The Last Two Years

When I started this adventure, I set a reminder to go off on the last day of each month, so I would remember to blog about what I've been doing. That didn't work very well - blogging here became a low priority with business school, internship, and work. I don't know if anyone has alerts set up for this blog, but if so, you will likely be the only ones that see this update. :) Either way, here are the goals I've completed in the last...ahem...little while.

4. Travel to at least one LDS church history site.
We went to Nauvoo and Carthage last year for the Nauvoo Pageant. It was awesome.

5. Visit another country.
Last summer, the whole Buchanan Clan visited Mexico for a family reunion. It was probably the best vacation ever. 

6. Visit three new states. [3/3] 
As I mentioned, we went to Nauvoo - we also visited Chicago (although I've been to both those states, my family hadn't. But, on the way out we drove through Colorado (new to me), Nebraska, and Iowa. In going to Illinois, we traveled through Wisconsin (new to me), and for work I traveled to Indiana (new) for training. Not to mention moving to Minnesota - which brings the new state total to 4! (And 6 for Kristen!)

17. Graduate from business school.
18. Get a good internship.
19. Get a good job post graduate school.
I'm going to group these three together. Business school was amazing - I made so many close friends, and I will never forget the amazing experiences I had there. Last summer I was lucky to intern with Cummins Power Generation, and was given a full-time offer there after school. I am currently in month 3 of working full-time out here in Minnesota. Life is good.

32. Go a month with no soda.
I did this when I was trying to be healthy, exercising and losing weight. I need to get on that again...

36. Have another baby.
About three weeks after graduation, we welcomed Felicity Rose into the world. She is a sweet little angel, and we love her so much.

39. Eat at the dining room table 3 times a week for a month.
This has now become a habit - we always eat at the dining room table. It helps that we were given a significantly bigger one when we moved.

41. Dress up with my wife and little girl for Halloween again.
42. Get our Halloween pumpkins from a pumpkin patch.
I was Flynn Rider again, while Scarlett was Rapunzel and Kristen was Mother Gothel. We were adorable.

51. Learn how to program Excel macros.
I took a VBA class in school - I'm basically a genius at programming Excel now.

53. Make a pie from scratch (that doesn’t end up with the pie plate shattered all over the kitchen).
Oh man, I did this more than once - Thanksgiving and at Christmas. And they were the most delicious pies you've ever had.

73. Act in a play after grad school is over.
Technically it was before I graduated - Kristen and I performed in A Christmas Carol one last time before moving to Minnesota. So much fun.

77. Go to a professional sports game.
Last summer, all of the interns went to a Minnesota Twins baseball game. We won - boo ya!

92. Have a Passover dinner.
It wasn't super traditional, but we had lamb... :)

99. Make homemade ice cream.
Kristen's been homemade ice cream-ing up a storm lately. Technically I didn't do it, but my main goal was that "we" made it, so it counts. 

101. Buy a crossover/second vehicle.
I bought a 1995 Ford Mustang for $1800. Unfortunately, the brakes just gave out and the mechanic wanted $1400 to fix them. Fortunately, a co-worker works on cars and said it's not as bad as that guy said, and he'll only charge me a couple hundred to do it. Yay!

June-August 2012

I know I promised to write in this at the end of every month, but I haven't been too great at it. And I'll be honest - I don't know if that's going to improve now. I just started the MBA program at BYU, and it is INTENSE, let me tell you.

Anyway, I'll go over some of the goals I've hit in the last three months.

1. Go to the Grand Canyon and watch the sunrise.
This was fantastic, and something I've wanted to do for a long time. I've never visited the Grand Canyon before (neither had Kristen), and it was so cool! When the light hit the canyon, it was so gorgeous.

9. Go camping.
We went twice this summer: once to the Grand Canyon, and once to the Oregon coast. Both times were great, but difficult with a baby (who had a hard time getting to sleep).

50. Learn to snowboard.
I didn't exactly learn to snowboard, but I did learn to sandboard (on the Oregon dunes), and I think that's pretty close. :) But I'll leave this one up here until I actually go on the snow. 

83. Go berry picking.
When we were in Oregon, we went blueberry and marionberry picking. It was awesome. As a matter of fact, we had blueberry muffins this morning for breakfast, using some of the blueberries (which we froze).

91. Do my home teaching every month [3/32] 
I did it two more times - I'm getting better. Still not perfect, but working on it.

