Before I'm 31

I promise I'm going to try to get better with this updating this page. And if you know me then you know I rarely make promises, so this is a big step. But after talking about this page with a few of my coworkers on Friday, and starting another blogging project (don't worry, I'll update you on that in the next few weeks) I realized my love for this page has not been eradicated, it has simply been hibernating for the past few months.

But I'm back! I've accomplished quite a few of my goals- I now am the proud owner of a Sony a580 DSLR, "a camera I'm proud of",done a wine tasting, shaved everyday for a month... and have been pretty busy otherwise... but I'm going to accomplish more goals in the near future! I promise!

As for the personal side, I am moving apartments next week and starting a new job next week... so life should be hectic. But rather than neglecting this blog and deciding I should be doing "better, more productive things with my time" I've decided to embrace it. Not to treat this blog like a journal, because as those who are close to me know, I have a personal blog and if you search long and hard enough for it you can track that down (good luck, my interest is in cybersecurity... don't think you'll be able to find it). But to use this blog to keep myself focused on what I truly care about. While working is great, my love of life and my true passions are what I use my time outside of the office for. I need this blog to remind me of that.

I created this blog to ensure I didn't forget my dreams and my life goals. It's time to stop running from this blog and to start adopting it into my lifestyle.

Hopefully I can accomplish more of my goals in the near future, and as always, if you have any suggestions please don't hesitate to leave them as comments below. Even anonymous comments are welcome!

Thanks for reading and have an amazing few days until you read this page again.

P.S. Here are some of my favorite pictures taken with the new camera, in case you're interested (i.e. family... or photographers looking for a paid young staffer...)

My parents 1953 Packard Caribbean Convertible's white tires at a car show while home for Father's Day. Love this car.

Arlington National Cemetery. No particular reason for this grave, just one of many stoic, but beautiful shots from a few hours spent there. Hope to visit again soon.

Ok, so it's time to come clean and resurface.

There is no acceptable excuse for my absence, but in my defense, the last month may have been the most hectic of my life.

I crammed for finals, graduated college, said goodbye (for now) to all of my friends I've made for the past four years, packed up my life, drove from AZ to CT (with more than a few stops along the way), spent 12 days catching up with family and friends, then moved down to Arlington, VA (just outside of Washington, DC) and started work.

Needless to say, I've been busy.

I've accomplished many goals on my list (check the compiled list to see!) and also thought of many more goals that I want to accomplish.

But I've come to recognize that I wasn't accomplishing things as quickly as I'd hoped. And that was in large part due to the fact that I spent too much of my time thinking of goals and adding them to my list, rather than being out in the world knocking items off my bucket list!

The whole purpose of this list was to get out and accomplish more of my dreams, not to have more dreams. It has been a learning experience and I expect it to continue to be as I do not intend to stop adding to this blog.

I've decided not to stop all together, but instead just to add on a more sporadic basis.

To my loyal readers, thank you, and I promise NEVER to go missing for a month again.

I plan to update at once a week at a minimum, and hopefully more often than that.

I would suggest signing up for the email updates (on the left side of the blog) if you haven't already. They won't spam you, I promise, but it will send you an email of my post whenever I put one up. And since they will be in more random and unmethodical timing I would suggest getting the emails rather than checking every day as this may become a bit monotonous and disappointing.

I will add pictures and stories of the goals I've accomplished soon, and will continue to add goals in the near future.

Again, thanks for reading, sorry for the hiatus and I hope the time off gave you some time to start a bucketlist of your own.

-Philip

We got over 1,000 page views last month!

Always my goal, so awesome to see that I reached it again. Thanks everyone for reading. I hope you're enjoying reading this blog as much as I am writing it.

Now to the goal:

Complete the 365 Question Challenge in a day
(^^^^^Click that link to take you to the site for further explanation)

Really cool site I came across. I was intrigued by the challenge as I love any activity that is mentally stimulating and makes my reflect simultaneously.

I hope some of you take up the arduous task of attempting to answer these questions and please let me know how it goes.

Have an amazing Monday and, I hope, an even better Tuesday. See you tomorrow.

As I sit here watching the Mets destroy the Phillies (it's 1-0 Mets as of this moment... top of the 7th, 1 out) it just crossed my mind. How is this goal not on my list?

Attend the World Series

That's the team that made me love baseball, the 1998 World Series Champion NY Yankees.

My Bernie Williams jersey still hang on my wall.

I digress.

Hopefully I'd be able to go to all 4 games and see a Yankee sweep, but if not I'd happily settle for just going to one game.

Regardless, I would love to go to a World Series game and absolutely see the Yankees making an appearance there in the next 9 years.

Hopefully I can support the Yanks on the road for a World Series game. The tickets are way too pricey in the new stadium!

Thanks for reading. Again, I'm sorry I was behind, it was a bit of a hectic week.

But thanks for taking time out of your day to read this blog, I truly appreciate the support.

Comments, critiques, questions; all that fun is always welcome, so please feel free to leave it below.

You can even comment anonymously! Doesn't that sound like fun!?!

Until tomorrow, thanks for reading and see you soon.

Read the Bible

Google comes up with some pretty awesome images sometimes, and this was no exception. Didn't even have to leave the first page to find this gem.

