Weekly goals update
The first week has passed. Here's the list of items I've crossed off my list already:
Done:
#70: Start carrying a dictionary everywhere I go
This one was pretty easy, and designed to support the "learn 1,000 new words" goal. I have an iPod touch, so I found a suitable dictionary app and called it a done deal. This was definitely on the "easy" list.
#7: Go swimming in Lake Michigan
Another fun, easy, summertime goal. I live only a few minutes' walk from Lake Michigan, have been living in the Chicago are for a year now, and decided it was time to take a dip.
Progress:
#81: Experience 20 new Chicago area restaurants
People are very serious about their food in Chicago. They're also very proud of their city, and won't let anyone tell them that there's anyplace on Earth better than their home town. I've been told that since I wasn't born here, I will never be a "true" Chicagoan, but perhaps after 10 years or so, they'll grandfather me into the club. That's quite a reputation to live up to, but I can assure you that the variety of food choices available lives up to the expectation. If you're hungry, Chicago is one of the best places to be.
This week, I crossed 2 of the 20 restaurants off my list.
1. Lupita's Mexican restaurant, a little mom and pop place with authentic Mexican food, and live music. Small, cozy, and just fine by me.
2. Gulliver's "World Famous" Pizza in a Pan is a sensory overload experience. The pizza's great, but it's the decorating that will get you. It's a fun, all-ages place where the owners apparently raided every home & garden store in the Chicagoland area of all their Italian-inspired accents. I think there may have been more Renaissance-style statues than people in this place. Good fun, and good pizza.
#34: Begin walking 10 miles a week
For those keeping track, there are 143 weeks in 1,001 days. So that's 1,430 miles I need to walk between now, and the end of April, 2012. I decided to make this goal more about walking the total number of miles, rather than keeping up a certain number of miles a week, every week. The reasoning is simple: during the harshest winter months, when it's below freezing every day for weeks on end, there's probably no way I'll be able to do 10 miles. So, I'll walk more than 10 miles a week during the warmer months, and fewer during winter.
No big deal, really. I live in a place that is friendly to walking about most of the year. The hardest part so far has proven to be finding reasons to walk somewhere, rather than drive.
Only made it 4.63 miles this week, so I've got some catching up to do!
#83: Visit every state bordering Illinois
Have already been to Wisconsin for the seasonal apple picking. 1 of 5 states knocked out!
#66: Complete 1 crossword puzzle per week
While some folks do the Sunday New York Time puzzle are part of their weekly routine, I on the other hand, only recently found an enjoyment for crossword puzzles. Two months ago, I complete, from beginning to end, my very first crossword puzzle. It wasn't the first crossword I'd ever started, mind you. I simply didn't find them very interesting in the past.
Well, along comes a friend of mine who loves crosswords, and she helped me find a way to enjoy them, and a source for the puzzles that would consistently give me a fun and interesting challenge. I may just be hooked for life now.
#72: Watch 101 movies I've never seen before
This one is squarely in the "easy" column. I love movies, but don't always get out and watch them, or rent them, or otherwise see as many as I would like. So it was time to make sure I'm enriching my movie time by crossing off a lot of the movies that friends have been recommending for years!
This week I watched "There Will Be Blood", a fantastic movie that I originally intended to see in theaters, but somehow missed. Excellent film about the late 19th, and early 20th century search for oil prospects in the American Southwest, following a classic antihero character through his search for wealth.