98. Get up early and watch the sunrise.
I'm double-counting my Grand Canyon sunrise goal. :)

May 2012

I know very few people read this, but it's good for me to keep blogging about what I've done.

1. Go to the Grand Canyon and watch the sunrise.
We're planning on this one - I've already requested the time off from work for the end of June, and we're going to go camp at Grand Canyon National Park (kill two birds with one stone - going camping). Due to some reliable sources, we're going to go to the North Rim (which is a least visited). I'm pretty excited - I'm going to call Monday and see if I can get a campsite reserved. :)

8. Visit the Hollywood sign in California.
We went to California this last month to visit Kristen's brother and sister-in-law. It was a lot of fun, and one of the things we did was drive up to the observatory in Griffin Park. Apparently, you can't actually hike all the way up to the sign, unless you climb a fence. I don't like doing that kind of stuff myself. But we got a good look at the sign.

24. Write in my journal at least once a week for a year. [8/52]
I've been doing really well at this. I missed last week because of a bunch of craziness on Sunday morning, but I think that still counts, because I'm still going.

55. Learn how to use my smoker (and charcoal) well, and make delicious ribs. 
I seriously spent a couple hours reading all kinds of things about how to use charcoal in a smoker like I have, and I think I can do it. I just need an oven thermometer, a rack of ribs, and some charcoal (non easy light stuff), and I think I'm good to go. You have to make sure you remove the membrane from the back of the ribs, don't use too much smoke (make sure there's good airflow), and maintain a steady low (about 200-220 degree) temperature. And you have to use the right charcoal, of course - I think I used the wrong stuff last time.

60. Create and use a budget.
We've been using this software for a while, called You Need a Budget (YNAB), but only really using it for tracking spending. Our friend Anne works for this company, and she invited us to a seminar on it last month. After the seminar, we decided we really need to get going on the budget portion of it. So we created one for the month of May. We're doing pretty good sticking with it (mostly). We're going to have to be really good once school starts, so we need to start now. Speaking of, I should go work on June's budget.

April (and March) 2012

So...I didn't post last month. Sorry about that guys. Well, here goes!

21. Read a book a month. [2/32]
I finished Catching Fire, as well as Mockingjay. And then we went to the midnight showing of Hunger Games. Such a good book and movie. Kristen said I can marry Jennifer Lawrence if Kristen ever dies.

24. Write in my journal at least once a week for a year. [3/52] 
I started writing every Sunday morning before Church. It's good, because I have until 1 p.m. every day, and writing in my journal is a better Sunday activity than watching Law and Order on Netflix.

26. Solve a Rubik’s cube. 
My brother informed me that he can teach me how to solve a Rubik's cube, so that's good news. :) 

47. Learn how to ride a motorcycle. 
I not only learned how, but I took a motorcycle safety course, got my license, and bought a motorcycle! It's a Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD. Kristen got a helmet and jacket too, and we've been out riding together once. We're excited to go again - just need to get that baby a sitter. This will be my primary transportation come this fall (well, it already is my primary transportation now).

56. Go on a couples date once a month.[2/32] 
We had dinner with my friend and his girlfriend this month. We're still behind, but we'll catch up. 

65. Write my little brother (on a mission) as often as possible. 
I wrote him last week, to show off how cool my new motorcycle is. He thought it was pretty awesome. 

76. See Wicked.
My mom bought me tickets to see it in Portland, and we flew there to see it (first plane trip with baby - she did pretty good). It was mostly an excuse for Mom to see the baby, but Wicked was awesome! I loved it. 

82. Go to the zoo.
The whole family (minus Jacob, who's in Brazil of course) was in town for General Conference weekend. On Saturday, we went to the Hogle Zoo. Adilynn loved it (she's 2). Scarlett didn't really realize what was going on, but she loved all the new sights and sounds.

86. Get my passport renewed.
I mailed my renewal application in, and got my passport back fairly quickly. I remember Kristen's taking much longer (we were worried it wouldn't get to us before we left for Mexico on our honeymoon). They gave me back my old one, too - I was worried I wouldn't have my stamps anymore.

91. Do my home teaching every month [1/32] 
I'm doing better. I don't just blow it off. I sincerely am trying to do my home teaching. I got out to one family last month, and couldn't get a hold of the other two families (I did try). I didn't make it this month, so I'm resolving to get it done in May for sure. 

92. Have a Passover dinner.
This is a sorta win. I made lamb, but it wasn't on Passover, and since it wasn't actually on Passover, I skipped the unleavened bread and bitter herbs. We had potatoes and green beans with our roast leg of lamb instead.