If you know me well then you know religion plays a very ambiguous role in my life. While I won't go into specifics due to those who are close to me who I know read this blog, I will say ignorance is no excuse for religious beliefs.

It is one thing to not believe in a religion. It is another to not believe in a religion and not know the stories behind it.

Therefore, I believe I should read the stories before making any sort of decision. And sadly at this point in my life I'm embarrassed to say I am yet to read the Bible cover-to-cover. And this seems like a fantastic way to change that.

Thanks and hope I didn't offend anyone. If I did then I guess I just lost a reader... oops...

Make a meal completely of food I've grown

I know, it sounds bold, but why not! Time to take some chances with this blog! Enough driving racecars and visiting exotic places, it's time to do something I know nothing about, like growing my own food.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be putting up a picture of the meal I've made with home-grown food in the near future. Depending on how long plants take to grow and all... guess it's time to do some research...

Read "The Art of War"

Ok so I obviously didn't mean the Wesley Snipes movie, but when I googled "The Art of War" this image came up and I couldn't resist.

Yes, I do have an odd and sometimes quirky sense of humor.

This was a suggestion from a friend who said he read and enjoyed it. So when I went to look it up in the Kindle store I quickly realized I had already downloaded it as a free book a few weeks ago.

Guess it has to be fate so I added it to the list!

Thanks for reading and please let me know if you've read this book before and your thoughts on it.

Go on a "real" African safari

Yes, that is me interacting with a giraffe on an African safari. Yes, the background does look like a remote location in Africa and yes that is a real giraffe.

The only flaw is that this is 90 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona where I went to an "African Safari Park" with my girlfriend.

So now that I've done the prep-work and tried out a recreated African safari I think I'm ready for the real thing!

Catching up as you read!

Drive a racecar

Ride in a submarine.

Being underwater, but comfortably inside and not soaking wet? Yes please! Count me in!

Thanks for this suggestion via facebook. If anyone has any other ideas for goals please comment them, email me @ cantonpnc@gmail.com or send them to me on facebook or twitter (@pcantonverified).

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!

Get hypnotized

Ok, I'm sorry, but when I googled "hypnotized" this image came up and I couldn't resist.

I absolutely don't want to end up like her, but I would like to get hypnotized.

I don't believe in all the silliness of hypnosis but I'm always willing to try new things. And I absolutely believe the human mind is an intricate and fascinating place. I love traveling, so why wouldn't I love venturing further into the depths of my own mind? Who knows what I may find in there, but I'm already anxious to find out.

Thanks for reading. Sorry I was behind and hope you can forgive me.

Learn wine appreciation

Because I have the feeling 5L "bottles" of Carlo Rossi are not considered "good wine" and I intend to find out what's better.

Even with wine appreciation I doubt I'll stop buying the same wines though. Guess time will tell...

Make a hand print in concrete

I like having random spontaneous things to do on this list.

Sticking my hand into wet concrete absolutely falls into that category.

Go white water rafting

Defiantly something I could see myself doing in the near future, so why not add it to the list!

Draw a zentangle

Have a library in my house

Listen to a "great album" all the way through

Get retweeted by someone with more than 10,000 followers

CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!

Shameless self promotion. I know, it's disgusting.

If you don't have a twitter you probably don't care about this goal. Sorry. I can't please everyone.

For those of you who do "tweet"I hope you understand where I'm coming from on this goal.

What's the point besides possibly getting more followers?

There probably is none. But it's something I've been trying to do for a while, so might as well add it to this list!

Shave everyday for a month

I don't have a picture for this one... sorry...

If you know me you know I'm rarely clean shaven. Right now I haven't shaved in a few weeks and it made me realize how rarely I actually do shave.

I think it would be interesting to see what it would be like if I shaved everyday, even though I already imagine how cumbersome it'll be.

Thanks for reading, catching up as quickly as I can!

Go to New Yankee Stadium

It's depressing I still haven't been. My excuse is that I haven't been back in the northeast for more than 4 days for a while now, so I haven't had very much of a chance.

I could ramble on about being a lifetime Yankee fan and how much I really want to be at the new stadium, but who cares.

Also I'm a week behind, so it's time to catch up!

Swim with a whale shark

I think a lot of people in this world are too concerned with the "wrong" things. But I'm proud to say I've associated myself with some great people in my 22 years and those people keep me inspired that there are good people in this world. And that gives me hope.

The finding of these people that I consider "good" are what gives me hope for our world.

Maybe a big announcement tomorrow, who knows. Guess it depends on my mood! Sorry

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this post, even with the tangent at the end.

Write out an original movie story-line

Learn how to develop my own film in a darkroom

Visit New Orleans

Go to the concert of a band I've never heard of before

Oh, and while I'm there I plan to act like their biggest fan.

This blog is about making me do spontaneous things that take me outside of my comfort zone, right? So why not revert back to one of the reasons why I created this blog. Time to make more goals that I'd be uncomfortable to accomplish, and this one is at the top of that list.

On that note, found a random song last night on a playlist on 8tracks.com. It's a very cool site that takes an artist and shares a playlist someone else has made including that song. Similar to pandora except handcrafted by other users instead of a computer generated playlist. Anyway, check out this song. I'm not a big fan of rap, but I love the beat; very catchy and it's been stuck in my head all day.

So before posting today's goal I want to share a blog I'm really enjoying.

