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15 Unfinished Projects

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Sat May 27, 2006 at 12:21:13 PM EST
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If you are online today, and not because you are at work, chances are, like me, you are avoiding or procastinating doing something else. In the spirit of 100 Things I've Never Done by Jim Capozzola of Rittenhouse Review (also see his 100 Things About Me), I'm going to list as many projects as I can that I haven't finished -- mostly because it's easier to sit at the computer and surf the net or blog. I'm hoping that by writing them out I'll not only have a written list but actually do some of them.

What could or should you be doing other than reading this? Feel free to list them in the comments. No need to list 15, any number is fine. If you number them, you can post a followup later should you get any done.

Ok, here's my list, in no particular order:

1. Learn how to set the time on my new digital video camcorder and figure out how to use it. It fits in the palm of my hand and looks so effortless but it took me 2 hours last week just to assemble the parts and get the batteries into it.

This is the one one I got .

2. Learn how to do a podcast and videocast.

3. Learn how to download and save streaming audio and video on my hard drive.

4. Read any of the 9 books on my credenza that arrived in the past two weeks. (Four are listed in the sidebar on the TalkLeft home page under "we're reading.")

5. Buy light-bulbs and a new coffee-maker. My bathroom has been half lit for two weeks and the lid on my Cuisinart hasn't closed in a week which means I have to stand in front of it holding the lid down through the entire brew process.

6. Buy dvd-r disks to replace the dvd+r disks I bought by mistake last month, so I can record from my tv to a dvd instead of to vhs or to the cable company's dvd recorder using a dual recorder I received as a gift two years ago.

7. Create my powerpoint on terrorism and the war on drugs for my NORML lecture in Aspen next week. (Thankfully, I got the written materials in yesterday, only seven days late.) By the way, if you are a procastinating defense lawyer, it's not too late to sign up. Did I mention that we'll be spending all Saturday afternoon hanging out at Hunter Thompson's Owl Farm with his widow Anita Thompson?

8. Do my work billings for April and May.

9. Visit my mother at the "skilled nursing facility", stopping first at Whole Foods for baked goodies and the deli for a corned beef sandwich on seedless rye with spicy brown mustard and potato salad.

10. Make plane and hotel reservations to attend a wedding in New York in June.

11. Send a gift and congratulations/condolence note to Dog the Bounty Hunter. He got married last week to Beth, his partner of 12 years in Honolulu. The night before the wedding, one of his adult daughters was killed in a car accident. They went into counseling and decided to proceed with the wedding and celebrate his daughter's life at it. I was invited to the wedding but couldn't attend.

12. Go to the Apple Pro Care site and schedule my first private training session on podcasting and videoblogging.

13. Figure out who to call to get my barbecue hooked up to the gas line on my terrace since it doesn't have a gas tank and is just sitting there unused. It's a 15 year old Weber Genesis in great condition but with an obsolete tank and the gas line is just sitting there 12 inches from it. Every night I catch whiffs of what I imagine to be steak, chicken, fish and vegetables being grilled by my neighbors and there's none for me.

15. Write up the interview I did with Lisa Graves of the ACLU. We spent three hours talking in a Denver coffee shop last month and I have reams of notes.

Ok, time to stop. Now that they are in writing, I can't avoid them. I intend to return and cross them out as I accomplish them. Feel free to chime in with your own lists.

Normally, I'd make this a meme and send it around to other bloggers. But, I'm not sure who's blogging this weekend. If you create a list on your blog, let us know in the comments.

I am now off to do #5 and #6, or so I hope.

< Weekend Listening Pleasure: Dylan at JazzFest | Bernie Kerik Under Grand Jury Investigation >

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    15 Unfinished Projects | 18 comments (18 topical)
    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Sat May 27, 2006 at 01:13:53 PM EST
    1. Making a list of all the things I should be doing. to be continued when I stop surfing.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Sat May 27, 2006 at 01:21:55 PM EST
    I'm going to list as many projects as I can that I haven't finished -- mostly because it's easier to sit at the computer and surf the net or blog.
    Oh that is so true, but you gotta relax a little some time.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat May 27, 2006 at 02:09:38 PM EST
    1. Get a life. 2. Get a life. 3. Get.....

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#4)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat May 27, 2006 at 02:11:23 PM EST
    First and foremost is writing a book. I am working with a local historical society on finding a publisher for a manuscript I am working on detailing a historic natural disaster. I have been gathering archival photos and film footage as well as eyewitness accounts of the event over the past year. I have already put together a half hour DVD documentary that's been aired on the local public TV station and I would like to re-edit that one to make it an hour long to include with the book. Other projects I never did but would love to do would be making socially relevant music and movies, but that isn't an economically viable venture in our current society.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#5)
    by squeaky on Sat May 27, 2006 at 02:44:16 PM EST
    1. Start a new painting 2. Finish older paintings 3. Send a check to ACLU 4. Clean my loft 5. Hire a houskeeper 6. Build a deck on the little tar roof outside my bathroom and bedroom. 7. Finish learning the Goldberg Variations 8. Learn Beethoven' s op 111 9. Play some chamber music 10. Do tai chi. 11. Buy clothes 12. Get rid of old useless equipment and build a storage room for artwork. 13. Do my taxes. 14. Attack the reams of paperwork strewn about my loft. 15. Go to the Met for starters I am sending a check to ACLU. more to come.....