February 2012

Hi again! This month I didn't get a lot completed - nothing I can cross off, anyway. But I did make some progress on a few of my goals.

6. Visit three new states.

Last week I had a business trip to Arizona. It was around 75 degrees and beautiful.

21. Read a book a month. [0/32]

Now, I'm not done, but I started re-reading Catching Fire. I'll finish it and another book in March.

27. Lose about 4 inches from my waist, and add 1 inch to my arms.

33. Get down to 150 lbs. and maintain it (lose the belly fat!).

I'm working on both of these. I started the Atkins Diet this week. You can read about it here.

47. Learn how to ride a motorcycle.

I signed up for a safety riding class! It's not til April, but I'm going to learn how to ride! :)

65. Write my little brother (on a mission) as often as possible.

I wrote him once this month - I should write more.

69. Continue giving blood every 8 weeks.

Going today!

86. Get my passport renewed.

I sent in all the paperwork this month and am now just waiting to get it back.

January 2012

So I'm a few days (ahem, week) late. Sorry guys! Here's what I've accomplished so far:

16. Bought a computer - a Samsung laptop for graduate school, because...
14. ...I got into business school! I'm going to BYU in the fall to get my MBA. Wahoo!
56. Go on a couples date once a month. This month, I can say that we went out to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. My mom was there too, but I'm going to count it anyway. :)

So it's a slow start...but I'll get there!

Day Zero 101 Second Try

You might want to split this up into multiple readings for yourself. Seriously - it's that long.

I started out with a lofty goal of completing 101 goals in 1001 days. Well, I didn’t quite do it. But I didn’t do too bad. I think the point of this exercise was to get me thinking about setting and truly achieving those goals. To be honest, I don’t know how many people really read this in the first place, but just the fact that it was out there helped motivate me.

I completed 52 out of my original 101 goals (more than half!), and partially completed two. Although to be honest, I fudged a little on the definitions of the goals for a couple. :) As goal 101 states, I adjusted some of the goals as needed. I ended up adjusting eight of them, completing two of those eight, and partially completing three of the revised goals. For those who care to know, here is a list of my successes (and failures), and a few comments from yours truly (in italics/bold):

Successes
4. Decorate my apartment.
6. Eat lobster.
7. Kiss outside in a downpour.
10. Visit a state I've never been to before.
13. Get medical / dental insurance.
14. Write a short story.
18. Read one book a month. [32/32] I did so good! I read a TON of books, It was awesome.
19. Get a new driver's license (do I have to get it in Utah?).
20. Give blood every two months (I have O negative and CMV negative blood, which means I'm the universal donor, and that they can give my blood to babies). [11/16]
23. Write a will.
24. Buy a piano. This was my first big purchase with my real job. I love having a piano in my home.
25. Be at home for my littlest brother's / dad's birthdays for the first time since the year 2000.
30. Go to the beach (I miss it so much!).
32.OLD: Play 18 holes of golf (at least so I can say I did it). NEW: Play 9 holes of golf (at least so I can say I did it).*
35. Go skinnydipping. :)
36. Eat fondue, either at a restaurant, or (more ambitiously) learn how to do it myself at home.
37. Act in a play at the Hale and one at the Scera. [2/2] I performed in Singin’ in the Rain at the Scera, and in “A Christmas Carol” at the Hale (2010 and 2011). Yay!
38. OLD: Shave my head (not shiny, though). NEW: Visit my sister and brother-in-law in Rexburg once or twice a year.
39. Get over her. This was a big achievement. That girl had quite a hold on me. But I’m very happy to say I’ve been happily married for almost three years, and we had a baby girl in September (our first).
40. Give a ridiculously HUGE tip for good service at a restaurant.
43. Go camping in Moab.
44. Learn how to change my own oil.
46. Play baseball / softball on a team.
47. Fall in love again.
48. Get married. The best thing I’ve ever done to this point in my life.
49. Surprise my family with a random trip to see them.
50. Create a wikipedia article.
52. Buy furniture for my new apartment.
54. Get a local library card.
57. Make scones from scratch.
58. Buy at least two power tools.
61. Play roller hockey.
62. Go to a concert.
63. Go to a drive-in theater.
64. Figure out how to get rid of arm bumpies...then get rid of them.
66. Bake a cheesecake.
68. Go for two weeks without any type of food made with refined sugar. When I did the Atkins Diet, I went without any sugar for two weeks. I’m going to go back on it at some point, as I lost almost 10 pounds in that time.
71. Finish re-reading the Narnia series.
73. Register to vote and then vote in the November election.
74. Buy a BBQ and use it for a small party.
75. Stay at a bed and breakfast on the Oregon coast. This was a great trip. The end.
76. Dress up really cool for Halloween one year instead of blowing it off like usual.
77. Go to a tanning salon.
78. Get a massage (hey - it's not just for girls).
80. Be at work early every day for a week.
82. Be the lead in a play again.
84. Go to Disneyland.
87. Kiss under the mistletoe, and at midnight on New Year's.
88. Replace my old wallet (even though I don't want to - I've had it for 8 years). :(
90. Go to a water park.
94. Take another tap dance class / get back into tap. Although I didn’t take a class, I did get back into tap with the play “Singin’ in the Rain.” Awesome.
97. Make a brand new meal once a month. [32/32] We love making new meals. Check out www.melskitchencafe.com. We love just about everything we’ve made from there (which is a lot).
100. Go watch a professional theater production.
101. Adjust any of these goals if they are no longer applicable, and reward myself with a treat for every one accomplished.