This blog (click here) is done by a friend of mine from back home.

Just basically a smorgasbord of what is going on in his head, but it's some really interesting stuff. And he credits me and this blog for inspiring him to start his own; so it has to be pretty good I figure!

Also, that means I CAN KNOCK A GOAL OFF MY LIST! I am proud to say that I inspired someone to create their own blog/ bucket list .

Now, to today's goal.

To have a friend on every continent.

While it is hard to quantifiably pinpoint exactly when I would accomplish this goal, the point of it really is that I love making friends. I love the idea of having friends all over the world, and that where ever I travel to I could have someone to call and meet up with who lives close by.

Maybe this idea is coming into my head with my friend from England coming in later today, and my friend who I met in Australia coming in later this week. Regardless, I love the idea of having international friend only a phone call away, so having a friend on every continent is a dream I hope to accomplish as my international travels continue.

Go to a World Cup

Have you seen the plans for the world cup in Qatar?!?

If you haven't check out this video. If you have then watch it again because they're insane.

I'm trying my best as an American to be a soccer fan. But the World Cup for me is more than just a soccer tournament. It is a cultural gathering, with people from all over the world coming to cheer on their team and boast about their home.

I think it's an amazing event and can't wait to see it myself. The catch is that it only happens once every four years.

But it is in Brazil in 2014... so hopefully I'll be there!

Have a great day.

Don't talk for an entire day

Don't know why. But one of my favorite of my professors came into class today and said he hadn't spoken to anyone in two days, and found it very "liberating".

Not sure if I believe the guy, but sounded like an intriguing idea.

I could get away with not talking to anyone outside my apartment while living in Prague with ease. I was rarely spoken to, and when I was addressed I just replied "anglicky", meaning English. After they understood I didn't speak Czech our conversation usually ended abruptly.

I'm thinking it may be a good idea to accomplish the goal of learning 100 basic sign language signs before being silent for a full 24 hours.

But who knows when this urge to be silent will come to me!

Thanks for reading. Have a great day and a better tomorrow.

Experience weightlessness

How cool does that video look!?!

Don't know how, where, or when I could do this. But I've decided experiencing zero gravity is a must.

Anyone interested in joining? Please let me know.

Tired tonight. Sorry east coast for not posting on April 4th your time.

Hope you can forgive me.

See you tomorrow.

Bake a giant cookie

Jump into a pool fully clothed

Is this metaphorical? Does this have a deeper meaning? Do I just really want my clothes to smell like chlorine and be very uncomfortable for a while?

You decide.

So after 2 months of writing this blog I've sadly decided to stop.


It just doesn't have the same meaning for me anymore, and I've lost my passion for it.


I told myself if it wasn't fun writing this blog I wouldn't do it anymore, and it isn't fun for me anymore.


So sadly, today is the end of this blog.


Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate it, and if I find it in me to come back and start up again I'll make sure to let you all know.


Get rid of this whole "end of an era" post, because that was my april fools joke. Seemed to get a lot of people actually, I'm pretty proud.

And my reward for this awesome april fools joke? Over 2000 total views now. Very cool.

As for 4/1/2011 my goal is:

Start a scholarship

Raise money for someone to go to college, an experience I have been fortunate enough to have.

Not quite sure who the scholarship will be for (though I do have someone in mind...) or when I'll start, but before I turn 31 I would love to raise money for someone (besides my own kid[s]) to go to college.

Thanks for reading, hope that april fools joke wasn't too much to handle because I don't plan on stopping this blog till January 31st, 2012...

Go to a film festival

They seem pretty cool in Entourage.

Also I love the idea of seeing a bunch of independent movies with the creators sitting in the theater with you. Seems like it would be a crazy experience.

Sorry I'm a day behind. Catching up now!

I go to check out the blog and it's at exactly 1900 views?! 100 away from my goal of 2000 in the first 2 months! It has to be fate; time to write an entry!

Oh, and as you can see below, I've decided to experiment with adding a picture to each entry.

When I added the video the other day it seems to add some variation to the blog, and I thought it added a nice touch.

So I'm adding a little picture that in some way has to do with each goal, at least for the next week to see how I like it. Please let me know with any feedback.

Today it is a picture of the car I drive. At least the same model and color of the car I drive (mine may have a large dent under the front left light...).

Learn to drive a stick shift

This is a bit sad considering I drive a sports car that people constantly tell me I "should've gotten in stick", but instead I bought an automatic.

I don't know if I'll ever buy a stick shift car considering it just seems like a ton of work, and I enjoy relaxing while I drive (when I'm not changing the music, talking on my cell phone, texting, and reading a book while driving- of course). But in most other countries they only have stick shift cars for rent (from my limited experience and via word of mouth) so this seems like a skill I need to acquire in the near future.

Renting a car and driving through the remote countryside of some beautiful destination (Ireland, New Zealand, etc...) sounds like something I would love to do. So learning a stick shift seems like a very practical goal for my future.

I know some of my friends from high school might be contending that I did learn the basics of a stick shift while messing around in a parking lot. And yes, these allegations are true. However, I want to learn to drive a stick shift to the point where I am comfortable driving anywhere (highways, back-roads, you get the idea...) rather than only around a parking lot at 10 mph.

I hope you have a great day and don't spend it in the library, like I am.

