dad passed away this year, work is not doing well and Christmas is shaping up to be equally as sad. I have had pockets of stuff go right, but all in all, I'm just coping with the every day.

Sure, I put on the brave face ad I can party with the best of people, but my heart has an empty hole in it and I'm not quite sure that I can recover from the loss of my Dad anytime soon. This Thanksgiving dinner will be difficult, but Christmas Eve dinner will be the true test. I'm just not sure how much I can hold back my emotions.

Nelson has been absolutely wonderful through my trials. That part of my life is going extremely well. I mean, sure, we have our things.. Life can't be perfect, right?

I will write more soon. Me

Old Sckool Reunion was a Success!

OK. I'm still on an emotional high from this past weekend. I saw over 100 of my old school friends which included Elementary, Junior High and High School. Plus, all the brothers and sisters which were older or younger, and spouses and kids too. It was exhilarating. So much fun was had. The best part of this bunch is that there is no room for pretentiousness. We have all seen and known the good, the bad and the ugly with each other.

Last night, to top off a nearly perfect weekend, Idania and Caroline and I met for dinner at Bahama Breeze and we talked and caught up for 3+ hours. so much fun.

Truly a happy weekend.