Partial Success (also carrying over to the next wave) – What happened?
16. Take the GMAT / apply for business school. I finally took the GMAT in March (I got a VERY good score), and I’m very excited to hopefully get into a business school to start this fall!
22. Audition for and act in a film. I auditioned for a small, independent film last year – I didn’t get it. I don’t know if this is going to happen, as it’s a lot of time to take off to do a film, but here’s hoping!
67. OLD: Read at least five minutes from the scriptures every day. [0/1001] NEW: Attend a session at every Utah temple [6/13]* We’ve attended sessions and/or done sealings at the following Utah temples: Salt Lake, Draper, Jordan River, Mt. Timpanogos, Provo, and Manti. Before we leave Utah, we need to hit Logan, Ogden, Bountiful, Oquirrh Mountain, Vernal, Monticello, and St. George. Payson, Brigham City, and the second Provo temple aren’t open yet.
86. OLD: Don't refuse an invitation to do something just because I don't want to go / be social. Only refuse if I have a genuine conflict. NEW: Go on a couples date once a month. [12/22]* We’ve been pretty good about hanging out with other couples. It’s good to get more socialization. I think this is even more important now that we have a baby.
83. OLD: Write one missionary a month. [0/32] NEW: Write my little brother (on a mission) as often as possible.* I've been a bad pen pal so far with Jacob, who is in Brazil, but I resolve to do better!

Goals to Carry Over to the Next Wave - Where I Am Currently
1. Go to the Grand Canyon and watch the sunrise.
2. Finish writing my book, and get it published. I’ve finished writing it – I’m still in the editing phase.
3. Lose about 4 inches from my waist, and add 1 inch to my arms.
5. Learn how to ride a motorcycle.
8. Whiten my teeth.
9. Go horseback riding on a date.
11. Sell something on eBay. I’ve got a whole slew of old electronics just right for eBay-ing!
12. Organize and print off all my journals.
17. Plant a small "garden" (at least with potted plants).
21. Pay off all debt...early.
26. Highlight or dye my hair (for the first time) just for the heck of it.
27. Go one month without eating out (fast food or otherwise).
28. Visit Washington, D.C.
29. Hike Mt. Timpanogos at night and watch the sunrise from the top. Hopefully I can do this before I start school.
31. Pay for a stranger's meal at a restaurant.
33. Travel to at least one LDS church history site.
34. Babysit a new baby.
42. Be in a dinner group (start one if there are none to join).
45. OLD: Get a physical. NEW: Lower my cholesterol to safe levels.* I got a physical recently and they told me I need to lower my cholesterol levels.
51. OLD: Go on a 45-minute (at least) bike ride once a week. [0/143] NEW: Get bike fixed, and go on a bike ride.* I will make it happen this summer.
55. Have a week-long (or even month-long) Facebook fast.
56. Play outside in a thunderstorm, including - but not limited to - jumping in puddles.
59. Save 35% of my take-home pay (put it in savings and don't touch it).
60. Make a shelf or display cabinet of some sort for my shot glass collection.
65. OLD: Pick up on a girl I don't know and get her phone number. NEW: Surprise my wife with a random gift. This is good to always keep on there – keeps me in good graces.
69. Buy a homeless person a meal (and eat with them).
70. Record songs in a real recording studio.
71. Learn to snowboard.
79. OLD: Get the trackpad on my computer fixed...finally. NEW: Buy a new computer.* I will need one for school.
81. Buy a kite. Fly it.
85. Write in my journal at least once a week for a year [0/52]
91. Get at least one custom-made, French-cuff shirt.
96. Learn all the articles of and amendments to the Constitution (don't have to memorize word for word).
98. Read Les Miserables.
99. Visit my little brother's grave.