3 days away from April- can we get to 2,000 page views?!?

I would love to have an average of 1,000 page views per month. Not that page views are at all a reason why I made this blog, but it's always nice to know that my goals aren't falling on deaf ears. Always nice to know that people are actually reading.

Climb a lighthouse

Just cause. They look pretty cool and I like being on the water, so I'd probably like the view from a lighthouse.

Lots of work tonight, so short entry. Hope the next 2 hours of your life somehow change it forever!

Meditate in a Buddhist temple

I'm not a very religious person, but spirituality is a whole different realm.

While I could obviously go off on an extremely long winded tangent here, I have far too much work to do today.

I'm old now, so when I go out on Saturday night (following my team's extremely disappointing loss to UCONN) I tend not to recover as quickly. Thus I didn't start my immense amount of school work till 3 p.m. and that is why at 5:40 I haven't gotten nearly as far as I'd hoped.

Not to mention I haven't returned any of the emails I planned to or even applied to a job all weekend.

I could really use some relaxation time, and that is what made me think how nice it would be to meditate.

And where better to relax and clear my mind then in a Buddhist temple?

Guess my desire to have a moment to think clearly is having an impact on my bucket-list, no surprises there!

That is what I love about making this list, some days I feel like jumping from mattress to mattress in a store, and the next I feel like meditating; but regardless of how I feel that day I make a goal that I plan to do before I'm 31. And I will never look back and exclude a goal because I was in a "weird" mood that day, that's what makes this list fun for me. While I was in the mood to create a goal, someday I'll be in the mood to accomplish that goal.

And hopefully I can accomplish this goal in the near future, because relaxing sounds like a dream come true right now.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Go mattress hopping

Admit it, you always wanted to do it.

Simply go to a mattress store and hop from bed to bed.

Why not?

So I get thrown out out a mattress store; life goes on.

And it's time to give in to my childhood desires, and hoping from mattress to mattress is absolutely one of them.

While it's obviously important to mature and the years go on, I don't think I'm quite ready to "grow up" just yet.

So putting up goals like this helps ensure my inner-child is always a part of who I am.

Scared to say that more goals like this may arise in the near future.

Oh, and don't worry, I'll defiantly post a video of me accomplishing this goal.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you watch some college basketball today because there are some great games to come.

I read a lot of other blogs. I've read even more, usually for inspiration, since I started this one.

But this blog (click here) isn't for inspiration, it's just hilarious.

However, I do think it does help keep your life in perspective. It'll make you realize how pathetic your complaints really are since there are obviously people suffering immensely all over the world, while we suffer "first world problems". Defiantly worth a read, so check it out.

Now onto today's goal.

Walk an overnight marathon

I'm not a runner, so marathon's don't really appeal to me. And I've heard the whole argument about "proving to yourself you can do it" and all that about why people run marathons. But I prove to myself that I can do things everyday, running 26.2 miles just doesn't sound fun to me.

But walking 26.2 miles through the darkness of night? Now that sounds like an adventure!

Hopefully I do this for a cause and can help raise money for a worthy charity while accomplishing this goal.

Defiantly keep you posted on when I find an overnight marathon, and what charity it supports.

Thanks for reading, one more goal to go to get all caught up!

Sell tickets for higher than face value

Basically buy tickets then go to an event on gameday and sell the tickets. Scalp tickets, but be on the selling side rather than the buying side.

Suggested by a good friend of mine the other day and sounded fun.

Little out of the box goal to keep you on your toes while I catch up on my goals this Saturday morning.

Thanks for reading

Notice all the new junk on the sidebars of the blog?!? Check them out!

<----- All that stuff!!!
<----- Some of my favorite posts, let me know if you think I missed any!

I also added a "search" bar if you are looking for a specific word, or wanted to see if I had made a certain goal already.

There is also a new subscription by email service, because I wasn't a huge fan of the old one.

Added a pageview counter, so you are reminded you aren't the only person looking at this blog!

And finally I fixed the "compiled list" tab up at the top (above these entries), so now there is no more space between the start of the page and the list.

If you haven't checked out the tabs at the top I would really appreciate it! The "Why I Am Doing This" tab gives a quick description of what inspired me to create this blog, and the "Compiled List" is a great place to go for a concise list of every goal I've come up with so far. Also check out the "Blog Archive" on the left side of the page (scroll down a bit) to view any of my past entries, organized by date.

Now to today's goal!

Send a message in a bottle

No clear inspiration for this goal, just in the mood for a simple one.

Sometimes it's nice to remind ourselves that some of the simplest tasks can be the most rewarding.

Hope this act fits that description.

Thanks for reading and please let me know whether or not you like the new additions to the site

Click here to see the song I have become completely obsessed with

It's a great song done by an amazing street performer.

This almost inspired me to make today's goal to be "perform on a street for money", but I've actually done that before. Feel free to ask me about it sometime if you're interested, funny story. And we actually made about 10 dollars, it was fun!

Today's goal stays on my theme of political activity, as well as actions rather than words.

Protest something

I don't agree with every protest I see on TV. Far from it actually, but I do believe some are just, and most protests can really have an impact on our world. Power in numbers is a truly fascinating concept.

I know when the cause comes along that I am passionate enough about that I will know, and that is when I will join a protest. Hopefully it'll lead to some change in our world, but I don't want to get ahead of myself!

