This took me a tad longer than I expected to be honest, as I wanted to put things on this list which I’d actually do, versus stuff that just looks good.

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

So, without furthur ado, here’s my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days. Wish me luck!

Start Date: January 3, 2008

End Date: October 1, 2011

I’ve decided that Twitter and Facebook, hell, all social media, is killing my ability to post on here anymore. So what I’ve decided is to resurrect my former attempt at 101 Things in 1001 Days, using the lovely Miss Zoot’s list as a model to help me from getting too overwhelmed with the list as I did last time. I’ll see about posting it as soon as I finish the list, though tomorrow I’m making a point of not being online unless I have no other option.

Before the list, though, I wanted to break down some of the recent things I’ve posted here before 2008 was completely over and done with. I’ve been on a roller-coaster lately, with all the changes in the air.

We’re in an unplanned holding pattern with the house, as I make too much money now to be able to qualify for some the down payment assistance programs that are still functioning after the big meltdown, though on the plus side the house’s first bid fell through, so it’s listed as active once again. If any of y’all have a spare $7k you can send me as an interest-free loan, email me, alright?

I am now officially a permanent employee at Big Ol’ Sports, though I had to move to another team to accomplish that. But, Dear Readers, don’t think I’m done with my original team, as Fate likes to seriously screw with my head. About 4 days after moving to a new group to get my dearly needed perm status, a bunch of Senior Vice Presidents in the company got together to have a pow-wow about little ol’ me, and while I’m officially on Team B now, I’ll still be working on Team A until the end of February, full-time. I’ve moved my stuff already, and gotten all my things organized in the new building on campus, surrounded by Team B, but I’m in my own personal version of Sartre’s Hell by only being allowed to work on Team A’s site.

So, Sayonara 2008… You’ve been good, you’ve been bad, you’ve moved a tad quicker than what I would have preferred.

And here’s to wishing all of y’all the best 2009 that can be. Happy New Year!

Ever since the landlady made us aware of the fact that she was thinking of putting the house we’re currently renting on the market, I’ve been toying with the idea of biting the bullet and buying my first house. BabyDaddy can’t be on the mortgage, as he’s been out of work for the majority of the year, so it would be for me to carry the purchase of a house.

Our lease isn’t up until the end of February, so I thought we’d have a bit of time to sort out everything, and in a way, we do. But things got a little pushed last month when I signed up to have the ability to save some of my searches on one of the local real estate sites, and I had a realtor contact me about one of the properties that I had saved.

So, we went to see a house a few weeks ago. Epic FAIL on that one. My dining room table was bigger than the dining room, the laundry “room” was only accessible from the exterior of the house, and there were gorgeous exposed beams that showed us that there couldn’t have been more than 3/4 of an inch of insulation in the roof. Disappointed, I figured we could wait, and try and talk the landlady into a 6-month extension on our lease.

Which she was ok with… so today, seeing four houses, I figured there would be more of the same from the first one, but I was wrong.

The first house we saw, while needing some things here and there (bathtub that needs to be repaired/replaced, paint interior/exterior, and some electrical work that looks like it was as hacktastic as some of the coding I’ve done in a fit of alcoholic stupor) but really, I like the house. Really like the house. It’s a foreclosure, it’s in Elizabeth’s school district, and the house has more than enough room for us, our stuff, and a great backyard. The other three were good, but small, and with less work to be put in them, but it was the first one that won me over.

It’s been vacant for a while, so I got to get a grand view of the basement level after a squatter’s party, with the dregs of blunt-making on the dryer and someone’s dirty underwear in the basement-level bathroom sink, but I still liked it. Man, I can see what we could have in that house.

Now to see if there are any other bids on the house, and waiting until after the 15th of the month (I’m going perm at Big Ol’ Sports then, albeit with another site’s team - another post in the making) to get pre-approval for a mortgage on this one. The price is more than reasonable, almost extremely low for the area we’re looking, so I’m really trying to keep good thoughts on this one. I’m not really sure how much we’ll need outside of the mortgage to get it fully livable, which concerns both me and BabyDaddy a little, but I’m not allowing myself at this point to fall in love with this place. It could fall through, or we could get a home inspector in there and find out the house is about to fall down around someone’s ears.

Waiting, that’s what I’m doing. I. Hate. Waiting.

I know I’ve been inundating this blog with images from someecards.com lately, but I can’t help it. Too many times they know exactly what I want to say.