Goals I’m Dropping – Why?
15. Write a short play. At one point, I really wanted to do this, but if I’m honest, I don’t really care to write a play anymore – I’m happy just performing in them/directing them.
41. Be able to immediately snap in and out of character when acting. Although I’m not sure I can necessarily do this yet, I feel I’m fairly good at it. Also, I feel it’s too difficult to measure, and goals should be measurable.
53. Stop getting road rage. I don’t drive as much as I used to, so I’m already a happier driver. I also feel that as I strive to be a better person, this will take care of itself.
72. Get a fish as a pet. I have a wife and a kid– pets aren’t really up there on my list anymore.
89. Write a freelance article and get it published somewhere. I’m content with publishing on my blog.
92. Re-memorize some of the poems I learned in 5th grade (Casey at the Bat, Sick, The Little Blue Engine, The Gettysburg Address, first page of Paul Revere's Ride). These are fun, but I’d rather memorize other things / spend my time doing other things.
93. Write a song (this is getting pretty ambitious). I’m okay with just singing other people’s songs.
95. Read books to kids at the library. I’m happy to just read to my nieces, and very excited to read to my own baby.

61 New Goals!
1. Graduate from business school.
2. Get a good internship.
3. Get a good job post graduate school.
4. Make a pie from scratch (that doesn’t end up with the pie plate shattered all over the kitchen).
5. Dress up with my wife and little girl for Halloween again.
6. Act in a play after grad school is over.
7. Create and use a budget.
8. Get down to 150 lbs. and maintain it (lose the belly fat!).
9. Hang out with my little brother once a week.
10. Continue giving blood every 8 weeks.
11. Visit another country.
12. Buy a house.
13. Have another baby.
14. Read a book a month. [0/32]
15. Go to Alaska.
16. Blog once a week for 3 months straight.
17. Get my bottom teeth fixed.
18. Set up a savings account for my daughter.
19. Do family history and submit a name / do the temple work.
20. Buy IPO stock (preferably Facebook when/if it does its initial offering).
21. Start my own business (this may roll over into the next 101).
22. Get our Halloween pumpkins from a pumpkin patch.
23. Cut down our own Christmas tree.
24. Get my UK driver’s license renewed (somehow) – expires May 16, 2012.
25. Get my passport renewed.
26. See Wicked.
27. Get up early and watch the sunrise.
28. Make homemade ice cream.
29. Learn how to use my smoker (and charcoal) well, and make delicious ribs.
30. Only use my phone for making phone calls/work emails for a week (no internet/games).
31. Go a month with no soda.
32. Do my home teaching every month [0/32]
33. Eat at the dining room table 3 times a week for a month.
34. Have a Passover dinner.
35. Have a movie series marathon (i.e. X-Men, LoTR, Star Wars, Harry Potter).
36. Go berry picking.
37. Make butter from cream.
38. Read the Ensign cover-to-cover every month. [0/32]
39. Learn how to program Excel macros.
40. Go to a professional sports game.
41. Buy a crossover/second vehicle.
42. Solve a Rubik’s cube.
43. Go paintballing.
44. Learn how to strum on my guitar well.
45. See Garth Brooks in concert.
46. Buy a kayak (or two).
47. Create a picture frame using a router for detail work.
48. Go to the zoo.
49. Go camping.
50. Visit Yellowstone.
51. Do my best to never pass a street beggar without offering them something.
52. Go to a city council meeting.
53. Read the Old Testament from beginning to end (including the Psalms and Proverbs).
54. Take Kristen back to my mission.
55. Vote in all national, state, and local elections.
56. Visit three new states.
57. Visit the spiral jetty.
58. Visit the Hollywood sign in California.
59. Go water skiing.
60. Go on a cruise.
61. See a film at Sundance.

There - told you it was long. If you stuck with it, you're a rockstar. I will try and update at least monthly on where I am. In fact, that's a good idea - I'll post on the last day of each month where I stand with my goals. Peace!