Thanks for reading, and I'll catch up with today's goal later.

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_the_social_animal.html

Interesting link of a long but fascinating discussion by David Brooks, a writer for the NY Times on (among other things) the shallowness of our population. The first ten minutes are worth watching, after that he lost my interest until about a minute was left in the video. But if you have 10 free minutes I highly recommend it.  I'm not going to say you should watch this instead of Jersey Shore, but I would defiantly recommend skipping the last 10 minutes of "The Real Housewives of (insert a city I never want to live in thanks to this show).

Inspired by this video, and with my re-fueled passion for helping those who are striving for an education, today's goal came easily.

Volunteer as a tutor

Committing to being a teacher is something that may eventually lay in my future. Whether it is helping with the education of our youth in poor or less fortunate areas of our country, or traveling abroad and teaching English to students driven to compete in our globalized economy, I may be a teacher (in the formal, professional sense of the word). But for now I want to ensure that I help with furthering education, even if I do pursue another career path.

I have taken so much from the education system throughout my 22 years. I have been fortunate enough to be taught by some amazing and truly inspirational teachers, and I hope to pass this passion for education on to the next generation of students.

I have no idea when or where this will be, but I'm extremely confident when the right time comes I'll be ready to embark on the arduous task of educating our youth.

I can only dream to inspire a student to the degree that (a certain select few) teachers have inspired me.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

It is a quote I live my life by, and one that drives this goal.

If I want there to be a higher quality educational system in the world, why not start by ensuring the smartest person I know is part of that process.

That person is me.

Son, brother, student, writer, friend, research assistant, intern, travel buddy, boyfriend, grandson, nephew, idealist, political ambiguoust... whatever title you associate with me, I hope to add tutor to that list.

Hopefully "inspiration" follows soon after.

Thanks for reading and have a better day than the only "ok" weather in Tucson.

See the Northern Lights

Don't know too much about the Northern Lights except the pictures are amazing and it seems like something I would love to see.

Nature producing beautiful colors in the sky? Count me in!

I've lost touch with my passion for nature. After seeing the Grand Canyon again and hiking the past few weekends I've realized I need to incorporate nature into my goals more often. So here's my start.

Thanks for reading, and I strongly encourage clicking the link on the Northern Lights because the pictures do not look real. Truly amazing stuff.

Take a cooking class

I'm starving right now.

I'd love to know how to cook different foods and impress people, including myself, with my ability to cook.

So what's the best way to learn new stuff? Take a class.

I've taken 100s of classes over the course of my life. I'm an expert of sitting there for 50 mins and learn something I can then regurgitate on a test in the coming weeks or months.

But taking a class on something you really care about is different. Those classes have come infrequently over throughout my academic career, but those are the classes I can proudly say I value.

I hope a class on cooking I can add to the latter list.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed reading this entry as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Drive Highway 1

I like to do some research on these goals before I add them to my list. Maybe college has finally paid off, but I like to do a bit of background reading before committing myself to an activity before I turn 31. So since I skim these pages before adding them to my list, I figure at least a handful of people must wonder what I'm talking about when I add something like "highway 1" to my list, so I've begun to link descriptions. They'll probably just be Wikipedia pages, like the page attached above; so from now on if you don't know what I'm talking about when I write a goal just click the goal and it'll take you to a description page.

Just part of the ongoing evolution of this blog. Hope it helps a few readers.

Now to the goal.

I've driven on a lot of highways on my cross country journeys, and sometimes been on Highway 1 in California, but I've never driven the entirety of it. I'm sure some of my California readers may have accomplished this, so if you have I would love to hear some feedback on it.

But I've always wanted to drive this road, so finally putting it in writing makes a whole lot of sense.

Defiantly hoping to combine this goal with my goal to ride a motorcycle on a long trip. Think this road may be the perfect location. So keep you posted if I can accomplish this in the near future.

Grow a plant I'm proud of

Something that blooms. Something that people look at and are impressed by. Not a cactus that sits by my windowsill and never needs watering, or a flower that I bought already bloomed at the store.

I want to buy a seed, plant it, and put time and effort into growing a plant I can proudly display to visitors.

Having a "green thumb" would defiantly be a useful skill, so I plan to start perfecting mine by growing my first plant.

Thanks for reading. I hope this is the day you hoped it would be!

Explore a lava tube

Don't know what it is? Click the words "lava tube" above and it'll take you to the Wikipedia page.

Volcanoes fascinate me, but only from afar.

Up close they absolutely terrify me.

Dying in a freak volcano eruption is not exactly how I envision myself going, so being around active volcanoes is not going on this to-do list anytime soon.

But being in a tunnel lava used to flow through back when the volcano erupted defiantly sounds like a riveting experience. The pictures of these "tubes" look amazing, and they only exist in a few places in the world. So I be extremely proud to have visited (at least) one.

Halfway caught up already! More to come!

Ride a segway

Do I always have to have a reason?

No.

These things are awesome looking, and riding one looks like a ton of fun.

That's reason enough!

Deal with it. I'm a week behind, time to write some shorter entries.

Thanks for reading!

Do a wine tasting

I like wine. And I like tasting different kinds.

Also people who do these also seem cultured. Which is something I would love to be.