I got to see Twilight on Saturday night, due to Elizabeth off with her cousin W. and when we went to go see Quantum of Solace to make BabyDaddy happy, it was sold out.*

I liked it, but damn, it made me feel old.

Let me preface this by saying I’ve read all the books…. and other than the occasional itch to slap the crap out of Bella due to being a teenage girl and acting like one really well, I really like the first three** books. (**Don’t get me started on Breaking Dawn, one of the most crapastic ways to end a series EVER)

I liked the movie. It was a great translation of the first book to the screen, but my Gawd, Rob Pattinson spontaneously makes me want to give up all my other Secret Celebrity crushes at the same moment make me feel like I’m geriatric.

I was 12 when he was born.

So, after seeing the movie and listening to BabyDaddy actually liking it as well, I made up for the fact that I was feeling a touch dirty lusting after that young boy and sat down to a couple of Criminal Minds episodes. I ended up staying up way past my bedtime and moving my Secret Celebrity Crush over to Matthew Gray Gubler (Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds) instead. At least I was only 5 when he was born. And isn’t he just the cutest lil androgynous boy EVER? Check out the UnAuthorized Biography series on youtube for some serious funny.

* I do actually have a bunch of really important stuff to impart on this here blog, but I really just needed to get to writing something, not a Not-Really Review of Twilight.

Elizabeth’s packing a bag of stuff to keep her entertained in line, and I’ve taken the day off.

Happy Election Day!

My head’s a mess this week… simple things that should be muscle-memory by know have completely escaped me. Work has been killing me, even with this being really the first full week of shortened hours (35hr/wk for the rest of the year to make up for all the overtime that we’ve all had to pull for insane project schedules). Even with these shorter hours, I feel like all I’ve been doing is working.

What I need to be doing is cleaning my house and prepping for the ‘rents (flying in on Saturday) and the Family Party for Elizabeth’s birthday (Sunday). What I’ve ended up doing is work on a couple of outstanding Wordpress templates and prepping for Nanowrimo in the evenings, then vegging out in front of the television to catch up on my Tivo.

This week hasn’t been all bad, though. I really enjoyed Webmaster Jam Session last weekend, and I picked up a little freelance work on an existing client who needs a new coupon book. We also found out that I won’t have to pay for a new Gi for Elizabeth’s karate class (her top went missing last week), since I had unknowingly paid for one at the beginning of class that she didn’t need because of last year’s class.

Yes, that’s good news, cause I had extra money when I paid for her class at the beginning of the year, and I really don’t have a lot of spare cash sitting around at this point. I’m moving stuff around in accounts at the moment to make my accounts more balanced. Hence, the “looking for freelance work” portion above.

Maybe my shitty mood today can be blamed on this sinus headache that just won’t go away, regardless of ibuprofen ingested this morning.

*Note* - this is a techy-type rant - disregard if you want.

Let me start out by saying that I am not a rock star who knows everything about anything when it comes to being a webmaster, but I read. I read A LOT, as my feed reader will prove when it comes to the State of the Web-o-sphere. I’ve picked many things up by trail and error over the years of working in this industry for a decade, and I can figure out a way to make more than most of what Creative hands off to us and place in the page and have it look relatively the same cross-browser.

Today, after the initial “What are you doing waking me up, Woman?” grunts and groans from Elizabeth, she popped her head up, and with a gleam in her eye said,

“Today is the first day of October, right?”

Me - “Yep.”

Elizabeth - “It’s my Birthday Month!”

So, today begins my preparation for the age of 7. I think that Elizabeth is far more prepared than I am, though we’ve already gotten glimpses into what the next year will entail. Getting some of her privileges taken away because she’s not always finishing her work in school, forgoing actually doing her work for chatting with her friends in class, and the talking back… My Gawd, the talking back has been killing me lately. We’ve been slowly nipping that in the bud, but it’s hard-going at times.

But, even with the problems that have happened, I do think that she’s, on the whole, a good kid. While she can drive me batty with a bat of the eyelashes, she’s not destroying things or really getting into trouble at school, negating the Chatty Cathy imitation in class.

We’ll see what she’s got up her sleeve for celebrating her Birthday Month tonight when I get home from work. With everyone’s schedules, she’s really getting two parties already this month, but I have this feeling that she’ll be asking for more.

So, I’m trying to get set up for Nanowrimo 2008, and I’ve already hit a block… trying to figure out a plot.

Want to help me out by giving me your opinions over here on my Nano blog?