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#6)
    by jimcee on Sat May 27, 2006 at 04:53:59 PM EST
    Finish my half-bath. Finish siding my house. Finish rewiring my house. Other than that my painting restortation is set for the next couple of years... But then again I think I'll surf abit tonight.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat May 27, 2006 at 05:38:56 PM EST
    I finished #5 and #6 (the light bulbs, coffee maker and dvd-R disks). That was plenty for the day. I feel like I accomplished something. I can now go to dinner guilt-free and then watch Transamerica if I don't decide to blog and surf instead.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#8)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat May 27, 2006 at 09:00:18 PM EST
    1. Send in grades for classes. 2. Billing and coding (ongoing) 3. Call mother. Call sister. 4. Restart gym after a week of craziness. It's so easy to get knocked off the routine. 5. Climb to the top of a pyramid.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#9)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat May 27, 2006 at 09:02:45 PM EST
    JM, For #13, try looking in those community services/businesses flyers in your mail. They often have local guys who do all kinds of handyman stuff. A good plumber type should be able to hook it up. Summer's here girl! Get on it!

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#11)
    by jondee on Sat May 27, 2006 at 09:37:53 PM EST
    1) Take my pet lobster for more walks by the seashore (he dosnt bark and he knows the mysteries of the deep) 2) Stop feeding the troll.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat May 27, 2006 at 11:05:37 PM EST
    I got #1 done in between dinner and Transamerica. If I had known how hard it is to work a camcorder I don't think I would have bothered. But, it's pretty cool now that it's working.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun May 28, 2006 at 12:58:04 PM EST
    ok, here are my 15 things, oh where do I start? 1. clean up my bedroom 2. do laundry 3. read transcript of murder trial i am about to re-try 4. finish motion on alien smuggling case 5. put advantage on the dogs. 6. permanently delete solitaire from my pc and laptop 7. prepare closing argument for trial 8. look at jury instructions 9. call doctors on pi case, try to get them to reduce fees. 10. call pcc re copying and other fees 11. buy enough panty hose for trial (ugh, i wish i could just wear pants) 12. Learn Power Point 13. stop obsessing about opposing counsel's intransigence 14. start exercising 15. start meditating every morning

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#14)
    by squeaky on Sun May 28, 2006 at 01:10:38 PM EST
    Sent a check to ACLU and did some tai chi. Making a list is checked off too.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#15)
    by Kitt on Sun May 28, 2006 at 01:47:44 PM EST
    I got #1 done in between dinner and Transamerica. If I had known how hard it is to work a camcorder I don't think I would have bothered. But, it's pretty cool now that it's working.
    How was Transamerica? Oh, I don't make lists. If I can't remember it wasn't worth doing. (That's for me; yu'll have your own means, I'm sure.)

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#16)
    by rdandrea on Sun May 28, 2006 at 03:40:51 PM EST
    Please *DO* go see your mom. I got laid off from my cushy government contractor job in April of '94. My mom asked me time and time again when I was going to come home to NJ to see her "since I had time." I explained to her every time that I was starting my own business, and doing that required my full attention, and besides it was expensive to fly home from Colorado. She died suddenly after entertaining friends at a dinner pary in November of '94. Guess what? I had enough time and money to fly to NJ and go to her funeral. I just wish I had spent the time and money sooner. I never did get to say goodbye to her. Please go see your mom.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#18)
    by jimcee on Sun May 28, 2006 at 09:18:16 PM EST
    Raulduke, Good luck with your audition for This American Life as it is the-best-show-on-radio. That would be a pretty good gig.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon May 29, 2006 at 02:23:12 AM EST
    Here's some to-do's... 1. Cancel Verizon home service, tell $7/hr Call Center slave to make note in CRM that I'm cancelling because their company is helping create a fascist police state. Save $40/month from cancelling useless obsolete service. 2. Reduce voice minutes in plan, subtract all wireless data service, and revert and E-bay auction PDA phone. Save $40 each month and increase my happiness by making it more difficult for the world to pester me with to-do's everywhere I go. Return as nearly as possible to pre-1997 life without cellular phone. Leave cell phone off on weekends. 3. Reduce even further my exposure to television. 4. Resist urge to purchase newer automobile since current late '90s automobile operates just fine. 5. Do better job resisting continual efforts by co-workers to draw me into their own private hells in defining who they are by their job description and income.

    Re: 15 Unfinished Projects (none / 0) (#20)
    by squeaky on Mon May 29, 2006 at 09:16:30 AM EST
    Thanks for reminding me Tampa Student. 16. Cancel my Verizon service and give them an earful for colluding with the NSA. Get Vonage or equivalent VoIP instead.

    15 Unfinished Projects | 18 comments (18 topical)