Doesn't it sound so classy?

"What are you up to on Saturday?"

"Oh nothing really. Just headed up north for a wine tasting."

Wow, I felt classy just writing that. Truly amazing.

So fusing my desire to be cultured, combined with my passion for wine, this seems like an ideal goal.

May have to be a Saturday soon!

Go to a Duke vs. UNC basketball game

In case you didn't know, I grew up a Duke fan.

Not a great explanation for why, just started liking Duke ever since they made it to the Championship Game vs. UCONN. Growing up in CT everyone was cheering for UCONN, so I decided to be a bit rebellious and cheer on Duke.

Duke lost the game, but cheering them on stuck with me.

Because of the weather (and ONLY the weather) I chose to go to school in Arizona, but still have a special place in my heart for the Blue Devils.

And watching the NCAA tournament non-stop for the past 2 1/2 days has made me realize how much I really do love college basketball.

So this goal is a must do in the near future.

Trying to catch up as quickly as I can! Thanks for reading.

40 goals already! It's amazing, time flies! Can't wait to come up with 320 or so more! Now, onto goal #40...

Visit an abandoned ghost town

The idea of people abandoning a place they call home is amazing to me. I'm sure it was devastating for people to have to leave their homes, but I think it would be pretty amazing to see how these towns were preserved today.

And by ghost town I'm not talking about the Hollywood redone ghost tows like Old Tucson; I'm talking about towns out in the middle of nowhere that were completely abandoned for one reason or another.

I read about a town in Pennsylvania that had to be abandoned because coal mining was causing gases to rise out of the ground that were harmful to people if they chose to live within the borders of the town. So everyone had to move out, leaving the streets of the town completely deserted. That is the kind of ghost town I want to seek and find!

Thanks for reading and have an amazing Friday!

Go to a drive in movie theater

Because I've never been and they look cool!

Just very retro in my opinion and I was raised in a family that loves retro stuff, so this should be no exception.

I also haven't been to a movie in theaters in forever, so think I may knock this goal off the list in the near future.

Thanks for reading and catching up with the last entry in the next few minutes!

Spring break has finally started! If you're on break I hope you have an amazing one and if you've gone on break already I'd love to catch up and hear how it was. If you don't have spring break, sorry, that'll be me in the near future, so I absolutely can sympathize.

Inspire someone to create their own bucket list.

I realize how much I love making this blog, setting goals for myself and accomplishing those goals.

So naturally I would love to share this same feeling with others.

Now someone step up and start your own list so I can mark this goal off mine!

Another distraction from my studying? Don't mind if I do!

This is a concept that a friend of mine did a few years back while on a hike in the upstate New York and I have wanted to do ever since.

Make a geocache

I'm sure most people don't know what a geocache is. I didn't either until I saw him do it and did a little researched. The site is linked here (click me!)

 Basically geocaching a big game of lost and found, or hide and go seek. People use GPS devices to document their exact location, then bury (or hide) something in nature, in hopes that someone else will decide to embark on the challenge to find their hidden object. They are usually placed along hike trails so when people would normally just go out to enjoy a nice day in the outdoors they now have an added challenge or excursion, to find a geocache.

I obviously have no idea what I'm going to put in mine, or where I'm going to put it. But it seems like a fun concept and I can't wait to do some more research on it!

Speaking of research, back to Minority Rights in American Politics, the midterm I have tomorrow night...

Thanks for reading and I hope your night is more enjoyable than mine!

BREAKING NEWS: Ok, so sorry to disappoint but I didn't complete another goal. BUT, I did finally figure out how to solve one of the biggest problems with this blog. Annoyed that you have to check 100 times a day to see if I sent an update or not? Well problem solved!

Ok, this is craziness. Not exactly something I plan on doing anytime in the near future, but I thought it was a funny article someone shared with me earlier, check it out.


My goal today comes from another distraction come Monday mornings in the library.


Send a postcard into Postsecret. <--- link to the site is the name...


This is an amazing site where people anonymously send in postcards confessing secrets they, for one reason or another, want to get off their chest. 


The site has a much more eloquent way of sharing their message, but I think it is an amazing concept and seems to be extremely therapeutic for people. After years of reading other people's posts I figure I should eventually contribute. 


If nothing more, at least to give someone a reason to be distracted in the library on a Monday morning. 


Another post coming in the next 20 mins...

This one is an easy decision for me.

After sitting in the library for the past 3 hours and realizing how little I really get done in the library compared to the extraordinary amount of time I spend here the sad reality is that the internet is too much of a distraction for me to avoid. Therefore, there is only one logical conclusion to this conundrum:

Stay off Facebook for a month.

Twitter? Don't be ridiculous, I still need the news, but Facebook is something I need some time away from.

98% of my time spent on Facebook is a complete waste of time. It is spent reading people's pointless status updates about their monotonous days, or weeding through pictures of my friends with people I don't know in hopes of finding out what they're up to these days.

But honestly, these goals could easily be accomplished through a simple phone call, text or email. So rather than wasting far too much time each and every day it is time to give Facebook a break.

But not right now of course... Just some time before I'm 31.

Thanks for reading. I'll be catching up on the rest of the posts by the end of the day.

BREAKING NEWS: FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE SHORT HISTORY OF THIS BLOG I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ONE OF MY GOALS!

Did I cheat? Some experts have said yes, but I think most would agree that it's my list, so I make the rules. And I don't think I cheated...

But yes, it is true that I created a goal of "taking a standby flight" the other day after learning about Airtran's standby program where students (anyone ages 18-22) can fly to a smorgasbord of different cities, all for less than $100 one-way. It's a pretty amazing deal, and I decided to act upon it yesterday by taking a standby flight from phoenix to milwaukee to surprise my girlfriend for her birthday/ our one year anniversary.

The whole standby thing was really easy and I got a great deal on a flight that would've cost well over 2x as much, so accomplishing this goal defiantly paid off! I even got a window seat!

Oh, and my girlfriend was really surprised thanks to her amazing friends who not only picked me up from the airport but also convinced her that it wasn't weird that my phone was shut off for 4 hours, it had probably just died. My plan for the surprise wasn't flawless, but I'm glad it worked out!

Ok, onto my next goal.

Go to a Yankees vs. Red Sox Game

My favorite sport growing up was baseball and my favorite team was the Yankees. So after watching 89, 000 of these Yanks vs. Sox games I think it is about time I go to one.

Maybe I'll be bold enough to show up in my "Mantle" jersey in Fenway.

Any of my friends or family from Boston willing to sit next to me?

Thanks for reading and have the best day ever!

Climb a mountain over 10,000 ft

Just to clarify, I mean where the peak is at over 10,000 ft elevation.

This has been a goal of mine for while, so about time I put it down in writing. The most frustrating part of this goal is how close I've gotten. I've climbed two mountains with a peak less than 500 ft away from 10,000, and I've also climbed a mountain with a peak over 10,000 ft BUT we had to turn back because of bad weather.

So close, yet never accomplished. So now I'm adding this goal to the blog to make sure I accomplish it.

One of these days I'll head north to Colorado and climb one of those monsters. And when I do then you, my readers, will be the first to know!

Catching up on my goals! One more left to do!

Did you know if you rub garlic on the bottom of your foot you can taste it in your mouth hours later?

This is an unconfirmed rumor at this time, but it is also the most awesome thing I have heard all day. So I absolutely have to try it.

Rub garlic on the bottom of my foot and test if I can taste it hours later.

Sorry for the random, and pretty pointless goal, but a friend told me she heard this garlic shenanigans was true and I told her I needed to try it for myself. So if I plan on trying something I might as well add it to my list!

Thanks for reading.

Happy March! You know what March means? I've successfully done this blog for the entire month of February! I know, all of my critics out there are saying, "But February is the shortest month". Yeah, I hear you, but I'm still glad to get one month under my belt; it's a start!

Carve my name into a tree

This goal doesn't really have an obvious reason.

I could go off on a tangent about being remembered, about having a life that means something after we're all gone. To leave your legacy, blah blah blah...

But to be honest, I have a lot of work and am heading to bed early.

So for tonight I'm sad to say this is all you get.

Have a great night and a pleasant tomorrow!

First off, I want to wish a VERY happy birthday to my amazing girlfriend. Hard to say whether or not I would've started this blog without her, but she has certainly helped me come up with the ideas for quite a few goals. Though we are half way across the country from each other there are very few people who have such an outstanding influence on my life, obviously for the better. So if you haven't, please make sure to wish her a happy birthday, and tell her she's old.

This goal came about yesterday while I was researching flights and traveling in general.

Take a standby flight.

The idea of a stand-by flight is really interesting to me. I know a few guys who did this while I was in Prague, but never knew very much about it at the time. One of my roommates had friends come to visit and they got their tickets through standby, and at the time I just knew they got really cheap tickets, I had no idea how. But after doing some research I think it's a fascinating idea.

Most flights have open seats and most flights are very expensive. But both the airline and the consumer (the person who wants a ticket) "win" by selling an unsold ticket on a flight at a discounted rate. This is basically what a standby ticket its; a person literally "stands-by" a gate until a flight shows up heading to their desired destination that isn't full.

I love airports and I love cheap flights, so this seems like an ideal combination for me. All I do is wait around an airport a flight to be departing with open seats on it, and then jump on that flight for really cheap!

Everyone wins! I get to travel, and not empty my bank account!

Thanks for reading, have a nice night, and I hope you like the new format! I'm so-so on it, so we'll see how long it lasts...

Own a camera I'm proud of.

I've had quite a few cameras over the years and don't get me wrong, I have loved them all.

But I've decided that I want a camera that truly captures the images I see before I embark on my next international excursion.

The problem with this goal is that I tend to go through cameras with breathtaking speed. Whether it is breaking a lens, destroying a battery, or losing the camera all together (though I still contend it was stolen...), I have terrible luck with cameras.

But I'm making a promise to myself, and to anyone else who contributes to my "new and amazing camera fund", that I will not make the same mistakes I've made in the past with this new camera.

While I am content with little Sony 10.1 megapixel I bought while in Prague (after my Kodak went missing/ may have been stolen) I know I need higher quality camera in order to truly capture whatever amazing sights I see on my next adventure.

Until then I'll keep replacing the AA batteries in my Sony, and relying on my "artsy shots" and "cool candids" in order to capture my travels.

But expect this goal to be crossed off my list before I board my next international flight.

Thanks for taking the time to read this entry. It's been a long day of English assignments and reading over job applications, so I hope this entry made some sense. While I can admit it wasn't as eloquently worded as I had hoped, I'm sure you'll still find the meaning behind this entry. Hopefully you can ignore my poor diction for the time being.

Again, sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend, and I can't wait to share more goals with you over the course of this week.

Have an awesome day!

So I don't allow myself to use Stumbleupon.com, simply because I waste far too much time as it is on the internet as it is. The last thing I need to do is use a website to track my interests and send me to sites I probably will like, thus wasting hours more of my life. But obviously I've found alternate ways to waste time while on the internet, and one of my recent favorites has become the "next blog" link at the top of every blogger.com page. If you look at the top center of my page I assume it'll be there for you too. It just says "next blog" and once you click it the system randomly sends you to another blog. I have no idea where it comes up with what blog is "next", but I have found it ridiculously addicting.

While cruising the "next blog" tab this morning I came upon this link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtb_antz/4489348528/

Because of privacy rights I can't attach the picture to this post, but I promise it's not a virus.

I loved this picture, and after looking at it for a minute my next goal became glaringly obvious.

Stand on the equator.

I'll admit, this goal is just another excuse for me to travel. But if you know me then you know I have no shame in creating these types of goals.

Hope your day is going well! I'll be putting up my goal for today, February 27th, in a matter of minutes.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Again, I'm sorry. I use this blog as an escape from applying to jobs and/or doing work, so when the weekend rolls around and school and job applications are put on the back burner this blog seems become a casualty of the same fate. Again, for anyone who checked this page between Friday and now, I'm sorry.

Take a motorcycle trip of 500+ miles.

I've never ridden on a motorcycle. But from what I've read and heard it is supposed to be an amazing escape and very relaxing. That sounds pretty nice right now, so I figured I'd add this goal to my list.

Who knows, maybe I'll accomplish this goal in my near future!

Thanks for reading, and 2 more goals coming today.

Plant a tree.

Lots of trees get cut down every day, so I figure I should plant one and help the planet a little bit. I got this goal from a good friend I was fortunate enough to catch up with earlier today and immediately loved the idea.

While I planned to save this goal for a day where I had no goals in mind, today is one of those days...

I'm 15 minutes late on putting this goal up, but better late than never!

No real story behind this one, just something I'd like to do. Seems like a nice thing to do, and I love nice stuff.

See you tomorrow and thanks for reading.

Thanks for reading and I'm tired. So goodnight!

Follow a musical act to three different venues.

Basically be a groupie for three concerts in a row.

Always wondered what it'd be like to be on tour, so I guess this could be a good start! I've also wondered if  bands play similar or even the same sets from night to night. I've seen a few acts more than once and know they play different music over the course of six months, but I wonder if some groups play concerts one night and don't the next.

Anyway, not much to this goal to be honest, just kind of a cool idea that popped into my head while sitting on the couch with one of my roommates listening to music.

See you tomorrow.

Ok so if you read my goal from 2/19/2011 then this goal probably doesn't make very much sense. But then again, jumping out of an airplane or off a 16th story platform doesn't make very much sense if you have a terrible fear of falling either, but I've done both of those (re-reading this I realized neither one of those makes very much sense even if you don't have a fear of falling, but you get the idea).

Take a ride in a helicopter.

Preferably this goal would be accomplished looking over something really awesome. Maybe the Grand Canyon, or some beautiful waterfall in Central or South America, ideally I would be able to see something I never would've seen without being in that amazing vantage point.

Yes I can admit I will be a nervous wreck for a majority of the helicopter ride, probably imagining the propellers cutting and me falling to my tragic death and destroying some stunning waterfall in South America. Not only perishing in a freak accident, but also ruining a natural wonder of the world,  really horrific way to go. But after after safely landing I'm sure it'll be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, so I feel an obligation to add this idea to my list to ensure I face my fear yet again.

Maybe I should accomplish 2/19 before I attempt this goal, that would probably be the smartest way to go about it. But no promises, I'll accomplish goals as the opportunities present themselves!

Have a great day.

First of all, happy birthday to my sister Chloe. I have THE MOST amazing sister in the world and I couldn't be a luckier brother. I feel fortunate to have her not only as my sister, but also as a close friend. Side-note, she's the girl in my profile picture on facebook who makes me look half decent, just in case you'd never met her before. Happy 20th Chloe, can't wait to come home and celebrate it with you soon.

In honor of my favorite sister's b-day I'll keep the family theme.

To be an extra in a movie.

Not a "save the world" goal here, I know, but something I still really want to do.

My dad was in a movie, just in case you didn't know. If you haven't seen it I'd be happy to show you sometime. The VHS box proudly hangs on my wall, and if you look hard enough you can absolutely find it. While he was snubbed for an Oscar that year I still think it is one of, if not THE greatest supporting role ever in a movie, and I think anyone who's seen it would agree.

So to be in a movie is simply carrying on family tradition. It would be disrespectful not to!

No idea what movie, or when I'll get around to this goal. But I will defiantly let you know when I finally accomplish it.

Hopefully we can rent out a theater and have a whole screening party. I want a red carpet and the E! channel to be there, nothing less.

Thanks for reading, glad to be back on schedule, and expect another post in the next 16 hours.